Shizuka's greatest companion is her beloved travel friend,
Hanako. The peculiar duo came across each other during their travels; Hanako was, once again, traversing the lands and seas to visit his favorite, beetle filled islands, all while Shizuka was going on an exploration to find and eradicate dangerous yokai that inhabited the land. Their meeting was destined to happen, as if the deities forced it to be; without running into her, Hanako would have certainly landed himself in a mess of trouble and he wouldn't have been able to travel as much as he does now.
The koi viscet, although born from a royal and highly prestigious couple, constantly praises Shizuka for her skills, efforts, and her behavior. He absolutely adores her, and he appreciates how she looks at him as an equal. Hanako never wants anyone to feel as if they're above or below him, especially not due to his age, status, or height, so being able to relate to another who values him as a person is something he entirely enjoys. He is thankful that she never tries to take advantage of him, as so many others have tried to do so in the past. He is truthfully surprised at how respectful she is towards him, his family, and his citizens. She never asks for anything from him; when she first visited his castle, she attempted to leave to find a nearby inn to rest at instead of asking for a room to stay in for free. When Hanako stopped and notified her that she could stay in a room inside his parent's castle, she was stunned by the offer. She was hesitant, as she had the money and ability to pay for a room for the night, but since Hanako was persistent that she stayed over, she accepted his request.
He's absolutely interested in what she does, and he's fascinated at how she does it, especially since she's saved both him and his family quite a few times. Because of her, Hanako has found himself to be intrigued with learning how to battle in hopes of being able to protect the ones that he loves. He has taken up sword fighting, as he feels it's something that he could learn quickly and easily as he's quite handy with a net. The two can often be seen training with each other; Shizuka teaches him on how to read any potential enemy, as well as how to use his mind during battle. He finds the lessons she provides him to be fun and practical, and he's surprised at how similar fighting is to catching bugs; both require patience, accurate timing, and speed to be useful. In return, he tries to provide her ways to rest, especially by also teaching her something back. Because of Hanako, she gained the knowledge of how to be a successful bug catcher.
Shizuka appreciates how patient and forgiving the prince can be. She always worries about communicating with others; it's impossible for her to do, as she is mute and cannot make any sort of noise, even if she wanted to. Instead of expecting her to find ways to communicate with him, Hanako quickly researched ways to talk to her instead. They've created a system where she could use body movements to indicate different phrases, especially about what she's planning on doing. He's even gone as far as to study body language to be able to fully understand her mood, since he was used to his siblings verbally telling him how they felt at that very moment if he were to ask. If he couldn't catch it the first time, he will patiently ask her to show him again, or try his best to take a guess at what she's trying to convey. Admittedly, Shizuka would get upset after having to answer him more than three times, but regardless of how rude she might come off towards him, he was always overjoyed to finally understand what exactly she was saying. He never held any grudges towards her, and he never did get angry at her as he never wanted to harm a friend of his. After a few years of being close, he is much better at predicting what she will do and reading her body language.
Overall, the two are very buddy-buddy. Since Hanako loves to travel whenever he can get the chance, he's fine with traveling alongside Shizuka. He provides her with conversation, songs, and tales during their journeys, which is something Shizuka holds dearly. He is also depended on as a communicator between her and others who might not have the ability to read body language as well as he can. Together, the two can travel freely and merrily, which is something that they both wished for, for the longest time.
(800/800)
Both art pieces were done by me
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