Hanahaki disease is a psychosomatic illness. It's a thing that your body does in response to stress over constantly repressing/concealing your feelings in settings with high background magic. It's like you've been ignoring pain for a long time and suddenly your vision starts going dark, because your affected body is just YANKING on random alerts trying to get you to PAY ATTENTION there is a PROBLEM. Yes the flowers do really exist. So do non-magical psychosomatic symptoms. The flowers aren't special.
This does of course open up the trope to options for non-romantic concealed feelings. Which I think is great. There is something viscerally satisfying about the person who seems so outwardly chipper coughing and hacking and spitting up Depression Flowers so now everyone has to know they're hurting. Isn't there?
Hanahaki, but it's a child that feels neglected by their parents.
Hanahaki, but it's someone whose friends have started ghosting them.
Hanahaki, someone's wife is cheating on them.
Hanahaki, the disease that gives you three options: confront your feelings, destroy the love you hold for someone or perish choking on roses.
Imagine this for transness
Hanahaki but it’s your body desperately needing you to love and care for it while your mind is trapped in the body that doesn’t fit, that’s wrong as it destroys you from the inside out the longer you aren’t able to get help to make your body feel like you
