ive seen some ppl sort of misinterpreting og hikaru's role in the series. hgsn isn't a tragedy because death and an eldritch entity ripped two young lovers apart. hikaru was probably not in love with yoshiki. like everything we know about hikaru points to a straight guy (or at the very least someone not struggling with his sexuality/identity/social acceptance in a conservative small town) who loved his best friend but was not IN love with him. and that's... that's the point.
yoshiki is struggling because as early as the first few chapters (or episode 1) yoshiki confirms for himself that hikaru never would have said that he liked him (romantically obviously). that's (partly) what that confession scene was. it was him acknowledging to himself that hikaru did not have a reciprocal crush on him in lieu of being able to confess while hikaru was still alive.
thats part of what makes this series so sad. yoshiki was already facing this mental health crisis BEFORE hikaru died. hikaru living would not have solved all of this for him. he would still be a gay teen in a backwater village with antiquated views about sexuality. he would still feel isolated and alone and like a monster. would he have found camaraderie with og hikaru if he ever confessed or admitted to being gay? idk, maybe. assuming he ever gets brave enough to do so instead of just running away, which... there's reason to believe he never would have. but with all the information we have, it appears that hikaru was neither gay nor interested in yoshiki that way. so yoshiki would still perceive himself as fundamentally alone in that sense. hikaru living would not have 'saved' him from this struggle. again, that's the point. yoshiki was alone, that's the reason he relates so hard to 'hikaru', who is also fundamentally alone.
and then of course the rest of the series is largely about determining what love actually is/looks like/feels like. a LOT of people seem to think 'hikaru' isn't capable of loving anything, which could be true. love is subjective, and 'hikaru' starts out the series very immature and selfish, wanting the comfort of yoshiki for himself at any cost. but in more recent chapters, he's actually willing to put yoshiki's well-being wayyyyy above his own. he splits himself in half to make yoshiki feel safe, even at the cost of his own. he feels immense guilt and self-recrimination when he does something to hurt or disappoint yoshiki (or even his other classmates re: asako crying in front of him), even when it's not explicitly addressed. he's willing to exile himself back to the mountain, to condemn himself to an infinite lifetime of loneliness, now knowing what it's like to not be alone. just to prevent yoshiki from facing any more hardship. if that's not love, then what exactly is?
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