#enhiro

ANYWAY SO LET ME BEGIN BY SAYING THAT endou is who hiroto was supposed to be, or who he wants to be.

Endou is pure of heart, and knows no corruption. He always keeps going forward without dirtying his hands and losing sight of who he is deep down. Hiroto, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He's given love but its purely conditional, situational and manipulative. Hiroto's had to destroy who he is in order to please his "father" and fulfill someone else's prophecy, regardless of his own feelings.

That's why he "falls in love" with Endou's eyes: despite Endou being weaker than Hiroto at this point in time, he still shows no sign of giving up and surrendering, and is instead willing to break himself completely before he turns back on his word, on his morality.

Also, Endou is free in a way that Hiroto was never able to be prior to meeting him. He's been chained to Seijirou, completely devoted to carrying out his evil plots just to earn his favor and deem him worthy and necessary. He assumes that the only way for him to have any value at all is to be wanted by Seijirou, to be deemed the successor of the "Genesis" title — the strongest team.

I also see their first meeting as Hiroto sizing Endou up and dissecting him. He studies him, almost slyly, never providing any clear details about himself, only answering vaguely with nothing concrete to fall back on. It felt like he was playing with his food, just toying around. Hiroto feels amused, or perhaps curious is the better word, and wants to know more about him because Endou is an enigma in his eyes. The more he watches him and observes him during the games, the fonder he grows to be of him.

During their last confrontation before the final game between Raimon and Genesis, Hiroto's colder. Distant. More resolute and thick-skinned. He knows that now that the time has come and everything is on the line, he's going to have to choose sides. Clearly, he chooses to remain by his father's side until the end itself.

Hiroto denies who he is entirely, and chooses to refer to himself as "Gran". He's throwing aside everything about him that is not needed by Seijiro anymore (empathy, kindness, humanity) and instead fully adopts Gran, the manufactured identity that he's been battling under all this time against the other orphans for the title of Genesis.

At the end of the match, Hiroto realizes what exactly Endou's power is. It's not his physical abilities, or his mentality. It's his ability to connect with others, it's the ability to reach out and touch their hearts, to fully accept them and understand them, or at least try to. He's the shield and the others are the sword, he always makes sure to protect everyone and give them a second chance.

Hiroto sees Endou as everything he couldn't be, and that's why he's drawn to him the way a moth is drawn to a flame. Because Endou will always welcome him with open arms, exactly the way he is.