Hiramaru, Kazuya

平丸一也

Hiramaru was a salaryman who despised his job. After overhearing Takagi and Mashiro discussing manga creation on the subway and discovering a discarded copy of Jack, he resigned to become a mangaka, believing it would require less effort. He represents a different type of genius compared to Eiji, as he is talented despite having started writing manga more on a whim.
After teaching himself to draw manga in a very short period, his work, Otters 11, began serialization. Koji Yoshida hailed him as a genius and pushed for this serialization, noting that Hiramaru lacked genuine motivation to continue as a mangaka and that failure would simply cause him to quit.
Hiramaru is extremely lazy and immediately regretted getting serialized due to the workload required to maintain a weekly series. He has stated that he does not understand why people must work to survive, preferring to sleep when tired and eat when hungry. Because of his laziness, his editor, Koji Yoshida, frequently schemes to manipulate Hiramaru into working. Hiramaru often tries to escape Yoshida to avoid work, and these attempts form a long-running gag in the manga.
He is also a chronic hypochondriac who often makes incredible claims of illness. However, doctors always prove him healthy. It is mostly believed that his "illnesses" are not only a product of his own fears but also serve as an excuse to avoid work.
Hiramaru has a huge crush on Aoki Yuriko. Yoshida bribes him into working by providing weekly facts about Aoki. Yoshida also often depicts dramatic scenarios of Aoki rejecting him due to his laziness or inability to produce names, aiming to energize him to work hard. Because he cannot stand the idea of losing Aoki from his life, a combination of his own anxiety and Hiramaru's end-game scenarios causes him to work feverishly, hoping his work will earn Aoki's heart.

Spoiler