Character Profile: Ritsu Kasanoda

Kasanoda was raised in a tough dojo when he was a kid, and was trained to be a bit of a Yakuza gang member. Because of his reputation and icy personality, he doesn't have many friends, and even his elders at the dojo fear him.

Because Kasanoda hated feeling alone and so intimidating, he went to the Host Club to ask Mori if he could be his apprentice. The reason for this was because Mori was "scary" but he still had many friends. The Host Club tried their best to jazz up his outfit and style, and make him look less intimidating; they told him what he needed the most was a "lovely item," or something cute to help distract people from his scary looks. But much to Kasanoda's dismay, their efforts only made him look ridiculous, and did not gain him any more friends than he had before.

Later, Kasanoda's attendant, Tetsuya, came to the school, catching a couple of boys who were trying to harm Kasanoda, and revealing that he was the son of a rival gang to the Kasanoda's. He had been taken in by Kasanoda when he had run away from home, and told Kasanoda that he was truly grateful, and thought of him as a dear friend. He also mentioned that everyone at the dojo loved and admired Kasanoda, and they'd love to "kick some cans" with him any time.

However, when the two boys had attacked, Haruhi had been splattered with paint from a can they had thrown that had been aimed at Kasanoda. She went to go change clothes, and when Kasanoda went to go apologize and make sure she was okay, he walked in on her changing, thus finding out she was a girl. After much embarrassment, Kasanoda realized that he had liked Haruhi before he knew she was a girl, and now that he realized she was a girl he had actually fallen in love with her.

He tried to confess his feelings to her at the Host Club (causing many of the female customers to go into moe-fangirl-mode), but was labeled strictly a friend before he could even get most of his confession out. He realized that declaring his love to her would only be problematic, so instead he stated that he and Haruhi would be friends for life. After this wonderfully touching moment, every girl in the Host Club, including some of the members themselves, flocked to him, declaring their friendship to him as well (resulting in quite a lot of rose petals, as well). Kasanoda shall never have to worry about being short on friends ever again.