Tetsu Misato

Tetsu Misato (美郷 哲) is the male protagonist of the Ohayou, Ibarahime manga. He is a third-year in high school, who begins working part-time under his father's housekeeping agency to save up money due to personal circumstances. He is assigned to work at the Karasawa Estate, where he soon becomes friends with and the personal housekeeper for the daughter of Tetsu's employers, Shizu. He quickly falls in love with her, and despite initially fearing her ability of being prone to possession by spirits of the dead, he is determined to truly make her "human".

History
Tetsu Misato was born to Toru and Akira Misato as the oldest child of three siblings. His younger sisters, Ryo and Suzu, were born three respective eight years after him. Due to his mother being best friends with Shizu's mother, Tetsu and Shizu sometimes played together as children but either of them doesn't remember this. Since a young age, Tetsu had been extremely afraid of ghosts and occult things in general, though he could never admit it when he was scared. However, the one who always saved him during his times of need was his mother, to which Tetsu began viewing her as his hero.

When he entered grade school, he began playing soccer and befriended Chihiro Ueno, subsequently making him his "minion". Although Tetsu always took the charge and never asked Chihiro what he thought whenever they played soccer and other games, they were inseparable and he would always fight off bullies for Chihiro's sake. At some point at school, Tetsu looked up how much it cost to raise a child from birth to adulthood. Even as a child, he was shocked by how expensive it was, and that fact was what made him think about how much his parents had sacrificed for him and his sisters. When Tetsu's mother got into a car accident and ended up in a coma when Tetsu was ten years old, this realization culminated in his decision that he would repay his mother for her sacrifices by picking up the slack if she wasn't going to be around. He took upon it himself to do most of the housework and took on a mother-role to take care of his sisters. Although he had given up on much, soccer was the one thing he had not given up on. He entered middle school and joined a soccer team, but soon decided to quit due to his team being very demanding and since he couldn't give soccer the dedication and time that was required. The reason for his resignation is that he always had to go home, leave practice early, and take of his sisters; who were still very young and dependent on him.

However, he never quit soccer itself and therefore joined a soccer team again along with Chihiro in high school when his sister became more independent. However, Tetsu's soccer team lacked motivation is every aspect and the older members didn't even take soccer seriously and were content with a laid-back team. Moreover, the school soccer team had always been defeated in the first game of the district preliminaries for seven years in a row, which is why it was custom that the team was not aiming to go to the nationals and that all regular spots were only given to upperclassmen first. However, despite the fact that he would not be able to play a game until his upperclassmen graduated, Tetsu was determined to train hard and earnestly. For the following year, by Tetsu's hardworking attitude which contrasted to the other members' attitude, and by encouraging and becoming invested in the members, Tetsu inspired and motivated the team to take practice and soccer seriously, and in the process, it attracted more members. In between that time, Tetsu kept a journal called the "Top Secret Research Notebook", where he documented his soccer career. When their upperclassmen retired, Tetsu was excited to finally get a regular spot and be able to play a real game along with his friends. However, in his second year, Tetsu suddenly quit the soccer team without a word to anyone, much to the members' confusion. The reason for this is that he overheard his father and grandfather discussing his mother's situation, to which he learned that his father Toru wasn't earning enough money to give his children a normal life and keep Akira on life-support in the hospital. Furthermore, Tetsu's grandfather wanted Toru to consider of whether he should or should not take Akira off life-support since he had two sides to look from: a mother who may or may not ever open her eyes again, and three children with a future. When Tetsu learned that his mother might die, he was ready to give up on everything.

Tetsu soon decided that he would not attend college but begin working instead. His reason for this was because their income was tight, but his top and secret priority was that he wanted to save up money for his mother. Although his father was initially strictly against it, he changed his mind on Tetsu's birthday and accepted his request on one condition: through his father's housekeeping agency, Tetsu wouldn't, before his graduation, laze around in the house but work instead. It became a sort of a bet between father and son. Eventually, by the time of his third year, Tetsu picked up several part-time jobs behind his father's back and was also hired at the Karasawa Estate as a housekeeper.

Appearance
Tetsu is a young man with a slim and short build for his age, standing at 162 cm (5'4"). However, he is also considered to be cute and attractive. He has short, slightly spiked and messy peach-colored hair with long, middle-parted bangs which covers his forehead. He has big amber-colored eyes and a beauty mark under his right eye. He is noted to be very similar to his mother, Akira, in terms of appearance.

Personality
Tetsu is a energetic, friendly, straightforward, outspoken young man who is never afraid to speak his mind. He has great resolve, and is furthermore very accepting, open, and a person who can't watch by with someone struggling, which is why he always tries to help anyone in need no matter what. However, he is also frugal and had an obsession with money, to which he was noted to be very greedy. And although Tetsu had been emotional, a crybaby, and easily scared since a young age, he is committed to his goals, always tries to remain his composure and is able to bottle up his fear and act tough for the sake of protecting the ones he cares about.

Furthermore, Tetsu is level-headed, extremely hardworking, independent, and responsible. He never excepts people do to things for him as he does most things on his own without anyone being able to affect his decisions. This hardworking personality stems from his mother being in a coma. Tetsu claims that when his family is in trouble, he will be the one to help them, and when placed on the scale, there is nothing in his life that will outweigh them. Tetsu had also been very quick to make sacrifices for his family's sake, no matter who it would hurt and what consequences it might bring. In fact, Tetsu initially had his eyes set on working rather than going to college, and in desperation to save money, he picked up more than one part-time jobs behind his family's back and initially even became Shizu's friend for the money. Although Tetsu is nosy and always dragged people in his schemes, he was quite secretive as he always took the important decisions by himself and never leaned on anyone for support, including the situation regarding his mother and his soccer team.

However, Tetsu gradually starts seeing the faults in his actions, which this leads to him becoming quite self-deprecating and considering himself as a terrible person. Regarding how he had hurt Shizu, he realizes that just because he himself is in a tough situation, doesn't give him the right to hurt others. However, he begins making amends as he decides to never make the same past mistakes again, as well as better himself as a person. He starts becoming more communicative, as he voices his problems more and feels comfortable confiding and confronting anything to Shizu, his friends, and his family. He doesn't shoulder all of his burden alone and relies on other people. His greed and obsession with money ends, as he gives back all the ample compensation he was earning from his housekeeping job, claiming that his relationship Shizu is not based on money. This also culminates in his decision to stop working so many part-time jobs and to attend college, and as such, his bonds to everyone around him starts to drastically improve, and Tetsu becomes an overall happier person.

Abilities
One of Tetsu's strong points is how hardworking he is, to which he can work for hours without getting tired. He is also a great cook, with several people including Shizu and his family, absolutely loving his meals. He is the one in the family that makes most of the meals and he prepares lunch to his sisters everyday as well. He is also skilled at housework such as basic yard work, cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing, shopping, and organization, which comes in handy in his job as a housekeeper. Moreover, he is noted to be a good teacher.

Furthermore, he is nimble with his hands and since he grew up with two sisters and took on a mother role for them, he has skillfully learned to style his sisters' hair. This skill eventually lead to Tetsu having his own little "hair salon" at school, to where he styles his female classmates' hair in different and unique styles using braids, ponytails, hair-clips, and other tools, for 100 yen.

Trivia

 * Tetsu is afraid of ghosts, occult in general, and is easily scared.
 * Tetsu is nimble with his hands, likes sewing and is good at organization.
 * People often mistakes him for a middle schooler due to his short stature.
 * Tetsu has a sister complex equally to both of his younger sisters, despite their contrasting attitudes towards him.
 * Tetsu has been unaffected by the comments and teasing of his short height ever since his younger sister Ryo got taller than him.
 * According to Mirei, Tetsu appears to have grown a little taller in the last chapters.