Hana Ikimoto

"We have to go right to the lion's den!" - Chapter Nine

Hana is a close friend of Petunia Elkwood, and she works as a waitress alongside Todd Allison, Norah, and Lacey at the Rainbird Cafe in Melbourne. She has an eye for exciting and dangerous things, which leads her to getting involved in situations she may have not wanted to get caught up in. She's spunky to boot, interested in all things strange and peculiar, and doesn't take "no" for an answer.

Appearance
Hana is a fair-skinned and slim female, who leans on the shorter side, despite having no confirmed height. She has medium-length black hair, often worn down or in, especially in flashback, a ponytail, and black eyes. Hana tends to wear gray eyeshadow and red lipstick. She prefers to dress in colorful and stylish dresses, mostly green ones, and is often seen with a yellow sun hat. At work, she wears a waitress uniform, a plain white dress and a blue apron.

Personality
Hana is an outspoken young woman who is enticed by the crazy and unexplainable, which likely attributes her interest in the Violet bombings and Todd's kidnapping. She's been described as plucky. This is demonstrated whenever she talks Petunia into sneaking into the Parliament House with her to search for clues about the bombings. She goes out of her way to argue with Todd, holding a negative attitude around him, though he does little to sway her opinions of him. Regardless if he is being his usual cranky self, or even when he is extremely pleasant, she still manages to argue with him. However, she holds a fairly nice attitude with Petunia, her best friend, and Norah, her coworker. For most of the first half of the comic, Hana was incredibly intrigued and perky, but she becomes less do during the second half, after she goes to the Parliament House with Petunia. After that event, she is shown to be quite gloomy, but quickly went back to arguing once Todd arrived at work and talked to her.

She also seems to have a sort of "maidenly sense" about her, as she suggested to Petunia that she use that in order to find out why Todd was so bitter at one point, and this sense probably lead her to think that Cyril was a womanizer who "would break any woman's heart", and she came to that most likely truthful conclusion only after a brief conversation with him.

Background
Hana's history is currently very limited. Her family originated from Okinawa, and during her life, her family immigrated to Melbourne. The family set up a clothing boutique, that appear to mainly sell dresses and jewelry, and Hana would sometimes be asked to watch the store. Hana, at some point, became a waitress at the Rainbird Cafe, and met Norah and Lacey. She first saw Petunia, at that time known as Pete, when she stopped in front of Boutique Majestica and gazed at one of the dresses in the window; however, only Hana was aware of her presence. She later formally met her and Todd after they crashed through the Rainbird Cafe's window on a bicycle, in pursuit of a thief. She recognized Petunia right away, even if she had dropped her boyish disguise, and asked to help her catch the thief. After Todd's purse had been returned, she met the two of them and Todd probably became employed there soon after.

History
'''*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! READ WITH CAUTION!*'''

Chapters 1-5
At the start of the story, Hana is raving about her excitement with the new bombing being published in the Morning Star. She claims that Melbourne is the most exciting city of the world, and snaps at Petunia and, more severely, Todd, when they question her judgement about the situation. She becomes frustrated when Todd makes a snarky comeback, and Petunia claims that he always seems to be angry nowadays. Hana puts Petunia up to finding out what's bothering him, because she doesn't want to speak to him other, and suggests that she make use of her "maidenly sense". Petunia later thinks about how Hana thinks that Todd is nothing special, while she herself thinks that he's the only thing interesting in Melbourne.

The day after, she notices that Todd is attempting to sleep at work - given his late night after falling out of his window onto Petunia and a Violet Investigation Unit meeting - and judges that he's ill after he topples over onto a pile of bottles in the kitchen. She then calls for Lacey to send him home.

Chapters 6-10
Hana watches eerily out into the dining area of the Rainbird Cafe, following the warehouse incident, and only breaks out of it when Todd and Petunia walk in. Norah expresses her concern at her state of well-being, and Petunia checks up on her. Norah tells Todd and Petunia that there is a customer looking for them, to which Hana looks on nervously, especially when the pair of them look horrified to learn that it's Cyril, the mercenary. When Todd tries to get away, Hana uncharacteristically tells him that only he can confront him, as she believes that he's a dangerous man who could break the hearts of women, after having a quick conversation with him. Despite Todd's confusion, her words lead him to go along with Cyril's plan to meet up, considering that he wouldn't want Petunia to be with Cyril alone.

The next day, the story of Todd's kidnapping is published in the Morning Star, and she sneaks around the side of the apartment building to listen in. She's there long enough to discover the legitimacy of the story, and convinces Petunia that they should go investigate the Parliament House for clues pertaining to the kidnapping, the Violet Investigation Unit, and the bombings. Once they get inside, they follow around Peter Bentham, one of the politicians involved with the Violet Investigation Unit, until they stumble upon a scene between him and Rousseau. Hana eventually peers into a storage room, and the cards that were given to Parliament from Violet catch her eyes. She seems to recognize something about the cards, and calls out to Petunia who didn't come in with her. She runs out just in time to kick over Rousseau, who is attempting to question Petunia, and she runs out of the building with her. Outside, she and Petunia run into Todd, who asks them why they were at the Parliament House, which Hana retorts with questioning why he was in the Morning Star. When Todd gives Petunia back the pin that Hana gave her, she asks why he had it, only given a vile smirk and a "none of your business" response. She proceeds to yell at him and call him the worst, while Petunia just stands their blushing.

Chapters 11-15
After going to the Parliament House, the events still weigh heavy on Hana's mind, as she appears quite gloomy after Norah tries to talk to her about it, only to return to her more argumentative self when a strangely happy Todd shows up to work, not having been there for a few days. She and Norah tell him that Lacey's been waiting for him, and they peer through the door while Todd gets traumatized by their boss. Once Todd runs out and crashes into them, he yells at them for spying, and Lacey yells at them to get back to work. Norah commends Todd for cheering up Hana after the two of them exchange banter, which Hana becomes embarrassed about. When Landon shows up, the Hana and Norah look on in confusion whenever Todd and Landon exchange conversation.

In the second flashback chapter, Hana first spots Petunia, though disguised as her Pete alias, peering up at one of the dresses in the Boutique Majestica window. She even halts assisting her mother upstairs in order to attempt to watch her, and is disheartened whenever she sees that she's disappeared. Hana doesn't appear again until the very end of the chapter, where she attempts to reprimand a strange man running around behind the work station. After Todd and Petunia crash through the window of the Rainbird Cafe, she recognizes Petunia, now dressed in a skirt and wearing her earrings, and offers to help her deal with the strange man, a purse thief. She successfully knocks him to the ground by throwing her lipstick at him, and she watches as Petunia returns the purse to Todd, and they formally make each other's acquaintances.

Petunia Elkwood
Petunia is Hana's best friend, and is the follower in their relationship. While Petunia is much more timid and soft-spoken than Hana, the two of them care for each other, as Petunia is worried for her when Norah claims that she's distressed by Cyril's presence at the Cafe. Hana seems to be the one who leads the two of them into crazy ideas, as she successfully talked Petunia into going to the Parliament House in order to investigate the current events. This is also shown by Petunia's lack of rising to the bait when Hana talks about the excitement of living in such a dangerous city. Nonetheless, Hana cares very much for Petunia, and was struck by her when she first saw her at the Boutique.

Todd Allison
Todd is Hana's coworker who works at the Cafe, and is often at odds with her. He cares little for the things that she finds exciting, and she despises his cynical attitude. Even whenever one or the other is troubled, they still have their banter between them. The two of them do their best to tolerate one another, and there are hints that they care about each other more than they let on. Todd doesn't dismiss her words of warning about Cyril whenever the mercenary aimed to bring both Todd and Petunia to the Eight Lagoon, and Hana becomes embarrassed when Norah reveals that Todd had cheered her up after he came into work.

Norah
Norah is Hana's coworker who works at the Cafe, and is often the peace-maker between her and Todd. Norah cares about Hana, as she attempts to comfort her after mentioning the Violet Investigation Unit at work, which Hana becomes gloomy about. The two of them have likely been working the longest together, as they both worked at the Cafe before the day that Petunia and Todd collectively rode into their lives. Hana and Norah are probably considered friends, though likely not as close as Hana and Petunia are.

Quotes
''"Another bombing, I can hardly believe it. We live in the most exciting city in the world!" ''(to Petunia Elkwood, Chapter One)

''"Where's the thrill in that? We have to go right to the lion's den!" ''(to Petunia Elkwood, Chapter Nine)

''"Hm, you're lucky you made it out in one piece... Thanks to us!" ''(to Todd Allison, Chapter Fourteen)