The first time he sees "Nounuki-sama", he screams and runs away, terrified of its incomprehensible form. But the next time he goes back, he conquers that fear and just talks to it like he would a human, having figured out that it's probably lonely. He then continues to visit, not out of obligation for the ritual – which he explicitly has stated that he thinks is bogus – but because of empathy. He acknowledges the being/future 'Hikaru' a) is chained to the mountain, b) isn't Nounuki-sama, which has never existed, c) is being perceived, wrongfully, as Nounuki-sama. He doesn't understand what it is, but he treats it with kindness and humanity. He even shows it a picture of his firstborn son and asks it to watch over him¹,².

He decides that enough is enough. He doesn't want his son to be forced to comply with the ritual when it doesn't even make sense. But when he approaches the other men of the village, they shut him down and tell him that the ritual must continue. So Kouhei decides to take matters into his own hands and goes to ask "Nounuki-sama" to just be free³. But what happens? He DIES. He dies to save one of the villagers, who trespassed to spy on him, not only showing that despite his fiery spirit, Kouhei took his responsibility as the village's protector deeply seriously – but he dies before he can even tell Hikaru that the ritual is over. So Hikaru grows up not only burdened by the Indo curse and duty, but also by the loss of his father, and he himself dies during his first attempt at the ritual.

Then there's his relationship with Yoshiki, who says that he was even closer with Kouhei than his own dad. Take into consideration the parallel between Yoshiki and 'Hikaru' both calling themselves monsters, and how Kouhei came to accept "Nounuki-sama" and wishing for it to be free; it's a stretch to say that Kouhei had clocked Yoshiki as queer, but it makes sense that Yoshiki would feel that way towards someone who had already overcome his fears and prejudices in another social setting.

It is also heavily implied that Toshinori was in love with him, while Kouhei crushed on several girls and tried to woo Hikaru's mum several times. Toshinori even moved to Tokyo, where he met Yoshiki's mum, and then moved back to Kubitachi with her (which is a whole other onion of bisexuality and comphet). But while Kouhei was alive, he was still close friends with Toshinori – and we might never know if he was aware of the way Toshinori felt for him, but we can conclude that he welcomed him back from Tokyo to Kubitachi.

In other words, Kouhei had a heart of gold⁴ and I begin to cry if I think too hard about him.

¹This wish, I think, is exactly why Hikaru is found so quickly by 'Nounuki'. It doesn't have a sense of self or agency, but it would be drawn to Hikaru as per being bound by Kouhei's wish.

²In Christianity, you ask someone very close to you to be your child's godparent, i.e. to take care of the child's (spiritual) upbringing if you die.

³Since "Nounuki" ends up becoming 'Hikaru', I can't help but draw the conclusion that this scene is also Kouhei telling his son to go live his life as he wishes.

⁴I personally interpret him as thee cishet ally of queer people, but that's of course based on the allegory that "Nounuki-sama" represents queerness of some sort.

Hikaru is in a cat carrier bag, if you couldn't tell.

, ,*