I want to go through whether it’s possible that Hiyori/Komurasaki has romantic feelings for Zoro.
First, let’s address Komurasaki vs Hiyori.
So apparently they aren’t specifically different people like a Good Pudding vs Evil Pudding situation, she’s basically the same person morally supposedly but with a different attitude so her expressions as Hiyori aren’t less relevant than her expressions as Komurasaki, in fact it could be the other way around but that’s yet to be confirmed.
Next we address Komurasaki vs Kyoshiro.
The nature of their relationship(which definitely exists) is unknown and Kyoshiro is sort of poised to have a lot of power over her as her employer and apparent caretaker at one point so that can influence whether there’s something deeper/romantic but the verdicts out on that. Besides, she’s also allowed to like more than one person so it doesn’t matter that much regarding whether she likes Zoro too unless she’s hyper-monogamous.
Next. Let’s over analyze some interesting interactions between Komurasaki and Zoro.
We’ll start with this exclamation about the Three Sword Style. I think this only exists to show that Komurasaki is realising that Zoro is an outsider since nobody uses such a ridiculous technique in Wano and especially not anyone strong enough to beat Kamazou or else that person would’ve been famous and she would’ve heard of them.
This second exclamation, when she sees Zoro defeating Kamazou, is more interesting. The Sound effects at the bottom of the panel are “Doki Doki” or “Bathump Bathump”. For all you Romance manga readers out there, you know this basically means “excitement”. Up next is this scene where she grabs Zoro when he’s leaving to fight Gyukimaru which can be read in two ways.
She’s either very compulsive(which she is, given the whole slapping Orochi thing) or very tactless with her expressions of affection. I vote the former on this one since her job(as a courtesan) dicatates that she must be anything but tactless with regards to social customs especially romantic expressions.
Now given how I said above that she must be very aware of social behaviors given her job as a courtesan, it is highly unlikely that she isn’t aware of the fact that she’s putting her hand on Zoro’s lap here when they are discussing the allies.
And then the coup de grace with her “laying” with Zoro. This is deliberate of course as she admits herself and given how Toko also ended up in this scenario I would say she wasn’t lying about it being cold
But of course she doesn’t leave the cuddling situation alone without flirting by adding an innuendo and sneakily asking Zoro whether he’s interested in her as well.
So with that we have a very good outline of a properly progressing something. She notices Zoro, gets excited by his strength, does something compulsive to supposedly keep him out of harms way, makes deliberate gestures of affection by touching his lap, finds an excuse to have excessive bodily contact with him and actually asks if he’s interested in her. Wow, if only Oda made Zoro give a damn, this would be grounds for actual good romance writing.
*by ImmaIvanoM
