平和 - Heiwa/Heizuha
heikazu/heizuha, also sometimes known as heiwa, is the pairing of the characters heiji hattori and kazuha toyama from detective conan.
heiji and kazuha are childhood friends, like 98% of the relationships in detective conan. in a way, on the surface level, their friendship isn't that different from shinichi and ran's: they fight a lot, but they ultimately care about each other. the difference that makes me crazy about them is in the details.
HISTORY
it's established from the very start that kazuha loves heiji: that fact is the entire reason for her first appearance in episode 118. when hanging out with heiji, ran feels a threatening presence nearby- obviously kazuha. eventually, she shows up and makes her dislike for ran clear, mistaking her for "kudo", heiji's best friend (that he can't seem to stop talking about, to the point kazuha believes 'kudo' is a woman...). she somewhat relaxes after she learns that ran is in fact just ran, and kudo is just another detective freak. however, she stays on guard the whole time she's with ran, and this behaviour keeps going for a few of her next appearances. she even boasts about the good-luck charm she's given heiji when they were kids: it contains a piece of metal taken from handcuffs that they'd both gotten stuck in when playing around as young kids, and she's entirely convinced that it's protected and saved his life more than once, and that no one else could ever care for him quite that much.
the difference is appaling: kazuha is crazy jealous of any pretty girl that approaches her childhood friend, regardless of the reason and regardless of heiji's constant reassurance. she assumes anyone who befriends heiji can and should be considered a love rival, and behaves herself in a manner that makes this fact very clear.
however, there's absolutely a reason for this crazy possessiveness. it's not just that she's really really in love (even though she is), or just naturally like that. and it's not even that difficult to figure out:
it's because heiji is an idiot. he's an idiot who will let anyone get a little too close because he's oblivious to people's intentions and feelings for him, and all kazuha can do to prevent a disaster is follow him everywhere like he could be stolen away anytime. a good proof of that is in movie 21, the crimson love letter, where a (real) love rival for kazuha, momiji ooka, gets introduced, and shows clear interest in him... more than kazuha ever dared to show herself. heiji doesn't seem to realize nor care about it, but because of that, he doesn't set any boundaries with her.
in recent chapters, it can be seen kazuha's losing her fire. she's starting to believe heiji's got no interest in her, and her feelings will never be noticed by him. (after 1000 chapters of pining, i can certainly understand...) however!!!!!! it does not mean at all that heiji's uninterested. actually...
heiji starts the show out blissfully unaware of kazuha's feelings, as well as his own. he absolutely and deeply cares about her, and there's many scenes to show that: for example, in episode 223, kazuha tries to save heiji from falling off a cliff by sacrificing herself. he ends up immediately jumping off to rescue her, and manages to catch both her and a tree branch. kazuha quickly notices the branch is starting to crack, and heiji can't hold on much longer, so she decides right away, without a single doubt, that she'll sacrifice herself so that heiji can survive, using a sharp weapon to stab the hand holding hers in order to force him to let go. yet, despite his wound, he still doesn't let go of her hand, and says his iconic line: if ya let go, i'll kill ya!
aside from being the scene that made me fall in love with their relationship, it was also the first scene that showed the full extent of heiji's feelings for kazuha. but of course, it'd be too easy if he realized his feelings just a couple hundred of episodes in: he actually takes 200 more episodes to show any actual sign of romantic love for kazuha.
in episode 407, a murder occurs while the lights go out in a magician's mansion. kazuha, who's standing near the magician when the lights go out, tightly grabs onto him until the lights go back on and the investigation starts. heiji asks her to describe her position at the time of the murder, and she holds onto the magician again. heiji suddenly starts looking very displeased with the situation, and tries to get kazuha to stop touching the other man so much. she takes it personally and they argue about it, and it becomes clear to both ran and conan that they're both idiots. heiji continues snapping at kazuha anytime he notices her acting too close to that same guy, and he laments to himself that he simply doesn't understand why he feels so very frustrated seeing her like that, despite conan's very obvious hints.
the episode ends pretty much as expected: conan rats out on him, telling kazuha heiji feels frustrated seeing her with other men, but when asked to explain, heiji simply assumes it's because kazuha's his very good friend.
kazuha tries to confess her feelings to heiji in the following episodes, but unsurprisingly, every attempt ends up failing miserably. heiji stays completely and entirely oblivious to kazuha's feelings, and she starts to actually lose hope the one time she manages to get the words out, but heiji doesn't stick around long enough to hear them. that time was officially her last attempt at confessing.
350 episodes. it took 350 episodes, since episode 400, for heiji to realize his feelings. that means 600 episodes since their first appearance together, 763 episodes officially.
in episode 764, interestingly titled 'conan and heiji, code of love', heiji spies on kazuha from afar in the city center while she's meeting with a man he suspects of being a drug dealer. he tries to find out who he is with conan's help over the phone. kazuha, however, acts so naturally nice and sweet with the man that heiji can't help but feel bothered about it. despite conan's many attempts to calm him down and force him to focus on the case, heiji completely loses it when he witnesses kazuha getting taken away by a group of men, and she tries to fight them off. his first reflex is to run up to the man she'd been hanging out with, assuming him to be their leader, and grab his collar, yelling in his enraged state, "watcha doin' to my kazuha?!"
kazuha witnesses the entire scene, and yet heiji vehemently denies the fact when the case is done with and it is made apparent kazuha was meeting with a friend, not a drug dealer. she tries to get it out of him again, but he refuses: he'll only confess if she gives him proof of his own words. kazuha is forced to give up and accept that she might have dreamt the whole thing, and heiji feels very satisfied with himself.
he's very satisfied, because now that his feelings are real and very clear to him, there is one thing left to do: confess to her, and make her his girlfriend. however, a few hundred episodes back, shinichi had confessed his own feelings for ran in a terribly dramatic way, under big ben in london. heiji being heiji, he refuses to confess in a less spectacular way. over the next episodes, he tries to find a moment in some cool locations and romantic atmospheres to tell her his feelings, but they get comically interrupted each and everytime. once, the national army itself drops in from their helicopters in the middle of his speech. it makes no sense but it is kind of hilarious.
he goes as far as trying to kiss her once, in episode 983, but the kazuha that was present in that episode was the phantom thief kaitou kid in disguise. (evidently the closest we'll ever get to any lgbt action in detco.) kazuha never even ends up knowing that heiji tried to kiss her, and they go on as usual after that.
as of today (19/11/22), there still hasn't been any significant progress in their relationship. heiji tries to confess his feelings but is interrupted each and everytime, and kazuha is completely pessimistic about their future. it's certainly a dark time for the pair. gosho aoyama himself, in the omake for volume 100, admits that he has no idea how to conclude this confession arc, and a voice-over laments 'hopefully it'll happen before volume 200', which is a terrifying statement i will soon erase from my own mind.
heizuha shippers have a mind of steel, that they use extensively for the sole purpose of ignoring the fact their favorite couple has barely even gotten to hold hands, let alone kiss, despite it having been 25 years since their first appearance on television. kazuha is regularly treated as a background character, and it doesn't help that heiji seems to have a scary obsession with one-upping shinichi that causes him to waste more and more time in admitting his feelings to his childhood friend.
something very important to note about their relationship, is that heiji's behaviour is actually entirely justified by a single, very simple fact. if heiji is wasting so much time, if heiji gets so annoyingly jealous about anyone approaching kazuha, it's because kazuha has never shown interest in anyone else. she's always been heiji's childhood and closest friend, the one he goes to eat okonomiyaki with twice a week, the one he invites to his kendo tournaments every now and then, the one who tags along whenever he's got a case on his hands, the one who prays for his safety whenever needed. kazuha has never tried to leave heiji's side, and so heiji's behaviour is entirely caused by the fact he takes her completely for granted. if he tries to force her away from other men, if he calls her "my kazuha" by complete reflex, it's because he actually does believe she's already his, and has always been. gosho aoyama has confirmed that heiji was well-aware of the nature of kazuha's feelings towards him, though it's not said how long he's known for. knowing that fact makes him feel safe enough to take his time confessing, instead of kazuha's past hurried and panicked confessions.
from kazuha's side, though, it's way more complicated: heiji is a stupidly popular high school detective whom everyone admires in a way or the other. he's also insanely oblivious to any form of flirting that comes from randos. if anything, it'd be easier for him to decide she's not worth his time anymore and leave her behind. obviously, the insecurities caused by that fact have made kazuha terribly jealous and snappy, something that heiji actually complains about in early episodes.
all we can do is pray...........
