Teruki Hanazawa

Teruki Hanazawa (花沢 輝気, Hanazawa Teruki), nicknamed "Teru" (輝), is a second-year student at Black Vinegar Middle School. He was introduced as an antagonist but is now Mob's friend, although he also views Mob as his greatest rival.

Appearance
Teru's school uniform is a purple suit jacket, dark pants with a plaid design, and a white collared shirt with a striped teal tie - the male school uniform of Black Vinegar Middle School. His peers consider him to be very handsome. His eyes usually have a noticeable sparkle in them. His deceptively lean frame hides his very well-defined musculature. Teru's hair is blond in color (as seen in the anime, and white (mentioned to be brown) in color in the manga), and his hairstyle has changed many times throughout the story.

Teru's hair history
Teru's hair has gone through a lot. At first, he appeared with a shaggy head of hair. After trying to push Mob to use his powers with a set of knives, Mob redirected the knives, and he was left bald on the top of his scalp only, resembling an ochimusha. He compensated with a ridiculously tall wig. An encounter with Sakurai's sword abbreviated the haystack and left his head looking normal again, though with much shorter hair than in his first appearance. During the visit Ibogami Hot Springs, it's implied that Teru may still be bald on the top of his head and continues to wear a small wig to cover it. He was again left with a bald scalp during his fight with ???. During the epilogue, he is finally seen with long hair again.

Personality
Before meeting Mob, Teru didn't know any other espers, so he greatly overestimated his own importance and power. This is likely due to Claw only sending artificial espers to try and "recruit" him. He was very popular and often strategically used telekinesis to benefit himself. For example, he threw nothing but strikes the first time he went bowling. He considered himself the main protagonist of the world.

Since his defeat, Teru realizes that the world does not revolve around him, but he is still confident in his strong and diverse psychic powers. He seems to adhere to Mob's policy of not using psychic power against people unless absolutely necessary. He is motivated to stop others from succumbing to pride like he once did, but he is still concerned about his outward appearance and seeks perfection in all his endeavors. He has been known to hold people upside-down and dunk them in a bucket of water until they tell him what he wants to hear. While he is noted to be a good leader, he is shown to have trouble remaining humble, and often still has a confident tone in his voice, which lingers even after his defeat by Mob's hands. The shock of a sound defeat seems to give him a fever, such as when he was defeated by Mob or by Shimazaki.

Teru has grown to care about the other people, demonstrating he is no longer self-centered. This is seen when he attempted to stop Dimple's plan of becoming a god absorbing the energy of plants and he was genuinely angry after realizing he was brainwashing the townspeople. He also possesses immense willpower, being capable of getting free of the brainwashing twice, something that Dimple himself acknowledged and recognized him as a formidable opponent and his biggest threat after Mob.

Teruki Hanazawa Arc


When first introduced, Teru was the shadow leader of Black Vinegar Middle School. He was successful in academics and popular with his peers, especially girls. He defeated Onigawara and other delinquents effortlessly with his psychic power. This continued until Onigawara got Mob involved in a dispute between delinquent groups at Black Vinegar and Salt Middle schools. When Teru had defeated everyone else, Mob stepped in and told him not to use psychic power to hurt people. Teru, driven by his own uncontrollable ego, challenged Mob to use his powers, and at one point, tried to injure Mob using telekinetically moved knives. Still, Mob deflected them all, resulting in the top of Teruki's head being shaved. When Mob points out that Teru is afraid of not being special, he loses control and simply tries to choke Mob, eventually knocking Mob unconscious. A fatal mistake as he ended up unleashing an unknown and powerful psychic force that controlled Mob's body and subsequently demolished his entire school, but not before stripping him naked with telekinesis and throwing him into the sky with the rest of the levitating debris. Teru is heard screaming and pleading for mercy before the shock of defeat makes him finally accept that he is 'just an ordinary person' and learned that using psychic powers to hurt innocent people is wrong. It is mentioned he got a fever for 3 days afterward.

Big Cleanup Arc
Teru met Ritsu shortly after the latter used his psychic power to harm many thugs from the school severely. Teru introduced himself to Ritsu intimidatingly by overwhelming him with his psychic aura. But their meeting was cut short when a sudden wind threatened the structural integrity of his haystack wig, which Teru prevented by holding his wig, allowing Ritsu to escape.

Teru's first encounter with Mob since his defeat occurred when he interrupted Mob's 'date' with Tome to tell him about a fellow Salt Mid esper making trouble nearby. Teru left the scene when he learned the troublemaker was Mob's brother, but he returned after being fetched by Dimple.

7th Division Arc
Teru took the unconscious Mob to his apartment, told him about Claw after the latter awoke, and let him borrow a plaid button-down shirt. They investigated the Awakening Lab, ended up torturing Terada and hijacking his car, and proceeded to invade the 7th Division of Claw.

At the 7th Division facility, Terada escaped and attacked them with his technique, but was quickly defeated by Mob after he sandwiched Terada between two trees with telekinesis. Teru learned the technique and used it to knock out two Claw lackeys. They are then found by Koyama, but Mob easily defeats him in a one-sided battle before the two decide to go their separate ways. Teru beat up a bunch of lackeys and defeated Miyagawa before being subdued by Sakurai and Muraki. He was then held captive in a room that suppressed his powers and was shocked to find Ritsu and Mob joining him as captives. He was more shocked to see the apparent boss of Claw entering the room, and he was extremely shocked when Mob called the man "master". During their escape, he got his haystack wig cut down to normal size by Sakurai.



Teru later started mentoring the five kids from the Awakening Lab and helping them in their training.

Separate Ways Arc
Teru is seen watching TV, while Reigen is in the show.

World Domination Arc


When a Claw member attacked him at his apartment, Teru quickly defeated, captured, and forcefully interrogated him. Teru tried to save the prime minister from his capturer, Shimazaki of the Ultimate 5. Despite Teru's great progress and best effort, he was ultimately no match for Shimazaki's teleportation ability and lost. Teru joined the group led by Reigen to oppose Claw's world domination. He sent cars flying around as decoys, defeated tons of Scars from various divisions, took many a hit from Shimazaki, and eventually turned the tables in the battle, leading to Shimazaki's defeat once Reigen casually approached the virtually blind Shimazaki and threw a bevy of punches at him.

Divine Tree Arc
Teru helped Mob to buy a shirt. Later in his apartment, after he almost got brainwashed after consuming chocolates made of the Divine Tree's powder, Teru decided to chase Psycho Helmet out of the city. During their clash, he discovered that it was Dimple behind everything.

Unfortunately, in the end, he lost to Dimple and was bound by plants in the Divine Tree, seemingly unconscious. When Dimple failed to convince Mob, the latter immediately released Teru from his binds. Just when Mob was about to fight Dimple, Teru places a hand on his shoulder to stop him and tells him to think carefully since not everyone is at a disadvantage because of Psycho Helmet. He then explained that Dimple's actions were not as evil as Mob thought, yet the latter still intended to punish him like a vigilante. Insisting they composed themselves, Teru reasoned that Dimple was simply trying to persuade Mob, and he had the freedom to decline or not. However, since Mob was resorting to brute force, Teru resorted to sneaky coercion by ending their relationship, with Dimple and him. If he dissolved the cult with force, Teru would respond likewise in return. Hypothetically, if Mob defeated Teru, the others would be too angry to let it pass. He then reasoned that everyone would be willing to oppose Mob if it meant protecting something precious to them. This evoked more anger from Mob, prompting Dimple to appear behind Teru, explaining that this was the latter's true feelings and his concern for Mob. Dimple then reminded Mob that everyone's daily lives would remain the same even if Mob backed down. Encouraging him to take his time and to take a hint, he gave Mob a choice to either leave peacefully and keep it like that or stir things up by clumsily intervening.

Mob answered by blasting Dimple's face off, telling him he was tired of talking to a broccoli puppet. He ordered to see Dimple, face-to-face, causing Teru to cry out, demanding what he had done immediately. Now that Mob finally attacked, Teru would not let him talk to Dimple directly anymore. Mob pleaded to let him talk to Dimple, and another broccoli incarnate formed behind him. Dimple said they had been talking for a while, and Mob refused to listen. Annoyed and angry, he destroyed the puppet again, eliciting Teru to tell him not to hurt the Divine Tree. Teru then attacked Mob with a lariat, declaring he was now his opponent.

???% Arc
Teru runs into Mob on the streets, with the latter sharing his troubles on Tsubomi moving. Teru tells him to be confident and gives him the advice to bring her a present.

Later, Teru confronts Mob during his unconscious rampage in the forest. He tries reasoning with his rival, unaware he isn't fully in control. After being blown away, Teru attempts to bind Mob with a psychic-imbued scarf hoping that he will calm down, to no avail. He uses his maximum power psychic barrier, tanking Mob's attacks without fighting back. Even so, the difference in ability is plain, and Teru finds himself easily overpowered. Teru reminds Mob of his own words that espers should never point their powers at people. However, ???% ignores him and throws Teru into a building.

The situation begins to spiral out of control as the destruction grows. The city begins to fall apart around the two, with buildings collapsing and the street breaking into pieces. Teru is ultimately hit with such force that his clothes are blown away, and the top of his scalp becomes bare. He panics, hearing the screaming of citizens caught in the crossfire. Using the limit of his powers, he shields and protects everyone from Mob's rampage, declaring himself as Mob's rival. His struggles manage to mentally awaken Mob before falling unconscious himself.

Epilogue
He accidentally meets Ritsu and Mob and heads with them to Reigen's birthday party.

Powers & Abilities
Teruki is a very powerful esper. In terms of raw power, Teru is still nowhere near Mob's level, but he compensates for this by learning various techniques of applied psychic power and diligently training. Due to this, he is one of the only espers in the world capable of utilizing two techniques simultaneously, and can put up multi-layered barriers. He is also naturally a quick learner and can replicate some techniques just by seeing them a few times. He has a unique pigeon-toed stance when fighting, most noticeable during his fight with Mob. His psychic energy is yellow in color with a tye-dye pattern.

Quotes

 * "A star is shining not because it's being showered in light, but because he who emits light is a star."
 * "I was confident. Against any kind of opponent! But honestly, right now... I'm not so sure anymore..."
 * "Doing this by myself is really too harsh... I wish I had the power to send an entire school building flying..."
 * Catchphrase: "I am a commoner."

Etymology

 * The name Teruki means "brilliance" (輝気).
 * His nickname Teru means "brightness, radiance, shine, sparkle, gleam, twinkle" (輝).
 * Teruki's surname Hanazawa means "flower, blossom" (花) (hana) and "swamp, marsh" (沢) (sawa/zawa).

Notes & Trivia

 * Teru's favorite food is steak, and his least favorite food is raw oyster (due to a bad experience).
 * Apparently, Teru has too many specialties to list.
 * Teru's favorite music is rock, and his favorite movie is "Flying Dead Pig". Reigen also happens to own a poster of this movie.
 * Teru's hobby is going to the cinema, and he has recently got into bicycle touring.
 * Unlike in the manga, Teru has never used the Ethereal Bodies Technique in the anime.
 * Teru's Japanese voice actor, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, voices Hikaru Tokugawa in the anime.
 * Teru has a seagull on his season 2 jersey. Character Designer Yoshimichi Kameda explained his decision behind this; upon turning a seagull upside down, the resulting image resembles someone standing pigeon-toed, much like Teru does in his attack stance.
 * Teru's English voice actor, Erik Scott Kimerer, voices Speed-o'-sound Sonic in ONE's other work One-Punch Man.