Hiyori Tono

Hiyori Tono (遠野 日和 Tono Hiyori), is one of the main characters in the third season of the anime series Free!, Free!-Dive to the Future-. He was Ikuya Kirishima's roommate at Shionezaki High School and later attends Shimogami University with Ikuya. Currently, he is portrayed as the main antagonist of the third season given his hostile attitude towards Ikuya's old teammates during his junior high days.

Appearance
Hiyori is a tall, muscular young man with short, brown short hair and olive eyes. He wears black square-framed glasses.

Personality
Hiyori has a gentle and caring personality when around Ikuya. Even outside swim club activities, he is always concerned about Ikuya's wellbeing and tries to take care of him when possible.

He is extremely protective of Ikuya, as seen when he rebuffed Makoto Tachibana, Haruka Nanase, Asahi Shiina and Kisumi Shigino when they tried to reunite with Ikuya.

In a way, Hiyori has a passive-aggressive personality and seems to be a combination of Makoto's caring nature alongside's Sousuke's determination. Like Makoto in the past, he doesn't seem to deeply question Ikuya's emotions and puts him on a pedestal, which can be taxing for the other young man. He bases his actions on Ikuya's wellbeing, much like Makoto doing most things and staying out of others due to consideration and care for Haruka. Like Sousuke in the past, he feels that Ikuya should be protected and shouldn't be friends with 'weak' people who are somewhat his rivals and also "abandoned" him, saying that they will only be a nuisance to Ikuya's rapid growth as a swimmer. This can be compared to Sousuke once cornering Haruka and telling him not to get in Rin's way to success.

He is calm and cool but he does possess selective empathy uptil now. To him, his main concern seems to Ikuya and he doesn't really wish to know the others. In the 4th episode, he also bars Haruka and his friends from meeting Ikuya when they come to Ikuya's university. He seems aloof and states that Ikuya has moved on. Despite the annoyance of Asahi and the shock of the other members, Hiyori brands himself as Ikuya's "best friend." He also calls Haruka and his friends "weaklings" who are wasting Ikuya's potential. he seems ready to cook for Ikuya or do chores for him meaning that he deeply cares for him. Though Ikuya's response for him seems a bit distracted concerning such actions.

He agrees to race with Makoto to gauge if Haruka and everyone can meet Ikuya. When Ikuya messages if they wish to meet and Hiyori declines for the race, we see he is actually unhappy, meaning he usually never declines Ikuya's requests. When he comments that Makoto and the others have arrived early, Asahi said he thought he was going to chicken out. Hiyori countered with 'I keep my promises, unlike you', specifically directing the statement at Haruka, who failed to keep his of racing against Ikuya back in junior high. He wins the race and despite being impressed by Makoto, he says that Ikuya and them shouldn't meet. Then Hiyori casually, with a smile, says that he learned a lot about Haruka. Then with a cold voice and a nonchalant attitude he states that everyone who swims with Haruka suffers and he tears open the stitches of Haruka's old emotional scars cruelly as Haruka is reminded of the pain he'd caused Rin by beating him in a race and the change in Ikuya's attitude towards relays due to the split of their team, which had started with himself quitting the swim club. Makoto, Kisumi and Asahi become highly disturbed Hiyori's statement and get concerned about Haruka's emotional wellbeing.

This suggests that under the veneer of a polite and smiling face, Hiyori can be unquestionably cruel and irresponsible about others' feelings reinstating his selective empathy for Ikuya.

History
Hiyori met Ikuya in America and they became friends. At some point, Hiyori became close friends with Ikuya, and the two were roommates in high school. He is now attending university with Ikuya, and they are part of the university's swim club. Ikuya mentions that he said to Natsuya that he will always watch over Ikuya. And, he follows through with this. Hiyori considers the Iwatobi Middle School Swim Team and Ikuya;s Middle School friends as Ikuya's "weakness" and them as :"weaklings" who cannot compare to Ikuya's swimming genius.

When Asahi pointed out that Hiyori should not talk for Ikuya as they are also friends of Ikuya he states with a veneer of politeness and determination that he is Ikuya's "best friend." Then he says that are Haruka, Makoto, Asahi and Kisumi are still really friends of Ikuya.

Trivia

 * His motif animal is a polar bear.
 * He likes coffee and egg dishes.
 * He likes visiting cafés and reading.