Hiyori Tono

Hiyori Tono (遠野 日和 Toono Hiyori) is a main character in the anime series Free! beginning with Free!-Dive to the Future-. He is Ikuya Kirishima's closest friend and top supporter, other than Ikuya's older brother, Natsuya Kirishima. Currently, he is a first-year university student at Shimogami University and a skilled backstroke swimmer in the Shimogami University Swim Club.

Appearance
Hiyori is a tall, muscular young man with hazel eyes and short, auburn hair. He wears large, square corrective lenses. He is also seen wearing the standard Shimogami University uniform, as well as a variety of casual clothing.

Personality
He has an overprotective nature when it comes to Ikuya, but is generally upbeat and supportive when with him. However, when addressing Ikuya's former junior high swim team members, he is brash and outspoken, though his barbs are often said in a calm manner and with a disarming smile. Over the course of season 3, Hiyori comes to terms with his negative feelings and becomes friends with Haruka Nanase, Makoto Tachibana, Asahi Shiina and Kisumi Shigino.

History
When Hiyori is very young, he is often left on his own while his parents are at work. Being shy, he doesn't approach others and one of the few people who speaks to him is a girl named Tomo while he is playing in the sandbox. Kaede Kinjou also approaches him and continues to maintain an unsettled relationship with him, as seen in Free!-Road to the World- the Dream.

Hiyori attends junior high school in America, where he becomes friends with Ikuya. Upon returning to Japan, they attend Shionezaki High School and are members of the swim team. They are currently fresmen at Shimogami University and teammates in the Swim Club.

When Natsuya begins travelling as a professional swimmer, he tasks Hiyori with looking after Ikuya, whose health is fragile. Hiyori takes this responsibility seriously and protects Ikuya in every way possible from both physical and emotional upset. He considers Ikuya's former teammates from the Iwatobi Junior High School Swim Club to be unworthy "weaklings" who can not compare to Ikuya's swimming genius. Thus, he has no problem being abrupt with Haruka, Makoto and Asahi, forbidding them to see Ikuya despite their genuine desire to make amends for their past disbanding of the junior high team without an explanation.

At one point, Haruka bets that if he can beat Hiyori in a swimming race, he must allow them to meet with Ikuya. Hiyori agrees, however, Makoto races in Haruka's place since Hiyori and he are both backstroke experts. Hiyori wins the race and although the former teammates assume Hiyori will relent, he does not and, in fact, Hiyori insults Haruka saying, "everyone who swims with you suffers."

Eventually, each one of Ikuya's past friends find a way to make amends with him and Ikuya realizes his folly in keeping himself closed off from everyone. Ikuya also apologizes to Hiyori, acknowledging their friendship and asking to swim with him as a member of their university's medley relay team. Following the All-Japan Invitational, where Ikuya and Natsuya face-off in a race with Ikuya winning and Natsuya congratulating him, Natsuya apologizes to Hiyori for burdening him unduly with Ikuya's care. With the burden removed from the young swimmer, Hiyori relaxes and feels comfortable allowing Ikuya to spend time with his former friends, coming to spend time with them, too.

Trivia

 * His motif animal is a polar bear.
 * He likes coffee and egg dishes.
 * He likes visiting cafés and reading.
 * In episode 31, it is suggested that Hiyori's parents left him alone too often, being busy with work since he was young.
 * At a staff talk event for Free!–the Final Stroke–, one of the character designers discussed the main characters' body types in terms of musculature. Hiyori was listed as being "type 4:" noticeably muscular, but still not quite as large/strong as the final two types.