Ho Yay / Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!

Given how there's no female character in sight in a Cast Full of Pretty Boys, this was inevitable.

En/Atsushi

• The anime starts with them taking a bath together in a public bath. And episode 2 implies that it's been their routine. Best friends, taking bath together as a routine? Hmmm...
• Episode 7:
  • They have a courage test and the way Atsushi walks beside En makes him look like he is En's girlfriend. And then En trips over, grabs Atsushi by the waist, and says that Atsushi is too thin.
  Atsushi: Wait, could he really...?
  En: Crap! I should totally not have said that!
• Episode 8:
  • En is controlled by the Monster of the Week, but the lines he says that he wants Atsushi to go away and then care about him more sounds like typical Tsundere lines.
  • En is jealous because Atsushi didn't put emoticons in his email as much as he did in emails send to Yumoto. How did En know this? Because he occasionally checks Atsushi's phone like a possessive lover.
  • En can recognize Atsushi from the sound of his footsteps.
  • En carrying Atsushi bridal style to save him like a Damsel in Distress.
  • They are both finally affected by the monster, holding hands, and with a pinkish-white aura around them. They face each other as the red tint in their eyes dissipates to show they're no longer affected by the monster, and they attack it in perfect synch.
  • "Give me back my can't-be-bothered, listless En-chan!"
• Actually, they often position themselves beside or facing each other, and react with the same expression even before that episode.
  • They also blush around each other quite a bit.
• "Well to me Atsushi, you're basically air," quoth En in Episode 9. (This has also come up in the game.)
• Season 2, Episode 9 has Atsushi giving En chocolate for Valentine's Day. It's mentioned that he does this every year.
• In the live-action stageplay, the Defense Club rehearses for a play (that they got dragged into). En plays the knight, and Atsushi plays the princess. They kiss as part of the script.

Io/Ryuu

• Episode 3:
  • We all know that Io is The Scrooge and won't do anything that is not profitable for him, but in this episode he says: "[The Pretty Boy contest] won't rack that much money to me, but if it's Ryuu, I'll give my all."
• Episode 6:
  • Akoya tells the Defense Club that they will be disbanded if their average score is below the average school score. After Io tells Ryuu that he already scored quite high above average, Ryuu clasps his hands and has a heart mark beside him like a girl in love.
  • After Ryuu is captured by the Monster of the Week, Io immediately transforms, punches the monster across the yard, and proclaims that "No one can touch Vesta!"
• Episode 7:
  • Io is angry because someone is using his toothbrush without his consent and he thinks of a kind of indirect kiss. After a long debate, Atsushi points it out that he's never seen Ryuu with any girl, and asks if he has feelings for Io. Ryuu initially denies it, but then Io asks him if it was him, as if he was fine if it was Ryuu (complete with blushing and sparkly background. ) Ryuu replies under the same conditions.
  • See the En/Atsushi folder, where the way Atsushi walks beside En suspiciously looks like that he's En's girlfriend? Ryuu did the same thing with Io. On top of that, he's even Security Clinging to Io and muses that if he was with a girl, she'd be the one clinging to him like that.
• Io and Ryuu, too, often position themselves beside or facing each other like En and Atsushi do, and have the same expressions on many occassions.
• Season 2 episode 6 has Ryuu and Io sulking after they got into an argument. What was the argument about? It was about how each tried to get each other to admit how amazing they were and both got upset because both thought they were not as good as the other. When their fellow classmates made fun of them, they tried to defend each other only for both to deny the other's compliments hence what started their argument. Sickeningly Sweethearts in effect, anyone?
  En, after he and Atsushi held Io and Ryuu back: "Are those backhanded compliments? Or do you actually both think the world of each other?"
  Io and Ryuu, simultaneously: "Yes, I do!"
  Ryuu: "It's just that he..."
  Io: "You..."
  Io and Ryuu, simultaneously: "...won't admit it!"

• Season 2 episode 9 has Ryuu giving Io chocolate on Valentine's Day, much like Atsushi and En. Io blushes when he accepts it.

Kinshiro/Atsushi

• The ED, where for a few seconds two small boys can be seen lying on a hillside looking at the stars. In episode 4, this is confirmed to be small!Kinshiro and small!Atsushi.
  • The ED is called "I Miss You by 3 Metres." Most fans think its from Kinshiro's perspective about Atsushi.
    • In episode 11, it was confirmed to be about Atsushi and Kinshiro. Instead of playing the normal ED, they used a later part of the song.
    • Some relevant lyrics: "I miss you, these feelings of love and heartache, will they not reach you?" "There are 3 meters connecting you and me. It's an unkind distance. But even so, if I can see your smiling face, then I will still carry these warm feelings."
• At the end of chapter 5, Kinshiro blushes furiously and screams, "Stop messing about!" to Atsushi. What had Atsushi been doing prior to this? Massaging En's shoulders.
• Kinshiro's character song is pretty much all about Atsushi.
• Kinshiro seems very jealous of En's relationship with Atsushi. In one episode he glared at En as he walked by, and in episode 8 he smirked when he heard Atsushi and En were fighting.
• Episode 11 reveals that Kinshiro and Atsushi aren't friends anymore is because Atsushi went to eat curry with En after school one day instead of going home with Kinshiro. Kinshiro hates both curry and Atsushi as a result, especially since it's also revealed that the wish he made when they were young was that they'd be friends forever. As of episode 12 however, their friendship is rekindled in a heartwarming and adorable fashion.
• In episode 12 Atsushi pushes Kinshiro out of the way of a falling tower, suffering an injury to his back in the process. Later, Kinshiro has an outburst because despite how he's treated Atsushi, Atsushi still thinks of him as a friend. Cue Kinshiro blushing furiously and Ryuu telling Atsushi to take Kinshiro into his arms.
• In the manga (chapter 7), Aurite falls off the roof and Epinard saves him despite Cerulean's protest that Aurite is an enemy of theirs. Unfortunately, the blur is at work so they can't see each other's faces.
  • And in chapter 9, Arima walks unexpectedly into the council office only to find Kinshiro staring out the window at Atsushi and En, weepy-eyed.
• Just look at the adorable-yet-not-completely-innocent cover art for the 5th DVD. It's both cute and slightly suggestive.
• This beautiful official art◊ with Kinshiro and Atsushi looking at the stars together in the present day. Their arms are linked and they both look very happy.
  • The magazine that published the artwork referred to it as "romantic stargazing."
• Season 2 has started laying it on pretty thick. The two blush and stutter around each other in the bath, while everyone else gives them space so they don't ruin the atmosphere. Then there's the fact that Kinshiro is leaving to study abroad and everyone treats it like Atsushi's significant other is going away...
• The Oedo Onsen Monogatari promotion commercial had both of them share a moment with each other, complete with sparkles, blushing, and Yumoto holding a heart over the scene.
• The last episode of season 2 has the other characters refer to the events of season 1 as Kinshiro and Atsushi having a lover's quarrel.
• The OVA promotional image has Kinshiro, Atsushi, En, and Arima walking off together. Atsushi has a hand on En's shoulder, not too subtextual there, but Kinshiro is walking with Atsushi arm in arm and very closely.

Io/Akoya

• It's mentioned that Akoya doesn't like Ryuu for some reason. Considering the Ship Tease he has with Io, it could be that Akoya is jealous of Ryuu for being Io's friend.
• Episode 6 where Akoya singles out Io as the next candidate for the student council.
• Episode 7 where Io takes a leaf out of Akoya's hair and the pink-haired boy blushes.

Haruhiko/Akihiko

• Virtually any time they appear on screen, they hug each other, hold hands and generally spend time very close to each other. Not to mention, their duet song◊ and the ending are pretty suggestive...

Others

• Episode 7 was a fest for the shippers. There was En/Kinshiro with En throwing himself at Kinshiro to catch the 'molester'. Doesn't help that En comments how nice Kinshiro smells fresh out of the bath while he's still on top of him...
• Also in episode 7, Ryuu/Akoya in the exact same position as the above with Akoya's bathing robe almost falling off of him.
• Argent takes a monster attack for Aurite in chapter 7 of the manga.
• Yumoto gets the most general Ho Yay of the series, a drag queen once flirted with him, during Episode 10, the other members of the Defense Club and members of other clubs called him cute, and he was called "my sweet honey" by the ballet club adviser early in the series.
• It's become apparent that the Beppu twins, Haruhiko in particular, have a crush on Gora, and they're willing to try and kill Yumoto to get him out of the way.

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