Who does Hina end up with in Ao no Hako? She's already turned down the one boy who asked

Ao no Hako (Blue Box) is back on TBS and Netflix with season 2, which premiered October 4, 2026, and Hina's storyline is about to get a lot more crowded. Kouji Miura's manga has been running in Weekly Shōnen Jump since April 2021 and is still going, so the short answer is that nobody knows yet. The long answer is that the manga keeps putting the same two boys in front of her. Big spoilers for the manga ahead.

Hina and Taiki

Anime viewers already know how this started. Hina (voiced by Akari Kitō) has liked Taiki since middle school, she confesses after Chinatsu's team loses at nationals, and Taiki turns her down bluntly. He and Chinatsu become a couple soon after.

The manga doesn't let her move on cleanly. Here's how her timeline with Taiki goes:

• Chapter 206 (August 2025): After a school trip home, Hina admits to herself she still likes him.
• Chapter 218 (November 2025): She kisses Taiki on the cheek, then apologizes over and over and runs off.
• Chapter 219: She tells him she still likes him and leaves.
• Chapter 228 (February 2026): They finally talk it all through. Hina says she enjoyed having a crush on him and will bury her feelings, and they agree to be best friends again.

That chapter 228 talk is as close to a closed door as the series has written. Taiki is with Chinatsu, Hina said goodbye to the crush out loud, and both of them agreed to aim for their futures without regrets.

The boy who asked: Haruto Yusa

The only boy who has openly gone after Hina is Haruto Yusa, a younger badminton player who shows up in chapter 120 as Taiki's rival. His opening move is a terrible one: at the sports festival he mentions he noticed Hina because of her skin-tight gymnastics outfits, and when he tries to apologize in chapter 127, she bonks him on the head and walks away.

He improves. In chapter 151 (June 2024), Haruto tells her his feeling of liking her just "said hello." In chapter 156, he asks her to call him by his first name, and she refuses. He asks again in chapter 163, and she runs off, then comes back to help him repaint his class's set.

Haruto's big romantic ask was for Hina to say "Haruto" instead of "Yusa." She said no twice.

Since then, he's backed off on purpose. In chapter 198 he tells Nina he's being careful around Hina because Hyodo told him he's too impulsive on the court, and Nina tells Hina he might be worth her time. Hina buys him a good-luck charm on her class trip, then denies to a classmate that he likes her. Chapter 228 ends with her spotting Haruto with his friends on the walk home.

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And Kyo?

Some fans were holding out for Kyo, Taiki's best friend, who helped Hina through the first rejection. That ship has sailed. Kyo confessed to Ayame in chapter 231 in February 2026, and she said yes.

So, who?

With Taiki taken and Kyo dating Ayame, Haruto is the only boy still on the board. The manga is clearly setting him up: a rival to Taiki, a guy who apologized for his worst first impression and a slow burn that the side characters keep nudging along.

Season 2 is only four weeks in, and Haruto's chapters are a long way from the anime. He's been asking Hina to use his first name since chapter 156. Whenever she finally does, that's the answer.

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