About
Suki. Dakara Suki
Suki: A Like Story (Suki: Dakara Suki), is a three volume manga by Clamp. The title literally means "I like you, that's why I like you." It was published in English by TOKYOPOP (although their license has since expired [1]).Suki follows the story of Hinata Asahi (also known as Hina), a child-like teenager who loves teddy bears. She lives alone in her house and early in the story, her new homeroom teacher moves into the empty house next door. Shirou Asou , her new teacher, becomes her first crush and he seems to take an interest in her as well. However, this simple love story grows complicated as Shiro's interest in Hina is put into question as more sinister elements are placed in the story, all while forcing Hinata to grow up at the same time.
Characters
Hinata AsahiAlthough her full name is Hinata, she likes people to call her Hina. Sixteen-year-old Hina gets excellent grades, but is still very naïve and sees the world with child-like wonder and innocence. Hina chooses to live on her own, with two teddy bears named Waka and Tono and her new found friend, a cat. She wants to live on her own to accommodate her father's hectic schedule.
Her father is the chairman of the school and he also owns many businesses. He hires Shirou Asou, a bodyguard, to protect her from another kidnapping attempt (she had been kidnapped nine times before). Because her father always pays the ransom, no matter how large, Hina has been kidnapped many times. She later develops deeper feelings towards Shirou.
Shirou Asou
Seemingly cold and unfeeling, 32-year old Shirou moves into the unoccupied house, next door to Hina's and is also her new substitute teacher. He is actually hired by Hina's father to protect her from another kidnapping. Oblivious to Hina's feelings of love, he (at first) seems to think of Hina as merely another job. He later recognizes her feelings, but he rejects them. He had fallen in love with a client before, but he always feels a pang of guilt whenever he thinks about her. The woman he had fallen in love with before, threw herself into the path of a bullet, sparing his life. Although she survived the blast, she was a diplomatic guest, and later returned to her home country and married.
Touko Shinohara
Hina's best and life long friend, Touko is always looking out for the girl. Touko also is very suspicious about Asou. Many boys like her.
Emi Kishitani
Emi is another friend of Hina's. Opinionated and loud-mouthed, she never gives up the chance to explain how childish and naïve Hina is. Emi's father borrowed a lot of money from Yakuza loansharks and he doesn't have any to repay them. Emi concocts a scheme to help her father kidnap Hina for the ransom that Hina's father is guaranteed to pay. After she is rescued by Shirou, Hina, in her loyalty and naïvete, forgives her and asks her father to loan Emi's family the money that they need. Emi is ashamed of what she's done and is grateful for Hina's forgiveness.
Tomoaki Namiya
Hina calls Tomoaki Tomo-kun, a name that he hasn't been referred to in at least 10 years. Tomo is a famous 21 year old writer. Curiously enough, the genres he writes in are erotica and children's books. Tomo is the writer of Hina's favorite series of children's books, all featuring bears. Like Hina, Tomo has employed a bodyguard to protect him. Also like Hina, he is very carefree and sometimes hard to handle. Later in the story, Tomo writes a series of books that mirror the lives of Hina and Shirou, much like in Chobits, another work by Clamp. The title of this work is Suki.
Masaya Kizu
Kizu is a colleague of Shirou, both having worked with the Secret Police. Now employed as Tomo's bodyguard, for reasons unexplained in the book (but it was implied that the circumstances are similar to Hina's).
