On the subject of "White Knights"...

[Oddball]

Hanako still needs hep sometimes. That much is fairly obvious, but what quite a few people don't understand is that she doesn't need help all the time. The fact that she has trouble with some situations doesn't means she wants to avoid them completley.

For a quick early example, Hanako seemed to enjoy helping Lilly's class work on their festival sign, but she had problems approaching the class and actually offering to assist them. This is where she needed a bit of help. Sadly, I think there are quite a few people that would have just thought Hanako should wait in the hall while Hisao checks the class to see if Lilly was there for her.

[Guest Poster]

The most obvious example is the city trip immediately after Lilly leaves. Hisao realizes walking through a crowded city in broad daylight would be hell for Hanako, but he wants to leave the decision with her, so he asks her and is surprised when she immediately says yes, no stammering, no hesitating. Turns out walking through a crowded street in broad daylight IS hell for Hanako, but she still enjoys spending time with Hisao which she'd be denied if the trip had been canceled just because of her difficulty with crowds.

The trick isn't pretending Hanako has no problems at all.She does, she does need help with them and fairly frequently at that. If Hisao had invited Hanako over to the city and then after getting off the bus, he'd be like: "Okay, I'm sure you're strong enough to walk through the crowd with me without clinging to me", she probably would have taken the next bus back or have a breakdown. But most of the time, if Hanako really wants something she has trouble with, she'll ask for help. It's not like you don't need to protect her or allow her to hide behind you, it's just the initiative for that kind of thing should always be left with her.

[ThistlewickVII]

I think the rule for Hanako is if she asks for help (not necessarily with words, but with actions, expressions etc.),
She needs help. Otherwise, she's strong enough to do it herself.

[Mahorfeus]

I always saw the problem as being the fact that Hanako never responded to Hisao's patronization until it was too late, at which point she blew up at him. It's true that Hisao shouldn't have coddled her the way he did, but he can't be entirely put at fault. Hanako failed to convey her feelings to him, and more so to Lilly. The closest she gets to this is at the jazz club, but even then she doesn't come across as annoyed.

[Guest Poster]

Well, the not-patronizing-rule should be common sense, though as mentioned before it's difficult to look at Hanako and not want to pick her up, take her home and hug her like an orphaned kitten.

But yeah, it wasn't just Hisao messing up. Hanako's shyness and inability to be upfront about her misgivings is also a major contributor to the misunderstandings between them. Both messed up. Which is one of the themes of the route...Hanako and Hisao are extremely alike; they both mess up, they both make mistakes, they both come to incorrect conclusions about the other, they drag each other down and end up picking each other back up.