Ichihona

"Thank goodness, you finally smiled. [...] Honami... I really want all four of us in this band. And I want to see you smile like that more. I want to laugh more together. Can we be together again, one more time?"

- Ichika to Honami in Leo/need's Main Story Chapter 18

Ichihona is the femslash ship between Ichika Hoshino and Honami Mochizuki from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Ichika and Honami are both members of the band Leo/need, along with Saki Tenma and Shiho Hinomori. Ichika is in charge of vocals and guitar, and Honami is the drummer of the band. Ichika and Honami were childhood friends who played music together, but their relationship became strained during middle school. However, they eventually became friends again during the band's main story. They are both second-year students and classmates at Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy.

Ichika seems stoic and serious at first, however she is a quiet, modest, and kind girl who is always thinking about her friends. But according to Honami, she just doesn't always communicate very well. While Honami is also kind with a motherly nature, she's said to be nice towards everyone, and always takes their feelings into consideration.

Main Story
The Leo/need main story starts off with Ichika reminiscing her memories with her childhood friends. She remembers the four of them watching the shooting stars after their first time playing together as a band, thinking they would always be together. This then cuts to Ichika in the present time in Class 1-C of Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy. During her English class, she gazes out the window to find Honami at the courtyard with a sketchbook, assuming that she has art class. At that moment, Honami also turned to find Ichika looking at her. Their eyes only met for a moment, with both of them quietly calling each other's name. When Saki returned from the hospital not long after, Ichika's distance with Honami is emphasized further when she referred to her as "Mochizuki-san in Class B" to Saki.

When Ichika, Saki, Honami and Shiho all entered the Classroom Sekai together, where they met Hatsune Miku and were told to be the place their feelings are gathered. The band of estranged childhood friends played a song together with Miku. After the session, Ichika was momentarily hopeful that she could be together with Honami and Shiho again. However, this was quickly crushed, as the two of them denied Saki's offer to forming a band together.

With Miku telling them not to give up, Ichika and Saki begin their mission to recruit the two estranged friends for the band. After separating with Saki on their way home, Ichika thought about the incident with Shiho during middle school, and as she was beginning to think of Honami, they coincidentally ran into each other in front of a bakery shop at the street. Ichika notices her holding an apple pie, then asked if the whole bag she was holding only had apple pies. Embarrassed, Honami admits to that but tells Ichika not to tell anyone. Ichika continues the conversation with her by mentioning how Honami has always liked apple pies. Then proceeds to mention how she's formed a band with Saki and once again invited Honami, which she was rejected once again before they part ways. Later that evening, Ichika remembers the days in middle school when she would find Honami eating lunch alone. Even though she noticed something was wrong, she couldn't do anything as Honami insisted that everything was fine, and that she didn't need to worry about it. Ichika then thought that if she had just done something back then, maybe their relationship would not be like this.

Later on in the story, Shiho would eventually join the band with Ichika and Saki. However, the process of that also took a toll on Saki's health. Concerned about Saki not coming to school, Honami was standing in front of Class 1-C, where Ichika arrives and updates her on Saki's condition. The two of them continue to have a friendly conversation, until Honami became stunned at Ichika's comment that being able to talk like this once again "makes her really happy". Once again, Ichika attempts to invite Honami to their band, this time expressing more concern whether Honami just didn't want to be with them anymore. Ichika blames herself for not reaching out to Honami when she needed her, Honami retorts that it wasn't her fault at all. The flashback then shows Honami's classmates talking behind her back, albeit not attempting to hide from her very much. When Ichika approach her, she would later end up being dragged into these gossips as well. Noticing that, Honami distanced herself from Ichika, telling her to not talk with her anymore just as Ichika was inviting her to the new bakery. Cutting to present day, Honami expresses her fear of being talked behind her back like in the past, wanting to get along with her classmates. The conversation ends as soon as Honami hears her classmates looking for her.

In the final chapters of the story, Saki talks with Honami to let her know that she won't be inviting Honami to join anymore so that she could be happy with her classmates. She comes back to Ichika and Shiho, crying, which prompted Shiho to also go talk to Honami and, unable to find the right words, Shiho ended up telling her she's had enough as well. Witnessing the two friends growing more apart from Honami, Ichika discusses with Miku about how she's still thinking about wanting the four of them to be together but hasn't done anything. Miku reassures that she's found her true feelings, with Luka mentioning that Honami's feelings are also in this Sekai, which Ichika notices is in the form of a star chart.

The next day, as Honami mumbles to herself about wanting to see the stars, she was greeted by a determined Ichika who asks her if they could talk later. After school, Ichika takes her to the rooftop of the Classroom Sekai, where Honami is awed by the beautiful starry sky which she had never seen before. As Ichika begins to talk about their childhood memories, Honami listens quietly. When Ichika mentions Saki and Shiho not being able to remember constellations, Honami lets out a genuine laughter. Ichika says she's glad to finally make her smile and mentions that she wants her to smile and laugh like that together once again. Concerned over all the things she's done to protect herself from being disliked by anyone else, Honami asks in tears if it's really okay to be with them again. Ichika reassures her that all three of them also still want to be with her, and at that moment Saki and Shiho also arrives at the rooftop, where the four of them have a touching reunion together.

Intersecting Melodies, Illuminating Warmth
The event starts off with Ichika working in the class representative committee with the second-year senior, Mafuyu Asahina. Mafuyu notices Ichika's restlessness during the work, it turns out that she was looking forward to buying a limited CD. Understanding that, she lets her go. This is when Ichika also ran into Kanade Yoisaki, a friend in Mafuyu's music circle and Honami's housekeeping client who gave up the last CD to Ichika. Later on in the event, Honami would find out that the person Ichika has been feeling guilty over being given the last CD was her client. Knowing that Ichika wanted to meet her once again, Honami requested Kanade and arranged a meet-up, thanking Kanade in advance for willing to meet with her "precious friend".

Ichika, Honami, Kanade and Mafuyu end up hanging out at a family restaurant. Throughout the conversation, Honami would occasionally compliment Ichika's singing skills, and mentioning how she performed at the stage where Kanade and Mafuyu were the audiences, causing Ichika to blush in embarrassment. After their day together, the first snow began to fall. They watched together, Ichika commenting how pretty it is before they part ways.

That Day, The Sky was Far Away
Their relationship before the incident which pushed them apart in junior high was very briefly shown in this event. After Shiho distanced herself from them, Ichika and Honami were the only two of the four childhood friends who remained close at the time. They would often wait for each other after school, presumably to walk home together. Along with discussing their situation and fragile friendship with Shiho, on other days Honami would excitedly approach Ichika and talk about how she's helped her classmates, with Ichika always listening attentively.

Echo my melody


The story centers around Ichika's struggle to produce her own DTM (Desktop Music) song. While Ichika was in the middle of making the new song in secret, Honami happened to walk into her and hears the song. Despite Ichika's attempt to keep hiding, she ends up telling Honami about it anyway, including how she's struggling to work with the music program. Honami suggests she try contacting Kanade who knows a lot about DTM for some help, which Ichika follows and thanked Honami for her help.

Some time later, Honami arrives at Kanade's house for her part-time job, this time bringing Ichika along after the two have contacted and agreed to meet up so Kanade could help with DTM. Honami left the two of them alone to work on their music, as she did chores around the house. Later, Honami would come in to check up on them with the onigiris she also made for them, which Ichika would have a hard time choosing the flavor to eat because they all look delicious.

Ichika Hoshino - Smiling Once More
Ichika and Honami arrive at the Classroom Sekai earlier than others, they spent the time waiting to catch up. Ichika praises Honami, telling her how amazing she is that she's able to express her opinions in front of her class. Honami returns the compliment, saying she only could do it because of Ichika and other's encouragements and that Ichika would've been able to handle it better than her, to Ichika's disagreement. To prove her point, Honami brings up about how in junior high, even though she would ignore, Ichika never stopped looking over and worrying about her all the time. Ichika argues that even so she still couldn't do anything, but Honami tells her that if she had just communicated back then, Ichika would've been the best person to have by her side. She then brought up childhood memories, including an incident when Ichika ran up in from of her, spreading her arms to protect her from the boys picking on her.

In the second part, Ichika points out the change in Honami's drumming style, wondering if this could be due to her having faced her fear making her perform even better. With that, when Leo/need foes to the restaurant after practice, they end up helping Ichika think about ways to face her fear. Honami settled with ordering Omurice with green peas (Ichika's dislike). Ichika wasn't enthusiastic about trying it, wherein Saki suggests she feed her, so she doesn't have to look, to which Ichika rejects, saying Saki would definitely put a lot of green peas in it. However, when Saki offers Honami to feed her, Ichika accepts, taking a bite with Honami having to quickly hand over some water for her.

Honami Mochizuki - For My Dear Childhood Friend
Honami's card side story revealed when Honami had told Ichika about the mysterious girl who have given up her CD being her client. Additionally, how she had already asked if she could meet up with Ichika. Delighted, Ichika thanked Honami and also asked if she could be there as she doesn't communicate well with others. Honami agreed, telling her not to worry about that. The side story also includes Honami's conversation with Kanade about Ichika. She was thankful that Kanade agreed to meet with Ichika, and how she knew she had made the right choice to set up the meeting after seeing how happy Ichika was because of it. Honami then reveals that the precious friend who had been telling her about flower languages and recommending flowers to give to Kanade was Ichika all along. Kanade mentions that she could guess it was her, as "it suits her". To that, Honami agreed, thinking about how Ichika is "the gentle flower who has always been quietly watching over her".

Honami Mochizuki - One Piece of Kindness
On the way home from their practice one evening, Honami thought about how Ichika was able to come up with meaningful lyrics that touched hers and everyone's heart back in the Classroom Sekai. She then approaches Ichika, telling her that she should go to bed as soon as possible once she gets home. Ichika was taken aback and was then reminded about how Honami had noticed since earlier that day that she hadn't slept at all the night before. She asks how Honami knew that when she hadn't told anyone, Saki and Shiho also wondered as they didn't notice it either. Honami figured it may be because she works for Kanade who does that often, and she felt that the energy around Ichika was different today. Ichika was thankful, saying that even so, it feels really good to have Honami notice this. Before going their separate ways, Ichika promises Honami to sleep as soon as she gets home, have dinner and take a shower, with Honami telling her good night. The next day, Honami still kept her eyes on Ichika during practice, feeling relieved that it seems like she is fully rested today.

Additional Content
Ichika and Honami would often do something together which causes Saki to question when they did it and why she didn't know about it. Such a case was when Saki recognized that Honami had gotten a new pair of shoes, commenting about how it looks cute on her. This was when Ichika added that it was from the store they went together the other day, prompting Saki to sulk about why she didn't know, with Ichika responding that it's because she had work that day. Another case was Ichika's post on Leo/need's daily life (Leo/need's Instagram), where Ichika posted a selfie with Honami at Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai 2021. Saki commented once again about when they had taken the photo together, with Ichika responding that it was when they were waiting for her and Shiho and she couldn't wait. Shiho added a comment that Ichika "took about 10 more pictures after we arrived".

For Honami's birthday, Ichika gifted her handmade apple pie along with apple pie keychain. In the ''Happy Birthday ! !'' card story, she also invited Honami to come give her advice on the pie so she could make it to match her favorite taste. For the 2nd year, Ichika gifted an apple themed Fenny-kun plushie, while inviting her for stargazing and to do other things Honami enjoys together. Ichika and Honami also made Miku-shaped cookies together as a present for Mafuyu's birthday. In Secret ♡ Valentine’s Day Operation! event, Ichika and Honami ran into each other at the mall while looking for chocolates to purchase for their friends. In the end, the two chose to combine their money and bought more expensive chocolates together.

Many of their interactions are also found in their area conversations. Ichika has taught Honami guitar, as well as Honami teaching Ichika the drums to better understand each other's instruments. Honami has also commented on how Ichika looks good in anything and invited her to try out some clothes at the street fashion store. When Honami gave a lecture on the constellations to Ichika and MEIKO, she was aware that she kept looking at the camera Ichika was using to film. However, Ichika commented that she thought it was good, since she was able to capture the smiling and happy Honami as she talks about the stars. In Colorful Palette's illustration interview for 'NEON Universe Gacha', they noted that in Honami's trained card's design, “She is depicted playing in a space surrounded by sound. This time, she stayed close to Ichika and watched her grow. So, if you pay attention to the items surrounding Honami, you could get a glimpse of their warm bond.” This could refer to Ichika's guitar present in the card and the onigiri that references the ones she made for Ichika in the Echo my melody event story.

On the 3rd anniversary of the game where the characters got their age-up, it was revealed that Ichika and Honami are placed together in the same class (Miyajo 2-A) along with Kohane. In one of the first new area conversations between the two, Ichika commented about how because of the class change she now gets to spend a lot more time with Honami and see more sides of her, which made Honami blush.

Quotes
"...(To do my best) for someone other than myself...? It was probably Ichika-chan who taught me that."

- Honami in "With a Side of Compassion" first side story

Fanon
Ichihona is rivaled mainly by Ichisaki and Shihonami. It tends to get paired up with Shihosaki. Overall, Ichihona is more rare than popular due to the group having more popular ships, as well as other units being more popular within the fandom. However, they seem to have grown steadily overtime in popularity. This ship also has a variation with all the Leo/need girls, Polyneed.

The admin of Project Sekai EN Twitter account has also poked fun back at fans pointing out that Ichika's apple peeling talent could be compatible with Honami's love for apple pies. Additionally, their compatible gentle voices also gave them covers which leans towards ballads or love songs together. Many of their fan contents tend to be one-sided/mutual pining. Ichika's 4* card for her focus event "Knock the Future!!" and Honami's 4* card for her focus event "Unwavering Feelings, Now Put into Words", are shipped and drawn together most often in the ship's fandom due to its similar theme, despite coming from separate events.

In 2022, an Ichihona Week was held from August 11th till 17th under the. The prompts for the first day were "one song (referring to Ichika's name)", "past or distance" for the second day, "pets or food" for the third day, "AU" for the fourth day, "flowers or stars" for the fifth day, "future or wish" for the sixth day, and final day was free choice.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * FAN ART


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * On Twitter, their ship is often referred to with the combinations of "💙❤️" emojis (their image colors), the "⭐🌙" emojis (from their last names Hoshino and Mochizuki), the "🎸🥧" emojis, and the "🎸🥁" emojis (their positions in the band).
 * Ichika is 161 cm tall while Honami is 166 cm, making them 5 cm apart.
 * Their Kizuna rank titles are: "Apple Union", "Secret Snackaholic", and "Unwavering Brilliance".
 * One of their Cheerful Carnival Team names is "Yakisoba & Apple Pies".
 * They have an alternate vocal version duet together for.
 * So far, Ichinona have covered 3 songs together (not including alternate vocal and full band):, and.
 * Along with their similar calm, kind personalities and their connections with apples. Ichika and Honami both share a hobby of caring for plants, with Ichika having a pet cactus, while Honami tends to a vegetable garden at her home.
 * At the moment, Ichika and Honami are the only characters outside of Niigo to know that Mafuyu Asahina is the lyricist in her music circle.