Three fights later she faced Yuko Kuroki, who she had defeated six months earlier, for the vacant OPBF female minimumweight title on 3 December 2013 at the Korakuen Hall. The bout ended in a split draw over eight rounds, with one judge scoring it 77–76 in favour of Hanagata, another scoring it 77–76 to Kuroki while the third scored it even at 77–77. She captured the vacant OPBF title in her second attempt four months later on 11 March 2014, defeating Satomi Nishimura via fifth-round technical knockout (TKO) at the Korakuen Hall.
