#aoshiki

More seriously, it’s gr8 b/c:

1) Shiki and Aozaki are actually the true “polar opposites” of the Awakusu-kai– while Akabayashi tends to complement them both rather than serving as a true foil (hence, OT3). Like, Ao and Shiki contrast right down to their aesthetics (-BIG BRAWN SQUARES COLOR- & -skinny brains triangles gray-). Aozaki is also the posterboy for OG yakuza, while Shiki is the posterboy for the new intelliyakuza. And they’re both the respective right-hand men to the “heads of the Awakusu,” yet the relationships they have with their bosses are massively different. And they’re both unfailingly loyal, but Shiki’s loyalty to Mikiya seems like another one of his careful calculations while Aozaki’s loyalty is all about ~*~THE HEART~*~

Like… the root of the problem is that they are both the “ideal employee.” But they’re ideals that come from totally different time periods, and they’re ideals for different definitions of what it means to be a “yakuza”– so they won’t ever see eye-to-eye (and then there’s Akabayashi, who understands the perspective of both sides and is able to mediate between the two in his own way when he’s not being the asshole who’s instigating a fight in the first place. Again, OT3).

2) Shiki likes to act like he’s above all the petty hijinks that his coworkers get into– only to turn right around and be the pettiest asshole who ever lived wherever and whenever Aozaki is concerned. I love the hypocrisy of it all. 

Like, read thru all the awks sections in the novels and take a shot every time Shiki either singles Aozaki out, blames him for something he didn’t even do, or assumes the general worst of him and u will find urself pleasantly buzzed and also animorphing into this meme:

But as I mentioned in the tags of that AoKaza post, Shiki’s resentment of Aozaki actually adds more to an already well-established character. Shiki has received so much characterization as a mature, rational, and self-disciplined man– So his intensely biased view of Aozaki sticks out like a sore thumb, especially since it’s so completely lacking in  -any-  sort of self-awareness. I can’t help wanting Narita to do more with it– and the best way to “do more” would be to, you known,  actually have them interact more often (and smooch…!).