Benji shippers (me included) seem to forget that Kenji is a very caring character, who doesn’t admit it, but he’d die for his friends. He’d protect them all if he could, and he can’t live without them. Not being able to be there for them in crucial times makes him feel anxious. Showed especially in s2 when he was doing a lot of daredevil stuff.
The reason we think he’s doing it (in both cc & ct) out of deeper love for Ben/Brooklynn is because the writers like to particularly put the B characters into near-death scenes.
(Ben ‘dying’ at the monorail, Brooklynn getting kidnapped by Wu, bumpy getting chipped by DK, Ben almost dying when trying to free bumpy, Brooklynn being ‘dead’ and undercover in ct, Bumpy teased to be dying in ct s1, Ben getting electrocuted in ct s1, Bumpy being taken by Biosyn, Brooklynn almost dying in 4x05 … there’s probably more.)
Sure, the others have gotten hurt too, but it never lasted more than one episode, ie Sammy’s injury. Yaz went to get the injury cause she’s the fastest and obviously Yasammy ship building; but if Yaz couldn’t have, kenji would have for sure gone instead. (Okay, Yaz was disabled throughout many episodes, though the writers never teased her to be dying or in need of urgent help. Also there was a whole episode of Kenji helping disabled Yaz.)
Making it look like Benji & Kenlynn in a love corner thing at that point, cause kenji always cares the most about rescuing them. But he’d for sure do the same if the other characters were in that near-death situation.
This is hinted in the episode in Senegal when they ‘left’ Yaz alone at night, and Kenji then hugs her first once she’s safe with them.
Like if Darius got stung in s4 instead, we might’ve not gotten a similar heartfelt conversation in the hyperloop simply because they are already close and talk a lot, and Darius doesn’t have the same uncertainties as Ben, but he’d for sure have done the elevator scene to save Darius. If Brooklynn got stung instead, there would be no necessity for Kenji to be with her, cause I’m sure anyone is able to carry Brooklynn; Kenji however is the second strongest physically, so it was sorta necessary for him to stay with Ben.
He also proposed to go alone to the chicken farm, just so Zayna (and the others) won’t be harmed. And we can all agree on that that was not out of potential romance.
The only reason why he didn’t go after Brooklynn to Malta, apart from not completely trusting her, is cause he got at his limit. Which he told Darius earlier in the car ride. Then why would he have played the hero for Ben in s4? Because he was there when it happened. For Brooklynn, he’d needed to travel to Malta and then hope first that she wants to be rescued; there was no certainty, the whole rescue mission could’ve gone totally wrong/been useless. But Ben did need rescuing, needed to quickly get medical help, out of the dinosaur forest, and was very close to death. Big difference.
I’m not saying that romantic feelings can’t develop when someone plays a hero for another person all the time because that one person just loves being tortured like that by the writers. So, yeah, sure, Kenji (and Ben too) might have totally fallen in love during all that heroism action scenes.
But we do gotta keep in mind Kenji’s character and how much he’s gone through in CT especially. He wouldn’t have been able to take another death (as he said in s1 when Bumpy was ‘dying’), so it was moreso him making sure he doesn’t get another scar on his heart for losing a loved one, and not the fact that it was Ben injured in particular.
