#ytts

Of course, in both situations, there's an aspect of necessity in the way Kai and Midori observe Sara and Shin respectively. Kai's mission from Asunaro was to keep an eye on Sara, in addition to his job as a homemaker for the Chidouins requiring a level of attentiveness, and Midori had to observe Shin for the creation of his AI and doll and likely just to keep tabs on him for Asunaro. Interestingly, they're complete opposites in how close they're able to get to the people they're observing, with Kai only keeping an eye on Sara "from the shadows", and Midori spending almost every day by Shin's side. That's why it's ironic that Kai is the one who outwardly grows and changes the most, while Midori stays adamant about obeying the will of the organization. Kai ends up channeling his experiences within the organization into motivation to protect more people from getting harmed by it, while Midori maintains his distance and mindset until the very end. Despite Kai's physical distance from knowing Sara directly, he cares about her life beyond what he can get in return, while Midori keeps up a facade of knowing Shin and letting Shin know him in return, but maintaining distance from any real emotion or connection he may feel, maintaining a sense of control over the situation.

Their similarities lie in how unnaturally they approach relationships and/or express their care for people, likely having never received a good example of how to care for someone in the past. There's no room for that when you're training to become an assassin, or devoting your entire life to an organization built on lies, that views your life as completely expendable. They're similar in the way they're never really able to get close to anybody due to their positions in Asunaro. But beyond that, they actually become pretty contrasting characters. While Kai was raised with a hint of love and companionship amidst hostility (his connection with Sei and his father trying to give them both bits and pieces of a happy life), perhaps Midori didn't get so lucky. While Midori committed himself entirely to the organization, never given a reason to question it, Kai rebelled against it. Kai learned to love; Midori experimented with love, and pushed himself away further from it.

I think most of all it's interesting how their circumstances and experiences shaped them. It's why I feel very sympathetic towards Midori too, because the thing about him is that he became exactly what he needed to be in his situation. He was so successful in that that he never had the opportunity to question anything different. He didn't have a choice. He's kind of a hard character to have sympathy for because of how readily he commits to not showing weakness and putting himself in a position above others, to removing himself from his humanity, but it's also because of these things that makes me more sympathetic towards him. He's a character built on fear and striving for a sense of control when it really comes down to it. He's built on illusions. He has an air of inevitable tragedy to him because he has nothing outside of the organization that will ultimately betray him, yet seems perfectly comfortable and happy in this role. It makes me curious about whether he has the capability to change in a similar way to Kai, if his circumstances changed. BUT I'm also horribly biased in wanting to look more into him as a character. A lot of things I've brought up in this analysis are kind of up to interpretation due to how little we get about Midori's past in the game...