SemiShira

SemiShira is the slash ship between Semi Eita and Shirabu Kenjirō from the Haikyu!! fandom.

Canon
Semi Eita is a third year while Shirabu Kenjirō is a second year at Shiratorizawa Academy. They are both on their school's volleyball team, both playing the same position of setter. Naturally, this would spark a rivalry between the two as there can only be one starting setter on a team. Despite Semi getting into Shiratorizawa with a sports scholarship and Shirabu from the standard entrance exam, Shirabu manages to upstage his upperclassmen, taking the starting setter position for himself while leaving Semi as the pinch server.

However, it is shown that Semi does not hold a grudge against Shirabu in terms of the team's starters and is rather understanding on why his underclassman got the spot instead of him. The reason being that Semi realizes that he feels the need to show that he's strong while Shiratorizawa doesn't need a setter like that since they have Ushijima. Shirabu, on the other hand, is consistent and doesn't care about anything else except using Ushijima to his fullest potential. This creates an interesting dynamic and interaction between the two in the very few scenes where they do show up together. Though, this does not stop Semi's dislike for Shirabu's dismissive and uninterested behavior, especially when he tries to give setting advice as seen in Shiratorizawa's match against Karasuno (as he calls Shirabu "a little brat" after he flatly ignores Semi's given advice).

Season 3 Episode 1
Semi tells Goshiki to do his best for the upcoming match against Karasuno and calls him the future ace. Shirabu tells Semi to stop because the compliment will just make Goshiki’s ego bigger.

Season 3 Episode 4
Semi is subbed in as a pinch server and ends up serving the ball to Goshiki after having received it from Shirabu. Shirabu calls him “Semi-san” as he calls out to Semi as he sets the ball to him. Also in the same section, Semi calls out to Shirabu telling him that the ball is above him.

Season 3 Episode 6
The iconic moment where Semi is subbed in for Shirabu as a pinch server since it was Shirabu’s serve. They touched hands on the paddle while switching spots.

Season 3 Episode 8
Another moment where Semi and Shirabu touch hands on the paddle as they switch positions on the court. It is also interesting to note that right after Semi and Shirabu switch two people in the Shiratorizawa cheering squad talk about the difference between Semi and Shirabu and why Semi isn’t the main setter. Semi also admits, right after the small talk between the two people in the stands, that he is inferior to Shirabu because he feels the need to show everyone that he’s strong while Shiratorizawa goes against what Semi wishes since they have Ushijima. Unlike episode 6, this episode shows Shirabu and Semi touching hands on the paddle once again as Shirabu switches back.

Season 3 Episode 9
Shirabu asks Ushijma if he’s still useful in which Semi responds that he doesn’t understand what they are talking about but that it was uncalled for.

Haikyuu To The Top Episode 5
Semi asks Goshiki about why Hinata is the ball boy again just like the other time the 3rd years played against the others at the training camp. Shirabu is standing on the other side of Goshiki and also wonders about how strange that is. Shirabu also glares at Goshiki when he says that he believes that him and Ushijima are rivals which is why he doesn’t ask him questions like what Hinata is doing. Semi tells Shirabu that he doesn’t have to lecture Goshiki so much with his eyes.

Fanon
In most fanworks of this pairing, Shirabu and Semi are both portrayed to be more aggressive, snarky, and salty characters. This leads to the fanon pairing having more of a popular rivals to lovers sort of dynamic, with plenty of lighthearted banter and teasing remarks being thrown between the two. Along with both parties having a hot-headed personality, SemiShira is shown as a more passionate ship with the two often butting heads and having petty little arguments.

Most of the time, this pairing in fics is often attached with the mutual pining tag, with Shirabu being shown to be a bit of a tsundere in contrast to Semi's fanon caring nature. Overall, SemiShira is shown as a cute relationship with confessions and pining scenes being written as nothing short of an absolute, tension-filled disaster.

Despite both character not having the most amount of screen time (both together and not), SemiShira is a decently popular ship with the two usually written as a smaller side-pairing, usually with more popular ships such as UshiTen (Ushijima Wakatoshi & Tendo Satori) or in text-chat AU's in fanfiction.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * With the opt:true fliter applied, SemiShira is boiled down to having only 378 tagged fics on AO3 (as of March 21st 2021).
 * In the manga after the timeskip, Semi appears to still have Shirabu's number saved on his phone when he texted him about his attendance to the Alders .vs. Black Jackals game, implying they still kept in contact despite their rocky relationship in high school.
 * The contact photo saved is a chibi of a grumpy Shirabu's head.