KururiZakuro

KururiZakuro is the femslash ship between Kururi Futamaru and Zakuro Zashikiwarashi from the Scorching Ping Pong Girls fandom.

Canon
The character Kururi Futamaru was first introduced in episode 6 of Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, when she entered Hokuto Itsumo's specialized goods store in search of a shirt for Zakuro Zashikiwarashi, who hadn't been introduced at the time. After successfully buying a shirt for Zakuro, she clutched it to her chest and began blushing and drooling at the mouth, overly excited about getting the shirt. She proclaimed that Zakuro would definitely like it, and ran away happily.

In the next episode, both characters are officially introduced by name when Suzumegahara Middle School attends a practice match against the ping pong team of Mozuyama, containing the two of them, with Zakuro as the president. From the beginning, Kururi is shown to have an unhealthy obsession with Zakuro, often appearing behind her to ominously stare at her teammates, a method of intimidation. While this may just be some sort of mean-spirited teasing at first glance, Kururi is actually determined to help Mozuyama beat Suzumegahara, knowing that it will make Zakuro happy. As such, she scares her juniors into doing their best. It is also later revealed that she makes the girls go through rigorous training every time they fail.

During the entire ping pong game, Kururi is in the background, watching the matches intently. Her turn finally arrives right after two of her teammates were beaten in doubles. Determined to help Zakuro win, she reassures them that she'll beat the rival team "to death".

A bit of her backstory is revealed, where young Kururi became the captain of a ping pong team and accidentally made all of the members quit due to her aggressive and serious playstyle. But Zakuro was the only one who remained on the team, and every day for years, the two practiced drills and gradually improved. However, Kururi's abandonment issues remained unsolved, and she was forever convinced that if she ever disappointed Zakuro, she would leave her.

During the match, Zakuro begins to lose against Koyori. Although she tries to turn the game around, she ends up loosing, and becomes determined that Zakuro will abandon her. However, when she returns to her team, she is comforted by Zakuro with a hug, who claims that she loves her regardless of if she wins or looses. Kururi finally breaks and cries into Zakuro's arms.

Afterwards, Zakuro becomes a bit more friendly and trustworthy of others, most notably when interacting with Koyori.

Moments

 * Zakuro is the reason that Kururi plays table tennis. When she asks Koyori why she plays table tennis, she answers her own question by claiming that she plays only for Zakuro, and sweeps her up in a hug, resulting in Zakuro's embarrassment.
 * Kururi commonly fantasizes about Zakuro congratulating her after winning a match.
 * After making it halfway through the match against Koyori, Zakuro comes up behind Kururi and gives her an affectionate shoulder massage as a gesture of comfort.
 * After loosing the match, Zakuro gives Kururi an affectionate hug to ease her nerves and assure her that she isn't going to leave her.



Fanon
Due to Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume being a generally small community and fandom, the ship is also very small, but fairly popular amongst the community. There are many moments in the anime of Kururi expressing her obvious romantic feelings towards Zakuro for being the one to lift her out of the darkness, which fueled the ship. The ship was further supported in the manga upon the anime's end. The ship is particularly popular in the fandom due to the general popularity of yandere relationships in anime. As Kururi is largely considered to be a unique form of yandere, the ship is especially well-loved.

You won't find many fanfictions or fanart for the ship, but the fandom occasionally contains the ship in compilations on YouTube. The two are often together in illustrations and scans, and Zakuro is actually never shown in the anime without Kururi being somewhere nearby.

Fandom
Kururi Futamaru Yuripedia Page

Zakuro Zashikiwarashi Yuripedia Page

Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume MyAnimeList Page