ChikaIta

ChikaIta is the SLASH ship between Chikage Utsuki and Itaru Chigasaki from the A3! fandom.

Quotes
Chikage - "Didn’t you practice darts?"

Tsuzuru	 - "You said you couldn’t come because of work, so he quit."

Chikage -	"Really?"

Itaru - "Yup, yup. It’s senpai’s fault that I still suck. Nothing I can do about it."

—Scarlet Mirror Epilogue

Fanon
-It's one of the most popular ships in the A3! Fandom, being second only to JuBan in amount of AO3 Fanfics.

-Within the fandom, Chikage is usually regarded as Itaru's second love, with Tonooka (first appears in Knights of Round IV THE STAGE) as his first. Chikage and others who know of Itaru's backstory with him are somewhat hostile to him at first due to how much his betrayal hurt Itaru.

-Many within the fandom headcannon Chikage as gay (due to his disinterest in women, numerous remarks of disliking women, and general discomfort when a woman flirts with him). Meanwhile, Itaru is usually interpreted as bisexual.

-Hurt/Comfort as well as friends with benefits angst are quite common for fanfics of this ship. Many also dabble with the fact that Chikage's an MIA spy and might have to go back to that life one day, leaving Itaru or dying in the process. Chikage canonically would lay his life on the line to protect Mankai Company which he considers his new family, but he's most protective in particular of Itaru, Hisoka, and Izumi (the director).

-The main appeal that many fans agree on about this ship is that they're both well-known liars and fakers, often donning different personalities when not at home (where they're roommates), but it's due to this similarity that they understand each other the best. They have a lot of banter, but they always have an absolute mutual understanding of the other which would remind many of an old married couple.

-Expanding on the above, they're often treated as Sakuya's parents and sometimes Masumi's as well.

Fandom
FANFICTION The Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage tag on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Chigasaki%20Itaru*s*Utsuki%20Chikage/works

TWITTER ChikaIta Week 2020: https://twitter.com/chikaitaweek

Trivia
-Itaru is a popular gaming streamer who goes by the handle "Taruchi" and covers his face with a red panda mask (his motif animal) to conceal his identity. Chikage, on the other hand, runs a popular curry blog, "Chikausa's Curry Blog" which is know to all spicy food connoisseurs in Japan. The "usa" is a reference to "usagi" meaning rabbit (his motif animal). The kanji for "utsu" in his last name also means rabbit. Both of these are referenced in the Main Story.

-Itaru regularly refers to Chikage as "Unromantic Senpai" or "Cheat Character" (referring to how Chikage appears to be a jack of all trades, much like how a broken videogame character would be good at everything) while Chikage in turn refers to him as his "Uncute Kouhai".