TsuMob

TsuMob is the het ship between Tsubomi Takane and Shigeo Kageyama from the Mob Psycho 100 fandom.

Canon
Mob is shown to have a crush on his classmate, Tsubomi, at the very start of the series. When seeing her walk to school one day, Mob remarks to himself about her cuteness while viewing her friends as vegetables. Indeed, it is Mob's desire to impress Tsubomi which prompts him to join the Body Improvement Club, though his athletic abilities are below average. This is because Mob remembers that, as children, Tsubomi seemed more impressed by another boy's athleticism than she was with Mob's psychic powers. Mob's crush on Takane becomes a vulnerability of sorts for him, as seen when various people use his feelings for her to serve their own goals. When a member of Dimple's cult tries to recruit Kageyama, she is ultimately able to win him over by asking about his love problems, promising that he will become popular if he follows her. Mezato is also able to convince Mob to run for student council president, telling Mob that Tsubomi will fall for him if he obtains that position, as it will improve his reputation. Mezato jokes to Mob that falling for the school's idol is surprisingly cliché. However, Mob replies that he did not know about Tsubomi's popularity, rather falling for her because they grew up together.

When the school's annual marathon day approaches, Mob decides that he will confess to Tsubomi if he places in the top ten finishers. This motivates him to train hard leading up to the event. During the marathon itself, Mob displays an immense amount of effort to finish in the top ten, continuing to run despite falling and scraping his knee at the very start of the race. Mob pushes himself so hard in fact, that he passes out from exhaustion before he crosses the finish line. However, he does not seem to be too upset by this, but rather satisfied by his efforts and the fact that he did his best.

While taking out the trash at school one afternoon, Mob saves Tsubomi from embarrassment by giving her tissues to clean her nose with. Tsubomi thanks him and remarks that it's been awhile since they spoke, then tells him, "See you later," which Mob becomes ecstatic about. Later on, when Mob confronts Dimple inside the giant broccoli, Dimple uses Tsubomi's likeness to persuade Mob to join him as Lord Psycho Helmet. Mob becomes furious at this, to which Dimple informs Mob that Takane is out of his league, citing the difficulty he had in converting her. Eventually though, Dimple states that she did join the Psycho Helmet cult, and he advises Mob to become leader of the cult so that he may enjoy her admiration. Mob refuses however, showing that there is a limit to how much his affection for Tsubomi can be exploited, especially when it is a choice between his crush and doing the right thing.

Chapters 99 - 101
At the end of the series, when Mob learns that Tsubomi is moving away, he decides to finally confess to her. However, because she is the school's idol, many of his classmates have also decided to confess to Tsubomi, and she rejects them en masse. Mob solicits his friends, fellow club members, and even coworkers for advice on the right way to make a confession. The responses vary in helpfulness; however, when Mob is asked what it is that he really likes about Tsubomi, he finds that he does not know the answer — only that, he has always liked her. Reassured that his feelings are genuine, Mob calls Tsubomi, asking her to meet him at the park where they used to play together as children.

At Hanazawa's advice, Mob obtains a bouquet to present to Takane at his confession. However, before he can reach the park, Mob is injured in a serious accident and forfeits his consciousness to the mysterious entity inside himself, ???%. Despite this and in spite of the terrible destruction which he causes on his surroundings in this state, Kageyama continues to move towards his destination. When he is confronted by both Teru and Ritsu on the way, both boys recognize that the bouquet has an influence on Shigeo and they try to destroy it. However, Shigeo reacts desperately each time to protect the bouquet, signifying the importance of the confession to him.

As Kageyama's destructive power increases, the residents of Seasoning City are advised to evacuate to safety. At the park, when Takane's friends tell her to evacuate with them, she tells them to leave without her, stating that she's waiting for someone. When they express their disbelief that anyone would venture outside at a time like this, Tsubomi reassures them that Mob will come because they made a promise. Indeed, Tsubomi decides to wait for as long as it takes, even after realizing that the source of destruction is coming straight towards her, citing the fact that Mob's voice was shaking so much over the phone.

While all this is going on, internally Kageyama finds the source of his powers (who refers to himself has "Shigeo" as opposed to "Mob") and they have a confrontation. Mob tells Shigeo that it is not worth causing this much trouble for others, just to make a confession. However, Shigeo states that, if Tsubomi can accept him while he is in this state (showing the worst side of himself), then he can be truly happy. Moreover, Shigeo reminds Mob of how, as children, Tsubomi never treated him differently despite him being psychic. Shigeo states that it was because of this acceptance that she showed towards him early on which caused him to fall in love with her.

After Reigen finally breaks through to Kageyama, Mob and Shigeo come to an agreement to accept both sides of each other. When Shigeo expresses his fear of being rejected by Takane, Mob reassures him that whatever the outcome is, it will be okay. Grasping the remaining sunflower from the bouquet in his hand, Mob goes to the park to finally make his confession. Shortly after, he returns to Reigen and Dimple, telling them that he was rejected and that Tsubomi told him she doesn't see him that way. This causes Mob to cry, though he is comforted by his two companions.

In the final chapter (epilogue), at Spirits and Such Consultation Office, Tome asks Mob how his "girlfriend" is, to which Mob hurriedly replies that Tsubomi isn't his girlfriend since she rejected him. However, Ritsu follows up Mob's reply by stating that they talk over the phone sometimes, much to Mob's embarrassment.

Fanon
In the Mob Psycho 100 fandom, TsuMob is not considered to be a very popular pairing, despite being one of the rare semi-canonical pairings in the series. This is largely because, despite being the protagonist's love interest, Tsubomi does not get much screentime in the series — and even less with Mob himself. The lack of this pairing's popularity is especially true among fanworks for the series, as Mob is more popularly paired with other male characters (Teru, Reigen, etc.) which sometimes leaves Tsubomi to be paired with another female character (Tome, Mezato, etc.) or no one at all.

Despite the lack of fanworks for this ship, there were still a large amount of fans who were rooting for this ship to become canon at the end of the manga. This caused some to feel disappointed about the ultimate outcome of the confession. However, the end of the series is considered by many to be the strongest and most beloved arc of Mob Psycho 100. Because of this, and the fact that the final arc was motivated by Mob's series-long crush on Tsubomi, this ship has come to be an important facet of the series itself, and one of the most memorable elements of it.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * At the end of chapter 52 (episode 13), Tsubomi is seen watching Mob as he stands up for Emi, then helps to restore her novel. After observing Mob's actions, Tsubomi states, "Well done."
 * In the twentieth episode of the anime, Tsubomi visits Spirits and Such with her friend who asks Reigen for love advice. Tsubomi devises some circumstances of her own, then asks Reigen for his opinion in order to test how trustworthy he is. Afterwards, when her friend asks for Tsubomi's opinion on the consultation, Tsubomi recalls seeing Mob's picture in Reigen's office and states that he didn't say anything wrong, so the advice should be okay.
 * After this episode aired, this scene was later canonized in volume 16 of the manga as an omake.
 * In the seventh omake released during season 3 of the anime, Mob is shown as a child, attempting to perform all sorts of extremely difficult challenges at Tsubomi's request. Moreover, he attempts each challenge without the help of his psychic powers, in accordance with Tsubomi's wishes. When another boy tries to impress Takane and fails, he asks her what kind of boys she likes, to which she replies: people who persevere.
 * In the Mob Psycho 100 Official Fanbook, Tsubomi stated that the chance of her going out with Mob right now is 0%.