GureShin

"I will never give up on Guren."

GureShin is the slash ship between Guren Ichinose and Shinya Hiiragi from the Seraph of the End fandom.

Canon
Shinya and Guren are trusted comrades who can count on one another on the battlefield. Shinya teases Guren constantly, leading to a lot of banter between them that Guren always ends with a "Shut up".

Book 1
Guren first meets Shinya when they are 15 years old while attending the same high school. Shinya waits in front of the school building for Guren. To test Guren's strength, Shinya immediately attacks him with a spell. At that point, Guren wants to hide his true strength and lets himself get hit by the spell.

They meet again in class. Instead of sitting in the front, Shinya intentionally chooses to sit in the back next to Guren. He calls out the teacher as well for calling Guren a rat. Shinya hates the Hiragi family he was adopted by and seeks for an ally in Guren. Though Guren tries to keep up his mask of a weak coward, Shinya immediately looks right through him, leaning over to him and whispering that Guren should stop the farce. Guren feels caught, but he refuses Shinya's offer to work with him.

From that on Shinya keeps trying to get Guren to notice him. He starts talking to him on a regular basis, even in class, even though Guren avoids him. During a sparring session, Shinya challenges Guren to a battle, revealing that he had been watching him for the past ten days. He even goes as far to call Guren his "future comrade", and that he only wanted to know what power he truly held. Shinya uses his full power and punches Guren, but is still extremely surprised when Guren takes the hit stubbornly. The hit caused Guren to be hospitalised leading Shinya to think that he has misjudged Guren's ability. Shinya once asks him if they would go home together, but Guren tells him to "fuck off".

Even though Shinya had looked right through Guren from the moment they met, Guren keeps up his facade. When he gets in a fight with Seishiro, a full blood Hiragi and Shinya's adoptive brother, Guren is about to get beaten up. Yet Shinya interferes, taking Seishiro's hit and thereby ending the fight. Though Shinya helped Guren out, he is furious that Guren is not as strong as he expected him to be. He tells Guren not to talk to him again, though Guren says that Shinya had been talking to him the whole time.

Soon after the school is attacked and in the chaos only Guren and Shinya are able to keep a cool head. Shinya discovers Guren's real strength against Saito while Guren complains that Shinya was the last person he wanted to have seen his true power. Even though they banter about who's the strongest, they join forces in the battle against Saito.

Book 2
After the attack, Kureto, the student president and also a full blood Hiragi, starts keeping an eye on Guren. Shinya finds Guren in the schoolyard to warn him of the supervision, and tells Guren that he will punch him so that Kureto would not get suspicious. Guren agrees, but instead of punching him, Shinya kicks him and Guren complains that they agreed on punching.

Nevertheless Kureto still commands Guren into the gym to test him. Shinya is also there. When Kureto orders Shinya to attack Guren, Guren decides to take a hit, thinking that he trusts Shinya to not kill him because they're comrades. Shinya indeed holds back because he does not want to hurt Guren, and Kureto notices it.

Book 3
Kureto calls for Guren, Shinya and a few of their friends into his office to assign them a mission; as they're deciding on team leader, Shinya casually recommends Guren for the role. Though Guren tests Goshi and Mito's abilities, he declines to test Shinya's, letting his high ranking speak for himself.

Since only Shinya and Guren saw the quick movements of the tiger, they work together in tandem to destroy the beast. Although Guren manages to poison it, it reforms and creates a completely new monster. The two jump out of the pit, but before they can decide what to do next, their comrades are attacked by Mahiru. She chokes Shinya, making him unconscious, and drops him to the ground while Guren watches emotionlessly.

Shinya keeps whispering to Guren in class. He writes him a short note that he has information about a meeting of the Hyakuya sect. Guren agrees to observe them together with Shinya. That day their other friends also come over. They play games even though Guren does not want to. Therefore Guren loses on purpose but Shinya looks again right through him. He smiles at Guren and Guren immediately knows that he had been caught again and curses Shinya. As a response Shinya laughs and says "I can't hear you but I know what you mean.".

Shinya and Guren meet alone later to observe the Hyakuya Sect but the meeting goes wrong and they get attacked by a vampire. Shinya saves Guren's life by pulling him on his motorcycle. They rush through Tokyo, trying to outpace the vampire. Guren holds onto Shinya, while fighting from the back of the motorcycle. Shinya jokes what others would think if they saw two guys riding a motorcycle together at night and without helmets on.

They are able to outpace the vampire but Guren gets hit on the head by a rearview mirror. When Shinya notices the wound, he asks if it had been the vampire. Guren says it was due to Shinya's shitty driving. Shinya laughs and tells him to watch out. Nevertheless he offers to help Guren with patching it up. Guren refuses (as always) and Shinya tries his best to help him, telling him to stop playing the strong man and joking that no one would marry Guren like this. Still in the end, Guren admits to him that he can trust Shinya a little now.

Book 4
The events of the novels get more and more serious. The school is attacked and Guren takes the demon cursed sword in order to protect his friends. Yet the demon sword posses him, making him kill everyone in his way. The Hiragi led by Kureto are able to barricade the school, trapping Guren, who had become a demon, inside.

Shinya reflects on his relationship with Guren. Since childhood Shinya had always wondered what was so special about Guren and now he realizes that his will is "what makes him so attractive".

He notices that he admires Guren for his will to risk his life for others. He sees a shiny hero in Guren. Shinya decides to rescue him instead of killing him. He thinks that even though it's insane to risk his life for someone else, "We need you... We need to save you."

Shinya comes up with a plan and is able to defeat the possessed Guren together with their friends. Shinya attacks Guren and holds him close so that they are both hit by daggers, creating a spell circle that would exorcise Guren. While Guren is unconcious, Shinya holds him in his arms for more than one hour until Guren is no longer possessed.

After Guren is awake again, Shinya tries to get a "thank you" from him by teasing Guren but Guren refuses as always. When Shinya points out that Guren did not save him so Guren owes him something, they start to banter again.

Book 5
In the prologue of volume 5, Guren and Shinya meet up with their friends to play video games. Guren and Shinya are playing against each other but Shinya is playing unfair, always trying to push Guren. They end up in a quarrel. Shinya pretends to do it unintentially while Guren knows exactly that he's doing it on purpose and Guren is too stubborn to just let Shinya win. In the end, they agree that it's stupid to fight over it just to grab their controllers again the next second.

Guren, Shinya and their friends have to go to Kyoto in order to try to kill Mahiru or else Guren's father will be executed. Shortly after Guren has a call with his father, Shinya appears with Mito and Goshi in front of his door. Shinya already knows what's wrong because he had been wiretapping Guren. Shinya jokes that they are friends who "wiretap each other to make sure the other one isn't cheating". When Guren asks if he had been cheating, Shinya replies with "The relationship with your father is questionable."

Guren does not want his friends to help him, yet Shinya tells him that how he is acting is kind of cute.

They go to Kyoto and Guren falls asleep in the van. When he awakes, Shinya is watching him. Guren asks him what he is doing here and why he did not wake him up. Shinya replies that he just looked so cute while sleeping. As Shinya and Guren enter the love hotel together, they are mistaken for a couple by a teenage couple in front of the elevators.

Book 6
Guren gets into a fight with Seishiro again. When Guren attacks Seishiro, Shinya stops him and pushes him to the ground. He asks Guren what he is thinking, but Guren replies that he knew that Shinya had been there all along and asks him if he could "play the Hiragi card". Shinya jokingly complains that Guren is taking "advantage of him" but he nevertheless interferes, calling Seishiro out for his behavior and therefore ending the fight.

Shinya offers Guren to buy him a drink. When Guren refuses, Shinya jokes "if he's too good for his fizz".

It leads to them having a heart to heart talk in which Shinya reveals to Guren that his goal was to meet him and that he thought that if he met Guren, he might find his purpose in life. Guren asks if Shinya had found his purpose but Shinya just says that Guren was far from what he expected. Yet Shinya shares with Guren that he admires that Guren is always fighting for others and suggests that Guren should accept that this is his destiny. He tells him that he should choose his friends over power because power is worth nothing if you cannot protect anyone.

Book 7
After betraying the Hiragi to get information about the end of the world from Mahiru, Guren, Shinya and their friends end up in a love hotel again to hide from the soldiers.

Guren notices that Shigure's skirt has moved up and thinks about pulling it down again when Shinya notices and makes fun of Guren for being a pervert. Guren pretends that he had not even seen it and acuses Shinya to be the pervert. Guren then asks him why Shinya is here. Shinya asks "in the love hotel?" before he understands that Guren is asking about his reasons behind it. Guren asks him if it's because of Mahiru but Shinya tells him that he is no longer chasing after her.

Later they get cornered by soldiers. Shinya offers to sacrifice himself in order for the group to escape but Guren forbids him to do it, yet he cannot offer a different option, suggesting to just give up. Shinya gets really angry at Guren. He shouts at Guren, near tears. Guren takes Shinya's hit. Guren then tells him that "maybe they met because they were weak" and that he does not want Shinya to die. Shinya almost cries, shouting at him why Guren is saying this now if they are going to die anyways but this leads to them making up. Goshi is really happy about this and asks the girls if "they haven't noticed the burning passion between them".

They encounter Mahiru. Guren and his friends don't stand a chance against her. Still they try to fight her. Then Shinya confronts her, telling her that Guren wouldn't take the path she did to gain power, that Guren keeps making the wrong decisions. He asks Mahiru if that was what Mahiru loved about Guren and keeps exposing her, by saying she chose the easy way to gain power. Therefore she should have aboned Guren. So Shinya asks her, which way she would chose now, the "right one" (power) or "Guren's" (human weakness).

But Mahiru replies with a counter question, asking Shinya, what he would chose. Shinya answers without hesitation, that he chose Guren and if she was jealous now. Mahiru just answers with "Maybe".

While Shinya tries to convince her that it's not too late to make up her mind, she attacks him, thrusting her arm through Shinya's chest. Then she goes on to kill his other friends.

Guren is devastated and lost. He is about to accept his demon powers to revenge his friends but when he notices that Shinya is still alive, he hurries towards him. Shinya dies in Guren's arms, telling him that he had found his purpose because he had met Guren and didn't run. With his last words, he tells Guren to accept his demon and die as a human.

Guren is broken. He had lost all of his friends, and instead of going rampage, he is not able to do anything. He is not even able to kill Mahiru, even though she wants him to. So she commits suicide and vanished into his sword.

Left alone, he keeps talking to Shinya's dead body. But he is so desperate about Shinya's and his friend's deaths that he accepts to trigger the "Seraph of the End" experiment which will revive Shinya and his friends but will only give them ten more years. Guren also takes the sin upon himself that he thereby causes the apocalypse and kills millions of people, just to be with Shinya again.

Book 1
The "Seraph of the End" worked. Guren's friends are healed and breathing again. But when he checks for Shinya, he isn't breathing although his wounds are healed. Guren is desperate, screaming and begging to God and the devil to bring Shinya back. He thinks that "If Shinya didn't come back to life, he had violated the taboo for nothing". Fortunately Shinya is revived by Ferid starting his heart beat again. Guren keeps talking to Shinya's concious body, and even carries him around when he and Ferid go to check what happened to the world outside.

When Guren and Shinya are on a mission, Shinya asks Guren if he was feeling horny lately and if Guren prefers porn videos or magazines. Guren doesn't reply to any of the questions and they end up talking about the meaning of life. Shinya wants Guren to say that there is meaning in life so that he can say it too, telling him Guren "shouldn't get himself killed."

At the end of book 1, Guren rashly jumps in to save a child from a monster and thereby risking his life and getting injured. Shinya is angry at him for that. The child asks Guren what they were and he replies with "preschool teachers." Shinya rolls his eyes sarkastically saying that "Guren ended up in debt and got divorced."

Book 2
After a meeting with Kureto, Shinya takes Guren for a ride on his motorcycle, Guren leans against Shinya's back and enhances his demonic powers to be able to hear his heart beat. Guren starts counting his heart beats, just to be reminded that Shinya is still alive and that he made the right decision reviving him from the dead.

Vampire Reign Manga
After a short cameo in a meeting of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and as Kureto's servant, Shinya reappears at Guren's side in the Nagoya Arc.

Nagoya Arc
Shinya arrives with a red Lamborgini that he found on the way. Shinya uses his typical jesting manner to banter around with Guren, and asks for his thanks, since he drove all the way here. Guren looks content that Shinya came and even smiles. Shinya immediately starts teasing Guren again, even in front of Yuu. Shinya said that Yuichiro's tough front was adorable, just like how Guren was at his age.

They prepare for the attack against the vampires in Nagoya. Guren had assigned Shinya to a different team, trusting him to take over the commanding role if he went down in battle. Yet after the 15-minute-mark, only four teams had successfully killed the vampires. Guren commands everyone to work together to defeat Crowley's team, even if it was going to be hard, because they needed to rescue their friends. Shinya interrupts him, tugging on his arm and asks if Guren would be okay in spite of the multiple deaths that happened. He offers his shoulder in a genuine show of support, conveying how much he cares about Guren.

Guren and Shinya work together to defeat Crowley, but their attack is quickly read by the vampire. Crowley flings Guren into a rock wall, which hits Shinya as well. Shinya half-heartedly jokes that they're gonna die, while Guren still stays optimistic. The vampire grabs onto Shinya through the rock wall and cracks his ribs, just enough before Guren angrily slices the arm off. Guren then supports Shinya by the arm as they make their escape. He asks Shinya if he can run by himself, but the white-haired man opts to stay in position, looking out for their backs. They're intercepted by Crowley, where Guren tells Shinya to save himself. Shinya seems conflicted.

When given the choice, he commands everyone to group together for a rescue mission to save Guren. the rescue team is greeted with a horrifying sight; Guren killing their comrades with apparently his own will. Shinya is the first one to realize that Mahiru had taken over Guren's body, and pleadingly asks if Guren can still hear him. "Guren" simply smiles and begins choking Shinya.

Ky Luc Arc
Shinya ends up locked up in a cell and replies to anything that Aoi, the messenger says, with contempt. Yet when she relays that Guren would be returning, Shinya's expression shifts and becomes more forlorn.

When Guren receives word about his arrival to Shinjuku, he muses that he'll have to have a talk with Shinya when he gets there. In the cell, Shinya immediately summons his rifle to threaten him. Guren calmly admits to killing their friends, even as Shinya points the gun at him and curses him. He tries to convince himself that Guren was possessed. Angrily, Shinya demands answers, holding on to the hope that Mahiru is the one making Guren say these things. Losing his composture, he shouts at "Mahiru", trying to force a confession. After yelling himself into a stupor, he falters, hopelessly trying to hang on to Guren's remaining humanity.

Later, Guren gathers his friends, having apparently released Shinya from his cell. On the car towards Osaka, Shinya interrogates Guren, attempting to read him and figure out his motives. He gets angry when Guren says nothing. Before Shinya can go on any further, Guren slams his hand over his mouth, shutting him up. Quickly, he realizes that whatever it is, Guren can't tell them, and respects his wishes.

Upon arriving at Ferid's mansion, Guren immediately knocks out his teammates, save Shinya. Shinya responds to the attack in kind, striking out with Byakkomaru. They both land a paper detonator on each other at the same time, causing an explosion. In close-range combat, Guren wins, though not before Shinya lands a few punches as well. Shinya takes the loss indifferently, trusting and letting Guren knock him out.

At night, Guren carries Shinya to the bed in Ferid's mansion while Yuu and his friends tranfer the others. When Shinya is woken up from Yuu's screaming, he assumes it's Guren's snoring. He's then suddenly interrupted when he's flung out of the building. Guren shouts, and tells him to shoot Yuichiro before he's killed.

Shibuya Arc
In the headquarters, Kureto summons Shinya, Guren, and Shinoa to his chamber. Kureto disarms Shinya, but Guren reacts quick enough to block the second blow. Guren also extends the hand of invitation towards Mika, only to be met with his sword. Shinya turns up behind the vampire, ready to shoot on Guren's command.

Guren betrays his friends in chapter 83 and becomes a full demon. Shinya wants to stop him, and is the only person who can withstand Guren's gravitational force. He begs his demon to give him more power which results in an internal monologue between Shinya and his demon. Shinya's demon, Byakkomaru, tells Shinya that he acts as if he was in love with Guren. Shinya just laughs and replies with something that can roughly be translated to it's just longing. His body language shows just how much he cares about Guren. He puts his desire into one final sentence: I will never give up on Guren.

This scene extends Shinya's feelings about Guren from the light novels to the manga. It had already been described that Shinya admires Guren, had realized what "made him so attractive" and that he had found purpose in life because he had met Guren (see Catastrophe at Sixteen). This scene shows how much Shinya values Guren and how strong his feelings about him are. Shinya personally admits to having one regret if he died now, being that since Guren hadn't given up on life yet, Shinya would "lose" if he died.

Even though Shinya gets a power-up from his strong desire to save Guren, he is defeated by Guren's chains. When Guren is about to leave, he tells Shinya that "he will, like always, let himself drown in power to save him".

Demon Mika Arc
Chapter 97 is a flashback to when the Hiragi children were young. Shinya tells Shinoa that he is very curious about Guren as he wonders what kind of guy could get that monster of a genius to fall in love with him.

When attempting to explain his and Mahiru's plan, Guren cries when he says that he thinks he was supposed to die with Shinya back then, referring to their last conversation before Shinya died. Shinya told him not to become a demon and stay human but Guren was so desperate that he ignored Shinya's directive. The scene emphazies their deep connection that is reciprocated by Guren.

Guren holds one of the Sinful Keys, and has a flashback to eight years ago. In the memory, he sobs out loud while holding on to Shinya's dead body, surrounded by the corpses of his comrades.

Catastrophe at Sixteen Drama CD1
The drama CD is a short story about Guren and his friends having a summer party at the pool. Shinya attacks Guren with fireworks and they start a play fight. The two end up falling into the pool together. When they look up to the sky, Shinya says "the moon is beautiful" and Guren replies with "Whatever!".

Later Shinya repeats that sentence in a slightly different way "Tsuki ga kirei (nanda)". This phrase is known in literature to mean "I love you" as Japanese people are not that upfront.

Catastrophe at Sixteen Drama CD2
Guren and his friends are having an early Christmas party together. While Goshi is very excited about celebrating with the girls, Shinya says that he does not care about girls.

Vampire Reign Drama CD
Shinya visits Guren in his office and talks to him while Guren gets annoyed, like always. Shinoa enters and tells Guren that Yuu and Kimizuki are not getting along so well. Guren sighs that he dislikes one person in the room. Shinoa automatically assumes it's her and not Shinya and offers to leave, but Guren tells her that he does not refer to her. Then Shinoa asks them for advice. Shinya says that they just need to do it like Guren and him back in their school days, referencing a "night of passion" they shared back in high school.

Fanbook/Q&A

 * In the character interview in the fanbook Shinya is asked what he looks for in the opposite sex. He replies that his "fiancee was like this and that he got tired."
 * Shinya's interests and likes are: "Whatever Guren is doing/Things Guren seems to dislike"
 * In the Q&A on the Owari no Seraph Homepage, Kagami explains that Guren is the sun to both Mahiru and Shinya. Mahiru is confirmed to be in love with Guren.

Character Materials Collection
The bonus pages of the Vampire Reign Manga contain short dialogs between the characters.


 * Mahiru talks about the light novel asking, "who won the pure maiden heart of the lovely magical princess". First neither Guren nor Shinya replies. When Kureto says that it was Guren, who won her over, Guren asks Shinya if he would take Mahiru back. Shinya immediately refuses, saying "what's done is done."
 * Apparently neither Guren, Shinya, or Kureto ever agree on anything. Despite this, they all agree that Mahiru's sweet and sunny disposition was scary.
 * Goshi sighs that Guren's retainers dote too much on him, but Shinya interrupts that he's harsh enough to make up for it. Following that, he asks Guren for his cup of coffee.

Quotes
"I was looking forward to meeting you. I was hoping the two of us could be friends."

- Shinya, upon meeting Guren for the first time.

"--Oi! Who said you could look at other people's phones, Guren? You creep! LOL"

- The message Shinya left for Guren on his phone.

"I’m gonna save you whether you like it or not. I’ll make sure no one else kills you, either. If I messed this up, too, my whole life would be just one big failure."

- Shinya to Guren.

"You're still going to die. But you're going to go anyway, because you're stupid like that. So I decided to be nice and come help you. Again. Now where's your thank you?"

- Shinya to Guren. (Chapter 24)

"I just want to know if you're okay. A lot of good people died today. You've never been good at handling that kind of loss."

- Shinya reassuring Guren. (Chapter 29)

"I will, like always, let myself drown in my own power to save you."

- Guren to Shinya. (Chapter 83)

"It is as if you are in love."

- Byakkomaru to Shinya, about Guren. (Chapter 83)

"Shinya and I... We were supposed to die together!"

- Guren about Shinya. (Chapter 99)

Fanon
The best friends to lovers trope is one of the major reasons why fans are drawn to this ship. Another is the unique ways in which they show how much they care for one another - Shinya with his playful teasing and Guren with his seemingly harsh words. Their bond grew from opponents to close, trusted friends over the light novels and remains ever since.

Colors commonly used to describe the two are black/white, red/blue, or red/green. Black and white symbolize their hair, while red and green stand for the color of each of their cursed tools. Red and blue can be considered to represent each of their eye colors (since Guren has reddish-purple eyes), or just the color associated with each of them.

Ship Status
Due to the multiple moments in both light novel and manga, the ship is often considered semi-canon among ships fans as Shinya's feelings for Guren are very strong. Shinya started to follow Guren, wanting to save and being the only one that would kill him. Guren turned out to be his reason for living. In canon, he platonically loves Guren. On top of that, Shinya is often seems not to be interested in women anymore and doesn't seem to show any interest in a character besides Guren. As also his demon told him that he was acting as if he was in love with Guren, which sentence strengthened the possible reading that Shinya's feelings for Guren are romantic as a demon knows his hosts desires.

Fan Fiction
In some fanfiction that includes both this ship and MikaYuu, Guren and Shinya tend to play the role of supportive parents to Mika and Yuu as the younger pair's relationship gradually develops into a romantic one. Having been best friends ever since they were in high school, they have grown quite close over the years.

On AO3, GureShin is the most written ship for both Guren and Shinya. It is the second most written ship within the Seraph of the End tag. Occasionally, they are shipped together with Kureto, in the ship KureGureShin

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Shinya/Guren tag on FanFiction.net
 * Shinya/Guren tag on FanFiction.net

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WIKI
 * Shinya's relationship with Guren
 * Guren's relationship with Shinya