Kazurei

Kazurei is the slash ship between Rei Suwa and Kazuki Kurusu from the Buddy Daddies fandom.

Piece of Cake
Rei and Kazuki are partners in crime and live together. They are introduced in the series in the middle of a mission, when suddenly Kazuki receives a call. On the phone, a woman informs him that a girl named Miri has a fever and needs him to pick her up. He hangs up the phone and starts yelling at Rei because he was supposed to make sure she was okay before they tackled this mission, resulting in Kazuki yelling at him, reprimanding him for caring more about work than their own daughter. The person they had kidnapped tries butting in, resulting in Rei shooting him. Then, he and Rei flee the scene and plan to visit Miri.

After this, Kazuki starts narrating how Miri got into their lives last Christmas when they were taking a job. He arrives home to Rei, who was in a stereotypically hikikomori state, playing video games. Kazuki notices Rei brought a cat home and tells him to get rid of it. Rei pays him no mind, so Kazuki decides to take the cat out by himself. Then, he returns home and starts doing several chores around the house, from cleaning to cooking, while Rei keeps playing. Later, when they eat lunch together, Kazuki instantly realizes that Rei’s upset about not having the cat around anymore. However, he tells him that their line of work makes it unsafe for the cat or anyone to live or be around them.

The night of Christmas' Eve, they are fully immersed in their mission to assassinate a broker for a human trafficking organization. Rei and Kazuki visit several stores and stock up on equipment for their job. And they infiltrate the hotel where their target and security will be at, in costumes to leave a surprise for him, his wife, and their guests at the Christmas party they will hold there. However, their plans get abruptly changed once a little kid appears in the hotel, looking for her "papa," who happens to be the broker. The little kid wanders around the room, amidst the bullets that are being shot between Rei and the broker's security guards, and as Kazuki tries to protect her as best as he can. The kid's name is revealed to be Miri, as the broker grabs Miri and points a gun to her head.

Kazuki and Rei hide behind a table and try strategizing. Kazuki rushes toward the men as they shoot at him. Rei shoots one of the men, allowing Kazuki to reach out to Miri, as he tells her he’s her father to get Miri to trust him. Miri jumps into Kazuki’s arms as Rei headshots the broker from point-blank range. Rei shoots an escape route for himself and climbs off the building, looking for their car. Kazuki leaves the establishment with Miri in his arms, who is happy to be with "her papa." Rei and Kazuki drive off to their home, and Rei teases him because Kazuki couldn’t allow him to keep a cat, but gets to bring a kid home. Later, as Miri sleeps soundly, the two of them go through their data on their target, and realize that Miri's father is Hayami, the broker for the human trafficking organization, and that they murdered her father.

The Kiss of Death
Now that Miri was alone, they decide to take care of her and to let her live with them for the moment, until they find her mom. But Kazuki is not used to having a kid, so Miri ends up causing issues in their apartment due to her high energy and curiosity. Rei, who was somberly sleeping in the bathroom's tub, wakes up by all the noise Miri and Kazuki were making, and heads into the living room to see what’s happening. Kazuki asks Rei to take care of Miri while he’s cooking. So upon seeing him, Miri asks if Rei is her papa as well, calling him "Rei Papa." Rei replies that he isn't and when Miri asks if he's her uncle instead, he tells Miri that he's "just Rei."

Later, Kazuki and Rei leave Miri alone in their apartment to visit Kyutaro at his hideout. Kyutaro is disappointed with their performance during the Hayami assassination mission. He gives them their payment and informs them about a new job he wants them to tackle. Kazuki and Rei accept the task and leave. When they return home, they realize their place’s been ransacked. They hear a noise upstairs and instantly worry about Miri. They find Miri hiding under a table, revealing she has a gun in her hand, and was playing hide and seek. Kazuki instantly gets nervous, but Rei tells him it’s not loaded. During dinner, as they research information about their next target, Miri approaches Kazuki and says her mom makes better Hamburg steak than him, crushing his spirit. She taunts Kazuki and asks him to play hide-and-seek with him again. Although Miri annoys Kazuki, her scheme helps him develop a strategy for their mission. Kazuki and Rei gather their materials and plan to head for their mission. Kazuki tries bribing Miri with snacks to let them attend it alone. However, she starts causing a scene, forcing them to bring her along.

On their mission, Kazuki plans to infiltrate the building, as Rei annihilates the target and his minions. But their mission gets interrupted once again by Miri, who enters the mansion because she wanted to pee, and starts calling Kazuki "papa," which alerts the guards who start chasing the two of them, while Miri thinks it's all a game. Kazuki catches Miri in his arms, in front of the kingpin, the boss of the place, enticing his guards to point guns at him and Miri. Before they could shoot, Rei fires at them from afar with his sniper rifle. As he starts shooting the guards, Kazuki panics saying they should flee, so he runs to Rei, grabbing him by the waist with one arm, while holding Miri with his other arm and escaping from the place.They arrive home at night by boat, and both are concerned that they would not be able to carry out their work with a kid around. Kazuki wonders about an idea to do something with her, when they are called by Kyutaro for the information gathered from Miri's mother. Now they knew that they would finally over by getting [her] off their backs.

Spice of Life
The next day, the three eat something different for breakfast as Miri's request (cereal), who wanted to eat with "Rei-kun", and the latter ends up liking it as well as Miri, dismaying Kazuki about this. Kazuki comments on meeting with Kyutaro about the information of Miri's mother. However, when Rei sees Kazuki happy together with Miri, he asks him in order to make sure if he really wanted to return her, to which Kazuki's expression changes to one of hesitation, responding in affirmation of his inability to care a kid, both being part of a world of darkness. In the park, they are both seen supervising Miri playing in the sand, Kazuki having the report of Miri's mother location. However, despite having been the one who proposed to give her away to her mother, he is reluctant with the fact, having gotten used to her presence. He comments to Rei about not having many memories of laughing the way Miri did at her age, making it two for Rei's part. Kazuki responds in agreement saying that Rei's family sounded like a pain in the ass even if he didn't know them. They agree not to push the issue any further.

In the distance, Miri asks both of them if she could have a sweet potato, to which the two reluctantly compete via rock-paper-scissors to buy Miri the coveted food, with Rei being the loser and the one responsible for the task. Rei doesn't buy Kazuki food, but Miri shares half of hers, moving Kazuki to tears, receiving Rei's response from him being a lousy actor. They hurriedly leave the park later after Miri refused to call Kazuki her father to the park caretaker, sticking to her warning not to call him like that in public. He also blames Rei for not saying that he was Miri's father as well, and Rei asks why. Kazuki replies that otherwise they'll get up on their asses. Miri curiously asks if Rei was also her dad, and he denies in response. However, Miri seems to turn a deaf ear as she repeatedly calls him "Papa Rei", Kazuki joining in mocking the new imposed nickname, Rei asking them to cut it out.

The next day, the search for Miri's mother begins, Kazuki taking both of them and making them wait together inside the vehicle while he goes to see her (excusing Miri that he was going to see her mom's burger steak). The mission partly fails to convince Miri's mother to have her daughter back, however the three manage to meet and on the part of Miri and Rei, the latter accepted being her father. Kazuki teases the title "Papa Rei" again like before, and Rei tells him that he smiled about it too, and Kazuki lies in denial. On their way home, Rei asks about the wound on Kazuki's face, the latter responding that he has no luck with women. Dinner ends up being a hamburger cooked by Kazuki, just like the one Miri's mother "made", which was actually packaged from the supermarket, though Rei ends up liking it just as Miri once again. At bedtime, at Miri's insistence, the three of them end up sleeping together as her request. Kazuki, uncomfortable with Miri interrupting his sleep, asks Rei to move her to his side more, however there was no response, since he had already fallen asleep.

What Will Be, Will Be
Having made their decision to keep Miri, they eventually acknowledge that it was actually difficult, Miri constantly causing disasters everywhere mainly at home. They have the idea of ​​putting her in a daycare, but as before, it was not easy, having to falsify the papers at the government office to be able to enter a daycare. Luckily, these were approved without them noticing. Now it was their turn to visit the various daycare centers to assign Miri, Kazuki dragging Rei with them before he slipped away, the former telling him he was his partner while the latter refused to go as he was forced to be taken with them. In their first attempt they were unable to assign her, even after they both reluctantly admitted being Miri's parents to the interviewer, Miri even supporting this fact by speaking out about various things such as the forgery and Rei's dexterity when handling a [real] gun. They cross that place off their list, Miri promising Kazuki to say "Just as Papa said!" when being asked something. They have more luck with the second try, in which the procedure is the same at the beginning, but having rehearsed with Miri beforehand so that she did not say anything out of the ordinary and taking into account what Kazuki has told her before. The caretaker was very nice to them, even asking Miri if she was happy to have two papas (Rei and Kazuki), to which she excitedly agreed saying that the two of them are always together and friends, the caretaker sweetly commenting that it sounds like if she loved them a lot. Luckily they manage to assign her to the daycare, the three giving a high five for the great success.

Arriving home, Kazuki is horrified by the list of materials they needed to buy for Miri, and they go shopping at name-brand stores, claiming that common people take style into account as well. The next day they attend with an impression of being mobsters according to Anna (the caretaker), and are relieved to have a quiet moment at Kyutaro's hideout without Miri around. However, as the days go by, Miri does not have a good experience in the place due to not being able to socialize with the other children, since they distanced themselves from her.

The reason for this were her outfits, as they stood out a lot from others, and Anna advises Kazuki to buy something more ordinary. When Rei and Kazuki along with Miri arrive at a store recommended by Anna, they are surprised and happy to learn that everything was much cheaper than the previous stores, Kazuki also allowing Miri to buy more things since everything was worth less than brand name clothes. On the day after, Miri manages to attend with more casual clothes together with her father, who thanks to him, was able to obtain a more social life with others after demonstrating skills with the ball, receiving compliments from the children to Miri for her father. This time, Miri is doing much better in her daycare days. Miri also receives a gift from Kazuki: a new bedroom designed only for her, with extremely attractive designs and plethora of toys inside. In gratitude she hugs his and Rei's leg (who had also accompanied them), and thanks her papas.

Crunch Time
Due to spending too much on buying Miri's supplies and decorations for her room, the two are left in over 500,000 yen in debt, which meant that they had to continue working for the various tasks assigned by Kyutaro. Unfortunately, Miri's daycare is temporarily suspended due to the transmission of a certain virus by the facility and to prevent this, the children had to stay home. They both had even more trouble knowing this, so they decide to try to make Miri stay home, Kazuki leaving Rei in her care. However, she sneaks out to follow Kazuki to find out about his work, it being part of the schoolwork from the daycare to find out about her parents' work.

She gets lost when misses the sight of Kazuki's trail, having to search everywhere while he was with Kyutaro when he receives a call from Rei who asks if Miri was with him. Upon learning of the situation, both set out to look for her in the city, to no avail. They end up meeting outside Kyutaro's hideout, giving up, and Kazuki proposes to inform the police about the situation, terrified that she may have been kidnapped. They enter the place after Rei got thirsty, and find Miri safe and sound drinking juice, Kazuki hugging her as soon as he sees her expressing his relief at finding her. They however forget that Kyutaro did not "know" about the relationship between them and Miri, to which Kazuki tries to hide the bond between the three of them, believing that this would convince Kyutaro (unfortunately he was a terrible liar). This latter offers looking out for Miri so they could continue their work to Kazuki and Rei's surprise. At home the next morning, Kazuki tells Miri not to breath a word out to [Kyutaro] about her papas, and Miri agrees to this.

Rei and Kazuki find themselves bewildered and distracted (mostly on Kazuki's part) while doing their duty leaving Miri in Kyutaro's care knowing about his cold personality and also his ability to seduce women, enraging Kazuki with the latter thought. At the same time, Miri questions Kyutaro about Rei and Kazuki's work, trying to be careful not to call them her papas. Kyutaro agrees to tell her but in the form of a lie, claiming that Kazuki was a stand-up comedian while Rei was a Middle Eastern oil baron, confusing Miri even more than she was. Going back to Kazuki and Rei, the former is anxious when he thinks that Miri might have already told Kyutaro about her relationship with them, and that both of them were doomed while complaining/crying in despair at the thought, getting a reprimand from Rei's part over the earpiece. Returning to Miri and Kyutaro, the girl graphs her parents as their supposed profession like Kyutaro had dictated, because it was part of the daycare's homework. She indirectly communicates to Kyutaro about the relationship between the three and her great love for them after being asked by him if she was not worried about staying with unknown people. Moved to her words, Kyutaro smiles and responds with an "I see" as he looks at Miri's finished drawing.

Rei and Kazuki later arrive at the hideout to pick up Miri, who was asleep, but before leaving, Kazuki tries to excuse Miri's sleepy calls to both of them as her papas respectively, but then Kyutaro reveals that he already knew everything, leaving them flabbergasted. Miri makes her presentation to her classmates and Anna about her fathers' profession through her drawing (Kazuki as a stand-up comedian and Rei as an oil baron) once the daycare was open again, expressing her gratitude and love for both of them while asking them both to take care and work hard at their jobs.

When she's done, she runs to her fathers as Kazuki thanks her for the pictures, while Rei congratulates her. Upon receiving their well-deserved payment, Kazuki is relieved that the two of them could finally take a break; however, Kyutaro warns about him having intended to spring into action if [Miri's] presence ever interfered with their jobs again, as well as the consequences of betraying the organization by that task. It goes without saying that they were also responsible for killing Miri's real father. However he understands how Rei and Kazuki felt spending time with Miri, also saying that maybe she could change them both, uncertain if it was in a good or bad way. Lastly, Kyutaro asks them if they were prepared to take the consequences of risking their lives in such duty, receiving a silent affirmation from Rei and Kazuki, Kyutaro concluding telling them not to regret it.

Love is Blind
Miri has a trip to the school, and Kazuki completely forgets to run off her lunch after having an argument with her for "hitting" one of her classmates, despite Miri's insisting not doing anything wrong, due to his worriness over that by spoiling her too much she might break bad in the future after watching a case of an actor's eldest being arrested because of parental inattention, angering Miri and saying she hated him. Along with Rei (reluctantly on his part), they plan to give her lunch back without her seeing them. Being undercover, they keep an eye on Miri from a distance, but nevertheless they have some issues since she was able to sense the presence of both of them for a few occasions, however, both of them were able to manage not to be discovered. Kazuki proudly comments about her instincts being [his and Rei's] genes at work, to which Rei questions about the last thing said.

After realizing Miri does not need her food anymore (as her classmate shared her some), they plan to leave, but later witness Miri and her group of friends being mugged by a wanted robber, so they disguise in stolen zoo mascot costumes (a bunny and an alpaca) and angrily take him down. Kazuki eventually learns that he had to trust his kid more after commenting how Miri was more attentive than he thought, and in a reassuring mode, Rei says he just has to do his best. Miri returns home cheerfully and hugs Kazuki telling him about her encounter with the bunny (which was actually himself), and Rei tries to intervene to ask if she had seen an alpaca too, but Kazuki cuts him out while telling Miri to leave her things and go wash her hands, Miri agreeing to the command. Rei gives him the diary because Anna had left a note there, and Kazuki learns that Miri hadn't actually had a fight with her classmate, but was trying to stop him from being mean but accidentally hit him.

After Rain Comes Fair Weather
Kazuki gets momentarily fed up with the life he leads as a househusband, due to both Rei and Miri not helping him with basic household chores, instead leaving messes everywhere forcing Kazuki to take care of it by himself. He eventually leaves a note on the table about his absence for a time, which forcibly leaves Rei in charge of Miri so that they can partly learn to take care of themselves without Kazuki's help (with also Rei having to look after Miri), and also contributing to the chores.

Kurusu, on the other hand, shows his anger and complaints about this while outside his home, but is eventually convinced to try once more and carry on his life by his sister-in-law Karin. When he comes back home with a clearer mind, he realizes that Miri had caught a fever, but Rei had stayed by her side, Kazuki fondly smiling when he sees him holding Miri's hand in his. The ensuing day Rei and Miri demonstrate their efforts by making french toasts without Kazuki's help (which was their last insistence before Kazuki snapped out), and Kurusu yells at them that he would teach them both how to make real ones while the two others are horrified knowing that Rei was actually the one who supposedly knew how to do them. Kazuki is shown happy and changed accepting the life he has.

Nothing Seek, Nothing Find
Rei has to return back home for a while, but unbeknownst to him, both Kazuki and Miri are planning to throw a surprise party for his birthday (which day was unaware of by the partyguy), buying all of his favorite foods and, of course, baking a birthday cake. It's revealed certain details of Kazuki and Rei's first meeting throughout the day over Kurusu's words, his first impression of Suwa as a "robot" like. In other hand, Rei confronts his father about the bonds which he made outside were bad influences, intervening saying that Kazuki had nothing to do with it, even commenting he has something worth to protect too. There are also moments of miscommunication, especially when Rei doesn't let Kazuki know when he would be back, while Kazuki insists him to be back at dinner.

After finishing a mission, Rei is called again by Kazuki, who is worried that Rei hasn't returned yet (it being past night now), but Rei only apologizes saying that he needed time to cool off. However, a few moments later, Kazuki arrives to pick up Rei with a vehicle to the later's surprise, asking him how he had known about his location, receiving a questioning response about the responsible for setting up his phone in first place.

During the ride back to the apartment, they both have a conversation about the old times, and according to Rei, at first Kazuki didn't matter much to him, wanting to tell him to back off, but since he started cleaning the house (in addition to other care for part of Kazuki towards him in his low moments, like bathing him, feeding him and even cutting his hair), he thought it wasn't that bad. He goes on to ask if they could change, receiving a "Dunno!" by his partner as response. When they arrive, Rei sees Miri and Kazuki prepared his favorite meals as it's his birthday, and Rei genuinely smiles for their gesture, something Miri wanted to see but fell asleep. Kazuki still manages to complete his part of celebrating Rei's birthday as Rei blows out the candles.

In the Cherry Pick episode, we get to see how Kazuki and Rei see their situation in dealing with being parents and now having to take care of Miri. Both agree that even if it is pretty hard to be parents being hitmen, they would do anything to protect Miri, and they recognize and appreciate each other as more than just partners since do realize they have the responsibility to take care of a child, and to the eyes of society they are now a family (though later Kazuki mentions that Rei feels more like a kid to him due his lack of help in the home). After having a deeper look in Kazuki and Rei's opinion, they reveal us that they are willing to become a real family.

No Sweet Without Sweat
Miri is shown training in the park with Kazuki's help, him recording her running speed while Rei looked. The reason for that was Miri's Field Day that would take place on Sunday, which she was training for the race that was going to take place that day. She is also confident of getting a gold medal, so she doesn't mind overdoing the training. They inform about Miri's progress to Kyutaro in the hideout, and how the field day was on Sunday. Kazuki flatters Miri by saying that she had grit, just like him, which makes Rei ask about the person Kazuki was talking about. Kazuki tells him that he was talking about himself, getting a suspicious look from Rei, so Kurusu asks him to stop glaring at him like that.

At night Rei goes to Aozora's daycare to secure a spot where they would watch Miri's race. The mission goes "flawlessly" according to Rei the next day once back home, leaving Kazuki wondering what the hell did he really do. Suddenly, Kazuki is surprised by the fact Rei has offered helping him since he knew how to do rice balls, wondering if something had happened to him knowing that Rei hardly ever did anything or even helped him (Kazuki even goes and checks if Rei isn't sick). Rei isn't sure if Miri would like rice balls, however Kazuki encourages him by stating that she would indeed do. However, the two have no idea what they had to do at such a family event, though Kazuki shared an idea with Rei of what had to be done, like watching the kids run around, taking pictures, and cheer them the loud as they can, the latter idea being considered by Rei, especially focusing on the "last as they can" part.

The field day arrives and after they wave off Miri assuring her they'll be watching from the sidelines, both make their move. Despite the fact that the setup that Rei had placed looked unsteady (as it was surrounded by spikes with an outdoor military base-alike looking according to Rei to keep the amateurs away), they managed to install cameras in the same way and see how the events of the field day initiated (however he also got carried away since he had brought several cameras that weren't small). Not so long before that, the other mothers from the daycare came to visit Kazuki to have a conversation with him, making Rei comment how he really is at home with the moms. During this scene, Rei looks pretty serious (as usual), but he does not take any praise the women give to him, and even has a blank face the whole time the moms were praising Kazuki.

During the journey, Kazuki is the only one supporting Miri while Rei is still not sure how to do it in the same way, gaining confidence when it is time for Miri's race, which despite the present anxiety that was felt for both of them and as well for Miri, his words of support reach her, however she falls and fails to win the gold medal but still definitely gets one. This makes Rei feel very guilty knowing that it was the reason why Miri failed to achieve what she promised, Kazuki trying to deny the self-blaming. But despite it, there were still other activities that involved the parents with the children, and Miri requests both papas to go with her, but only Kazuki does since Rei wasn't up for it due to the guilt. Miri promises Rei she'll get the gold medal this time, and parts with Kazuki to the gate where the volunteers would be gathered to. Rei watches them going, and monologues how cheering is complicated.

Rei gets to participate when Miri drags him during the seavenger hunt, in which there's a box full of cards with different things written in each. The reason of this action was because after taking a card, she straightly goes to where Rei is, intially worrying Kazuki, but when she asks both of them to run they understand as they give a silent smiling agreement to each other and each one pick one of Miri's hands to then start running together. They end up winning as they were the fastest team, and this time Miri manages to get a gold medal. After winning, Rei asks about the content inside the card she's picked up before, and she shows them the content written inside it: Family. It surprises Rei, and Kazuki tells him not to cry, the former saying that he won't, but when he turns to his partner, he sees that Kazuki was moved to waterfall tears, explaining that Miri thinks they're family.

They take a photo together with Anna's help, although reluctant about it at first since it wouldn't be a good idea a picture of them going out, but after seeing Miri wanting to do it, they change their mind as it was going to be only one. On their way home on foot, Kazuki apologizes to Rei since he had gotten carried away before while the aforementioned carried Miri and Kurusu the things brought at the time, Rei reprimanding him to act like his age next time. Kazuki comments on how Miri was fast asleep, Rei explaining that she had worked hard, these words being repeated by Kazuki but directed at him, knowing that he also worked hard cheering her on as loud as he could. Kazuki hopes Miri can get a gold medal in the race next year, to which Rei tells to get back to practicing, receiving an agreement from Kazuki. At the end of the episode it's seen that someone from the organization's been spying on the three, several photos placed on Kyutaro's bar of them in Miri's field day.

Lost At Sea
The children at Aozora's daycare are taught by Anna about the song they'd perform for the Christmas party "Silent Night", nevertheless Anna fails to teach them the whole thing until Miri intervenes to make a demonstration which everyone would compliment. At the same time, Kazuki and Rei are walking together with the former pondering a present they could give to Miri for the festivity, Rei inmediately saying Morio Kart's 2nd Edition, making Kazuki remind that that's what he wanted, however Rei adds he had pre-ordered it while giving Kazuki a thumbs-up, leaving Kazuki in wonder asking Rei why he needed two copies of it. Arriving at the daycare, both coincidentally meet Miri's mother (Misaki) at the entrance of the place, and look at her with distrustful glance as she turned her head at them noticing their arrival.

Misaki announces having to take Miri with her, to which Kazuki angrily intervenes reminding her of her irresponsibility as a mother, however before saying anything else Rei stops him since they were still on public, the other parents at the daycare about to pick up their children. Miri eventually notices her mother there, and runs directly towards where the three were, Kazuki expecting her to come at him, but instead Miri hugs her mother as the latter is happy to meet her again too, leaving Kazuki in a shocked state while Rei looked at him. Rei brings her at their department, which idea Kazuki was against of at the beginning, however they had to discuss with her in another place since it was a serious talk especially when they were outside the daycare.

They eventually learn that Misaki actually had cancer which prevented her from singing as before, having spread to such an extent, hence her sudden appearance to come back with Miri. Because of it, she asks for a chance to Kazuki and Rei to restart everything with her daughter having learning what was important and was determined to go back with her parents and live honestly, since as long she had Miri, she wouldn't need anything else. Kazuki and Rei did not agree with what she proposed, since Miri was excited about the Christmas party, it being a bad idea to change the lifestyle she had now with them than with her mother, who still insisted that she was not going to let Miri suffer. Misaki bows as in thanks both guys for watching over of Miri, but also reveals that she knew about them involved in dangerous jobs, shocking Rei and Kazuki as they became alert, and as a mother, she can't leave Miri in their care any longer.

They then visit the hideout telling Kyutaro about what happened, Kazuki asking how Misaki found out where Miri was and knew about their jobs in the first place. Kyutaro reveals that he was responsible for contacting her, showing them a picture of both and Miri on her field day, this picture being taken by Ryu Ogino. Kyutaro warns them the girl's presence made their work sloppier, which the organization won't tolerate, and if else they don't get rid of her, it would be more than a warning. Kazuki immediately assumes in horror that she was going to be killed, to which Kyutaro tells them that they wouldn't be able to turn on the organization. Once again though Kazuki tries to refute, Kyutaro reminds them again that they were the ones responsible for killing Miri's father. He also adds about them having to reveal everything to Miri, being all only a dream.

The next day the three of them go on a little family day proposed by Kazuki, happily telling Rei that it was so they wouldn't have any regrets. The the day they spend it together at a indoor familiar amusement park in which they test mental ability and physical dexterity, Kazuki and Rei joining along their kid at times, but mostly monitoring and taking care of her. Later they'd stop at a crepe store to eat something, Miri sharing a bit of her ice cream on the crepe to her fathers (with the same spoon), Rei reluctlant of it at first.

Rei sadly gazes at a half-crying Kazuki when he's hugging Miri, as they both acknowledged they had to let Miri go, and Kazuki was notably most affected due to them having to tell Miri the truth and for also taking [Misaki]'s happiness, but recovers after Rei comforted him believing Miri couldn't understand right now and that they still had a day to have fun while smiling.

Once again, they all spend the time together playing video games in arcades, Miri complimenting Rei being good at them while Kazuki could only clench his first in sad frustration, and also go shopping. At night, they ride a ferris wheel, Miri enjoying the sightings outside. Kazuki and Rei have a brief talk especially focusing from when Rei brought a cat at the department, Kazuki reminds his words from back them over how it was kinder not to get involved, and if not prepared, doing so could make things worse. Rei asks him why he was saying that right now, to which Kazuki says that they were still on time to give [Miri] a normal happiness, surprising Rei. Kazuki mentions the different things he wanted Miri to do, and before Rei intervenes, according to Kurusu, there was still something they only could do, Rei biting his lips in realization.



They all contemplate the overview outside once they reach the top. Rei thanks Miri undertone for showing him things he'd never seen before, Kazuki following up by saying that it was time to wake up from the dream.

After leaving the ferris wheel, the three meet Misaki outside to Miri's surprise, Kazuki announcing it being their last present for her; a sleepover for just her and Mama. Miri excitedly thanks him and before leaving with her mother, Kazuki wraps his scarf around her, assuring he didn't want her to catch a cold. After they bid farewell to Miri, Kazuki claims that they weren't able to change, to which Rei agrees.

Everyone Will Be Hypocrites
Kazuki and Rei try to lead their lives as they normally did before meeting Miri, however the change suffered after the girl's absence is also remarkable. Rei apparently can't fully concentrate because when playing videogames, the "Game Over" is always displayed on the screen that rarely appeared, Kazuki telling him to go to sleep. He wishes Rei goodnight even if it was already morning. When Kazuki goes to where Miri's room used to be, he checks some of her things while revealing he's sent Miri's things from her room to her. He finds the drawing that she made for them on the day of her presentation and what seemed to be a hippo in a folder. Later he finds two paper ties (red and blue respectively) with a message below expressing Miri's thanks to her papas for Father's Day. Surprised, he remembers the moment when she gave them that schoolwork, and he is moved to tears which he wiped away, excusing the feeling with the room being dusty.

The impact of her on their lives is very clear when both try to carry out their daily life, Kazuki unconsciously buying Miri's favorite cereal which Kazuki and Rei ended up eating furthermore, both going to the park where they used to spend time with Miri, Rei watching the girl's favorite TV show. Rei also starts smoking since Miri wasn't with them anymore, recalling Kazuki's words back then when he said Miri can't smell the cig's smoke.

They both also point out the other's changes, Kazuki saying the noise of Rei's video games was the only thing heard, and the latter commenting that Kazuki is messing up his cooking a lot too. Rei briefly expresses his concern as to whether Miri was eating well, Kazuki assuring him that she surely was. Suddenly, Rei announces that he would return home for the New Years' since he was told to, surprising Kazuki, who understands by saying that they didn't have much reason to stay together. Rei tells him that he'll leave the apartment to him, so he can use it however he wants. Kazuki rejects the offer, explaining he'd be on search for a smaller place, since it was too big for only himself. He points how he couldn't remember their lives before meeting Miri. Rei throws his pack of cigarettes to Kazuki, walking away as Kazuki jokingly questions if that was his parting gift.

The next day Kazuki attends the hideout asking for a new job that Kyutaro could assign him. The latter points out that [Miri]'s had a huge impact on Kazuki and Rei's lives, and then asks where Rei was, to which Kazuki reluctantly answers what Rei himself had told him the night before, wondering if he really wanted to go back to that place. Kyutaro tells him he had no choice, Kazuki commenting on how it rubbed him the wrong way, both Rei and his dad.

Switching to Miri and Misaki, the girl tells her mother how her parents had also complimented her for singing Silent Night like she did, wondering when they would come to get her. Misaki tries to deny her kid about the fact that they were both her fathers, and Miri in response comments about the different activities they did, and that despite forcing her to eat mushrooms, she loved them both very much, and wished for everyone to live together.

Back to Rei, he is assigned to a mission by his father, putting on the desk a photo of him, Kazuki and Miri eating together at the crepe shop, surprising him. His father tells him to cut pointless ties, but he is very hesitant about killing Miri, and would kill anyone except her, however Shigeki reaffirms his position as the current leader of the clan, and also Rei's as heir to the family to accomplish the mission without hesitation.

On the other hand, Kazuki is called by Rei, the latter asking him his location, receiving the answer that he was going home from Kazuki, and when he is about to continue talking, Rei shouts for him to go to the Miri's house and to hurry up, Kazuki immediately acceding to the command seemingly to understhand the situation and proceeds to call Kyutaro for him to contact Miri's mother to tell them to get out of there. The scene then changes to Misaki's house where she is shot in the stomach by Ryo Ogino. Kazuki arrives just in time to intervene but initially fails, getting shot in the shoulder while trying to save Misaki. However, he manages to call the police as a distraction and calls out for Rei to "do his part", causing Ryo Ogino to turn his back for a moment. Although Ryo has control over Kazuki for a moment, it is too late as the police arrive on the scene. However, it turns out that it's only Kyutaro setting off police alarms as part of their plan. Misaki entrusts Miri into Kazuki's care before passing away from her injury. Kyutaro reminds Kazuki that they need to leave before things get messy and they take an asleep Miri with them.

Kyutaro takes Miri and Kazuki to his house as a safe refuge. Kazuki asks for Rei, so Kugi tells him he already called him and he is on his ways. When Rei arrives, he feels relieved to see that Miri is safe and sleeping soundly. However, Kyutaro apologizes to Kazuki and Rei for taking Miri away from them and giving her to Misaki because he thought it would keep her safe from the boss who was investigating Rei's life, but had however underestimated the man and blames himself for what happened. Rei denies the guilt too by imposing it on himself, for then afterwards leaving a silent in the room.

When Kazuki and Rei are left alone, they have a discussion about what to do with Miri, Kazuki having the idea of ​​wipe out every trace of her so they could stick her in an orphanage and then staying out of her life forever, however Rei wants to stay with her. Kazuki scoffs as he asks what he could do, and even though Rei denies ever doing anything in his life and only serving as a breathing statue not wanting to face reality and run from his father, he learns people's hands feel warm and how there are places that feel nice to stay (remembering the two of them walking Miri in their midst as they lifted her up with their hands and smiled). Kazuki tries to stop him, but nevertheless Rei turns deaf ear as he finds it unreasonable to leave Miri on her own having taken her parents away and just forget without even making it up to Miri.

Despite Kazuki's rebuttal that they couldn't be part of Miri's life anymore (and also grabbing Rei by the collar), Rei denies this fact saying they have to protect Miri, insisting him to think on what they should do to help her while grabbing his hand on the collar, adding that Kazuki's the brains between them, and also states that they could change, this time being the one they'll make Miri happy, opening Kazuki's eyes for once.

Miri just wakes up and when she asks where her mother was (and also expressing her confusion of both men being here), Kazuki lies saying that she had something to do and went out, so she's back with them again. Miri goes back to sleep happily when Kazuki tells her that Misaki would "come back" too. Having changed his mind, he tells Rei the the basic rules from the house to do for Miri, such as taking turns tucking her in, and that Rei won't skip out when taking her back and forth to daycare, surprising Rei in confusion. Kazuki keeps going on: tooth-brushing her after the bath, and that even though he's in charge of cooking Rei need also to help with cleaning and no washing dishes until the dry ones were put away, and taking things off the floor when vacuuming. Rei smiles in agreement and receiving a smug look from Kazuki, only to continue that if Rei was going to argue for it that hard, he had to respect those household rules. Rei proceeds to ask about playing, Kazuki immediately telling him one hour per day, leading Rei to believe it was a joke.

Kazuki proceeds to announce to Kyutaro that they would retire from the hitman business, followed by Rei saying they would be Miri's fathers. Once again Kyutaro asks if they were willing to follow through the false relationship bearing the weight of their sin, Kazuki smugly denying the false part, as they were determined to become a real family.

Daughter Daddies
After waking up, Kazuki notices it's snowing, and Miri wants to play outside, but before that breakfast was first. Upon hearing "breakfast", Rei and Miri help out Kazuki with the food but mainly to prepare french toasts so Kazuki could try them. They are hyped when these are approved, sharing a high-five. Before going to the daycare, Miri struggles on putting on her boots, and almost forgets her handkerchief, which one was brought by Rei when she remembered, thanking him. It's been exactly one year since Kazuki and Rei met Miri, this fact mentioned by the men. Kazuki asks Miri what'd she like as a present, her telling him that her mother already told Santa what she wanted, surprising Kazuki and leaving him speechless for a second before Rei reminds him it was time to go now.

Kazuki comments how it's been a time since they dropped her off, Rei noting out he was smiling way too hard, Kazuki asking him to shut up. The kid is surprised to hear that her mom wasn't coming, Kazuki trying to cover it up with lies, and when he notices she's become more worried, Rei tells her to make sure on sing loud enough that her mother hears her. Miri asks if they'll come to see her, both agreeing as it being a promise. Miri does the classic pinky promise on Rei, confusing the gest at first as a loyalty oath, until Kazuki slaps the back of his neck, but then access the action. Anna stays for a while with them informing how Miri practiced hard for this moment, and she was looking forward for them to see the performance, Kazuki and Rei agreeing.

They later pay a visit to Kyutaro to pick up something they requested: a briefcase with weapons inside it and also a bag with some clothes, and then set off for the Suwa home where the organisation's boss lives. Kazuki and Rei have chosen to lead a three-person life with Miri; despite being fully aware of the risks, they are going to engage in direct negotiations to leave the organisation. On their way at the place, Rei opens the bag to see its content, only to see there was a Santa Claus suit, Kazuki informing that it was for Miri. Kazuki says that even if they ran away, they'll never shake the organization, and yet if they were still after them, they'd face and end them up, it being the only real option. Rei asks Kazuki if he believed in Santa, receiving a negative answer from him, and agrees, saying that Miri's believes in him ever since they first met her. Kazuki is confused by this sudden topic, but Rei continues by asking if it was the parents' job to keep their children's dreams alive, followed by Kazuki saying even if it meant lying, it was. Rei is unaware there were in actual two outfits when he proposes to play the role, and when he does notice (pointed by Kazuki), Kurusu gives props to Kyutaro on not missing a beat.

A ferocious gunfight breaks out once arrived, and the assassin Ogino stands in their way along with the organization's minions. Kazuki confronts him, and is however injured in the act and as to distract Ryo, he lures him away from a hurt Rei since he's gotten Misaki's last words, and before he could take Ogino with him once surrounded in the kitchen, Rei appears to attempt to backstab Ryo, but it ends up being counterproductive as he manages to get the knife out of him and instead chokes Rei, but once again Kazuki comes into action by grabbing the knife on the floor to now end him. Rei offers Kazuki a helping hand to stand up, but since this latter was shot on his foot, he couldn't stand well so Rei offers him support. Once Kazuki is bandaged, they're outside the room where the boss awaits. Kazuki at first wants to go with Rei, but since it was a father-son business, instead he listens to Rei who asked him to secure them the getaway car to return back to Miri, the assassin promising that everything was going to be alright by showing his partner his pinkie.

During the discussion between the Suwas, Rei informs his father how many things he was shown while spending time away from the organization and him, more than all his partner Kazuki, a family and also experiences that he'd always treasure, and that he really wanted become a real family. Also to prove his point that his hands had no purpose if his assassin's blood gets in the way of that, and wouldn't let him to protect them, he shoots his arm by himself and leaves but not before bidding farewell to the boss, referring to him as "father".

When he leaves the place to meet Kazuki with the vehicle already waiting for him, he worries about the wound on his arm, Rei intervening saying that he had caused it himself, and Kazuki comments how it seemed a little overboard. On their way back to the daycare, Rei asks once again if they managed to change, this time getting an answer from Kazuki saying that they still had a long way to go. Rei agrees to return back home, because [Miri] awaits for her santas.

During the performance, Miri is worried she couldn't see her fathers, but after a moment she sees both arriving at the place with the santa costumes, Kazuki placing an arm on Rei's shoulder while this latter covered his bullet injury with the coat. Her face lights up at this, so now she could sing louder while her fathers watched her, smiling. After the performance Miri hugs Kazuki (unaware of his injuries under the costume) since she was happy to see them, but then Anna arrives to comment how the three were matching clothes, and proceeds to take a photo of the three.

In the timeskip, we see an older Miri getting ready for school, and is called by Kazuki whom told her to hurry up or else she'd be late. We also get to see that Kazuki and Rei were working at a diner, having notably grown up too. They are surprised by Miri's uniform, as she's now a prep school student. Kazuki comments his gladness of her not becoming a gangster, and relates how the 10 years spent on doing honest work since opening the diner really did pay off. Rei's cooking skills also improved, him also preparing the meals for Miri too (french toasts mainly) and Kazuki says that despite he got a signature dish with the toast, he'd had to expand his repertoire.

Rei asks why, and Kazuki answers saying "Ever the one-trick pony...". Miri reassures them by saying their french toasts were the best ones of the world. Miri also takes a photo of them before forgetting, since they were a family. They do so, and place it on a cork board as we see more photos of them together especially showing Miri's grow up and specific times going from the most recent photo to the christmas' performance taken by Anna on that day.

Children
Miri Unasaka Miri is Rei and Kazuki's adoptive daughter. She was sent to go live with her father by her mother, but ended up in the middle of hit job that Rei and Kazuki were on. She ends up being held hostage, but Kazuki is able to save her, by convincing her to come to him by claiming to be her dad. Rei then kills their target and Kazuki bring her home with them. They try to find her parents, only to find that her father was their target and her mother doesn't want her anymore. Rei and Kazuki then decide to take her in and both be her fathers while also continuing their jobs as Hitman, which they have to keep secret from Miri. She is a very kind four year old with a lot of energy and personality. She loves both of her fathers, but still misses her mother from time to time. On the last episode, Kazuki and Rei finally adopted her and went to live overseas to be a family together.

Songs

 * 「My Plan (Lofi Remix)」| Takahiro Obata
 * This is a Lofi Remix from the original Ending of the series sang by Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Kazuki's VA) and Koki Uchiyama (Rei's VA).

Fanon
Kazurei is the most popular ship in the Buddy Daddies fandom ever since the anime's trailer had aired out, due to the fact that they are the main couple of the series and the story revolves around their relationship's development, alongside Miri, their child. Fans were very expectating since the very beginning that the main characters were going to be paired-up together due to their bond and interactions during the first episode, fueling the fact they, as mentioned, raise a kid together.

Intially, the ship had been involved in controversy and gotten backlash when the anime was released, because of the main characters' peculiar association, and criticized about how "no male friendship could be appreciated on anime" plus the "queerbaiting" just as in other series, referring to Kazuki and Rei's relationship fathering Miri, and how the anime itself was only a "rip-off" of the anime Spy x Family (with a similar plot). But with the time as the episodes are airing, they'd become more appreciative with the similarities and also became to compare Buddy Daddies with the former mentioned classic anime, Spy x Family. There's still debating about whether they'd end up as a legitimate couple or just as, getting a final answer once the last episode was released; still sticking together and raising a now grown-up Miri. Whether the fan opinion over the ending is either rushed or the perfect ending (still waiting for a spin-off or future release about their daily life or Miri's), every each agree that they've at least managed to achieve their dream of becoming a real family.

In fanon, Rei is a "man who has never known love," and Kazuki is a "man running away from love", confirmed by Toba with the next quote: "(Kurusu) Kazuki has experienced lost love, and (Suwa) Rei is a character with no idea what love is, and all this changes through living with the child (Unasaka) Miri. So portraying the changes the two of them undergo is a big part of it." A common trope of the pairing is, the parental roles being down-played, Kazuki being the hard-working housewife while Rei is the "lazy husband" taking care of a happy, rebellious and energetic girl.

On AO3, the ship has 580+ works created as romantic, and as gen, 300+, which were being progressively created as a new episode of the anime was released. They have a massive following in sites like Twitter and Tumblr, their tag being on main "Kazurei" or just Miri's papas without always referring them as the ship name.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

TIK TOK

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Trivia

 * On different occasions, Rei is seen to be wearing Kazuki's shirts or sweaters and vice versa, like episode 5 and episode 9. It can be seen more of this in the official artworks of the PA Staff Lily.
 * Rei hates to be touched and to be dragged around, but doesn't seem to bother much when Kazuki is the one dragging him, and although he tries to resist, Rei doesn't try to push or hit Kazuki away.
 * In the Buddy Daddies: Short Story, we get to know more stuff about them:
 * Rei is normally a bad listener or tends to listen to people without caring who is talking to him, but when Kazuki is talking, he subconsciously listens to him, even describing it as a good feeling.
 * Several of the clothes that Rei uses in his day to day were chosen and bought by Kazuki.
 * A shirt that he normally wears, which has a cat in a cup, was a shirt that Kazuki bought for him (and at the time Rei was saying that he didn't want it). It is now revealed that it is Rei's favorite shirt.
 * Kazuki knows the size of Rei's underwear.
 * A common phrase used for the ship is: ‘Aisa reru koto wa kawaru koto’ -「愛されることは変わること」, which means "to be loved is to be changed".
 * The animals which Kazuki and Rei are usually related to are, respectively, a golden retriever and a black cat.
 * Sato Sanaei, an animator of the Buddy Daddies anime, retweeted a fanart with the caption "Loving and being loved" made by lalivender, where Kazuki and Rei are clearly using wedding rings, and Miri is holding a black cat and a golden retriever.
 * In episode 12, when Rei finishes discussing with his father and leaves the Suwa residence, he goes to Kazuki and greets him with ‘Tadaima’ (ただいま). This translates directly to "I'm home", and Kazuki responds him with ‘Okaerinasai’ (おかえりなさい), which means "welcome home".
 * In those moments, they were just outside the Suwa mansion (Rei's former house), which leads to the point that Rei left him former home to be with Kazuki and Miri, their new home.
 * According to their official character description, Rei is a man that "never experienced love" and Kazuki a man that "is running away from love".
 * In episode 7, Kazuki mentions how is he afraid of loving again as he might forget Yuzuko, but after Karin cheers him, he goes back to Rei and Miri and accepts them.
 * In episode 12, Rei mentions to his father how he learned to experience love thanks to Kazuki and Miri, and mentions Kazuki and Miri as "the ones who taught me how to love".
 * The official twitter account of Buddy Daddies, when publishing the trailer of the last episode, used the emojis 👨‍👨‍👧💞.
 * Apparently the video from that post was deleted and two other posts were made releasing the trailer but without using the emojis. It is suggested that it was due the censorship the series was going through.
 * The status of their relationship was left open to the public, having an ending that does not specify if they are romantically together, but are legally a family and are "bound by ties of love" - Ai no kizuna de musuba reru 「愛の絆で結ばれる」.
 * The producer of the anime, Mitsuhito Tsuji, has liked many posts with the #kazurei and #一零 tag, and posts that don't include the tag but have Kazurei content.
 * Tsuji shared a thanking post the public for supporting the Buddy Daddies series, and one user responded that they really enjoyed it, but wished they had taken out the part about Kazuki having a drink with a woman, and that they would have tried it another way "if they still didn't want to take it the obvious way" making reference about the censorship the series was going through as they were touching topics about two men raising a child.
 * This comment was read and liked by Tsuji, and so far, it is the only comment liked by the PA Staff.
 * The user Ookamir uploaded several artworks of Kazurei, and at a certain point they were mistaken for a PA Staff since he received several likes on an artwork they made, and some of the people that liked are of members of the anime's PA Staff, such as Lily, Michi and 浅井　義之

Variations

 * Kurusu Family — the ship between Miri Unasaka, Kazuki and Rei
 * KyuKazuRei — the ship between Kyutaro Kugi, Kazuki and Rei