HiguGin

HiguGin is the femslash ship between Ichiyo Higuchi and Gin Akutagawa from the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

Canon
Higuchi and Gin are both part of the Port Mafia. Higuchi works with Gin’s brother, Akutagawa, being part of the Command Unit and acting as his assistant and bodyguard. Gin is part of the Black Lizard, the assault group of Port Mafia that handles the organization's most unsavory jobs. Despite being part of the same organization, Higuchi and Gin do not interact very much.

Higuchi and Gin are first seen interacting after the former fails to protect Akutagawa in a fight and he ends up comatose. Gin is upset, and sneaks up on Higuchi in the bathroom, pointing a knife at her neck and telling her that if she had really intended to kill her she would already be dead.

Later on when Higuchi and Gin go to meet Dazai and attempt to bring him on the mafia’s side again, Dazai monologues or Higuchi how people can change, gesturing to Gin and seeing how she was a tiny little girl before. Gin looks away and blushes, and Higuchi falls speechless upon realizing that Gin is a female. She thinks to herself, “She’s a girl?! And she has a pretty voice too…”

Their next meeting is more comical. Higuchi spots Akutagawa alone after work but then sees Gin greet Akutagawa and preparing to go home. Higuchi doesn’t recognize Gin out of her assassin attire, and she mistakenly believes Gin and Akutagawa are a couple, and feels extremely dejected and jealous. Higuchi convinces herself that Gin must be an undercover assassin sent for an evil scheme, and vows to discover the woman's identity. While Higuchi searches for Gin with Atsushi and Kunikida, she sees Gin exiting a laundromat with Akutagawa’s clothes and in a fit of rage, takes out her gun and starts to chase her. Gin blushes after spotting Higuchi and starts running, and she ends up in a dead-end alley, where Higuchi corners her to see her with a ponytail up and putting on her mask, and Higuchi recognizes her as Gin, completely shocked. During this interaction, they’re both seen with a blush on their face. Later, Higuchi cries out of relief after it’s revealed that Gin is Akutagawa’s sister and not his lover. Afterwards, Higuchi orders Gin to try calling her “sister-in-law”, leaving the latter confused.

Later on after Higuchi is turned into a vampire, she is the one to bite Gin and turn her into one as well.

In Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! the mafia heads to the public baths because the Mafia's ones are broken. Higuchi walks beside Gin and studies her, planning to find out if she really is a woman with her own eyes. Gin holds up soap and asks Higuchi is she’d like to share bashfully, causing Higuchi to sprint out of the building, blushing and saying, "She's a girl! More than I needed her to be!"

In the Volume 23 omake, Higuchi invites Gin to a café on one of their off-duty days. Gin, however, misunderstands and assumes that they're going for work purposes. Higuchi is disappointed that Gin came wearing her work clothing, meanwhile Gin is confused as to why Higuchi isn't dressed for work.

Fanon
HiguGin is a decently popular ship in the Bungo Stray Dogs fandom, being the 6th most written on AO3. While it’s popularity is overshadowed by other ships, it is the most popular femslash ship and the most popular ship for both Higuchi and Gin in the fandom. Fans of this couple hope it could develop more in canon, especially because of Higuchi who blushed once with an embarrassment around Gin in one episode of BSD Wan!.

While Higuchi canonically has a crush on Ryuunosuke Akutagawa, AkuHigu is fairly disliked in the English fanbase while in other fanbase it's well accepted. The main reason why people prefer HiguGin is because of hating on Akutagawa and Higuchi's relationship and considering them unhealthy, forgetting about that Akutagawa's cold nature was formed as a result of his dark past and his goal to impress Dazai but despite of this he tries to save her in some moments and thankful to her. Higuchi being a lesbian who suffers from compulsory heterosexuality is a headcanon of some people in the fandom, and they believe she has mistaken her admiration and dependency on Akutagawa as attraction to him.

Higuchi and Gin tend to be shipped alongside Atsushi and Akutagawa as Shin Soukoku is the second most popular ship in the fandom. Given Higuchi’s crush on Akutagawa, pairing her with Gin no longer presents her as a love rival.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Both Higuchi and Gin have siblings, though Higuchi’s sister was only shown in the manga.
 * They have several matching costumes in the Bungo Mayoi game.