Taiken

Taiken is the slash ship between Taiga Kotaki and Ken Shiraishi from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Many years prior to the main Project SEKAI storyline, Ken and Taiga met in middle school. The two of them didn’t get along when they were younger, which sprouted rumors around Vivid Street as to why RADder broke up before the truth about RAD WEEKEND is revealed in the LIght Up The Fire event.

Ken and Taiga were both born and raised on Vivid Street, so they often saw each other even before they teamed up. In their middle school years, Taiga found Ken to be “the most boring guy on earth”, since he was more interested in getting a scholarship and doing sports. Ken would always give Taiga a disinterested look whenever they passed each other. Taiga believed that Ken had no passion for anything, always making everything look easy while also looking detached at the same time. It infuriated Taiga to the point he couldn’t even stand Ken since he had been singing since he was just a kid with a passion to make it big, whereas Ken was not serious about anything.

Eventually, Taiga decided to sing to ken with full power. His song, voice, and passion was effected. It ignited a fire in Ken’s eyes. Taiga describes the event as Ken’s cold gaze finally melting into something passionate. After that event, Ken began singing around town because he had finally found something to be passionate about—all thanks to Taiga. When Taiga saw Ken taking singing seriously, it also lit a fire within himself. Taiga describes this feeling as being “comforting”. Before he noticed, he was working alongside Ken, and they eventually became singing partners. Later, in High school, the two of them teamed up with Taiga’s little sister, Nagi and formed the music group RADder.

Taiga often teases Ken. The only time Ken is ever shown to be flustered in the game is when Taiga teases him. Normally he is composed, cool, and calm.

The two have some similarities. Ken and Taiga both mentor members of Vivid BAD SQUAD. Ken mentors Akito in the Burn My Soul event, and Taiga mentors Kohane from the Bout For Beside You event up until the On Your Feet event. Both made questionable fashion choices when they were younger, Taiga wearing ugly Hawaiian shirts to important gigs and Ken wore socks with little cream sodas embroidered onto them to shows. The two of them poke fun at each other because of this in An’s second card story for her card in The Vivid Old Tale event. However they are direct opposites when it comes to school. Taiga dropped out of high school while Ken went on to graduate from college. Akito also mentions that Ken and Taiga's singing styles are 'polar opposites'. Ken’s style of singing is calm, whilst Taiga’s is overwhelming and powerful.

Fanon
The ship is not very well known in the fandom due to some fans disliking Taiga, not paying attention to a lot of Vivid BAD SQUAD side characters, and due to the fact that Ken is already married. Nonetheless, the ship is still slightly popular on Twitter

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * The ship is referred to with the 🐯🍵 emojis. Ken being represented by the Tea emoji because he owns WEEKEND GARAGE, a live music cafe, and Taiga being the tiger emoji because in the 4koma that came out alongside the Kick It Up a Notch event he is portrayed as a tiger wearing shades.
 * Ken and Taiga appear in 4koma #71 “The Faces of the New Generation” together.