MelFilo

"I love you the way you are now, Mel-Chan!"

- Filo to Melty, Episode 14

MelFilo is the femslash ship between Melty Q Melromarc and Filo from the The Rising of the Shield Hero fandom.

Canon
Melty, first introduced as Mel, meets Filo first when the latter is in her filolial form. She was petting some normal filolials at first, but exclaims in surprise about a talking filolial and looks extremely excited. Mel offers some jerky to Filo and strokes her chest fur. Naofumi observes how she really loves filolials and makes the decision to let the two play together for a while.

Filo returns home by dusk back in her human form and jumps around Naofumi while shouting about all the things she learned about Mel. Mel walks in and asks if she could accompany the trio on their journey to Melromarc Castle Town because she was separated from her family. She quickly agrees to the payment, and they set off the next day. In the carriage, Filo happily runs faster at Mel's request. When they finally stop, the two girls play a game of tag, with Mel commenting on how fast Filo is even in her human form. Filo shares her trinkets with the purple-haired girl and both Naofumi and Raphtalia note on the strong friendship that they had already developed. Later, noticing the two quieting down, they turn to see Filo sleeping back in her bird form, with Mel's clothes beside her. Terrified, they wonder if Filo had eaten her, but she pops out from inside the feathers. Mel describes the feathers as "so warm and fluffy!" enough for her to take off all her clothing.

When they finally arrive at Melomarc, Mel thanks them for their help, and sets off with Filo to make sure Naofumi gets his payment. Naofumi nearly gets into an official battle with Myne, but Mel voids the battle claiming that she is the heir. Naofumi, upon learning that Melty is from the Melomarc family, forbids Filo to play with her anymore. Despite this, Filo waves goodbye to Melty, promising to meet again.

Naofumi protects Melty when she is suddenly attacked by her own soldiers, and Filo asks why with concern, that they are after Melty. Filo reminds Naofumi not to forget about the princess as they're running away, and he reluctantly grabs her and escapes together. As they're attempting to bolt away, Motoyasu captures Filo with a chain. Melty, seeing Filo struggle, shouts for him to leave her alone. When he ignores her, she attacks him with her own magic.

Melty recommends a nobleman's house where they can stay the night, and she and Filo go off to explore the mansion by themselves. They sit down on a bench and talk. Melty takes a stand against a malevolent noble, and when Raphtalia and Naofumi finally come out into the open, Filo passionately declares that they need to go save Melty. During the attack on his house, Filo happily stomps across the courtyard in an effort to help find Melty. When Melty sees her, she shouts for her to leave and take Naofumi away because she's only being held as bait. The noble takes Melty hostage, stopping Filo from attacking.

The filolial queen saves the group but then takes Melty as a hostage (again) in order to force Naofumi to make up with the heroes. Filo is the most concerned for her at this point. The queen, Fitoria, proposes a duel between herself and Filo in exchange for Melty's freedom. Melty watches anxiously as Filo gets ready to fight her. Fitoria transports the party to where Motoyasu is, but he immediately attacks them on the pretense that Ren and Itsuki were killed because of them. Filo and Melty pair up together and fight back with a duo tornado. Their attack succeeds, and Melty praises Filo for being in sync. Filo is extremely excited to meet Melty again after the whole war against the Church and invites her to explore the castle. Melty morosely declines the offer and begins crying because she wanted to stay with the group. Naofumi bluntly says that they couldn't be traveling around with the future queen. Filo begins crying as well, and hugs Melty tightly, shouting that she wanted to stay with her forever. Melty tries to cheer her up and make Filo understand that she has to leave because of her duties of being a queen. After delivering the bad news, she calls for Filo to join her anyways in exploring the castle.

Quotes
"I don't want to leave Mel-Chan!! I wanna stay together forever and eveerrrrr!!"

- Filo to Melty, about their separation, Chapter 32

Fanon
Their relationship is generally well-liked and accepted by the fandom. Melty was Filo's first friend, and Melty has also been shown to love filolials. Already, there are many fanarts and fanfictions of the duo.

Because they are both children, some people prefer to ship them as just friends or romantically.

MelFilo is the most written ship for both Filo and Melty. This ship is sometimes shipped alongside Raphumi, and some people like to headcanon that Raphtalia and Naofumi are like MelFilo's adopted guardians. Filo is sometimes shipped with Naofumi, but this is frowned upon due to the extremely large age gap between them. Melty doesn't have other notable contenders for ships either.

Fandom
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Moments

 * When Naofumi provokes Melty into crying, Filo comforts her.
 * Filo was extremely jealous that Melty kept asking the filolial queen questions and neglecting her.
 * Melty and Filo sleep next to each other after eating all their food
 * Melty tries to cheer Filo up after the latter grew a sproingy ahoge, saying that it looked cute on her.
 * Filo pledged to sleep with Melty every single night when they're in the castle

Trivia

 * According to Naofumi, Filo is interested only in food, carts, and Melty.
 * They are both 10 years old.
 * They are both associated with royalty.