Shimateru

"You're brilliant. I've made up my mind, I'm going to get rid of you first."

- Shimazaki to Teruki

Shimateru is the slash ship between Shimazaki Ryou and Hanazawa Teruki from the Mob Psycho 100 fandom.

Canon
Teruki and Shimazaki meet during the World Domination Arc. After Shimazaki kidnaps the Prime Minister using his teleportation skills, Teru intercepts him after watching the kidnapping occur on TV. Teru uses his psychic abilities to move the Prime Minister to safety, before setting off a telekinetic explosion which takes Shimazaki by surprise. Shimazaki asks who the newcomer is, to which Teru replies that he is here to teach Shimazaki a lesson, and that the latter can't just do whatever he pleases.

During their first fight, Teru makes use of several different techniques which he copied from other enemies. Shimazaki has no trouble dealing with any of them, however, which causes Teru to wonder what Shimazaki's abilities are. After catching Teru inside his multi-layered barrier, Shimazaki remarks that Teru's array of abilities is impressive, before knocking him out. He thanks Teru for entertaining him before teleporting away with the Prime Minister once again. The shock of losing to someone other than Kageyama causes Teru to have a fever. Nevertheless, he goes to infiltrate Claw with Reigen's group, and happens upon Shimazaki fighting with Ritsu. This time, Teru has multiple allies to help him fight Shimazaki, along with the knowledge of what Shimazaki's abilities are — teleportation and the ability to predict his opponents' movements. Before they fight for a second time, Hanazawa remarks that Shimazaki must be getting nervous - with so many adversaries around him, he is bound to hit the limit on his predictive abilities - and that it's time to exact revenge for his previous defeat.

During the fight, Teru continues to analyze Shimazaki's combat style, advising his allies on how to go about defeating him. When Shimazaki states that he is on another level compared to Teru and his allies, Teru realizes that this is a bluff, correctly inferring that Shimazaki is vulnerable to attacks which slip past his detection, and that he has been cornered. Shimazaki admits that Teru is impressive for being able to see through him so clearly, before teleporting beside Teru and grabbing him by the hair, smashing his head into a brick wall and then a car window in quick succession.

Understanding that the rest of the group will not be able to defeat him without Teru's leadership, Shimazaki focuses on taking out Teru first. Teru takes a massive beating, appearing to be on the brink of losing. However, before Shimazaki can throw the finishing punch, Teru catches his fist, then accurately predicts his next few attacks. Teru states that Shimazaki's weakness is that he relies too much on his psychic abilities, making his punches and kicks easy to anticipate. Shimazaki admits his surprise, stating that Teru is the first person he has faced who took this many hits without going down, and that next to Suzuki, he is the world's greatest esper. Teru finds this hilarious, telling Shimazaki that there are people in this world who have an unimaginable amount of power, referring to his friend, Kageyama. Shimazaki just doesn't know about them. Because of this, Teru is able to confidently state that Shimazaki is just an average person, and that even he can beat him. After this, the momentum of the fight shifts to Teru and his allies, who are able to take advantage of Shimazaki being distracted and annoyed by Teru's provocation. However, Shimazaki thinks of a way to counter this, blocking out his sensory of anything that does not have ESP. He develops a new ability, Mind's Eye, which allows him to teleport to his enemies, and dispatch each of them with a single, well-placed blow to their vital points. Despite all of his allies being incapacitated by the technique, Teru is still able to stand immediately after receiving the blow, and Shimazaki remarks that he is surprised once again by Teru's resilience.

After Mob and Reigen arrive, Shimazaki surrenders before teleporting away to safety, fearing retribution from Mob. The former members of Claw complain about this, stating that it feels like a cheap victory after Shimazaki has run away. Teru refutes this however, stating that they have won decisively, and that this fight will leave Shimazaki with a lasting trauma which will hopefully cause him to turn over a new leaf.

Fanon
Shimateru is considered a rarepair in the Mob Psycho 100 fandom. It is notably more popular in the Eastern fandom compared to the Western fanbase, where it is sometimes shipped alongside other age-gap pairings such as Reigen/Mob. Many fans choose not to ship this pairing, due to Teru being a minor canonically while Shimazaki is an adult. Additionally, the nature of their canonical relationship (pure animosity) causes some fans to question the viability of this pairing. However, people who like this pairing may find it appealing due to the fact that Teru and Shimazaki were both able to bring out the best of each other's abilities while they fought, pushing each other to their respective limits. Because of this, their battle is often praised as one of the most compelling in the Mob Psycho anime.

On AO3, Shimateru is the seventh-most popular romantic pairing for the Mob Psycho 100 fandom. It mainly rivals Terumob, which is the second most-written pairing for the fandom on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART