#Like as spy/business partners or such; even if in canon Conan isn't going to let Haibara near the action

[raifuujin]

You seem to have non-biased opinions about the matters in DCMK and I would love to hear a non-biased pinion about which of the two works best ShinRan/CoAi (or Shinichi/Shiho)? (Because the shippers of these 2 will always be biased no matter how deeply they analyze imo)

Well, even a non-biased opinion would be looking at it just based on the series, where it’s clear that Gosho was always intending to make it clear Shinichi and Ran are romantically interested in each other, while the only relationship with Haibara is one-sided, and I’ve stated once before that I don’t even fully see her feelings as romantic. But for a full look…

Shin/Ran would still work best by default. The simple truth of that is because of emotions. People could argue that they’re only friends, but Shinichi was shown to want a full future with Ran from the very first chapter. He himself was on the immature side in the early chapters, so that could have been wishful thinking, but his feelings throughout the series have been clear. He wants to be with Ran, and he’d like to keep her as happy as he’s able to with his current situation.

Ran’s emotions and actions when it comes to concern for Shinchi could come from the fact that her parents are separated. She might be able to see her mother when she really needs to, but I doubt Eri leaving left Ran ‘okay’ with the idea of other people leaving her, which is why she’s so emotionally compromised when Shinichi seemed to have disappeared without a word. Unlike with Shinichi, she doesn’t have wild fantasies about marrying him, though to be fair, we don’t see that from Haibara either. Or really from much of any female character outside of Sonoko when it comes to any fantasies. Hers is a more general caring about his well being and happiness, but we do get signs from early on that she’s more self conscious about him (whenever he’s the topic of discussion in regards to her), and it’s not the sort of ‘stop saying that you know that’s silly’ and more of a ‘don’t bring that up’ that indicates a leaning past the ‘just friends’ role.

I’ve also said this before, but the biggest thing that makes their relationship believable is that they respect each other. They admire the other’s strengths, there’s no criticism aimed at weaknesses (except maybe teasingly but I can’t think of a time at the moment), and they support each other when the other needs it. It’s not just a ‘we’re friends but now I want to kiss too’, they admire traits in each other, already know each others flaws, and still show the signs of wanting to be with the other in the long term.

Co/Ai is a one-sided interest, or more realistically, fan admiration. Most of the times we’ve seen Haibara show feelings of possible attraction towards Conan, it was during, and a bit after, the Vermouth arc, when she was the most vulnerable and scared of the world. Conan had been very blunt about not approving of her the first time she fully introduced herself, and only accepted that she was a person in need of help after she broke down, he realized she’d been Akemi’s sister, and that she really wasn’t okay after saving herself by sheer accident when she’d meant to kill herself. She slowly developed an admiration of him, but he’s never felt the same in return. Even beyond first impressions, they just didn’t see eye to eye when it came to people. A lot of people like this as a ship based on their chemistry, but the only time they’re ever in sync with each other is in having the unique shared experience of being shrunken teenagers. He can push her to do things she’s not comfortable with, and give her some amount of courage…. but again, it’s not something reciprocated. The only thing Haibara can give Conan in return is plot information, paranoid advice, and hope for a cure. Conan impresses her. More than once, he’s been a hero. But there’s nothing emotionally that he’s gained from her, aside from maybe that being with a criminal organization doesn’t mean you would be a bad person. But he technically learned that from her sister, so. *shrugs* Sassy comments and snarky comebacks to not make romantic chemistry, even if they can work for a fine friendship. There needs to be more genuine give and take for anything truly supportive to form.

I will never be able to see Haibara’s feelings as anything more than her being a fan. Nowadays, we can see she forms that sort of attachment to people and things. She’s the biggest fan of Higo after getting attracted to his story and success, to a point people are also shipping her with him. She’s always been a fan of designer items, notably Fusae’s brand (even if she’s unaware that she met the creator of the brand). And she’d gotten attached to Yoko and her music, but that one hit trouble because being a small fan of Yoko doesn’t outweigh being a fan of Higo. So with the behavior we see now, I can’t see her attraction to Conan/Shinichi as anything but admiration as a fan. Just back then, she’d been cynical of the world and wasn’t opening up to other people, so her showing feelings for anyone had more impact, and the one who surprised her and made her drop her guard most often was Shinichi.

There’s also an issue that he flat out doesn’t trust her. He’s protective, but since she openly said that she’s only a child because she’d tried to kill herself and it failed from her being ‘lucky’ enough to survive the APTX, I should hope he would be. Moonlight Sonota made him never want to see even a genuine serial killer kill themselves, much less a scientist who hadn’t meant for what they’d been working on to be used to kill people and feel internally beat themselves up about it. He never keeps her informed on how BO progress is going, he doesn’t want her involved. If I consider Haibara’s feelings are those of an admiring fan, than Shinichi’s are just those of a detective. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Haibara would only be a client, since she is a bit closer than that, but it’s more clear he’s helping out someone who desperately needs protection. When Haibara acts odd, he doesn’t consider anything wrong with her emotionally, nor does he even try and figure out what’s going on with her. He’s more likely to just ask ‘what’s wrong with you/what’s with your attitude‘, which isn’t as personal and pretty rude. [ Going by his attitude towards her when she kept accidentally shocking herself because she’d been wearing the wrong fabrics. ] ( Especially when he goes into a tizzy trying to figure out what could possibly be going on with Ran whenever anything seems out of place in the slightest. )