#just wanted to write this bc of how central grief and love is to shin's character arc

[penrose-quinn]

I had this theory about Shinichiro and Izana for awhile. I undoubtedly believe Shin tried to find Izana because of Emma because who'd talk about Izana if not her? Not to mention, he was doing his best to make her feel at home with them when she's still trying to adjust being part of a different family. The thing is I don't think he searched for Izana immediately right after Emma kept telling him about her brother. While exceptionally kind, Shin was still a kid at that time with a ton of responsibilities and whose mother was bedridden in the hospital. Besides none of the adults looked for Izana so why should he? I think the final push for him to find Izana was when his mother died. Grief just does things to us that make us do the most absurd things. Like finding your sister's brother that you had never met before. In a way, it does line up with Shin's character if you consider his backstory. How he found Izana isn't mentioned and probably left out for everyone's interpretation because I don't think it's a matter of how but why. It felt very impulsive of Shin to search for Izana's whereabouts and then show up randomly to his institution one day to tell him he's his big brother—like did he even think about how Izana might take that? He's so young and Izana was too. Shin had good intentions of getting to know him better and he might've been attempting for Izana and Emma to meet. Sadly, everything just didn't turn out well like how it should have :')