Character	Shiba Junichi
Appearance	Butterfly’s Poison; Blood Chains
Media	Otome Game
Type	Obsessive
Love Interest	Protagonist/ Yuriko Nomiya

Shiba Junichi is a self-made wealthy businessman who came from poverty. On Yuriko’s birthday party, the man made a striking entrance and saved her. A few days later, he came to her manor to ask for her hand in marriage.

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

Yuriko Nomiya met Shiba Junichi during her birthday party hosted by her parents. Chaos broke out during the party when a group of alleged anti-government thugs broke in and started beating up the invited guests. When Yuriko pulled a dumb move and shouted at the thugs, which incited their rage and turned their attention towards her, Shiba swooped in in the most timely manner and saved her from their aggression.

Unfortunately for Yuriko, her father did not survive the night; he was murdered in the chaos. A month later, her mother also died from her rapidly worsening mental and physical health. Amidst all the tragedies, and the piling debt incurred by the Nomiya household, Yuriko became incredibly stressed out.

It did not help that just a few days after her father’s death, Shiba had turned up at the manor, offering to help with the Nomiya’s household debt under the condition that Yuriko marries him. Essentially, he is exchanging Yuriko with money. Worse, Shiba straight up expressed his disdain towards nobility, which made his intent for their marriage seems extremely questionable. Through out his proposal, Shiba was forceful, straightforward, and tactless. As a prideful aristocratic girl, Shiba’s crude words and actions caused her to resent him.

Nevertheless, Shiba was not put off by Yuriko’s contempt, and continued to chase after her. He would visit her every few days despite his overwhelmingly busy schedule. He would gift her pretty bouquets of flower, and would try to take her out to cheer her up.

Shiba did not even have enough time to sleep, but visiting Yuriko was more important to him. Despite Yuriko’s disdain towards Shiba, it was a first for her to encounter such a straightforward and proud man. She had no idea how to deal with Shiba, and often ended up being swept along in his pace.

Shiba had always expressed his desire for Yuriko. While he tried to keep himself in check, he did lose control sometimes when his emotions get the better of him. While Yuriko initially detest his crude, even vulgar advances, she also could sense his passion for her. Eventually, she began to waver.

Once, Yuriko witnessed a platonic greeting kiss between Shiba and Kyoko, who is a free-spirited, married aristocratic lady. As such, Yuriko mistook them to be romantically involved. Out of rage, she agreed to a marriage interview with another man from the wealthy Iida household. When Shiba found out at the scene itself, he approached them and made it very clear to the man that he was already wooing Yuriko to keep him away from her. Of course, Shiba was furious about this marriage interview.

After the marriage interview, Yuriko can choose to go home by herself, or be driven back by the people from Iida family. This seemingly insignificant decision will determine if Yuriko faces a happy or tragic ending.

In the good ending, Yuriko chose to be driven back. On the way, the Iida family spotted a suspicious person in the Nomiya household. Wary, they decided to withdraw from any further marriage arrangements. Yuriko was planning to reject them anyway since she was already falling for Shiba, so she took the withdrawal well.

However, Shiba did not know of the withdrawal and was beyond anxious. He rushed to her household the minute he could make time to ask her about it. In the process, he exhausted himself to the point of collapsing in front of her. Luckily, Yuriko told him of the unsuccessful marriage interview, which gave Shiba tremendous relief. Playfully, Shiba also half-joked that he will come in and ruin whatever marriage interviews that Yuriko may have so that she cannot marry anyone else but him.

Shiba later revealed the reason for his obstinance towards Yuriko. To him, Yuriko saved his life. Their first meeting was actually over a decade ago, when Yuriko was still a little girl. When Shiba was struggling to survive and was chased by thugs, he bumped into Yuriko, who purposely misdirected the thugs to help him. After exchanging some encouraging words with Shiba, she also gave him an intricate, pure white handkerchief to wipe himself with. This seemingly small gesture from Yuriko was the only kindness Shiba had received in his life, and she became the light in the darkness for him. Vowing to meet her once again, Shiba worked tirelessly to become the wealthy businessman that he is. Now, he can finally stand on equal footing with Yuriko, and would finally be fitting to be in her world.

Having understood Shiba, Yuriko now know how much he cherished her. Ultimately, the two married despite judgmental eyes from the public, and Shiba also became a director of an orphanage. The two could not be happier.

In the bad endings, Yuriko decided to go home by herself after the marriage interview. On her way home, she decided to cut Shiba off from her life and accept the marriage. The Iida family, having never stopped by her manor, did not grew wary of the household and happily agreed to the marriage as well. Upon receiving this news, a furious Shiba confronted Yuriko and declared that he will go against the Iida family business from there onwards. Subsequently, a string of misfortune befell both the Iida and Nomiya family. Iida’s business failed terribly while Nomiya’s existing debt snowballed exponentially. Worse, Yuriko’s older brother was found dead in the river, bloated and disfigured beyond recognition.

Tormented by all the misfortunes, Yuriko was seething in anger. It did not help that Shiba turned up at such a bad timing to ask for Yuriko’s hand in marriage again, offering to pay off her family’s debt should she accept his proposal. As such, Yuriko firmly believed that Shiba was the instigator to all of her misfortunes just so he could use her to get prestige and the title of nobility. Here, Yuriko makes another crucial decision. She can either attempt suicide, or she can seek revenge on Shiba.

Should Yuriko attempt suicide, she would jump into the same river her brother drowned in, but then get rescued by Shiba. While her life was preserved, Yuriko had hit her head against a rock, which resulted in the lost of her eyesight. Without her sight, with no means to help herself, and with her family in ruins, no eligible bachelor will ever want Yuriko. Heeding the suggestion of others, Shiba decided to announce Yuriko’s “death” to the outside world, while he kept her in his residence underground. He will shower her with lavish gifts and clothes, and make her engage in a sexual relationship with him. Yuriko became numb to it all. But even then, Shiba still tried to let Yuriko know that he truly loves her. Regardless, Yuriko finally belonged to him.

Should Yuriko seek revenge, she would pretend to love Shiba and marry him. Yuriko had expected Shiba to grow cold and uncaring towards her after their marriage, but he never did. Instead, he only showed endless affection for her. While playing the role of a good wife, Yuriko would secretly put poison into Shiba’s food and drinks everyday. Shiba never rejected the food and drinks Yuriko fed him. He was simply grateful that Yuriko was his wife, that they were spending precious moments together, and he would always tell Yuriko this. Even as he grew weaker, he refused to seek treatment, and did not heed the doctor’s advise. After only six months, Shiba passed away from cancer. He left a will to transfer all of his wealth and fortune to Yuriko. In his deathbed, his last words were to thank Yuriko for being with him, and to let her know that he had truly been happy.

It was only after his death that Yuriko discovered Shiba’s diary. In the entries, Shiba conveyed his excitement at finally meeting Yuriko at her birthday party. He expressed his love for Yuriko, and his simple desire to make her happy. Through the journal, it was also evident that Shiba was not involved of any misfortunes suffered by the Nomiya household. In fact, he was the only one capable of and willing to help them out of their troubles. He also knew that Yuriko was feeding him poison, but it did not matter. They were together as a couple; she willingly became his bride. He was happy; nothing else mattered. When Yuriko found out the truth, she was heartbroken. She had killed the person who had loved her with all his being. She regretted, but it was too late.

I am so glad I actually got Shiba’s happy ending on the first run before I proceed to the bad ends. How can Yuriko be so cruel to him? I was bawling my eyes out reading that ending! ARGH! YURIKO…!!!

Shiba was the type of character that I usually would not like. Crude and straightforward, with an arrogant attitude. However, he gradually grew on me. By the end of his route, I am all for him.

Granted, Shiba is forceful and rude. He has a hot-temper and often loses control of himself. However, his overwhelming love for Yuriko is undeniable. For her, he worked himself to the bone to get to where he was. Yuriko was the most important person in his life. In the good end, it was already obvious just how much Shiba loved her. In one of the bad end, he was even happy to die for her.

Even in other routes, Shiba managed to show just how obsessed he is with Yuriko. In Hideo’s bad end, Yuriko put forth a condition to Shiba – she will marry him if she is allowed to have an affair with Hideo. Shiba agreed. In Fujita’s bad end, Shiba also married Yuriko knowing that her heart lied elsewhere. Shiba is willing to do whatever it takes to have Yuriko by his side, as he believes that with enough time and effort, Yuriko will eventually come to love him. Even if his love cannot be reciprocated, Shiba is still content to know that Yuriko is his wife.

It is hard to classify Shiba as either a yandere or obsessive character. He did exhibit some yandere traits when he kept a blind Yuriko in his residence in one of the bad ends. He had also admitted on one occasion that he entertained the idea of claiming Yuriko’s body first if he cannot claim her heart. Because that way, she will still belong to him. However, majority of Shiba’s thoughts and actions proved that he valued Yuriko’s happiness over himself. This was especially true in the bad end where Shiba died of poison. So I think he leans more towards the obsessive side, though there are definitely yandere traces in him.