Ai Haibara and Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya

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Mitsuhiko and Haibara hearing the radio.

Relationship analysis

Mitsuhiko develops heavy romantic feelings for Ai, and Ai is aware of this. Ai uses his feelings to her advantage when she needs him to do something, but she also does admire his courage during missions the Detective Boys must perform and respects his feelings. She also in some episodes showed more confidence with Mitsuhiko than with Ayumi or Genta. Their "love" could be called "puppy love". Unlike the AyumixConan relationship, because of how enigmatic and ambigious Ai can be, it is unknown whether or not Ai has romantic feelings for Mitsuhiko too. In the AyumixConan relationship, it is obvious that Conan has no feelings for Ayumi beyond sisterly love. Does Ai only feel brotherly love for Mitsuhiko? A reccuring element in the MitsuxAi relationship is Conan; he is usually secretly observing their "moments" and poking fun at Ai interest in Mitsuhiko while she rolls her eyes and makes some sarcastic comment. Is ConanxAi more believeable as a romantic relationship than MitsuxAi? Read on...

Moments

Mushrooms, Bears, and the Detective Boys (Manga Volume 27 file 10 and 28 Files 1-2, Episode 212-213)

This is the first episode that Mitsuhiko shows affection for Ai. While she goes into one of her adult-like rants about something very random, such as Adam and Eve and the forbidden apple, he watches her and blushes as he does. Conan notices this and asks "What's wrong? Why are you making that face?" and he gets defensive at first but then says "Haibara-san's words are harsh but deep down she's kind, smart, mature and...very mysterious, don't you think?" Conan becomes serious and says "No, Mitsuhiko, don't choose her." Haibara hears him say this and tilts her head in confusion. (It's assumed that Conan says this because he knows the REAL truth about Ai, that she's an adult and will never be interested in him. However, he could have also said it because he is also attracted to Ai and doesn't want Mitsuhiko to get in his way. Either way, he says it to spare Mitsuhiko's feelings.)

Later in the episode, Genta gets lost while they are searching for a certain kind of mushroom and Ai makes Conan pair up with Ayumi and tells Misuhiko to come with her to go look for him. Conan gets a dark look on his face and says "Be careful, Haibara." because they are in hunting territory and humans are often mistaken for animals and shot by accident. Ai smiles in a very genuine way and says "Thank you for worrying about me." Conan scoffs and says "Whatever." Mitsuhiko feels left out and looks from one to the other repeatedly. When they start searching, Mitsuhiko remembers this and asks "What is your relatonship with Conan?" when she gives him a confused look he goes on to say "You two often go off into a corner and talk about things normal children don't understand. It's like you two only understand each other...like you're in your own little world." Ai brushes him off and says "You're wrong. It's not as romantic as it seems." (This can also be interpreted two ways. Ai could have said that to mean that she actually DOES have feelings for Mitsuhiko that may edge over just friendship and she's brushing his question off to let him know that he doesn't have to worry. Or, she could have said that in a forlorn way, meaning that she WISHES her relationship with Conan was more romantic but it can't be.)

In episode 213, Ai falls to the ground because she twisted her ankle when they were running away. Mitsuhiko immediately runs to her side and cuts his towel into strips to wrap it sround her ankle like a bandage. Ai is conspicuously delighted by his natural intelligence and says he is amazing. Mitsuhiko blushes and then looks down and says "Actually, I sprained my ankle when I was camping with Conan-kun once and...Conan-kun...he showed me this. He knows everything. He's the one that's amazing. I'm not even close to being like him..." Ai feels bad and after a pause she smiles and says "Stupid...the most important thing is that you have this knowledge and can use it after learning it. Right now, you're my amazing rescuer. Thank you." Mitsuhiko blushes and carries her from the mountain. The scene ends with her gazing at his reddened face intently.

Hooligan's Labyrinth (Episode 279-280)

The first MitsuxAi scene is on he bus after the Detective Boys and Professor Agasa have just finished watching a soccer/football game. Mitsuhiko is listening to the sports results of the next game on the radio and Ai, who is uncharacteristically interested in sports in this episode, puts her head against his to listen. He jumps away, stammers and blushes while she asks slightly impatient for the score. He quickly, with a red face, reports that it is zero to zero. As Conan watches in the background, Mitsuhiko goes on to say that the star player of the team they are rooting for is still playing but is playing badly. Ai, who has some sympathy for the star player, bows her head sadly. Mitsuhiko immediately tries to comfort her but she excuses herself and walks away with Conan's eyes on her.

"The Train Scene" is sort of iffy because it can be seen as an ConanxAi scene AND a MitsuxAi scene. After Conan figures out who the killer is and the police take him away, Conan notices that Ai is missing, Mitsuhiko and the others don't know where she is until they notice her standing on the platform on the other side of the train tracks like she's getting on a different train. Conan fears the worst and bolts up the stairs to try to get to her before she "escapes". When he gets there, she's no where to be found and he stands there, breathing heavily, screaming her name. When he's sure she's gone, she appears behind him and says "Why are you shouting?" Conan tries to save face but she already knows that he thought she had run away. She tells him, with slight irritation, that she was just searching for Mitsuhiko's portable radio that he lost earlier in the episode. This is a key moment for MisuxAi because this is the first time Ai ever goes out of her way to do Mitsuhiko a spontaneous favor. However, it can also be argued that Ai sees Mitsuhiko as nothing more than a little brother or friend because as soon as she tells Conan she was actually spending her time thinking about Mitsuhiko and not him or herself, she looks down and whispers "You told me. Not to run... Not to run away from fate." He stares at her and she meets his eyes with an intense gaze. "You'll protect me, right?" she asks him. Conan nods certainly. And just like that, Mitsuhiko is forgotten!

Mitsuhiko's Mystifying Forest (Episode 289-290)

This episode begins as a regular day. They're all doing community exercises outdoors to mark the beginning of summer and Ai notices, with deep concern, that Mitsuhiko isn't there. Mitsuhiko, as his sister calls him, is missing. The gang travels into the mountains to find him and again Ai voices concern by saying "What is it that made Tsuburaya-kun, the smart and considerate one, travel this far into the mountains?"It turns out that Mitsuhiko went into the mountains to find fireflies because he overheard Ai and Ayumi-chan talking about how pretty they were and he wanted to surprise them. When he finally caught one, he couldn't answer his phone or it would get away, he ended up risking his life just to impress Ai because there were dangerous killers roaming the mountains also. Ai is astonished when she learns this and says "You did all that for me?" He blushes and nods.

Festival Dolls Dyed in the Setting Sun (Episode 312-313)

Mitsuhiko ask/pulled Ai to go to the top of the stairs with him to be the empress and emperor of the photo.

The Unsmashable Snowman (Episode 466-467)

Mitsuhiko grabs Ai's hand during the snowstorm to make sure she doesn't get lost, but it turns out to be Genta's hand instead and everyone looks embarrassed.

Later Ai shows Genta special attention when he falls in the snow and gets a nosebleed. Ai uses tissue to stop his nose from bleeding and holds his face while telling him to be careful next time. Mitsuhiko watches Ai walk away, blushes and exclaims "I'm so jealous of you, Genta-kun!"

Red, White, Yellow, and the Detective Boys (Episode 509)

An apartment is burned down and three of the residences are suspected as the arsonists. While Conan tries to figure out who the culprit is, Ai holds onto him freaking out about her "sixth sense" with the members of the Black Organization. She suspects that one of the three is a Black Org. member. To get a better look at them, she asks Mitsuhiko to do her a favor. She puts her hands on is shoulders and says "Stay like that and walk backwards. That's all I need." Mitsuhiko blushes and then says "Walk backwards? Is there something behind me?" as though someone is pulling a joke on him. Ai holds his face in her hands and says "Don't turn around. You need to keep looking at me." He stammers "Y-yes." They walk backwards until Mitsuhiko says "Haibara-san, you're hurting me." because she's grabing his shoulders too hard. She accidentally pushes him out of surprise and he falls to the concrete and scrapes his elbow.

Meiji Restoration Mystery Tour (Episode 518-519)

Ai and Mitsuhiko were kidnapped.

Countdown to Heaven

Mitsuhiko tells Ran that he loves both Ayumi and Haibara, and asks her if he's a bad person because of that.

Haibara falls off the car and Mitsuhiko holds her while saying: "I'll never let you fall."

Full Score of Fear-

Mitsuhiko instead of looking at Ayumi when they are singing he looks at Ai while he blushes. Their chorus coach says that he was singing bad because he was looking at Ai.

Strategy Above the Depths

Haibara makes fun of Mitsuhiko asking him to have a bath with her. He inmediatly blushes and faints to the floor.

Mitsuhiko daydreams about Ai Haibara.

A Secret Order From London

Mitsuhiko daydreams of Haibara and himself married.

See also

• Ai Haibara
• Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya