Or simply my take on why Sensei started the series hinting at Yukio/Shiemi to end up focusing on Rin/Shiemi and possibly Yukio/Shura.

Disclaimer: Ship wars possibly being a thing, I just want to say that while this post is definitely subjective because it’s my opinion, I value canon above everything else and I hope that anyone who might disagree will at least not call me out on being biased, when I only care about interesting developments and no plot hole. x))

Also I caught up around ch34 which means I’ve been following this story monthly for about 6 years now and, if I’m writing this post, it’s because AnE is the only series for which my shipping list changed often, because of what I’m about to say regarding this part of Sensei’s writing. 

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Right so, starting with Yukio/Shiemi, I totally used to ship them because that’s what the story seemed to initially hint at, Rin being the outsider of the little trio since Yukio and Shiemi had known each other for years when Rin barely knew anything about himself or even his brother to begin with. 

Besides, in Shiemi’s own words, she admired him for years and it always showed without a doubt…

…but Yukio’s

continuous and unresolved issues are ultimately what doomed the ship, because he and Shiemi ended up growing apart while Rin slowly made his way closer to Shiemi. The trio dynamic isn’t gone mind you, but Rin/Shiemi is now the only possible outcome for it. 

Going backwards, the reason the narrative would hint at Yukio/Shiemi from the beginning was rather simple: initially the whole theme to Yukio’s character is that he’s a little kid thrown into the adults’ world. 

He is the youngest exorcist ever (low-key surprising development when Shiro hated what Asylum was about but ://), when Shiro died he became responsible for Rin and also a teacher because he’s skilled, then there was the Morinath contract because of Toudou, etc, which has him forced to act and be burdened like an adult when he’s barely 16 years old right now:

Meanwhile Shiemi was the only kid of his age who knew about what his life

was like

and could provide him with comfort and normal friendship, at least until he started teaching his brother and the other students who were of the same age.

So in that regard, it’s natural that Yukio and Shiemi ended up forging a strong bond, which led to Yukio holding tight onto the most normal part of his life considering how old he is and eventually getting a crush on Shiemi as a result:

However, between Rin’s arrival in the trio and, again, Yukio’s tendency to act alone when it comes to facing problems, it drove him against a wall as far as Shiemi is concerned. Honestly this ship had many occasions to sail, especially considering Yukio’s feelings and Shiemi’s huge admiration towards him…

• when Rin was discovered to be Satan’s son, since even Shiemi was mad at him
• or during the Kraken arc, because Rin endangered both Shiemi and Yukio by acting rashly
• or just before Izumo’s arc, when Shiemi and Yukio spent a lot of time studying together and since Shiemi wanted to go to the dance party with him (in order to cheer him up, of course, but still) 

…but unfortunately, Yukio never took the chance due to having a lot on his mind

which in return left room for more interactions between Rin and Shiemi (and Rin never hesitated to go head first and be frank, as we all know).

Finally, the fact that all this time Yukio believed Shiemi had a crush on Rin because he always saw himself as inferior to his older brother…

…is in my opinion what cemented the widening distance between him and Shiemi. 

After all, considering that Rin and Shiemi were slowly growing closer, Yukio probably felt he had no other choice but to also directly put some distance with Shiemi in order not to feel too jealous or bitter about himself. He even said as much, by not referring to her as a friend but simply as a student of his:

However this time he was right. Not about Shiemi despising him, obviously she would never, but about needing someone who knows the “real him”.

The most interesting thing (and why I shipped them initially) is that Shiemi was the person who used to understand Yukio the most. Or perhaps, to be more accurate…

Shiemi admiring him for years at least gave Yukio the solace of mattering to someone until even that fully vanished in ch93. I always found interesting that Shiemi was the one he had gone to, crying about being all alone and having no friend when she was still there trying to help him, until the mention of Rin (Rin who’s “the better twin”, Rin who Shiemi is in love with) shattered even that.  

Yukio used to be able to rely on Shiemi feeling admiration for him because it gave him self-confidence. Unfortunately as time passed -between the constant pressure on Yukio, Rin getting his own place into the dynamic when Yukio feels inferior to him and even Shiemi herself growing up through experiencing a lot- this ceased to be true and Yukio started to raise walls around himself. 

And that, Shiemi herself noticed it way before ch93. For example in ch69…

and that’s why she tried her best to reach out to him as often as possible, even if that hardly worked for now. 

When it comes to Yukio’s need to be understood and thus for someone to know “the real him”, once Shiemi was out way before ch93, only Rin and Shura were left to fit the criteria. And out of the two, well, Shura is older, has known Yukio ever since his training days and is generally better at realizing that he hasn’t been doing well since basically the very beginning of the story.    

To quote from this post: “actually there was a time in AnE where Yukio was not full of angst (until he meets Toudou), or so you could think because the truth is that he was just better at hiding everything behind his smiles, but anyway it never fooled Shura then…

and it’s still not fooling her.”

So it’s really as Shiemi said: she was the first to be pushed away between her, Shura and Rin, even if Yukio came to her one last time in ch93 in hope to feel better about himself since Shiemi had admired him for so many years. 

Then it was Rin who ended up realizing he didn’t understand his little brother anymore, leaving only Shura who couldn’t guess what was wrong exactly with Yukio, but whose interactions with him remained as they always were (until he discovered about Section 13, tried to kill himself, leading to his realization about Satan and his departure for Illuminati).

In conclusion, Yukio/Shiemi was slowly doomed in more ways than one despite being the most likely outcome at the beginning of the story and I really doubt we’ll ever go back to it being a possibility in the narrative.
Not now that Rin/Shiemi is a thing but also that Shura finally moved on from Shiro and can make sure to keep her two eyes on Yukio. 

(more about Yukio/Shura & Rin/Shiemi under the cut)

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To delve a little more on the subject of Yukio/Shura now, since this directly follows my points about Yukio/Shiemi, honestly the only reason I’m uncertain about the ship ever getting more focus is because of the age difference. 
Not that 10 years is a big deal, but Yukio is still a minor so… the hints are there in my opinion, but when it comes to Sensei writing more about it, I don’t know.

Anyway, to start with, Yukio and Shura contrast each other in almost everything 

• Yukio: a child thrown into the adults’ world vs Shura: pretends to be 18 forever because of Hachiro’s curse
• Yukio: too serious and never knows how to have fun vs Shura: almost never outwardly serious and loves having fun
• Yukio: wants to keep Rin under control with a leash on vs Shura: knowingly helps with Mephisto’s plans to make Rin a known asset to the Order. 
• Yukio: worries about Rin vs Shura: worries about Yukio
• Yukio: used to believe in Shiro but ends up despising him for wrongly thinking he only saw them as weapons vs Shura: used to have issues about Shiro but ends up forgiving him and moving on

and that’s probably why it’s the only dynamic Yukio managed to keep intact until he left for the Illuminati (friendly reminder that in comparison he was aggressive with Rin, Suguro, Shiemi a little, Shima & almost Mephisto) because Yukio could always openly state to be 100% annoyed by Shura and she wouldn’t mind at all.

Personally Yukio/Shura used to be a NOTP until the Aomori arc which, despite having some rather controversial moments, is a gold mine as far as this ship is concerned. 

I don’t know why I couldn’t see it, perhaps because for a long time I ended up pity-shipping Yukio with Shiemi (poor boy was so full of angst), despite knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere compared to Rin/Shiemi, or perhaps because it was obvious Shura had a huge unresolved crush on Shiro before the Aomori arc finally tackled the issue…?

As it happens though, the Aomori arc allowed for Shura to move on about Shiro, while Yukio/Shura also could be thought to have blossomed and that’s when I became really fond of this ship and its possible potential. 

First of all, we got the confirmation that Yukio never really hated Shura despite how much he claims she annoys him and obviously no one ever believed he did, but it’s a good thing that he went as far as to admit it to himself. 

The other point is that, between hypnotized!Shura almost forcing herself onto Yukio and Yukio’s lie to Hachiro about giving Shura a kid…

we still had a genuinely sweet moment between them, surprising enough that Shura got kinda flustered and teased him a lot afterwards, to the point even Rin told her to calm down. 

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that meaningful and maybe even Yukio just wanted to cheer Shura up after everything that happened but…

We had another similar moment later, with Yukio admitting to Shura only that he didn’t really want to go to that Christmas party. There again, it’s all about Yukio being the most honest to almost no one else but Shura. 

I’m aware that the marriage-hunting party could sound like the end of Yukio/Shura though, but Shura ended up showing up at the Christmas party and anyway, with the current arc and her possibly chasing after Illuminati for Yukio’s sake, I doubt she’s going to settle down any time soon, not with the twins constantly getting in danger. 

Again, a huge part of Yukio’s character arc is him needing to be reassured about who he is: it showed through him desiring answers about the secrets behind his birth, about the Order, the Illuminati and as Mephisto once said…

So in my opinion Yukio needs the few people who know “the real him” to tell him that they would never despise him and that they want him back. It’s not even about the Order or being a talented exorcist, it’s about Yukio as his own person and thus the ones who can help him are Rin, Shiemi and Shura. 

Besides Rin and Shiemi having feelings for each other, they can only provide comfort and confidence as brother and friend respectively (remember Yukio saying he doesn’t have a decent family or friend?), but where Shura is concerned, depending on if Sensei is serious about the Yukio/Shura hints here and there, it could be as friend, sister-figure, colleague or… as more than that? 

At the very least, Shura may just be about providing reassurance towards the topic of Shiro, since she’s the last link between the boys and their adoptive father. 

After all she knew him for an even longer time than Yukio and Rin but mostly she knows that he loved them as his sons and wished for them to be safe and happy (and Yukio will need to hear it at some point). 

As of right now, Rin/Shiemi is the only confirmed ship because we know about their feelings for each other. When it comes to Yukio/Shura, in my opinion there is some potential, but in comparison to Rin/Shiemi, we don’t know how Yukio and Shura feel towards each other. 
The Aomori arc may have ignited something between them but maybe Sensei doesn’t want to expand more than that at the moment because Yukio is still a minor (not that it stopped Shura’s crush on Shiro), so… to be continued. x)

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Finally, to tackle on the absolutely adorable Rin/Shiemi: in my opinion, it’s 100% happening even if Rin thinks he was rejected and Shiemi that it’s too late (but if they were already going out we wouldn’t be angsting about their separation or the slow burning feels that they’re going to worry so much about each other).

I think Rin’s true infatuation for Shiemi started with the Kyoto arc. It was the moment Yukio’s façade started to crumble because of Toudou, while Rin was losing all confidence about ever belonging due to his origins.

Meanwhile Shiemi also had her own issues to confront because, after getting through the trouble of making friends, she felt extremely useless and had to find a way to be more confident about what she could do for them. 

Moving on, as I said in the first part of this post, it’s because Yukio/Shiemi kept on failing, so to speak (since Shiemi was never in love with Yukio), that Rin/Shiemi managed to get its own chance and ended up becoming more likely. One example of what I mean would be the True Cross’ festival:

• Rin wanted to invite Shiemi to the dance party
• however she had already decided to invite Yukio to cheer him up and as thanks for helping her study
• this depressed Rin despite mah cute boy saying that it was better not to fight about love between brothers
• on his own end, Yukio was sure that Rin would be the one asking her and had made himself unavailable previously when Shiemi asked him
• it ended up with Rin asking Shiemi anyway, but him thinking she liked Yukio led to Rin dancing with both her and Yukio 
• the conclusion was Shiemi thinking sweetly of Rin

And there are plenty of other examples throughout the story, because of Yukio’s many issues and tendency to face them alone.

In general though, the background for the Rin/Shiemi romance is that Shiemi is Rin’s very first friend and source of support.
I mean, not that Shura or Mephisto didn’t always believe in him, but Rin used to feel like an outcast who could never fit in anywhere, especially not with people his own age, so Shiemi acknowledging that she was wrong and showing him just how much she trusted him was totally

what

he needed at his darkest hour.

Similarly for Shiemi, Rin is the one who gave her the opportunity and strength to discover the outside world & want to be a part of it. 

Yukio was her first friend and always impressed her because he was like an ideal to work for, but Rin is the one who made it all happen…

…which in both cases is why this ship had a strong basis since very early on and the narrative slowly led it

step by step

to full-fledged romance.

Now it’s almost as if we’ve gone backwards though: Shiemi was robbed of the future she worked so hard for because of a part of the Grigori, having to keep her secrets to herself, while Rin is struggling because he’s almost all alone again, after Shiemi not becoming an exorcist, after losing Yukio to the Illuminati and almost losing himself to his true power. 

This time though, unlike the Kyoto arc where Shiemi gave Rin confidence, maybe this trip in the past will give Rin the answers he needs to understand Shiemi’s predicament, why Yukio left and ultimately who he is, so that he may go rescue the two of them.

The Rin/Shiemi romance will never be a thing as long as Shiemi doesn’t think freely about her future again: she fell for Rin partly because he helped her overcoming her fears, so she needs to think once more about what she truly wants for herself, including if she wants to act on her feelings for him or not.
It may also not happen until they’ve rescued Yukio since I don’t doubt that they’re both super worried for him. 

Ultimately I regard Rin’s and Shiemi’s feelings for each other as hope for themselves:

• Shiemi is like a prisoner to the Vatican for reasons we have yet to find out, but her feelings for Rin may help her remember why she really wanted to be an exorcist, why she fought against being useless, why she wanted to catch up to everyone and be strong for the ones she loves in the first place.
• As for Rin, he’s currently on a trip through the past that he knows will end tragically and that he never wanted to learn about. But the thing is, despite the horrible circumstances of his birth and of Shiro’s death, he made friends and even found a girl he loves (unlike what Yukio feels), so he can rely on these feelings to think it’s worth it for him to be alive now. 

I even find the little additional twist that Rin only knows he loves Shiemi and thinks she doesn’t, when Shiemi realized that she loves Rin back, to probably be meaningful to whatever will happen to both of them during this arc. 🙂

Sensei is quite astute: whatever she introduced in her story is probably supposed to be narratively meaningful. What’s left is to see how exactly. 

This post was super long, so thanks for reading! I hope it made a few points. :3