[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I think they sincerely hate each other? I feel Takumi is okay hanging around jerks because he's been a jerk to tons of people (which is to say he doesn't care even a little bit if Kusaka hates him), while Kusaka knows he's going to need more Riders if he wants to bring down Smart Brain.

I don't know if I think they even grudgingly respect each other? Like, I think they view their actions as Riders as The Mission, and that exists in a strata so far above emotions that things like respect or camaraderie don't even enter the calculus. Fighting together... it's like they're both in the same fight, but they aren't fighting together.

Perhaps camaraderie was too strong a word for their relationship. They definitely hate each other but there's something that works between them that's hard to explain. Kusaka doesn't really "respect" anybody, not even Mari. Everybody is on a spectrum of least to most contempt and Takumi falls somewhere in the middle between Orphenochs and humans. Takumi has to respect Kusaka on some level in order to have felt inferior to him when they first met. They're aligned by their goal to protect humanity, albeit for completely different reasons. Takumi is a hero of justice. Kusaka is on the side of justice, but he's not of justice, definitely not a hero. He wants to spite the Orphenochs and protect Mari. Everybody else is second to him. He's an antihero, the worst of the worst. But when they fight together, however begrudgingly, they're a pretty effective unit. They're professionals, I guess.