Shibata Brothers

The **Shibata Brothers** (sometimes referred as the "**Shibata Butlers**" or "**Shibata Twins**") is a term to pair together the butler siblings, Rihito Shibata and Kento Shibata, from the prestigious Shibata Family, where they training the finest butlers and maids. In a general sense, it is often used to pair both brothers during an event, mostly confrontations against foes who wants to fight Mei Hongo. This term is often used by Mei's friends but they can be used by other characters or enemies as well.

## Team Information

### Overview

Rihito is seemingly a long time and experienced S-Rank butler who holds various professional skills and can adapt against most situations or opponents, while his younger brother has less experiences and lower rank but is still a rising star among butlers, currently A-Ranked and knows well how to fight in hand-to-hand combat but on a much lower level than his brother. During most times, Kento can reverse the situation against the odds and have the upper hand in the most difficult situations. On the other side, Rihito is able to adapt very quick and strategizes against such moments. Rihito and sometimes Kento are known to collect information from enemies in order to protect Mei against upcoming enemies.

Due to the immense fortune of the Hongo Family and possibly their multiple connections to the governments, Rihito can access to a large range of weaponry: this goes from firearms to explosive weapons like military grenades and rocket launchers. Rihito even mentioned a tactical nuclear bomb during the mission to retrieve Mei from the prince Irfan, though he claimed he was only humoring; the other butlers knew he wasn't joking however.

### Weaknesses

* **Terrible Teamwork**: A notable weakness is the lack of cooperation/teamwork between the butlers because of the sibling rivalry, which leads to infighting and creates various consequences such as misunderstandings and even more problems. This major drawback was often noticeable prior to the manga's timeskip, when Kento was much younger and unexperienced and was known for his rebellious behavior.
	+ **Personality Opposites**: The problematic on the teamwork dwells on the fact both brothers have different personalities that contrast each others: Rihito's calm, calculative and composed behavior clashes with Kento's dynamic, hot-headed and rashful personality. It is hinted Rihito prefers to work alone and teamwork, as he believe the job is easier and faster than being in a team. Working with others isn't his forte since he never was socially introduced to the common world like Kento. On the other hand, Kento learned how to be social with other people and knows teamwork due to his experience as a baseball player.
* **Experience Gap**: There is an obvious gap between the butlers in terms of experience, as Rihito has more experience on various situations such as life and death scenarios or rescueing the lady he serves; Kento was constantly berated for his inexperience by his older brother and even other characters pointed out his lack of knowledge. Meanwhile, Rihito lacks social acceptation and doesn't have any "friends" aside of other butlers, whom he only considers them as allies.