sleeping

result of my over excitement over this art x)

However, he have no pride in being the housekeeper, even his culinary skills, which is praised by all who try it, was something he initially tried to hide it from Nene in chapter 15. He doesn't want to be a stay at home mom, he wants to be a man.

Kou only ever brags about being from an exorcist family, focusing on history not his own achievements. Being a Minamoto means being a great exorcist, that's what he wants, that's what he needs.

He explicitly says "every boy" when talking about exorcism despite Tiara being the kid with the most potential in the house.

Being an exorcist is the man's job. Every man in the Minamoto household is an exorcist, the nature of the job is also very masculine: An exorcist will works all day, will gain a lot of money, and will be surrounded by violence. A good punch will save the day!! Is cool manly stuff!! And is something he isn't allowed to do.

Kou loves Teru and he admires a lot about him, but Kou's hero is specifically Teru the exorcist prodigy. He doesn't want to be like Teru in any other way, we do not see him wishing to join the student council or study hard so he is top of the class like Teru! He only ever want to be an exorcist too.

Kou dislikes being called stupid too but he very rarely take it personally, unlike when he is called weak. Being weak sticks to him much more.

He never tries to look smart but he tries to look manly to compensate his perceived weakness. Kou is still young, his ego is still very fragile, he doesnt feel as strong or as reliable as he acts. He is horrified by the idea of not looking manly.

A modest dress and is enough to bring him to tears of shame.

Kou was unconfortable in the april fools art of 2016 where Hanako who at the time he considered very strong wore a ribbon and a skirt

(sorry i couldn't find the translated version but i hope just the images are enough)

He does not associate feminine as reliable and he already feels extremally enadequate even when he 'look's tough so feeling gay is bad, is not manly, and looking feminine is even worse.

A big part of his awkwardness and 'annoyance' with Mitsuba comes from how openly queer the boy is, but let's talk about Akane first

There are implications Kou is attracted to Akane: It's a subtle thing, if you blink you'll miss it, and if you ignore it, the plot doesn't change in the slightest, but for this specific discussion, his behavior with Akane is note worthy.

Akane is the type of boy Kou admires: Akane is physically strong and supernaturally powerful, he is seem as reliable by the school and is sought by many for help, he is someone his big brother respects and work alongside, even something as small as Akane's fighting style (hand to hand combat) is something Kou considers cool af.

So any hint of attraction Kou might feel for Akane is extremelly easy to dismiss as an attraction to his 'manly' traits.

Is natural to be nervous around a cool older boy, is natural to want to impress him and to get depressed when his efforts don't work, is natural to get embarrassed and nervous when Akane pay attention to him, and while not as usual, is also not that odd that Kou get overwhelmed by every little thing his cool upperclassman does.

None of the scenes above get special focus: Any explanations for why Akane can affect Kou so much can be seem as a puppy crush just as easily as they can be fully tied to Kou's insecurities with zero gay implications.

There is one exception though, one odd scene.

In chapter 21 of the spin off, Aidairo goes out of their way to draw Akane in a very detailed manner, putting focus on his apparence while implying this is Kou's POV.

Kou get flustered and unerved in this scene.

The message here is simple: Kou find Akane's flirty smirk pretty.

Usually this kind of panel is followed by brieftly acknowladging the person's beauty (think of Nene's first meeting with Sakura) and moving on but Kou does not acknowladge it. Kou is confused as hell by his own flustered reaction and his instinct is to immediately finds another explanation for his behavior, blaming his flustered unease on Akane 'indecent' behavior.

Which is a decent excuse but... It doesn't work, not with Kou.

Kou never gets flustered by flirty behavior or dirty comments unless he is personally attracted to the person displaying these behavior.

Just compare Kou's lack of reaction to Hanako acting 'seductive' with him to his strong reaction when Hanako acted the same way while possessing Nene, who we know he finds pretty:

So he is not flustered by Akane's insinuation, he is flustered by Akane's smirk. This possible attraction isn't relevant to the story because Kou isn't even aware of it, nor does he want to be: Kou will avoid the gay option whenever he can. He already likes girls after all!

Now we can talk about Mitsuba.

Nothing about Mitsuba's is manly: his voice is high pitched, his favorite color is pink, he was bullied for being girly, he whines a lot, he is a scaredy cat that doesn't fight, so any attraction Kou might feel near Mitsuba cannot be excused as admiration, Kou need to work overtime to make up reasons for why he get flustered and that is a very confusing to Kou.

Kou knows he doesn't want to be like Mitsuba, but he doesn't allow himself to be attracted to a boy either: that is not manly, and if Kou is not manly he is weak and weak people aren't worthy of being exorcist and a Minamoto that isn't an exorcist is worthless. Unlike housework being gay doesn't make anyone depend on Kou it just makes him 'less manly' in his own eyes and he cannot afford that.

He have too many self image issues to accept he is gay and since he still find Nene cute so surely this is something else? Anything else? Kou will take any excuse he find.

A very important contrast between Akane and Mitsuba is also their sexuality Akane is openly in love with a girl and does not see Kou in that light, meanwhile Mitsuba show zero interest in girls and is constantly planting the idea that Kou is attracted to him in his head.

Is hard to ignore the gay explanation with a guy that is constantly screaming "I am cute! You know I'm cute! You find me cute!!" and straight up tells Kou that he think Kou wants to date him. They go to an for gods sake.

As the manga goes on Kou's relationship with Mitsuba gets complicated and more intense, and Kou starts to get excuses to why he is so obcessed with Mitsuba, his obcession also intertwine with grief. With regret. With weakness.

I go over Kou views on Mitsuba and No.3 Mitsuba here

This is getting long so I'll speed up my conclusion: As the manga goes on and Kou is consistently berated for 'being weak' his fear of not being enough gets feed and his desperation to be realiable grows stronger. I cannot imagine Kou confessing he like a boy no matter how obcessed with Mitsuba he gets. I simply can't.

He has to work on his self steeem before he can beat his internalized homophobia.

Bonus:

Another reason I believe Kou's internal homophobia comes from his personal sense of inadequacy and not something taught in the Minamoto household is because of how Teru acts.

Teru is far more entangled with exorcism and the family history than Kou but while Teru's job is masculine, him as a person is not: He is needy and pouty outside of a proficional enviroment, he wears bright fruity clothes on his day off. He hides under the covers when he is sad. He is comfortable wearing cute hairclips at school during halloween while Kou is very embarrassed by a hairtie in the safety of his own home.

redraw of one of the first pieces i posted for Ship in a Bottle now that i have some experience constructing more impactful compositions! and using brushes. and proportions. and drawing in general.

also closeup:

Cause if he was talking about kindness as a whole it would make no sense. We already stablished by multiple characters that he is kind:

Hell, just in this chapter alone Akane felt bad for leaving his duties to Nene despite knowing he had no choice.

It was not his fault, no one can blame him for how bad everything got, but he still felt responsable for her pain, apologising for it:

Akane was the one who made a deal after all, Nene had no obligation to fix this.

He is very mindfull of Nene this entire chapter.

His last timeline involved leaving Aoi to die, and we all know, he both deeply value aoi and has trauma of it, nearly losing Aoi during the clock keeper contract and the severance.

The reason he sent her to the past right away is because from the start, he was in a hurry.

But he prioritized Nene distress, he understands that she wouldn't be able to do the mission like that, so he gave her a boost.

This is not a 'you impressed me recently, I gotta let you know' moment, is an attempt to cheer her up. Nene even comments that Akane praising her is weird af

Because it is.

As Akane mentioned: This is a pep talk.

I am sure that Akane and Nene have gotten closer over time, but I cannot believe Akane respect for Nene has gotten much higher. Cause while he had seen more of her strenghts recently, her fatal flaws are still the same.

Things he talked about are still aplicable:

Nene did grow a lot from the 'simp' of the start of the manga, she won't be swayed by every handsome guy she sees anymore! But that was never what Akane considered her fatal flaw: Her behavior with Hanako specifically was what bothered him.

The arc where Nene should have changed this attitude, at least a little, the one where Akane believed she would change, even teaming up with her...

Did nothing.

Nene did not change. Even the manga acknowladge she is making the same mistakes she used to make in the very start of this story.

Nene refused to face reality so she can live in a fantasy world where romance reigns supreme. She sidelined both Aoi rescue and keeping Hanako acountable for the sake of a love confession.

Yes, he was angry at hanako, she hit him, but she spend more time treating the situation as he would the confession tree chapter, a silly slice of life romance, over every other major issue happening.

No matter the situation, Hanako is always what she priotize above all else. She is still doing what Akane hates. Excusing all of his action regardless of who he hurt, prioritize Hanako about it all regardless of the situation, just as she had been doing from the start:

Even thought Hanako is not in the new arc, we know she haven't changed. Nene is still only getting strenght when thinking about hanako: not aoi, or teru, or so on. Hanako.

And Akane know she did not change, he even use Hanako to hype her up despite his own dislike for the ghost:

When mentioning Hanako gives Nene her determination back he put on the exact same fake as hell smile that he had used when Nene first defended Hanako to his face:

Akane cares about her, though, he never wanted her to be in pain because she likes hanako. Look at how stressed he is trying to make sure she isn't seen as guilty in court:

Sure he get dissapointed af she is focusing on romance and confessions even in such a dire situation:

But saying he doesn't look up to her and have some issues with her does NOT mean he hates her, he did genuinely grow to appreciate her attitude on life. He is kind, he want the best for her:

It's sweet that he is happy to see her gain her optimism back

This is a real smile.