Reverse!Aki (Akihiro) is an oddly romantic character. But like. In the escapist sense. To him, his reality is dull and his future even duller. He spent his childhood at the height of egocentrism instead of truly having fun with himself -- which. Children are egocentric. Obviously.
But Akihiro carries some heaaavy shame for the way he used to be, since he was one of Those Kids that bit people and acted up in class and ALWAYS had to have the upper hand. He came to his senses by the time he reached middle school, so by then, he was The Awkward Quiet Kid who kind of freezes up whenever someone makes an effort to befriend him because he's running through all the dialogue options and has no idea which of them are "correct." There are times where Akihiro gets excited about a hobby, then he gets embarrassed when people look over at him, so. He keeps withdrawing. This continues through high school, and he mellows out by uni, but he's still quite. Unsure of himself. He's trying not to be too hard on himself, since he's never had the consistent support of a trusted adult in his life so he actually learned all of this ENTIRELY on his own. But he's still majorly frustrated ofc.
SO THEN his sona "Aki" is the version of Akihiro that he's aspiring to be. He's trying to be realistic though, so he gives Aki some flaws, but overall it's like. Man, I wish this was me from the get-go...
Aki is quick-witted and charismatic, two things Akihiro isn't -- at least, not outwardly. He made Aki, so of course Akihiro has SOME idea of how to be witty and such. He's a lot more like Aki in private, and with his small circle of close friends, but he's content to be an NPC in every other setting or else he won't know what to do with all these eyes on him. He's afraid he might revert back to his arrogant childhood self if he ever gains some semblance of popularity. Creating Aki is his attempt at being nice to himself!!
But back to the whole thing about Akihiro being romantic -- he's a bit. Passive. He imagines himself striving for healthy habits and having more courage to put himself out there. But his undiagnosed ADHD and Depression+Anxiety makes it hard to move sometimes. So the next best option was escapism -- immersing himself in fantasy stories where no one knew him. Tragic tales are interesting, sure, but Akihiro feels more connected to Adventures where the hero suffers through hardships, learns valuable lessons, and wins at the end. That's the kind of journey that Akihiro wants to go through some day.
