#it's devastating

They have so much in common, so much similarites; The person who destroyed their lives, being left by their parents, judged by society, their powers, them seeking a justice they didn't have... Their paths only differed because Ren met people who trusts him and that he can trust. That's not Akechi's case.

Akechi truely had everything to be part of the Phantom Thieves, he had everything to stand by their side. But it's just too late. Even if the Phantom Thieves would be willing to welcome him, Akechi would never allow himself that, he's too unredeemable.

There's a real, heavy, "What if" hanging between Akechi and Ren — Which hurts even more when you know that Akechi's theme is basically 'No Matter What Ifs'. Ren made him even question his own resolutions of never looking back.

They are mirror's reflections to each other, and that's also why Akechi claims hating Ren so much in my opinion. He hates that he wonders what he could have been when he sees Ren, he hates what they could have been, hates that he wonders that "what if" in the first place, perhaps even he hates that this will forever be only hypothetical.

I think about this a lot, we know that those operatives were brainwashed with suppressed criminal impulses and sent back to wherever they came from after getting caught, but unlike carm and gray who recovered their memories these 6 didn't, which means that they are still out there living their life as a completely different person for years at this point, and that's so sad, they've been living a lie for years, they could have families now, children, long time friends something they got from being someone else. Also gray wasn't a VILE operative for long, a bit over a year but a few of these have to have been there for wayy longer, so they just lost their memories of a few years, they've been living with a gaping hole of their life missing. That's just sad to think about.