About Oreshi and Bokushi's relationship.
(this is also a major part of my,yet to be written officially, fic😅)
So first,i gotta say that this question is really interesting and also motivated me to write some more. (It ain't much,but it's honest work).
Anyway, business time, everyone! Buckle up!
Since the first show of Oreshi and Bokushi's relationship as brothers/alter personas, I've always thought that they had a brotherly relationship with Oreshi being the older one and Bokushi the younger one ofc.
The difference between your stereotypical protective older brother/younger brother that needs protection, is that here the younger one protects the older (since Bokushi is an alter persona whose responsibility(??) is to protect Oreshi.
In my own headcanon,Bokushi appeared shortly after Shiori's diagnosis became known to Akashi. Because Oreshi already had too much responsibilities and activities he does 24/7 AND NOW knows that his mother - who is the most important person to him;who loves him unconditionally and protects him whenever she could - can possibly die.
But when I'm telling you of Bokushi's first appearance, I'm not telling you as a fully developed, visible to Oreshi, persona.
He developed slowly,but steadily,day after day, picking up more knowledge and trying to understand the socializing part of life and other people's feelings (with various degrees of success lol). At first,he stood in the background of Oreshi's headspace,in the shadows. He was invisible to him, because his time to intervene more and for longer,had yet to come.
I think Oreshi at first had dissociative episodes that,as the pressure built up,become more frequent and for longer - for a minute,then two,then some more, a whole school day and at worst - a whole astronomical day.
At the start,he had memories of what he was doing,but he felt like a puppet, controlled by an unknown puppeteer; and was feeling disconnected from his body;he sometimes thought that the words and actions aren't actually his,but someone else's,but he couldn't figure out how, because after all,it was his own body.
And as the time went on,the dissociative episodes started to worsen, with Oreshi having no memory of what happened during that time.
During the first type of disassociative episodes (when he still had memory of his doings), people around him began telling him that sometimes his left eye had a golden tint,but everyone, including Oreshi,chalked it off as light trick. Although Oreshi somehow,deep down, as something of a gut feeling,just knew that it wasn't.
Still,the pronoun he uses to address himself ("ore"), hasn't changed yet,so it didn't ring a bell for others.
Anyway,his first searches led to amnesia,dementia and Alzheimer's. Of course he ruled out the latter two, because they're (mostly?) seen in elderly people. He had suspicions of amnesia,but the problem was,that he hasn't hit his head or had any injury to cause it. So he delved deeper and read about DID.
To Oreshi that made sense,but the problem was,that he didn't see or hear an alter persona or a space inside his head. All he had back then was just feeling disconnected from his body and feeling like as if he let someone do the talking instead of him,but using his body for that. So for the time being,he left it at that, thinking that he was just overwhelmed with his mother's illness and the neverending assignments. (Perhaps he thought that more sleep would make the feeling disappear,but it didn't.)
IMO,Bokushi made his first appearance,shortly after Shiori's funeral. It was to comfort Oreshi and reassure him that he wasn't alone; that Bokushi loved him unconditionally and would always be there for him,in good and bad moments;that he could always help him,when Oreshi became too tired.
Oreshi had read that the alter egos look like based on your own imagination and since his body and mind were still the same in these episodes,then that persona must look like him. The only difference was the left eye - red,like Shiori's,for Oreshi, and gold, for Bokushi. The golden left eye happened because of the several mentions of Oreshi's left eye sometimes having a shade of gold. Oreshi told Bokushi that it suited him and that it reminds him of golden medals - the colour of victory. So, Bokushi liked it.
The two quickly became close, with Oreshi calling him a little brother first. Bokushi was surprised,but he liked with how much fondness in his voice Oreshi said those words.
Since then, Bokushi saw Oreshi as an older brother and loved him just as much and was maybe even more protective of Oreshi than Oreshi was to him.
He really liked being loved by his older brother too,so vowed to protect and make him happy,no matter the cost.
(Which,of course, means that Bokushi loves him more than anyone else and has a soft spot for him. He's a tsundere,your Honour,what did you expect?)
Bokushi sometimes took control over the body in the first and second year in Teikou,but it was only for assignments.Oreshi slept through most of the third year,being awake only for the final exams and Rakuzan's entrance exams. Sometimes,he was able to read the textbooks,seeing his other ego write homework or going to extracurriculars,taking exams,etc, but not often,just enough to keep up with what's going on (in general).During the second and third year in Rakuzan,Oreshi and Bokushi's relationship became stronger than ever and that lasted till they passed away.
IMO, Bokushi didn't "die" in the match against Jabberwock, because alter personas can "sleep" aka be unavailable/unreachable until a trigger forces them to switch places with the original persona's body.
I prefer to think that if Akashi went to a therapist, he'd never say anything about his DID, because he loves Bokushi too much,so instead he talks about how traumatized he was from his mother's death and how he was overworked since early age.
(Special thanks to @japeneselunchtimerush , for motivating me to write it!)
I'm putting some of the sites read for more DID info:
Integration in dissociative identity disorder refers to lowering dissociative barriers and gaining consistent access to all memories, though
Important paragraphs:
Every individual who has been through trauma must integrate to some extent as part of healing. This means accepting that the trauma occurred, making it part of one's personal narrative, and making it accessible in a way that does not cause intense re-experiencing of trauma elements. In doing so, an individual may have to accept thoughts, feelings, and urges associated with their trauma.
When an individual has dissociative amnesia, their _ memory of the traumatic or stressful event(s) are kept separate from their other memories and may be accessible only through dissociative flashbacks. (though it's not stated in canon, that's what PROBABLY (headcanon!) Bokushi has probably seen from Shiori and her funeral). _
In terms of structural dissociation, the individual has to integrate the emotional part(s) associated with their trauma, and that means _ having to take ownership of everything that the part(s) contained. (-Bokushi ==> Oreshi) _
For individuals with DID (or OSDD-1), some or all of their parts likely go beyond simple containers of traumatic materials, _ and the parts may have strongly developed independent senses of autonomy and self. (-Bokushi) _ The individual must then make the choice of to what extent they want to integrate their alters as part of their healing. Again, some degree of integration is inevitable. The individual must integrate traumatic materials in order to heal from PTSD. _ As well, enough integration between alters must occur to allow for easy communication, a lack of dissociative amnesia between parts, and a consistent sense of being grounded in the present and in the body. The individual must be able to take responsibility for all of the system's actions, and all alters in the system should work together towards the same goals. _ Another goal of reduced dissociative barriers between parts is being able to freely access skills, memories.
In order to fully integrate two or more alters (which the ISST-D refers to as "fusion," with "final fusion" referring to a complete integration of all dissociated parts), _ the individual needs to take ownership of all thoughts, feelings, memories, urges, skills, and other traits that were previously associated with those parts of the self. Integration is complete when there are no subjective differences between the parts involved; only one sense of self remains. (-what Fujimaki did in 'Last Game' with the Akashi brothers) _This can happen spontaneously, when conflicts or dissonance between the alter and one or more other alters are resolved; with the help of "fusion rituals", such as imagery representing unification; or after negotiation between parts and an agreement to integrate.
Integration of alters can be experienced in different ways. For fragments (parts with only minimal differentiation), integration may simply entail other alters being able to access what those parts held without a switch being necessary. There may be no major change in how other alters perceive themselves or the world. Even with more developed alters, one alter may seem to integrate into the other so that the resulting part retains the identity of one of the alters involved but gains some of the skills, traits, preferences, or views of the other. _ (-Oreshi gaining the Complete Emperor Eye during 'LG'). _
Some traits may be lost entirely, such as an alter's unhealthy ability to ignore pain at the expense of respecting one's physical limits. _ (-more like Bokushi's workaholism due to increasing workload and him trying to detach himself from feeling too strongly about someone). _
Finally, some skills or abilities that alters excelled at may require additional practice as an integrated individual before they can be fully expressed. _ (-Oreshi after gaining the Complete Emperor Eye). _
Reasons for choosing not to fully integrate can include: feeling that full integration is unnecessary; not understanding what integration actually entails and being afraid of "losing" or even "killing" alters _ (- why tf did Fujimaki have to do this?!? NOT canon for me.) _ ; being used to having alters around for company, entertainment, or support (-this is exactly what i thought of after the 'Rakuzan vs Seirin' match). _
Integrations might fall apart if the alters involved weren't completely ready yet, if a stressor arises that one alter in particular was created to handle _(-Bokushi having to deal with Masaomi's shitty parenting and the overwhelming workload). _ or if the alters involved need influence from other alters in order to remain stable in their unity.
Children with DID are often confused, frightened, and upset by periods of amnesia, being accused of uncharacteristic behavior, _ (-Oreshi at the first stage of his DID.) _ and feeling impulses from other parts, and their alters may be eager to step back when made aware of the negative impacts of their attempts to help. _ (-Bokushi's reaction during/after the 'Rakuzan vs Seirin' match and during the 'Last Game'). _ They often express a desire to integrate and become "normal."
This site also provides more information and resources at the end.
Many individuals with dissociative identity disorder have an internal world in which alters can interact or share awareness of the external
Many individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) have an internal world in which they or their alters can manifest as themselves and interact.
@deargravity @cemetery14 @japeneselunchtimerush @kurokonobrainrot
@active-mind-15
here are some sources i read when i learned about Akashi's DID.
