I like the choice to have Akane choke Aoi in chapter 69, I feel like people don’t get the point, or simply turn a blind eye to the context of why Akane did that.
It oddly parallels Mitsukou in chapter 35.
Why did Kou grab Mitsuba’s face instead of the shoulder or anywhere else? Because Mitsuba turned his back on him, and Kou can’t handle Mitsuba dissapearing again. He is forcing Mitsuba to face him, he screams when he said “Remember it!!” because being remembered is very important to Kou.
Kou needs to make sure Mitsuba is listening to him, he can’t accept being forgotten.
Kou is going through a lot after failing Mitsuba’s ghost, so this desperation, this need to be heard, is only natural when he finds the supernatural Mitsuba.
Now let’s focus on Akane and Aoi, and remember that just like hell of mirrors, chapter 69 does not exist in a void: There is context.
Akane’s is a very bold and proud person, when he feels like what he wants to say is important and needs to be heard, he has always made sure the person he is talking to is looking at him in the eye. He does not care if he has to be rough to get their attention, or if he comes across as violent.
Is a part of his character since his very intro arc, all the way back to chap 25, with the clock keepers.
On their day-to-day, Aoi pays attention to him, and her behavior makes her feel ‘happy’, which is what Akane wants most. He believes she knows he loves him, and that she genuinely enjoys life even with her flaws and fake smiles. The second he loses faith Aoi is happy and knows he loves her, he takes a more ‘aggressive’ approach.
It is very important to him that Aoi feel loved, and that she understands how much he loves her, so after she attacks him with her centipede, he isn’t gentle with her, he makes sure she is immobilized and looking at him in the eye when he confesses again. Makes sure she faces him, and that she is paying attention.
He have also been stabbed, which, understandably, put him in a bad mood. Just look at his face, he is in a shit ton of pain.
Since he can tell Aoi will not go back to the human world anyway, understanding by her behavior that she will go to No.6, he chose the selfish option and decides to doom her with him, something he recognises is selfish, and apologizes for.
Despite clearly being in pain, his original goal to bring Aoi back wasn’t shaken: He want her by his side, but he want her alive and well, not in this hole they fell into.
He has been apologetic since he first saw her.
It’s been failure after failure ever since he let No.6 kidnap her.
He treated her with the same lovesick behavior as usual even after he blacked out from the pain of being stabbed.
He clearly isn’t recentful that she stabbed him and planed to leave him to die, in fact, the self-destructive bastard acts as if it wasn’t her fault at all, he never even comment on his injury (only to point out how ‘kind’ she is for patching him up)
What ‘flipped his switch’, and made him be so aggressive were Aoi’s words. Her desire to disappear and her explanation as to why she feels like she should remove herself in the first place.
Kou was scared Mitsuba would disappear if he let go. Akane knew Aoi would disappear if he let her go. She even said ‘goodbye’.
So when he finally understood what the problem was and what had to be communicated. He did not hesitate, he already failed enough this entire day, he will make sure she listens.
He went for the face like Kou because he is also desperate, he forced her to face him because he can’t handle her running away.
Akane needs Aoi to face him to make sure she is listening to him. He can’t accept their disconnect, their years long miscomunication. The message needs to get across.
Akane was aggressive, and brutal, and far more violent than Kou have ever been, and that’s good. He isn’t Kou, he is a different character, who is moved by desperation and determination in diferent ways.
Akane isn’t happy about the situation, this isn’t revenge on Aoi or a power trip, this isn’t a moment he enjoys. He said “I wasn’t planning on telling you this” because he know it would hurt Aoi, so he didn’t want to do it, but he doesn’t know what else to do.
This is his best attempt to force Aoi, a girl insecure and yet arrogant enough to want to run away from her very life over the idea she might be betrayed, to stay quiet and listen to him.
And the message does get across.
Even when his hold grows laughably loose, Akane still has her full attention. Aoi didn’t cry when she was thrown into the water and choked, she broke out of her detached self and cried when Akane said he hates her, and she believed.
He got her attention, despite wanting to run away from the start, Aoi ended up staying and listening.
His smile only stops being tense and pained and fake when it becomes clear his message got across and Aoi understood what he wanted to tell: That he hates her habit to distance herself, but not her. That he can see her ugly side just fine but still love her.
Just compare it for a moment. This is a happy Akane:
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