Notable: Mikage says how he was a living computer back then. Which entails how he thinks he is not anymore. He thinks that he has overcome that how he was as Nemuro, how he has changed. Not just a tool anymore but independent.
@capturedbystars wrote how "Mikage is basically Nemuro's OC selfsona" but that's soooo true! That is literally it! I was controlled by others then, but now I am the one controlling the others.
And what is the tragedy is that now as Mikage he is actually even more Akio's tool, even more a perfect computer, a superior machine without a purpose. He has actually become what he has feared.
As @achilluos wrote in that insanely good analysis:
"The self he inhabits is detached from his own history and is an ideal machine that bends to Akios will. His memory is overwritten and his labour becomes entirely in service of a patriarchal, violent system."
He never got anywhere. A machine from the start to the very end. A machine that lacked purpose (Wait could Mamiya have been somewhat purpose? A glimpse of hope? Nevertheless died soon)
