Akisame Kōetsuji/Relationships

==Relationships==
===Ryozanpaku===
Akisame, while being a strict master, is none-the-less a very kind and understanding person who went as far as to say that Kenichi reminded him of himself at that age. He is noted to be one of the more disciplined of the masters and is usually a reliable voice of reason in the dojo. He also gets along with all of the other masters in the dojo and considers them all good friends. He has a great respect for the Elder, he treats him with the most respect than others. He also gets along with his granddaughter Miu as he helped her prepare for her play and helps her train with Kenichi. With that in mind, he seems to have a rivalry with both Ma and Sakaki in a variety of areas and seems to get along well with the good-natured Apachai, calling him "Apachai-Kun". He occasionally goes on trips with Sakaki to earn money for Ryozanpaku and is the one who keeps him from interfering with Kenichi's fights with other disciples. He treats Ma on an intellectual level, as both having a profession in medicine and have a respect as fellow doctors. Out of all the Masters, Akisame is seemingly closest to Shigure due to having known her since she was a little girl and took her in after her father's death and even named her. The relationship with her can be linkened to a father-daughter like relationship as Shigure does anything he asks without question.
===Kenichi Shirahama===
Kenichi wants to train with Akisame the least due to how hard and strict he is with him. Akisame also pushes Kenichi in his training more than any other master. However, Akisame has stated that Kenichi remind him of himself at that age. He's often the one master he seems to be afraid of the most. Despite this, Kenichi has never questioned his training methods and holds him in high regard as his master. However, Kenichi will try to run away from Akisame's crazy training machines most the time. Even Akisame will, on rare occasions praise him for his tenacities or how brave he becomes in fights or in the missions he's with him on.
===James Shiba===
He seems to hold some kind of grudge against Takeda's master James Shiba as seen when James often insults Akisame's mustache. This grudge held to the point of a rivalry of some sorts as the two actually bet their mustache's to be saved should the losers disciple lose the match. Though Akisame choose to let Shiba go, after seeing Shiba only shave a small amount off, he became enraged and ordered Shigure to "shave all the hair off his body".
===Saiga Fūrinji===
According to Akisame, Saiga was his best friend. What ended their friendship is unknown, but it may have something to do with Saiga going down the path of the Satsujinken and being a member of Yami and presumably killing Miu's mother Shizuha. Upon meeting Saiga again after years, Akisame was disappointed that Saiga wouldn't even say hello to him after everything. However, it was later revealed he was one of the few that knew the truth about Saiga's past and was aware that Senzui was the true murderer of Shizuha. In truth, the two are still close friends even now.