Akira Howard

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**Akira Howard** is the twin of the player character, serving as a major character of *ASTRAL CHAIN*. They can be either male or female, being the option that is not chosen by the player. Akira plays a major role within the story of the game.

## Appearance

Akira's skin color changes to match that of the protagonist, but otherwise will remain with the default appearance.

The male Akira has messy medium-length black hair and dark, grey-brown eyes. He wears the standard uniform shared among other police officers, with a collared white shirt with a dark grey zipper and black tie underneath a heavy blue jacket decorated with the police logo and two stripes on the left arm, as well as a white stripe along the padded collar. He is wearing police armor on his chest, back, knees and arms, with the front piece branded with "POLICE" in large red letters. A belt running along his waist has utility pouches on each side, as well as a holster for his X-Baton on the right hip and the word "POLICE" written across the back. He also has a walkie-talkie attached to the front-left of his jacket. He has a Legatus Unit and Cradle on his back, which is used to summon his Legion, and thick white protective gloves over his hands. He wears black pants with utility pouches strapped to each leg, and knee-high laced boots over the top.

The female Akira has medium-length black hair in a bob, and dark, grey-brown eyes. Her outfit is identical to the male protagonist, except that she wears tight shorts, with a single utility pouch strapped to her left leg. She also wears shiny thigh-high socks underneath her boots.

## Description

*"The younger of a pair of twins, orphaned at birth and raised by a police officer named Max Howard. When they both came of age, Akira and their sibling both decided to follow in Max's footsteps and join the Ark Police.*

*Perhaps because their mother was in the throes of redshift during her pregnancy, Akira and their sibling possess an uncommonly high innate Legion sync rate. This made the two of them natural candidates for Neuron.*

*The original Akira vanished along with Noah. However, traces of their memories remained inside their Legion. Dr. Brenda Moreno was able to transplant these memories into one of Yoseph's clones. The result was not a perfect copy, but still a living, thinking Akira."*

- Database entry for Akira.
## Background

On the 25th of November, 2058, Akira and their twin were born to a redshifting mother in Zone 09 during the Pandemic. The woman died during childbirth, and the twins were taken in by police officer Maximilian Howard, who had rescued the woman prior to her death. Before their adoption, they subjected to various tests and examinations by scientists of the Aegis Research Institute, due to their strange circumstances at birth. Max took them in as a single father, and the twins grew up admiring his work as a police officer. At one point, Max was hospitalized and the twins were cared for by his associate Jin Wong, who often helped Max out in looking after them. On April 6, 2078, the twins got jobs as police officers because of their admiration for Max's work in saving the world.

## Story

### File 01 【Startup】

On June 21, 2078, two months after the twins became police officers, the Arrow Legion and Sword Legion's development was finished. Brenda Moreno and Yoseph Calvert file for the transfer of the twins to the Neuron task force due to their test results regarding their potential to be Legionis' far exceeding all other candidates. After a major gate outbreak causes all of the Ark Police to be mobilized, Akira heads to the site of an accident on Eastside Highway in Zone 36, where they encounter an unexpectedly large amount of aberrations and request backup. Their twin arrives, and helps fight off the nearby aberrations. Suddenly, gates appear, causing invisible assailants to begin attacking the pair. Unable to fight against the unseen threat, the situation looks bleak until Max shows up, along with other Neuron members Jin and Alicia, who fight off the chimeras using their (also invisible) Legions. Yoseph calls Max, telling him to give Legatus Units to the twins so they can wield their own Legions, which he begrudgingly complies with. Now armed with Legions, Akira and their twin fight off the now visible chimeras along with the rest of Neuron. During the fight the protagonist fully syncs with their Legion, defeating the last chimera before collapsing from a sudden headache. Akira rushes to their side, and the entire squad returns to Neuron HQ.

### File 02 【Awake】

Back at HQ, Yoseph explains to the twins the truth about chimeras and the imminent threat that humanity is facing.

## Gallery

Official render of both variants of Akira.Official render of both Akira's and the Sword and Arrow Legions.Official art of Akira.Akira and the Protagonist.Akira as a part of the Neuron task force.Akira as a part of the Neuron task force.Akira and the Protagonist facing off against a chimera.Akira and the Protagonist.The female variant of Akira summoning her Legion.Akira and the Protagonist summoning their Legions.Akira and the Protagonist summoning their Legions.Concept art from the artbook for the female variant of Akira.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.platinumgames.com/games/astral-chain
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/brmmV3g4qqo?t=16
3. ↑ ASTRAL CHAIN Official Artbook
4. ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/ab48a/character/01.html