Akie Shirogami

Yousuke Shirogami

**Akie Shirogami** is a character in Okotowari Shimasu. He's a second year student at Nantoka High School.

## Appearance

Akie has messy, very long white hair, which apparently is common in his family. He usually wears it in a braid, although he's been shown wearing it in different ways, such as a ponytail, twin buns or a single bun. He also has red eyes.

He is the tallest of the main characters, and his skin is pale, almost completely white. He's very slim and probably lacks muscle, since he doesn't practice any sports.

He wears a standard Nantoka uniform, with his shirt properly buttoned. When seen wearing casual clothing, he usually wears polo shirts and shirts with simple jeans.

Since he usually doesn't do much during his days off, he doesn't bother dressing up or doing his hair. Becuase of this, he's shown with his hair down and wearing a simple pajama.

## Personality

Akie is a kind person, who always seems to think about others before of himself. He's shown multiple times caring about his friends and their well-being, and is friendly enough to help Kou become friends with almost everyone else.

However, it's also said that he's an introvert, not talking with Hotaru at all even when they sat next to each other as first years. He didn't have any friends before meeting Kou, although it doesn't seem like he has any problem talking with other people.

## Powers and Abilities

Being a normal human, Akie doesn't present any kind of supernatural powers. However, it is a running that his kindness and smile are so bright, he can shine even in the dark.

Akie also probably has absorved some of Kou's weakers powers and inmunity to some kinds of magic, just like Maiko and Keita, due to him being the one who's been around Kou the most.

## Background

When asked about his past in Chapter 2, most of his dialogue was blacked out, since having a misterious past is part of his character, according to Kou. However, it is known that he lives with his father and has an older brother, and that he was never good making friends.

Akie was unpopular as a kid, and he seems to have been more serious than he is now. Other kids wouldn't want to hang around with him, since he'd usually just talk about depressing things and would rather read alone than play with them. When people his age started talking about love, Akie didn't understand what he meant at all, even after his father explaining to him what love was.

After starting high school at Nantoka, Akie was assigned to the same class as Hotaru Akina. Although they didn't become friends, they sat next to each other, and since they both knew they both were too shy to start a conversation, they grew an introvert pact that would eventually become the foundation for their friendship once they became second year students.

## Story

Akie was introduced in No Thanks, Transfer Student, noticing Kou and inmediately feeling an attraction to him. When Kou said he didn't want to sit next to the window, Akie offered to switch seats with him, trying to use this as an opportunity to talk with him. However, Kou rejected him, since he feared becoming friends with him would only bring misfortune to Akie. After a few attempts, Akie managed to convince him he'd be safe, and ever since then they have been great friends.

When Katsuo approached Kou with the intent to fight him, it was Akie who suggested they become friends instead. Thanks to this development, Kou and Akie started referring to each other on a first-name basis.

After that, Akie is always seen next to Kou. He helps him become friends with Keita and Maiko, which solidifies their group of friends.

Despite being shown as having feelings for Kou since his introduction, he didn't realize them himself until Keita pointed them out in chapter 12. He was shocked to learn about his own feelings, but ultimately decided his friendship with Kou was too precious to him to risk losing it. Despite this, his feelings don't seem to be going away.

The fact that he likes someone of the same sex was what helped Hotaru open up to him during the beach trip, being the first person she ever came out to and strenghtening their friendship.

During the summer festival, he made a promise with Kou to come back again together next year, wearing yukata.

He was unable to participate in the Sports Festival due to his physical contidion, but he and Hotaru tried to cheer on the rest of their friends by dressing up as a cheering squad. His cheering managed to push Kou to run fast enough to break world records.

He and Kou were both nervous about something happening to him during the School Trip to Kyoto, but managed to stay out of trouble. When he, Kou and Katsuo went to the hot springs, they were asked by Katsuo what they thought of Keita's attitude towards him as of late. However, neither of them were able to realize his romantic feelings. Later that day, Keita wakes Akie up to ask him to swtich places, since sleeping next to Katsuo makes him nervous. Akie agrees, but is stopped when Kou grabs his hand. Neither him nor Keita were able to sleep that night.

## Relationships

### Kou Omori

Kou was Akie's first friend, and he's also his first love. When he saw him for the first time, Akie inmediately felt something he'd never felt before, which he couldn't understand. He only knew he wanted to become friends with Kou and be close to him. Even though he rejected him at first, they ended up becoming friends, and quickly best friends. Kou and Akie are almost always shown together, and Kou is very protective of Akie, even though he hasn't realized his friend has romantic feelings for him. Even Akie wasn't aware of his own feelings until Keita pointed it out ot to him, and after this realization he decided he preferred not confessing, since he'd rather not risk losing his friendship with Kou.

### Katsuo Tomoda

Akie and Katsuo have a friendly relationship, with Akie usually being the middle person between Katsuo and Kou when he wants to fight him.

### Erina Yoshisaki

Erina feels grateful towards Akie, since she says he took her role as the romantic interest and therefore saved her. Akie isn't too sure about this, but he still appreciates Erina's friendship.

### Hotaru Akina

Hotaru and Akina are good friends, being both introvers. They met during their first year, and even though they didn't talk to each other, this helped them become friends later on. Akie and Hotaru started spending time together when they realized none of them took physical education, commenting on how their friends were doing. Later on, Hotaru confessed to Akie that she's a lesbian, saying she hoped Akie would understand, since he's also in love with his best friend. Akie considered Hotaru amazing, since she was able to figure out something so complicated on her own. However, Akie wasn't able to notice Hotaru was talking about Erina when speaking about the person she's in love with.

### Keita Narabuko

They're part of the same group of friends, although they don't seem to be especially close. Keita's easygoing personality and Akie's kindness means they get along well, as Akie was willing to exchange his futon for Keita's during the school trip when he heard about the other's problem.

### Seraphina Klein

Akie and Seraphina have a friendly relationship. Although they aren't especially close, Akie was worried about her being afraid of the dark during the courage test.

## Gallery

Akie as a childAkie with his hair downAkie and Kou, together for the first anniversary of Okotowari ShimasuAkie in the cover of Chapter 12Akie is so pure he shines.Akie at the beachAkie wearing a yukata for the summer festivalAkie and Hotaru as members of the cheering squadAkie, cheering on KouAkie with his hair down in the school trip
## Trivia

* Akie's last name literally means "white hair".
* His name is a combination of the kanji 秋 from the name Akise (referrencing Akise Aru from the anime Mirai Nikki) and the kanji 枝 from Komaeda (referrencing Nagito Komaeda, from the game Super Dangan Ronpa 2). Both of these characters follow Akie's trope of being a white-haired boy who is in love with the protagonist.
* Erbez has mentioned that her dream cast for an Okotowari Shimasu anime would have either Akira Ishida or Megumi Ogata voicing Akie. Akira Ishida was the voice actor for Kaworu Nagisa and Akise Aru, while Megumi Ogata voiced Nagito Komaeda.
* In Chapter 2, Akie's father was shown during a flashback. He looked very similar to Kaworu Nagisa, another white haired character in love with the protagonist of his series.
* Akie has been confirmed as being in the asexual-aromantic spectrum, although it's hard to find a word that describes him.
* At 176cm, Akie is the tallest main character. He's the second tallest overall, following Haruto Onigasaki.
* He mentions in chapter 34 that he's been thinking about becoming a doctor.