Everyone else is telling Atsushi to give up. Inferiority complex is like that. Even if everyone comes with kind intention, even you have ppl who r like family, even if confronting an enemy you’ve defeated, the dark clouds looming above your head would still be there telling you no, you can’t do this, you are no good.
But then there’s Akutagawa. Akutagawa does not try to persuade him; he has only stood in such blinding light, saying, look outside.
“Look at me, look outside of yourself, look at the one who’s always guided us. ”
I saved you. You are not alone.
Atsushi is still seeking some kind of parental authority who could decide and arrange everything for him, for this chaotic world. He still doesn’t have confidence in himself.
But now he has another ghost, a ghost that no longer stalls him in his path. Akutagawa will only say, Jinko, stand up. You are a worthy opponent, and you are worthy of life, yours and mine.
Life is messy and dreadful, but there is always that figure, slender and firm, waiting for Atsushi, expecting him to shine. Akutagawa is placed above all of Atsushi’s insecurities. He is the ashes from which would arise Atsushi’s new, reclaimed sense of self.
