Akane Inui

Akane Inui (乾 赤音) was Seishu Inui's older sister.

Appearance
Akane was a girl of average height with light shoulder-length hair and big gentle eyes. She often donned her school uniform that consisted of a checkered skirt, a clean button-down underneath a light sweater vest, and a pair of dark calf-length socks in school shoes. She also wore a matching bow tie with a striped pattern as part of her uniform.

Her features were drastically similar to her younger brother's Seishu Inui, which Hajime Kokonoi found attractive. On weekdays after school, Akane carried a school bag with her.

Personality
Akane often spent time with her younger brother Seishu Inui and his childhood friend Hajime Kokonoi and was generally a loving sibling. As Inupi's older sister, she encouraged her brother to act like Koko who she commended as remarkably kind, but Inupi would usually defy her wishes. She has also been depicted to be upfront about her feelings. As such, she was straightforward about her rejection of Koko’s attempt at kissing her, wisely telling him that he should only do such things to the person he truly liked, but at one point came off as indecisive as she took into consideration his romantic feelings for her despite pointing out the five-year age gap between them and recently rejecting his kiss.

Background
Akane was the firstborn of the Inui family, merely five years older than her younger brother Seishu Inui. As siblings, they shared a bountiful of characteristics appearance-wise and a delightful friendship with Hajime Kokonoi who secretly had a crush on her.

Tenjiku Arc
One evening in the library she frequented, Hajime Kokonoi attempted to kiss Akane while asleep. She humbly refused him and lectured that he must only kiss the person he liked, to which Koko replied with an unexpected confession. Akane doubted his feelings and stated their unordinary age gap, but Koko reassured her of the authenticity of his emotions and sincerely confessed a second time as he dropped her off at the Inui residence.

Koko promised he would protect her before sending her off inside her home, but not long after, her household was set aflame as neighboring citizens watched the fire swell. He went through the fire to save her but was soon devastated to find out that he had rescued Seishu Inui instead, leaving Akane alone in the midst of the fire. The accident led her to face multiple third-degree burns throughout her body that posed a major threat to her chances of survival and could only be cured by a treatment amounting to a total sum of ¥40,000,000 (forty million yen).

To Koko’s dismay, her parents could not afford the treatment costs due to an expensive house loan under their names. As such, he formed an underground syndicate of thieves his age to earn money by covering for the crimes of their wealthy clients. After some time running the business, Akane passed away.

Kanto Manji Arc
When Inupi is struggling against Wakasa Imaushi and Keizo Arashi, he shouts at Koko to help him as they are true friends. Koko briefly reflects back to when he intervened to help Inupi when they were younger. He then envisions Akane, thanking him and telling him that he should live a life that he desires. This causes Koko to finally realize his stubbornness and punches Benkei before he hits Inupi.

Seishu Inui
She was his older sister by five years, not much is shown about their relationship but it seems like Seishu has been mildly annoyed by her teasing on how he should act more like Koko. This could just be normal sibling behavior. It is later shown that he is tearing up when telling Koko about her passing.

Hajime Kokonoi
As a young child, Koko had a crush on her, he wanted to marry her when they grew up and promised to always protect her. He notes that she looks remarkably similar to her brother and is pretty. He attempts to kiss her as she was napping. Akane rejected him stating that she is five years older than him, and that he should only kiss someone he likes. Despite this, Akane accepts his love after he confesses, stating that she will wait until they grow up.

Appearances
{{Appearances|Chapters|

Tenjiku Arc

 * Chapter 157 - Money monger (mentioned)
 * Chapter 158 - Untamed heart
 * Chapter 159 - I know in my head

Kanto Manji Arc
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 * Chapter 251 - Get out of hand (vision)
 * Chapter 252 - Bring back (vision)

Etymology

 * The name Akane means "red, crimson" (赤) (aka) and "sound, noise" (音) (ne).
 * Akane's surname Inui means "dried, cured, drought, dry, desiccate, drink up, heaven, emperor" (乾).