Shouta Akimura


 * This article contains major plot spoilers from the manga that have not been revealed in the anime. Proceed at your own risk.

Shouta Akimura (秋村 肖太) was a graduate student at Keio University majoring in Sociology and Human Geography. He was good friends with Tsukasa Taira and Miwako Toda, as they shared the same major. He was also in love with Tsukasa, but in order to suppress his bloodlust for her, he killed three women in separate cases by raping them and drinking their blood. He was arrested by Yuuki Anzai for his crimes and sentenced to life in prison, though he spent five years at ONL for treatment.

To keep his identity as a devil hidden from the public, it was reported that he went away to Canada to study abroad.

Normal
Akimura is a young man with an average build and height. He has short, beige-colored hair with messy bangs framing his face. He has light-brown eyes but they are often depicted being closed.

After arriving at ONL, Akimura's hair grew much longer. It was about shoulder-length and unruly, but at the same time, it was described as being very beautiful. His eyes are also opened and he has heavy, dark circles under his eyes. After arriving at the prison, he had all of his hair cleanly shaven off.

Transformed
In Akimura's transformation into a devil, his eyes, like all other devils, wil turn red and his irises yellow, and veins will appear around his eyes. His teeth will sharpen into fangs and his nails into claws.

Personality
Akimura was portrayed as a calm, kind and considerate young man, but would turn nervous when the topic of devils was brought up, especially around Tsukasa. He was also in love with Tsukasa and cared for her deeply, but this, in turn, made him kill and rape three women in order to suppress his bloodlust for her. His identity as a devil put a great deal of guilt, self-loathing and stress on his shoulders, so much that he thought he would be better off dead.

After arriving at ONL, he didn't care about anything or anyone and just wanted to waste his days away without being haunted by his past. He also didn't care about the Hybrid Birth Project he was a part of, but this changed when he found out his partner and child died after birth. He was saddened for the first time in years. However, he learns from Midori that no matter how sad he was, they wouldn't come back. Akimura accepts this fact and decides to remember them in his heart. This culminates in him coming to terms with his dark past after he is put in prison. He embraces the sadness and guilt from killing the three women but decides to continue living on.

Pre-ONL
One day, Akimura, Tsukasa, and Miwako were riding the train. When Miwako brought up the subject of vampires to Tsukasa, Akimura interrupted by saying that she wasn't interested in that stuff. When they reached Tsukasa's station, Akimura walked her home since she lived quite far away. While walking, they felt the presence of something "dangerous" and proceeded to take a detour. When they came to safety, Tsukasa was seen being scared in which Akimura embraced her. He also whispered something to Tsukasa, but she pushed him away and he apologized. At that moment, Yuuki Anzai appeared. When showing his bleeding finger and proclaimed him as the vampire serial killer, Akimura slowly transformed into a devil and denied Anzai's words about him raping and killing three women. But he later came to admit his crimes, but he later expressed his guilt about having to kill women in order to "protect" Tsukasa so he wouldn't kill her as well. Before being arrested by Anzai, Akimura stroked Tsukasa's cheek and apologized to her.

To keep his identity as a devil hidden from the public, his arrest was reported as him studying abroad in Canada.

Post-ONL
In reality, Akimura was sent to ONL for treatment due to his blood addiction. After his arrest, he was disowned by his family as his mother told him he was no longer part of their family. Apparently, his father didn't even want to see his face. In the year 2014, he had therapy sessions and ONL gave him the drug treatment which resulted in being in a constant daze and lack of awareness to time and his surroundings.

In the year 2016, Akimura was decided to be a sperm donor to the last ever Hybrid Birth Project. However, he had no intention or interest in talking with his partner. One day when he was going on a walk with Julius Kurtz, a five-month-pregnant woman smiled happily at him. Kurtz explained that the woman, Maiko Hashimoto, was his partner in the project and that she had requested to see Akimura's face just once.

In the year 2017, Akimura got the news that Hashimoto and his daughter, Mikaze, had died right before the birth due to complications. Even though he never cared about the Hybrid Birth Project, this news devastated him and he hoped that there would be another Hybrid Project Plan. However, Midori Anzai told him that there would be none; explaining that there's no replacing people, that they wouldn't come back no matter how sad he was, and that he would simply have to accept their deaths and remember them somehow.

In the year 2018, Akimura was sent to prison to serve his life-sentence since he had been cured of his blood addiction. Despite his past crimes and mistakes, he decides to embrace all his wrong-doings and sadness, and continues living on.

Tsukasa Taira
Akimura was in love with Tsukasa and she in turn also seemed to have some affection towards him. Both valued their relationship and seemed to have a strong connection. It was seen that Akimura was very protective of Tsukasa and wanted to protect her from all harm and he even killed three women so he didn't have to drink Tsukasa's blood or kill her. Before getting arrested, Akimura apologized to Tsukasa and gave her a soft look while stroking her cheek. According to Anzai, despite the crimes he had committed, he only showed his good side around Tsukasa and he notes that Akimura's feelings towards Tsukasa were genuine, but the fact that he was a devil made it harder for him to hide his true identity. Even during the five years he spent at ONL, Akimura continued to think fondly about Tsukasa. However, rather than romantically, he had started to view her as an old friend, but he was jealous by the fact that she probably had a boyfriend. Though, he didn't really care as it was none of his business anymore.

Maiko Hashimoto
Hashimoto was Akimura's partner in the Hybrid Birth Project. They never talked, only passed by each other once and Akimura was not particularly interested in her or the project. However, Akimura was greatly saddened and devastated when he got the news that she had died from complications in birthing a half-devil child. He was touched that she had cared for him even though they had met just once and only bound by a tenuous link. To show his respect, he decided to send all of the money he received from the Hybrid Birth Project to her family.

Mikaze Akimura
Mikaze is Akimura's biological daughter who was intended to a part of the Hybrid Project. However, she died along with her mother right before her birth which devastated Akimura. This sadness is amplified when he found out that she was named Mikaze, "beautiful wind", in honor of him, since Hashimoto thought that Akimura's hair was fluttering beautifully in the wind when they first met. Even after her death, Akimura continues to have Mikaze in his heart.

People killed

 * Tomoe Hagimoto (萩本 朋恵 Hagimoto Tomoe)
 * Momoka Oki (沖 桃香 Oki Momoka)
 * Marie Kamiuchi (神内 マリー Kamiuchi Marī)

Etymology

 * The name Shouta means "resemblance" (肖) (shou) and "thick, big" (太) (ta).
 * Shouta's surname Akimura means "autumn" (村) (aki) and "town, village" (村) (mura).

Trivia

 * Akimura was supposed to have glasses since the author really wanted a character with glasses, but every time the author drew Akimura, the glasses disappeared. But since he liked Tsukasa Taira, the author gave him a pair of tinted glasses to cover his eyes.