When Taiki-as-Blade squares off with Aqua-as-Touki, hes ready to play and have fun.
Aqua ends up ad-libbing when Kana-as-Tsurugi ends up in his arms.
He describes her as a soft, weak woman who has no business on a battlefield of men.
When Kana was popular and profitable, her mother benefitted.
But when Kanas career started to plateau and decline, her mother also declined.
Her father fell for another woman and left them.
Kana lived in squalor, and in a constant state of fear she wasnt doing enough.
Kana allowed herself to be consumed by the cynical, cutthroat adult sensibility.
She initially tells Aqua in this liminal mental space that lifting her up will only cause problems for everyone.
But Aqua is telling her thatcausing problems is the point.He wants to see heract the way she wants to.
And Akane only wants to defeatthatKana.
Specifically, he has to know whattriggershis panic:guilt.
Akane may know theres a trigger, but doesnt know the source of it.
Gotanda Taishi has known him long enough to know: its his sense ofguiltover Ais death.
Gotanda even surmises that Aqua is pursuing the upper escelons of actingsolelyfor the sake of exacting revenge.
Gotanda doesnt judge Aqua for this.
Instead, he must suffer as he performs, since for him acting is something painful and arduous.
As he fights Taiki/Blade as Touki, Aqua embraces that mindset.
It remains his only reason for living.Sorry, Ruby!
