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thun-dere · 4 years

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Hi! I really like your toaru analysis - especially the kamiichi and NT stuff. Question: do you HC a precise moment where kamiichi falls in love/realise they are in love? (Not that accel will ever admit it- but y'know)

thank u 4 validating my inability 2 shut tf up it is very much appreciated and also all i want for christmas is kamiichi

i’m not sure whether you’re referring to a canon moment or just headcanon, so i guess i’ll consider both.

regarding canon, one of my twitter kamiichi gang mutuals made a joke about that and i’m gonna go ahead and find that post

tbh in canon, it’s pretty much all but outright stated that Accelerator loves Kamijou Touma. I don’t think there’s really a definite moment for it.

From his very first volume as a protagonist, he’s shown to be enamored with the hero who went up against the strongest esper in Academy City with nothing but a sense of righteousness and a really weird right hand and actually triumphed, so much so that he spent over a week aimlessly mulling over their battle. That guy made a deep impression on him, in more ways than one. From then on, his character development is carried by him following that impression (read: following his heart) and chasing after Kamijou Touma’s back while following his own path. Pretty much every time Accel finds himself at crossroads or a roadblock or any kind of crisis, he thinks of Touma. iirc Salome called him his “really annoying fan”, it’s a fandom joke that Accel is Touma’s #1 fan, Aleister Crowley teased him for his protectiveness of him, the Will implied that he at least cares about him as much as the Sisters do, and Qliphah Puzzle 545 teased him for being subtly happy in a very tsundere fashion when they interacted. There may be more instances of other characters pointing out just how much Kamijou Touma means to Accelerator, but that’s just what i remember off the top of my head.

Accelerator himself seems to act a bit differently around him, caring less about what’s appropriate for a guy like him under his influence, and showing really, really, subtle hints of fondness and affection. not to self-insert, but i pointed out elsewhere that Accelerator throws out everything he’s ever held himself to be for Touma’s sake or due to his influence. While Last Order plays a pivotal role in stabilizing his character, Kamijou Touma is the one who drives Accelerator’s development, something Accel treasures very much.

Befitting of his abilities, Accelerator is a person who loves reflecting. A lot of his exposition and narration is dedicated to introspecting on what he knows for the sake of clarity and honesty. Ironically, between the two of them, Accel actually cares more about doing the right thing as opposed to Touma, who just does what he feels is the right thing, going into their parallel yet intersecting negation-reflection perfect yin-yang foil dichotomy, but that’s a topic for another long overdue ramble. Anyhow i digress. Chances are, Accelerator’s already aware he at least feels something incredibly similar to love towards Kamijou Touma, whether he can muster the guts to unabashedly call it so or not. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Accelerator holds towards Kamijou Touma the purest form of love in his entire harem, for the sole reason that there’s no self-interest or self-preservation involved.

No one can undergo that much personal change, sacrifice, and surrender for someone else for any reason other than pure love.

But on that possibility, an interesting development that happened in the final arc of NT seemed to be Accel proudly embracing his inner child, which sets an interesting development for his character going forward. I don’t think it’s too much to hope for an actual admittance/confession, because Accelerator is an incredibly dynamic character, so much so that a large portion of his character is centered around “never stop growing” (heh acceleration). At the current rate of his development, it’s entirely possible that what we thought impossible to turn out to be a subversion of expectations.

tbh the only good argument against Accelerator being in love with Kamijou Touma is the fact that he’s canonically aroace, but i feel like there are some misconceptions there that should be cleared up. 1) romsex is more a matter of tastes or libido than depth, and 2) from my experience, it’s not so much aroaces don’t love so much as they feel a more…childlike type of it?? one way or another you can def be in love with someone while still being aroace accelerator is already in love with kamijou touma i dont see a problem here.

On the other hand, we don’t get as clear or thorough of a view of how Kamijou Touma views Accelerator or much of a perspective of how he views love in general aside from what’s played for laughs, but that isn’t to say that there isn’t something there.

First and foremost, I’d like to point out that Accelerator is basically current Kamijou Touma’s “first”. You could say that Aureolus Izzard was technically post-amnesia Touma’s first villain, but the fact that OT2 is among the most forgettable volumes is intentional, as Kamachi specifically mentioned something along the lines of how he designed Aureolus to be a failed/pathetic version of Touma and Himegami Aisa to be a girl unfit to be a heroine. Not unlike Misaka Mikoto’s arc, Accelerator’s Level 6 Shift is their first step into the depths of darkness of Academy City, and the fact that he doesn’t flesh out the #1′s character from the get go to initially establish him as pure evil is telling. From then on, pretty much all developments in that impression come very distantly, from either satellite sources/mutual connections or from the fact that Touma doesn’t explicitly or deeply contemplate Accel nearly as much as the #1 does of him, though that’s mostly a matter of personality or circumstantial differences than anything really telling, as Touma really isn’t one for self-reflection the way Accel is.

We know that Touma knows, or at least has the knowledge at his disposal to put two and two together, that Accel is actually not the bad person he projects himself to be, that he feels some sort of solidarity in their alliance and some sort of fellowship in their mutual sufferings in the condition of being a Toaru protag, but isn’t quite comfortable around him yet for casual conversation or companionship. We know that he knows that Accel’s been hurt a lot in his life, albeit in a different, more debilitating way, and knows that a lot of the darkness he’s manipulated into is not his fault. We know that he values his input and admires his power, considering him wise and responsible, and respects their differences in background and modus operandi, sometimes even counting on him to cool his head or clear his mind. We also know that he finds him attractive.

We probably know more, but the content is probably stored in some obscure semicanon side story or whatever or just something i otherwise don’t know or remember so pls,,, paging all of kamiichi gang to serve the kamiichi commune and provide more kamiichi content.

So it isn’t accurate to say that it’s entirely one-sided just because Accel’s narrative is more Touma-focused than vice-versa. Even in what little we’re shown, they mutually worry about each other’s safety/wellbeing and get angry in each other’s stead, even when it’s an incredibly minor transgression (e.g. Touma getting angry at Aleister lacking gratitude after Accel saved them and Accel getting pissed when Touma lamented being nothing special without his right hand). They also play a big role in each other’s character developments, holding each other in high regard while being committed to their individual paths and reassuring each other of theirs. I see a lot of people turn a blind eye to this, but Accelerator actually plays a major role in Kamijou Touma’s character development, sparse as their interactions may be.

I love everything about what we’re given about this pairing thus far, the symbolic/narrative/thematic setup, the (few) interactions and banter, the black-and-white 168 cm aesthetic, but i’m really hooked on the potential. The biggest tragedy of kamiichi is the fact that these two like never interact outside the battlefield, because Accelerator has both the capability and the predisposition to singlehandedly help a brother out of a fuck load of his everyday problems and fulfill a shit ton of his longings, were he to actually know about them and get an opportunity to.

According to Kamachi, neither either of Kamijou Touma and Accelerator nor Kamachi Kazuma himself actually have much interest in romance, so i feel like it’s actually pretty unlikely for either of them to go the romance route with any particular harem member, but that isn’t to say they won’t form a strong, loving bond. If anything, they’d probably be able to bond over that. The rest is left to interpretation and fanon.

as for headcanon, idk dude,,, i’m a simple farmer in this commune i just want them to interact more and water my crops. i’ve gotten pretty immersed in writing (or at least fantasizing about) an intense kamiichi fic but that’s another story. i’ve also been thinking about the extensive similarities between galolio from promare with kamiichi from toaru but that too is another story on top of being unrelated

all i want for christmas is more kamiichi juice.

fr tho, pls kamachi,,,, atone for this weird oversexualization of minors and unnecessary fanservice with a genuinely deep and healthily fulfilling relationship. the latest developments in the plot and Academy City actually set the stage for Accel being more involved in the main plot, so i’m really excited to see where we go from here.

I will say, however, i feel both of them are too stubborn and have too many more pressing concerns/distractions to give much attention to defining love, plus a love realization requires some sort of reflection, which is not Kamijou Touma’s strong suit, so when i headcanon or imagine shit, i need plot devices or setting factors to force their hand into confessions or declarations or expressions of love.

i’m not sure if that really answers your question but,,,,,,, im love kamiichi

tl;dr: enemies to rivals to allies to friends to lovers to soulmates kamiichi longplay

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