Ren smiles softly and shakes his head. “I’ve never once pitied you, Akechi.”
There’s a difference between sympathy and pity. Ren has an almost limitless store of sympathy for people who’ve suffered injustices, and Akechi is a particularly notable instance of someone for whom he allocates that sympathy. They both had their lives upended in catastrophic ways by the same utterly vile man, so there is a sense of solidarity merged with the sad understanding.
But Ren doesn’t consider himself to be better than Akechi. Personas aside, he knows life afforded him a number of privileges the other boy didn’t receive. Ren still has both parents, despite what he may feel about their decision to banish him to Tokyo for his year of probation. Their expectations for him to perform well at school and properly in society were a baseline standard, not a pressure to keep his head above water by proving he was worth more than being thrown away like so much garbage.
Ren holds no sense of judgment against the other boy. He has done awful things, some of which were done to Ren personally - that is fact. Reparations and rehabilitation should be sought, and in some ways, have already been done. But Akechi has lived with such deep, consuming pain for so long, it’s not surprising he would choose to lash out with violence and an elaborately planned revenge. If Ren were in Akechi’s shoes, he can’t claim there’s zero chance he wouldn’t have done the same.
Hm. Maybe he’s skirting a little too close to sincerity now. Time to reel it in and return to the playful banter. Ren rubs a hand over the back of his head.
“Guess I should start scavenging for something to take notes with, if you’re gonna teach me everything you know.”
no subject
There’s a difference between sympathy and pity. Ren has an almost limitless store of sympathy for people who’ve suffered injustices, and Akechi is a particularly notable instance of someone for whom he allocates that sympathy. They both had their lives upended in catastrophic ways by the same utterly vile man, so there is a sense of solidarity merged with the sad understanding.
But Ren doesn’t consider himself to be better than Akechi. Personas aside, he knows life afforded him a number of privileges the other boy didn’t receive. Ren still has both parents, despite what he may feel about their decision to banish him to Tokyo for his year of probation. Their expectations for him to perform well at school and properly in society were a baseline standard, not a pressure to keep his head above water by proving he was worth more than being thrown away like so much garbage.
Ren holds no sense of judgment against the other boy. He has done awful things, some of which were done to Ren personally - that is fact. Reparations and rehabilitation should be sought, and in some ways, have already been done. But Akechi has lived with such deep, consuming pain for so long, it’s not surprising he would choose to lash out with violence and an elaborately planned revenge. If Ren were in Akechi’s shoes, he can’t claim there’s zero chance he wouldn’t have done the same.
Hm. Maybe he’s skirting a little too close to sincerity now. Time to reel it in and return to the playful banter. Ren rubs a hand over the back of his head.
“Guess I should start scavenging for something to take notes with, if you’re gonna teach me everything you know.”