Akane Nishino

Akane Nishino (西野アカネ) is the daughter of the CEO of Nishino Conglomerate and the former classmate of Minoru Kagenou, Cid's pre-reincarnated self.

After being saved by Cid, she is taken into the otherworld by Beta.

Appearance
During her time at Sakurazka Senior High, Akane was noted to be a beautiful teenage girl with black hair and eyes. As for her clothing, she wore the standard white school coat, shirt, skirt, stocking, and bow tie.

Following her "Awakening", her eyes changed from black to red. In addition, when she becomes the "First Knight", her hair changes from black to blonde. She also still wears her high school uniform, which had been used as a standard uniform for the knights of Messiah.

Personality
Akane seemingly presented herself as a proper, well-mannered young lady but that was just a front. In truth, she was a scared, troubled girl traumatized by her kidnapping and the scandal that resulted from it. She hid her true self behind a mask in an attempt for people to adore her and not hate her and be reminded of her kidnapping.

After causing the destruction of Arcadia, Akane once more masked her true personality. She could not deal with the immense guilt and developed suicidal tendencies, desiring to end her own life as penance for her crimes. The incident also made Akane valued human life and will do everything in her power to protect others from harms, even from her own allies.

Background
In her childhood, Nishino had started her acting career, becoming a famous actress. When she was at Junior High however, she was kidnapped by a stalker and although she was rescued, the event caused her to put her acting career on hold for a while her parents would arrange a car and driver for her to return home safely.

Nishino eventually did return to acting during High school. It was there where she met Minoru Kagenou, a classmate who Akane came to hate after the teen repeatedly failed to recognize her. After taking a remedial class, Nishino chose to go home on foot after her cellphone lost power. Suddenly, a black van appeared and a man came out to kidnap her. Just before she passed out, she saw Minoru coming to her aid.

Nishino woke up and discovered herself, bound and gagged. She learned from her kidnappers that they intend to use her as ransom, to force her parents to offer money to them. However before that happened, the kidnappers decided to have their way with her much to the teenager's horror. Before she was about to be raped, Minoru, disguising as the Stylish Badguy Slayer broke into their hideout to rescue her. Nishino watched in awe as the Stylish Badguy Slayer fought off the kidnappers, even killing the leader. Nishino was freed and she returned home.

The next day, Nishino recalled the events the following day before encountering Minoru at the school gates. To her surprise, Minoru remembered her name. After that, Nishino, relieved by this change decided to follow Minoru and conversed with him some more. At some point after this, however, Minoru would end up dying in a car accident.

The Birth of the First Knight
At some point following Japan being invaded, Akane took part in a project at Arcadia as a test subject to create warriors in battling the monsters. The project succeeded and Akane gained magical abilities and became who people refer to as "The First Knight". While the project was a success, Akane's older brother, Akira Nishino was not satisfied with the results and experimented on his sister to further develop her powers. This backfired horribly as Akane lost control of her powers and she went on a rampage that destroyed Arcadia, killing many people in the process.

The trauma of the event caused Akane to bury the memory deep inside, making her forget it. The now amnesiac Akane and Akira fled and took refuge with another group called Messiah whose base was set up at Nishino University.

Reunion
Akane headed towards an abandoned hospital to rescue the three knights who were dispatched there before but didn't return. She entered the hospital, despite knowing it was a magical beast nest. After dealing with several of the beasts, Akane discovered that not only was the nest brutally eradicated but there were two human survivors. Noticing that one of the two survivors was exhibiting the symptoms of awakening, Akane decided to take the two back to Messiah.

Once they reached Messiah, Akane chose to take one of the survivors, Minoru, under her care. The other survivor, Minoru's sister, Natsume, was taken in by Akira so that he could examine her condition. She would slowly open up to Minoru because of how he reminded her of her late classmate, Minoru Kagenou. During Minoru's stay, he would get assaulted by Yudai Saejima under alleged suspicions of being a spy. Akane immediately defended Minoru. However, Akane froze when Saejima revealed that he was aware of her dark past.

Suddenly, magical beasts began to attack Messiah. Akane joined alongside her fellow knights to defend Messiah. Regardless of their efforts, the defensive was slowly being overwhelmed. She decided to charge toward the horde to attract the beasts away from Messiah. Even with her superior abilities, she couldn't fight off all the beasts. Thankfully, a jet-blacked-robed figure appeared and wiped out all the beasts before disappearing. Shortly after the battle, Yuka informed Akane that Saejima was murdered. Due to her poor relationship and previous quarrel with Saejima, Akane was accused of the crime. To her joy, Minoru defended her from the accusations. However, Akane began to suffer a breakdown from her past actions until Yuka sedated her, knocking her unconscious.

Then, Akane was kidnapped by Yuka and injected with beast blood. This caused her to remember all her horrible deeds as the First Knight. Yuka then revealed that she held a grudge against Akane for her actions as the First Knight. Forced to recall the horrors she wrought on Arcadia, Akane when into a frenzy and murdered Yuka. After murdering Yuka, she spotted a jet-blacked-robed figure and attempted to attack him. Despite her effort, the mysterious individual dodged all her attacks. Subsequently, he unleashed a powerful magic-infused slash, restoring Akane to her normal condition. Before losing consciousness, Akane heard the figure tell her to be careful not to get kidnapped again.

When Akane woke up, she found herself in a room foreign to her. Recalling the last words of the jet-blacked figure, she realized that he was Minoru Kagenou. She vows to atone for her actions so that she can reunite with him.

Powers & Abilities
Akane was born a normal human with no magic whatsoever. Instead, she "Awakened" her power after being experimented on, becoming a superhuman referred to as a "Knight". In fact, Akane is noted to be strong even compared to other Knights, capable of blowing them away with her magic power alone. In terms of her fighting style, Akane wields a katana that she infuses with her magic and is quite skilled at wielding it, capable of cutting down multiple Beasts in a single strike.

However, it should be noted that, while she might be powerful by Earth standards, Akane's abilities are still far inferior to those of Shadow Garden members and possibly even regular inhabitants of the other world. This is seen in how she struggles against Beasts that the Shadow and Beta claim to be "small fry".

Akane is actually the infamous "First knight", having been injected with the blood of multiple Beasts by her brother. In this state, she manipulates her magic power as golden light, which she can use to shoot balls of energy from all around her that pierce right through a person. Akane initially had no control over this form, only entering it when forcefully injected with magic and attacking everyone in sight. However, after being brought to the other world, she started learning to control her power.

Minoru Kagenou / The "Black Knight"
At the start, Akane despised Minoru, not because he did not remember her name but because he, as she put it, "never looked at her"; he technically turned his eyes at her but was looking past her and setting sights on some far-off place. She tried her best to avoid him at all times and kept their conversations incredibly short.

When Akane got kidnapped, a ski-masked vigilante rescued her. Before he left, the vigilante told Akane to be careful and not to get kidnapped. After that, when Minoru finally paid attention to her and remembered her name, Akane realized that like her, Minoru was also masking his true self. Eventually, Akane figured out that Minoru was the vigilante and she developed romantic feelings for him. Minoru's death deeply affected her, keeping his school uniform and yearning for him to return to her even years later.

After being forced into her First Knight state, she was returned to normal by the Black Knight who told Akane the same lines Minoru said to her when he rescued her. Akane realized that the Black Knight was Minoru.

Akira Nishino
Akane's older brother; despite being siblings, they did not have a good relationship. Akane was fully aware that Akira was using her and her status as a "Knight" to advance his political agenda. He even went as far as to experiment on her by injecting her with blood from multiple Beasts, turning her into the "First Knight", though she initially had no memory of what he had done to her. After she regained her memories, however, what little remained of their familial bond seemed to have shattered completely.

Yuka
Messiah's nurse; Akane was betrayed by Yuka, who was an Arcadia survivor and wanted revenge on the "First Knight". She would do this by making her go berserk, regaining her memories in the process. Yuka would end up being killed by the First Knight but did not care as she was able to make her suffer with the knowledge of her crimes. Unfortunately for Yuka, Akane was almost immediately incapacitated and healed by Minoru, allowing her to instead come to terms with her past.

Yudai Saejima
The vice-commander of Messiah's "Knights" and Akane's former high school classmate; Yudai constantly tried to force Akane into a relationship with him, even willing to blackmail her with knowledge about her past. Akane, on the other hand, not only had no respect for her superior but was utterly repulsed by him. The two also disagreed on other issues, with Yudai being critical of Akane bringing more people into the already overcrowded Messiah.

Haitani
The commander of Messiah's "Knights" and thus Akane's superior; Haitani seems to be one of the few people who Akane genuinely respects.

Natsume
Akane assumed 'Natsume' to be an "Awakened" person due to her silver hair and long ears. She was against her brother taking custody of her, subconsciously realizing that he would experiment on her as he did on herself, but was overruled, leaving her to pray for her safety. Akane is later brought to the other world by Natsume.

Trivia

 * In the epilogue of volume 4, it is revealed that Akane knows Minoru is still alive and that she fell in love with him.
 * Akane's story parallels Aurora's; both became monsters against their will and desired death for the destruction they caused.
 * Outside of Shadow Garden, Akane is one of the few people who know Shadow's true identity as Cid Kagenou, the others being Elisabeth, Lutheran Barnett and Aurora.