AkiToya

"If it weren't for you, Akito, I wouldn't have been able to get this far. You were the one that lifted my spirits after that day we met on Vivid Street. Now, it's my turn. Let's keep performing and doing shows together until you get over this hurdle. If you still feel down after that, I'll be there to lift you back up. I'll make sure that you'll be able to sing."

- Touya in STRAY BAD DOG Episode 7 "Revenge"

AkiToya is the slash ship between Akito Shinonome and Touya Aoyagi from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Akito and Touya are members of the street music group Vivid BAD SQUAD. They are also members of their duo unit BAD DOGS which was formed two years prior to the Main Story when the two were in middle school. Both of them attend Kamiyama High School as first-year students, and the two are also best friends.

Akito had experience performing music as a solo street artist before meeting Touya. On the other hand, Touya had been trained since he was young to perform classical music before rebelling against his father and choosing to become a street performer instead. While he initially quit classical music solely for the purpose of running away, Akito taught him about his dream to surpass - RAD WEEKEND - which he felt so passionately about. This motivated Touya to whole-heartedly chase that dream with him, leading to the formation of BAD DOGS. According to the main story, Akito knew Touya had what it took to surpass RAD WEEKEND upon first seeing him perform which is why he took initially took an interest in him.

After seeing the passion and motivation An and Kohane have when it came to chasing their dream, Touya becomes disheartened and breaks off his partnership with Akito in hopes that he’ll move on to someone who is more worthy of standing by his side. However, rather than being honest about his reasoning for not wanting to sing with Akito anymore, he instead pretends to be leaving because he feels that their music means nothing, mirroring his fathers criticism of their chosen path. Despite taking what Touya said to heart, Akito is unable to grasp Touya’s reasoning for abandoning their dream, which the virtual singers, namely MEIKO, uses to help him see through Touya’s facade. With the added help of An’s father leaving Akito on the line so that Akito can hear his real reason for running away, Akito and Touya are given a chance to reconcile and be honest with their feelings for each other. Akito reassures Touya that he has no intention of teaming up with anyone other than him, calling him the best partner he could ask for.

Quotes
"(Because you're the greatest partner in the world, and at this point, I don't need to put that into words.)"

- Touya thinking to himself in "Someday, Once Again..." second side story

"(Akito's serious about his music, so he can't help but feel strongly when someone tries to belittle it. If I told him he really saved me when he got angry on my behalf that day, he'd probably say I was being dramatic...)"

- Touya in "Bristling Irritation" first side story

"(I'm just glad you finally found something that you yourself want to do.)"

- Akito thinking to himself in an Area Conversation at Kamiyama High School

"(Akito said that I'm the best partner he could ask for. And in order for me to keep being that incredible partner... I want to keep standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him.)"

- Touya reflecting on his feelings towards Akito in Walk On and On Episode 8 "Now It's My Turn"

"While I wrote this song, I was reminded of everything that we'd gone through together. I'm standing here today because you discovered me singing by myself after I ran away from classical music. Even when I wasn't sure if it was actually okay for me to be performing alongside you, Akito, you said that it was. If you hadn't, I very likely would've stepped away from music altogether. But you prevented that from happening, Akito. I realized just how much of a privilege it is to sing alongside a partner like you... I was able to put this track together because I want to keep singing with you. I want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you as we perform. Akito, you're the best partner I could ask for."

- Touya to Akito in Walk On and On Episode 8 "Now It's My Turn"

"Happy Birthday, Touya. You are, and always will be, my greatest partner. Let's keep it up."

- Akito in Touya's 2023 Birthday card second side story

Fanon
Thanks to their deep friendship, AkiToya is one of the most popular ships in fandom, helped by their informal "Those Two Guys" status. In particular, in English fandom, it is not uncommon to find people with the headcanon that the two are already in some form of romantic relationship, and many see them as semi-canon, as best friends with mutual romantic feelings. However at the same time, many who see them as semi-canon are angry at Colorful Palette, thinking that AkiToya is just queerbait and another instance of implying two characters have feelings for each other, but not actually confirming it. AkiToya is often shipped alongside Anhane, with them sometimes appearing as a side couple in their fics and vice versa. AkiToya is mainly rivaled by Akian, Toukoha, Akikasa and TouKasa.

On AO3, the pairing currently has the second highest amount of fics within the fandom, only second to RuiKasa. It is the most popular pairing involving Akito and is also the most popular pairing involving Touya, making it the most popular ship involving each of them. This ship's popularity has made the ship achieve Top 100 AO3 Ships of 2023.

In AkiToya fanfictions, angst is a common element, with stories featuring Akito comforting or helping Touya about his problems with his father, which sometimes are exaggerated to make Touya's father more abusive than he actually is in canon. Another common theme is Akito being tsundere towards Touya or having a hard time confessing his feelings. Due to their various limited cards' hairstyles and outfits in-game, people have made fanworks of them in various AUs and settings such as:
 * Delinquent x Nerd
 * Knight x (Dark) Prince
 * Cyberpunk

In the Western fandom, they are sometimes compared to Renga due to two ships' similarities.

The first AkiToya Week was held on October 30-November 6, 2022, under the. Prompts for the first day were "first kiss or date", "Halloween" for the second day, "hanahaki" for the third day, "royalty AU" for the fourth day, "hero x villain" for the fifth day, "vampire AU" for the sixth day, "reincarnation" for the seventh day, and eight and final day was free choice. The second AkiToya Week was held on July 17-23, 2023, under the. Prompts for the first day were "cherry blossom or sick day", "gaming or summer" for the second day, "AU or pancakes & coffee" for the third day, "childhood or train ride" for the fourth day, "cooking or ice skating" for the fifth day, "night time or feelings" for the sixth day, and seventh and final day was free choice.

Fandom

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 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * Their ship is referred to with the "🥞☕" emojis.
 * Their Kizuna Rank titles are: "BAD DOGS", "Trustworthy Partners" and "Want to Stand Next to You".
 * Some of their Cheerful Carnival Team names are "BAD DOGS", "Exceptionally Reliable Partners", "It's My Turn Now" and "First Time Setting Up A Tent".
 * In an Area Conversation had with Kagamine Len, Touya explains that in the two years that he and Akito had known each other prior to the Main Story, they rarely ever fought.
 * Their main colors, orange and blue, are complementary colors.
 * In the earlier stories, Akito was quite wary of Tsukasa Tenma due to his infamous nature in Kamiyama and wanted to keep Touya away from him, before learning of their history together. Some AkiToya shippers took this as Akito being jealous of Touya and Tsukasa's relationship, or even seeing Tsukasa as a love rival.
 * Akito and Touya have covered 9 songs together (,, , , , , , , and ). They also have an alt duet version for Touya's first focus song and solo versions for Touya's second focus song , and Akito's second focus song.
 * In addition to this, they also covered Dramaturgy and Tokio Funka in the second and fifth Vivid BAD SQUAD Archives respectively.
 * In the "Vivid Old Tale" event's cards, they are wearing matching rings.
 * Some fans also theorize that, in those cards, one of them gave the other sunflowers.
 * In "Walk On and On", Touya says he was able to make his first track because he wanted to stand should-to-shoulder with Akito for years to come. Touya's card from the same event has an Akito cameo in both the untrained and trained images.
 * Touya has made a cameo in 11 out 19 of Akito's 3* and 4* untrained card illustrations.
 * Akito and Toya’s character numbers are 11 and 12 respectively. Akito’s birthday is November 12th.