I know I just did Akane's sprite, so I'm sorry about that, but she's on my mind now so I'm gonna drop this here. In Chapter 4, when Fuyuhiko essentially tells Akane to show gratitude for Neko and his sacrifice since Fuyu himself can't do so for Peko, she DOES actually understand. She just plays dumb because she doesn't want to get vulnerable with Fuyuhiko.

Hey, nothing disproves this.