He's adorable, isn;t he?

He was my boyfriend after Shinjiro got in a coma, so it was kind of a cool narrative, what with the additional loss of Shinjiro bringing the two lovers together

Also, maybe it's for the best if you don't max Shinjiro. Akihiko's Persona upgrade scene is much more poignant when Shinji's actually dead instead of comatose. There's something about a hospital room that just sucks out all the drama out of that.