Kanzashi's pointed out he's started doing what he used to do unintentionally intentionally.
As the series goes on, Ichika seems to be growing aware of the girls' feelings and his own actions around them.
However, in the light novels especially, there are hints that Ichika is not quite as oblivious as he lets on, with Charlotte even suspecting that he's doing it on purpose. He believes that there is absolutely no chance for him to get a girlfriend, as he told Chifuyu that he would not be able to match any of the girls' perfect sides (not knowing that he is the type of guy all the girls want). Ichika can be extremely clueless when it comes to the feelings the girls have for him, as more often than not, he is more worried of the fact that being the only male who can pilot an IS, he does not know the requirements of controlling it, and the fact he has to live among a very large group of girls (he even told Charles that he was very glad that another male transferred in). This is shown when he chose to protect a ship of fishermen who were illegally poaching during the mission against the Silver Gospel. He believes, when questioned by Laura, that his strength is his freedom to choose to help those around him. When Laura slapped him, he reacted angrily by shouting at her and asking why she did that ( LN), and when she used the VT System to copy Chifuyu's data and Yukihira, he wanted to punch Laura, without her IS, as much as he could). Also, in the manga (and some parts of the light novel), Ichika tends to be rude when he is angered (he called Lingyin "ironing board" and idiot during their fight over the "Sweet and sour pork" promise. When she commented on how a commoner from Japan could handle the class representative, he remarked that her country isn't anything special (he even asks when was the last time her country won the award for worst cooking). However, he does not take any insults to his family or his country lightly, as shown when he first met Cecilia. Having been raised (suggested to be Spartan-trained) by Chifuyu, Ichika learns to be polite to all the girls and respectful to those older than him, and is generally very kind. On his right wrist is the Byakushiki's Closed-Form, which is a white gauntlet (metal bracelet in the anime). For IS practice, he wears a dark blue tank top and tight-fitting bermuda shorts. He commonly wears his IS Academy uniform. Ichika is a young man of average height with short black hair that is parted in the middle, dark brown eyes, and a slim trained body.