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I am sorry, he is quite a coward. He is determined, driven, and passionate, but he's always been a coward with his different incarnations and that is the reason why he has not yet grabbed upon the opportunity that hangs in front of him. He is a coward because he cannot face reality and only escape to impossible ideals. I'm not knocking on his diligence: he is very much persistent and hard-working, but it does not change the fact that he is a coward. If he wasn't, he wouldn't escape into the excuse of a different choice or a possibility but face life head on. By finally choosing to face real world and the demons that pervade it can he only be called to be decisive and thus courageous.
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But here's the difference: Does he SEE the alternative opportunity he can grab as the fortune-teller always says but chooses the cowards way out by ignoring the road not traveled for the road he wants to travel, or does he NOT SEE it simply because his single-minded focus for the road he wants to travel blinds him to any and all alternatives?
The closest he came to seeking a way out was his change of perspective and actions in episode 9 by choosing the money. So far I haven't seen anything from him that shows he is conscious of his alternatives, only in some sense unconsciously (the Mochiguman, his despair at the end, etc.). During Higuchi's parting words of wisdom by the riverside you could see hear Watashi's single-minded insistence on his rose-colored life and achieving it by any means necessary. If anything, he failed to understand the things Higuchi tried to tell him before it was too late because it's just possible he simply sees no other path, not necessarily because he ignores it. The deviation from his usual path he had this time was resignation to despair, which again we assume will turn him into a NEET for episode 10.
As it stands I won't call him a coward just yet because to me, he simply has just not realized that there IS another path his life can take. Hell I'd say the potential NEET approach for episode 10 would be the most cowardly thing he could do at this point.