I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to respond to this, I haven’t been keeping up with my retro heavily recently, and I’m also sorry that you feel the need to ask not to be rude bc that shouldn’t even have to be asked and it makes me sad that ppl have to feel afraid of asking these kinds of questions, but I did want to make sure to answer this if you even still wanted a response. I also think the specifics of whether DH is/isn’t DF on a technical sense is not really the point of his character, but I’ll get to that

So DF/DH’s situation is more than just a simple de-aging bc there are a lot of physical changes between the two (voice, height, hair color, horn color and shape, potentially dominant hand). From a psychological perspective, though, de-aging would also result in a different person, because while biology is a determinant in the person someone grows into, the environment they live in is also a huge factor. It’s the basis for the concept of “nature vs nurture”, or the question of whether biology or environment is more influential on someone’s development (as of now, the general consensus is that both have an effect; the question of which is more so is still up for debate to this day).

The literal differences between hatching and molting rebirth haven’t been explained in-game afaik, so feel free to take my response with a grain of salt. To me, a molting rebirth is likely one that happens due to unnatural circumstances, as hatching rebirth comes with signs of its impending arrival. DF, as I see it, wasn’t at the end of his lifespan once the sedition hit, but rather was heavily injured due to the conditions of his imprisonment, causing the rebirth to be something forced due to circumstance rather than a natural occurrence.

The reason why DH has DF’s memories is directly because of Perceptor interference. It gets mentioned a few times that the Preceptors basically tampered with the rebirth process in the hopes of maintaining DF’s power in secret, but it didn’t work exactly the way they wanted.

DH still has DF’s bracer and other belongings likely due to the fact that he was a prisoner who underwent his rebirth in prison, thus likely receiving DF’s items before his exile. If you look at his reaction to Cloud Piercer, for example, he mentions that he’s had it since his exile, but he doesn’t have many attachments to it otherwise, typical of most Vidys. And in a text convo with TB (if you have DHIL), he mentions that he doesn’t view DF’s memories as his own, but rather as “information” about him, as he’s had them since even before he was aware himself.

The reason why I say the technicalities and specifics of DH being/not being DF are kind of irrelevant is because every “good” aligned character refers to DH with his chosen identity, including those from the Luofu. The only people who insist differently are considered antagonists, and the main cast has also stated that friendship isn’t about forcing someone to do something they aren’t comfortable with. If you’re able, I encourage you to go on Youtube and watch some clips of the demeanors of those who insist upon calling DH by DF’s name (or Imbibitor Lunae) vs those who don’t, because to me, there’s a clear narrative distinction there.

The specifics are complicated for a reason, but it seems to me that DH’s story is one about defining yourself, and that isn’t necessarily denial, because he continuously acknowledges DF’s existence and influence on his life, and how his sin affected others. Hopefully any of this made sense!