Maruki remained on the line, hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie as he scanned the street. Azathoth’s tentacle weaved carefully through the air, twitching and coiling around corners where it wouldn’t immediately be noticed—unless someone had an especially keen eye for details. It was always strange, feeling through it, seeing through it, like having an extra sense he wasn’t always sure how to process.

Then—movement.

Azathoth noticed her before he did. The moment she stepped into view, its spidery limbs curled open, shifting with an eerie kind of attentiveness. Maruki barely had time to register it before Ichinose’s voice came crackling through his phone—loud, startled, and very much still on the call.

He jolted, startled by the echo in his ear, and—

Oh, shit. His glasses slipped right off his nose.

"Ah—!" Maruki fumbled, catching them in one hand before hastily hanging up and shoving his phone into his pocket. He straightened up quickly, clearing his throat as he fixed his glasses back over the bridge of his nose. "Sorry about that. Didn’t expect you to still be—uh, talking into the phone."

He laughed, just a little awkwardly, as he finally took a good look at her. His left eye, faintly gleaming gold in the dim light, studied her carefully. She was staring—at him, at it, the shifting, otherworldly mass of Azathoth coiling around one of the building’s pillars like some ancient, lurking thing.

"But, uh, yeah." He lifted a hand, and the persona receded, folding itself back into the shadows at his silent command. "Azathoth answers to me. Bit of a presence, huh?"

There was something both amused and apologetic in his expression, the kind of smile that suggested he knew exactly how weird this was but hoped she’d roll with it anyway.

He shifted his weight slightly. "And you must be...Ichinose Kuon?"