[ Oh, he's hilarious. Maruki comes to a stop at that familiar spot at the shore and looks over at Akechi, equally placid, evaluating. A curled hand comes up to rest beneath his chin – it's a very Venat-like gesture. ]

Robin Hood, Loki, and... Sherlock Holmes?

[ You know, the guy from Sleepr!

He laughs at his own stupid joke, turns back out to face the water. ]

Unless there's something you'd like to get off your chest, don't force it. Despite everything that's happened, I don't mind learning about you in the ways that I usually do.

[ It's probably irritatingly sincere, coming from a guy who tends to get a murder attempt free with his New Akechi Information these days.

Maruki feels scrubbed raw, unsure of how to proceed when someone here knows all the worst secrets he's kept hidden for so long. Having this conversation in the castle would have felt too confined; having it outdoors means that now there's nothing to contain him at all. Out here under the open sky, he's a sitting duck. A vulnerable speck in a vast world, though their access to it remains minuscule. A town too small, a universe too huge – everything shifts, vacillates, leaves him feeling unmoored.

He wishes Akechi was still anchoring him with an unkind hand on his shoulder. ]

But it isn't normal, is it? For us to be able to do what we can with our personas.

[ It can't be normal. He can't imagine every Phantom Thief has the power to change a cognition in some way like they do. ]