[His eyes narrow ever so slightly as he evaluates Maruki. There's the fear that's threaded through ever centimeter of him, from the shine in his eyes to the tremble that goes all the way to his fingertips. Other than that... he's reasoning well. Doing his best to describe the situation to Akira in a kind and level manner. The fear is affecting him in a drastic way (understandably), but remove that and he's not much different from his norm. Akira absorbs the information and weighs the probabilities.
Most likely, Maruki wasn't pushed far enough to kill someone. Not knowingly, at least. The chance of it happening knowingly still isn't zero, because Akira's never seen him break in that particular way, but the fact that he's still very much himself leads him to believe that the chance of it is astronomically low.
The fact that the pressure is on him in such a distinct, way, the fact that his mask isn't all the way back up... That's why Maruki's able to witness the extremely brief thing that happens next.]
Good.
[There's just the slightest knife's edge to the word, wrapped in the layers of his normal tone like a hidden blade. It's the sharpness that could be easily mistaken for Joker's steel, but it goes beyond that.
Fierce. Relentless. Unforgiving. It's the cold piece of him that didn't care what happened to Kamoshida Suguru.
One assessment done, he leaves his spot in front of the door and begins another. Is Maruki shaking too much to make it on his own? Should Akira do anything even if he is? The answer to the second question is easy to decide, even if it isn't an easy question at all - his hand is already going out to Maruki's arm again before he's even weighed the pros and cons of it.
Akira knows he shouldn't. He knows it's not a good idea to initiate something like that when he still has to give Maruki a chance to prove himself... But that doesn't seem important enough right now. Not when his heartbeats still haven't slowed down, and he doubts Maruki's have either.]
I wasn't sure how much of Azathoth's strength that you had, but it's better that you were able to defend yourself. [His voice is softer now. Something feels sort of gauche about the fact that he's relieved for the strength that might end up being Akira's own undoing down the road, but he's too glad that Maruki's still breathing to care all that much. He doesn't know what that says about him.] It should be enough to keep him away, but you should describe him for me if you can.
air biscuits save us........
Most likely, Maruki wasn't pushed far enough to kill someone. Not knowingly, at least. The chance of it happening knowingly still isn't zero, because Akira's never seen him break in that particular way, but the fact that he's still very much himself leads him to believe that the chance of it is astronomically low.
The fact that the pressure is on him in such a distinct, way, the fact that his mask isn't all the way back up... That's why Maruki's able to witness the extremely brief thing that happens next.]
Good.
[There's just the slightest knife's edge to the word, wrapped in the layers of his normal tone like a hidden blade. It's the sharpness that could be easily mistaken for Joker's steel, but it goes beyond that.
Fierce. Relentless. Unforgiving. It's the cold piece of him that didn't care what happened to Kamoshida Suguru.
One assessment done, he leaves his spot in front of the door and begins another. Is Maruki shaking too much to make it on his own? Should Akira do anything even if he is? The answer to the second question is easy to decide, even if it isn't an easy question at all - his hand is already going out to Maruki's arm again before he's even weighed the pros and cons of it.
Akira knows he shouldn't. He knows it's not a good idea to initiate something like that when he still has to give Maruki a chance to prove himself... But that doesn't seem important enough right now. Not when his heartbeats still haven't slowed down, and he doubts Maruki's have either.]
I wasn't sure how much of Azathoth's strength that you had, but it's better that you were able to defend yourself. [His voice is softer now. Something feels sort of gauche about the fact that he's relieved for the strength that might end up being Akira's own undoing down the road, but he's too glad that Maruki's still breathing to care all that much. He doesn't know what that says about him.] It should be enough to keep him away, but you should describe him for me if you can.