[He jumps a little, but it's surprise and not fear - because Maruki is someone he doesn't need to fear - as he watches the tentacle retract. It startles him back into place, jagged edges of his mind that had cracked and slipped off into a grey concrete room and the phantom sensation of syringe rising back to the state where they belong.

He is here.

He is Akira.

He is Joker.

Has he ever stopped being here?
Who is the one who held the blade?

The danger is past, but there's much left to do in its wake.]

...You're a kind person, Maruki-sensei. [In spite of what has realigned, there's been a shift of the landscape.] Your heart is a merciful one.

[Akira doesn't like making anything suffer, even if it's not "alive". Sometimes he isn't afforded the choice, however.]

But we are allies. That's correct. And that means it's time for me to be more candid with you than I've been before.

[Any hardness or sharpness has left Akira's voice, but it's still Joker-deep. His masks would be an impediment right now, so he forces them off.

Maruki didn't flinch away from his blade, and he reminds himself of that. He can let himself say the things he's kept securely wrapped away.]

My name is Kurusu Akira. I'm the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Both of these are things that you already know. [He stands, dagger still dangling from his hand, and look Maruki right in the eye with clear, bright eyes.] I need to know if you're one of us.

[Please be honest with me, he doesn't say, trust beating with fragile butterfly wings against his heartbeat.]