"Oh, I have no doubt that he'll be lurking in the background of the call. But I fully intend to not acknowledge him outside of discussion of the project," Ichinose chuckled a bit.

Her eyes glanced Maruki up and down when he mentioned he wanted to speak to Zenkichi privately. There was a worry - if Maruki got hurt, then she wouldn't be safe, but... well, there wasn't much point in trusting him to protect her if she just assumed he couldn't handle himself.

"Well, be cautious, I suppose. You may have more luck than someone with my face ever would."