Azul Ashengrotto

Azul Ashengrotto is a second-year student and the head of the Octavinelle Dormitory. He manages the school's café and has a courteous attitude, but is also extremely calculating and greedy.

Appearance
Azul has wavy hair that is a silver-blue hue. It is parted to the right and has one lock of long hair along the left side of his face. His eyes are a darker color than his hair and is of a turquoise-blue hue. In his dormitory outfit and ceremonial robes, he wears eyeliner. In the former, he wears thin purple eyeliner while in the latter, he wears thick black eyeliner. He usually wears rectangular glasses with a silver frame (which is removed if wearing goggles, such as in his lab coat outfit or beans day outfit).

He has a beauty mark below his lip on the left side of his face. He wears a black fedora with a grey bow around it and a purple seashell on the bow. His outfit consists of a white dress shirt, a grey coat over an unbuttoned black double-breasted suit, a cool-toned grey scarf, and white gloves. He also wears purple socks and is seen wearing a pair of black slacks accompanied by black dress shoes. His scarf has the Octavinelle logo on it and he carries a black cane with a silver handle resembling an octopus.

Personality
Azul is very well known around NRC not only as his status as dorm leader of Octavinelle, but rumors float around about him capable of granting any wish one desires with the exchange of said person's most prided quality (ex: unique magic). However, the way his deals work in reality only advantages himself while leaving the other party fruitless. Upon first seeing Azul, he came off as 'friendly' and willing to 'help' others. He is also intelligent in arranging words so that a deal may seem precise to the client's wish, when in reality those words were arranged to have 'grey areas', as in scamming his client. Azul is also known to be sly, being able to convince almost anyone to sign a contract with him. He is also seen to be skilled in every aspect.

Warning: the following contains spoilers for the Main Story

However, the truth is revealed, and Azul has actually been very insecure about himself, especially his chubby octopus form (the word chubby is based on Floyd) as a result of being bullied and socially isolated by the other mermaids. Although Azul was bullied for his sluggishness and ink-spewing tendencies as an octopus mermaid, he also realized the perks of his octopus-mer form at a young age. Using his many limbs and ability to spew ink to aid him, he studied magic non-stop and managed to form his unique magic at a young age. Using his unique magic, he is able to steal another's magical ability or physical quality (but is not known to have used it against anyone prior to enrolling at NRC).

After the incident of episode 3, Azul still has insecurities about his past self but managed to accept who he used to be without shame. In addition, he stopped tricking his customers. Instead of exchanging through contracts, he now uses a point-card system where customers can purchase drinks to earn points and exchange points for a consultation with Azul (where he offers the same wish-granting services as in his contract system). This reflects Azul's fondness for making money.

Unique Magic
His unique magic is called "It's A Deal" ( JP: 黄金の契約書 ).

As long as someone signs a contract with him, he’ll be able to confiscate one of the target’s abilities. This can be a magical ability or a physical capability, such as a beautiful singing voice or ability to swim fast. If the target doesn’t fulfill the contract's conditions, they're bound to work under Azul indefinitely.

Azul is actually able to take a target's powers without making a contract. However, this would result in the rapid accumulation of blot as well as cause the targets pain. It's likely that the contract works as a check to prevent overblotting.

Trivia

 * His family runs a very famous restaurant back in the Sea of Corals, however Azul dislikes it.
 * He knows how to play the piano, and was in a band with Jade (contrabass) and Floyd (drums) in middle school.
 * According to Floyd, his octopus form looks very squishy and delicious.
 * Azul is unathletic and appears to be in a worse mood than usual when placed on the home screen in his PE outfit.
 * Azul dislikes luck-based board games and even attempted to practice rolling specific numbers on dice to prevent himself from getting unlucky results.
 * During the Happy Beans Event, Ruggie mentioned that Azul's flight technique was so desperate, that he couldn’t look at it.
 * He and the Leech twins didn't go home during the winter holidays in Episode 4 because the ice that drifts in the Coral Sea makes it hard to swim.
 * Azul was chubby in the past and was also a crybaby.
 * He can utilize all 8 of his tentacles in addition to his hands to write.
 * Azul is based on Ursula, a villainous cecaelia sea witch, in The Little Mermaid (1989).
 * "Azul" is the Spanish and Portuguese word for the colour blue. "Ashen" of his surname refers to being pale grey in colour; "grotto", a word for cave, references Ariel's secret grotto where she kept human artefacts and/or Ursula's cave where she conducted her business.