An Unexpected Incident at the Preliminaries
"Entrusting something this important to the two of you — this head of the Kamisato family must trust you a great deal, Mr. Zhongli," Subaru Okiya said, steering the conversation elsewhere. "After all, if something like this were handled poorly, it would reflect badly on the whole family's reputation."
"Indeed. Since he has placed his trust in us, it is only natural that we shall not betray it." Zhongli answered with a faint, serene smile.
A little while later, the car finally arrived at its destination.
Since Ran, Sonoko, and Xiayu had come all this way specifically to cheer Kazuha on, their first order of business was naturally to track her down. And so, the first stop after arriving in Osaka was the venue where the Kamisato family was holding the preliminary rounds of the competition.
This location served not only as the site of the preliminaries but would also host the semifinals. For now, it had been kept in pristine condition — only for the finals would a brand-new, more distinctive stage be specially constructed. Unfortunately, that newly built finals venue had already been vandalized.
Although the preliminaries would not officially begin until tomorrow, several contestants were already inside the venue hard at work with their rehearsals.
The venue also provided a number of specially soundproofed rooms where contestants could practice their competition songs or dance routines.
The staff had furnished these rooms with great care — professional audio equipment, comfortable seating — allowing the performers to lose themselves completely in their music and dance, undisturbed by the world outside.
When they reached their destination, everyone climbed out of the car one after another.
The moment Xiayu stepped out, she swept her gaze around, and her eyes settled on the entrance of the venue.
There was Toyama Kazuha, waving at her from a distance and jogging over as fast as she could.
Having spotted her, Xiayu quickly raised her own hand, signaling that she had seen her.
Soon, Kazuha came puffing up to a stop in front of Xiayu.
Seeing three unfamiliar men standing at Xiayu's side — and no sign of Ran, Sonoko, or Heiji, who were supposed to have come together — Kazuha couldn't help but feel puzzled, and she looked at Xiayu curiously.
Xiayu explained that they had taken a separate car and would be along any minute. Then she introduced Kazuha one by one to Subaru Okiya, Kaveh, and Zhongli.
The group exchanged a few brief words of greeting, and before long, the car Hattori Heiji had arranged pulled up in front of them.
Hattori Heiji, Mouri Ran, and Suzuki Sonoko got out one after the other.
"Ah!" The moment Kazuha saw her friends, she ran excitedly forward to greet them.
With everyone safely delivered, and Hattori and the others having arrived without incident, Kaveh and Zhongli took their leave.
The rest of the group — Sonoko in particular, though somewhat reluctant to see them go — knew the two men still had business to attend to, and so no one pressed them to stay.
Everyone waved goodbye to Zhongli and Kaveh, promising to contact them once the event was over. Zhongli nodded with a gentle smile, then turned with Kaveh and climbed back into the car Tohma was driving.
The vehicle started up slowly and pulled away from the scene.
Heiji turned his head, his gaze falling on the several police cars parked near the venue's entrance, where uniformed officers were busily keeping order. Suddenly, his eyes caught a few familiar figures — men who looked like officers under his father's command.
His brow furrowed slightly, a flicker of suspicion rising in his mind.
Then he turned to Kazuha and asked, curious, "Kazuha, what are the police doing here? Did something happen?" There was an unmistakable thrill in his voice, as though this sudden development delighted him.
At the sight of him like this, Kazuha couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Heiji, we haven't seen each other in ages, and the very first thing out of your mouth isn't asking how my practice for the preliminaries is going — it's this."
Still, disgruntled as she was, she didn't entirely ignore his question.
She glanced back at the police cars he was pointing at, then answered, "When I saw the police earlier, I overheard someone saying that one of the contestants found needles stuffed inside her dance shoes. When nobody owned up to it, she reported it to the police and asked them to investigate."
"What?! How could something like that happen! Is that contestant all right? Was she hurt?" Ran and Sonoko clapped their hands over their mouths, asking anxiously.
Hattori Heiji's brow creased as well, and he gave Kazuha a somewhat awkward look, a thread of tension in his voice. "Someone's pulling stunts like that — are you okay?"
Kazuha was caught off guard by the sudden concern. She blinked, then shook her head. "Ah... I'm fine."
Then it dawned on her, and a faint, barely perceptible smile spread across her face, the corners of her mouth turning up — but afraid Heiji might notice, she quickly lowered her head.
However, just as Kazuha was quietly rejoicing, Heiji's next words snuffed out her budding joy in an instant.
"Good, as long as you're fine." Heiji relaxed a little, then added, "But honestly, it makes sense — the culprit must have gone after her because that contestant is so skilled she threatened the others. At your level, Kazuha, it'd take a lot more practice before anyone felt threatened by you." With that, he gave an absent-minded nod, agreeing with his own words.
At Heiji's remark, the others exchanged looks with him that were difficult to describe.
Xiayu couldn't help marveling inwardly: What is wrong with this guy's emotional intelligence? Any girl would feel awful hearing that.
Paimon popped up too. "Tsk tsk tsk. And yet somehow girls actually like this clueless darkie."
Xiayu: "To each their own, I suppose. Also — did you just call Hattori a 'darkie'?"
Paimon replied breezily, "That's Paimon's nickname for him! I mean, look at him, he's already so dark-skinned — 'Darkie' fits, doesn't it? But starting today, Paimon's thinking of switching to a new one. 'Clueless' suits him way better."
Xiayu nodded in agreement.
Heiji, for his part, regretted the words the moment they'd left his mouth. He realized he'd put his foot in it, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out how to make it better.
So all he could do was cough awkwardly and try to change the subject. "Ahem... Let's, uh, focus on the case for now."