The Holy Lyre der Himmel
By this time, the officers who had been dispatched earlier to track down the suspects had completed their task, escorting the three of them over one after another.
Everyone's attention shifted toward the three suspects. Two of them looked close in age and quite young — around fourteen or fifteen, most likely contestants. The third, a tall woman, was older by comparison, at least in her twenties; she had to be the staff member, Murata Yoko.
The police introductions that followed confirmed exactly that: the tall woman was Murata Yoko, and of the two remaining girls, the one with short black hair was Mizuno Ai, while the one with golden-brown twin tails was Barbara.
Hattori Heiji, Conan, and Okiya Subaru instinctively studied the suspects. Conan's and Okiya Subaru's gazes lingered a moment longer on Barbara's waist before they finally looked away.
Then Conan turned his attention to Xiayu-neechan. He had a feeling she would react to this Barbara differently than anyone else had.
Sure enough — Xiayu-neechan's face lit up with a delighted smile, and she couldn't help waving happily at Barbara.
"It really is you!" Xiayu exclaimed, thrilled. "I thought it had to be someone with the same name! I never dreamed you'd actually enter this idol competition!"
Conan watched the whole exchange with eyes narrowed into unimpressed half-moons, muttering inwardly: Heh. Figures. So Xiayu-neechan knows Barbara, too.
He honestly wasn't the least bit surprised. Which meant that, just as he'd suspected, Xiayu-neechan did have some special connection to the Teyvat Syndicate.
Xiayu-neechan bore no Vision of her own, and for some reason he couldn't quite explain, Conan had an intuition about it: she wasn't one of the organization's people — and yet her ties to it ran deep all the same.
"Yes — Xiayu! It's been so long!" Barbara answered with a smile of her own.
Then, with a slightly sheepish smile, she explained, "To be honest, at first I was only a little interested in this event. I didn't have much confidence in myself, or much in the way of expectations. But my sister kept supporting me from behind the scenes, encouraging me to be brave and give it a try just once. So in the end I decided to sign up — and I never imagined I'd actually make it through the auditions."
"I can't let down the people who are rooting for me. I'm going to give it my all and deliver a truly wonderful performance for everyone." Thinking of those who had always stood behind her, Barbara's expression turned firm with resolve.
"And if I'm lucky enough to make it all the way to the finals, I'll use the Holy Lyre der Himmel as my accompaniment, so that even more people can hear its beautiful voice." Barbara clasped her hands together, her eyes glimmering with devotion as she spoke, brimming with anticipation.
Then she turned to Xiayu and extended a sincere invitation. "You have to come that day, Xiayu! You haven't heard the wonderful music the Holy Lyre der Himmel can play yet, have you?"
"Of course, of course." The corner of Xiayu's mouth gave a small twitch, and she offered one hasty assurance after another before Barbara could sense that anything was off.
Paimon said with a trace of worry, "Traveler, the Holy Lyre der Himmel we pulled from the system for Barbara — that's not the one Venti passed off as repaired with his illusion magic, is it? It's the completely intact item... right?"
At that question, Xiayu's tone turned conflicted. "It should be... yes. Probably."
And yet there was a distinct uncertainty in Xiayu's voice, as if she didn't have full confidence in that answer herself.
"Xiayu — so you know Miss Barbara as well?" Kamisato Ayaka asked, watching Xiayu wave to Barbara with faint surprise.
Okiya Subaru and Conan both glanced askance, their eyes brimming with doubt and astonishment. They had never imagined that Kamisato Ayaka didn't know Xiayu and Barbara were acquainted — and judging from the scene before them, the two women didn't appear to be on familiar terms at all.
They had assumed that Kamisato Ayaka, as a member of a secret organization, must have some special purpose in staging such a large-scale competition — one that even included members of her own organization among the contestants. Yet the situation before their eyes didn't quite match that theory.
Even if Ayaka and Barbara belonged to different divisions, they were still members of the same organization; the two men had taken it for granted that they must have interacted before. But judging by now, it seemed they had simply been wrong?
"Mm." To Ayaka's question, Xiayu nodded in affirmation.
"Come to think of it, the Holy Lyre der Himmel is how Xiayu and I met in the first place," Barbara added, visibly brightening as the subject came up.
"That's right." Xiayu nodded again in firm confirmation.