Nilou's Friend
“Huh? Is it my turn?” Barbara blinked, gathering herself before confirming.
Once the others nodded, Barbara explained when she had entered the practice room, and why.
“Actually, it's because I happened to run into Miss Nilou yesterday, and I realized she might be connected to my sister's current work. So after I finished my vocal practice today, I wanted to use my lunch break to find her and ask her about it, just to make sure.”
According to Barbara, she had gone looking for Nilou at around eleven thirty. When she opened the door to the practice room and found it empty, she simply left.
The security footage backed her up, showing Barbara stepping inside for only a brief moment before departing — proof enough that she wasn't lying.
“What does Miss Nilou have to do with your sister?” Hattori Heiji asked, eyeing her in puzzlement. How had her sister gotten dragged into this?
He grumbled inwardly that something about the whole affair smelled off, but Barbara kept her lips sealed, refusing to give anything away.
“That's my sister's business. It has nothing to do with what happened today, and I'm not discussing it.” Barbara shook her head, flatly declining to answer the irrelevant question.
Seeing that she genuinely wouldn't budge, Heiji let out a resigned sigh and was about to press the three of them for more details when a police officer suddenly came running over to announce that Miss Nilou had returned.
Heiji's expression eased slightly. With the person herself present, they should be able to get a clearer picture now.
Before long, a girl with long red twin-tails cascading to her waist followed the officer into the practice room.
Sonoko and Ran had been curious about the girl ever since hearing Kazuha sing her praises, and now, at the news of Nilou's return, they couldn't help turning their heads eagerly, dying to see what this dancer with the legendary grace actually looked like.
The moment their eyes landed on Nilou, they were captivated by her radiant smile. Her emerald-green eyes sparkled like polished gemstones, the kind of beauty that made it impossible to look away.
Nilou was dressed in her practice costume, a dancing outfit that flattered her slender figure perfectly. The dress and its flowing skirt were rendered in a fresh sea-blue that gave off an air of tranquil mystery, with gradients of deep and light blue layered across different parts of the fabric to lend the whole ensemble a sense of depth and dimension. The design didn't just make Nilou look lovelier than ever — it would make her shine all the more brilliantly on stage.
(Nilou was wearing her dance dress, and was not wearing her Vision)
Hattori Heiji, Conan, and Subaru Okiya also turned to look at Nilou. Though they could appreciate that her outfit was striking, their attention remained fixed on the case, and the moment they saw the person herself had arrived, they were ready to start asking questions.
“Miss Nilou, is there any other information you can give us about this incident?” Heiji asked, his face serious as he faced her.
Conan listened intently, nodding along from time to time.
Then, without warning, he felt a sharp tug at the back of his shirt. He glanced behind him — and there was Haibara, hiding anxiously in his shadow.
Conan was baffled. Granted, Haibara didn't care for Okiya and had been avoiding him just a moment ago, but she'd never been this tense about it. Why such a sudden, dramatic change?
He shot her a questioning look and found her eyes brimming with fear and unease. Then, following her gaze, he realized she seemed to be cowering from someone near the doorway.
Conan frowned and looked up, tracing Haibara's line of sight toward the door.
At that same moment, Subaru Okiya — who had kept a sliver of his attention on Haibara all along — noticed her odd behavior and looked toward the door as well.
And then Conan stared, frozen in shock, at the tall, gray-ash-haired man who was slowly walking in through the entrance.
“Al...”
“Alhaitham! Over here!” Nilou waved him over.
Conan had nearly cried out loud at the sight of a Black Organization member who could not possibly be standing here. He'd been about to blurt out the man's name — and only Nilou beating him to it had kept the others from realizing that Conan recognized him too.
“This is Alhaitham, a friend I asked to help with the stage decorations,” Nilou said, introducing him to everyone with a smile.
“Oh, I see. So is he the friend you mentioned, Miss Nilou — the one who can control how long flowers stay in bloom?” Murata Yoko asked, her brow furrowing as she fixed Alhaitham with a faintly skeptical look. “Can he really pull that off?”