The White Heron Princess
"Whether it can be done isn't something you settle with words—and frankly, it's none of your concern."
Alhaitham leaned against the wall with languid ease, arms crossed, and spared Yoko Murata nothing but an icy glance before continuing. "As I understand it, your job is simply to arrange the stage according to the contestants' requests. Unless a request is genuinely unreasonable, you have no business refusing it."
Yoko Murata shrank under his gaze, her body trembling despite herself, but she forced herself to stay composed. "I know what my responsibilities are. But a competition of this scale—if we arrange the stage according to Miss Nilou's requests, it could compromise the quality of the entire production."
"Then tell me—was there anything unreasonable about Nilou's requirements?" Alhaitham rose to his feet, hands slipping into his pockets, and walked slowly toward her. His green eyes, utterly devoid of emotion, fixed on Yoko Murata as he asked in a perfectly level tone.
She hesitated, glancing at the staff beside her, before venturing a careful reply. "N-No, there wasn't, but..."
"Then that settles it." Alhaitham cut her off.
It was at this point that Kamisato Ayaka spoke up as well. She stood there with flawless grace, a gentle smile gracing her face, and asked softly:
"If that's the case, then why could you not arrange the stage as Miss Nilou requested? Even if the result fell short of expectations, you could have discussed it with the director, rather than dismissing Miss Nilou's proposal outright. And besides—you never actually confirmed whether or not Miss Nilou truly could make the flowers bloom, did you?"
Her voice was soft yet resolute, leaving no room for rebuttal.
"Exactly! The White Heron Princess is right!"
Just as the crowd was nodding along without thinking, an excited young man's voice abruptly rang out.
Every head turned toward it, and there, standing amid the crowd, was a young man dressed in immaculate clothes, his face glowing with enthusiasm and excitement. His gaze was locked squarely on Kamisato Ayaka, his eyes brimming with adoration and devotion.
The others followed suit, glancing at the youth with curiosity and no small measure of surprise.
Kamisato Ayaka blinked, then gave a faint smile and inclined her head to him in thanks.
Receiving her acknowledgment, the young man's joy was instantly written all over his face, and he waved both hands about all the more energetically.
"Takano...-san?" Xiayu called out the name with some hesitation.
Truth be told, ever since Takano Hideki had changed targets and taken a sudden interest in Noelle, she had barely seen the man at all.
After that, she'd heard from Noelle and Lisa that he seemed to have found himself a new obsession—some princess or other.
The moment she heard him call Ayaka the "White Heron Princess," it clicked: his latest target was clearly Ayaka herself.
Xiayu regarded Takano Hideki with an expression caught somewhere between pity and disbelief, utterly at a loss for words.
Even Paimon couldn't resist sniping. "Is this dumb second son specifically going around preying on people from Teyvat or what?"
"Looks like it," Xiayu speculated. "Who knows—next time we run into him, he might have suddenly latched onto somebody else in our organization."
Paimon was speechless. "Heh... heh..."
Meanwhile, thanks to Xiayu's reminder, Conan and the others had recalled who Takano Hideki was. Realizing he clearly had nothing to do with today's incident, they all reached the same unspoken agreement and tuned him out entirely.
"So then—does this gentleman Alhaitham really have a way to make plants bloom ahead of schedule on short notice?" Subaru Okiya studied the newest member to join the Black Organization, appraising him without letting it show.
Alhaitham hardly looked like a frail, bookish researcher. Tall and solidly muscled, he had plainly undergone rigorous training over a long period. There was no telling how well he could fight, but from the outside, he looked every bit like one of Gin's action-team members.
Subaru Okiya quietly raised his guard against Alhaitham.
Alhaitham made no move to answer the question. He simply reached into his pocket, produced a small glass vial, walked over to Nilou, and handed it to her. "This is the reagent you asked for."
Then he turned back to the crowd and swept his gaze around the room, quickly noting that most of the police present were taking their orders from one particular person.
One eyebrow arched, he looked straight at Hattori Heiji and said, "I only just arrived. Today's little incident has nothing to do with me, I take it? It's crowded in here, so I'm heading outside to read. Don't come calling for me if anything comes up."
And with that, without waiting for a reply, he walked straight out.