Dance of the Flower Goddess
"You know, this finals event is the perfect opportunity for Jade Chamber Corp to launch and promote it, isn't it?" the Wanderer remarked, tossing the watch-shaped device in his hand and catching it again.
"Mm." Alhaitham nodded. "Leveraging a large-scale competition that has the entire nation's attention to advertise your own product—truly worthy of Ningguang, the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing."
"Liyue has always been Teyvat's finance department. As head of the Seven Stars, it's only natural Ningguang has that kind of vision and business savvy."
"Unlike that old woman in Inazuma, who can't be bothered to handle her own affairs and does nothing but create problems..." A look of disdain crossed the Wanderer's face at the mention of her.
Deciding he'd had enough of unpleasant thoughts, the Wanderer changed the subject. "So, when exactly are you leaving? Your favor's been repaid, hasn't it?" He cast a dissatisfied glance around at the sprawling crowd. Too many people. He honestly couldn't understand why crowds like this flocked to events in the first place.
"Naturally, I intend to stay until Nilou's performance is over. It's my work, after all—I should at least see the results with my own eyes."
With that, Alhaitham paid the Wanderer no further attention. He checked his phone, saw that there was still some time before Nilou's dance, and, entirely unbothered by the audience around him, produced the book he always carried and began to read.
The Wanderer shot him an eye-roll, then turned his head away with an exasperated sigh, refusing to look at him any longer. Tilting his face upward instead, he resigned himself to idly watching the tedious stage performances.
"Something's off," Conan murmured under his breath.
Once the two Black Organization members stopped talking, Conan exchanged a glance with Subaru Okiya. The two of them then carefully slipped out of the pair's line of sight and made their way, unhurried, away from the spot.
Only after they had put a safe distance between themselves and the two men did Conan furrow his brow, sinking deep into thought. The conversation he'd just overheard kept replaying itself in his mind, leaving him thoroughly perplexed. Every single word had been perfectly audible—and yet something about it felt wrong, though for the life of him he couldn't put his finger on what.
"They're familiar with Teyvat. At the very least, that young man seemed to know a great deal about its affairs." Subaru Okiya's voice sounded at Conan's ear, cutting straight to the heart of the problem.
Right—Mr. Okiya was absolutely correct!
With Okiya's prompt, Conan grasped the implication at once: that boy from the Black Organization had to be deeply connected to the Teyvat Syndicate.
Moreover, judging from the two men's exchange, Ningguang belonged to a division within Teyvat called Liyue. And based on the frame types of their Visions, Keqing, Mao Xiangling, and even the newly acquainted Zhongli all belonged to that same Liyue division.
As for that young man, he was connected to Teyvat's Inazuma division at the very least—the only question was what an Inazuman Vision actually looked like.
And then there was what Klee had mentioned earlier: that her own Vision was tied to the Anemo Archon, Barbatos. If that were the case, might the Visions of Liyue and Inazuma likewise each be linked to some god?
Conan and Subaru Okiya discussed it for a while, but with so few clues to go on, they couldn't wring anything more out of the matter for the moment. They'd already been away long enough, and Conan worried the others would start sensing that something was off—so the two of them returned to their seats.
"Is the bathroom really that crowded? The two of you were gone for ages."
When neither Conan nor Okiya had come back after so long, Ran had nearly worked herself into a panic, almost ready to go searching the restrooms for them. Now that they'd finally returned, she let out a breath of relief and asked the question half in puzzlement, half in passing.
"Seriously! Miss Nilou is about to take the stage—if you'd dawdled any longer, you'd have missed her performance entirely." Sonoko didn't even give Conan a chance to explain, leaning in close to voice her complaint.
That little rascal—honestly, it was always the bathroom at the worst possible moment, and every single time he'd be gone forever. Not only that, but this time he'd dragged Mr. Okiya down with him, keeping the poor man stuck in there all that while. Mr. Okiya obviously couldn't just leave a little boy on his own, so of course he'd been forced to wait around until Conan came back.
Fortunately for Conan, he had no way of hearing Sonoko's silent grumbling. Had he known, he would surely have protested the injustice—forget the past, at least this time the blame wasn't entirely his to shoulder.
As it happened, this was precisely the moment Nilou's act came up. In an instant, everyone's attention shifted to the center of the stage.
And with that, there was no longer any need for Conan and Okiya to explain themselves at all.
"Next, contestant number thirty-eight—Nilou—will present a dance performance: Dance of the Flower Goddess..."
As the emcee's announcement faded, Nilou glided onto the stage with an airy grace and settled into her opening pose.
Then the music began—gentle, flowing, beautiful—and Nilou danced, her movements tracing the melody with effortless elegance.
Her dance was as lovely and mesmerizing as a flower unfolding in full bloom, and it held every gaze in the hall.
On weightless, vivacious steps, Nilou skimmed across the stage like a butterfly drifting on the wind.
And at her feet, the ordinary, unremarkable plants scattered about the stage seemed to be breathed to life, one by one unfurling into a riot of brilliantly colored blossoms.