A Dreamlike Performance
Once the opening performance ended, everyone except Kamisato Ayaka left the stage.
Under the puzzled gazes of the audience below, she stepped to the center of the stage and spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, today's competition is hosted by the Kamisato family, with technical support provided by the Jade Chamber Corp. To ensure this event proceeds flawlessly, the Jade Chamber has invested heavily to bring holographic projection technology to this very stage.
"Now, please sit back and enjoy today's dreamlike, fantastical performances!"
With that, Kamisato Ayaka offered the crowd an elegant bow and withdrew.
Dreamlike and fantastical...
Everyone who heard her words found the same question flickering through their minds—just what kind of performance could truly be called dreamlike?
"I'm rather curious about that myself..." Vermouth, seated in the audience with a hat pulled down over most of her face, turned her head slightly and murmured with evident amusement to the person beside her. "Aren't you the least bit curious, Bourbon?"
The Boss of the Black Organization knew that the Jade Chamber Corp intended to officially launch the Akasha Terminal at an event hosted by the Kamisato family, and having heard that the Jade Chamber would be supplying its most advanced technical support, he had sent Vermouth to the venue to confirm the relationship between the Kamisato family and the Teyvat Syndicate—and to see just how far the Jade Chamber's technology could actually go.
That was why Vermouth sat among the audience.
Through her investigation over these past weeks, she had become certain that the Kamisato siblings and the chief priest of the Grand Narukami Shrine were all members of the Teyvat Syndicate.
She had also uncovered traces of the Takahashi family's earlier machinations against the Kamisato, and naturally, she had learned of the accidents that preceded the finals—the head of the Takahashi family struck dead by lightning, their estate leveled by an earthquake.
Honestly, when she first read that news, she nearly thought she was reading a novel. If she hadn't been certain this world held no gods, she might have taken the Takahashi family's fate for divine retribution.
Which meant the Takahashi family's current state had to be man-made.
She had no proof and no idea how it was done, but Vermouth's instincts told her the Teyvat Syndicate was responsible.
The Syndicate very likely possessed weapons capable of triggering earthquakes—or at least destruction on that scale—and that made them all the more dangerous to provoke.
It seemed the Black Organization could not afford to burn bridges with the Teyvat Syndicate unless absolutely necessary.
At Vermouth's question, Bourbon's brow creased faintly. A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, but his expression quickly smoothed over.
Resting his chin on one hand, he fixed his gaze on the stage, a practiced smile on his lips. "No need for curiosity. The show's about to start—we'll see with our own eyes whether it's everything the Kamisato heiress claims, won't we?"
If not for this collaboration between the Jade Chamber and the Kamisato family, Bourbon would never have imagined that even a family with such deep roots in Osaka's history was entangled with the Teyvat Syndicate—and that its own head was a member. It was further proof of just how far the Syndicate's reach extended.
But that also meant the Teyvat Syndicate wasn't making any real effort to hide its members from the Black Organization. Were they truly so confident that the Organization couldn't touch a single hair on any of their heads?
Vermouth shot Bourbon a sidelong glance. "Bourbon, sometimes you can be terribly dull."
She had originally hoped to invite Cointreau as her companion for the day, but Cointreau had shown no interest, and inviting Gin—or Glenlivet (Aizen)—would only sour her mood, so she had settled for Bourbon as second best.
His reaction wasn't much to her satisfaction either, but watching a performance alone was a little too lonely. Better than nothing, she supposed.
As graceful music began to play, the stage lights slowly brightened, and the entire hall fell into a hushed silence. People held their breath, awaiting the performances to come.
And what followed did not disappoint. Every act left the audience spellbound, each one a flawless illustration of what "dreamlike" truly meant.
On stage, the contestants moved—some dancing with ethereal grace, others singing in voices that flowed like water. As the rhythms and moods of the music and dance shifted, the world around each performer began to change with them.
Thanks to the "holographic projection technology," everyone in the hall felt as though they had stepped into a world of pure fantasy.
One moment they stood amid a sea of brilliant blossoms, the flowers blooming and wilting in time with a dancer's steps; the next they sat beneath a sky brimming with stars, the starlight shimmering and drifting to the contestants' tempo as if dancing attendance upon them...
Nearly every act delivered an endless feast for the eyes. The audience, captivated by the spectacle, lost themselves in the wondrous atmosphere—drinking in both the charm of the performance and the marvels of the technology that made it possible.