The Move Against the Akasha Terminal
Haibara Ai was clapping too.
Even as she applauded, she spoke to Conan, who had left Kamisato Ayato's side and returned to his seat. "Quite a successful bit of marketing, wouldn't you say?"
Use a major tournament to build name recognition. Provide technical support for the event so more people come to trust Jade Chamber Corp's capabilities. Then, riding that momentum, announce an upcoming product. After a setup like that, a flood of customers would be fighting to buy it. At the very least, eight out of ten of today's spectators would purchase the Akasha Terminal on faith in the company's strength alone. And once today's footage spread beyond the venue, the number of buyers would only climb higher.
In Ai's judgment, within a matter of days both the Akasha Terminal and the company behind it would be a household name across all of Japan.
Conan nodded, his expression grave. He had clearly caught the unspoken half of what she was saying. He knew that if the terminal's functions were really as convenient and efficient as Miss Ningguang claimed, it would bring about social changes beyond anyone's imagination. No one could say whether the end result would be good or bad — and could Jade Chamber Corp, or rather the Teyvat Syndicate behind it, really withstand the endless waves of attacks from those whose interests such change would threaten?
Elsewhere, exactly as Conan had predicted, the moment word broke that the Akasha Terminal was going on sale, certain spectators and reporters at the venue had already begun spreading the news. Fortunately, they were all inside the dream Nahida controlled. She couldn't stop them from transmitting, but delaying their messages by just a little — buying a gap in time — was well within her power.
After Ningguang and Ganyu had withdrawn from the stage, Ningguang donned a headphone-style Akasha Terminal, glanced at the time, and pulled up the dossier Noah's Ark had compiled on the various companies moving against them during the launch event.
"Ganyu, how are things progressing?"
Ganyu tapped her terminal, listened to the report coming through, then spoke up. "As of this moment, twelve companies are preparing to sabotage the terminal's release, and three of them have already made their move."
"One has been spreading rumors online that the terminal has security flaws and could leak personal data. Noah's Ark has already handled that one, restricting the circulation of the relevant posts."
"A second has dispatched people to Jade Chamber Corp headquarters, planning to steal confidential materials while you were away, Miss Ningguang, when any response from us would likely be too slow. Miss Keqing, who stayed behind at the company, has already taken all of them into custody. Once we've gotten the answers we need out of them, we can hand them over to the police."
"And the last one is... they've hired assassins. To kill you, Miss Ningguang..."
By the end, Ganyu's brow was furrowing. She looked worriedly at the woman walking ahead of her. Miss Ningguang, just to be safe... perhaps it would be better not to go out alone for a while...
"Ganyu." Ningguang cut her off gently. "Trust me. Will you?"
Her eyes were tender yet unwavering, and Ganyu found herself unable to doubt her judgment. After all, this was the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. Ganyu knew that with Miss Ningguang's brilliance and decisiveness, she was certain to have her own plans and considerations.
So Ganyu simply nodded in silence, signaling that she would defer to Ningguang's arrangements, and gave up trying to persuade her. Instead, she continued relaying the information Noah's Ark was sending through. "As for the remaining nine companies, Miss Ayaka, Xiao, Albedo, Kaveh, Tartaglia, and the others have each paid them a little... warning call. That should quiet them down for a while."
"Very good," Ningguang said. "For the company that hired the assassins — have Noah's Ark compile everything on them, and find a way to acquire them. As for the assassins themselves... I'll keep an eye out."
Ganyu bowed her head. "Understood, Miss Ningguang."
Haibara Ai watched as, following Ningguang and Ganyu's departure, the space around them gradually dimmed — and then the lights came back up, and the environment reverted to the performance venue where they had been sitting all along.
Yet perhaps she was being oversensitive, but something about it all felt just slightly off compared to when the matches were underway. And her body carried none of the fatigue that watching such a long event should have left — if anything, she felt as refreshed as if she'd just woken from a good night's sleep. The Detective Boys made that plain enough, chattering away with boundless energy this late in the evening about the show they'd just seen.
Ai took stock of herself carefully. Nothing felt wrong, and she hadn't eaten anything at the venue, so it was probably just her imagination...
A short distance from her seat, Sera Masumi was lost in thoughts of her own.
Even while watching the performances, she had kept part of her attention fixed on Conan the whole time, so of course she had noticed him sidling up close to Kamisato Ayato. And only now did she register a small oddity — something she'd been overlooking all this while: the Kamisato siblings, Yae Miko, even the performers who had opened the show on stage — every last one of them appeared to be wearing a similar accessory. The kind Xia Yu called a Vision.