The Lucky Audience Member
At his words, Kaeya turned his head to glance at the adorable little girl seated beside him — the one in the red dress and red beret, utterly absorbed in the magic show — and answered with a smile. "It's no trouble at all. Klee is very well-behaved. Besides, I'm the one who promised to bring her to see the performance in the first place. If anything, you people who suddenly announced you'd be conducting a trade here are the uninvited guests."
"Big Brother Kaeya, what were you all just talking about? Is there anything Klee can help with?" Klee turned her head and asked, having caught the sound of her own name.
"Nothing at all. Just focus on the show, Klee. If there's anything Klee can help with, Big Brother Kaeya will let you know," Kaeya said softly, turning back to her.
"Okay, okay! Then it's a promise, alright~?"
"Mm. It's a promise," Kaeya assured her.
Amuro Tooru watched the exchange between Kaeya and the little girl with complicated feelings. Honestly, he had never imagined that this man — who looked like a villain at first glance, who had joined a mysterious organization and initiated a deal with the Black Organization of all things — could have a side like this.
The tone he'd used with Klee, the expression on his face — he was exactly like a gentle, patient older brother. Did that little girl know that the big brother beside her was involved in something dangerous?
Kaeya paid no mind to the mixed emotions Bourbon must be feeling watching him with Klee. Once he saw that she was no longer paying attention to them, he lowered his voice and spoke to Bourbon. "Enough with the small talk. While everyone around us is focused on the show, hand over the USB drive with the data, and I'll give you the case with the remaining serum."
Hearing the proposal, Amuro Tooru wasn't exactly happy about it, but with no reasonable excuse to refuse, he could only take out the USB drive and pass it to Kaeya.
What a waste. He had gotten so close to such vital information, and yet he couldn't copy a single byte of it — and it was all that guy's fault. He watched him far too closely, leaving absolutely no opening to slip away.
Amuro Tooru glanced at the researcher sitting on his other side — codename Bordeaux. Apparently the man had wanted to speak with the people connected to the serum, which was why he'd been arranged to come along on the trade.
He'd assumed that since the man was just a lab technician, dodging him long enough to transmit some data back wouldn't be too difficult. But as it turned out, no matter what excuse Amuro Tooru came up with along the way, the man would find him again in no time. He was starting to suspect that with Bordeaux's physical prowess, was he really just a researcher? To keep the man from growing suspicious, Amuro Tooru couldn't risk doing too much, and in the end he'd had to give up on this opportunity.
And speaking of the reason the man had supposedly come — wasn't it to talk with the other party in the trade? Yet now that he was actually here, he'd done nothing but watch the performance and say not a word. He hadn't so much as glanced in their direction; anyone who didn't know better would think he didn't recognize them at all.
What Amuro Tooru didn't know, however, was that Alhaitham was quietly grumbling to himself about how much of an obstacle Bourbon was. Sure, he had prevented the man from copying the contents of the USB drive — but Bourbon was also interfering with his own plan to hand his USB drive over to Kaeya. There was nothing for it. Looked like it was time for Plan B.
Kaeya took the USB drive. He trusted that a boss who wanted these serums this badly wouldn't be so underhanded as to pass off fake data. Slipping the drive into his pocket, he picked up the case at his feet and handed it to Bourbon.
Amuro Tooru accepted it, opened the case, and counted the contents. When the number checked out, he closed it again.
"Then I'd say this trade is complete."
With that, he turned toward Alhaitham, raising an eyebrow. "Bordeaux, weren't you saying you wanted a word with Mr. Kaeya? Why have you just been watching the show without saying anything?"
Alhaitham didn't turn his head. His answer was calm and level. "I had assumed that anyone capable of producing serums like these would at least know something about them. But having seen the man himself, I realize I gave him too much credit. He's merely a courier for the product — there's nothing worth discussing."
Kaeya's fist clenched as he listened, though his smile never wavered. "My sincere apologies for being so worthless as a conversation partner."
Honestly, exchanging messages through the System, Alhaitham's words could be irritating at times — but meeting him in person, the man's mouth was somehow even more infuriating.
Meanwhile, the show had reached its final act of the day — the box substitution.
This act required audience volunteers. The magician's assistant brought out a box, and the magician drew a seat number from it on the spot.
As the suspenseful music faded, the lucky audience member was chosen. Every head in the hall turned toward the spotlight — and Amuro Tooru's gaze snapped sharply to his own side.
Yes. The lucky audience member the magician had drawn was Alhaitham.
Amuro Tooru found it hard to believe. Weren't the "volunteers" for this kind of magic act always planted in advance? So this time the draw had actually been random?
It never even occurred to him that the two might know each other. One was a celebrated magician from France, the other a researcher for the Organization — no matter how he looked at it, those two identities had nothing to connect them.
Because of the distance, the people in the front rows could hardly make out anything happening behind them, and so it wasn't until Alhaitham walked down toward the front of the audience that Haibara finally got a clear look at the lucky winner's face.
Her head snapped down, and she seized Conan's hand where it rested on the armrest, her whole body beginning to tremble again.
Conan registered Haibara's unusual reaction and realized at once that someone from the Organization had to be nearby — and the only person who had appeared out of nowhere was that lucky audience member now making his way toward the stage.
He fixed his eyes on the stage and committed the man's face to memory. Then he lowered his head and, in a whisper, asked Haibara — who had likewise ducked her head — who the man was, and whether she knew him.
By now Haibara had gotten her fear under control. Perhaps it was because the man had joined the Organization relatively recently, or perhaps because he wasn't a member of the enforcement division — either way, she wasn't as terrified this time as she'd been on the bus.
Once she recovered, she answered Conan's question. "He joined the Organization a little while before I left it. He's a researcher there, same as me. I have no idea why he'd show up here — maybe he just came to see the magic show too?" The corner of her mouth twitched stiffly as she threw out the guess, forcing an air of ease she didn't feel.
At Haibara's confirmation, Conan's listlessness vanished in an instant. He straightened, his eyes locked onto the man on stage and refusing to let go — praying that this time, he might catch some lead.
On stage, the magician had the lucky audience member step into the box at the center of the stage and shut the door. In the next moment, the man was supposed to appear in a second box down among the audience seats.
But when the music stopped and the magician's assistant walked over to the lower box and opened its door, there was no one inside. Just as the crowd began to murmur, convinced the trick had failed, the magician opened the box beside himself on stage — and it was empty too. The audience member had vanished.
Applause rippled through the hall. Only Conan's eyes flew wide open — how could this be? He had finally caught sight of an Organization member again, and the man had disappeared this quickly!
He looked back, trying to find where the man had risen from his seat, but the audience was packed shoulder to shoulder, and he hadn't been watching carefully enough to pick out a single face.
By this point, Alhaitham had already handed the USB drive to Lyney and returned to his seat, sitting down as if nothing had happened.