Chapter 180
"...Come to think of it, Lan's voice is actually a very beautiful type."
"Um?"
"Ah, I mean, Lan's voice - sometimes it sounds gorgeous. It's the kind of voice that's suitable for playing a role like a witch."
"...You should know that we don't hire extras, right?"
"Um, what's the problem?"
"In this script, the witch who provides Mephisto with the rejuvenating potion - that's my role."
While Fujimaru Ritsuka was still worried about the direction of the date in the aquarium, the only Servant who remained in the aquarium as an aquarium staff member changed the lighting conditions in the aquarium according to the original plan.
Nemo Triton - A Servant formed by the fusion of the Phantom Captain Nemo and the Phantom Triton from the spirit base atlas provided by New Chaldea. In the records of New Chaldea, he showed the side of Captain Nemo, the captain of the submarine Nautilus; and in the process of contact with Phoenix Chaldea, he showed that he was closer to the son of Poseidon...
——No, it should be said that it is closer to the profile of Therita, the sea nymph Amphitrite.
Just like Orion, another son of Poseidon, they all showed characteristics that were closer to their mother's race rather than from their father Poseidon.
At this time, the spiritual soothing barrier for marine life inherited from Amphitrite by Terry was covering the entire aquarium. Thus, without anyone noticing, the atmosphere inside the aquarium smoothly changed from bright day to dark night; and the fish in the sea seemed to be unaware and continued to swim along the previous route.
"…Huh? Why did it suddenly get dark?"
As the light from above weakened, the light strips on both sides of the tunnel also lit up. Although it would not affect tourists' viewing of marine life, this light obviously no longer supported the two people to continue reading the script in their hands.
"The sound on the radio has changed, too." Meifeng Lan took back her script, stood up and put it back in her bag, looking at the scenery behind the two of them. "Although this is an ocean tunnel area, the radio here always broadcasts the sound of waves - before the light changed, the audio also included some seabird calls..."
"So that's how it is. So, is there a distinction between daytime 'Day' and nighttime 'Night'?"
"Speaking of the night aquarium... When the Mankai Theater and the aquarium collaborated, I was unable to attend the show due to my schedule." Tsukioka Tsumugi also put the script back into her bag and looked through the glass of the tunnel at the endless darkness in the sea water due to the weakening light. "But later I received a flyer for the late night aquarium, so I took the supervisor and pretended to be a couple and got a couple discount to visit."
"Didn't the staff assume you were a couple?" Mifuze Lan turned her head in surprise and looked at Tsukioka Tsumugi. "You don't look like someone who would think about these details. It's likely that you thought about going with Ms. Tachibana, and when you bought the tickets, the staff assumed you were a couple, so you got the couple ticket discount, right?"
"Or do you want me to guess more clearly? Ms. Tachibana has been pursued by Masumi from the Haru Group, so her reactions to denying a relationship or refusing to confess or ignoring confessions are very clear, especially when others misunderstand her. I'm afraid that the reason why you two were able to get the couple's discount at that time was that you were stunned when you were misunderstood and didn't say anything, Tsumugi."
"So the staff took Ms. Tachibana's denial as a sign of shyness—"
"…You are right about everything."
Tsukioka sighed helplessly, and just like when she was identified as the murderer along with Marquez as alchemist Izumi in the studio of "This is just basic reasoning "Elementary", she responded with an extremely gentle tone.
"But the past has nothing to do with us now."
"The atmosphere has changed." Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was watching the scene through the screen, blinked in surprise. He tasted some really important parts from the Shura scene in front of him, where the couple in question suddenly involved their ex during a date. "So that's how it is. Connecting the characters and the actors together... is a good method."
"As expected of the first member to debut in every sense... She has become very skilled in filming."
From the perspective of the performers, another member who participated in the filming was Maki Nishikino - but why did you set the target on another person when you talked to relatives and friends?
Obviously, in many ways, choosing any one of the three female guests would be more in line with the public's impression - even if Kitaoji Sakura was chosen, it would be a reason that all the members of the two offices could guess...
——"That person is your 'accomplice', right?"
Among the materials recorded that day, the words that Shourenji said to Mikaze Ai rang in the ears of Fujimaru Ritsuka who watched every piece of material.
——That’s because Quan and Marquez were accomplices in the murder of Olf.
Fujimaru Ritsuka still remembers the scene of the second group discussion that day.
Quan and Marquez were prepared to be identified as the real murderer, but they did not expect that if any step was missing in this case, such a result would not have been achieved.
During the individual interrogation, Sherlock, William, and Holmes, who were informed by Fujimaru Ritsuka that they were cleared of suspicion, found evidence that was enough to prove the method and complete process of committing the crime. However, because they acted based on Fujimaru Ritsuka's intuition, when the evidence clearly pointed to Izumi and Marquez...
Just like how Mikaze Ai followed the topic of late-night aquariums that Tsukioka Tsukioka brought up today and began to press Tsukioka Tsukioka into the performance state of the love variety show shooting - at that time, Marquez began his counterattack with an aggressive tone, using his own reasoning logic to attack everyone indiscriminately, except...
——Only Quan was skipped by him.
When the final identification result came out, Izumi just sighed helplessly like Tsukioka Tsumugi who was pressed step by step today, and said to Marquez softly-
"Why would you do that? You don't have to do that."
"It seems that Mikaze Ayano has noticed that the romantic atmosphere of their date has begun to fade." Kirshtalia on the other end of the line laughed, "But it is indeed a very appropriate way to deal with it - since they are just getting along as usual, even if they remember to act like a couple on a date, there is nothing to talk about other than work..."
"...Then let's try to get along with each other in a different way." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned his head and looked straight into the dark ocean tunnel area due to the decrease in light. "Since we chose each other because of Izumi and Marquez who were accomplices, let's just pretend that our nature is the same as those two characters."
"And if this kind of performance is put on a variety show, the audience won't notice anything unusual." Roman, who had been listening to Kirshtalia and Fujimaru Ritsuka's conversation, joined in the conversation. "After all, when it comes down to it, actors, idols, singers, dancers... the existence of stars, the performance presented on the screen, at least 90% of it is fake."
"Just like that guy from Merlin - their job is to sell fantasy and weave a beautiful dream for fans. Whether it's their personality, the wording of the dialogue, or the 'real side' shown in the variety show - that's just 'what the audience wants to see'. Maybe their true side is like this, but Ritsuka, you should know the situation of the Clock Tower, right?"
"Ah, I know." Fujimaru Ritsuka fell into a rare silence that was as quiet as death. "Even if it is a real reaction, because it is in front of people or under the camera - so it must be mixed with performance elements, it must contain false parts, and it must not be presented as a hundred percent truth that will represent one's weakness in the eyes of the enemy full of malicious intent."
“…That’s it.”
While Fujimaru Ritsuka was still talking to Kirshtalia and Roman, Tsukioka Tsumugi, who had temporarily killed Shura Field with just one sentence, was already watching the marine life with Mikaze Ai - they were not chatting about irrelevant things with the background of the aquarium and radio music as before, but they really started to look at the marine life that was separated from them by a layer of glass.
"...Why did you turn off the microphone suddenly?" Tsukioka Tsumugi, who was leaning close to the glass with Mifuki Lan to observe the school of fish, turned to Mifuki Lan after Mifuki Lan reached out to help him turn off the microphone, and asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"Generally speaking, normal aquariums don't keep so many fish together - the density of organisms here is too high." Meifeng Lan paused and gave a subtle comment, "It's just like the ocean world in animations - colorful, with many marine organisms, and they are all crowded together..."
"See that silver vortex of fish up there?"
"…The production team would never send us to a dangerous place." Tsukioka Tsumugi pointed out a fact pertinently, "When the feature film comes out, the most that people will suspect is that they used a green screen - I don't think anyone will question that our acting is not real, after all, we really went to the aquarium's ocean tunnel to visit."
"...You're right." Mikaze Aoi turned on their microphones and led Tsukioka Tsumugi towards the tunnel exit that connected to the jellyfish area. "But I think we should go somewhere else - we've been here long enough. By the way, we talked about daytime 'Day' and night 'Night' before..."
"Would you like to hear a song I sang?"
Mifeng Lan clenched her cell phone tightly and looked at Tsukioka Tsumugi with a smile. Her eyes fell on the lavender earphones that Tsukioka Tsumugi had put on and never put back. The playlist in the phone was cleared instantly. Her finger stopped on the playlist of the songs she was singing, waiting for Tsukioka Tsumugi's answer.
"...Next time we go on a date, I'll share my work with you."
The moment they stepped into the jellyfish exhibition area emitting a faint glow, Tsukioka Tsumugi tacitly agreed to Mikaze Ai's proposal with another answer.