That’s how Monica felt upon seeing Shinichi’s face, and while Myuhi found herself reluctantly agreeing when she put it that way, Shinichi himself just kept his eyes on the ground while checking the place. It was as if he couldn’t hear her at all.
Monica frowned at that, but she soon followed after him.
“As I thought, he couldn’t hear,” Monica said meaningfully, but only Myuhi was able to hear those words.
“We can’t anymore! Any more is impossible!” Teresa said.
That was around the time when he finished checking the audience seats and had started to examine the walls that covered the venue.
Even these walls have benefited from the technological progress made in recent times.
Due to their portability and ease of installation, they have been widely used in recent events for purposes such as partitions or, in this case, walls.
Depending on the type, some even have specifications for soundproofing or bullet resistance.
The ones used for this outdoor live performance were designed to minimize sound leakage to the outside and had special balancers that could adapt to the uneven ground, along with a shape-changing function.
By the time he had surveyed about half of those walls, Teresa came running with a face that looked like she was about to cry. Even the words that first came out of her lips sounded no different from a plea.
“What’s the matter, Teresa?” Monica said.
“Fu fu, what’s the matter?” Myuhi said.
Monica was genuinely confused, while Myuhi understood to some extent, though she nonetheless asked what the matter was with a nasty expression.
As for Shinichi, he just glanced at them before quickly returning his attention to the wall. It was curious if that was actually better than how Myuhi reacted.
So far, they’ve found structural vulnerabilities and ECM for photons, so it only made sense that Shinichi would prioritize looking for more traps, but then again, none of those likely posed a threat to him.
“There’s no room left to detain the suspects!” Teresa said.
“Huh?” Monica said.
“Ahahaha, I figured that would be the case!” Myuhi laughed.
“…” Shinichi remained quiet.
Confusion, laughter, and apathy. Those were the reactions of the three people respectively.
He had continued to identify threats, be they people or objects, even while he inspected the wall, ruthlessly crushing any and all he came across.
However, it appeared that they were finally about to reach the limit that Monica’s original guards could manage.
“In the first place, there’s no way we can have a concert if we lose so many people and equipment!” Teresa said.
“…We’ve lost that much?” Monica said.
Monica had been observing closely all this time, so she knew just how many people have been taken down by Shinichi and how many equipment have been destroyed. But she was a performer and not the organizer, so she didn’t know how relevant those numbers were.
“Some of the staff have also been scared off and ended up quitting on the spot and running away.”
“Ahh.”
The women looked at Shinichi with a resigned expression.
Though they did manage to find enough to suspect those people, they were yet to prove their guilt since they were captured before they could do anything.
There were certainly a lot of suspicious objects, but Shinichi’s methods were also undeniably violent. Moreover, the number of objects found was in itself a fear factor.
So they certainly couldn’t blame people for wanting to run away.
Besides, it wasn’t as though they could get away for free. There was a penalty to abandoning a job.
“It’s fine. They should be arriving soon.”
When the women all looked at him with an accusatory gaze, he finally spoke up.
Without even glancing in their direction, he subtly conveyed that he had already considered that issue and has taken steps to resolve it.
Before anyone present could inquire what he meant by that, someone called Teresa. Her earpiece translation device also functioned as a communication device.
“Hello? …What? …What did you say was coming to the parking lot? …Haaaaaa!?”
“Teresa?”
“Reinforcement staff and backup equipment has just arrived, and there’s a lot of them too,” Teresa said.
“Hah?” Monica said.
“I literally just told you that a moment ago,” Shinichi said.
Monica was stunned and in disbelief, while Shinichi only continued to examine the wall.
He was currently crushing some lights, but no one could be bothered by that right now.
“B-But how? From the sound of it, they’re from a place that’s completely unrelated to us,” Teresa said.
“That’s precisely why I chose them. Also, I’m going to send you a list. If there’s anyone extra, eliminate them without question.
I’ve already discussed everything with their leader. As for the equipment, I’ll examine them later, so just gather them together and leave them alone.”
“Huh, wait, but how!?”
Though Shinichi had answered their questions, he left just as much unanswered, then just as he said, a list of names and photos was sent to Teresa even though she’d never given him her number.
Teresa was understandably taken aback by that, but Myuhi just told her that it would be better if she didn’t dwell on it.
Teresa, despite her reluctance, could only accept that before running off to deal with the sudden increase in personnel.
“Seriously, what did you do? We operate across both worlds, so we weren’t really a good fit for those that catered only for a Japanese audience, so we’ve been keeping a distance from them, and yet…”
Monica could roughly deduce from the location, time, and Teresa’s reaction where the people had come from.
That’s why it was so surprising. It should have been practically impossible to get someone to prepare the staff and equipment they needed on such short notice, and yet…
“Almost everything in the world can be dealt with as long as you have money, connections, and information.”
The boy said as though nothing could be more obvious, though at the same time, he wore a triumphant smile that Monica was seeing for the first time.
“So in other words, you marched into someone’s place, slapped them with money and blackmailed them with some information you have on them. That’s just your usual trick!” Myuhi said.
“I told you, didn’t I? Physical means move adults the fastest!” Shinichi said.
Myuhi laughed, while Shinichi smiled. They were just like a pair of villains celebrating their mischief.
“You evil brat, what are you laughing for!?”
“Agu!?”
As a result, Monica ended up violently grabbing Shinichi by the head.
“That’s a crime, you know! I know I asked you to make my concert a success, but who ever asked you to go that far!?”
She spoke calmly, giving her an imposing atmosphere. Shinichi wasn’t intimidated, but he was at a disadvantage physically. She just had to be taller too.
“W-Wait a moment!!”
Because of the difference in their height, Shinichi couldn’t budge an inch when she pushed down on him.
Myuhi fled with an expression as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
It seemed Monica saw through his schemes, and she finally couldn’t endure it anymore, and her emotions blew up.
“You planned for this whole thing in the first place, didn’t you? That violent attitude you were showing was also an act, wasn’t it!?”
After all, by doing that, he would be able to drive away the original staff.
He likely wanted to get rid of them because he couldn’t tell where and how the enemy has influenced the venue.
Even without Shinichi explaining anything, all of the life-threatening experience until now allowed Monica to understand his reasoning, but even so, there were people among those that Monica recognized, so it wasn’t a story she could just laugh off.
“Hey, don’t shake me! Stop it!”
Defenseless, Shinichi could only allow Monica to have her way with him as she shook him left and right to vent her frustrations.
“Am I right!? Answer me!”
Monica forced him to look at her, and she gave him the look and threatened him to answer or regret it. Shinichi could tell that it would be bad to go against her here.
“Erm, maybe?”
However, even then, he neither denied nor affirmed her suspicions
He knew how she felt, but he just ambiguously and wryly smiled.
The terrifying demeanor of a beauty glaring at him so devilishly was enough to strike him with fear, but despite sweating nervously, he maintained that vague stance.
That took Monica by surprise, but it was only for a moment before she glared at him again.
Shinichi smiled at that and met her glare with his own gaze.
In the end, Monica decided to let go of him.
“Hmph!”
“Ow!?”
Before sending a punch onto his head as though to mean that for punishment.
“Sigh, what do you have to do to raise someone this troublesome?”
Monica sighed as she watched him crouch and hold his head in pain.
However, there was neither disdain nor exasperation in Monica’s sigh. If anything, there was a positive warmth to it.
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