Chain Explosions?

As he approached, Shiraishi realized it was not just the Mori family—those three little ones were sitting beside Sonoko as well. When they saw Shiraishi and the others arrive, they greeted them with cheerful smiles.

Looking at this upgraded lineup of trouble, Shiraishi suddenly felt a headache coming on. He pointed toward Officer Megure and the others in the front row and said to Ayako, "I'll sit over there."

Ayako nodded. Shiraishi walked toward the front row and sat directly beside Megure—fortunately, the concert hall had thoughtfully arranged separate chairs rather than connected rows, or Shiraishi really would not have fit.

After around seven or eight minutes, Kazuo Domoto finally stopped playing. He rose and gave the audience a deep bow, and everyone immediately burst into applause.

A short, plump foreigner said something as he clapped and walked toward the stage. A young man with shoulder-length black hair and an elderly man with graying hair and glasses followed behind him.

"What an excellent performance. The organ and the piano truly have completely different charms—" the gray-haired elder remarked wistfully.

The group went onstage and began chatting. Besides exchanging pleasantries, they seemed to be discussing matters related to this performance, but there were too many technical terms, and Shiraishi became rather lost after listening for a while.

Still, from their conversation, Shiraishi roughly learned who they were.

The foreigner was Hans Müller, an organ tuner who had come all the way from Germany. The shoulder-length-haired man standing beside him and acting as his interpreter was Kazuo Domoto's son, Genya Domoto.

The gray-haired, bespectacled elder who had just offered praise was Kazuo Domoto's personal piano tuner, as well as the director of this concert hall, Takumi Fuwa.

The two women were both students of Domoto Music Academy. The one in the pink