The venue was well soundproofed. Near the exit, Vodka and Hashimoto Maya, both highly sensitive to Police Sirens, noticed something, but the audience in the main hall had yet to hear it.
James looked at the empty seat beside him and rapidly messaged Akai Shuichi: [That suspicious person suddenly left. Perhaps he achieved some unknown objective right under my nose. I'm sorry—I actually failed to see through his actions and purpose.]
After a pause, James suddenly thought of something. Amid the audience's murmurs, he abruptly looked up at the stage—if he remembered correctly, that Magician had been trapped underwater for over five minutes. He... was he really still alive?
"During the birdcage escape earlier, the Magician briefly appeared beside Hashimoto Maya and me. At the time, my attention was drawn to Jiang Xia and that girl, so I didn't notice what Hashimoto was doing.
"Now Hashimoto Maya has suddenly left, while the Magician is trapped in the water and unable to escape. That seems a little too coincidental... Could there be some connection between these two things that I don't know about? Was Hashimoto Maya's goal to kill that Magician?!"
[Rescue him immediately!] James made a swift decision and sent another email—after enduring the embarrassment of telling his subordinates that his disguise had been exposed, he had learned that Akai Shuichi was actually lurking backstage. [If we can save him alive, perhaps we can get some crucial intelligence out of that Magician.]
Amid the noisy whispers, time continued to pass.
On the stage, the two beautiful Female Assistants no longer even bothered striking poses. They huddled together and whispered about something, repeatedly glancing toward the water tank hidden behind the Curtain, as though the situation had already slipped beyond their control.
Backstage.
Akai Shuichi lowered his head to read