"What was this supposed to be?"
"Something... very ceremonial?"
"This was the kind of ceremony you meant...?"
Looking at the object covered by cloth in front of him, Furuya Rei's mouth twitched.
"Based on the previous cases, everyone guessed their situations would probably be similar." After laughing for a while, Hirotsugu Morofushi wiped at the corner of his eye and offered a reluctant explanation. "This is a laboratory, after all. It wouldn't be good to make too much of a mess..."
Going by the earlier examples, Wataru Date's return was probably not going to be quiet either.
Aside from Hirotsugu Morofushi, who had died from a gunshot wound and returned relatively quietly, the two police officers who had died in explosions had basically reenacted their blast scenes. Since both explosions had taken place high in the air, even if Ai Haibara understood that their straight fall from an explosion was symbolic and could not truly affect the equipment, she still could not get past the most basic laboratory rules.
This was a biological laboratory whose protection level had gradually approached P4 over time. If anything inside leaked out, it could cause serious problems...
"Fine." Having reluctantly accepted the arrangement, Furuya Rei looked around the laboratory again. "So where's Tangze?"
As he understood it, since Tangze himself had always been the one overseeing this matter, it would be difficult to begin without him.
"...He's probably off making some preparations." Hirotsugu Morofushi glanced toward the laboratory entrance and said nothing more.
As he understood it, since this mechanism was fundamentally powered by Tangze's abilities, now that they had reached the final stage, Tangze was probably preparing something.
At that very moment, in the Velvet Room, Tangze watched the last few Desire Stones in his hand turn into golden powder with each stroke