"So, is this puzzle changing themes? Are we doing something educational now?" Before the atmosphere could fully turn into gossip, Saguru Hakuba cleared his throat and smiled as though he had heard nothing. "I seem to recall that the original requirement was 'twists and turns,' wasn't it?"
Clearly, he had no interest in either returning Heiji Hattori's sarcasm or listening to more jealous little stories about him and his childhood friend. He decisively chose the third option.
—Start the next segment directly, forcing the production team to edit out Heiji Hattori's nonsense later.
Feeling as though he had somehow been caught in the crossfire, Tangze nodded along and picked up the thread. "That's true. The stories Miss Koshi and Hattori gave were both very interesting, but shifting the focus to educating detectives at the end does make them lose some of their shine."
He really did not want to keep discussing this with Heiji Hattori.
Although Tangze felt that, since nobody present knew his true identity, no one would connect it to him, he could not stop himself from making the connection.
A fictional perpetrator, a so-called victim who was actually the true mastermind with ulterior motives... If he had to say it, Tangze himself was someone quite skilled at fishing—and especially skilled at fishing for detectives.
"Then I'll take a slightly different approach." Saguru Hakuba shrugged casually. "Actually, I understand everyone's thinking rather well. As detectives, we must have experienced quite a few cases suitable for adaptation into emotional puzzles. But if we turn some of them into dramatic stories just for a gimmick, that may be rather disrespectful to the deceased."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted, deliberately or otherwise, toward the television station staff pretending they did not exist.
Going on a variety show meant being turned