Chapter 41 Attacked

"Oooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!!"

"Miss Yoko is so beautiful!! How beautiful, so beautiful!!"

In the audience of the Imperial Theatre at this moment,

There was another person who, like Mouri Kogoro,

was extremely excited about Okino Yoko's performance.

That person was Misaki Itakura, sitting in the last row.

The agent seemed to have completely forgotten about her work at that moment.

She looked like a little girl deeply captivated by her idol.

"Miss Yoko is truly a talented artist in the Japanese entertainment industry!"

"She is obviously an idol, but she's also perfect in her acting skills!"

"In Detective Quinn, aside from her overwhelming presence that makes it impossible to look away, there's really no trace of the original Miss Yoko!"

"Is this Miss Yoko's control over the stage? It's too strong!"

Itakura Misaki sighed in her heart at Okino Yoko's strength, while also thinking about her own role as an artist.

"Speaking of that, Akikawa-san is very similar to Yoko-san in this regard!"

"The same overwhelming presence that's impossible to ignore, and the acting skills are also extremely good!"

Itakura Misaki remembered the acting skills she had seen in Akikawa Kyusuke during previous rehearsals.

She couldn't help but look forward to it in her heart.

Itakura Misaki hadn't accompanied Akikawa throughout the entire rehearsal.

After all, if an artist always had to be accompanied by a manager, they would inevitably be looked down upon.

So Misaki Itakura didn't actually know how the final product of this play would turn out.

After watching the first act,

Itakura Misaki realized that the production of this play was much better than she had imagined.

Therefore, she looked forward even more to her artist's performance on stage and the audience's reaction.

At that moment, the closed curtain slowly opened again.

Itakura Misaki quickly focused her attention and began to observe the second act of the performance.

—at

the same time.

Akikawa sat alone in the dressing room, watching the live broadcast of the stage performance on the TV.

In his previous life, he had watched many traditional and modern plays to have enough conversation skills when communicating with people from high society.

But, like today, being able to calm down and watch a movie that didn't use art as its selling point…

This was Akikawa's first commercial play, which mainly relied on easy-to-understand plots to attract the audience to pay.

Although the training when he first signed an artist contract was quite boring,

The current work was quite interesting for Akikawa.

For Akikawa, who had never had freedom in his previous life and didn't have the opportunity to do something he truly wanted,

Now that he no longer needed to walk on eggshells every day, he felt satisfied enough to sleep peacefully and live in peace.

"Mr. Akikawa, Director Takemura asked you to wear a bowler hat. Could you go to the laundry to find it?"

Suddenly, at that moment, someone knocked on the door of the room where Akikawa Kyousuke was.

A voice came from outside.

"Alright, I understand."

Akikawa Kyousuke replied softly, then got up and looked at his original bowler hat, not understanding why it needed to be replaced.

Before auditioning for Otani Sae, Akikawa Kyusuke had done thorough research on Takemura Mine.

He knew that Takemura was a director so obsessed with details that it was hard to understand.

Moreover, during this time together,

The many strange obsessions of Takemura Mine had also caused the artists rehearsing to constantly complain.

Akikawa Kyusuke grabbed his bag, stood up, and left the dressing room.

There was no sign of the person who had delivered the message outside the door.

Akikawa Kyusuke knew that the play was being performed at that moment, and everyone was very busy.

Therefore, after the other party conveyed the message to him, there was no need to stay here.

The laundry room of the Empire Theatre was quite far from the backstage area.

Additionally, Akikawa Kyusuke's clothes were tight and thick, and his leather shoes were hard and uncomfortable.

It took him quite a while to reach the laundry room.

Although the door to the laundry room was closed at that moment,

Akikawa Kyusuke could still hear the roaring sound of the drum washer and the dryer from inside.

Akikawa Kyusuke grabbed the door handle and opened it.

Without the door blocking the sound, the noise of the washer and dryer amplified several times in Akikawa's ears.

Akikawa Kyusuke entered.

Just as he was about to press the light switch on the wall,

He suddenly heard the sound of wind cutting through the loud roar. A strong sense of crisis hit him, and Akikawa Kyusuke unconsciously hid in the opposite direction.

Then he saw a chair flying past just in front of him.

Thanks to [Reaction Power (S)] extracted earlier from Masumi Sera, Akikawa Kyusuke successfully dodged the attack.

Through the light coming from the open door,

Akikawa Kyusuke clearly saw that in front of him was a man dressed in heavy medical protective gear, gloves, and a motorcycle helmet with a black mask.

"Do you want to kill me?"

The other party's outfit made it almost impossible for Akikawa Kyusuke to discern anything about him through observation.

But one thing was clear.

Since the other party had camped here in advance, it was highly probable that he knew Akikawa would come here.

A noisy place like the laundry room was deliberately chosen to cover the sound of the murder.

In other words, it wasn't that he stumbled into a suspect's hideout; the other party attacked him so as not to reveal his identity.

But from the beginning, the other party's target was himself.

"Wait, wait, don't attack me! If you need something, tell me and I will definitely agree!"

Akikawa Kyusuke seemed extremely nervous.

As he stepped back, he used his eyes to check his surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon or shield.

Although he had a small bag brought by Misaki Itakura,

It was too small and had nothing inside.

It was completely impossible to use it to resist an adult's chair attack.

Perhaps the other party had been prepared for a long time.

There was nothing in the laundry room that could be used as a weapon or that could resist the opponent's attack.

The man holding the chair walked step by step toward Akikawa Kyusuke, without any reaction to his proposal.

Akikawa Kyusuke gradually retreated to the back of the laundry room.

At the same time, his heart sank to the bottom.

There was no weapon or anything to block the man's path in front of him.

The only exit was in the opposite direction.

However, the laundry room wasn't that large, so Akikawa Kyusuke couldn't avoid him and ran toward the door.

It could be said that there were no more means to resolve the current crisis.

"This body is too weak. Even if you can dodge a blow, I'm afraid it will be difficult to cause damage to the opponent without a weapon."

"Try dodging one more blow and then attack Xia Yin."

Akikawa Kyusuke wanted to try his luck, betting on the opponent's lack of combat experience.

Then he saw the person in front of him take the chair again and throw it at his head.

Akikawa Kyusuke suddenly wanted to duck.

However, the too-heavy clothes on his body and the heavily padded legs made Akikawa Kyusuke move much slower.

No matter how fast your reflexes are, it doesn't mean anything if your body can't move easily.

A severe pain, accompanied by a dull "crack," exploded in Akikawa Kyusuke's head.

Akikawa Kyusuke was struck firmly on the forehead with a chair.

His consciousness also fell into darkness in an instant.

——At

the theatre.

Around 1,900 spectators watched attentively as the fourth act was being performed on stage.

Suddenly,

The lights in the theatre turned on abruptly without any warning.

The audience and the actors present were stunned.

"The show has been canceled."

The announcement reached everyone's ears through the speakers.

The audience at the scene was immediately confused.

"Something is wrong."

Sera Masumi whispered in Conan's ear.

The next moment, they saw the staff running toward them.

"Is this the famous detective Mori?"

"Yes, what's going on?"

The play had been interrupted halfway, and Mouri Kogoro seemed a bit unhappy, so he asked angrily.

"The body of a young man was found in the laundry room of the Empire Theatre."

I ask for daily votes and readings! Many thanks to the readers!

(End)