In the office within the Fusae store, after Yukiko exchanged pleasantries with Atsuko, Yukiko asked, "So, Atsuko, what are you doing now? And are you still not married?"
"Oh, no. I'm not like Yukiko; I haven't met such a good husband. After being an actress for a few years, I changed careers. Now I'm Miss Yamahara's manager."
Atsuko said.
"Oh, is that so? Then, regarding the commission, Atsuko, you should know more about it, right?"
"That's right. Actually, I was the first to discover this. Four days ago, when I was organizing fan mail for Miss Yamahara, I found this letter."
Atsuko said, taking out a letter sealed in a transparent file bag. The letter contained words cut from a newspaper, spelling out: "If you dare to attend Fusae's new product launch, it will be your death day."
At this moment, Takato finally managed to get closer. He couldn't join the conversation between the two ladies before.
"By the way, why didn't you choose to call the police, and why didn't you choose to cancel the event?"
Looking at the threatening letter, Takato raised a question.
"Because this event concerns Miss Yamahara's contract renewal with the Fusae brand. If we call the police or cancel the event, it will affect Miss Yamahara's upcoming contract renewal."
Atsuko said.
"How exactly will it affect it?"
"Hey! You're here to investigate, so just do your investigation, don't ask too many questions. Anyway, I guess this is just another fan trying to disgust me."
Takato wanted to ask more, but he was stopped by Miss Yamahara Akisato, who had just finished her makeup. Atsuko also fell silent and didn't continue speaking, which made Takato even more curious, especially the "another" she mentioned earlier, which was very intriguing.
At this moment, the makeup artist who had done Miss Yamahara Akisato's makeup had finished tidying up her cosmetics and was about to leave the office. Takato saw Yukiko giving him a look from the side, and then continued chatting with Atsuko. Takato tactfully followed the makeup artist out of the office and then called out to her.
"Hello, excuse me for bothering you."
Quickly catching up to the makeup artist walking ahead, Takato called out to her.
"Um, hello. Is there something?"
The Female student said, with a slightly timid tone.
"Excuse me, are you specifically responsible for Miss Yamahara's makeup?"
"Yes, I am."
"It must be tough for you to follow idol artists around for work all day like this."
"Um, actually, it's not too bad."
"I heard that many idol artists have high demands on their makeup artists. For a young lady like you to be Miss Yamahara's makeup artist, you must have excellent professional skills."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I just need to follow Miss Yamahara's requests."
"Um, actually, because my girlfriend's birthday is coming up soon, I plan to get her some good makeup. But you know, I don't really understand these things, so I was wondering if I could consult you?"
Takato walked and chatted with the makeup artist, forcefully finding various topics, and then they arrived at the underground parking lot. Seeing the makeup artist reach her car, she said goodbye to Takato and drove away.
Seeing this, Takato let out a long sigh and turned to go back.
The makeup artist left before the idol artist's event she was responsible for ended, so it seemed she wasn't Miss Yamahara's personal makeup artist. However, regarding his previous question about her being "specifically responsible for Miss Yamahara's makeup," she didn't refute it, which meant that Miss Yamahara's makeup was indeed handled by her at the moment.
It seemed that Miss Yamahara's current makeup work was being done by a makeup artist from an outsourced image design studio. To look at it another way, it meant that Miss Yamahara's recent commercial activities were limited.
Returning to the second floor of the mall, the exhibition stand was now largely set up. The young man in uniform whom he had met earlier was placing chairs in the open space in front of the stand, while Horii Ryosuke was pacing back and forth on the stand, as if inspecting for any oversights.
"Detective Akechi?"
Seeing Takato walking towards the stand at this moment, Horii Ryosuke stepped forward and asked.
"Aren't you doing your investigation inside?"
"I came out for a stroll; Ms. Yukiko is inside."
Takato answered casually.
"Is that so? So, Detective, what have you found out?"
"I'm completely at a loss."
Takato made a helpless expression, "Has Miss Yamahara received similar letters before?"
"I'm not very clear about that. You might have to ask Ms. Zuriki."
"Is that so?"
Takato said, "It looks like the setup here is almost complete."
Horii Ryosuke glanced at his watch, "Indeed, it's almost time. We can start preparing."
Then he said to the young man who had almost finished arranging the chairs: "Ooyama, you can go and get that ready."
"Okay."
After placing the last row of chairs, the young man called "Ooyama" responded and Ran back.
"However, since today is the day of the new product sale, why do I not see many other staff members in the store?"
"Oh, because generally, specialty store employees start work at ten o'clock. Today, because there's a new exhibition event, the opening time has also been postponed."
Horii Ryosuke said, taking out several bottles of mineral water from a box of mineral water nearby. These were prepared earlier for the staff who installed the exhibition stand.
"Detective, you haven't had any water since you came early this morning, have you?"
Horii Ryosuke said, handing a bottle of water to Takato.
"Thank you."
Taking the water bottle, Takato and Horii Ryosuke returned to the specialty store's office. Horii Ryosuke distributed the extra bottles of water to the people in the office, and then they prepared to start the event.
Upon receiving the mineral water from Horii Ryosuke, Miss Yamahara Akisato took out a bottle of what looked like health supplements from a backpack nearby. She almost inverted the bottle to extract two capsules, swallowed them, and then washed them down with the mineral water.
Yukiko, seeing this scene, asked Atsuko beside her, "Miss Yamahara is..."
"Oh, it's nothing, it's her habit. It's just a health supplement to protect her voice."
Atsuko explained.
Arriving at the exhibition stand, due to their identities, Takato and Yukiko were arranged in the front row of the set chairs. Atsuko and Horii Ryosuke were backstage with Miss Yamahara Akisato, making the final preparations before she went on stage.
Seeing that there wasn't much time left until 10 o'clock, when the event was scheduled to begin, customers shopping in the mall gradually started to arrive at the exhibition stand. Slowly, the crowd gathered in front of the stand grew larger and larger.
"Little Takato, did you manage to find anything out from that makeup artist just now?"
Yukiko began to ask Takato at this moment.
"Not really. But one thing is certain: something must have happened to Miss Yamahara before."