I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

Serabelle shrugged and briefly recounted what had happened after they arrived at the Domoto Music Academy, including the rehearsal of the concert they watched afterwards.

"A concert? As I recall, you probably have no interest in that kind of thing."

No one knows a child better than his mother... Although this may not be a good word to express the meaning, this is roughly what it means. As Akai Mary's guardian for more than ten years since the former was five years old, she knew very well that Serabelle had no interest in the so-called "high art".

"I'm not really interested. I almost fell asleep while listening to it."

Influenced by the smell of the quilt that still remained on the body of the British girl who had just woken up, Serabell also yawned very cooperatively.

"But Zhenchun is very interested and has made an appointment to watch those kids practice chorus next weekend."

"… Really pure?"

Mary Akai was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously glanced through the wall towards the kitchen.

Although she was busy with work at MI6 in London, England, she was still very concerned about her daughter's growth and interests.

So in Mary Akai's eyes, her daughter with pointed little fangs was a complete tomboy. Her only interests were Jeet Kune Do and mystery novels. There was a time when she wanted to ride a motorcycle, but unfortunately she was not old enough to get a driver's license, so she had to give up.

And now you tell her that her chubby daughter has an interest in elegant classical music?

seriously?

"never mind……"

Akai Mary let out a light breath and simply changed the subject.

"As for those kids practicing chorus you just mentioned, there's no need for you to go over there. You haven't practiced chorus before, and you can't let an amateur guide amateurs, right?"

"Of course it's not us who are going to guide it."

Serabelle lowered her hand covering her mouth and said, "Those kids are so friendly that they managed to trick the female singer into coaching them. Zhenchun and I will probably just go over there to take a look. The most important thing is that we have already agreed to it."

Akai Marie “…”

Now that you have already agreed, you must never go back on your word or break the promise without reason.

This is what she has always taught Masumi Sera and Serabel.

"And this singer you mentioned—"

"Oh, I remember her name was Akiba Reiko. I heard she was quite famous."

Reiko Akiba, that's a pretty nice name.

Akai Mary thought.

"…How old are you?"

"Probably~"

Serabelle carefully recalled the appearance of Reiko Akiba that she saw in the opera house.

"About twenty-five or twenty-six?"

A female student in her mid-twenties, about twenty-five or twenty-six, who had just graduated from college two years ago, probably wouldn't be the type this guy likes.

Akai Mary had already made up her mind.

"I understand. Since you've promised others, then go on time. But you and Masumi..."

Having said that, Akai Mary paused again, as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself.

Serabelle didn't understand at first.

"What happened between me and Masumi?"

"No, it's nothing, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Akai Mary didn't say anything else.

……

Time jumps to one week later.

It was still the familiar Saturday afternoon at one o'clock, and the location was the first grade teaching building of Teitan Elementary School.

"Teitan~Teitan~"*N

As the children's singing voices spread through the windows to the corridors of the teaching building, Conan Genta and other elementary school students lined up in three rows in front of the podium in the classroom, singing the school song loudly with a devoted look on their faces.

In the audience, Serabelle sat in one of the desks and chairs in the back row of the classroom, with her arms crossed on the table and her head buried in her arms, carefully feeling the hypnotic magic of the classroom that Masumi Sera said came from.

But it might also be because there was no teacher teaching there. In any case, he had been lying there for almost five minutes and still didn't feel sleepy at all.

The three high school girls were whispering about topics that only girls would talk about, and from time to time they would glance at Reiko Akiba, who was looking out the window on the other side of the classroom from beginning to end with her thermos bottle on the table next to her.

The singer didn't look away from the window until the song was over.

"How did we sing?" Yuan Tai asked impatiently.

"Well, let me think about it..."

Reiko Akiba turned around, folded her arms across her chest and slowly walked to the podium, then pointed at Yuanta.

"First of all, it's you! Your voice is too loud. It's not just about having a loud voice that makes you sing well. You have to learn to cooperate with your companions in the chorus."

Then she pointed at Mitsuhiko.

"Although you sang on key the whole time, you seemed distracted at times. Were you so engrossed in looking at the profile of the girl in the front row?"

"And then there is you..."

After commenting on almost everyone and pointing out the shortcomings and areas that need improvement, Reiko Akiba shook her long black hair behind her head and turned to leave.

"Okay, I should go back soon. Come back and find me when you guys sing better."

"Huh? Are you going back?"

While Mitsuhiko was still in a daze, Genta, who was sitting next to him, suddenly said "please wait a moment", then quickly ran down the podium. Before Akiba Reiko could react, he took the thermos cup on the desk on his own initiative, opened the lid and started drinking.

"Hey! You kid..."

It was too late for Reiko Akiba to stop him, and she could only watch helplessly as the little fat boy snatched a sip of her throat-protecting tea.

But in the next second, the thermos fell to the ground with a clang, and Yuantai's face full of expectation instantly turned into pain, and he covered his throat tightly.

"Throat...my throat..."

Chapter 374 I think you just like mature older sisters!

It is common to accidentally burn your mouth while drinking tea, but it is very rare to burn your throat.

What's more, the tea in the thermos is not hot at all, but just warm, which is the kind that you can drink immediately after pouring it out.

Soon, with the help of two female high school students, Xiaolan and Yuanzi, it was confirmed that Yuantai was indeed not scalded by the tea.

This is good news.

The bad news is that Yuantai can no longer speak. Although he can still whisper by breathing out air from his throat, he is definitely unable to communicate normally with others.

The situation is quite serious, but fortunately they are now in school, and schools usually have infirmaries, and there will be infirmary teachers on duty even on weekends.

So a quarter of an hour later, in the corridor of the school's administrative building, the door of the infirmary was opened from the inside, and a dejected Yuantai walked out, followed by Xiaolan, who seemed relieved.

"What's the situation? Is it serious?"

Yuanzi, who was more concerned about the children, hurried forward to ask when he saw someone coming out.

"Well, it's actually quite serious."

Xiaolan smiled helplessly.

"The doctor said that it was due to taking strong irritating drugs that caused the sore throat to become inflamed. Fortunately, the symptoms are reversible. If you take anti-inflammatory drugs properly, you will recover in about a week, and there will be no sequelae."

"That's it."

Hearing that there would be no sequelae, Yuanzi was greatly relieved.

Then, like in Sichuan Opera's face-changing, a lion shook its head and stared fiercely at a greedy little fat man.

"Are you feeling better now? Will you be greedy again in the future? Hmm?"

"..."

Yuantai's throat was so sore that he couldn't even speak. He could only lower his head and shake it in frustration.

"Then the question now is why there are stimulant drugs in Miss Qiuting's tea."

Serabelle turned her gaze towards the female singer who had been frowning and saying nothing since the beginning.

"I don't think Miss Qiuting drinks this kind of thing every day, right?"

"Of course that's impossible!"

Akita Reiko frowned and retorted.

"How can someone who uses his voice as a profession drink something like that? Besides, the tea I usually make is just normal monk fruit tea. I even drank this cup of tea this morning."

"Is everything normal this morning?"

"Yes."

"Hmm~ That means someone may have tampered with it later."

Serabelle thought about it seriously.

"And if the school doctor says it will take a week to recover, then when will the concert be next week?"

"Three days later..."

As soon as Reiko Akiba opened her mouth, she realized something was wrong.

And Yuanzi on the side also realized the problem.

"The concert will be held in three days, and it will take a week for the voice to recover. Does that mean the person who drugged her want to prevent Miss Qiu Ting from attending the concert?"

In this case, the person most likely to do such a thing is...

Just as Sonoko was about to transform herself into a famous detective, Serabelle turned to Akiba Reiko again.

"Since you drank it this morning, then from this morning till now, has your cup ever left your side, Miss Qiu Ting?"

"Let me think about it..."

Reiko Akiba pinched her chin and looked thoughtful: "I borrowed a classroom at Domoto Music School to practice singing this morning, and then left for a while before lunch. The thermos was placed in the classroom with other things. If someone wanted to tamper with the thermos, it would have been at that time."

"That means the other party is very familiar with your movements, or is always paying attention to you."

"Uh... um."

Reiko Akiba hadn't thought too much about it at first, but after being reminded by Serabelle, she couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine when she thought about how she had been practicing singing without any defense under the furtive gaze of some shady villain for the entire morning.

Serabelle continued, "One more thing. Miss Akiba, did you go to the Domoto Music Academy to borrow a classroom to practice singing today on a whim, or have you always done this?"

"This... can't be called a spur-of-the-moment idea." Akita Reiko hesitated for a moment, "This is my personal habit. Whenever I need to perform in a place, I will borrow a classroom from a nearby music school to practice singing."

"That means the person who did this is very familiar with your personal habits and itinerary, Miss Qiu Ting," Serabelle added.

"..."

This is a rather terrifying reasoning result. If we follow this logic step by step, it is very likely that the murderer we find in the end is someone who has been with the victim for many years and is even deeply trusted by the victim.

But Reiko Akita thought about it and realized that there seemed to be no such person around her anymore, which made her feel a little relieved.

At this moment, the brief pause in the conversation between the two gave Sonoko, who had been wanting to interrupt since the beginning, finally found an opportunity.

"So, is it possible that the murderer is Miss Chigusa Lala?"

"Ms. Chigusa?"

Qiuting Lianzi was stunned.

She knew this person. Although she always gave people the impression of being a flower on the mountain, that was only in terms of her professional qualities.

As for socializing, Reiko Akiba is still very good at dealing with people. She wrote down the names of all the people involved in next week's performance, including substitute actors and logistics staff.

Chigusa Lala was the original number one soprano before she decided to take part, but after her arrival she became the number one substitute.

To some extent, I have also snatched away the other party's opportunity to climb up.

After all, next week's concert will gather music masters from all over the world. If she performs well, Chigusa Lala will be able to make the same breakthrough as Yamane Shion, who was originally a substitute, and leap onto a world-class stage.