Confinement King

Chapter 232: Rehearsal

「Yes, Detective JK-san, your position is OK there! Hey, Tanaka! Bam there!」

「Yes」

「Then, Detective JK-san, we’ll take a break」

「Thank you for your hard work!」

Claudia responds smilingly to the director’s order.

She was dressed in a long parka and spats. And a baseball cap.

Next to her, Jolanda, dressed in jeans and a white tank top, stood close to her.

Her left hand, which was wrapped in bandages, looked painful, but Jolanda’s gaze was sharp.

Since she reacts quickly to anything that moves and glares at us, many of the Assistant Directors had been caught in her gaze and were freaking out (※Some were panting).

（Of course, she’d be wary. She’s been losing a lot…）

Claudia was almost kidnapped by a devil, and Jolanda was defeated by Hotta. The two even said that they would hide themselves for a while after revealing Fumio’s true identity.

The fact that they have completely decided that their goal is not to defeat the devil but to raise the popularity of “Detective JK” is really pure or rather worldly…

It had been a week since I guided the two members of Detective JK to Tokyo.

Now it was the morning of the day of the show.

We are in the middle of rehearsing the second half of the program, the Detective JK part.

However, only the two members of Detective JK were present. The other cast members were rehearsing in the afternoon.

In order not to kill the live reactions of the performers, only their rehearsal is held separately from the others.

I was watching the rehearsal, leaning against the wall.

Although I had come all the way to Tokyo on an early night, and had shown up at the rehearsal first thing in the morning, it was not for any particular purpose. I just felt something. In fact, all the preparations are almost complete.

Through President KKO, Chihiro Kijima, I was able to get the TV station to approve the program a long time ago.

Moreover, Fujiwara Seigo-shi has promised to sponsor the program on the condition that Aoi Umidori will be used as a commentator.

The sponsorship includes a large investment. On top of that, it was a sensational program that would expose the real culprit in the mysterious disappearance case.

The director jumped at the idea like hungry carp, and the plan progressed at a brisk pace.

On the premise of using Detective JK to eliminate Fumio Kijima’s suspicions, all preparations were in order.

However…

（It’s just a matter of how the demon nobles will react…）

During the past week, there has been no noticeable movement on the side of the demon nobles that could be detected.

In fact, Teruya’s sister(Ane)’s whereabouts are unknown, and the movements of the devil doll are all based on the information provided by Miss Bowel via Lili.

Today’s schedule of the devil doll is to go to Tokyo. The purpose of the trip is to watch the shooting of a commercial for a Fujiwara group company.

The fact that she sent another errand to Miss Bowel and did not allow her to go with her suggests that something is being planned.

While I was thinking about this, Claudia came running towards me, leaving Jolanda behind, who was having a difficult conversation with the raccoon-faced temporary manager.

「The lighting, it’s so hot…」

She took off her cap and wiped the sweat from her forehead leaving a patch of black stuff stuck to her temple. Then, she continued to speak.

「Shiratori, how was it?」

「It’s hard to say how it was. If I had to say, I’d say you should have acted a little more dramatic」

I say back, and she twists her head.

「Overreacting… doesn’t that smell fishy?」

「The existence of a detective JK already smells fishy to me」

「Oh… you’re really saying it. And I’m annoyed that you’re not lying. By the way, why Tateoka didn’t show up? Didn’t he say, “Shiratori-chan’s madly in love with me, so I will be in Tokyo”?」

「…You know, I hate that creepy long hair. I hope he realizes that Kizuna is the one who’s making him look good」

「Oh… that’s a slap in the face」

Claudia smiled bitterly.

In fact, until about three days ago, Tateoka had been ready to visit the studio. But last night, he suddenly said, “I’m not coming. I’ll watch it on TV”.

The reason seems to be that Kizuna had something to do that day and could not come and he said he felt uneasy about going out alone.

Kizuna told me about this a long time ago.

Ever since the Confinement King gave him a bad time, he has been unusually scared of going out alone.

Since I know how he came to be in such a situation, I can’t pity him at all, but still, I can’t help feeling some pity for him.

According to Kizuna, Tateoka has a girlfriend who is a childhood friend of his, but she used to visit him frequently and worry about him when he was a shut-in, but recently she has stopped visiting him, which is really sad.

While I was thinking about this, Claudia suddenly clapped her hands.

「By the way, did you see? That machine! It’s amazing. As expected of Japan’s scientific power! The best in the worlddddd! Right!」

While imitating a German officer in a manga, Claudia pointed to a rectangular box with red and blue lamps on the side of the stage set. (*Note: it’s the JoJo character Rudol von Stroheim)

It is a device that visualizes the authenticity of Claudia’s brainwaves by lighting up the lamps.

The device was actually used in the rehearsal, and from Claudia’s reaction, there was no discrepancy between what she read as true or false and the color of the lamp that lit up.

「It’s even more fishy」

「That’s not true! It was accurate. I heard that they borrowed a prototype from some university professor. This is amazing!」

Claudia protested against my cold reaction.

Of course, I am not lying about my suspicious thoughts. But I knew the source of the device.

It was brought in by the entertainment company KKO.

In fact, I heard that it was not made by a university professor but by a fallen angel of Lili.

Maybe if the lid was opened, it wouldn’t be a machine, but a mysterious substance like dark matter inside.

「We’ll resume then! Detective JK-san, please stand by」

「Yes! See you later, Shiratori」

Claudia waved and ran towards the stage set. I watched her back and quietly walked out of the studio.

The purpose was to reconfirm the positions of various things.

And as I walked past the next studio, I couldn’t help but frown at the sign posted there.

『All day use for FJ Beverage commercial shooting』

Apparently, the studio next door was the site of the Fujiwara Group’s commercial shooting where the devil doll was headed.

Of course, it couldn’t be a coincidence.

◇ ◇ ◇

「Hahaha! I’ve got a feeling that it might be better if I just stay like this..」

「You mean no one can see you?」

「Yes, as long as Fu~min can see me, I’m fine with the rest. Then we can spend all the time making out」

Fujiwara-san smiles happily as she sits on my lap.

Currently, we are on the bullet train to Tokyo taking the green(1st) car(class) that Chihiro had arranged for us.

Fujiwara-san is wearing a lemon yellow bikini bra and denim hot pants in California girl style, as if she enjoyed being in a swimsuit.

Although there is no need for her to sit on my lap since the green(1st) car(class) was empty in the morning and there is no one sitting next to me, she doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere.

（In a way, wearing a tight bikini on her poor breasts is a crime…）

Looking down at her breasts over her shoulder from behind. There is hardly any cleavage.

I have to admit that bikinis with big breast are good, but bikinis with poor breast is a different genre.

This is a very good thing.

While I was paying attention to my thing, which was about to become hard, Fujiwara-san’s voice suddenly can be heard.

「Anyway, Fu~min… are you sure about this? Isn’t there something suspicious about it?」

「It’s okay, they said they will clear my suspicions, and they will pay me」

「Well then, after the shooting, let’s stay over and go to a theme park in Chiba together!」

「…I don’t feel like it. Think about it. Fujiwara-san is invisible to other people, so you can imagine how I’ll look like if we go to a theme park」

「Oh… I see… I guess you’re right」

To tell you the truth, I had a hard time deciding whether or not to take Fujiwara-san with me. If I left her behind, I could go back to Tokyo in an instant.

But it’s not impossible that she might be attacked while I’m gone, and if I’m lucky, I might be able to destroy the devil doll today and regain her presence.

Fujiwara-san, recently has been hanging around in front of Mom(Kaa-san) and Dad(To-san) in her swimsuit, taking advantage of her invisibility.

It would be a disaster if Fujiwara-san wandered around the house in a swimsuit, thinking she was invisible, at the time she regained her existence. Thinking of that, I can’t leave her at home.

（Though, If I took her with me, there would be no problem…）