Chapter 217: Singing
also, the person's methods were clumsy and amateurish. Lisa quickly assessed that they lacked any professional training, which meant they were almost certainly unaffiliated with the FBI or the Black Organization. With that in mind, she decided against immediate action. There was no need to shatter the cheerful mood of their outing over a minor annoyance.
She would simply inform Ran and the others after their karaoke session was over. Then, she could apprehend the individual and hand them over to the police. Let the professionals handle the interrogation and uncover the reason for the stalking. That way, there would be no loose ends.
Inside the private karaoke room, the music swelled.
"Determined to walk this path unyieldingly..." Conan belted out, his voice a cacophony of misplaced notes and strained enthusiasm.
Sonoko and Ran could only stare, their eyes wide and blank. It felt as if their very sanity was being sandblasted away by the sheer auditory chaos emanating from the small boy.
Beside them, even Lisa's composed expression wavered with a hint of disbelief. She knew Conan was famously tone-deaf and had steeled herself for something unpleasant.
But she truly hadn't anticipated this. It wasn't just unpleasant; it was a sonic assault.
If her life were a video game, she could almost see a health bar materializing above her head, steadily depleting with every syllable Conan sang with such misplaced passion. This wasn't singing; it was a biological weapon.
The moment Conan finally, mercifully, finished his verse, Sonoko lunged forward and snatched the microphone from his hand. "Honestly, this little brat is so inconsiderate," she declared grandly, striking a pose. "You've been hogging the mic for so long, and Sister Lisa hasn't even sung a single song yet! She's about to leave; don't you have any manners?"
"Um..." Conan was left speechless.
He shot Sonoko a deadpan stare, his eyes narrowing into weary crescents. Seriously? I sang one verse of one song before you ripped the mic away. Who's the one who's been singing this whole time?
Sonoko, oblivious, presented the microphone to Lisa with a flourish. "Sister Lisa, don't be a stranger! What song do you want to sing? I'll queue it up for you."
Ran nodded in enthusiastic agreement, her gaze warm and encouraging.
Lisa gently rubbed her temples, trying to coax her brain to recover from the musical torture it had just endured. She looked at the offered microphone, considered it for a moment, and then shook her head with a polite smile. "I think I'll pass. I'm not very familiar with the songs here. Besides, listening to my cute sisters sing is a treat in itself."
She paused, a wry glint in her eyes, and couldn't resist adding, "Of course, certain forms of torturous music are an exception."
Conan felt a prickle of indignation as he saw both Sonoko and Ran instinctively glance his way, their lips twitching to suppress their laughter.
Hey! he thought. Is my singing really that bad? It actually made Lisa—a woman who has maintained her composure through everything, whose expression has almost never cracked since we met—unable to resist taking a jab at me.
"No way! You can't come to karaoke and not sing a single song," Sonoko insisted, refusing to take no for an answer. "Sister Lisa, you can just sing something you know. A cappella is fine, too!" She was determined to hear Lisa sing, or the entire trip would feel like a waste.
"Well then," Lisa relented with a soft chuckle, "I suppose I can't let my cute sisters be disappointed." She gracefully accepted the microphone from Sonoko's hand.
Having secured her victory, Sonoko immediately rounded on her next target. "And you too, Eisuke," she said, her voice laced with mild dissatisfaction. "Don't just sit there clapping like a seal. You need to get up and sing one eventually. Surely you don't have the same excuse as Lisa, right?"
"Ah... well, Miss Lisa is already getting ready," Eisuke Hondou stammered, his expression conflicted as he met Sonoko's demanding gaze. He clearly didn't know how to refuse. Seeing Lisa raise the microphone out of the corner of his eye, he quickly seized the opportunity. "Let's listen to her sing first! I'll go later."
"This is a tune I learned from a few of my seniors," Lisa explained briefly before she began. Then, a gentle, clear voice filled the room, weaving a soft melody. "...Palms spread and stacked... picked from high mountains, Dandelion Wine... Dango Milk, Lotus Flower Crisp..."
She sang the slightly playful and cheerful song with an effortless grace. Far from being out of place, her gentle voice lent the unfamiliar tune a unique and captivating charm.
The room immediately fell silent. Everyone listened, entranced, to the song they had never heard before.
Only Conan's mind was racing as he parsed the lyrics. 'Dandelion Wine'… that has to be the specialty from the Dawn Winery. So this song is related to Mondstadt.
'Lotus Flower Crisp'... Xiangling made that for me and the Detective Boys before. That connects it to her and the Liyue group.
But 'Dango Milk'... I've never heard Xiangling or Klee mention that. It probably has nothing to do with them. He deduced it must be related to another faction within Teyvat, he just didn't know which Vision they carried.
But such a lighthearted song… he mused. Just who are these 'seniors' who would sing something like this?
When Lisa finished, the room erupted in applause from Sonoko, Ran, and Eisuke.
"That was so beautiful!" Sonoko praised, before immediately turning back to Eisuke, her eyes narrowed with renewed purpose. "Alright, Eisuke. Now it's your turn."
"Ah—I, uh, need to go to the bathroom!" he blurted out. Without another word, he shot up, threw open the door to their room, and practically fled down the hallway.
Sonoko was left standing with her arms crossed, a pout of dissatisfaction on her face. She silently vowed that she would make Eisuke Hondou sing a song today, no matter what it took.
Though they were now one person short, it did little to dampen Sonoko and Ran's singing enthusiasm.
After a while, Lisa noticed that Eisuke still hadn't returned. Since she needed to use the restroom herself, she decided to leave the room and see if she could find him.
As she was exiting the women's restroom, Lisa happened to see Eisuke leaving the men's room and heading back toward their karaoke booth.
She was about to call out to him when she watched him clumsily push open the door to the room right next to theirs. A second later, he recoiled, scrambling away from the doorway as if he had just witnessed something utterly terrifying.
"Eisuke, are you alright?"
Lisa hurried to his side. As she approached, she took the opportunity to glance into the other room just before the door swung shut. All she saw were two people, likely a couple, who had hastily separated at the sudden intrusion. Other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
What on earth could he have seen that would provoke such a reaction?
Eisuke swallowed hard, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The sight of a familiar face seemed to ground him, and the sheer panic in his eyes began to recede.
He paused, collecting himself. "I-I'm okay."
Lisa's brow furrowed with concern. "Eisuke, what did you see? Why did you react like that?"
"It's nothing," he insisted, shaking his head. He couldn't bring himself to tell her what he had just seen. Honestly, he felt it was better if she didn't know.
"Was there anyone in there besides a couple making out?" Lisa asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Eh?! Lisa, you saw it?!" Eisuke's eyes widened in shock, unable to comprehend how she could remain so calm after witnessing that scene.
"It was just a couple being affectionate. Why are you so frightened?" Lisa frowned. She found it bizarre that he would be so scared. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"But, but in there it was..." Eisuke stammered, hesitant to even say the words. His voice grew progressively louder until he was almost shouting. "It was two… two men making out!"
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