"Don't be so anxious—I already have a rough plan. But I'll need your help. After all, we don't even know where that person is being held." Seeing the others stand up, Tohka hurried to calm them down. Honestly, they didn't even know where Nia Honjo was. The ocean was so vast—was she supposed to comb through every inch of it?
"Then what do you propose—wait, you said DEM? No wonder you hit so hard back on the island." Hearing Tohka's words, Kaguya sat back down, then seemed to remember that ship Tohka had shot down. Even though she'd been in the middle of fighting herself, she'd been startled by the massive commotion Tohka caused. Later, she'd heard the details from Ratatoskr, and she was a bit impressed by Tohka's methods.
"Hmph, you don't show mercy to those kinds of people." Tohka snorted coldly at Kaguya's comment. Then she looked around at everyone and slowly said, "What I'm thinking is this—this—and this..."
"Hey—isn't this kind of dangerous?" After hearing the whole plan, Miku was visibly startled and looked worried. In her opinion, Tohka's approach sounded reckless.
"It's fine, it's fine—don't worry." Tohka just waved her hand dismissively at Miku's concern. She had confidence in herself—there wouldn't be any real danger.
"Hello, ladies? Your food is ready—may I come in?" But just then, there was a knock at the door. The meals Tohka had ordered earlier were apparently ready to be served.
"It's fine, come on in!" The moment she heard the voice—and smelled the delicious aroma—Tohka tossed her previous worries straight out of her mind and told them to bring everything in. She didn't stand on ceremony and immediately picked up her chopsticks to dig in.
"..." Watching Tohka happily munching away, Miku and the others could only exchange a helpless look. Finally, they picked up their own chopsticks too. If Tohka wasn't worried, there was no point in pressing the issue now.
Chomp, chomp, chomp. With her mouth full, Tohka turned to look at Miku beside her and asked curiously, "By the way, weren't you in the middle of your concert tour? Now that you're back, are you going to hold one here too?"
"Mm, yes." Miku set down her utensils and looked back at Tohka. After a moment's thought, she continued, "I was planning to hold a concert here. After all, this is where everything started, isn't it? Of course, I'd want to perform here at least once. Oh—Tohka, why don't you come on stage with me?"
"Um—no, I think I'll pass. Did you forget what happened last time? My singing was truly awful." Tohka shook her head immediately. She had no desire to get involved in a concert. Who knew if she'd freeze up? That would be the most embarrassing thing ever. Even if she wasn't as much of a public figure here as in the other world, she didn't want to risk humiliating herself. If she messed up, Miku would be the one who had to suffer.
"You can't sing?" Miku rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Come on—you can't expect me to buy that. You weren't terrible at first. It was only later that you started deliberately going off-key. You were just worried about making the agency look bad. I didn't call you out back then. But here—what are you afraid of? Don't think I don't know your tricks."
"N-no—that's nonsense. I really can't sing, okay? Think about it—have you ever heard me sing properly?" Tohka started stammering, clearly feeling guilty under Miku's stare.
"Heh—tell me, have you ever seen someone sing and have literally every note be out of tune? If that's truly natural, you're some kind of prodigy." Miku narrowed her eyes into dead-fish mode, watching Tohka squirm. As if she'd believe that story—back then, Tohka's performance had been so chaotic it had taken her a while to realize it wasn't an accident. But thinking about it later, she'd realized it was too suspicious.
"I—uh—come on. Look at the Roman emperor—she couldn't sing either, you know! At least I have the self-awareness to admit it." Under Miku's penetrating gaze, Tohka's scalp tingled. She blurted out the first excuse she could think of. After all, that woman's singing was infamous—like a dragon's screech.
"Heh—what do you two think? Don't you want to hear Tohka sing too?" Miku ignored her nonsense about Roman emperors and turned to Kaguya and Yuzuru, who were watching like they were enjoying a comedy show. "Wouldn't it be fun to have her join me?"
"That sounds great—I'd love to see Tohka do it!" Kaguya didn't hesitate in the slightest. She was here to watch the spectacle, after all—and there was no downside to throwing Tohka under the bus. The bigger the commotion, the better.
"Agreement. Since Miss Miku has invited you, Tohka, you absolutely cannot disappoint us." Yuzuru's voice followed right on Kaguya's heels. Tohka nearly coughed up blood. These two sisters—weren't they just fighting each other to the death the other day? Now they were suddenly united against her?
"Oh my, darling—see? There's no point resisting. Just accept your fate." Smiling brightly, Miku wasted no time twisting the knife in further.
"You're all conspiring to torment me!" Tohka yelled miserably. Then she gave up and shoved more food into her mouth, channeling her despair into eating.
"Hahahaha!" Seeing her defeated expression, all of them—including Miku—burst out laughing. To be fair, Tohka's reaction was genuinely hilarious.