Ryan had a steady layer of Ten around him, which was enough to confirm that Ronin and the others' earlier guess had been correct: he was a Nen user.
Ronin's three-tomoe Sharingan carefully observed the shape and distribution of Ryan's Ten.
That level of detailed observation depended mainly on the Sharingan, but the actual analysis relied on some of the criteria Furykov had laid out in the manga.
In Ronin's view, the aura halo formed by Ryan's Ten was slightly larger than that of an ordinary person. The difference was extremely subtle, but it was enough for Ronin to classify him, at first glance, as someone in the Emitter or Manipulator category.
But telling which of those two he leaned toward more specifically was not so easy.
The aura halo of Ryan's Ten spread very evenly, which suggested he probably didn't favor Enhancement in his training. So the most likely possibility was that he trained in both Emission and Manipulation.
If he leaned more toward Manipulation, then there was a good chance there would be some Conjuration-like traits mixed in. But Ronin didn't notice any unusual object on Ryan.
Of course, all of these judgments were based on the assumption that the Glam Gas family knew about Nen, understood Nen, and had all studied it systematically.
Otherwise, if you applied the same reasoning to ordinary people, you could easily end up with a completely wrong conclusion, because they might just be training in a sloppy, random way.
Pulling his gaze back from Ryan, Ronin swept his eyes across the entire venue and realized there were quite a few hidden Nen users present.
"Something feels off," Kurapika said, seeming to notice it too.
"How so?" Ronin straightened up in his seat. Beside him, Shizuku leaned in a little closer, while Neon's attention was still almost entirely fixed on the stage.
"There are too many Nen users among the security staff," Kurapika said in a low voice. "Rather than security, it looks more like they're sealing off the entire theater."
"Could they be here for us?" Ronin asked the key question.
His eyes moved over those security personnel as well, paying particular attention to where they were standing.
Most of them were focused on protecting the area around Ryan, but it was also clear that every entrance and exit in the theater had someone stationed there who looked capable of using Nen.
By that count, the number of Nen users in charge of security for the Glam Gas family in this theater alone had already exceeded six.
Nen users were not cabbages growing by the roadside.
They had already speculated that V5 and Kakin might possess large numbers of Nen users, but that was because those were massive nations.
Compared to states like that, the Glam Gas family was nothing.
And yet so many Nen users had gathered in this small theater. If they really weren't planning anything, Ronin didn't buy it for a second.
Kurapika shook his head.
He had tried to contact Ryan before, but not under his real identity.
And from the moment they entered the theater, both Ryan's behavior and the behavior of the security staff had made one thing clear: they were not standing out here, and no one was paying them any special attention.
"If it's not aimed at us, then it can only be aimed at the freak show troupe," Neon said. "I can sense the aura of a fellow collector from Ryan."
"What do you mean?" Ronin asked, not quite getting it.
"To a collector of human organs, every performer in this show is a precious work of art. Because once you kill them, you can turn them into one-of-a-kind collectibles," Neon said coldly. "It's just that this kind of collecting is pretty low-level. It's the sort of thing beginners are most into."
"I remember you looked pretty happy when I got you those Shadow Beast wings a while back," Ronin said, stabbing her with that remark.
Neon shot him a glare. "That's different. Those were wings. Wings!"
"Bat wings," Ronin added.
"They were still wings," Neon insisted.
"Back to the point," Kurapika said, pulling the conversation back. "You mean Ryan has set his sights on the freak show troupe he invited here?"
"Exactly." Neon nodded heavily. "And if my guess is right, then there's only one way to take the Scarlet Eyes back from him."
She didn't say it outright, but everyone understood what she meant.
"I'm fine with that," Ronin volunteered immediately.
If Neon was right, then Ryan had practically handed Kurapika the perfect excuse himself.
Otherwise, if Ryan did nothing at all, Ronin had been worried Kurapika might hesitate.
But now?
Kurapika swept his gaze across the theater, then nodded solemnly. "I'm fine with it too. The moment Ryan's people make a move against the troupe, Ronin will strike Ryan immediately. I'll take Neon and support the troupe members."
Kurapika squeezed the prophecy poem in his pocket.
The contents of the poem told him that here, they would obtain what they needed and come into contact with someone useful.
Kurapika had no worries at all about whether Ronin could seize the Scarlet Eyes from Ryan. What truly concerned him was that so-called useful person.
He felt that their team composition was already quite solid. Every role was covered.
So in that case, if someone could still prove useful, then what kind of ability did that person have? Or what kind of information could they bring the team?
While investigating Ryan, Kurapika's real focus had never been on Ryan himself, but on the people around him.
The prophecy poem had allowed him to determine that the one holding the Scarlet Eyes and the one who would be useful to the team were not the same person.
But during his investigation of the people around Ryan, he hadn't found anyone particularly special.
Now it seemed the turning point might lie with the freak show troupe instead.
Kurapika also shifted his attention to the stage, where the lighting had already begun to change as the hour arrived.
The clown who had been warming up the crowd slowly withdrew.
Stepping onto the stage was a girl with elaborate stage makeup, exquisite and beautiful, yet so strange that it made people wonder if their eyes were playing tricks on them—a two-headed girl.
She truly had two heads. They were not heads disguised by Nen.
The two heads spoke independently, each saying different things, yet somehow they created a unique harmony, smoothly laying out the background of the story for everyone in the audience.
The girl moved forward in sorrow, and snow began to appear beneath her feet.
It emerged out of nowhere, as if by magic.
And this, too, was the girl's fate. In the village at the foot of the mountain, some people believed that a girl with two heads like her was a monster.
They believed her very existence had brought disaster to the village, even causing a divine messenger to descend and punish the villagers.
So the villagers prepared to offer the girl as a sacrifice to the gods' emissary.
Snowflakes began drifting down from above the stage, pushing the girl's misery, despair, and helplessness to their absolute peak.
And just then, the girl suddenly stopped in her tracks. As if she had heard something, her whole body began trembling violently—
and from within the wind and snow came a roar that did not sound human.
~~~
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