A rational plan, becoming of a detective.

In spite of his own embarrassment and his own humility regarding his skills, Shuichi's detective brain tended to work in overtime when he was in a pinch. The Ultimate Detective formulated a plan based on the information he had available:

First... Despite being relatively heroic, he was really not that strong. He had a pretty feminine build without a lot of muscle, despite his buddy Kaito's constant attempts to try and get him to exercise. There was no way he would be able to drag both girls' bodies back to safety.

Second... Himiko might be in trouble, but on the other hand, he could still see bubbles coming from where the green shape that was apparently her body floated on the surface of the water. At the very least, she wasn't dead.

Third... Tenko couldn't swim, but she had crazy energy and strength. While she obviously wasn't calm and collected, she didn't seem in danger of dying. In a pinch, maybe that crazy Neo-Aikido of hers could save her? Was that too much to hope for?

In any case, the choice was clear. He would need to save Himiko first, then figure out what to do about Tenko in the meantime. Without another thought, Shuichi grimaced, took another deep breath, prayed that his understanding that this compound was only gross and not dangerous to humans was correct, then began cutting his way through the goop in a stroke towards Himiko's face-down body.

Once he reached it, he easily managed to float in place... It was even easier than if it had been a regular pool, actually, since this goop gave him some suspension. He stared at the goopy blob of girl in front of him. "What... am I supposed to do now? Well, if the bubbles are there, that must be where here head is! So... I've just gotta grab her shoulders, and roll her over. Yeah..."

Now that his detective skills had convinced him the danger wasn't that serious, the reality of what was happening here began to hit him. Sure enough... when he reached out and grabbed Himiko's shoulders, he wasn't surprised to feel that underneath the slime, her shoulders were fully bare, with no fabric between her skin and his touch at all. Just as his brain was processing that-

Shuichi nearly got a heart attack as Himiko rolled herself over and lay flat on her back. Her body and face were still completely covered in goop and basically unidentifiable. "Don't touch me, nyeh... Leave me here... I've given up... I've decided my life is over, nyeh. I'll never recover from this magic failure, at least not in this lifetime..."

"So you're okay! Thank goodness. If you're fine, swim back to the edge of the pool. I'll-"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm not swimming anywhere, nyeh... I'll stay right here until some cool magic mushrooms grow on me... Then, maybe I'll be good for some magic at least, nyeh..." True to her word, the girl remained completely still, floating in place.

"Himiko, Tenko's still in trouble!"

"Really wish I could do something about it, Shuichi... In the old days, I woulda just used my magic... Now, I'm just a failure, nyeh..." To the detective's frustration, Himiko actually rolled back over to float on her stomach.

Shuichi grit his teeth. The notoriously lazy magician had apparently resolved to just float in this gross pool until she died. Ordinarily, he'd try to talk with her until he could cheer her up... She wasn't exactly hard to read or manipulate, so it would probably be an easy task. There was no time for that now, though! Besides, Shuichi really wanted to avoid talking any more than he had to... Just a moment ago, a single drop of that goop got in his mouth, and he was pretty sure that was a taste he would never forget.