The poolside investigation begins with the pool.

Even though he felt he tended to luck into his investigation results, Shuichi did have a sort of process. First, he'd back up and gain a total view of the investigation area. Then, methodically, he'd consider the interesting points item by item, relying on both his own knowledge and the knowledge of others. If he were to consider the most interesting point of this scene... "Let's start with the pool itself. Himiko mentioned a 'poolside magic show,' and this pool looks pretty sinister. That said... if it was actually dangerous, I don't think Tenko would be expecting or allowing her to swim in it."

"Is that right?" Kokichi looked at Shuichi with a suspicious smile. "You're givin' her a lot of credit. You sure Tenko's that on-top of this situation?"

"Well, besides that, if it was, um... poison or acid, something like that, Himiko probably would have used that in her pitch. Instead of surviving her swim, there must be something amazing that's going to happen when she swims in it. Some kind of surprise. Now that I think about it... Himiko told me 'If you stay and watch until the end, you'll see me in a teeny bikini...'"

"And you were into that, huh?! Anyway, I thought you and Kaede were going out!"

"I already said I agreed before that! This is like my third time saying it. And we're not! K-Kaede has nothing to do with this," Shuichi complained in a high-pitched voice, waving his hands defensively. He cleared his throat and regained his composure. "Anyway, with that in mind, I have a pretty good idea of what's in this pool... I bet I don't even need to say anything about it, do I? With the incidents going on all around school, a prankster like you is definitely already familiar with this chemical."

"Huh... There were some kinds of incidents? But the school board said everything was normal and peaceful..." Kokichi made a nervous face, suddenly seeming scared. "I-is somethin' happenin' we gotta worry about, Shuichi?"

"No, and you know it. You and I don't have to worry about it, because it's happening almost exclusively to girls. Anyway, I have a pretty good guess as to how Himiko would use this chemical to change outfits in the middle of a swim. The only problem is... it definitely isn't supposed to look like this. The whole point of it is it's supposed to be invisible: if it was, once it did what it's supposed to, Himiko would be able to claim she'd done it with magic, no problem."

"Well, I feel lots better now that I know it's nothing you or I need to worry about. Still, geez, Shuichi! I feel sorry for poor Himiko. You took apart that magic she worked so hard on with no remorse!"

"Well, whether it's really magic or not, it would have been impressive to see. A real feat. But... there's no way she was planning to swim in this, right? Instead of clear water, it looks like slime... I don't think it can hurt her, but I really don't know what it's capable of when it's in this state."

"Okay. The whole trick's blown open, but is there anything else interesting to investigate?"

"Hm..." Shuichi scanned around. He noticed something... decided to skip over it... and kept going. "I guess... the next most obvious thing is the curtain-"

"Ignoring that," Kokichi asked, holding back a giggle. "How about you, Kee-boy? Notice anything else interesting we should comment on? Especially concerning the missing magician."

K1-B0 had been sitting at the audience bench, his eyes looking strangely glassy as he focused on a certain point. The way the curtain had been set up had blocked their view between it and the girl's locker room when they first arrived, but from any view alongside the pool, what the robot was looking at would be readily apparent. "My apologies. I was asked to record the show, so unlike some lazy, technologically-inferior gadgets some people might have brought, I've been fulfilling my purpose without being told. I'm recording the show."

"Hahaha! I see it now! I can't believe you missed something like that, Detective!"

The detective bit his lip. He'd intended to bring about hope with an omission of truth in this case. Unfortunately, that truth was already apparent. What the three of them were seeing... definitely wasn't supposed to be part of the magic act.

For just a second, Himiko's tiptoeing body in a long, white t-shirt could be seen entering the women's locker room. Now, anyone who cared to look could see Tenko in her tiny bikini tiptoeing in that same direction, with the exaggerated motions of someone trying to imitate how they'd seen it done on TV.

"So, buddy... are you gonna tell us how that fits into your theory?" Kokichi looked at Shuichi with a smirk.

"... I have a feeling if we wait a moment, that's going to become clear, anyway. As to whether we're going to see a magic show..." Shuichi crossed his arms in front of his chest, frowning. "I kinda hope we aren't, now."

"Eeeh... That's kinda boring. Not what I expected from you, honestly... Hey, Kee-boy, show us what happens if a robot falls into this stuff!"

Shuichi ignored the horseplay of the other two and watched Tenko sneaking away with concern. Should he step in and say something? If he did, the magic show would probably be canceled... The detective stared harder at the martial artist's bodacious body crammed into a tiny swimsuit... He thought of Himiko in a similar outfit, which he hadn't yet seen...

Sometimes, concealing the truth was the path towards hope. For the sake of a certain hope he held deep inside himself, even though it felt wrong, he decided to conceal his truth.