Ryan's steady Ten was more than enough to confirm Ronin's earlier guess. The man was definitely a Nen user.
Ronin's three-tomoe Sharingan studied the shape and flow of the aura around Ryan's body in detail. The Sharingan handled the raw observation, but the real analysis came from the conditions Shurikov had laid out in the manga.
To Ronin, Ryan's Ten formed a noticeably larger aura circle than an average person's. The difference was tiny, yet it was enough for him to immediately slot Ryan into the Emission or Manipulation category.
Narrowing it down further between the two was trickier.
Ryan's aura spread evenly, which meant he probably wasn't leaning toward Enhancement. The most likely scenario was that he trained both Emission and Manipulation together.
If he leaned more toward Manipulation, there would usually be some Conjuration traits mixed in, but Ronin couldn't spot any special items on him.
Of course, all of this assumed the Grasse family actually knew about Nen and had trained in it properly. With random people, the readings could easily go wrong.
Ronin pulled his gaze away from Ryan and swept the rest of the theater. The number of hidden Nen users really was higher than expected.
"Something feels off," Kurapika muttered.
"What do you mean?" Ronin sat up straighter. Shizuku leaned in closer too, while Neon's attention stayed glued to the stage.
"There are way too many Nen users working security," Kurapika said quietly. "It doesn't feel like protection. It feels more like they're locking the whole place down."
"You think they're here for us?" Ronin asked the real question.
His eyes tracked the guards, especially their positions. They were mostly clustered around Ryan's VIP box, but every exit in the theater had at least one Nen user stationed at it.
That brought the total to over six Nen users from the Grasse family alone. Nen users weren't exactly common.
Even if V5 and Kakin had whole squads of them, the Grasse clan was nothing compared to those nations. For this many to be packed into one small theater, they had to be planning something serious.
Kurapika shook his head. He had tried contacting Ryan, but never under his real name.
Since the moment they walked in, neither Ryan nor the guards had paid them any special attention. They were just another group in the crowd.
"If they're not here for us, then they must be targeting the freak-show troupe," Neon said. "I'm getting the same vibe from Ryan that I get from other collectors."
"What do you mean?" Ronin asked.
"For people who collect human organs, every performer on that stage is a living masterpiece. Kill them and you get one-of-a-kind pieces," Neon said flatly. "It's a pretty low-class way to collect, though. The kind newbies go for."
"I seem to remember you getting pretty excited when I brought you those shadow-beast wings," Ronin teased.
Neon shot him a glare. "That's completely different. Those were wings. Actual wings!"
"Bat wings," Ronin added.
"Still wings," Neon insisted.
Kurapika steered them back on track. "So you're saying Ryan invited the freak-show troupe just to go after them?"
"Exactly." Neon nodded firmly. "And if I'm right, there's only one way we're getting the Scarlet Eyes back from him."
She didn't need to spell it out. Everyone understood.
"I'm good with that," Ronin said immediately.
If Neon's hunch was correct, Ryan was basically handing Kurapika the perfect opening on a silver platter. Otherwise Kurapika might have hesitated.
Kurapika scanned the theater, then gave a decisive nod. "I'm in too. The second Ryan's people make a move on the troupe, Ronin takes him down. Neon and I will back up the performers."
Kurapika's fingers brushed the divination poem in his pocket. The lines promised they would find what they needed here and meet someone useful to the team.
He wasn't worried about Ronin failing to snatch the Scarlet Eyes. What really interested him was that "useful person." Their current crew already covered most bases. Whoever showed up next had to bring something special—either a strong ability or critical intel.
While investigating Ryan, Kurapika had focused more on the people around him than Ryan himself. The poem had made it clear the Scarlet Eyes holder and the useful person were two different people. But he hadn't found anyone standout among Ryan's circle.
Now it looked like the real twist might come from the freak-show troupe itself.
Kurapika turned his attention to the stage just as the lights shifted at the top of the hour.
The warm-up clown rolled off on his unicycle.
In his place stood a beautifully made-up girl with two heads. She wasn't using Nen to fake it—the extra head was completely real.
Both heads spoke at once, perfectly in sync, and smoothly laid out the story's background for the audience.
The girl walked forward with a sorrowful expression. White snow began falling across the stage, appearing out of thin air.
This was her fate. The villagers at the foot of the mountain saw the two-headed girl as a monster. Her very existence brought disasters down on them, even summoning a divine messenger to punish the entire village.
So the villagers decided to sacrifice her to the god's apostle.
Snowflakes drifted down from above, pushing the girl's despair and helplessness to the breaking point.
Then she suddenly stopped. She seemed to hear something. Her whole body trembled as a roar that didn't sound human at all tore through the howling wind and snow.