Tricks

And off they were for town. Where they planned on going, nobody knew. This fact made Kouji realize how hasty he was in coming up with the idea. He was just so desperate to try and move on from Himawari, that he wasn't even sure on how to go about it.

Perhaps he should try something new with everyone. That would certainly aid in the process, but what was there for them to do? He had already been to the arcade, good eateries, shopping for clothes. What else did this town have to offer? That was something he had a hard time coming up with.

"Hey, hey." Waa took him by the hand. "We should go there." She pointed over to a stage where a fair sized crowd was gathering. There was to be a magical show with a magician about to begin. Well, he wasn't into cheap parlor tricks, but it wasn't as if anyone else was coming up with anything special.

So she dragged him along. Of course in her mind this was supposed to be cute. A girl like her excited and taking a boy with her to see a fun event. Not many people would necessarily assume this to be a romantic gesture, but they might also think it was so cute they'd root for her. Kouji didn't really see it that way as he planted his feet to the ground. Her small size was unable to forcefully move his much larger frame.

"I can walk on my own." He informed her. "Besides, I only let Anastasia do it because she's… Peppy."

"Okay…" She was disappointed and didn't want to see the look on the other two girl's faces. Teru was certainly reveling her embarrassment in this moment. That was so unfair, Anastasia wasn't even in his harem, why the preferential treatment?

"Magic seems very interesting." The Russian girl was the most excited out of the bunch. "How do you think they pull off such wonderful feats?"

"It's just some subtle tricks that they pull out of view." Teru explained in a manner to kill the fun. "Obviously it's not real magic."

"But I already know that." She replied. "I am actually more impressed with how they hide it from the audience." Trying to figure out the trick without being told it by the magician was more fun to her anyway.

"Who cares about that, I just want to see some flashy moves." Waa settled them down into the crowd as they stood there waiting for the show to being.

They didn't have to wait long for things to start off with a bang, literally. There was a flash of light that blew up in the middle of the stage, For a moment, it blinded Kouji. When he regained sight, there was a man standing in the middle wearing a face mask to guard his identity.

"Guess that'll protect him if he ever gets booed off stage." Waa remarked. The show continued on with the man doing some simple tricks at first. Easy things that plenty of people could do, but this was only to get the crowd warmed up for the bigger show at hand.

That being something the required a member of the audience to come on stage to be a part of the act. In an arrogant manner, he pointed randomly onto the audience, with his finger landing on one certain girl.

"I'd like this young lady to come up please." This man had selected Yuma out of everyone from this crowd. Everyone's eyes fell onto her and her group of friends.

"...Me?" Yuma asked out after a short pause.

"Yes you." He answered. "Now come onto the stage." There was a long pause with everyone watching them. Kouji felt rather uncomfortable with all the staring. Why did that man have to choose this girl of all people?

"...I suppose… I can." She finally spoke up as she walked up to the man. They were all worried for her, since anything can happen on stage. She wasn't known for her reaction time, nor her ability to take orders in a timely manner. Hopefully that wouldn't take this magician off on his timing.

"Please everyone, give this nice young lady a round of applause for coming here today." They did what was asked as he set up his little box. "Now for the trick today, I believe you'll all be liking this." It appeared that he gave a wink towards Kouji specifically. For a second he was certain that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Unless there was something that man was privy to that he wasn't aware of.

Now, my lovely assistant will be going into this box right here." He directed her inside. They were all expecting this. A setup like this most assuredly was going to make this girl disappear. Though the reality was that there must be a hole at the bottom for their friend to make her leave with. "Now, I will shrink this box."

That was a little different. More so than they would've though as he collapsed the box that Yuma was in down to a size more capable of someone to hold in their arms. Still, she probably left before that occurred anyway. "Now, catch!" Suddenly, he threw the smaller box right Kouji.

This confused the boy, what was he supposed to do with it? "How about you ask if your little girl friend is all right?'

"S-she's not my… Never mind." There was little point in denying the truth, but this was probably why this man winked at him earlier. "Um, are you all right, Yuma?" Nervously, he spoke to the box with everyone looking at him. This all seemed so stupid as nothing happened for a painfully long 10 seconds.

"I'm… Fine." Surprisingly there was a response coming right from the box itself. That shook them all, how was that happening? It didn't sound like it was coming from some sound box. Her voice was very natural, even if a little muffled. "It's kind of tight… In here."

"And now we set the girl free." With a snap of his fingers, the box in Kouji's arms exploded. The next thing he knew, there were bits of wood on the ground, and Yuma was no being princess carried in his arms. "Thank you everyone." The magician bowed out, leaving the audience in awe of his tricks.

"How did he do that?" He asked her, still holding the girl in his arms.

"That's… A secret." Of course that was her response, and she had a little more to add to it. "But… I'll give you this…" The girl boldly landed a kiss onto his cheek. There was no fear from her with the crowd that had their attention on them from the trick. Kouji blushed in embarrassment, and fear from the others. The others immediately got jealous of her actions and told her to get off of him already.

"Why did you do that?" Anastasia asked with worry while the other two were scolding Kouji. "Have you already?"

"The magician... told me to do it… For show." That was indeed whispered to her by the man who had his own methods of finding the right people to pull tricks on. "Would you want to… Do the same thing?"

"…" She gave off a startled look and rushed the girl to cover her mouth. "Do not say something like that so loud." A look over towards Kouji showed that he had no way of hearing it, since he was getting an earful from Teru. "But I wish I could steal just one kiss."

"Now that we got that out of the way." Kouji got back his composure and they all grouped up. "We should all find something else to do."

"Ooh, Hasua is around here too." Anastasia commented while checking her phone, much to his bewilderment.

"And how do you know that?"

"Probably because we all follow her on QuickGram." Waa answered for her. They all pulled out their phones to show him. "You don't?"

"I don't use any of those websites." He answered. The boy couldn't either considering his cheap old phone couldn't download any of those apps, and he didn't have a computer either. "But what did she post?" Anastasia held up her phone to reveal a post by the girl. She was sitting at a table with a smoothie while also holding up another person's hand by her side in a selfie. It read, 'Hanging out, but my friend's a little shy.'

"Maybe we should go seek her out too?" She asked.

"No." His answer was quick and sudden. "It's because she's there." He pointed out the arm of the other person with the girl.

"And that… Would be?" Yuma asked.

"It's Himawari." It didn't make any sense to them until he pointed out a mole on the ring finger. "She's the only person I know with something like that."

"Surely that could just be one of her friends with the same thing." Waa tried to explain it off, but that hand did remind her of the girl.

"Let's not take the risk, okay?" It was decided by him that they would not look for this girl. There were hopefully better things to do instead anyway.