Chikage Utsuki/Magician of Mirages

The Value of Magic

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Colleague A	Can you please reschedule the meeting with Company S tomorrow to 2 PM?
Chikage	What's the matter?
Colleague A	I have another meeting... Sorry for not telling you sooner.
Chikage	Aah, is that so. I don't mind as long as the other party has no problem with it.
Colleague A	Thank you very much.
Colleague B	The last presentation was very well-received. As expected of Chigasaki.
Itaru	All thanks to my senior's advice.
Section Chief	I'll give you feedback later, so can you stay behind in the meeting room?
Itaru	Understood.
Chikage	...
Itaru	...
Chikage	Good work.
Itaru	You too.
Chikage	You and your feigned innocence as always.
Itaru	Senpai too, you're acting very senior-like.
Chikage	I guess so.
Togawa	Ah, Chigasaki-kun.
Itaru	—Yes.
Togawa	The performance during the bride event was really great. Thank you again to your troupe members.
Chikage	...
Togawa	Come to think of it, it seems that Utsuki-kun wasn't there at the time.
Chikage	I had another matter to attend to, sorry about that.
Itaru	Another matter, huh...
Chikage	What?
Itaru	Nah.
Togawa	Speaking of which, Chigasaki-kun, you did magic tricks at the year-end party, didn't you?
Itaru	Weeell—, yeah.
Togawa	To be honest, I wanted to ask for your help regarding that.
Chikage	Well then, I'm out—.
Itaru	Utsuki-san, he hasn't finished talking yet, so please wait a little longer.
Chikage	...
Itaru	...
Chikage	You... Did you forget that you owe me that one time?
Itaru	Are you going to abandon your cute junior in the middle of a crisis? You're a good senior, aren't you?
Chikage	You're the senior over at Mankai.
Itaru	If we're talking about the Spring Troupe, aren't you more like my father? Your son might be in a pinch, you know.
Togawa	Is something wrong?
Itaru	No, nothing.
Togawa	I see. So, the thing I wanted to ask is—.

Chikage	...And that's how it is.
Itaru	Hmmm... I see. It's a trick of a so-called scammer or pickpocket.
Chikage	Is that how you talk to someone who's teaching you?
Izumi	?
	(What are they up to?)
	What are you guys doing?
Itaru	My boss asked me to practice magic.
Izumi	Boss? Magic???
Chikage	The employees' children will visit the company during Family Day and Chigasaki was asked to do magic for the children during breaks.
Itaru	Yet this person is running away again.
Chikage	As I said, is that how you act to your teacher?
Izumi	What kind of magic are you teaching him?
Itaru	He was just teaching me how to handle playing cards. It's called Flourish—.
Chikage	It's the perfect chance to show what you practiced.
Itaru	I'm still practicing, so please give us an example.
Chikage	You can do this much easily.
Itaru	Don't lump me together with a potential scammer.
Chikage	You... Good grief.
	...
Izumi	Wahh...!
	(Wow! He's just shuffling it, but it looks like the cards are jumping around!)
Chikage	Even if the trick is simple, it'll look better if you do it like this.
Izumi	That seems difficult...
Itaru	I can't do it.
Chikage	That's why I'm going through all the trouble of showing you how.
	...Yes, please pick any card you like from these.
Izumi	Ah, this is the one where you guess the card!
	(This is sure to make children happy!)
	Then... I'll pick this card!
Chikage	Then, I'm going to turn around, make sure I can't see it.
Izumi	(An ace of diamonds...)
Itaru	Confirmed.
Chikage	Put the card back together wherever you like.
Izumi	(Is it even possible to guess a card that you don't know the position of...)
	I did it.
Chikage	Then, shuffle this well...
Izumi	...
Chikage	Turn over the top card.
Izumi	...Eh?! An ace of hearts?
	(Did he mess up?)
Chikage	Look inside your pocket.
Izumi	?
	What?! Before I knew it there's a card here?! Moreover, it's the ace of diamonds!
Chikage	Did I get it right?
Izumi	Yes! Wow, that's amazing! Before I knew it...
Itaru	Well done.
Izumi	Itaru-san, can you also do this?!
Itaru	No, not in the slightest, ask for something easier.
Chikage	It'll be manageable if you keep practicing.
Itaru	Not at that level.
Izumi	(I don't even know how he did it... As usual, Chikage-san's magic is amazing.)
	(But why is Chikage-san so good at magic tricks?)
Chikage	I'll do it again slowly, so take a good look.
Itaru	I don't think I can.
Chikage	Do it.
Izumi	(I guess I'll ask about it some other time. Let's bring them some tea for now.)
	Please do your best.

Itaru	Haa—... I'm tired.
Chikage	Good work. I went to see you in the middle of it and there was a really long line.
Itaru	Thanks to you... The magic trick that senpai taught me was really popular with the kids.
Chikage	It was amusing to see you surrounded by children and performing magic tricks.
Itaru	Naturally, the boss' kid was there after all.
	Well, it was worth the practice. Seeing the children's smiles was really refreshing.
Chikage	Hee...
August	Yes, this is a bonus.
Kid	Thank you, Misha!
April	If you keep giving out bonuses, the store will close soon, you know.
August	I like doing it, so I can give them as much as I want.
April	That's exactly why the store is about to go bankrupt. You're a mysterious one.
August	April, are you hungry? What do you want to eat?
April	I don't think there's anything I like here. Unlike a certain person.
August	Haha, that's true. Speaking of which, December looked after the store the other day.
April	I bet his goal was to secretly eat the sweets.
August	The part-time job's payment is the sweets.
April	That guy's so cheap.
Quiet Boy	...
August	Welcome, Kiril. What's for today?
Kiril	...
August	This? This one's delicious.
	Here you go. This is a bonus. Go eat over there.
Kiril	...
April	Is that the child you were talking about before?
August	Yes. I asked around and I heard that his family died, it looks like he was left at an orphanage.
	No one has ever seen Kiril laugh. It seems that he's always alone.
Kiril	...
August	April, can't you do something that'll cheer him up?
April	Do you think I work as a clown or something?
August	I was thinking that if it's you then maybe you could do it.
April	That's a terrible way of dealing with something.
August	For example, yes...magic tricks.
April	I've never done that sort of thing.
August	You can do it since your hands are dexterous, I think you'll be good at it.
April	Am I suitable for this...
August	It's fine to just try a little. Maybe he'll at least be surprised.
April	...Jeez, fine. I'll do it. Don't blame me if he shows no reaction, okay?
	I'm taking this candy.
August	Go ahead.
April	Kiril.
Kiril	?
April	Which hand do you think it's in, right or left?
Kiril	...
April	Wrong.
Kiril	...
April	Wrong again.
Kiril	...
April	Look inside your chest pocket.
Kiril	?!
August	Wow! It's real magic!
Kiril	——.
August	That one's also a bonus. Take it.
Kiril	...
April	...He's smiling.
August	You're amazing, April! With enough practice you can be a magician!
April	Now you're just flattering me...
August	Thanks to you, I could see that child's smile for the first time.
April	Don't thank me, isn't it thanks to that candy?
August	That's not true! Because—.
Chikage	...It seems that magic tricks exist to make people smile.
Itaru	Eh?
Chikage	Nothing.
Itaru	Senpai smiling because of someone... I just got the chills.
Chikage	I can hear you, you know, stop saying it. In the first place, what's with your attitude to someone you owe twice?
Itaru	I'm grateful to you. Please help me out again in the future.
Chikage	Don't ask for my help.

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