Thanks to Sharp-O, I most likely wouldn't have written this if he didn't lend a helping hand.
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Parts:
Part 1 (This Post)
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
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Blurb:
A world of intrigue, tricks and magic. How far will Hisao follow the rabbit? Will he fall into wonderland? How many times is he going to have his wallet lifted off him?
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Characters:
Ayumu Koharu - The messy magician. If she hasn't got a deck of cards in her hand then she's making coins disappear, eating lunch or sleeping. Ayumu had a seizure when she was younger, it debilitated almost all of her motor functions. One year into her rehabilitation the doctors suggested learning sleight of hand tricks to increase the motion in her fingers, she took this to heart and is now considered Yamaku's sole magician.
Images: Rika Shiguma from Haganai: Sharp-o did that art for this one!
Aki Chiyo - Energetic and Lighthearted, spends most of her time flirting or winding up the brothers. She also works a part time job that she only got because she's missing a leg, because of that she's usually the one that's forced to buy dinner for everyone else.
Images: Chiho Sasaki from 'the devil is a part timer'
Arata "The thick one" Taichi - The younger brother. He's convinced that he can beat Ayumu's record for most wallets lifted in a year so he can usually be found in detention. Nobody but Shin knows why Arata's in Yamaku, it's a card he's kept very close to his chest.
Images: Kurenai ouji from 'Crimson Prince'
Shin "The big one" Taichi - The older brother. He's the rep of his class and usually the one to walk his brother to the principals office. Even before the brothers met Ayumu, Arata was a troublemaker. Because he was being shipped off to a far away school, his parents used their influence and a fair amount of cash to have Shin transferred to Yamaku as well.
Images: Jin Mitaka from 'Sakurasou no Pet'
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Magician's Tricks!
"Roll up, Roll up!" The girl stands proudly with a comically large cape almost drowning her small frame. "If you can figure out my trick, then you can win a prize!" She announces, challenging any passerby who dare try their luck, however, nobody seems to care. Feeling a small amount of empathy, I stride up to the counter.
"Hey there." She greets, removing her leg from the chair and placing both hands on the table, leaning forward ominously.
"Afternoon." I return. "So I just have to figure out your trick, right?" I confirm, temporarily dazzled by the rather adorable tiny magicians hat placed on top of her rather unkempt brunette head.
"100 yen each time you want to see it." She smirks, a smirk that says "challenge me, I dare you." without saying a word.
"Deal." I thumb around in my pocket and find a spare coin, placing it into her palm before taking a seat opposite her. As we sit, she withdraws a deck of cards from the top pocket of her vest and begins shuffling them.
"Marked deck?" I quip, hoping to figure out the problem before it's presented, instead she grins and hands me the cards. Flicking through them shows no sign of tampering, so I cut the deck myself a few times for good measure.
"Pick out any card you like and remember it." She grins, re-entering her "show" mode with a loud and clear voice and over the top motions. Two of hearts. She takes the rest of the deck and shuffles it before separating it into three piles before asking me to place my card atop any of the piles. I go for the rightmost, and she nods to herself before combining the three stacks into one again. While slowly flipping the cards out of her hand and onto the table, she strikes up a conversion.
"So you're new around here?"
"That I am, how could you tell?" I return.
"You looked lost." She shrugs, temporarily stopping to begin a new stack of face up cards, stopping on the eight of diamonds.
"Lost?" I mirror, hoping to find some explanation.
"Everyone here has looked like that as some point." She chuckles weakly.
"Well I'm glad to know I'm not alone, at least..." My voice trails off as I begin to re-concentrate on the cards, the next one flipped over is the two of hearts, my card.
"You don't have to worry about that here, there is bound to be somebody willing to be friends with you." She giggles, still flipping over cards after starting a third pile. "Unless that's your problem... not being able to make friends?" Her giggle turns slightly sour as she realizes that she could have stepped on a disability landmine.
"No, nothing like that." I assure her, raising my hands in an effort to increase the sincerity of my words. At this point she flips over each of the redundant piles and moves them back into a single deck again, rather strange.
"Guessed as much." She shrugs, a small strand of hair poking our of her head flicks about as her head bobbles slightly. "Alright, your card is..." She begins flipping out the cards, this time face down.
"the... t-w-o-o-f-h-e-a-r-t-s..." Each letter she flips down a card, and as she finishes spelling, flips out one last card, the two of hearts.
"Impressive." I give her a small round of applause as she leans back in her seat, waiting for my response. Luckily I'd had her figured out pretty early. "The eight of diamonds." I declare. "It was on the bottom of one of your three decks, so you placed it next to my card meaning you could find it when you started flipping cards face up." I lean back into my seat, now matching her grin with one of my own.
"Impressive." She mirrors, taking a hand to her chin in thought.
"So what's my prize?" I question, hoping that it's not a ten foot teddy bear that wont fit in my dorm or something.
"Hmm... how about some food?" She leans forward again, sending locks of stray hair bouncing around adorably. She's messy sure, but messy in that way that just looks right.
"Food?" My face contorts into confusion.
"Yep, since you're the first winner, it's my treat!" She stands proudly, shrugging off her magicians cape and making her way around the desk. "What should we get?" She interrogates me, now holding on to my right arm with both hands, gripping to my shirt.
"U-Uh... how about some Yakitori from class 1-2's stall?" I quickly recall seeing them grilling stuff earlier, that might be nice.
"Sounds great to me... um...?"
"Hisao. Hisao Nakai."
"Great, nice to meet you Nakai." She grins, now tugging me along behind her; I don't fail to notice how she failed to introduce herself either.
"You're still wearing the tiny hat, you know?" I goad.
"Am I? Good thing it's cute then." She turns her head slightly, only to show her mischievous wink.
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"Motor skills, huh?" I mull those words over, now observing the girl attempting to pick at her chicken with shaky hands and an unsure grip.
"Mhmm." She nods before carefully placing the chicken into her mouth carefully. "Seizure did a number on my brain." She continues, her cheek full of grilled chicken. It's strange to hear someone be so... forward about their problems.
"I didn't notice it during the trick." I attempt to recall my memories, but remember nothing regarding her hands.
"That's because... repetitive motions, or so I'm told." She explains, moving her hands as if laying out cards on the table while still chomping down on her food. "What about you? What landed you here?" She asks the question I'd been dreading since the start of this conversation.
"I... Uh..." I stutter, before taking my breath and steeling my resolve. She told me hers, I have to tell her mine; besides, I have to get over this someday, might as well be today. "Arrhythmia... It's a heart condition." I force out the words through gritted teeth.
"That's a rough one." She shrugs before returning to her meal nonchalantly. "How'd you find out about it?" She asks the second question I'd been dreading.
"That's a story for another time." I chuckle, hoping that some effort to keep the mood high will help me somehow. I don't think I'm ready to let her know that just yet, I don't even know her name.
"Nooo! Hisao!~ now you got me interested!" She playfully punches me in the arm while complaining loudly, drawing the eyes of several passer bys.
"If you can figure out my trick, then you can win a prize!" I wave my arms wildly and do my best impression of this girl as I can, and as I do her face constricts into confusion, then laughter.
"Pahahahah! Ass!" She bursts into laughter and I find myself joining in. It feels slightly foreign to be smiling again, but nice at the same time. It's a nice feeling, a warm one that lodges itself right in your ventricular.
"Hey... are you doing anything tomorrow, after school?" I ask, almost out of nowhere, hoping that I'll have my answer before my nerves catch up.
"Hm? Why do you ask?" She retorts, a confused expression covering her face.
"Want to hang out some more?" I ask, my nerves slowly beginning to figure out the situation as she catches on and begins to think about it.
"I don't know..." She sighs as she checks her watch. "You already got your prize..." She turns to face me, her face locked into a serious expression.
"Oh, well..." I stutter, back-pedalling as hard as I can.
"Nah, I'm just kidding." Her facade breaks with a giggle and she pats me on the head. "That'd be sweet, Hisao."
"On one condition." I raise my hand, the other rested on my chest and measuring my now elevated heart rate. She tilts her head in question, so I continue.
"What's your name?"
Fantastic introduction to the character and very well written.
But yeah, nicely written and beautiful as a one shot. Though you wouldn't hear me complaining if it wasn't as you seem to contemplate yourself.
. I quite like this character. Would read a full fic with her if one was created.
