Chapter Six: A Genius Magician?! Uryoku Chono

AKARI AND KUSUO WALKED THE WALKWAY IN a comfortable silence in the middle of a park. They had taken a slightly different route home for the day, which Akari had suggested. The two teens didn't have any homework to do for the night which meant they'd have more time to just hang around. So the one time that she doesn't have any better to do, a bit of a longer walk back home wouldn't do any harm. Being outside wasn't something that Akari disliked or anything, she just preferred staying inside under her covers. If it was decent outside, not too hot or too cold, and peaceful, then Akari wouldn't be opposed to spending a bit of time outside. Especially if she was either alone or with Kusuo. She didn't mind.

The pair were just passing by a crowd of people who were surrounding some sort of set up for a street performer. The green-haired man at the center of it wore a purple top hat that was complemented by his purple and green suit. The man was extremely enthusiastic about his performance, "The miraculous illusionist, Chono Uryoku, is about to begin his Super Magic show." He then caught sight of Kusuo as they were walking past and called out to him, "Hey, you should come watch too. I'll show you an amazing miracle."

Akari and Kusuo shared an unamused glance. The shadow manipulator already had a feeling that Kusuo was going to blame her for this. The one time that she convinces him to go out on this alternate route home and he gets dragged into something he doesn't want. Though she shouldn't be blamed, in her opinion. He should blame whatever deity that had forsaken him with such bad luck. 

Kusuo turned his gaze up to the illusionist and used his x-ray vision to see that there was a dove hidden in his top hat. "I already see it. I'm good."

"You're not sure about this, are you?" Chono wasn't willing them to walk off just yet. "That's fine. With just one look, you will be fascinated by amazing tricks."

'If he's trying that hard, I guess I'll watch.' Kusuo thought as they reluctantly approached the illusionist, to the man's delight.

Akari eyed the set up that Chono had for his trick as she stood beside her friend. There were two large boxes on two ends of a cloth-covered tunnel looking thing which was unamusing to Akari. 'It's kind of obvious what he'll do, no?'

Kusuo glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. They pinned Akari down with annoyance and accusation burning in them. Oh, yeah, he definitely blamed her for this inconvenience. 'You're the one who decided to take a different route home.'

'It's not like I knew there would be a street performer around here!' Akari scoffed at him and rolled her yellow eyes at his childish accusation. 

The illusionist continued on with his act and pulled out a box, "Here, we have a perfectly ordinary box." The audience couldn't see that the box was filled with a cluster of doves packed into it. Were they okay like that? Do we have to call Peta... actually, nevermind. "There's nothing inside, of course," Chono exclaimed while showing the audience the box. Though he tilted it in a way that no one could see them, except Kusuo, of course. The box was closed once again, "But! If I do this..." He tapped it three times and opened again for all of the doves to come flying out, to the crowd's amazement. Chono turned to the blank teen who showed no reaction. "How about it, kid? Amazing, right?"

'It's not amazing at all.' Kusuo thought blandly before taking a peek at the bird still under Chono's hat. 'More importantly, when are you going to use that dove?'

'Is it okay..?' Akari thought in worry for the poor bird that was under Chono's hat. Even if she couldn't see it, she figured that bird must be in a bit of a bad situation because Kusuo commented on it. He never showed worry, at least not in a conventional way, so just by saying this, Akari figured that something must be wrong. It didn't help that Kusuo just ignored her question.

"Next up is today's main event! Superlatively amazing super illusion time!" The illusionist exclaimed with an annoying amount of enthusiasm that was ticking off the powerful teens, just a little. He then gestured to a ragged-looking man who walked over to the props. "My assistant Michael will now teleport from one box to another. Come on, Michael." The man was quite obviously homeless, from his torn clothing and the way that you could smell him from a good fifteen feet away. Mans needs a bath, like as soon as possible.

'"Michael"?' Kusuo thought, eyeing the assistant, '"Mr. Ike" suits him better.'

The homeless man claimed into the box of the left, "Michael is now in the box. Drumroll!"

The crowd started to murmur with each other as Chono danced around and imitated a drumroll. Akari eyed it all unamused. It was so obvious that his assistant was crawling underneath the cloth-covered tunnel that led to the other box. She was not stupid enough to believe that this was real magic. Magicians don't amaze her like most people which makes sense considering the things that she is able to do can be considered magic. Well, she found some tricks to be endearing, if there was one that she couldn't figure out right away then she would be impressed to a certain extent. Though nothing could really compare to what she could do. Really, being friends with Kusuo proved to undermine any sort of magic trick that people try to do. Why watch someone do fake magic when she can just talk to Kusuo and see him do something even more amazing that isn't fake?

'What sort of face should I be making at a time like this?' Kusuo wondered, 'He's so confident that it bothers me. But I'm more worried about...' He glanced at the dove on the illusionist's head to see that it was looking worse than before, 'this guy.'

"I'm opening the box." Chono exclaimed as he approached the other box.

Kusuo used his x-ray vision to find that the assistant Micheal hadn't even finished crawling through to the other box. 'Hold it. Michael hasn't made it yet.'

"Three, two, one, it's party time! Amazing!" Yelled out and opened up the box. The only problem was that his assistant hadn't been in the box yet. So the trick had been ruined when Micheal crawled out from under the cloth-covered tunnel to show how the trick worked. In turn, the crowd was all unimpressed and left the street performer to wallow in his own misery. 

The only one who hadn't left along with the crowd was Kusuo and Akari, who stared at the poor man with blank expressions. 'What sort of face should one make at a time like this?' The teens looked at the desolate and hollow expression on the poor illusionist's face. 'Maybe this one?'

'Well, that was less than impressive,' Akari sighed in disappointment. 

Now that the crowd was gone, with the illusion ruined, Chono and Micheal started to argue about payment. "I'm begging you, Mr. Ike."

Micheal shook his grey-haired head, "It's not my fault. You opened it too early, kiddo. Come on. Where's my 500 yen?"

Chono continued to protest, "But nobody gave us any money. This time, I can't pay you." He then noticed Kusuo standing behind them, "What? You're still here?" The psychic silently pointed at the top of his head, signifying the illusionist's top hat. "A tip? That's all right. I wouldn't take money from a kid like..." He then looked into the hat to find his poor dove quite unresponsive. "Pico!" After frantically trying to make sure that the bird was okay, Chono finally looked up at Kusuo, not seeing Akari idly standing beside her friend. "I completely forgot about him."

'How can you forget that you have a dove on your head?' Kusuo wondered at the stupidity of this man.

"How did you know he was in there, anyway? Could it be..." Kusuo bristled for a second, worried that Chono might have caught onto the truth. "You must be an aspiring illusionist! That's how you knew." Oh, right. Everyone else was an idiot, so they wouldn't catch on to the fact that Kusuo had powers.

'Sure, let's put it that way.'

"I cut a tragic figure for you today." Chono started. "Maybe I'm not the right person for the job. I was an ordinary salaryman just a few months ago. But I messed up." Cue the sad music.

Kusuo rolled his eyes, 'Here we go.'

"I got laid off." The illusionist explained, "My wife left me not long after that."

'We missed our chance to leave.' Kusuo commented, glancing at Akari from the corner of his eye who also looked regretfully for not just leaving.

Chono continued on, not seeing that both Akari and Kusuo were not that invested into his backstory. "I couldn't pay rent, so I got kicked out. My career, my wife, and my house were all gone because of one mistake. That's when I decided to become an illusionist!"

'What a bad idea.' Both Akari and Kusuo thought as Chono went on and on about his tragic life.

"If everything around me can disappear like that, I must have a talent for making things disappear. So, I leaped into my newly chosen career and made my debut as a street illusionist. If I can make 1.2 million yen and buy the equipment for sawing a woman in half, surely my wife will come back."

After Chono rambled on about his tragic backstory, there was really only one thought that Akari had about the poor man. 'He's delusional.'

"Perhaps I chose the wrong path," Chono miserably said.

Akari nodded her head, 'I think that's something we can agree on.'

'You've veered way off course.' Kusuo thought, 'He should give up being an illusionist and get a job.'

Chono sighed, "I'm getting too gloomy."

'But how do I make him give up?' Kusuo wondered. Akari didn't want to see this poor man's dreams or whatever crushed, however, she had to agree that Chono should stop while he's ahead. He should really focus on getting another job to get money, then maybe he can get his wife and house back. 

"You're an aspiring illusionist, right?" Chono asked now with his enthusiastic spirit back, "Show me a trick."

Kusuo then brightened with an idea, well brightened as much as a tsundere psychic could, 'I've got it.'

The teen showed the illusionist his school bag, showing that he was going to most likely pull something out of it. Chono raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to pull something out of your bag?"

'I'll show him an incredible illusion.' Kusuo thought while pretending to use "magic". 'Then he'll realize that he's incompetent and give up.'

Akari eyed the strange display in confusion, 'Don't make it too impossible, or he might think you're a psychic.'

'You think that moron will catch on to my powers?' Kusuo paused to look back at her with bored annoyance in his eyes.

'...I guess not.'

"What will it be? A dove? I can pull out a bowling ball, you know." Chono bragged happily, though the smile that was on his face was quickly wiped off when Kusuo miraculously pulled out Micheal from the bag like it was nothing. Certainly, it was a trick that would give anyone pause and reevaluate their life, which is exactly what Kusuo wanted. Chono stared in shock, "How?"

Happy with the reaction, Kusuo turned to walk away with Akari still looking at the illusionist. He seemed to be in some extreme shock, with how he fell to the ground on his knees. 'This is what you call amazing. Now he'll want to give up.'

"Thank you," Chono said hollowly, "you've opened my eyes. Your power is a long lock of hair. Mine is nothing but an eyelash. I recognize the difference."

'Why is he talking about hair?' Kusuo wondered and turned to Akari who shrugged her small shoulders, 'At least, we're done...' 

"Teach me, master!" Chono exclaimed now on his hands and knees begging the teen to be his new teacher. So this may have not gone to plan...

'Oh, great.' Kusuo thought in dismay.

Akari eyed the strange display and came to stand closer to Kusuo. She grabbed his arm to try and pull him away from the strange man. 'We should probably just go...'

Now that she was starting to move Kusuo, she was somewhat visible, to an extent. Though it was enough to bring attention to herself, which Chono instantly saw. After all, how could he ignore the sudden appearance of some random girl at his master's side? He jumped to his feet, "Ah, master, you have an assistant as well!"

"Ah, no. I'm not-" Akari, now slightly flustered at the attention from the illusionist, tried to deny his claim but he cut her off in a loud voice.

"You must be an amazing illusionist as well," He exclaimed, "I didn't even notice that you were there!"

She stared at him, now thoroughly weirded out by the man, "Yes, well, we've got to go so..." Akari trailed off and tugged Kusuo away from the man as quickly as she could. She made sure to try and use a few shadows to hide them at least a bit while making their escape from the flamboyant man, which was successful. Akari sighed heavily, "that was strange."

The pair walked with each other in silence for a moment as they processed what they had just seen. Kusuo then glanced at Akari from the corner of his eyes, 'I'm still blaming you for this.'

'Wah!' Akari mentally exclaimed in offense as she pouted, quite adorably, 'Ku-Kun!'

---

It was late at night when Akari had sat herself down in front of the living room television. Her brother and father sat by her on the floor and a chair. She had claimed the couch by lounging out on it completely, taking up all of the space. Peasants such as Rikuto deserved to be on the floor while Akari got the entire couch!

There was a new show on that Kusuo had been talking about for most of the day. So Akari thought about checking out to see if it was good or not. It also helped that Rikuto wanted to check it out as well, so he invited himself into her little viewing party. Their father had joined in as well, more than ready to spend some quality time with his kids!

They flipped through a few of the channels before finally stopping on the one that Love Fantasy was supposed to play on in a bit. Though it currently wasn't the new mystery show, instead it was something that Akari would have never imagined. "Tonight, you will witness miracles." The announcer of the show started in a loud voice, "These miracles are brought to you by a remarkable young illusionist who was once homeless, Chono Uryoku!"

The illusionist stood there in the spotlight proudly in his purple suit glory, "Amazing!"

Akari stared at the screen in surprise, her eyebrows had raised so high on her face that they were no longer visible from underneath her bangs. "Oh, boy." How had that guy gotten himself onto television? Wasn't he some homeless street performer just a few days ago? What had he done within that time to get a show deal like this? Um, anime magic?

"After losing everything, he became an illusionist." The host explained as the crowd around them cheered for the man. "Now, he will perform a miraculous illusion."

"Nee-chan," Rikuto spoke up from the floor with a tilted head as he pointed at the screen. "Is that the weird magic guy you were talking about the other day?"

Akari sighed loudly and slumped into the couch, hoping that it would just swallow her whole. "Sadly." She pulled out her smartphone from her pocket and quickly pulled up Kusuo's contact. She typed out a text to him while glancing at the television screen. 

To: Ku

From: Kari

You're watching it right?

She didn't have to wait long for his reply as she answered almost instantly, which meant that he was watching it as well.

To: Kari

From: Ku

How is he on tv?

To: Ku

From: Kari

God knows

Now you must be wondering why Kusuo and Akari are currently texting each other. Akari is within Kusuo's two hundred meter range which means that they could easily speak to each other mentally, right? However, Kusuo always liked to give Akari at least as much privacy as he can. Akari didn't mind if he did it or not, but she was quite happy that he was being considerate. She knew that he had no real control over his telepathy, so she understood if he heard her thoughts, but she still found it slightly reassuring that he wasn't in her head all the time. 

Don't misunderstand this situation, Kusuo can still hear her thoughts, but he still didn't want to intrude on her thoughts any more than he thinks he should. Now, don't think that this means anything! Saiki Kusuo, being considerate to someone? Ha, that's funny. This meant nothing, so don't look any further into it. This was just Kusuo not wanting to annoy Akari to the point that she wanted nothing to do with him. Not like he cared. If she didn't want to be friends with him anymore, that would have no effect on him, none at all! Stop thinking it's something else!

"Today, I'll perform a miraculous escape." The illusionist said drawing Akari's attention from her phone to see a small demonstration of what would happen. She slowly became more concerned by just exactly what the trick included considering the last she saw this guy, he could barely pull off a simple illusion. Though he must be good enough to be put on live tv, right? They'd never show a death on live tv! Then again, we are in an anime where anything goes, so...

"Let's get started. Mr. Chono enters the box with his hands and feet bound in restraints." The announcer started to narrate before the illusionist fell flat on his face, "Oh, he fell. Mr. Chono has entered the box. His assistant Michael, also once homeless, will close the door."

"Wait..." Chono called out just as the door closed in his face.

'That certainly wasn't concerning,' Akari thought with a sweatdrop. Yeah, this definitely wasn't going to a normal illusion, that much was clear.

"It's closed. If he can't escape within five minutes, the box will be subjected to many abuses. Start the countdown." The large clock that was on display started to countdown. "Less than three minutes left." At this point, both Rikuto and Yamato were on the edge of their seats watching this anxiously. Yamato was gnawing at his nails while his son rocked back and forth on the ground. The only one who appeared to not be outwardly worried was Akari, who just watched the television with a raised eyebrow. "Only two minutes left. This has become a hideous disaster! Will Mr. Chono be all right? Tonight's other programs will be rescheduled." Now that did sound good. Akari's phone then pinged in her hand and she looked down to see a text from Kusuo.

To: Kari

From: Ku

I'm going to help this moron.

To: Ku

From: Kari

Good luck

She looked back up at the tv to watch the rest of the show. Now, she was a tad bit more invested in it, knowing that Kusuo would most likely be there to save that poor, delusional illusionist. If you paid close enough attention, you could see how sharp her yellow eyes became as she scouted out any sign of her friend on the tv. She wasn't sure what Kusuo would do, but she could only hope that he'd be safe during all of this. "Five minutes have passed. Michael will insert the swords." The assistant started to put in some of the swords, "There is seventeen more to go!" Eventually, most of the swords were slid into the box, which definitely would have killed someone had they been inside of it. "The last one. Is he alright?" The announcer asked the crowd, as a crane drove over to the box and started to pick it up, "Next, the crane! It'll be lifted to thirty meters, then dropped." Doing just as he said, the box was dropped from the high height, crunching it up at impact. There was no way anyone would actually survive this.

'They're going quite overboard for this trick,' Akari thought, 'there's no way that Chono was actual in that box since the beginning.' 

"The box is in a sorry state from the fall. But that's not all we have in store." The box was then lit on fire which caused Yamato and Rikuto to shout out in worry. They were easily falling for the trick, which Akari could see through now. She could only hope that Kusuo realized how obscure the illusion was before he got himself hurt. Though it's not like he could actually get hurt, he was too overpowered to be harmed, at least that's what Akari thought. They were doing such ridiculous things to the box and going overboard that it was clear the trick was fake. "Following up is fire!" Case and point, they were now lighting the box on fire. "And now, the final step. The steamroller!" 

"How will Chono survive through that?!" Rikuto gasped as he jumped up from the floor at the sight of the machinery and pointed at the tv, "He's truly an illusionist if he can!"

"The box has lost its original shape." The announcer stated the obvious, "What about Mr. Chono? Hey! Who's that?" There was then a spotlight that lit up a part of the stage with the one and only illusionist without a scratch on him, "Mr. Chono is over there. He has escaped successfully." The crowd cheered at Chono's "miraculous" escape from certain death. Yamato and Rikuto were losing their minds over it at the moment, much like the crowd. It was annoying Akari quite a bit. "That's it for the Miraculous Magic Show."

"Amazing!" Chono bid the crowd a farewell with his catchphrase that was starting to give Akari a headache.

A different man then stepped up on the stage, and Akari recognized him as the actor from that new show. "Now for an announcement." He started while holding up a poster, "The drama Love Fantasy starts at ten o'clock in the evening. It's a mystery about a man investigating the death of his lover. Please watch it."

Yamato clutches his chest and gives out a sigh of relief, "wow, how amazing was that?"

Akari just stared at her father and brother with her eyebrow raised, idiots.

Just as the Watanabes were talking about the amazing trick(Not Akari since she could care less), someone suddenly appeared out of thin air on their couch. Rikuto and Yamato jumped out of their seats and yelped in surprise at the teen's sudden appearance. Akari just blinked at the boy now sitting next to her and hummed, "Didn't go well?"

Kusuo shook his head lightly, a bit of dirt flying from his hair, "no."

Getting over his shock, Yamato smiled widely at the teenager and clapped happily. "Ah! Kusuo-kun! If I knew you'd be over, I would have made you some coffee jelly."

"We can still make it," Rikuto suggested as he bounced up to the older boy and saw how downtrodden he appeared to be. He poked Kusuo's cheek, to Kusuo's annoyance, "it looks like Kusuo-nii might actually need it."

Akari pushed her brother away from her friend with a flick of a shadow which caused him to fall to the floor with a surprised cry. She could already tell that Kusuos was upset about something, whether it had to do with the illusionist or something else, she wasn't sure. However, she knew just the thing that could cheer him up and take his mind off of it. "Come on," Akari said while grabbing her friend's wrist and gliding over to the kitchen with Kusuo trailing after her. "You're helping us make it."

The psychic allowed himself to be dragged over by the shorter girl. He may not be a fan of physical contact, he'd make an exception for Akari, especially at this moment. Kusuo would do just about anything for coffee jelly. So all three Watanabes started getting together what they needed to make some homemade coffee jelly for Kusuo as he helped a little bit. This was certainly a decent end to the day.