Volume 1 Chapter 6.2
Citrus Magic, Sequins, and the Glitter
of Counterfeit Coins Part 2
Translator : PolterGlast
The crowds on the
boulevard were denser than she had imagined and too challenging for Nina, who
had always been inside the mansion. She bumped shoulders with someone several
times as she followed Jin's back, who was moving ahead at a brisk pace.
"Be careful,
there is definitely a pickpocket hiding somewhere. Hold your bag with both
hands."
Jin periodically
turned his head back to check on her, while grinning like a fool. It was the
very first time she learned that he could be so considerate.
─Then, why didn't he just walk next to me like a normal
person?
As she was getting
angry at herself for thinking this, Jin asked her while looking behind him.
"Speaking of which,
Nina, when did you realize that you have a talent for acting?"
She was a little taken
aback, as it was the first time she had ever been asked such a question.
"Let's see, when
I was six years old, I guess."
"Hee. That's
quite early."
"I think it was
around the time when my butler took me to see a play."
"I thought
butlers were imaginary creatures."
"Well, we weren't
that close", she continued with a wry smile. "I still remember the
play very well. The play was about a one-night adventure of a princess who was
bound to the royal palace. I can vividly recall every line of dialogue and
every change in the actors' facial expressions. It was such a thrilling
experience."
"So you went home
and started practicing your acting?"
"Yeah. I was
often taken to social gatherings, where I practiced my acting skills. That's
when I thought maybe I had the talent."
"I see. So you
were trained in actual combat."
Before seeing that
play, the social world was nothing but a painful place for her. She had been
suffocating with guilt over being forced to be part of a farce by adults who
lied through their facial expressions and speeches.
But now she knew.
She knew that an
overwhelming acting by itself could move people.
"Haven't you ever
thought about pursuing it?"
"Pursue what?"
"Quit your
role-playing as a heretic and become an actual actor."
"An actor,
huh?"
"I hear the movie
business is booming right now. I think the market is going to get bigger and
bigger."
"......If I were
born in a normal family, I might consider such an option."
For some reason, she
was in the mood to speak her mind for once.
"But the
Stingrays has no place for anyone other than psychics. They are the kind of
family that adopts potential children from all over the country and banishes
them as soon as they don't seem to be budding, you know? Besides, I'm the
youngest, and I'm a woman. If they were to find out I don't have any psychic
abilities, who knows what kind of place they'll sell me to ......."
"...... I've
heard a lot of rumors about it. I never thought they were true though."
"A long time ago,
when I was about eight years old, I had a sister who was a little older than
me. She, too, was expected to be blessed with a psychic ability, and it seems
she was adopted from a town far away. We were really close. We were like real
sisters......"
"What's she up to
now?"
"......I don't
know."
"Are you two
growing apart or something?"
"No. Before she
turned 12 years old, she suddenly disappeared from the mansion. Since then, no
one has talked about her anymore. It was as if she had never existed in the
family in the first place."
"Are you saying
that she was banished?"
"The only thing I
knew was that she actually wasn't a psychic. When the Stingrays found out, they
discarded her as easily as trimming an unwanted branch. Even though she was
only twelve years old......!"
What was most
frightening was the reaction of her father, her brothers, and the butler who
was supposed to be closest to her.
They looked at the
12-year-old child being thrown out of the mansion as if they were looking at a
piece of filth strewn on the floor.
If they were willing
to recognize and respect the human rights of others, they would never have made
that kind of expression.
That was the first
time in Nina's life that she had ever felt such a chilling fear.
"...... Even so,
she was merely banished, right?"
Nina couldn't quite
grasp the emotion in Jin's voice.
"What would
happen in your case then?"
"I don't know.
Ahaha, maybe they'll kill me."
"It doesn't sound
like a joke at all......"
She couldn't see Jin's
expression as he said this, because the backlight was blocking her view.
Even so, she could
sense the wavering emotions in his words.
─Is he perhaps hiding his anger right now?
"I'm getting
hungry. What do you want to eat, Nina?"
Nina decided to join
in on the change of subject, as if she was trying to cover something up.
The sun had already
risen above them, and it was the perfect time to have lunch.
They decided to look
for a restaurant, but since neither of them was familiar with the area, they
wandered further and further into the less crowded areas.
"......Somehow,
the atmosphere around here feels totally different."
Unlike the lively main
street, the alleys in this area were deserted.
The shadows of the
buildings make it a little dim, and the faces of the people passing by are
somewhat somber.
Suddenly, Nina spotted
a parent and child doing business on the street by spreading out straw mats on
the floor.
Various kinds of
vegetables and fruits were lined up on it, but they were all either badly
shaped or a bit small in size. Above all, the child who was trying to attract
customers was so small and thin that she looked no older than six years old.
Nina had never known
that such a reality existed until now.
Although she was aware
of it as information, she felt as if it was a distant world.
She wondered if she
was going to school properly.
Nina secretly prayed
that he was only helping his mother
because it was a holiday.
"Behind the
glorious history of the Empire - the glory of the <White Knights>, there
are many people who were crushed by heretics who strayed to the towns and
cities. They were simply deprived of their jobs or beaten down by unreasonable
violence."
Jin continued in a
frighteningly cold voice.
"The other party
is, of course, a monster, so no matter how ordinary people are treated, they
have no choice but to weep in silence. Since laws haven't been established yet,
it is difficult to enforce laws against crimes caused by psychic abilities.
Well, I don't know if that child's situation has anything to do with
heretics."
"...... Jin, you
are..."
What kind of
life have you led so far?
Could your
motive for sneaking into the Heiberg Academy be ──.
Before she could utter
such questions, Jin went to the child who was sitting in front of the straw
mats. He crouched down in front of the boy and spoke to him with a natural
smile.
"Can I have a
lemon, please?"
The boy gave Jin the
biggest lemon he could find while smiling. In return, he clutched the coin he
had received like it was more precious than life itself.
Jin, who returned with
a lemon, still wore the same emotionless expression, but she could tell that he
was now hiding something in the soft part of his heart.
"Ah right, let me
show you a little magic trick I used to do."
"Magic
trick?"
"It was a popular
trick until the heretics started showing up. Well, it would be faster if I
showed you."
Jin grabbed the lemon
he had just bought from the boy with his right hand and made a clenched fist
with his other hand as well. Just like that, both of his hands were held out in
front of Nina.
"Which do you
think holds the lemon, the right hand or the left hand?"
"Well, it's
sticking out of your right hand though......"
"This is indeed
too easy ...... Then what about the next one?"
Jin gave a relaxed
smile and stuck out both of his clenched hands once more.
This time, Nina didn't
really know which was the right one.
The lemon should not
fit in the palm of his hand. To begin with, neither hand was bulging, and neither
looked like they were holding anything at all.
Having no choice, Nina
pointed to her left hand based on her intuition.
"Too bad, you
lost."
When Jin opened his
right hand, a fruit the size of a palm protruding from his palm suddenly
appeared.
Where on earth had he
hidden such a thing?
"How did you do
it? You really don't have any psychic abilities, do you?"
"It's just a
rudimentary magic trick. I just hide the lemon in my sleeve, in the blind spot
of the audience."
Jin demonstrated how
he could manipulate the lemon with just his fingertips and lead it to his
sleeve so that Nina could see it. It was as if the lemon itself was moving with
a will of its own, and her surprise was even greater after she learned the
trick.
"Then, here's the
final one. Which hand is it in this time?"
Again, there was no
such thing as a lemon sticking out of both hands.
But Nina had learned
the tricks now.
"Show me what's
inside your sleeve."
"I can't do it
with my hands right now. Roll them up yourself."
She did as she was
told and rolled up the sleeves of the shirt that Jin was wearing. She checked
up to his elbow to be sure, but there was no lemon anywhere to be seen.
"Give up?
"Uu, hold
on!"
Even after observing
his hands from various angles, she still couldn't find a trace of lemon.
"Alright, time's
up."
"...... Where did
you hide it?"
"Don't you feel
like your bag is getting heavier?"
...... No way.
Nina timidly opened
her bag and inserted her hand into it.
There, something soft
touched her fingertips.
Nina screamed in
astonishment as she pulled out the lemon from inside the bag.
"......No way!
How!?"
"I can't teach
you this trick."
"Eeh, even if
it's just a hint?"
Jin chuckled in a
troubled manner and muttered quietly.
"Once you've
planted an assumption in someone's mind, the deception is 90% successful."
"Hmm? What do you
mean?"
Jin did not answer any
further and started walking again in search of a restaurant.
Then Nina noticed a
crucial fact.
─Jin was smiling now.
It was not the sort of
smile he used to trick someone, nor was it a smile that enjoyed the thrill of
deceiving someone. It was as if he was genuinely enjoying surprising others
with his magic tricks.
It was the same kind
of expression her sister, with whom she had lived for only three weeks, had
shown her.
She, too, had this
mischievous look on her face when she presented her with a rain frog doll
adorned with sparkling sequins.
─Let's make it all clear right here and now.
Nina decided to ask
the question that had been bottled up in her heart for so long.
"......Jin. Show
me who you really are."
Jin shrugged his
shoulders as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
Nina ignored it and
continued.
"Which one is
your true self? The one who was fooling everyone at the school or the one who showed
me a magic trick just now? Which one is the real you, Jin?"
"Huh, what? Is
there some kind of multiple personality theory going around?"
"Don't play dumb
with me. Tell me the truth."
On the street, where a
dusty wind was blowing, the two stared at each other for a while.
Now, Jin might be
willing to tell her the truth.
Strangely, Nina was
able to think so.
".......Let me
change the question. Why did you decide to enroll at Heiberg Academy?"
"I've told you a
million times. I'm aiming to reach the top there......"
"That's your
goal, right? I'm asking about your motives."
She decided to throw
out a guess.
"Are you perhaps
infiltrating the academy for revenge?"
"Haha, how could
you come to that conclusion?"
"You seem to
always enjoy deceiving people. But is that really the reason you would walk
such a dangerous tightrope? It doesn't seem like it's about making money
either."
"Wait, wait,
isn't it a little too early to conclude it as revenge?"
"Are you sure?
Because, Jin, you hate psychics, don't you?"
Jin sometimes used the
derogatory term [heretics].
When he talked about
psychics, he would sometimes exude hostility in every word he said.
He was not fooling
around with some random made-up story as usual, which proved that maybe what
Nina had said was not off the mark.
After a long, really
long silence, Jin quietly opened his mouth.
"...... It's
better not to ask any further questions", Jin's heavy gaze fixed on her.
"If you want to continue being an accomplice with me that is."
She tried to search
for emotion in the depths of his eyes, but there was only a hollow void.
Perhaps sensing that
Nina was still not backing down, Jin muttered with a sigh.
"My real goal is
to destroy the <White Knights>."
Nina involuntarily
stiffened as the words came from an unexpected direction.
The White Knights.
A special agency under
the direct control of the government and one of the most important forces in
the country. They are the heroes of the nation and the object of admiration of
all the students at Heiberg Academy.
And above all, Nina's
two older brothers belong to it.
"I lost my father
to them."
The memory of the time
she and Jin ran into each other in front of the fountain after escaping from
the party came back to her.
During the exchange of
verbal abuse, Jin hinted at the existence of bad rumors about Nina's family.
Nina did not know what
the <White Knights> had been doing behind the scenes of their glory. On
the other hand, she also knew that they were not just innocent heroes, but a
powerful and violent organization.
What if the
truth, never told and buried in the darkness, had robbed Jin of something
precious?
As a member of
the Stingray family, am I qualified to stop Jin?
"......But how
are you going to do it? They are the heroes of our nation, a group of people
with psychic abilities, one of the best in the country, and there is nothing a
mere commoner can do against them."
"Just turn
everything into a farce."
Both eardrums caught
the words, but Nina couldn't quite grasp their meaning.
Turn
everything into a farce?
What on earth
was Jin talking about?
"Once I graduate
from the school at the top of the class, the <White Knights> will surely
come to recruit me. I'm going to reveal the truth in front of many people at
that time when the whole nation is paying attention to me. I will tell them,
I'm actually not a psychic."
"What on earth
are you doing that for......?"
"I'm sure they'll
be shocked. If Heiberg Academy is such a crappy place that a mere ordinary
person can make it to the top, their authority will be completely shattered.
Both the Heiberg Academy and the <White Knights> would lose the trust of
the people, and fall at once. All at the hands of a single fraudster. ......
Isn't that an insanely amusing turn of events?"
"But ...... if
you do that, you will..."
You will be
killed.
Nina hastily kept her
mouth shut. She didn't even dare to imagine such a horrifying thing.
"......Don't
worry, I won't die. I have a plan in place to ensure my escape."
─That's a lie.
For once, Nina was
able to say it with certainty.
Jin planned to die
after revealing his identity and turning the whole thing into a farce.
Because his eyes never
focused on the future. His dark eyes have been chasing the past, the past of
his father's death at the hands of a psychic.
Even if he thought he
was cleverly hiding it, Nina's eyes, which are first-rate liars, cannot be
fooled.
"......That's
just a desperate desire for destruction. Jin."
Deep down, Nina felt
hope in her accompliceship with Jin.
She believed, even
though she had no basis for it, that at the end of their walk a tightrope
misdeeds, a future in which they would both be saved was waiting for them.
But what lay ahead was
an ending like this.
Jin is certainly not a
good person. He may be nothing more than a hopeless fraudster.
But even so, it would
be too sad to live a life that just keeps moving toward his end.
Nina felt a new
determination grow in the depths of her heart as she gazed at Jin's back who
began striding away as if nothing had happened.
Even if it meant wasting
his feelings, even if it meant being resented by him, she had to stop him from
walking toward his doom.
Nina was convinced.
The only one who could
save him was herself, his accomplice.
By the time they
returned to the bus stop near the Heiberg Academy, it was already dark.
The smile had already
disappeared from Jin's face, replaced by the expression of a liar with wariness
and suspicion stretched across its surface.
Nina wondered if Jin
himself was aware that there was a sense of sadness on his face.
"......Let's part
ways here."
"Yes. See you
later."
The two parted ways
halfway down the street and headed off to their respective homes.
Nina was convinced
once again as she secretly watched his figure moving away from her.
─Jin shouldn't be in a place like this.
There is no
need for him to pretend to be a psychic, while gradually losing his true smile.
There is no
need for him to just keep going toward destruction while wearing out his heart.
Therefore, the
decision I am about to make will be the best for him.
Gazing up at the full
moon rising faintly in the night sky, Nina's azure eyes gleamed with the light
of determination.
◆
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