Showtime - Chapter 1

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Game Research Club Room

Sora: HaHa~, HiHi~, HuHu~, HeHe~, HoHo~...♪

Shisho~, hello! When you enter the clubroom, you greet everyone inside first ☆

Natsume: ~.....♪

Sora: Shisho~? You’re humming, are you in a good mood?

Ah, you’re doing experiments again~. What kind of experiment are you doing? Please explain it to Sora ♪

Natsume: AaH, SoRA. I was just killing time by making some birdliME*.

Sora: Birdlime? Is that some kind of mochi?

Natsume: It’s not mocHI. It’s a substance used to capture prEY… I was interested in how it’s maDE, so just like thIS, I’m trying it oUT.

YuP, this birdlime is completED ♪

Sora: HaHa~, is this daifuku*2? Shisho~, you lied again?

Natsume: I wasn’t lyiNG. While it may look just like a daifuKU, when you touch it you’ll see that it’s amazingly sticKY.

Don’t accidentally put it in your mouTH, SoRA.

I’ve prepared some actual sweets as weLL. HeRE, eat UP ♪

Sora: HiHi~, Sora loves sweet things! Thank you very much! Munch, munch ♪

Shisho~, now that your experiments are over, let’s play some games ♪ Sora wants to play this one~.

Natsume: HmmM. Is that the game you played with the little kitten befoRE?

Sora: HuHu~♪ That it is! Shisho~, take this controller! Sora is also fully prepared ♪

Nh~, nnh? Sora hears footsteps! They’re not Senpai’s color~.

Ah. But, it’s a color Sora has seen before! It’s probably Great-Shisho~♪

Wataru: Hello! It’s your, no, everyone’s Hibiki Wataru...☆

Natsume: How rare of Wataru-niisan to show his face in the Game ClUB. You’re not going to tell me you’ve come to play gamES, rigHT?

Wataru: Well now, we’ll see about that.

...Is what I’d say, but I don’t want to mar Natsume-kun’s good mood with my words of confusion. I’ll get straight to the point.

Actually, I wanted to ask you if you’d like to appear in a magic show. 

The one I want to ask to be my partner is Natsume-kun, and so I’ve come to pay a visit.

The show I’m planning this time is going to be rather large-scale. Well, if it comes down to it, I’d be able to pull it off by myself, though.

That is, in the worst case. I’d like to overcome any obstacles.

Sora: HeHe~, a magic show? What kind of show is that?

Wataru: Are you interested? You’re interested, aren’t you? A magic show is the highest form of entertainment, where you grant dreams to hundreds of people...☆

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Allow me to demonstrate a simple magic trick*3 ☆

Now then, have this rose as a gift! And this cosmos, and this tulip, too! As well as this sunflower, have all kinds of flowers...☆

Sora: HoHo~♪ Amazing, amazing, there’s so many flowers! All these beautiful colors are spilling out ♪

Natsume: SoRA? AhaHA, that makes your eyes sparkLE, doesn’t IT. Have you become captivated by Wataru-niisan’s magic tricKS?

Sora: Yes! Great-Shisho~’s magic tricks are amazing!

They’re just like magic~, no, they are magic!

Wataru: I’m sad to say they’re not real magic. There’s tricks and hidden mechanisms to it.

And yet it offers the people who want to believe in magic an “astonishment just like magic”. And that’s what a magic show is ♪

Sora: Nh~, Sora doesn’t really get it~.

But, there’s one thing Sora did understand!

Great-Shisho~. Sora wants you to teach him magic tricks~.

Sora wants to be able to do magic tricks like Great-Shisho~, and make the audience feel the same things Sora just felt! 

Wataru: Hrm~m. I’m not particularly fond of teaching people things, though.

Sora: Uu~, is that a no?

A magic show is the highest form of entertainment, where you grant dreams to hundreds of people, that’s what Great-Shisho~ said!

Sora wants to grant dreams, too! Just like Great-Shisho~, Sora wants to master the magic that makes people happy~.

It’s Abra Kadabra, right? That’s the magic spell that Shisho~ chanted before!

Wataru: Aah. Indeed, I also use that during my sleight of hand performances. Abra ● Kadabra, Chichinpuipui~♪

Sora: HaHa~♪ Great-Shisho~’s hair is twisting and turning~. May Sora touch it?

Wataru: Go ahead ♪ If you’d like, I could increase the number of my arms, too? Look, one, and two, and three~...☆

I’ll grow infinite arms like the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara*4, fuhahahahaha...☆

Sora: HiHi~♪ It’s almost like the color Switch paints~. As expected of Shisho~’s Shisho~, Great-Shisho~! 

Natsume: HeY, Wataru-niisAN. If it’s a partner for your magic show you waNT, why not take SoRA.

Sora himself seems eager to do IT, so pleaSE, I’d like to ask you on his behaLF.

Wataru: Hrm~m. I’m weak to Natsume-kun when he says “please” with upturned eyes like that. 

Well, I was the one who came here to request help in the first place… As long as it’s within the limits of this one job, I don’t mind teaching him.

Sora: HuHu~, thank you very much!

Sora will do his best with all his might...!

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* Birdlime or bird lime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions. (Wikipedia). 

Birdlime in Japanese is “torimochi”, which makes Sora think Natsume is making mochi (rice cakes).

*2 Daifuku mochi are filled mochi, usually with red bean paste inside.

*3 In this story (as well as others) there’s a clear difference between the magic Switch is known for (mahou) and the magic tricks Wataru uses (majikku). Whilst translating majikku as magic would be straightforward, I’m going to avoid confusion by translating it as “magic tricks” to separate it from “real” magic.

*4 Called “Kannon” in Japan, he’s referring to a bodhisattva of compassion.