The Magician (10)

"The food here is amazing," the boy's eyes sparkled.

"It's not bad," Alison played with her nails.

The boy wondered what kind of food people like her usually ate. Her plate was barely touched compared to his that was completely empty. After returning his tray, he rose from his seat to go to the practice room he booked this time.

"Do you want to practice together?" Alison rose to follow him.

"Sure," he turned the other direction since he didn't want to show himself blushing again.

The boy didn't use any magical equipment like the other competitors since he didn't have enough mana to use them. Instead, he relied on spells with barely any mana consumption. He stiffened as Alison watched him muttering a few spells he had altered.

"You're not practicing?" He wondered, feeling guilty he was just leaving her alone to watch him.

"Can you teach me one of your spells?" Alison seemed interested in how they worked.

The boy nodded his head as he began to explain the theory behind everything just as the magician had generously taught me the day before yesterday. I gasped as I could see the two figures overlapping, realizing the magician and the boy were the same person. This meant the dancer was that girl who practiced in the dance room and the musician was the other girl where no one would take a single glance at her performance.

"I still don't understand," Alison cutely pouted with her eyes upturned.

The boy, not getting the clue, decided to re-explain everything with more detail. When Alison asked him to guide her even closer, he gulped as he held her hands. Her slender hands were almost like a mannequin doll. He lightly pulled her closer to him to stabilize her arm when aiming towards the target. In the process, she slipped, pulling one of his legs with her with her back falling towards the ground.

"Alison, are you here?" Someone walked towards the door.

His eyes widened with his hands placed near her face on the ground, his body facing her from above from the fall. Before he could get out of the awkward position, Alison smiled. When the door opened, Luke's grandfather coldly stared at the two of them, wondering what was going on.

"Oh, you're here," Alison turned her face towards him.

"Again?" Luke's grandfather leaned against the wall in disapproval.

"He was cute," she reached out her hand to touch the boy's face.

The boy froze with her warm hand touching his cheek. He didn't know how to escape from her.

"What are you going to do? The others will be here soon," Luke's grandfather warned her.

"Fine, I'll just finish the game. It's obvious he has fallen for me. This game was too short for my taste," Alison sighed.

Alison screamed, making the others run towards the room. Her eyes were filled with tears while pushing the boy away from her, "it was him. I don't know what happened."

In other people's eyes, everything appeared to be the boy's fault, who was still confused about what was going on. Alison ran to hug Luke's grandfather with beautiful tears dripping down her face like she had been wronged. Her acting was spot on point while Luke's grandfather went along with her with no other choice.

"How dare you take advantage of Alison?" One of them accused him.

"And Alison was being nice to you!" Another person joined in.

The people reported him to the judges, making him kicked out of the competition venue as the boy still wondered what was happening around him. He couldn't believe the girl had framed him after playing with him as if he was a game. As he went home, burning with anger, lawsuits came towards him. The media framed him as if he was a criminal and everyone looked at him with scorn. The boy was expelled from school and had nowhere to go with nobody willing to hire him while his family had disowned him.

When he watched his name being slandered on the screens, he realized the people who reported him all came from prestigious and powerful families. He started to instil those names into his head as they had ruined his entire life. While walking with a hood on to hide his face, he noticed two girls performing in front of one of the buildings owned by the families who sent a lawsuit against him. They were innocent and naïve like he had been.

After watching them get kicked out of the area by the security, he walked up to them, "do you need any help?"

The next I blinked, the three of them were gone, finding myself inside Luke's grandfather's office instead. I looked at him in a new light, wondering if he had any remorse towards the magician from his lap. If I was the magician, there was no way I would let him go for this. It made sense why he targeted all their descendants.

"What did you see this time?" Luke's grandfather noticed the change in my attitude towards him.

"I don't need to ask you what happened in that competition," I told him I knew everything that occurred.

"Do you ever think of that boy?" I wondered if he ever felt guilty towards him.

"The reason why everyone got attacked was because that boy was the magician, the A-class monster," I accused him.

"Rika, you are a part of this family, are you not?" He stroked my hair.