Cheung was visibly excited. He had arrived in the office in the afternoon and led Evan over to the living room.
“Why are you grinning?”
Evan was depressed due to his high tension lately, but it wasn’t enough to bring Cheung’s mood down.
“Let me borrow some!”
Cheung picked up the glass Evan had. Evan looked confused when his freshly squeezed, orange juice Carl had made was taken from him. Roy and the other members, who had arrived earlier than usual, gathered around.
“Anyone can say two three-digit numbers.”
When they looked at him with puzzled expressions, Cheung held his hand over Evan’s cup.
“123 times 456 equals 42,435.”
As soon as Cheung finished speaking, there was a small gust of wind and a high-pitched sound. Cheung returned the glass to Evan in a good mood. The cup now contained two round, beautiful ice cubes. Evan’s pretty eyes widened and looked between Cheung and the ice alternatively.
“That’s amazing! Are you able to use magic now?”
“What? Oh, yes.”
Evan patted Cheung’s shoulder while holding his glass in one hand. They were all smiles, and the other members applauded over the unexpected response, although still looking confused.
“I’m glad! Now you’re more of a normal person than just a math nerd!”
“I’m so happy for you! If my colleague died, I’d have nightmares.”
Some of them said rude things, but everyone’s faces were bright. When Cheung first conjured ice in front of Schweitzer, who had gone out with him for training, he had been very happy.
Let’s forget about his exaggerated wipe at the corner of his eyes and words, “Well, you are now able to fight my grandchild for at least ten seconds.”
It was a great first step for Cheung, but it was too plain of a magic trick to the average person.
Schweitzer had taught him that the stronger the user was, the more color their magic had. Movement and summoning were green. Attacks and falsehoods were red, and so on. The magic of all of the members often showed color when used, although never as much as Lance.
However, Cheung’s magic had no color.
While the others seemed to be confused by Cheung’s seemingly exaggerated parlor trick, Evan explained this with a bitter expression. Although there were few people who had high magical power, it was rare for them to be unable to use magic at all. It was said that those types of people were exposed to prejudice and had difficulty finding employment. Hearing all of this, Cheung’s eyes grew wide. The Severus Eyre members often made fun of his helplessness, but no one oppressed him. He couldn’t help but feel lucky, since he hadn’t encountered any prejudice so far.
“But how did you do it? With multiplication?”
“Ah, well. Formula and theorems are also derived from nature, so they have magic powers. Therefore, if you make good use of it, the natural spirits will help you. My acquaintance told me that I could use this method even without any magical power.”
“I didn’t know that.”
The sudden voice that Cheung heard very closed to him flustered him.
“Lance, you’re back?”
“You’re quite early this time.”
Cheung flinched at Roy’s casual remark. None of the other members seemed to notice, but Lance’s tone faltered a little.
“Well… A lot of things happened.”
Cheung couldn’t face Lance. If he didn’t behave normally, the other members were sure to notice. Cheung looked up to say something and was met with amber eyes. His determination instantly disappeared, and his cheeks turned red.
“What is it?”
“No, nothing really.”
Cheung glanced back up, and his mouth distorted with embarrassment.
“Ah… I’m glad you can use magic now. What about offensive spells?”
Lance raked a hand through his bangs and intentionally turned away from Cheung. He must have troubled him because of his overreaction. Cheung felt sorry, but his blushing cheeks were out of his control.
“What I can do now is create ice with three-digit multiplication, freeze with division, boil liquid with three-squared theorem…. as for fire, I recited Pi to twenty-five digits, the fireplace caught fire, and the room almost caught fire as well.”
He spoke quickly about the results of his practice so far. Evan and the other members laughed bitterly there.
“I don’t know what Cheung is saying at all.”
“It’s a very inefficient magic trick for everyone except Cheung.”
Evan’s amused tone made them all nod in agreement.
“No one can use this trick except me.”
When Cheung said this out of reprisal, Roy clicked his tongue and choked him. Evan egged him on. Of course, it was them joking on the level of high school boys, but the both of them were strong because they were in a militant group that had been in over a hundred battles. It was painful. Cheung felt like his life was in danger.
“Wow.”
A hand stretched out from in front of him and pinched his nose. Roy and Evan looked up in surprise along with Cheung and found Lance’s serious face.
“Do you really have time to say Pi to twenty-five digits? It doesn’t make sense for you to not manifest enough magic in less time.”
He had said the same thing as Cheung’s governor with a sigh. Cheung didn’t know if there was any reason for him to pinch his nose, but Cheung knew exactly what he was pointing out.
“The person who taught me said he would go out with me for training, so I’ll do my best to get better. Until then, I can only be in charge of cooling tea.”
“Do you mean the one who went to see you this morning?”
“That’s correct, but…?”
Lance raised an eyebrow. Cheung was confused by the low voice. What was Cheung supposed to say to that? Evan and the other members were looking at the both of them curiously, “This morning?”
“Ah, I’ll have some of the juice Carl made too.”
“When did they meet this morning?”
Cheung’s efforts to change the subject were futile, and Jesse, who had appeared, said something unnecessary. Lance finally realized his slip of the tongue and placed a hand over his forehead, but it was too late. Even if you always do everything perfectly, he could only curse in his heart.
While Cheung was racking his mind for an excuse, a devastated-looking Ken came rushing in. He cried out Jesse, saying, “I don’t want to look at women anymore! I’m going to live only for work!” and declared that he couldn’t be saved.
All of the people gathered looked at each other with indescribable expressions, and Jesse comforted Ken with the common phrase, “There are plenty of other fish in the sea.”
Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Lance and Cheung. Cheung felt sorry for him, but he was thankful for the help of his misfortune.
*******************TL Note: I’m late! I’m late! AHHHH! I thought it was Tuesday?? I’m so sorry!!