The Last Magic Chapter 14

# Chapter 14: Rin 2

After that, Sakurako's videos weren't frequent, but they were distributed at regular intervals and became popular.

Since they could be enjoyed even without understanding Japanese, they seemed to have gained a response overseas too, which was certainly different from the sorcerers who had been active in very narrow circles until now.

Television, which still didn't know how to handle YouTubers properly, found the photogenic sorcerer Sakurako easy to feature, and her videos began to be introduced on programs from time to time.

Sakurako also started using SNS and gained attention as an influencer.

When her followers exceeded one million, I could no longer contact her so easily. She was a celebrity, and I was a university student working part-time at a fast-food restaurant. I felt like we were living in completely different worlds now.

And then, a decisive event occurred. Sakurako announced that she would hold a magic live performance.

There had apparently been gatherings where magic was performed in front of people before, but they were generally done quietly and secretly with limited audiences (like rituals?). Doing it on a large scale like an artist's live concert was unprecedented.

(I have to buy a ticket!)

I was thinking that when one was sent to me from Sakurako. On the same day, along with a LINE message saying:

[Come see me]

she also sent a stamp of a gentle bear beckoning with its hand.

I like music well enough, but not enough to go to live concerts. Moreover, going alone felt rather lonely, but there was no way I wouldn't go to see her.

I had heard of the live venue's name, and the nearest station was Shibuya. I'd been going to Shibuya for a long time, but I had no idea such a place existed.

Thinking "So there's a place like this too," I walked up the slope and found it was surprisingly close, arriving much earlier than the opening time.

But there was already a line formed, so I joined the back and waited for a while. Then they opened the venue a bit earlier than scheduled. The line was absorbed into the venue as if being sucked in, and I went with the flow. I managed to get a seat right in the middle area. I thought it was a pretty good spot, but all seats were standing room only. Come to think of it, I'd never seen people sitting in live concert footage.

As I stood there, it suddenly went completely dark, and the entire venue fell silent as if gripped by tension. My heart was pounding, wondering "What's going to start?" when a spotlight suddenly shone on the center of the stage.

There stood Sakurako wearing a kimono.

She was also shown in close-up on the huge screen behind her. But I was staring intently at Sakurako on the stage.

Sakurako began chanting an incantation. Each word clearly and beautifully. Just that alone nearly brought me to tears. I had been watching her practice since elementary school, after all.

At first, it was difficult just to memorize the incantations themselves, and her pronunciation was halting like a middle school student who couldn't speak English. But now she was truly fluent, able to chant incantations in a flowing manner.

Just before the incantation was completed, it went completely dark, and I could see only the small but steady flickering of cherry-colored fire above Sakurako's hand.

The audience erupted in cheers like boiling water. I also shouted Sakurako's name loudly.

Then, that fire blazed up and grew larger, and a giant blue flame appeared.

Everyone knew this wasn't magic but stage effects. That blue flame wasn't real, so it apparently wasn't hot. Magic was only used as an introduction, and then it switched to flashy stage effects.

This was that kind of show.

Sakurako danced while brandishing the flame, creating a fantastical atmosphere. The flame then changed to light, and its brilliance illuminated the entire venue. It was like a scene from a movie.

It was about 10 minutes for one act, and after one segment ended, Sakurako appeared again, now changed into blue costume. And she began chanting incantations once more.

This time, other people also emerged from the wings, and they all began chanting magic together like a chorus. It was different from the beautiful one before—it was old-fashioned but solemn and weighty, and I was overwhelmed by how magical it felt.

The completed magic was ice. Ice chunks appeared at the fingertips of all the sorcerers, and they all threw their ice upward.

At the same time, giant ice appeared right above the audience seats, and when Sakurako snapped her fingers, it shattered and fell down on us sparkling.

I couldn't tell what was real and what was magic. It wasn't a very long live performance, but the audience was very excited, sometimes moved to tears, and it was extremely lively.

Suddenly, I noticed Sakurako was looking at me.

And she smiled brightly, probably. She might have been smiling at all the audience members, not just me, but I was sure it was directed at me.

After the live performance ended, I hesitated about whether to go see Sakurako or not, but I felt it would be a bit presumptuous for me, who hadn't done anything, to barge into the backstage area, so I sent a LINE message:

[That was amazing!]

along with a stamp of a bear exploding with excitement.

Soon Sakurako also sent back:

[Thank you]

along with a stamp of a bear bowing its head repeatedly.

---

The memorable first live performance was a great success and was praised on television and SNS. After that, it immediately became a nationwide tour, and tickets became premium items.

As she became more famous, fans started appearing near her house, which became a problem, so Sakurako began living alone in Tokyo.

I was given her new address too, but I still felt like Sakurako was far away, and I gradually stopped using LINE as much.

There was that loneliness, but university life was enjoyable.

I had many friends both at university and at my part-time job, and with the money I earned from my part-time work, I went on trips with friends. Also, I got my driver's license and went on drives using my father's car. Every day was filled with some kind of plans, and my days were busy and happy. Yes, I was happy. I felt like something was missing, but I was happy.

On one such day, I met Rei, with whom I had continued to keep in touch sporadically even after graduating high school.

Sitting face to face in a bar-like establishment in Shibuya, sharing memories of high school and each other's recent updates while sipping beer and picking at fish and chips was more fun than I had expected. But when the alcohol had progressed quite a bit, Rei suddenly said something strange, as if it had just occurred to her.

"There's a nice guy I know. What do you think?"

In other words, "Want me to introduce you to a male friend?" It was a common story. But it was unusual for Rei to say such a thing. She wasn't the type to meddle in other people's affairs.

"Then you should go out with him yourself, Rei."

I wasn't in that kind of mood, and Rei shouldn't have a boyfriend right now either, so she wasn't in a position to be taking care of other people's affairs.

"Hmm, he's not really my type. But when I was talking to him, I thought 'he might be compatible with Rin.' It's like intuition, you know. Like, a spark. Well, I don't intend to force anything. I just thought that for some reason."

When she backed down so easily, it made me curious instead.

"What kind of person is he?"

I ended up asking.

"An ordinary person. His face isn't bad, I suppose. He's not the trendy type, so he doesn't dye his hair or have piercings or anything like that. In short, he's a serious guy. He's a good listener and has a nice personality. The type that even mothers would feel comfortable recommending."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Someone from Tokyo University?"

"That's right. Same seminar."

If he was from Tokyo University and in the same seminar as Rei, he must be quite smart.

"That's prime real estate. Someone like that should already have a girlfriend. Isn't there something strange about him? Maybe he seems serious but actually has connections to anti-social groups?"

"Anti-social" was a word I'd been hearing a lot lately, meaning bad people, but it was often used jokingly like now.

"No, like Rin, he wasn't interested in that kind of thing. And while he was saying such things, he reached a point where he couldn't back down, and now he's become interested but can't bring himself to say so, worrying 'What should I do?' He's a bit silly and cute, don't you think?"

"Hmm."

I felt like that "silly" was also directed at me.

"So, since you're birds of a feather, I thought maybe you could start by exchanging LINE messages or something. If you don't like him, you can just block him, right?"

"It's not that simple..."

"What's wrong with it? You've never even met him. There'd be no bad blood, right?"

When she put it that way, it started to make sense.

"How about it? Want to register him?"

Rei was fiddling with her smartphone and sent me the contact information via LINE.

The registered name was Shinohara Kazuma.

It was a very serious-sounding name. He seemed like he might do judo or something.

"Well, if that's the case, I guess I'll try it."

I ended up registering him, carried away by the momentum of the alcohol.

"Then I'll contact Shinohara-kun from my end."

"Eh?"

Before I could stop her, Rei had already typed out a message.

Then, after a while, I received a LINE message from Shinohara-kun:

[Sorry about this]

I also sent:

[No, I'm the one who should apologize. The conversation just got carried away by the alcohol]

After sending that message, I sent a panicked, apologetic bear stamp.

Shinohara-kun also sent back a bashful cat stamp saying [You're welcome].

"How is it? What's it like?"

Rei peered at my smartphone with interest and said:

"Hmm, there's no sex appeal. Both of you give off the vibe of having zero romantic experience."

She said something terrible.

After that, I somehow started exchanging LINE messages with Shinohara-kun.

He wasn't the pushy type, and the distance felt just right. About a month later, our exchanges had increased considerably. We hadn't sent each other photos yet, so we didn't know what each other looked like.

Then, one time, in the course of casual conversation, we discovered that we were both near Shibuya Station, so we decided to meet. I had been wanting to meet him, and I think Shinohara-kun probably wanted to meet me too.

I was waiting at the classic Hachiko statue when I saw a man walking toward me from the distance. He wore glasses, was tall and thin, and seemed somewhat gentle. He didn't look like he did judo.

But I thought this was probably him, and the other person also approached with conviction and politely asked:

"Are you Shiba-san?"

I also replied in an exaggeratedly polite manner:

"Are you Shinohara-kun?"

That was a bit funny, and we both smiled bashfully.

I intuitively thought, this is probably the person.