“Boo!” the young boy yelled.
“Get off our streets, you fraud!” An older woman yelled, throwing a rock at Arthur’s feet.
The crowd that had surrounded the street performer—Arthur Ran — was angrily yelling at me, booing me, and trying to get rid of me… But I suppose this is just the typical treatment I get around here.
“None of you respect actual magic! You’re the frauds, not me.”
The crowd’s expression changed. They were now offended. In today’s world, getting offended at such minor things is quite common, but in this scenario, they were the ones who caused this. Although, nobody is aware enough to understand that.
“He just snapped at us…” One woman whispered.
“Get your phone. Start recording.” Another whispered.
“What a jerk!” One boy exclaimed, his tongue out and his eyes closed—taunting Arthur.
Jeez, these guys have reached a new level of pitiful.
” Hey kid, what the hell are you doing up there?!” the police officer yelled.
Oh shit, the feds! I gotta get the hell out of here… I hopped off the statue of the town’s mayor I was performing on and ran off. Before I got far, I looked back at the man—he was obese. Since the invention of magic, nobody keeps their health in check and humanity has become lazy nowadays. They think they can eat whatever they want and just sit on their asses all day… Not me, though! I will prove to them what real, genuine magic is, even if it gets me a jail sentence.
” Oh, and by the way, you pig…” I said, as I floated into the air.
As I did so, a cape sprouted from my nape and a top hat grew from my hair.
” Wh-what!?” the police officer yelled once again.
” I am merely using my right to magic, though, you people spend your days using magic for simple things—picking up your remote controller from across the room, using it to feed yourself, or even simple things like automatically changing the channel on the tv.” I smirked at the end of my sentence and grabbed the edge of my top hat.
”On the contrary, I, along with many other smarter individuals, have been honing my magic skills for genuine purpose. I can even make some of my magic tricks more…let’s say, unique, with the enhancement of magic!”
I flipped my top hat upside down, the top of it was in the palm of my hand.
”Something, something, flashy boom boom magic, go!” I whispered.
Fireworks, more so a mimic of fireworks, flashed out of my hat and into the sky. The crowd from before stared in awe. Meanwhile, the police officer was aiming his gun at me, which I hadn’t noticed until right now.
”Be careful, mister police officer, you could hurt someone reaaal bad with that!”
I swished my right hand to the right, and a wand followed suit with it.
”Oh, and by the way, I’m not a kid. I am actually twenty-eight years old, though, I do appreciate you thinking I’m so young!”
”You little shit!” The police officer yelled as he pulled his finger, shooting a bullet from his handgun.
Before the bullet could reach me, I swung my wand in front of me and stopped the bullet in its tracks, then sent it flying backwards to the police officer—it had ripped his gun apart. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt him.
”Hah!” I exclaimed, my wand pointed down at the police officer.
”You mustn’t play around with toys like that, good sir. Somebody would have seriously gotten hurt by that little weapon…”
I floated down to the ground. My feet hit the ground with a clack, turned around and flung my cape up, making sure my exit was grand. Smoke escaped from the sole of my feet and engulfed my body. When it disappeared, I was gone.
”Why do you continue to cause so much trouble for us, Arthur?” My best friend said as I entered the room.
”I apologize for doing so, but you and I both know it isn’t my goal to stir up trouble. I am merely trying to reignite the spark for magic in everyone’s hearts.” I replied, setting my hat down on the table.
”I understand that Arthur, but…I mean let’s be real, you’re twenty eight…” He began.
”Unemployed.” He added, snarkily.
I fell to my knees and grabbed at my chest. “Low blow man!”
”Single.” He added, snarkily.
I dropped to all fours, my head grinding against the ground.
“Come on, spare me, I’ll even buy us pizza tonight Edward!”
“Pizza, you say?”
“Yes, Pizza, I dare say.”
Edward spun his chair around and a raw, nasty, smelly stink followed with.
“Holy…man you need to take a shower.” I said, grabbing at my nose.
Edward frowned at me, then spun back around. “Hmph!” He said.
“Edward, you aren’t much better than me, ya know…you’re in your early twenties and don’t have a girlfriend, either. You sit on your computer all day playing video games and hacking!”
Edward lifted his hand and snapped at me, “don’t forget I am still a college student.”
“That’s why I didn’t mention that you’re unemployed…”
We both laughed for a good minute. It hasn’t been lively like this for a while. “Ahh…” I said, finishing my laugh.
“You still need to take a shower, or I’m kicking you out.”
“Fine…”
The door opened behind us and our other roommate, Mia, walked in and brushed off the dirt on her shoulders.
“Hey, Mia.” I said, waving over at her.
“Ah, Hello Art. Uh…why are you in that getup again?!” She dropped her bags when she made eye contact with me. Am I just that charming? No…just shut up, me.
“Oh, you see I was, er, cosplaying!”
“He was harassing people in public on the Mayor’s statue again.” Edward said as he cracked his knuckles.
Mia pouted and then walked up to my face. She carried a subtle scent which I rarely smelled in this house, considering Edward was here, so she made me somewhat nervous.
“Seriously, Arthur?”
“I’m sorry.” I said, pushing past her.
“To make up for it, I will buy us pizza tonight. Does that sound good?”
Her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “I will forgive you this one time if you do so, but no more doing that nonsense, okay?”
“Yes, I promise.”
I wasn’t very good at keeping promises. I am very sorry, Mia!
Mia took her coat off and set it on the coat rack. She took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, her shoulders finally dropping from the tense position they were in.
“I’m gonna go and take a bath, so let me know when it gets here.” Mia said.
“Wait, could you let Edward take one first, please?”
She stared down from the steps with a shocked expression. “Do you really believe he will follow through with your demands?”
“Fair point. Enjoy the bath.”
She walked off without saying anything else.
I sat down on our beat up couch and pressed my fingers against my closed eyelids and rubbed them slowly.
“So, what’s been up with the magic institution, Edward?” I said, opening my sore eyes.
“Not much. They’ve been quiet recently. At least, on the level I can access.”
I sighed without replying, then walked off into the kitchen. I stepped on one of the wooden boards on our floor, and it snapped.
“Ugh…seriously?!” I exclaimed.
I knew our house was older and not in great condition, but for it to be breaking down like this is just sad.
Edward’s heavy feet thumped into the room and he stopped in his tracks when he saw me.
“Hehe…” He mumbled, taking out his phone and snapping a picture abnormally fast.
“You are seriously a phone freak, man…”
Edward quickly threw his phone back into his pocket and stood up straight and tall, his round belly puffing out.
He cleared his voice, his clenched fist to his mouth. “I would like to be called a phone master, preferably, thank you very much.” He said, finishing it with a bow.
“This isn’t something you should be proud of.”
Edward walked back into the living room, and I went to the kitchen. Our kitchen was small. Hell, we barely had a fridge and a stove. I ordered our pizza, then sat in the kitchen, awaiting the doorbell to ring.
Bading!
It sounded.
“Ah, finally, the food is here!” Edward yelled, his feet thumping as he ran to the door.
I ran to the door. I am starving and had nothing to eat today…considering all three of us are quite poor.
I opened the front door with two twenty-dollar bills in my hand. I had to ask for ten back in change.
“Hey, how’s your evening going, folks?” The delivery driver said as he handed us the pizza.
“Pretty great, thank you.” I said, handing him the forty dollars.
“Oh, and I want a ten back in change.”
“No problemo.” The man said, reaching for his pocket.
He looked back up with the ten in hand, “here ya go!”
I grabbed the ten dollars from his hand, but he didn’t let go.
“Holy crap…you’re the guy who was on the statue in the center of town today!” The man said, laughing.
“What?! Were you there?”
“Nah man, I was working! But dude, your video is going viral all over the net!” He took his phone from his pocket and was typing something up. I could tell by the way his thumbs aggressively slammed against his phone’s screen.
“Here, check it out.” He flipped his phone to us, showing us the video of me flipping out on the crowd.
“Arthur…what is the meaning of this?” Mia said from behind us.
I flipped around to face her. The pizzas were still in my hand. They were burning them, frankly.
“I—uh, er, that isn’t me…”
“Really? Then why do you two look identical?” She asked. She was visibly angry at me.
“Mere coincidence.”
By this point, the video had gotten to the part where I blew apart the police officer’s gun. When Mia saw that, her jaw dropped, staying hung open for about twenty seconds after the video ended…then spoke.
“Arthur.”
“Yes, Mia?”
“If you do another stunt like that, I’m going to kick you out of the house.”
"But it’s my house?! I pay for the rent and everything!"
I looked her in the eyes. They didn’t look angry or infuriated, like her tone had sounded before…she just looked back at me with such a sad look on her face.
“I’m sorry.” I said, handing her the pizza.
I grabbed my top hat then left the building, bumping shoulders with the delivery driver.
“Wait! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Art—just please come back inside.” She yelled from behind me.
“Uh, just let me be alone for a bit. I’ll heat some pizza for myself later. Just save me a few slices of pepperoni.”
And with that, I floated off, away from my friends, into town.
Edward, Mia, and me.
We all are friends, but deep down, I am alone. Nobody is there in the same [world] as me. In this world of seven billion people, I am the only one who still practices magic. Er, the real magic.
Ever since the discovery of “magic” humanity hasn’t been the same, one could say. It’s only been roughly four years since a secret organization discovered it. In those four years, the obesity rate shot up to 90%. The remaining ten percent were smarter with their choices, I suppose.
The [magic institution], it is a government that was formed not too long after the discovery of magic. Edward has been hacking into their system since he was eighteen. We’re quite close to discovering the truth, in fact. Edward made a breakthrough recently and can access direct emails and whatnot between the top rankers.
“Oh, my god…look it’s him!” A girl from across the street exclaimed, pointing at me.
“Woah it really is!” the girl next to her said.
Everyone around me was taking pictures, with and without a flash, meanwhile others gossiped around me. I shouldn’t let it affect me, but it still hurts knowing thousands, if not more, people are making fun of my entire existence.
“Are you all here to watch me perform? If not, then I’d like it if you could put the cameras away…but to those who wish to see what actual magic is, feast your eyes!”
I threw my top hat into the air, and white gloves appeared on my hands. I clapped them thrice, then extended my hands to their respective sides. Candy shot out of the palms of my gloves and landed at the feet of the first row of people recording me.
“You are just a fraud too, aren’t you?” A middle-aged man in a suit asked.
“And how so?” I asked.
“You are just using the new magic… you aren’t really a magician.”
I sighed and clapped my hands together, the white gloves dissipating as I did so.
“Thank you for the question. Now let me ask you a question, er…”
“Michael. My name is Michael.” Michael said, straightening his tie.
“Well then, Michael, to answer your question. I am not a fraud. If you look around us, Michael, you may see that nearly every person here is lesser than me in a way, no? Whether it be in the way we use magic or how we are...putting ourselves out there, I could say.”
Michael hesitated before replying, his face showing his hesitation to do so.
“I do.”
Many people in the crowd screamed at his reply, some even grabbing at him.
“Silence!” I yelled. I snapped my hands and a loud screech of an animal sounded with my snap. Everyone got quiet.
“Michael, the difference between these people and me is very simple. Sure, I am clearly in shape physically while they aren’t. I am great at both real and fake magic, but do you know the biggest difference?”
As I spoke, people pushed past the front row and threw a variety of things at me and Michael—who was now a few feet in front of me.
“What?” Michael asked, his resolve not wavering.
I put my top hat on, fixed the positioning of my cape and clapped my hands together twice, and replied.
“Character!”
I threw my hands to the side and two gusts of winds followed, one on each side, knocking everyone back. Michael, who had been knocked on his butt, stared up at me with a shocked expression.
“Best of luck, Michael.” I took off my top hat and bowed down to Michael, and promptly disappeared into the smoke once again.
Wait…I just did the exact thing Mia told me not to do.
“Ahh…fuck.”
I rubbed my eyelids once again, then hopped building-to-building until I reached [home].
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