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I Refuse To Die As A Background Character!

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Since it looks like the Wonderful White path is going to win...

Ace

The mood in the room was dark. Every member of the magic club was tense, each resorting to their own methods of passing the time. Mai was shuffling a deck of cards, over and over again. Keita was twirling a plastic wand between his fingers. Hana glared at a poster on the wall. Taka tapped away at his cellphone.

The tension in the room could have been sawn in half with a hacksaw.

The door suddenly burst open, jolting everyone out of their patterns.

Yusuke stood hunched over in the doorway, perspiration dripping from his forehead. It was quite obvious that he had been running before he'd entered the room. All eyes were on him, the same thought echoing in everyone's heads.

'What happened?'

Yusuke finally caught his breath, and looked up. His mouth stretched into a huge grin. "He's agreed! He's staying for good!"

The whole room erupted into cheers.

Our Ace is back!

It is perhaps necessary to explain why the reactions of the club were what they were. To get a proper frame of reference though, one had to go back to one fateful afternoon at the beginning of the year...

~

"-and is this your card?"

"... no."

"Haaa? Yeah it is! It's the ace of- that's not the ace of spades."

"Hahahaha, no it isn't. You messed up again, Mai!"

"Raaagh! I'm going to get it right eventually!"

Hana chuckled as she watched Mai grumble, Keita needling her about her cardplay again. Mai, while talented in sleight of hand, was somehow absolutely terrible at card tricks. She and Keita could usually be found in a corner, working on the various card tricks that Keita tried to teach her.

There was progress, sure. Slow progress, but progress all the same. He cast his gaze around the room, casting about for his vice president.

There was Taka, practicing his top hat trick, muttering and frowning at the very, very tangled knot of colored handkerchiefs.

And- ah! There was Yusuke, coming back from a trip to the supply room. There had been... and incident with one of the new potential recruits last week.

Hana sighed. The new recruits. Such a small and disappointing crop this year. Only Mai and Taka had shown legitimate enthusiasm and desire to learn the ways of stage magic. The others were more interested in looking cool, or learning just enough to impress others. Though one candidate... that stain wasn't coming out any time soon.

Served the idiot right, trying to juggle bowling balls.

Unfortunately, that incident had driven away anyone else who was interested to join.

Hana sighed again. There were two 1st years, courtesy of Mai and Taka, two 2nd years, herself and Keita, and Yusuke, the lone 3rd year. 'Part of the old guard', he always said. 'One of the last members of the original members of magic club.' Four 3rd years, three 2nd years, and one lone 1st year, Yusuke.

Supposedly they had been equal in status even to the athletics clubs. Now they were barely considered worthy of a council seat.

Hana sighed again. At this rate the club would disintegrate by the time she reached 3rd year.

The door suddenly opens, causing a silence to spread through the room. Who in the world was coming in?

A white-haired head poked inside. "Um. Is this the room for the magic club?"

Hana smiled. A new recruit! "Yes, it is. Come inside!"

The male stepped inside, walking around the desks, and eventually standing in front of her. "I know that the tryouts were last week, but I- I only.. discovered my passion for magic recently."

"That's fine," she replied. "We're always happy to accept new recruits, so long as they're capable."

He grinned. "I guess I've got a show to put on, then."

And he proceeded to amaze everyone.

~

After that stunning performance, Hayashi was all but begged to join their club. And, sure enough, he agreed to a trial period. He helped them with one performance at the beginning of the year, for the whole school. One. And that single show had the entire audience on their feet.

He hadn't shown up to any meetings since then. And when they confronted him about it, he only said that he wasn't sure of his priorities, and that he needed to think about it some more. The club that had briefly, so briefly been in the light, was pulled back into the shadows of mediocrity.

Today, he had finally given an answer.

As the entire club cheered around her, Hana laughed long and loud.

Our Ace has returned.

~

Bleh. Ending was hard. But here ya go.
 
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[X] The mysteries of this world thickens. You need to know more about Phantoms and spirits if you want survive in a world of monsters. Phantom Drives, Phantom Hearts, Spirit energy - you know the basics of such things but it not enough! Shirokami is the only one here in the know. Follow her and perhaps you may learn something else new.
 
Daecl said:
Since it looks like the Wonderful White path is going to win...

Ace

The mood in the room was dark. Every member of the magic club was tense, each resorting to their own methods of passing the time. Mai was shuffling a deck of cards, over and over again. Keita was twirling a plastic wand between his fingers. Hana glared at a poster on the wall. Taka tapped away at his cellphone.

The tension in the room could have been sawn in half with a hacksaw.

The door suddenly burst open, jolting everyone out of their patterns.

Yusuke stood hunched over in the doorway, perspiration dripping from his forehead. It was quite obvious that he had been running before he'd entered the room. All eyes were on him, the same thought echoing in everyone's heads.

'What happened?'

Yusuke finally caught his breath, and looked up. His mouth stretched into a huge grin. "He's agreed! He's staying for good!"

The whole room erupted into cheers.

Our Ace is back!

It is perhaps necessary to explain why the reactions of the club were what they were. To get a proper frame of reference though, one had to go back to one fateful afternoon at the beginning of the year...

~

"-and is this your card?"

"... no."

"Haaa? Yeah it is! It's the ace of- that's not the ace of spades."

"Hahahaha, no it isn't. You messed up again, Mai!"

"Raaagh! I'm going to get it right eventually!"

Hana chuckled as she watched Mai grumble, Keita needling her about her cardplay again. Mai, while talented in sleight of hand, was somehow absolutely terrible at card tricks. She and Keita could usually be found in a corner, working on the various card tricks that Keita tried to teach her.

There was progress, sure. Slow progress, but progress all the same. He cast his gaze around the room, casting about for his vice president.

There was Taka, practicing his top hat trick, muttering and frowning at the very, very tangled knot of colored handkerchiefs.

And- ah! There was Yusuke, coming back from a trip to the supply room. There had been... and incident with one of the new potential recruits last week.

Hana sighed. The new recruits. Such a small and disappointing crop this year. Only Mai and Taka had shown legitimate enthusiasm and desire to learn the ways of stage magic. The others were more interested in looking cool, or learning just enough to impress others. Though one candidate... that stain wasn't coming out any time soon.

Served the idiot right, trying to juggle bowling balls.

Unfortunately, that incident had driven away anyone else who was interested to join.

Hana sighed again. There were two 1st years, courtesy of Mai and Taka, two 2nd years, herself and Keita, and Yusuke, the lone 3rd year. 'Part of the old guard', he always said. 'One of the last members of the original members of magic club.' Four 3rd years, three 2nd years, and one lone 1st year, Yusuke.

Supposedly they had been equal in status even to the athletics clubs. Now they were barely considered worthy of a council seat.

Hana sighed again. At this rate the club would disintegrate by the time she reached 3rd year.

The door suddenly opens, causing a silence to spread through the room. Who in the world was coming in?

A white-haired head poked inside. "Um. Is this the room for the magic club?"

Hana smiled. A new recruit! "Yes, it is. Come inside!"

The male stepped inside, walking around the desks, and eventually standing in front of her. "I know that the tryouts were last week, but I- I only.. discovered my passion for magic recently."

"That's fine," she replied. "We're always happy to accept new recruits, so long as they're capable."

He grinned. "I guess I've got a show to put on, then."

And he proceeded to amaze everyone.

~

After that stunning performance, Hayashi was all but begged to join their club. And, sure enough, he agreed to a trial period. He helped them with one performance at the beginning of the year, for the whole school. One. And that single show had the entire audience on their feet.

He hadn't shown up to any meetings since then. And when they confronted him about it, he only said that he wasn't sure of his priorities, and that he needed to think about it some more. The club that had briefly, so briefly been in the light, was pulled back into the shadows of mediocrity.

Today, he had finally given an answer.

As the entire club cheered around her, Hana laughed long and loud.

Our Ace has returned.

~

Bleh. Ending was hard. But here ya go.
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Well now, I need to write another Omake soon.
 
[X] The show must go on. There's a show to be done and the audience wants Wonderful White to enchant and amaze them with his magic. You are not one to disappoint after so you shall give them what they want. As the ace of the magic club, your actions are very important to the continued existence of your club.
 
Actually just to spice something up. I am going to burn my Omake bonus now. Just to see how special encounters go.

Also, I kind of don't want to over grind our skills to make things too easy for us.

[X]Special Encounter!
reborn214 threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: Special Encounter! Total: 52
52 52
 
[X] The show must go on. There's a show to be done and the audience wants Wonderful White to enchant and amaze them with his magic. You are not one to disappoint after so you shall give them what they want. As the ace of the magic club, your actions are very important to the continued existence of your club.
 
[X] The show must go on. There's a show to be done and the audience wants Wonderful White to enchant and amaze them with his magic. You are not one to disappoint after so you shall give them what they want. As the ace of the magic club, your actions are very important to the continued existence of your club.
 
[X] The show must go on. There's a show to be done and the audience wants Wonderful White to enchant and amaze them with his magic. You are not one to disappoint after so you shall give them what they want. As the ace of the magic club, your actions are very important to the continued existence of your club.
 
[X] The show must go on. There's a show to be done and the audience wants Wonderful White to enchant and amaze them with his magic. You are not one to disappoint after so you shall give them what they want. As the ace of the magic club, your actions are very important to the continued existence of your club.
 
We gotta make sure to disguise ourselves to be exactly like the old Phantom Blue whenever we go out as him from now on, regardless of whether it's in a stealing capacity or getting involved in the plot like we did before.

We're separating our identities not just for the cops but for the audience after all, and they've actually already seen the original Blue, but only saw a silhouette when we appeared as Blue ourselves before.
 
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Amo said:
We gotta make sure to disguise ourselves to be exactly like the old Phantom Blue whenever we go out as him from now on, regardless of whether it's in a stealing capacity or getting involved in the plot like we did before.

We're separating our identities not just for the cops but for the audience after all, and they've actually already seen the original Blue, but only saw a silhouette when we appeared as Blue ourselves before.
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Click to shrink...
I don't think Takumi is capable of seeing those segments, sadly... I believe that was the original Phantom Blue. I fully support fancy monocle-mask, though.

Just out of curiosity, @shibosho, would you rate that little thing I do worth any bonus?
 
I'm saying that from a meta perspective. Takumi obviously already knows what Phantom Blue looks like and has reasons to appear as him when he's Phantom Blue anyway.
 
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