A petite girl with spiky orange hair nailed her position in front of the clubroom. Her beautiful brown eyes were fixed on the sign engraved with [Game Creation Club (Temp)].
"Is this it...?" she mumbled, the corner of her mouth twitching a few times. "I can't believe Onii-chan joined such a club!"
"Everyone's talking about this club, so... I only came to check it out out of curiosity."
Her small, slender white legs—barely covered by her short skirt—bent at an acute angle. Standing on tiptoe, she launched herself to peek through the glass, but her height was too cute. Even jumping didn't help her get a glimpse inside.
"Noe..."
Standing at the corner behind her, Shin raised an eyebrow. He found himself momentarily dazed—he hadn't expected her to appear this early, but recalling the timeline of events, it made sense.
"What is she doing here?"
This girl with the spiky orange hair was Kenji's younger sister. "She looks ridiculous, desperately trying to peek inside," he thought.
He couldn't just leave her there looking like an idiot—she was his friend's little sister, after all. He tapped the ground lightly and took a step toward her.
"Do you want to go inside?"
Hearing someone speak so suddenly, Noe flinched. Her eyes dropped to the ground, and her body trembled. "I-I didn't do anything bad..." she said, waving her small hands in panic, as if to prove her innocence.
"It's alright..." Shin pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's no one inside right now, so if you want to check out the club, I can take you in."
"Umm... T-thanks..." Noe kept her gaze down, her face flushed red with embarrassment. She occasionally stole a glance at him, recognizing his face. Her mind drifted to a memory—something one of her friends had said.
In her head, an image of a bespectacled girl popped up like an unwanted ad.
"Shin Takao? He's the younger brother of the a~~ma~~zing Takao! And being that good-looking, he's so amaaaaazing\~!"
Shin twisted the doorknob and gently pushed the door open. It creaked with an ominous groan. "Welcome to the clubroom," he said.
Not hiding his hospitality, he gestured toward a free seat and grabbed a snack from Minami-sensei's stockpile.
"The other members will be here soon. By the way, my name is Shin Takao. I prefer being called by name," he added, handing her a sweet bread.
Noe didn't shy away from his generosity. She accepted it with open arms, and as she looked at his face, the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile.
"Umm... Thank you, Shin-san. My name is... Noe..."
She spoke in such a low voice that if not for his sharp hearing, he might've missed it entirely.
"Hmm... Noe. That's a nice name. So, what brings you here? Are you planning to join our club?"
"Actually... I came to visit because... my brother talks about it a lot..."
"Brother? You mean Kenji?"
"Uhu..." She nodded.
"I see. Well, you'll get to meet the club members soon. You'll have time to get to know them."
He stood from his warm seat and grabbed a deck of cards resting on the shelf. "...Still, waiting can be boring. Are you interested in seeing some party tricks?"
"Party tricks...?" Noe blinked, momentarily dazed. Then she remembered—her brother had shown her something similar once, claiming he learned it from a friend. 'He must be the one...'
Her eyes lit up. "S-sure, I guess..." she said—not out of politeness, but genuine interest. She truly liked card tricks.
Shin didn't say much. He placed the deck on the table and spread it smoothly to his right, forming a neat line of overlapping cards.
Noe's small mouth formed an "O" shape. Her eyes sparkled, and she clutched her fists in excitement. "Woah... Amazing!"
Like a child at a birthday party, she was captivated by his dexterity.
Shin didn't hold back. With a calm, practiced motion, he began flipping the cards from left to right, creating a chain reaction. One by one, each card turned over as his left hand moved as though wielding an invisible force.
In a sweeping motion, he gathered the cards into a deck again, then performed a flourish with both hands. Splitting the deck in half, he pinched the sides to form a shape, then launched the cards one by one onto the table from left to right.
"T-this is shuffling...?" Noe asked, her voice trembling with awe.
"Well, since I'm done with the warm-up... how about you hold these three aces for a moment?"
Shin slid three cards across the table consecutively. They spun for a second before stopping—each one landing neatly in front of Noe. Three cards now lay perfectly aligned, as if set up for a poker game—except with limited cards.
Setting the rest of the deck aside, Shin raised his right hand under Noe's watchful gaze. He twisted his wrist to show her both the front and back.
"As you can see... I'm not holding any cards, but—"
With a quick flick of his thumb, a card popped out like magic. He casually tossed it inward, and it landed smoothly in front of him. A second card followed, then a third—each falling perfectly into place. Now, just like Noe, he had three cards laid out in front of him—but his were all face down.
"..."
"Now, I'm going to put this card in the center."
With a sharp flick of his index finger—pow! —the card slid forward and landed exactly where he wanted.
"Now, I want you to place one of your Aces on top of it."
Noe nodded slightly. With care, she picked up one of her cards and placed it over Shin's.
He mirrored her, placing one of his own cards over hers. Back and forth they went, stacking cards in turns until they had no more left to place.
Once done, Shin gathered the entire stack and held it in his left hand, close enough for Noe to watch every move.
"As you know," he said calmly, "the Aces you held were separated by other cards. Now..."
He brought the small deck closer to her mouth with a gentle smile. "...can you blow on it?"
Noe obediently tucked her loose strands of hair behind her ear. Her lips formed a small "O" as she leaned forward, then gently blew on the small deck—like extinguishing a birthday candle.
Shin didn't say much. Silently, he placed the deck at the center again and began turning over the cards, one by one.
Noe watched with sparkling anticipation. But when all three cards were revealed, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"H-how...!?"
She subconsciously lifted her butt off the chair and slapped the table lightly.
"T-this shouldn't be possible! There were intervals, and I didn't see your hand touch the cards either...! "
The corner of Shin's mouth arced into a smug grin. Her reaction amused him.
"It's just a simple trick."
"A simple trick? " Noe stared at him, utterly dumbfounded.
"Yes. I gave you three Ace cards: [As, Ac, Ah]. I held one Ace—[Ad]—and two different cards: [9c, 4s]."
He began turning the cards over as he explained.
"First, I placed [9c] at the center and asked you to put one of your Aces on top. Then we took turns stacking cards. That led to this final sequence: [9c, As, 4s, Ah, Ad, Ac]."
"You probably didn't notice because I was distracting you, but there was a small switch in the Aces I gave you. See this?"
He pointed to the cards again.
"The [As] you were holding got replaced with [Ad]."
Although Shin saw it as a small and crude trick, it was still impressive in the eyes of many—especially kids. He remembered watching a classmate perform it back in the day. The memory was still fresh. Back then, he'd immediately noticed the switch, saw through the logic, and felt strangely annoyed at how easy it was to figure out.
'It's crude,' he thought. 'Any observant person would notice it eventually.'
Still, Noe stared at him, mouth slightly agape. She couldn't believe she got fooled by such basic misdirection. But instead of protesting, she only looked more impressed—her admiration for him clearly growing.
"Umm... Do you have more...? "
"Well, yeah. I'll show you another one. This one's also a basic magic trick."
Shin grabbed another set of cards and began laying them out in three rows:
[9c, 10s, Jh]
[Ac, 4s, Ad]
[Ah, 5d, As]
"Now," he said, "I want you to pick a card in your mind. Don't tell me what it is—just its position. Is it in the left, middle, or right column? "
Noe stared at the cards in silence for a moment. After a beat, she said, "It's in the middle."
Shin didn't respond. Instead, he calmly gathered the cards, starting with the left and ending with the middle column. He stacked them with precision, then shuffled and laid them back out in a new arrangement:
[9c, Ac, Ah]
[10s, 4s, 5d]
[Jh, Ad, As]
"Now," Shin said, "can you tell me the location of your card again? "
"It's still in the middle..." Noe replied, brows furrowing slightly.
Without hesitation, Shin lifted the middle card—[4s]—and slid it gently toward her.
"This is your card, right? "
Noe blinked. "…How...? "
She was clearly hoping for an explanation—but Shin only smiled.
"Took a wild guess," he said with a wink.
Realizing she was being teased, Noe puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms in frustration. "Hmph! Stingy Shin!"
"That's a sudden change of attitude," Shin remarked, amused. He didn't mind at all—if anything, he found her reactions entertaining.
"...It's also from the sequence," he added, deciding to explain the trick after all.
Hearing that, Noe's pout softened. Her frustration faded as curiosity lit up her eyes. She leaned forward, eager to listen.
As the other club members still hadn't arrived, Shin took the opportunity to show her a few more tricks—breaking down the logic behind them, the sleight of hand, and how subtle misdirection worked. Noe was a fast learner, absorbing each explanation with quiet intensity.
He even taught her how to win certain card games by reading opponents' habits or manipulating play order. And for every little trick she got right, she responded with a bright smile and a small clap, like a student proud of her first magic act.