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For his 8th birthday, Atsuhiro was given a book titled “Fun magic tricks for kids” and a deck of playing cards.
To say he was obsessed was an understatement. In 2 weeks he had every trick memorized and in another week he could do every one perfectly. It was so fascinating how with a little slip of the hand he could find a card or make it disappear- at least to the audience. Of course he knew that the card was carefully snuck behind his fingers and out of sight of the watchers, but the amazed looks on his classmate’s faces were the most magical part of it all.
There were always people in his class who just had to talk about how fake it was, how they felt the need to point out that “C’mon, it's obviously not magic, you can totally see him hiding it in his sleeve!” While they were definitely annoying, Atsuhiro really wasn’t too bothered that someone found out the secret to his tricks. Anyone could’ve got that book, so he really couldn’t be surprised when someone found out, could he? At least that's what he told himself whenever someone interrupted a performance, but he couldn’t deny he was always upset when someone ruined the magic.
That wasn’t a problem for long though, because soon enough Sako learned how to make up his own tricks. Copying tricks from a book or the internet was one thing, but making up his own was just different. Anyone could do magic from instructions, but his own illusions were tailor-fitted to what he could do and it made them that much more special. And this time, only he knew exactly what went on behind the scenes.
It was such a satisfying feeling to be the only one to know exactly the magic of it that Atsuhiro started specializing in making up tricks on his own. It was at the same time he decided he should try incorporating his quirk into his craft, marbling the objects that needed to be hidden and making them reappear with a flourish out of thin air.
At this point in his career he rarely got any comments about it being fake, the audience knew it was an illusion, but they enjoyed the show either way. Performing a trick was always the best feeling in the world for Atsuhiro, all his years of practice showed off effortlessly. The one thing that hadn’t changed since he was younger was the joy that he felt seeing the delighted look on his viewers faces after a successful trick. He had gotten more positive reviews than ever, and it always felt good to have his abilities recognized
There was one new comment that he found himself receiving more often, but he didn’t care for it at all.
Atsuhiro was in high school, and at this age practically everyone had their quirk developed and could use it well too, including him. He could easily control what and the amount of area he could marble by now, and even though they weren’t allowed to do it at school, he knew his classmates could handle theirs too.
Two of Atsuhiro’s classmates asked him to show them a magic trick after school. He gave yet another show stopping performance, but afterwards one of them asked a strange question:
“What quirk did’ya use to do that?”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Because Sako honestly didn’t know, was he asking what his quirk was or how he did it? “C’mon you know what I mean! When you used your quirk to make the card appear from behind my back, what did your quirk do that made you able to do that?” oh.
For some reason, that question actually made him angry . At that moment he couldn’t process exactly why that was, but it was really the implications that offended him. The implication that it wasn’t his well-practiced skills that made the illusion work, but that it was only his quirk that did it. Of course, his quirk was what made it all possible in the first place, but to say that it was the only thing that was needed for it to work ignored every carefully developed technique that was the backbone of the show.
Still, Atsuhiro kept in character until the curtain call.
“A magician never reveals his secrets!” He replied with a wink and a barley faltering grin as he began to walk home.
At the end of the day it really didn’t matter what the audience thought happened as long as they enjoyed it, but it was sad to think his performance didn’t have the whimsical effect he intended. Oh well, he thought. With so many new amazing abilities, illusionists as a whole were falling out of style. Nowadays, an audience seeing a magician escape a sealed box would wonder what the magician’s quirk was instead of how they pulled it off. And that was a shame really, producing a successful illusion took a lot of practice, yet now it was all attributed to some power they happened to be born with.
At least Atsuhiro still had an audience at all.
——————
The vanguard action squad (or at least what was left of it) was a mess.
An angry arsonist, a vampire of a high school girl, and an intense fanboy (with way too many swords in Sako’s opinion) were just a few of the compelling characters of their little group. But they were all more concerned for themselves than anything, all practically strangers except for that time they kidnapped a kid. Still, Atsuhiro wasn’t on bad terms with anyone except Dabi who was still pissed that his monologue cost them the kid they rightfully stole.
Now that Bakugo was tied down and ‘master’ was informed of their success, everyone was cooling down from the aftermath of the event. The only people not sitting on their own were Magne, Toga, and Twice who were chatting at one of the tables. They got along better than most, Twice and Toga instantly becoming friends and Magne practically being everyone’s big sister.
Since there really wasn’t anything else to do, Atsuhiro decided to join their conversation.
“-and that’s when I decided to leave… would’a stayed but who wants to be chased like a bunch of kids like that?” He could hear Toga recounting what happened to her during the battle. He pulled up a chair next to Magne. “Thrilling time hm? Though I did get to practice my escapology in the first act, the bulk of my action was in the finale you all saw.”
“Oh, hi Compress what brings you here? Get outta here we’re busy! Sorry…” Twice apologized for his harshness. “It’s alright Twice, this old man just had nothing better to do.” Sako sighed, slumping into his seat. “I’m bored too… after all the excitement last night and now there’s nothing to do…” Toga lamented. And she was right, until Bakugo woke up there really was nothing they could do except wait for Shigaraki’s instructions. Sure, they could go out, but because of all the news on their mission their faces would be recognized by the police or heroes instantly and no one wanted that kind of trouble.
A group of people, time to kill, and an entertainer… This, Atsuhiro thought to himself, sounds like a perfect environment for a show!
“Well…” Mr. Compress smirked as he produced a deck of cards out of his pocket “I’ve got an idea to keep us entertained!” He prepped his cards for one of his more crowd-pleasing magic tricks. “Ooh, a magic trick? Cool!” Toga bounced in excitement. “Since you went on about being a showman so much, I’ve wanted to actually see what you can do.” Magne added, looking at Sako’s hands while they shuffled.
This was always a popular illusion whenever Atsuhiro performed it because of the bit of misdirection which always surprised the audience. He liked it so much because it was one of his first to use his quirk as a part of the magic.
Step 1: set the scene
“Here you can see I’ve split the deck in three, now each of you pick up the top card and memorize your card.” Each person looked at their own cards, careful to not let the magician see. “Bet they’re all the same cards.” Twice mumbled to himself. “I assure you this is an ordinary deck,” Mr. Compress retorted, “You can even check the rest of the deck, and you’ll find nothing unusual.” That much was true, this was in fact a normal set of playing cards, the kind anyone could pick up at a store. The thing he was about to do next however was something that not just anyone could achieve, no, a move that only he could pull off.
Once everyone had inspected their decks and found that they were in fact just normal decks, they replaced their top card back on top and waited for the magician’s move.
Step 2: the trick itself
Mr. Compress collected the stacks in such a way that he’d know who’s was who’s, Magne on top, Toga in the middle, Twice on the bottom, with each slightly angled from the others so he could easily see their cards. Now he just needed to talk enough that the audience wouldn’t notice how he marbled their cards and hid them in his hand. “I’m sure you’re familiar with this trick, someone ‘picks a card any card’ and the magician somehow finds their card once the deck has been shuffled. Overused? Maybe, but I believe it’s a classic trick for a reason.” At this point he already had everything in place, now for the second-best part.
“Now I’ll fan out the deck and find the right ones”
Step 3: misdirection
As he did just that, Mr Compress slipped the marbles under each person’s chairs with his free hand out of sight. This part was always fun because of how it made the audience that much more shocked later. He drew 3 random cards and revealed them with an over-confident flourish. His audience’s once intrigued faces dropped in disappointment apon seeing the results.
“Uhhh…”
“See? Totally fake the whole time.”
“Yeah, don’t think those were anyone’s cards.” Toga said with a sigh. While he would rather not let down such a good audience, even for a bit, this was still going according to plan.
“I see. Well, I'll collect my props now.”
And collect his props he did, making sure to turn the deck this way and that to really sell the finale.
Step 4: the final reveal
“...That's curious,” he finally said after a slightly too long pause, “I seem to be short by 3”
The other villains at the table looked to the illusionist. Was this still part of the trick? Because if not, missing exactly 3 was a strange coincidence.
“Have any of you seen them? I pride myself on my good organization, but perhaps my old age is catching up to me. They couldn’t have gone farther than, maybe, under the table? ” well this had to be part of the bit. The illusionist grinned under his latest mask as each person looked below them, eyes going wide as they found their cards.
“Woah!”
“Wow he’s good- knew it was there already”
“Now was that your card?” This was the best part, the part he lived for as a performer. Seeing the reaction after a successful trick was still the best feeling in the world for Atsuhiro, and it was even sweeter after being deprived of a proper stage for such a long time. Since he took to a life of crime, he never really got to properly perform, most folks didn’t want a wanted villain as their performer after all. Sure, he got to use his escapist and illusionist tricks in his villainy, but it was never the same as a proper performance, as this. Even on this scale, such an enthusiastic group’s energy was infectious.
“Yeah! How’d it get there anyway? Such a cool trick!” Toga said. “Certainly wasn’t expecting that, consider me impressed performer.” Magne grinned, returning her card to said performer. Yes, this group’s energy was infectious in the best way.
“Thank you, thank you," Atsuhiro said taking his bows, "I’ll be here until I decide to leave.”
This time though, Atsuhiro had a feeling that day wouldn’t come anytime soon.