EP.95 Everyone Lies
The Immortal, who I thought would rush out immediately, didn't come out even after a long time. The Regressor declared he would monitor their movements, making the most confident stalking declaration in the world, and then left.
Thanks to that, I had some free time.
Sitting in a corner of the yard, I took out a deck of cards. Holding the deck slightly bent with my thumb and index finger, I flicked it with my fingertips.
*Riffle.*
Then, the cards suppressed by my right hand found their freedom and leaped out. *Riffle, riffle.* As they escaped one by one, even the last card eventually escaped the tyranny of my right hand and nestled safely in the embrace of my left.
However, there is no paradise for those who flee.
The left hand, which had tenderly embraced them until now, soon revealed its true colors and became a monster just like the right hand. The spine of the card deck bent like a bow. The deck, struggling desperately to escape again, saw an opening and returned to the right hand it had just left.
It was while I was shuffling the deck back and forth between my hands like that.
"Your dexterity is quite impressive."
I heard Tir's voice. Still draping the pitch-black parasol over her shoulder and sitting demurely on her large coffin, Tir stopped softly in front of me, stepped down lightly, and approached me.
I smirked and snatched the cards all at once. The cards fluttering like butterflies folded their wings and went silent in my hand like chrysalises.
"Just this much is impressive? I'm sorry, but this is as easy as making a five-year-old who stole candy cry. If I show you my real skills, you might even faint."
At my brazen reply, Tir covered her mouth with her clenched hand and chuckled.
"Why would a grown adult make a child cry?"
"Huh? Don't you ever feel that way? Is it just me?"
"You shouldn't do that either."
"Really? When you see a child rolling their eyes, trying to avoid an immediate crisis with an obvious lie that shows their true intentions, don't you want to point out that lie, even if just out of annoyance?"
Even though I asked playfully, Tir fell into serious thought.
How she would react when a little child tried to fool her with a trick that wouldn't work. Seriously recalling each scenario and running simulations, Tir soon reached a conclusion.
"If it were me, I wouldn't do that."
"Wow, really?"
"Of course. What else could you gain from pointing out a child's lie other than a petty thrill? If you've grown older, you should act a bit more nobly."
Oho. Petty thrill. Petty...
Petty?
"Huh? Are you perhaps taking a roundabout way to say I have a bad personality?"
"Truthfully, your personality isn't exactly mild, is it?"
Tir said playfully and laughed. It was filled with mischief directed at me.
Oh ho, so now we're at the point where she can tease me as a joke?
Alright. Let's see.
"Tir. Let's make a bet."
"A bet?"
"Yes. I'll hide a card, and you try to find it, Tir."
I drew a card without looking at the deck and handed it to her. Tir took it with interested eyes and examined the front and back.
The back had a regular pattern no different from the other cards. The shape was also symmetrical, so even if flipped, you couldn't tell the top from the bottom. The front had two bright red hearts drawn on it, with the number 2 written.
Wondering if something was hidden, Tir even rubbed the card with her fingers, but the card was perfectly normal. Tir held the card up to the light from various angles and said.
"It doesn't seem like there's any trickery."
"That card is ordinary. I swear on my honor as a magician."
"There's no need for that. If I didn't notice it beforehand, that's due to my lack of ability."
In the era when knowledge of the past was not shared, knowledge was power back then, and it was considered natural to suffer from what you didn't know. Having lived in that era, Tir meant it sincerely.
Of course, I was sincere too.
"No. At least when it comes to the tools, it should be fair. It's no fun betting with a trick only I know."
"If you put it that way."
Tir nodded and returned the card to me, asking.
"Alright. If it's a bet, there must be a reward. What will you wager?"
"One wish. How about it?"
"...A wish?"
'If it's a wish, absolutely anything...? Then.'
Instantly, Tir's eyes turned blood-red. Goosebumps rose on my back, and I hastily added.
"Of course, within the bounds of common sense that we can both agree upon! Naturally!"
"...Ah. Of course. I understand."
...Thank goodness. For some reason, it felt like a wish to turn me into a vampire had just flashed in Tir's mind. To die yet not die, and to be by her side forever...
Anyway. Tir accepted my proposal.
"Alright. Let's see you try."
"Hehehe. Good. Get ready to drop your jaw in amazement at the sleight of hand of the new generation."
"You're the one who shouldn't be heartbroken if I guess it too easily. It's just that your opponent was too bad."
"I'll return those exact words to you. Don't feel too aggrieved if you feel like you've been scammed."
I set the remaining deck on the ground and spread both hands wide, emphasizing that I had nothing hidden in them. Tir nodded after confirming.
After that, I used only two fingers to pick up the Two of Hearts.
"Alright. Here we go."
"Yes. Go ahead."
Tir's eyes shone even redder. She had boosted her visual acuity to not miss even the slightest movement I made.
I'll live up to your expectations. Smiling confidently, I began moving the card around.
From the left hand to the right, from the right hand to the left.
The card spun round and round, busily traveling between my left and right hands.
Like a drunken butterfly, or like fallen leaves scattering in a whirlwind. Watching the card move dizzily, Tir's expression gradually became peculiar.
'...It's too visible, more than I thought.'
Her red eyes moved without rest. Not trembling, but chasing my card. Even when it swayed, even when it suddenly darted out of her field of vision and returned, even when it hid behind the back of my hand and was briefly invisible.
Her piercing red eyes followed my card every moment.
'It's certainly flashy... but it's too easy to see for something like that. It's not that fast, and although it's dizzying, the movements are simple.'
"...Ugh!"
I let out an anxious groan. My fingers trembled with tension, and I almost dropped the card several times. Each time, I barely caught it again and moved the card desperately.
And then, at one point.
After instantly crossing both hands, taking advantage of the blind spot created by the crossing, I hid the card in my palm and thrust my hand out.
Wearing an awkward smile, I shouted.
"Ta-da! Where is it?"
"Ah..."
Tir let out a small sigh. Her red eyes briefly glanced up at me, then flickered toward my left hand.
She had a very troubled expression, not because she lost track of the card... but rather because she had tracked it too perfectly.
'I'm sorry to Hui... but I saw everything. When you crossed your hands, you pretended to hide it, slipping it into your left sleeve.'
A vampire can control even their eyes with blood energy. With the aid of Blood Manipulation, her rapidly darting red eyes tracked even the flashy movements to the very end, movements that normal eyes would have failed to follow and missed.
Tir hesitated, unable to bring herself to give the answer, afraid I would be embarrassed.
'Should I not have boosted my visual acuity? I was tempted by the word "wish" and took it too seriously...'
"Hehe. Was it a bit difficult? That's okay. Don't be disappointed. Even the strongest can't beat old eyes."
'...But it's annoying to see him act so smug. Let me show him that the world isn't so easy.'
One word was enough to change her mind. Irritated, Tir pointed at my left hand with her finger.
"Show me your left hand."
"Left hand! You said left hand, right? No take-backs! Now then! Could it be the left hand? Let's check! Ta-da, tarara, tara, ta-da!"
I immediately opened my left hand. Naturally, and just as Tir expected, there was nothing in my left hand.
"...Oh my! How unfortunate! There was nothing in the left hand! The card must have been in the right hand! Alright. Since you got it wrong, I win the bet..."
"No, I mean your left sleeve."
"Gasp!"
Tir pinpointed my sleeve exactly, and I gasped.
I broke into a cold sweat and averted my gaze.
"L-l-left sleeve? What's that?"
"Here, can't you see it?"
Kindly, Tir grabbed my left hand firmly and twisted the arm so the sleeve was fully visible. At the end of the sleeve, a single card was faintly visible.
Irrefutable evidence. In a gambling den, this would be a situation where you'd immediately look for a hammer.
I smirked and shrugged my shoulders.
"See? A shallow lie. You just couldn't resist pointing it out, right?"
Well, there are many reasons.
To teach them the bitter taste of the world, or because the attempt is so pathetic, or out of a petty desire, or simply because they don't want to lose out.
You can attach whatever reason you want, but anyway, when you witness a lie right before your eyes, you naturally want to expose it. That's close to an instinct everyone has.
Tir asked back with an expression of disbelief.
"Did you perhaps make the bet just to say that?"
"Something like that. Tir, how ridiculous was I? Hiding it shamelessly while you were watching right at it, and then brazenly pretending not to know. You couldn't help but grab me like this and reveal it, right?"
She couldn't say no. Because Tir's action just now was exactly that.
Tir smiled wryly and answered.
"I fell for it completely. But you're not a child, are you?"
"Compared to Tir, I'm practically a child. If we very generously set the human lifespan at 100 years, at twenty-four, using the Tirkanjaka Age Comparison Substitution Method, I am merely a two-year-old baby. Wah."
Tir glared at me sideways, pouted primly, and pulled out the card from my sleeve.
"Yes. You're right. I certainly wasn't as noble as my words, it seems. I admit it. Anyway, since I found where you hid the card, this bet is my victory..."
It was when Tir said so and flipped the card over.
Tir's eyes widened in surprise as she checked the front.
"...Huh?"
The two hearts drawn on the pure white background were gone, and in their place was a stern-looking queen holding a flower, staring straight ahead, as if someone had newly drawn her.
Queen of Hearts.
That card was definitely different from the one I had picked up.
When Tir, who had been staring at it as if mesmerized, turned to look at me, I pointed with my finger at my right hand, which was still clenched.
"I'll say the words I didn't get to say earlier again. It must have been in the right hand! Ta-da!"
Making the sound effects with my mouth, I opened my right hand. The Two of Hearts that Tir was supposed to find was curled up roundly in the palm of my right hand.
Tir alternated looking at the card in her hand and the card in my hand in bewilderment. Feeling a noble thrill, I bowed deeply toward her, who was still feeling confused.
"Well, you have to overcome that to be called a magician."
Tir asked back with a flustered face.
"H-how did you do that?"
"I won't tell you. A magician must never reveal their tricks to the world."
When blood rushes to your eyes, your field of vision narrows. This applied to Tir as well.
To gain one thing, you must give up another.
Prey that evolved to have a wide field of vision to spot predators coming from unknown directions instead became unable to properly distinguish things even when something came right in front of their noses.
On the other hand, predators that pointed both eyes forward to chase a targeted prey to the very end took on the penalty of not being able to see behind their heads without turning them.
Humans, predators in name and reality. Tir, the predator among predators who feeds on the blood of such humans, concentrated blood energy in both eyes and chased my card. Her ability was so outstanding that even I couldn't completely shake off her gaze.
So I deceived her from the start.
While the Queen of Hearts personally lured the Queen of Shadows, the Two of Hearts simply hid leisurely on the back of my hand and appeared late.
"Someone who can't deceive others can't brag about seeing through another person's trick, right?"
Well, this is mostly thanks to telepathy too, but whatever.
Telepathy is me, and I am telepathy. We've been together my whole life, so how can we be separated?
In the first place, if I couldn't read other people's thoughts, I wouldn't be able to figure out the tricks they've hidden deep inside either.
"Amazing... To be honest, I still don't quite understand what happened. I clearly thought I was following it."
Tir admired me, clasping both her hands. The people here are so good because their reactions are honest.
Getting cocky, I rubbed under my nose and replied.
"Haha. You'd better be thinking about how to grant my wish."
"But, you know, Hui."
"Yes?"
Tir, who carefully raised her head, pointed at the Queen of Hearts in her hand and said.
"This may not have two hearts drawn on it, but... it is still a hidden card, is it not?"
"Huh?"
"If so, then I won the bet."
"Wait?"
Let me think for a moment. What did I say?
'I told you to find the card I hid, clearly. This may not be the card with two drawn on it, but a hidden card is a hidden card. Then I did find the hidden card. So then...'
Huh? That's right?
"Why did I say that?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
Right. What was it? Did I want to grant her a wish?
Recalling the conditions carefully, I eventually nodded.
"Come to think of it, you're right. I can't refute it logically."
"Then, you will have to grant my wish."
"Come on. I still have my pride as a progenitor. You were completely fooled, and you're going to ask for a wish with this?"
*Nod.*
Tir quickly nodded. Perhaps her mood improved, but her eyes were lively again.
Well, whatever. Tir, who acts noble, wouldn't ask for a strange wish. I'll cut it off right away if she does.
At that moment, a presence was felt from inside the prison. I gathered the cards and stood up.
"I'll hear your wish later. The person we were waiting for has just arrived."
Right after, the Immortal and the officer appeared from the prison. The Immortal was patting his stomach after having a hearty meal, and the officer came out to the yard with the Immortal in front.
Alright. Lieutenant Commander Callis, will she truly be honest with her own heart?
The preparations are done. Now all I have to do is watch.