- The Magician and his Dear Assistant

- chapter two: the magician's temporary goodbye + pretend

Hearing the sounds of birds chirping outside, Sigma brushed his face with his hand and gets up. He turned to the side, only to see that Nikolai had disappeared. He sighs loudly as he makes his bed neatly.

While figuring out Nikolai's disappearance and where he could be somewhere in the village, he makes food for both of them. After an hour with silence while waiting for Nikolai, Sigma starts to eat alone as Nikolai's food has gone cold in that period.

That idiot, where could he be?

That thought filled his mind. He never thought about how'd he react when Nikolai is away for a strangely long period of time. Yes, he may be mostly worried about him most of the time, but in this case, something feels off for him.

As he sat in silence contemplating carefully if he should search for him. That boy always gets away with all sorts of things and can be considered a troublemaker, but he won't go too far with that. Or could he...?

Today is also the day for their next show. What if he leaves most people disappointed with him not showing up? A new worry in his head appeared, and it wasn't helping any time soon. It would destroy his reputation rather than Sigma's mistakes.

He needs to continue on the day normally. Which, he slams the table and puts his fork and spoon on the plate, running off to the main plaza of the town in a hurry.

Sigma was breathless as he watched out for the busy path ahead of him. He looked out for the unusual, loud commotion not far ahead but rather a crowd backing away from something in the center. Carriages and horses blocked his vision as he tried to squint to see what was happening. Shoot. He can't peek from afar, so he ran and tried to squeeze into the crowd, only to find a familiar white-haired boy with messy strands covering a bit of his face, being the main focus of everybody's eyes—

—Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He was wrong. Very wrong. What did Nikolai do this time? Why is he chained up with two guards watching over him? Why is everybody staring at him? Does that mean... The show won't happen today? He couldn't believe that the one who could ruin Nikolai's reputation was not Sigma to blame, if he ever did mess up his part sooner, but him. Wouldn't the people think of him as some criminal now? Not the magician they knew greatly of, but someone who was secretly involved in doing crimes? Sigma froze as he tried to process the situation while people were gasping and whispering such nonsense. They haven't even lived together for a month and all, but shit's already gone crazy.

A few minutes have passed, and he realizes Nikolai is taken in some kind of place inside there as his eyes dart to the building next to the scene. He can't stop anything. He is just an ordinary teenage boy living in an ordinary village with no family. Sigma's initial thought was to rescue him no matter what even though he has a burning hatred for him.

With something bad happening like this, Sigma is alone with nobody else to help him. He can't help but feel ridiculous about that. Did fate trick him into thinking he was going to live life normally as other people?

He felt guilty for not realizing earlier about not arriving to the crime scene earlier. He didn't even care what crime Nikolai committed, if it was that bad... he still didn't. He cared much more about the boy who saved his life—the only one who cared about him. With both sadness and anger inside him building up, he looks down at the floor as he walks away from the crowd.

Only to feel someone's presence behind him, yet he is too focused on everything that just happened in half an hour.

"Hm, are you Nikolai's assistant?" A voice came out to him, specifically a Russian accent if anybody could sense, holding Sigma's wrist. His vision turned to look for a bit. A short raven-haired boy with a book in his other hand with skin that is pale as snow.