Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z World

#37: Illusions

The rain drizzled outside a small convenience shop that was on Shika's route home. Wanting to take shelter and get a bite to eat, he entered the quiet store; where a young, female cashier was behind the counter flicking through a magazine. The bell rang as Shika walked through the door, causing her to jerk up in her seat and greet him. Shika gave a large smile and waved back, before strolling over to the deli section of the store, and looking through the sandwiches and salads they had on offer. Grabbing a BBQ chicken sandwich off the shelf, he turned his attention to the middle of the store, and looked through the various snack items such as crisps, nuts, chocolate and sweets. He took a large bag of smoky bacon crisps, before going to the fridge straight across the isle to take an isotonic energy drink; orange flavoured. Juggling these three items in his arms, he walked to the cashier with a goofy smile, and put the items on the counter.

"I'll be buying these." Shika said, taking out his wallet from his school bag, and rifling through it to search for money.

"Yes sir. That'll be ¥1500." The cashier said, quickly putting his items into a plastic bag.

"Here you go." Shika handed her two bank notes, and in turn the cashier handed him the bag of food.

"Thank you for coming here, Akia Shika. Please come again soon." The cashier spoke, this time with a chilling aura and a mature, almost sophisticated, tone to her voice. The voice didn't match with the face, and Shika tilted his head curiously at the woman.

"Eh? Have I met you before?" Shika asked, nervously laughing. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, which made the girl shake her head side to side.

"No, we haven't. But your friends, Jomko Ryu, Aksan Riku, and Mato Trio in particular, have come in contact with me." She replied. "If they shared any length of information with you, then you should be able to fit the pieces together to figure out who I am."

"Too many big words, me don't understand." Shika said, his eyes becoming comical swirls. "I still have no clue!"

"So what I've heard about you is somewhat true. To put it in simple terms: you are an idiot." She sighed, grabbing her face with her right hand. "Now I must observe to confirm if this is true."

"Nah, you're right... I am pretty dumb." Shika said with a shrug.

"Whether you are hiding your true intelligence or not with these childish mind-games, that does not pertain to my main problem as of now. Right now, Akia Shika, I would be correct in saying you are the one who owns the Zeroth Dragon of the End of the World, Dust, yes?"

"Yes." Shika nodded.

"Perfect." The girl behind the counter stood up, her hand still covering her face. "I am Magus. And I'm going to fight you for the Zeroth Dragon." Slowly moving her hand across her face, the cashier's face peeled away in sparkles to reveal Magus' iconic half gold-half white mask underneath.

"Holy shit, that was awesome! Do that again!" Shika exclaimed, stunned by what Magus had just done.

"W-what...?" Magus asked, looking at Shika. "You can't be serious... I just took off a mask that was part of my illusion."

"But... it's so... sparkly!" Shika exclaimed.

"It's called special effects." Magus replied. "The art of tricking others is one a magician must know, like if it's the back of their hand."

"Oh... still cool though!" Shika smiled.

"Yes, I suppose you can say that." Magus said, taking her cloak from the back of her seat, and wore it over the uniform she was wearing while pretending to be the cashier. "So, Shika. Will you accept my fight?"