Cory hadn't discovered Shuraina just yet–whether that was good or not was to be seen. Shuraina changed her appearance when she discovered Cory at such an unexpected location. She had accidentally blurted out that her name was Michol, so she changed her appearance to a boy around Cory's age. She suddenly remembered that Cory had figured out that she had changed her appearance based on her magic, so Shuraina twisted around the circle to make sure that none of her magic would leak out.
And with this, nobody, including Cory, would be able to tell that she was disguising her appearance. Even though they would be able to tell that Michol was currently using magic to change their appearance.
And with that, Shuraina walked around with her hands together behind her back and meandered around Cory, watching this new side of him.
He threw aside his passive, introverted personality aside. He usually hated things like group meetings, but he was chattering away happily about Shunivalen. About how they were a living legend, a great magician, about the Shuval Stan Group, and more. It was a bit embarrassing to see, but seeing Cory's new side like this made that feeling dissipate somewhat.
'And Cory just kept denying everything too.'
When her identity as Shunivalen had first been exposed, he didn't even try to hide how much he idolized Shunivalen. He occasionally asked her for handshakes and asked for her signature everywhere–on his school items, his clothes, and even on the back of his hand. He received every morsel he could take and treasured all of those items.
But as he grew older, he began to hide that side of himself and hid that he still idolized Shunivalen in front of Shuraina.
So she thought he had stopped being her fan ,but it turned out that he was hiding his fan qualities. She had actually been pretty disappointed when he had stopped. Shuraina didn't really get why he acted that way, but she had to admit that it was pretty cute.
She was staring a hole into Cory when their eyes met.
"...?"
Shuraina sighed in relief when Cory couldn't tell who she was.
Cory stared at Shuraina in disguise and tilted his head slightly before speaking. One of his eyebrows were raised.
"Do you want to join the club? Oops Would you?"
"What? No….what?"
Cory said, awkwardly. Shuraina responded just as awkwardly.
Cory had been suspicious of a boy his age wandering around him and had kept glancing at him. He felt chills as the boy kept smiling as he looked his way, so Cory decided to talk to him first.
The suspicious boy had the name 'Michol' written on their name tag. It seemed like he was a magician.
When it seemed like he was interested in Shunivalen, the urge to guide him seemingly burst. Cory tried to persuade him to join the group. The magician, Michol, spoke to him as they were long-time friends. He soon changed his tone.
Cory watched the flustered Michol and pasted on the marketing smile he had learned from Yves. Cory had figured out a way to smile in a non-threatening manner. He relaxed the muscles in his face and pasted on a gentle smile as he handed Shuraina a membership application.
"If you sign here, you'll be a member too. I'm lazy, so there's not a lot of work for us in the meetings. Probably."
Shuraina was immediately sold by his marketing smile and was writing down Michol's name on the application.
"You feel strangely familiar though. You look the same age as me, so you can speak casually. I'll do the same."
"Okay."
"Whew. Thanks. This way of speaking is really uncomfortable. It feels like my tongue gets all twisted."
Cory frowned with his tongue out and began to speak casually as he scratched his cheek. When Shuraina finished signing and handed him the form, he immediately placed the document in a dimension pocket for safekeeping. Cory, who had no idea that Michol was Shuraina in disguise, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, lowered his chin, and began to speak.
"Now that you're in, I'm going to give you a warning."
"…..?"
"Out of all of the magicians who decided to follow Shunivalen, I haven't seen a single person who's been able to have a normal life after. Including me."
"..."
Shuraina didn't show it, but she was screaming internally.
Aaaaaack! Cory! What were you saying behind my back like this!? Aaaaaagh! A few volcanoes erupted within Shuraina's heart, and the residents living under the volcanoes all ran around in circles. Shuraina wanted to grab Cory's shoulders and beg for him to stop. But she was still in disguise and couldn't show it all, so she just nodded emotionally.
Cory was much, much deeper into her than she had first thought. She hadn't seen him that way, but he was basically a fanatic. To be honest, when someone idolized another and they became friends, they had a high chance of finding out that they were just human like the rest of them and becoming just friends. Cory, on the other hand, was consistently her fan. It felt weird.
"Cory? Is this a new member? Your stage name is Michol? Michol, how did you get to know Shunivalen?"
One of the more outgoing magicians came over to speak to Shuraina. She internally frowned as she thought about how random that question was. She couldn't exactly say, 'I know it because I'm Shunivalen,' so she decided to make up a lie.
"Ah. Uh….after reading Today's Magic?"
"Ooooh!"
Everyone cheered loudly as they looked to Cory.
"As expected of Cory! Your advertisement articles filled with your blood, sweat, and tears worked!"
"….."
Cory touched the corners of his mouth. His expression turned strange. It was as if he was trying to tamp down his excitement. His ears turned red. When people began to clap and held out their hands towards him, he began to high-five them.
"Hurrayyyy...."
He began to smile as he hid his mouth behind his hand. His eyebrows turned downwards and his fierce-looking eyes twisted into a smile. He was so happy that it made Shuraina's heart ache slightly. For him to enjoy broadcasting her so much.
She began to feel guilty at the thought of hiding behind a disguise and fooling him.
"But do you have to go out of your way to advertise them?"
It could've sounded twisted or sharp, but Cory nodded solemnly before muttering quietly.
"I just want them to get rich."
How exciting. Get rich, Shuraina. This magician named Michol is your new wallet. Cory cheered internally.
Cory knew that Shuraina had undergone financial difficulties every since she was young, and had wanted to help her in a way that didn't make her feel uncomfortable. Moreover, he just wanted the magician, Shunivalen, to keep succeeding.
Thanks to his help, Shunivalen's popularity kept growing. He was pretty proud about the whole thing.
"I didn't know that you were already Shunivalen's fan. Which part of their work made you the most interested?"
Shuraina's brain was almost burned out from the difficult questions. Shuraina didn't hesitate and just blurted out whatever she could think of.
"To be honest, it's all boring so I didn't really find anything interes..."
Cory's face, which had previously had a thin smile plastered on it, turned stiff. It had been a long time since she had seen Cory look so serious.
"….Interesting! It was interesting! It was super interesting! Everything was interesting. I couldn't believe that we exist on the same plane of existence as them! Hurray, Shunivalen!"
Cory's serious face was so terrifying that words just poured out of her mouth. Cory's face softened as Shuraina continued to say compliment after compliment about herself. So did the other Shunivalen followers in the group.
Shuraina, that was so stupid. How could you talk smack about yourself in front of your followers? Shuraina began to speak, trying to get herself out of the conundrum she put herself in.
Shuraina decided to release all of the stories about herself in her arsenal. Namely, information that hadn't been released to the public.
If she gave them information they weren't privy to, maybe they'd lower their guards against her. Shuraina wondered what she should say before speaking.
"Do you know what abilities will be added to Shunivalen's next work?"
Everyone was speaking casually to her and it was a generally casual kind of group, so Shuraina decided to speak informally as well.
Everyone shook their heads. Once she said the words, "Shunivalen's next work", all of the members turned their heads to look at her. Shunivalen hadn't released a new item for a while. They didn't know why, but it seemed like they were taking a break and it was making them anxious. They were just sucking their thumbs nervously.
"No. Nobody knows. It seems like they're taking a break, so there's no way anyone would know."
"But it sounds like you know something?"
All of the members of the club, starving for new Shunivalen content, turned to look at Shuraina with sparkly, expectant gazes.
"Not that, but I broke down Shunivalen's most recent item and found a specific magic circle. I found something interesting in it, too."
"...?"
Shuraina grabbed a pen and started drawing out a circle on a piece of paper. It was the last magic circle that Shunivalen had used, and had been used to seal off the dozens of circles within the item. But it was strange. They hadn't discovered anything quite like that circle when they had checked the item.
"Wow, isn't that the circle that Shunivalen hid in their item?"
"How'd you find it?"
"Just, I just happened to discover it."
Magicians occasionally hid magic circles within their items. There was a lot of reasons for this particular action, and each situation depended on the magician. Shunivalen's last product had such a circle hidden within it. Most of the time, the hidden circle had a special ability that exceeded one's imagination. The more skilled the magician was, the better concealed it was, and the more incredible the ability was. Just imagining Shunivalen's hidden circle was big–but seeing it was more incredible. Because of that, everyone's expectations began to inflate as they wondered what Michol had discovered.