Hashimoto Maya stared at the Rose that had suddenly appeared before him, momentarily stunned.
In the past, he might have found it astonishing. But lately, he had been meeting too many Magicians, so his first instinct was to scrutinize it all with an interviewer's critical eye.
Not as good as Miss Asako. She gave me an entire bouquet back then, while you only managed one flower. He secretly shook his head, silently passing judgment on this Magician. Heh. If you want to make it onto our interview list, you still need to improve.
The mysterious Magician in a long robe was somewhat surprised by his reaction. He gave the mixed-race foreigner another look, then politely turned and walked toward the next passenger.
Before long, the Magician handed out the last Rose. Reaching the carriage door, he suddenly turned back and snapped his fingers.
At the sound, the Roses in everyone's hands seemed to be beheaded. Their bright red blossoms fell from their emerald-green stems, scattering like a rain of petals and drifting slowly to the floor.
"Wow!" Quite a few passengers were delighted by the shower of petals and began applauding happily.
Amid the applause, the Magician bowed, then backed through the door and vanished behind the sliding partition.
Hashimoto Maya stared at the bare Rose stem in his hand, completely frozen for a moment. Every flower in the entire carriage had fallen at the exact same time with that Magician's finger snap... How had he done it?
Even if the stems had been cut beforehand, every passenger had held their Rose for a different length of time and in a different posture. Some held them still, while others idly waved them around... Yet under those circumstances, that Magician had somehow made every Rose in the carriage break at once?