Wish granting doesnât bother him too much, Leo tells himself, as he stares at his last remaining coin, his thirty-eth wish in physical form, waiting to be thrown and make a home for itself in the little family of silver and gold, twinkling in the waters like their very name suggests: stardust, bright and beautiful in the sunlight. Of course, these would be ten times more appealing had this rumored effect actually work, but as it is, he isnât sure how much more he can wait when all he wants is a skateboard to drag in out of nowhere and finally end this chain of hope being shattered.
But he figures communism is at fault, and this fountain simply wants to rob you of all your riches before it finally grants one (theoretically, the idol could have purchased his own skateboard in the past ten minutes heâs been here, with the money heâs sacrificed to the fountain in the first place) so he digresses, and throws it in. With a soft clink, the coin rolls before settling in the cradle of the others, making no particular effort to exert its magical qualities⊠untilâŠ
It shines, the light drowning out the sun and cascading over the failures around it, only to overwhelmingly emit a gold glow and take his vision prisoner. Leo is blinded, momentarily, until it fades, and a rainbow captures his attention, rolling around the waters until just vaguely, he can see his dream, his skateboard, beginning to take form as through its wheels are leaving trails in theâ
And then he hears Sena, and everything is gone.
âWhat the heck, Sena?!â Hey does not cut his immediate disappointment. He growls, gestures to the fountain, and poses much like Will Smith. âLook what you did! My skateboard, diminished, gone, returned to the fairies without even enough time for a triple wheelie?! Your timing isâ augh!â
The skateboard Leo saw was just an illusion, butâunfortunatelyâthe idiot Izumi sees is not. The worst part of it all is that Izumi didnât even wish for one, and yet he gets one anyway, and, like a package deal, with one idiot comes a lifetimeâs worth of migraines. Just moments ago, he mightâve thought otherwise, but now that heâs reminded of how utterly embarrassing and annoying Leo is, heâs contemplating if itâs not too late to throw a coin in the fountain and wish that the Leo he sees is just a figment of his imagination after all. Maybe it is too late. Itâs not like the fountain legitimately works anyway, logically speaking, and heâs convinced himself thereâs still some kind of logic that can still be applied to a city run by sheep.
At any rate, this really sucks.
Like, having to deal with Leo and all.
He shouldâve just minded his own business like usual.
But again, itâs too late now. Whatâs done is done, and Izumi is a master at doing things he regrets, so heâll continue to do so, shamelessly! With real, legitimate shame buried underneath the shamelessness! He shoots back an annoyed look at Leo, grabbing the elder boyâs cheeks and pinching them with all the strength he can muster. Whatâs good about pinching people is that there isnât a need for physical strength, because itâs bound to hurt anyway.
âWhatâs with that reaction? I see youâre as stupid as ever, honestly. What skateboard? What fairies? None of those things are real, especially fairies! What, did you dump your entire wallet into this wishy-washy fountain hoping for the nonexistent fairies to deliver to you a nonexistent skateboardâwhen you probably couldâve bought yourself more than one at a proper store, like a normal person? Stupid.â
