Our turn at the booth came. The fortune-teller — her web profile said much older — looked very young in person.
“You two — what would you like read?”
“The near future for me and Yuito, please.”
“Got it. Girlfriend first?”
“Yes — from me, Yuito’s girlfriend, please.”
She emphasized girlfriend. I caught the grin she tried to hide. Correcting would have been a hassle — I let it ride.
The fortune-teller broke up the tarot deck and shuffled clockwise. (In line, Kano had told me: 78 cards total — 22 Major Arcana picture cards, 56 Minor Arcana number cards. First-time tarot didn’t stop her knowing the basics. Encyclopedic as ever.)
The shuffle done, she drew the top card. THE WORLD.
“The World card, upright. Bright future for you, indeed.”
“Really?”
Kano was beaming. The reading: card 21 The World — upright meaning a deeply satisfying outcome, lasting fulfillment, profound happiness. Best of the 78 cards × 156 orientations.
“Your turn, boyfriend.”
“Yes, please.”
Same procedure. Top card flipped — I winced. The Devil, inverted.
“The Devil — reversed. Liberation from past entanglements.”
“Really?”
I’d braced for bad — turned out the reversed Devil means awakening to truth, signs of change. (Upright Devil would have been bad.) She added there’d be hardship along the way.
“Pretty interesting.”
“Yeah, normally I wouldn’t believe, but this one landed.”
“Drawing the best card — I’m clearly that girl.”
“You’ve always been blessed, your life cruises.”
(High specs, top private university — blessed applies.) If Suzuno had been her twin, our four-person dynamic would be a different shape — Kano would have been my Ayato.
“Yours wasn’t bad either.”
“The hardship along the way part is worrying.”
(But liberation from the past hit me. Thanks to Kano my Ayato complex is lighter than before, but it’s still there. Cutting it loose would let me grow. If that’s the near-future ahead, I’d take the hardship.)
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Manga volume 1 releases April 16, 2025. Covers from the prologue through the start of Chapter 2.