Part-3 Ch-05 Ep-02

The week after we decided on fortune-telling, we got started on preparations right away after school. In the lively, buzzing classroom, we split into groups based on our roles and began our discussions.

I was on the fortune-telling team, while Maki ended up on the miscellaneous goods production and sales team.

…By the way, this time I hadn't been zoning out during the role assignment, so I just picked the one that genuinely interested me. Properly, this time.

"We'll be doing tarot readings, since they're easy even for beginners," Seishuku-san said as she handed out the tarot cards. As the most experienced among us, she'd volunteered to take on the teaching.

"Yeees," we members of the fortune-telling team replied obediently as we each received our decks.

First, she showed us the cards and walked us through how many there were, what kinds of illustrations they featured, and how to draw and interpret them. While learning all of that together with the rest of my group, I glanced over toward the other teams.

Since we were also planning to sell miscellaneous goods in the same classroom as the fortune-telling, the other groups were discussing that side of things, talking about the overall atmosphere they wanted for the room on the day, and what large props we'd need.

Even from across the room, I could see Maki taking part in the discussion. The miscellaneous goods sales team seemed like a pretty good fit for her, honestly.

She's good with her hands, and even though her behavior around me makes me forget sometimes, she's actually a sociable girl who gets along well with people.

Her usual pushiness really does make me forget that side of her.

Ah, but that's not all there is to her—she spoils me, and lets herself be spoiled too, so Maki's charm goes well beyond that… I let those thought trail off and shook it away.

I needed to focus on what was right in front of me.

"Alright, pair up and try reading for each other."

At Seishuku-san's instruction, I sat facing one of my groupmates and spread the cards out between us.

My partner was Haruno-san, not someone I was as close to as Kagami-kun and the others, but we'd ended up in the same class and gradually started talking more.

She had light chestnut-brown wavy hair that fell all the way to her waist, fair skin, a nice figure, and a slightly mature air about her.

"What should we read about?" I asked. Haruno-san paused with a small "Hmm," then said, with a playful smile, "How do I get closer to Nagase-san?"

"Eh?" My voice came out higher than I'd meant it to, and she laughed softly. "Fufufu."

"How mean," I muttered, and started shuffling the cards.

Even so, I didn't really mind.

Most of the fortune-telling team was made up of volunteers, but some spots had also gone to people recommended by others for being gentle and easy to talk to. Haruno-san was one of those.

"But if that's the goal, wouldn't it be easier to just talk to her more until you get there naturally?"

"Well, that's true. But since we're doing this anyway, come on just read for me."

Seeing Haruno-san's slightly apologetic smile, I figured she had a point—this was practice, after all—and went back to shuffling.

Tarot cards come in quite large numbers. And not only are there a lot of them, the illustrations are very distinctive, which makes it hard for beginners to make heads or tails of anything just from looking.

This time, we'd narrowed it down to a smaller set featuring only the most significant cards. We'd draw a few from that selection, look at the images and keywords, and offer advice that seemed to fit the question at hand.

It felt less like fortune-telling and more like a word association game.

"Ah, um… what was this one again?"

"Which one? Let me see?"

I tilted my head and held the card out. Haruno-san leaned in, and the two of us ended up with our heads together, going back and forth—"Maybe this?" "Or that?"—as we talked through the interpretation together.

When it came down to it, we were both taking it pretty seriously.

Fortune-telling turned out to feel much more approachable than I'd expected, and there was something oddly familiar about it.

I'll have to teach Maki sometime, I thought, feeling a little excited. Then I felt a gaze on me, looked up, and swept my eyes across the room.

Sure enough, Maki was looking over this way. Our eyes met again.

She smiled softly, and I looked away.

I hope that didn't come off as awkward.

Being watched made me feel a little self-conscious. I also realized I was surprisingly quick to pick up on someone's gaze—something to be more careful about going forward.

"Nagase-san, your face is red. Are you okay?"

Haruno-san tilted her head curiously.

"It's nothing."

"Really? Then it's my turn—give me a topic, Nagase-san."

"Come to think of it, what did we end up deciding about getting closer to someone?"

"Wasn't it 'Cherish your inspiration and face them with an open heart'?"

"Right."

I wasn't entirely sure what kind of 'facing them' that was supposed to look like, but Haruno-san's breezy attitude was infectious, and I found myself nodding along.

Either way, it was clear we still had a lot of practicing to do.

Thinking that, we kept taking turns reading about whatever came to mind, completely absorbed in the process—and little by little, we managed to work our way through each step and the meanings of the cards.