Part-3 Ch-05 Ep-07

 Maki’s POV

By the time the break was just about to end, I’d already made it back to the classroom ahead of everyone else, completely drained after getting thoroughly chewed out by Haruno-san.

With shaky, unsteady steps, I headed toward the fortune-telling booth where Mari was.

The space had been sectioned off with dividers, forming semi-private booths where the student playing the fortune teller could talk one-on-one with their guest.

Noticing me, Mari lifted her gaze and pulled off the black hood she’d been wearing over her head.

She looked exactly like a magician straight out of a fairy tale.

That faintly mysterious vibe, so different from how she usually is, actually suited Mari surprisingly well.

She’s normally pretty airheaded, so seeing her like this, wrapped in a mysterious atmosphere for once, wasn’t bad at all. I almost found myself falling for her all over again.

“Huh? Maki. What’s up? Isn’t it still break?”

“Ah, yeah… it’s almost over, though…”

“Hm?”

Even I was surprised by how weak my voice sounded when I answered Mari’s question.

I’d thought that just seeing her like that had lifted my mood a little, but it seemed the damage from earlier was still hanging on after all.

“You seem kinda down. It’s like you’ve shrunk a whole size or something…”

“Yeah, I know. I usually act all high and mighty, after all…”

“What’s actually going on!?”

The gentle, well-intentioned scolding Haruno-san gave me earlier had hit a lot harder than I’d expected.

And the person herself was currently zoning out in the waiting area behind the fortune-telling booth, just waiting for the break to end.

She’s the kind of girl who, in a different way from Seishuku-san, is hard to get a read on, kind of airheaded in her own way.

“Well, for now, why don’t you sit here?”

It looked like there weren’t any customers at the moment, so at Mari’s suggestion, I took a seat at the desk across from her.

My gaze briefly drifted to Mari’s neck, something that had been on my mind.

“I’m sorry for doing that to you,” I said, then slowly reached out and touched her neck.

From the front you couldn’t see it, but right along the edge where it could barely peek out from under her uniform was the mark I’d left on her, a sign of my fixation on Mari.

When I gently traced over it with my finger, Mari accepted it with a small, ticklish shiver and answered with a shy smile, “No, it’s fine.”

Seeing that kind of reaction just made me want to touch her even more.

“But it’s pretty rare for you to apologize this honestly for something you did, Maki. Did Kagami-kun scold you again or something?”

“…Hey, Mari. Even I can apologize properly when I think I’ve done something wrong, you know?”

“Eh…?”

At my words, Mari tilted her head, staring off into space.

She was probably trying to remember a time when I’d actually apologized to her before.

That’s kind of mean.

It’s true my usual behavior shows my selfish side a lot, which isn’t great, but I also think Mari’s usual lack of tact is pretty bad in its own way.

“Well, whatever. Oh right, my break’s coming up soon too. Before that, want me to do a reading for you?”

Mari said it lightly.

She must’ve given up on trying to remember.

…Maybe I should try being a little gentler with her more often, I thought, feeling a small twinge of reflection in my chest.

“In that case, tell me about the future between you and me, Mari…”

When I lowered my head with a serious look, she gave me a confused expression and said, “What’s gotten into you, seriously?”

Last time, I’d asked for a reading but ended up teasing her too much and just let it slide, so this time I wanted to make sure I actually listened properly.

“I’ll pay whatever price you ask…”

“No, I don’t need any money.”

Even though she was clearly suspicious of how I was acting, Mari started shuffling the tarot cards.

With practiced, confident hands, she spread the face-down cards out in front of me and urged me to draw.

“While focusing hard on what you want to ask, draw four cards, turn them face up, and place them here in order. The first card represents the past, the second the present, the third the future, and the fourth what you need to be careful about. Something like that.”

Her explanation came out smoothly without a single stumble; she obviously knew exactly what she was doing.

She must’ve practiced a lot, I thought, watching Mari’s face as a quiet, sentimental feeling sank in. Then she nudged me with, “Hurry up.”

Reluctantly, I picked four cards.

Being with Mari always makes everything so enjoyable that I end up taking pointless detours. That’s not good.

The cards I drew after being prompted were: the first was “The Fool,” the second “The Chariot,” and the third was the one with the words “The Lovers” written on it.

When I went to flip the fourth card face up, she said, “Let’s leave that one for later,” so I stopped.

“…Hmm,” Mari murmured, making a difficult expression as she brought a hand to her mouth in thought.

“What’s wrong?” I urged her to go on, and she slowly began explaining.

“First, the thing you wanted to ask about is the future between you and me, right? These cards reflect that in the order of past, present, and future.”

“Yeah.”

“The first card, which represents the past, is ‘The Fool.’ It stands for endless possibilities, freedom, and innocence. I think it’d help if you remember what we were like when we had just started going out.”

“I see.”

Back when we’d just started dating, everything had looked so bright.

My childhood friend, the one I’d loved since I was little and had secretly crushed on for so long, had finally become my girlfriend. There was no way I wouldn’t have been happy.

Being with the person I loved most made me feel like I could do anything at all.

Looking at it like that, it made perfect sense that the card was expressing how I’d felt back then.

“The second card represents the present situation: ‘The Chariot.’ This one stands for victory, initiative, and driving force… It probably means our relationship as lovers is moving forward, or maybe even growing deeper.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“It does, but…”

Even though her cheeks were slightly red, Mari still looked a bit troubled.

Then she slowly pointed to the next card.

“The third card is ‘The Lovers.’ It shows two people, a man and a woman. This card can mean… a choice, or passion. It’s basically supposed to have a positive meaning, but…”

“But?”

“Well, see how the two people in the illustration are looking in different directions? Apparently, that can also represent a gap in how lovers see things, or a mismatch in their perspectives.”

“So what?”

“…Maki, you don’t have any feelings about possibly falling for someone else, right?”

“There’s no way I’d do something like that!”

My voice rose louder without me meaning it to.

The very idea of me falling in love with anyone other than Mari was something I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Mari quickly said, “R-Right, if that’s the case, then it’s fine,” before muttering something unsettling under her breath. “Just as I thought, there really is nothing between you and the teacher… After all, there’s quite an age difference…”

“Wait, what are you even talking about…?”

Could it be that Mari had gotten the wrong idea about me?

Thinking that, I was about to question her when she added, her expression turning serious, “Ah, but…”

“Maybe the two of us will soon have to make an important decision about our future together.”

“…………”

At those words, I unconsciously looked away from Mari.

I was the one who’d asked for the reading, but I never expected something like this to come up here.

I found myself thinking that maybe tarot couldn’t be brushed off so easily after all.

Noticing my reaction, Mari continued speaking as if she were trying to confirm something.

“Maki, you’ve been hiding something from me lately, haven’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

I never thought I’d managed to hide it completely, so I nodded honestly.

“Isn’t it something that concerns our future together?”

“Well… yeah, I guess so.”

“You still can’t tell me yet?”

Worry was clearly written all over Mari’s face as she looked at me.

Seeing that expression, I murmured, “Just wait a little longer.”

After all, this wasn’t the kind of thing I could talk about in a place like this, at a moment like this.

“Got it,” Mari said, then pointed to the fourth card and smoothly shifted the topic. “Then, shall we flip this one over?”

A sharp pain ran deep through my chest.

Up until now, I’d never really kept anything from Mari.

I’d always laid my heart bare, always stayed by her side, and she’d always stayed by mine.

No matter what, I believed that the two of us had always kept our eyes fixed straight on only each other.

I wanted things to stay that way in the future too.

But one of the options that had surfaced in order for that to happen was now weighing heavily on my mind.

I still couldn’t tell Mari.

……That I was thinking about changing my university plans and going to a different one than hers.

While I myself still hadn’t clearly made up my mind yet, I couldn’t consult her about something like that.

If I did, this girl would surely think only about me without reservation and would just cheer me on without hesitation.

She probably wouldn’t object or try to hold me back.

That was exactly why I had to make a proper decision on my own.

I tightly clenched the fist resting on my lap, making sure Mari wouldn’t notice it.

With a small sigh, I flipped over the last card.

When Mari saw the card that appeared, she let out a quiet “Ah,” and then fell silent with an incredibly awkward look on her face.

What in the world was wrong?

Thinking that, I lowered my gaze to the card in front of me.

The fourth card I had drawn had “The Devil” written on it. The illustration depicted a goat-headed demon seated between a man and a woman who were bound together in chains.

“Eh, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, um, no, it’s nothing. I was just thinking… it really is so like you, Maki.”

“Hey, don’t look away. Is this card that says ‘The Devil’ something bad?”

“Umm… well, this is ‘The Devil,’ and its key words are temptation, dependency, and sexual desire, things like that. Since this card came up to represent what you need to be careful about going forward… yeah, that’s what it means.”

“What do you mean by ‘that’ exactly?”

“Something like… you should be careful not to get too deeply consumed by lust, I guess. Probably because it’s you, Maki.”

“Auu…”

Those words made me recall the scolding I’d received from Haruno-san earlier.

“Well, you are examinees, after all. It might also mean that it’s not good to become overly dependent on each other,” Mari said. Hearing that, I couldn’t help but think, How can you stay so detached and rational about this?

‘Dependency,’ huh.

I was probably too dependent on Mari.

Both now and before, always.

But honestly, I wanted things to remain just like this for a little while longer.

On the other hand, Mari kept staring at the card and began to groan quietly in thought.

“What’s wrong? Is there still something else?”

“Umm…” Mari began to speak, clearly struggling to say it.

“…Yeah. Maki, could you… maybe hold yourself back a bit more when it comes to sexual stuff?”

“Eh, I don’t think I can…”

“You’re not confident about it, huh…”

Just as Mari gave a wry smile, a voice called out to us from behind.

“Ah, there you are, Ichinose-san. Come on, break time’s almost over, so switch with the next person~”

Ah, our time together was already about to end.

When I looked at Mari, she had already started putting away the cards and getting ready to go on break.

“Sorry. I’m heading back now. ——Mari, make sure you get some proper rest.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Giving a small wave of my hand, I left the booth where Mari was.