...
The warm lunchtime quietly slipped away.
After strolling around a few times, the four of them passed through the crowd and arrived at a somewhat secluded corner.
Here stood a peculiar structure. Rather than calling it a fortune-telling house, it was more like a huge tent temporarily erected with thick fabrics of deep purple and starry blue.
"If I remember correctly, this is the area that classmate Matikanefukukitaru is in charge of." Silence Suzuka recalled.
"That's right~ Fukukitaru's fortune-telling is still very accurate~" Seiun Sky put her hands behind her back and answered with a smile.
"Let's go in and take a look."
The four of them lifted the curtain and entered the fortune-telling tent one after another.
The curtain shut out the outside sunlight and noise. The light inside instantly became dim and quiet.
Underfoot was a thick, soft carpet embroidered with countless complex and ancient star charts and runes. In the center of the carpet stood a table.
At each of the four corners of the table was placed a fist-sized orb that emitted a soft pale-purple glow. These were the light sources for the entire fortune-telling tent.
In the exact center sat a crystal ball radiating a deep-purple light. The light waves on the sphere's surface slowly flowed like drifting clouds, as if truly sealing some kind of magic.
A girl with short orange hair and two brilliant four-pointed stars sparkling in her eyes sat on a chair.
"Ohya— Welcome to the fortune-telling tent. Do the guests have any doubts~?" Matikanefukukitaru asked enthusiastically.
Behind her, a familiar figure stood quietly. The moment she saw the four of them, she exclaimed in surprise:
"‼(•'╻'• )꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎᵎ Eh, Trainer, and Suzuka, Seiun, Grass?"
"Doto, you're here? Didn't you go to the pet house?" Lucian had some impression. In the anime, Meisho Doto often stayed with Matikanefukukitaru in the fortune-telling tent.
One was a lucky star, one was an unlucky egg.
This combination of the two could be called a mysterious balance of "good omen" and "bad omen."
"Because Fukukitaru asked me to come help, so I came over. Little Dango stayed over there to play. It has made many animal friends (ˊ˘ˋ*)." Meisho Doto smiled sweetly.
"Doto, are you very familiar with these people?" Matikanefukukitaru asked in confusion.
"Very familiar."
After Meisho Doto introduced the four of them one by one, Matikanefukukitaru nodded. "Then will all four of you have your fortunes told? You can ask about today's luck, or ask any questions that puzzle your hearts."
The four of them nodded.
Matikanefukukitaru: "Yoshi~ Sa, then who will go first?"
"I'll go first. I still have many doubts." Grass Wonder sat down first. The latter half of her sentence seemed like she was talking to herself, but was actually said for Lucian and the others to hear.
"Then what question do you want to consult about?" Matikanefukukitaru leaned her body forward slightly, creating a focused and mysterious atmosphere.
"About love fortune."
"No problem~" Matikanefukukitaru held her hands emptily over the crystal ball, then began chanting a string of mysterious words, "Engara…. Mongara….. Mishimishi….. Habulaji..."
The deep-purple light orb flickered faintly in response. The light brightened and dimmed irregularly, adding a few more degrees of eerie atmosphere.
"The result is..." Matikanefukukitaru concentrated on looking at the crystal ball and announced: "Hei!"
"Hei?" Grass Wonder was a bit puzzled by this unexpected result.
She had always thought fortune-telling results were either good or bad.
"Yes, exactly Hei! Ordinary, plain and ordinary!"
"Then if I want to convert it into 'Good,' is there a way?"
"Hmm—" Matikanefukukitaru thought while drawing out her voice, "Oh, there is a method to break it!"
"If it's 'Hei,' then waves are needed! In other words, classmate Grass Wonder needs to be more assertive, more proactive! Go stir up some 'waves'!"
"However..." After excitedly analyzing, Matikanefukukitaru's voice suddenly paused. The excitement on her face faded, replaced by a trace of hesitation and worry.
"However what?" Grass Wonder restrained her breath and asked.
"However, doing so will lead to some... chaos."
"Chaos?" Grass Wonder listened in complete confusion.
If she really started dating Trainer Lucian, the anxious ones would just be Spe-chan and Suzuka, right? But with everyone's relationship, it wasn't like they couldn't accept it... What was there to be chaotic about?
Carrying this doubt, Grass Wonder continued to press: "Classmate Fukukitaru, can you explain specifically?"
"No." Matikanefukukitaru shook her head. "The fortune-telling result ends here. Next one!"
Grass Wonder had no choice but to stand up. Seiun Sky sat down in her place. "Then I'll also ask about love fortune~"
"OK~ Everyone today is here for love fortune, huh." Matikanefukukitaru muttered a sentence, then immediately began the fortune-telling. "The result is... Great Good!"
"Great Good!?" Seiun Sky immediately became a bit excited and widened her eyes.
Lucian: "Great good and great profit."
"Not great good and great profit, it's Great Good-er~" Seiun Sky repeated it once in Chinese, deliberately drawing out that "er" sound, carrying a bit of Beijing-accent flavor.
During that period in Long Country, aside from Urara who strangely studied xiehouyu, the remaining one was Seiun Sky.
The two of them took unorthodox paths and cultivated crooked methods.
"Great Good is Great Good... Can you not add the 'er' sound." Lucian said speechlessly. Fortunately the people around didn't understand much.
"Classmate Seiun, do you want me to analyze it a bit?" Matikanefukukitaru asked.
Seiun Sky waved her hand and left the seat. "No need no need, leave it for the next one!"
The remaining Lucian and Silence Suzuka exchanged a glance.
"Lucian-kun first?"
"Suzuka first?"
"Then I'll go first?" ×2
...
The two of them synchronized perfectly. In the end, they decided by rock-paper-scissors, and Lucian sat down first.
To be honest, he still hadn't thought of what to ask... But looking at Matikanefukukitaru's starry, focused eyes, he casually continued from the previous two: "I'll also ask about love fortune."
"Alright!" Matikanefukukitaru concentrated once more, hands hovering emptily over the crystal ball. This time her hands trembled slightly, and her expression suddenly changed. "The result is... Bad!"
...