"…Excuse me?" she asked, her voice as soft and gentle as it was in the hospital. "A free reading?"
"Yeah, of course, miss," I said, my voice muffled by the mask. I stood and put a stool on the other side of the table. "Gotta build a reputation, you know? Can't exactly charge for, well... all this shabby setup." I winked.
"Please, have a seat. Just think about what you want to know, then pull three cards."
My friendly, self-deprecating act worked like a charm. A small, real smile touched her lips. "Well, I suppose everyone has to start somewhere. Alright, I have a few minutes."
She sat down gracefully. "What do I want to know?" she sighed, her eyes looking far away.
"I just... I want to know if I'm on the right path. If what I'm doing is enough."
She reached out a delicate hand and, with her eyes closed, drew three cards. She placed them face down.
I turned them over, one by one.
First was The Hermit. A lonely guy on a mountain with a lantern. A perfect picture of her.
Second was The High Priestess. A woman sitting between two pillars, hiding some big secret. Her hidden life, her secret power.
The third and final card was The Lovers. A man and a woman standing together.
The second she saw it, Chiyoko flinched. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes wide with what looked like pain. She stared at the card like it was an open wound.
"You seem like a selfless person, someone who sacrifices a lot for others," I said, pointing to The Hermit.
My hand then moved to The High Priestess card. "Oh, what's this? Looks like you're hiding something. Don't worry, miss, everyone has secrets. I won't push. But it feels like it's connected to something you lost, or a trade you made a long time ago."
My hand stopped on The Lovers. I looked up and met her eyes. "You ask if you're on the right path. But where are you trying to go? And what do you hope to find at the end?"
She didn't answer. She couldn't. She just stared at the card, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge of the table.
"...I don't... I..." Her voice was a choked whisper. A single tear escaped, rolling down her cheek and landing right on the card.
"Perfect," Gemgem hummed in my mind. "Here, the psych scan I was holding back. Now you'll understand the pain you just poked at."
Psych Scan Complete
Target: Chiyoko Satori
Age: 28
Most Selfish Desire: To have a normal life. Get married, have kids, and grow old with someone she loves. A simple happiness she thinks she can never have.
Deepest, Darkest Secret: Ten years ago, her high school boyfriend was in a car crash. He was dying. In a moment of pure desperation, as her powers first awoke, she made a pact with the Light.
She traded her own future happiness, her ability to love and have a family, for the power to save him. She healed him completely, but the pact made her magically 'chaste'.
Her power is now tied to her being alone. If she ever truly fell in love, her healing abilities would vanish.
Her life of service is a prison she built for herself to save the man she loved, a man she then had to let go of.
The information flooded my brain. Her pain wasn't just a choice, but a curse she'd chosen for herself.
"That Light you mentioned sounds like a real piece of work, demanding a sacrifice like that," I thought to the Gem. "What will happen to her power if she turns to the dark side, Gemgem?"
"The Light is a parasite," Gemgem replied, its tone cold and triumphant. "It demands sacrifice and gives power at a terrible price."
"My power doesn't ask for that. It feeds on selfish desire. The second my corruption takes her, the Light's chains on her soul will shatter."
"Her powers won't fade if she finds happiness. They'll get stronger. She can have everything she wants. Her love, her family, and even greater power to heal. All for herself. She can finally heal her own broken heart."
I reached my hand across the table, a simple offer of comfort. Chiyoko flinched back like my hand was on fire.
"No... Please, don't," she begged, her voice ragged. She stared at my hand, then back at The Lovers card, her face a mask of agony.
"I made my choice. A long time ago. This... this is my path. It has to be enough. It has to be..."
She shoved her chair back, her movements jerky and panicked. She had to get away. "I... I have to go. Thank you for the reading."
I stood up and calmly started folding my shabby table. "Phew, it's already quite late, guess I'll pack it in for the day too."
My stomach let out a loud, perfectly timed growl. "Oops, haven't eaten in a while. Would you be willing to treat this poor fortune teller to a meal, kind miss?" I asked with a nod.
My sudden shift from mysterious psychic to hungry guy completely threw her off.
The request was so normal, so out of place, it disarmed her. More importantly, it put her back in a familiar role, the kind healer and helper.
I was just a "poor reader" who needed help. And helping people was what she did.
"Oh," she said, flustered. "I... you're hungry? I suppose... yes, of course. It's the least I can do."
"Brilliant," Gemgem's voice purred. "You've put her on a leash using her own kindness."
"Uh, nothing fancy, just a cheap meal is fine, miss," I said, playing my part. "My name's Hakuto, by the way. I'll pay you back once I get a real job." I started walking with her.
Chiyoko gave me a weak but genuine smile. Her need to help was stronger than her pain. "Of course, Hakuto-san. And please, just call me Chiyoko. There's no need to pay me back."
She led me to a small, old-fashioned diner. We sat at a quiet table in the corner. The silence was awkward for a moment.
"So, Hakuto-san," she began, trying to get the conversation back to normal. "A tarot reader. Is that what you do for a living?"
"She's trying to put her walls back up," Gemgem grunted. "Don't let her. Keep her off-balance. Don't answer. Go back to the reading. Remind her this isn't normal."
"Let me handle this my way, Gemgem," I thought back, cutting him off. "I'm going to be honest with her. I'm going to give her a real choice. She's earned that much."
The Gem was quiet for a long second. "...This is risky. Fine. Let's see how your honest approach works out, host."
I took a big bite of my katsudon. "Well, I used to be an office worker. But I quit my job to take care of my wife. She was sick for years, right up until she passed." I sighed, looking off into the distance.
I wiped a tear from my eye as I shared my past, something I hadn't even done with the other girls. "If my wife were still alive, she would be around your age, Chiyoko-san."
My story hit her hard. Her polite defenses crumbled, replaced by the raw empathy that was at her core.
"Oh... Hakuto-san..." she gasped. "I'm so sorry. That's a terrible thing to go through. To love someone that much, to give up everything for them. No one should have to do that."
She'd completely forgotten her own problems, as she felt a connection to me, a shared understanding of loss and selfless love.
"Well, can I get us some drinks too?" I asked. She nodded, and I flagged down the waitress for two small cups and a bottle of warm sake.
I poured for both of us. "I think it was worth it. I would have regretted it forever, if I hadn't been there for her at the end."
"How about you, Chiyoko?" I took a sip. "Ever regret anything you've done?"
My question snapped her right back to her own pain. She looked down into her little sake cup and took a small, hesitant sip.
"...Regret?" she whispered, so softly I could barely hear. "Every day. And never." Her voice was quiet.
"I don't regret saving him. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. He's alive. He's happy. He has a family now... I see him sometimes, from a distance. He'll never know. I don't regret giving him that."
She took another, bigger sip of sake. A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed into her cup.
"But I regret... this. The loneliness. I regret that the price for his life was my own. I regret that I'll never have what you had, Hakuto-san."
"I regret that I'll never get to make the choice you did, to stand by someone I love until the end. Because I'm not allowed to love."