After paying the fortune-telling fee, Uesugi Hara and Kamuro Masumi walked side by side out of the temporary fortune-telling room, which was steeped in sandalwood incense and an air of mystery.
The sunlight outside was still scorching, and cicadas chirped in waves, forming a stark contrast to the dim silence indoors.
Uesugi Hara narrowed his eyes, still mulling over the fortune-teller's final words: "If you don't handle it properly, this will be the answer."
He roughly understood what she meant—it was nothing more than a hint that his relationships with the women around him were complicated, and if mishandled, they might lead to serious consequences.
"A school-days ending?"
Uesugi Hara was very confident in his looks, and it was perfectly normal for girls to have a favorable impression of him.
But this was the real world, not anime. In a society governed by law, he had only ever seen extreme cases of people killing with a blade out of love-turned-hatred on the news. Besides, he looked around and did not spot any girl who seemed to have the makings of a "school-days" type.
Thinking about it that way, Uesugi Hara immediately felt much more at ease, and the slight furrow between his brows completely smoothed out.
He admitted that the fortune-teller did have some skill, able to perceive certain fluctuations in his heart, but she had clearly overlooked the many constraints and the existence of reason in reality.
After they had only taken a few steps, they saw Sakayanagi Arisu standing alone beneath the shade of a tree not far away, idly playing with her cane as she quietly waited for them.
"How did the fortune-telling feel?" she asked first, her smile elegant and composed.
"It's hard to put into words."
"Is that so?" Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled softly. "I thought