"I want to know... who that person is, after all. Right now... I honestly don't know who else I can ask for help, or what I should do..."
Her voice grew quieter, and the disappointment in her tone seemed impossible to dispel. Her hands clenched tighter, her knuckles turning faintly white.
"I really want to join the Student Council. I want to use that platform to help more students and learn more about the school.
"Maybe that way... I could secure more opportunities and resources for Class B. But now..."
She didn't continue. She simply lowered her eyes, her long lashes casting a small shadow beneath them, concealing the glimmer of tears that might have been forming.
Lin Mu looked at her, so vulnerable after seemingly losing her way, and felt little stirring in his heart.
He'd seen glimpses of her future through his Precognition, and learned of her concerns during that day's fortune-telling.
He more or less understood that Ichinose Honami was far too gentle and kind.
She also had a habit of shouldering everyone's hopes and needs, trying to look after each person, prove her worth, and avoid being abandoned or letting anyone down.
That way of living seemed exhausting to him, like a string pulled taut without end. The shadow of the "dishonest past" he'd seen during the fortune-telling might have been the string's most fragile point.
(We see things differently at different times, after all. We're all just ordinary people.)
If she didn't change this fixation of hers, it might truly become the last straw that broke her someday.
He looked at Ichinose Honami and spoke evenly, without a trace of comfort or sympathy in his voice. "Time will give you the answer, Ichinose."
After a pause, as if remembering something, he added, "Also, that day's fortune-telling was free. Consider it thanks for helping me carry things that day.
"But if you want to learn the answers to what comes next, you'll have to pay the corresponding points.
"Tarot Cards cost a hundred thousand, and the Crystal Ball costs a hundred and fifty thousand. Those are my rates."
He pointed to the small blackboard beside him, which he hadn't yet had a chance to put away.
Ichinose Honami blinked, a flush of embarrassment appearing on her face.
She'd been so focused on seeking answers that she'd forgotten Lin Mu's fortune-telling was an expensive service with clearly posted prices. The free reading that day had been an exception.
She instinctively touched her Student Terminal. A hundred thousand points was no small amount for her, especially when she was already feeling down. It seemed like an expense she needed to consider carefully.
And Lin Mu didn't seem to actually expect her to pay right then.
He changed the subject and spoke again in a casual, almost nonchalant tone.
"But since you're feeling so down today, I'll give you a friendly bit of advice."
He paused. Ichinose Honami immediately looked up, her eyes full of surprise and expectation, and he calmly delivered a startling remark.
"In the 'possibilities' I saw during my reading, it might actually be better for you and Class B if you don't join the Student Council."
Ichinose Honami's eyes widened, disbelief filling her purple gaze.
But Lin Mu paid no attention to her reaction. In the same tone one might use to discuss something trivial, he continued, "Maybe you could try... giving up on the idea of joining the Student Council."
He saw the stunned look on Ichinose Honami's face and added calmly, "Of course, if you think I'm talking nonsense, or just trying to comfort you so you'll stop agonizing over it, you can treat that as a joke and forget I said it."
He even shrugged, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"After all, who in this world can really see someone else's future?
"Something like a superpower only exists in manga and novels, doesn't it?"
(You have to work for the future you want. You can't get it through so-called fortune-telling.)
(I've already seen the future...)
He said only what was necessary, without going into detail.
He just thought Ichinose Honami was making life too hard for herself. He'd made the offhand remark out of a little consideration for her, based on the small favor she'd done him and some inexplicable impression he had of her.
Whether she listened and what she chose to do were ultimately up to her.
He wasn't the sort to meddle in other people's lives. That one reminder was already more than he'd usually offer, given that she was a decent person.
Ichinose Honami sat frozen on the little stool, staring blankly at Lin Mu, as if she couldn't understand what he meant—or as if every word had struck her heart with full force.
Not joining the Student Council... would be better?
She'd never considered that possibility.
Joining the Student Council had been her goal ever since the school confirmed her acceptance. It was a crucial step in her plan to "help more people" and make her class better.
She'd poured all her effort and hopes into it.
Lin Mu's words were like a cold, hard stone, abruptly thrown into the tranquil, warm lake she'd struggled to keep steady. They didn't create ripples so much as waves that shook her to the core.
She lowered her head without thinking and looked at her clasped hands, her nails nearly digging into her palms.
A fierce, silent battle began inside her.
On one side was the goal she'd held onto for so long that it had almost become an obsession: her burning desire to help her classmates, learn more about the school, and secure opportunities for Class B.
On the other side was Lin Mu's fortune-telling, which had already come true once—and not just that. She'd heard from others that the results of his readings were almost always accurate.
His terrifyingly precise fortune-telling, and the seemingly casual warning he'd just given, which nonetheless carried an inexplicable certainty.
Join, or give up? Hold on to her obsession, or consider another possibility?
For a moment, confusion and indecision swept over her like a tide.
Her brows furrowed more tightly, her lips pressed pale, and her disappointment was replaced by an even more complicated struggle.
Lin Mu watched Ichinose Honami lower her head, her shoulders slumping slightly and her fingers unconsciously clenching until they turned white. The lollipop in his mouth pressed lightly against his left cheek, making it bulge.
He fell silent for a few seconds. Just as Ichinose thought he had nothing more to say, his lazy yet clear voice rang out again.
His tone remained calm, but seemed to hold a hard-to-describe clarity, despite the same detached air of indifference.
"You're fixated on the Student Council because you think it's the only place where you can help lots of people 'with a legitimate reason' and prove your worth."
He casually tapped his fingertips on the table. The Crystal Ball reflected a faint, hazy glow in the fading light.
"But there's never just one road—the one you can see right in front of you."
(If I want to walk, the road is right beneath my feet. But then I realize I don't have legs. Haha.)
He paused, his gaze seeming to pass through the tent's fabric and settle on the campus in the distance, hazy and indistinct.
"You always try to take everyone's problems onto your own shoulders, afraid you won't do well enough, afraid you'll let someone down.
"Afraid that if you stop or change direction, you'll lose your reason for being—or disappoint the people around you."
(People are always moving toward their goals, but losing them leaves them feeling empty, while having them can bring its own troubles...)
Before you continue