Six Lines Divination

The familiar shopping street was bustling, as it was currently the time when school let out, marking the liveliest moment of the day.

Of course, weekends were excluded; there might be even more people then, though it was hard to say.

The crowd was thick and noisy, with students moving in groups of three or five, their laughter and chatter filling the air.

The glowing signs of the shops flickered, intertwining with the sunlight to create a vibrant scene.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that today, this familiar shopping street had an extra stall set up.

And it was for fortune-telling, no less!

Passing students cast curious glances, but most just took a quick look before moving on.

The stall owner was a mysterious man wearing a tiger-skin mask, leaning back in his chair while humming a little tune.

Some people were suspicious, wondering if this tiger-masked man had any connection to those two masked "lovebirds" from yesterday.

After all... wearing masks and acting all abstract.

Thinking about it, the figure of this tiger-masked man was unmistakable; yes, it was U Amakusa.

U Amakusa had come up with a terrible idea: using this trashy golden finger to tell fortunes, since he was bored anyway.

If U Amakusa remembered correctly, the Japanese people were quite interested in this sort of thing.

Besides, U Amakusa had already checked himself with his glasses, and the method was viable.

Bored out of his mind, U Amakusa rested his elbows on the table, chin propped up on his clasped hands, thinking about how he still hadn't asked Horikita Manabu for the points.

No, it would be more accurate to say that Horikita Manabu hadn't come to find him yet.

One couldn't be impatient about such things; whoever got anxious first would fall into a passive position, making it difficult to negotiate a price. Horikita Manabu surely understood this as well.

There were seven videos in total: three from Class A of the third year, two from Class B of the third year, and two from Class A of the second year.

U Amakusa's minimum standard was 2 million private points per video, a figure he arrived at by considering the class points of Class A.

Class A of the third year had a full 2,249 class points, meaning each student had 220,000 private points.

However, as time passed, these videos would gradually become useless because they would no longer serve as valid evidence of injury.

In that case, their value would only continue to drop.

Presumably, Horikita Manabu had likely seen through this.

U Amakusa knew that he was at a disadvantage in this matter because his goal was points, not Class A.

He didn't like trouble; if he actually filed a complaint, the drawbacks would outweigh the benefits for him.

Therefore, demanding points directly from the start was the correct approach.

But there was a complication within the student council, which was the reason U Amakusa hadn't gone to demand the points yet.

"Sigh..."

Just as U Amakusa was sighing, a girl stopped at his fortune-telling stall.

"Fortune-telling? Can you really tell accurately?" the girl asked, looking puzzled.

"Guaranteed accuracy. A friendly reminder: the first customer of the day is free," a crisp female voice replied.

U Amakusa was using a female voice, a skill he had mastered in his previous life.

Back when he was in college, as a student bored to tears, it wasn't uncommon to learn how to mimic a female voice and go online dating with one's roommates.

As he spoke, U Amakusa pointed to the sign next to him, which read "Divine Calculations" on the left and "All Requests Granted" on the right.

However... the sign on the table in the middle of the stall read—5,000 points per session, pay before the reading.

That's too expensive...

The girl muttered to herself, but fortunately, she was free, otherwise, she probably would have left without hesitation.

"Really? Then, do you want to try guessing my name?"

Ability, Super...

Alright, no need to summon it; he was already wearing the glasses.

"Belief brings efficacy, disbelief brings none. Would Fukada-san care to give it a try?"

Fukada looked surprised, hesitated for a moment, and then sat down. "Then... can you tell my fortune... um... about my childhood friend, Natsu-kun..."

"I mean... in terms of romance."

As she spoke, Fukada's cheeks flushed, and it was clear from her eyes that she was imagining herself being intimate with the object of her affection.

Hmm, a classic fortune-telling topic about romance.

U Amakusa nodded inwardly; these adolescent boys and girls were truly in the period where hormones were at their most explosive.

It was perfectly reasonable for a young girl in love to come and ask if her romance had a chance to blossom.

U Amakusa pushed a sheet of paper and a pen across the table to Fukada.

"Hmm? What is this for?"

Seeing Fukada's confusion, U Amakusa explained thoughtfully, "This is the latest method of fortune-telling. Please write down what you most want to know, and I will provide a reading tailored to your situation."

"Is that so? I've never heard of such a form of divination."

Fukada, unimpressed, picked up a pen and began writing down what she wanted to know. Her actions caused several curious onlookers nearby to stop in their tracks.

Seeing this, U Amakusa wondered if he should have set up a tent or something similar, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Why invest more capital before even earning any points? He'd be better off just going to sleep.

The students who make it into Advanced Nurturing are generally of high caliber, with the exception of certain individuals in this year's Class 1-D.

Although they were curious and kept glancing over, they maintained a respectful distance, leaving Fukada with some privacy.

Taking the question Fukada had written down, U Amakusa drew a horizontal line beneath it, placed the paper on the table, and began to perform a casting ritual over a crystal ball sitting on the desk.

The crystal ball suddenly emitted a pink glow, but of course, that wasn't the end of it.

Immediately after, U Amakusa pulled three coins from under the table. More importantly, these three coins were actually game tokens.

The game tokens were things U Amakusa had brought with him; since they were coins anyway, he might as well save where he could.

He had spent about 60,000 points in total and still had 4,590,000 private points remaining.

He would need to perform at least nine divinations to break even, and that was at his current high prices—he might be forced to lower them later on.

Fukada didn't dare disturb U Amakusa, so she just watched him toss the coins in silence, even though she desperately wanted to point out why he was using game tokens.

(The following is mostly the author's nonsense; the author doesn't actually know this stuff, so experts, please don't flame.)

"This is the Six Lines Divination, a method of fortune-telling from the Celestial Empire. Simple is Yang, complex is Yin."

Having said that, U Amakusa looked at the coins he had just tossed: two were the same, and one was different.

"Two Yin, one Yang."

U Amakusa then picked up the coins and tossed them again, repeating the process five more times for a total of six.

After the six tosses, U Amakusa drew the hexagram he had divined onto the paper. He looked at the result and sighed inexplicably.

"Fukada-san, this is an ominous sign!"

"Ah?! What does that mean?!" Fukada asked anxiously.

U Amakusa shook his head, handed her the paper with the hexagram, and replied, "This hexagram signifies that the Descendant line holds the world, which is an ominous sign for matters of the heart in Six Lines Divination."

"Are you saying... that things between me and Natsu-kun... won't work out?"

Fukada's initial impression that U Amakusa might be a professional instantly shifted to the realization that he was a fraud.

Yet, how could U Amakusa not see through her? The corners of his mouth beneath his mask curled up slightly.

"Of course... that is not necessarily the case. You must understand, Fukada-san, that hexagrams are not absolute. Most importantly, human effort can change destiny."

Since he had the Six Lines Divination, wasn't the ritual with the crystal ball just an unnecessary extra step?

"You see, the crystal ball glowing pink represents the existence of possibility. However, the Six Lines Divination concludes that it is not meant to be, because the Six Lines Divination represents the outcome of current actions."