Draw, Three in a Row

Shinomiya returned to the dormitory and, as usual, recorded everything that had happened today.

He now had 300 points.

The point rewards for repeated actions toward the same person decreased over time, which was why he only had 300 points by now.

That perverted clerk had contributed most of those points.

Shinomiya felt that he was in good condition right now, even though he had just been beaten up.

But he had lost because he could not go all out. The gap in their builds was too great, so he could only target vital points.

But this was a one-on-one fight, not a fight to the death.

Could he really poke someone in the eyes?

Shinomiya had not gained any new talents in a long time. So tonight, Shinomiya would evolve once again.

[Draw!]

The familiar lottery music began. Three pointers appeared on the wheel, and it started spinning.

Accelerate, spin, decelerate, stop.

The illustrations of three characters came into clear view.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host—you have obtained: Super High School-Level Magician.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host—you have obtained: Super High School-Level Fortune Teller.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host—you have obtained: Super High School-Level Swimmer.]

Shinomiya felt the changes in his body. Both the Magician and the Swimmer strengthened his body once more.

More knowledge flooded into his mind. Magic performance techniques and design concepts surfaced within it.

There were not many tricks related to swimming. Most of it was muscle memory.

The Fortune Teller allowed Shinomiya to learn all kinds of divination methods and how to interpret them. Most importantly, the success rate of divination was roughly 25%.

After understanding that, Shinomiya was speechless. This unreliable fortune-telling felt like such a scam!

This time, unlike when he obtained the Analyst and Soldier talents, he did not feel like he could not bear it.

It seemed those two talents had simply been too powerful, making them difficult for Shinomiya to withstand.

Shinomiya had even sealed away his analytical ability, leaving the excess processing power to go to waste inside his memory palace.

Although his memories of the past had become increasingly clear and he had learned quite a bit of information, none of it was particularly useful.

Shinomiya had always felt that he was well suited to the Analyst talent, yet he could not use it. Whenever he had such thoughts, his sixth sense would issue a warning.

Aside from that expert from Class A, Shinomiya's sixth sense had never failed him.

As for metaphysical matters, Shinomiya believed in them too.

When he managed the Shinomiya Family's real estate business, he discovered that Beika Town had many haunted houses.

He sent people to analyze and investigate what those haunted houses had in common.

They discovered that a detective named Kogoro Mouri was always present.

Further careful investigation led to a new discovery.

A brat named Conan Edogawa also always appeared at crime scenes.

In the end, Shinomiya cross-referenced the data and found that whenever those two appeared together, the probability of a murder case occurring was extremely high.

When they acted alone, that brat Conan would also encounter murder cases, but there were far fewer than when he was with Kogoro Mouri.

It was difficult to explain, but those two were like grim reapers. Wherever they went, people died.

Shinomiya had even suspected that they belonged to some cleanup organization, using detective work to cover up their crimes.

In the end, although there were issues with Conan's records, no evidence could be found that they had killed anyone.

From then on, Shinomiya believed in the power of metaphysics and made everyone in the Shinomiya Family stay away from those two!

What Shinomiya could not understand was that the Suzuki Family actually had close ties with them and interacted with them often.

According to Shinomiya's investigation, although no one in the Suzuki Family had died, they had encountered plenty of incidents.

At the time, Shinomiya believed that the Suzuki Family was trying to control that metaphysical power. They might have achieved some results, or there would not have been no Suzuki Family members dying every time.

Shinomiya did not continue following the matter afterward. He only had someone develop software to monitor the two in real time. Whenever they approached a member of the Shinomiya Family, the phone would sound an alarm.

Everyone in the Shinomiya Family had that software.

Shinomiya looked at the school-issued phone in his hand and felt a little uneasy.

But Advanced Nurturing was a closed school. Those two should not be able to get in.

Shinomiya took another arcade token from the drawer. It was left over from his previous trip to the arcade.

The coin danced across Shinomiya's fingertips. With a flick, it landed on his other hand and continued spinning between his fingers.

Shinomiya nodded in satisfaction. It was not only suitable for magic performances, but could also be used for simple divination whenever he wanted.

Perfect!

Shinomiya lay on his bed. The injuries on his body had already healed during the enhancement.

He soon drifted off to sleep.

After Sakura's issue was resolved, she no longer deliberately disguised herself.

This caught some people's attention, especially Haruki Yamauchi's.

But Sakura, with her social anxiety, was still unaccustomed to talking with others.

She mainly stayed with Kushida.

Several times, Shinomiya had indirectly asked when their date would happen, only for Kushida to brush him off.

"Ah... no rush."

The elevator arrived, and Shinomiya saw Kushida, Horikita, and Ayanokoji inside.

Shinomiya was a little surprised that Kushida and Horikita were actually in the same elevator.

After entering, Shinomiya started a conversation.

"The three of you aren't together very often."

No one responded, and the atmosphere was chilly.

With no one else around, Kushida could not be bothered to keep acting in front of the two people who knew her secret.

Ayanokoji and Horikita did not want to say much to Kushida either.

Shinomiya did not say anything else. They rode down to the first floor in awkward silence.

Ayanokoji and Horikita left first, while Shinomiya and Kushida walked behind them.

"Good morning, Kushida!"

The elevator on the other side opened, and a girl with long pink hair ran over.

"Ichinose!" Kushida replied with a smile.

Ichinose came up to them and said to Shinomiya, "Could this be your boyfriend?"

"Nope!" Kushida answered with a smile.

The two began chatting. Shinomiya listened from the side, occasionally chiming in.

His expression remained calm, but Shinomiya felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.

It was true, but it still annoyed him!

Besides, Shinomiya did not remember them ever formally breaking up in middle school. They had merely separated by mutual understanding.

If Shinomiya refused to acknowledge it, then they were still boyfriend and girlfriend, merely "living apart" for the time being.

The three parted ways once they reached the classroom.

A day of classes quickly passed.

Shinomiya felt that after gaining the Magician talent, his acting ability had risen to another level.

Kushida used to notice his performance and come ask him about it, but she had not reacted at all today. Shinomiya felt a little frustrated.

Shinomiya could not find Kushida in the classroom. It seemed she had gone off to have fun with her friends again.

Shinomiya's solitary back resembled that of an elderly man living alone—desolate and lonely.

Sato Coffee Shop.

The shop was relatively quiet, without too many people to disturb them.

Kushida and Ichinose sat together.

"Ichinose, I asked you out this time because there was something I wanted to ask your advice about."

"What a coincidence. I happened to have something I wanted to ask you about too, Kushida."