Business on Fortune-Telling Street would not stop because of one person's death. After all, Yamato Kaho was only one insignificant vendor among countless others, and the world still had to keep turning. But humans were not unfeeling creatures.
When Miwa Chisei arrived at the familiar stall with a small bunch of lavender in her hand, quite a few bouquets and little gifts already lay on the dark wooden table.
The cards left there were filled with blessings for Yamato Kaho and expressions of affection.
After all, she had been a warm, friendly older sister figure. Many stall owners on the street knew her, and the high school girls from nearby schools liked her too.
Miwa Chisei placed her flowers among the others. She left no card, because she truly did not know what to write.
After all, she had already properly fulfilled that blessing.
To avoid causing panic, the police ultimately declared it a sudden death. Clearly, someone working for Jujutsu Society had intervened.
Miwa Chisei walked over to her own stall. She had only just spread out the tablecloth when someone spoke to her.
"Fifty thousand yen a reading? You must be really good."
The girl's clear, sweet voice was lovely, with a pleasantly lilting tone.
Miwa Chisei turned around and saw a pink-haired girl wearing an exquisitely made white dress. Her beautiful face made it abundantly clear that she was a stunning beauty.
Her eyes were a lovely pink too, giving her a gentle, endearing look. When she smiled, they curved into crescents, making her seem innocent and harmless.
But Miwa Chisei sensed cursed energy.
She did not answer. After sitting down, she studied the girl in front of her.
The girl was not offended. She cheerfully took five ten-thousand-yen notes out of her shoulder bag and placed them on the table.
"Can you tell fortunes about anything?"
Miwa Chisei looked at the notes, swept them into her sleeve, then pushed a pen and paper toward the girl and said quite seriously,
"Most things. Write your question on the paper."
The girl crouched beside Miwa Chisei's little stall and tapped her cheek with the pen, looking puzzled. She looked very cute.
"There are so many things I want to ask. Can I only ask one?"
"Yes."
She hesitated for a while before writing a question on the blank sheet.
Miwa Chisei took it. Her gaze swept across the line of writing, and her pupils contracted slightly behind her sunglasses.
"Could you please bless me so I can become a super-strong jujutsu sorcerer, Lady Qianxing?"
She turned the sheet facedown, met the girl's gaze, and said casually,
"No."
A trace of surprise appeared on the girl's exquisite face. Then she covered her lips and laughed.
"I thought you'd get angry."
Miwa Chisei studied the girl in front of her. She could not figure out why she had come, but she sensed no murderous intent either.
"I've answered your question. Thank you for your business."
The girl blinked. She stood up and looked curiously at the young girl before her, then drawled,
"I forgot to introduce myself."
"I'm Miwa Riona. We're distant relatives, but Lady Qianxing and I are still members of the same family."
Miwa Chisei looked at those pink eyes, at that charming color.
"Although I was born into the Miwa family, my eyes unexpectedly turned out pink."
"But some people say that means I'm the Miwa family's child of fortune. It's the eye color the first generation of the Miwa family had."
Listening to this unfamiliar girl, Miwa found her rather noisy, so she scratched her ear with her little finger.
"And?"
"So I'll bring the Miwa family back into Jujutsu Society. You can stay on this street and be a fortune-telling witch, Lady Qianxing."
Pink eyes occasionally appeared in the Miwa family. Historical records did mention them, but they were so rare that they had always been treated as anomalies.
Child of fortune? What kind of melodramatic nonsense was that?
Still, Miwa Chisei was quite happy to accept the girl's proposal, so she nodded very seriously.
"Then thank you very much."
Miwa Riona had not expected her to agree so readily, looking utterly uninterested.
Was this really the obstacle on her path to becoming a Special Grade Sorcerer that that person had spoken of?
Still, this was much easier than she had imagined.
Miwa Riona smiled sweetly and held a hand out to Miwa Chisei.
"Then please give me the Sun and Moon Charm."
At last, something shifted in Miwa Chisei's perpetually indifferent expression. Her lips curled into a mocking smile, as though she were looking at an idiot.
"Are you dreaming?"
Miwa Riona's sweet smile faded a little too.
"Lady Qianxing, since you have no interest in Jujutsu Society, let me inherit the proof of family headship."
"No." Miwa Chisei shook her head. Her sunglasses slipped down a little, revealing crimson eyes. "Who even are you? You think you can demand the Miwa Main Family's token after a couple of sentences? Even if I have no interest whatsoever in Jujutsu Society, some little Miwa family weed who crawled out of who knows where doesn't get a say."
"You..." Miwa Riona's impeccably controlled composure cracked a little. Miwa Chisei's merciless words had exposed her sore spot.
"Even if the Miwa family has fallen into decline, the Main Branch's genealogy is still recorded. Who is Miwa Riona? Never heard of her."
"If you want to make a name for yourself in Jujutsu Society, go ahead. Just don't think you can lay your hands on anything belonging to the Main Branch."
"Miwa Chisei!"
Miwa Riona could not help shouting in anger. She had assumed that, with her uncle from the Main Branch dead, Chisei was merely a young lady in name only. She had not expected a rabid dog.
Miwa Chisei pushed her sunglasses back up, hiding that flash of red. Her cool voice lowered, taking on a dangerous edge.
"Miwa Yuto is your father, isn't he?"
Miwa Riona went pale. Her throat tightened.
"My father told me before he died not to hold it against you. Did you really think I wouldn't?"
"What are you... talking about?"
"If the Miwa branch family wants to return to Jujutsu Society, you're perfectly free to cultivate ties with the Three Great Families. Why must you disturb the Main Branch's peace?"
Miwa Riona bit down hard on her lip. Why did this crazy woman know so much?
Miwa Chisei merely tapped the sheet Miwa Riona had just written on. A thread of red cursed energy curled around it.
"Since you paid me, I still had to give you a proper reading. I should thank you for leaving me a trace."
If this girl had not come to provoke her, Miwa Chisei would never have learned why the Miwa family had suddenly been summoned back into Jujutsu Society.
Miwa Riona's perfect face twisted a little.
"That's impossible. Members of the Miwa family can't look into the fates of their own family!"
Miwa Chisei gave a soft laugh.
"You didn't study your history very well, did you?"
"Those with exceptional gifts can see the fates of people from collateral branches. Let me think-throughout the Miwa family's entire history, there have been three. I'm the third."
"So what exactly do you think you are?"
With just a few words, she mercilessly shattered Miwa Riona's arrogance.
Miwa Chisei lowered her eyes, utterly unconcerned about the expression on the girl's face.
Apart from that menace from the Gojo Clan, Miwa Chisei rarely went after anyone so sharply. But she and Satoru Gojo traded blows; with Miwa Riona, it was a one-sided crushing.
Miwa Chisei felt the fifty thousand yen inside her sleeve. She figured there would be no more suckers today, so closing early sounded fine.
She quickly packed the few things on the wooden table into her backpack. Just as she stood up, she heard the voice of the person she had just been thinking about.
"There really are suckers besides Geto. That's fucking hilarious."
Some people were better left unmentioned. Think of them, and they really would appear.
Miwa Chisei curled her lips in disgust and muttered, "Just my rotten luck."
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