Hikari sits in the little booth she'd made a while ago in one of the unused classrooms of Fuurinkan. Setting herself up there, she takes a moment to breathe and meditate on the day. Her wig is untied from the twintails she had it in – she'll replace them after lunch but for now they add to her mysterious look.
So far, the reaction's been… nice.
Weirdly nice, and completely non-insane, which in Fuurinkan is something of an absolute miracle.
Seriously, the place must sit on fifty leylines or something because the amount of crazy stuff that happens here outshines the Bermuda Triangle and Area 51 both. Stonehenge, for all its history doesn't hold a candle to the torrent of weird shit that happens in Fuurinkan.
Breath in. Breathe out.
She blames Saotome for it, although it's probably not the jock's active fault. It's just that she can't remember there being martial arts tea ceremonies, or Kunou-senpai being so fucking nuts before now.
About the craziest thing to happen in the pre-Saotome days was Kunou's weird thing for Akane and the fact that she beat up half the school clubs in a morning for months.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Oh, damn it, she's made herself sad now. She'd already all but given up hope of ever wooing the lovely Tendou Akane, so long ago it might as well just be one of those twinges in her heart. But as she is, Akane would never go out with her.
Breathe in, breathe ou-
"Hey, are these charms for sale, Hikari-chan?"
The voice boots her out of her meditation, the honorific sending a thrill down her spine, and she opens her eyes to see the intrigued face of Nakano Sayuri from her class.
"O-oh. Um." She's never had a customer before. "S-sure. These are good luck ones, and this is one for love."
"Do they work?" Sayuri asks, a smile on her face. Hikari blinks.
"Um… I hope so. I spent a while focusing magic energies on them. I don't think they've got guaranteed success but… Isn't half of that kind of thing partly made by yourself and… I'm really not selling this well, am I?"
Sayuri giggles. "You're funny, Hikari-chan. How did we not know how funny you are?"
Hikari stares at her. "Um… What?"
Sayuri plucks the luck charm from the desk and slaps down a thousand yen. "Is that enough?"
"Um, s-sure Nakano-san."
Sayuri giggles again. "Call me Sayuri, Hikari-chan, we've been in the same class for years now."
Hikari feels sweat trickling down her neck. Sayuri's looking at her in a way she's never been looked at before and she doesn't know if it's terrifying or thrilling. Territhrilling? Thrillifying?
"O-oh. Right, S-sayuri-chan." She stammers. Sayuri's smile widens and she winks before heading off.
"Be seeing you, Hikari-chan."
"R-right."
Hikari winces as she shuffles her tarot deck. Even if she's now a girl on the outside as well as inside, she still can't talk to other girls.
Hikari curses to herself. She'd thought knowing who she was would make it easier, but she still just looks, still gets flustered if they even smile her way.
Another girl from her class comes in. She's always thought that the girl resembles Saotome, only actually a girl and with brown hair, rather than black or red.
"O-oh, Gosunkugi-san…" She says, blinking. Hikari tries a smile, but it comes out as panicked. "I didn't know you were… Are those tarot cards?"
"A-ah… yes?" Hikari mentally slaps herself. "Would you like a reading?"
"Nay, fair magical maiden!" Tatewaki Kunou's voice booms across the room, both Hikari and her classmate turning to see the lunatic kendoist striding in. "Not afore I, the scion of Clan Kunou!"
The girl smiles at Hikari, rolls her eyes and takes a seat. Hikari chalks it down as a win as she turns to Tatewaki. "C-certainly, senpai."
Kunou takes a seat and nods to Hikari. "Verily, I am thankful such useful resources exist in our school now, under such fair guise. The vile sorcerer Saotome shall quail before the might of the visionary sorceress Gosunkugi." He ponders. "Mayhap I shall favour your hand with a kiss, fair maiden?"
Hikari blushes a little, but shakes her head. "I-I'm not interested in men, Kunou-senpai." She stammers. "Apologies."
"Ah, thou art, as it is said, cherchez la femme?"
"I… what?" Hikari wonders a moment, "I m-mean, yes. I am indeed… 'looking for girl'…" She doesn't notice Kana's eyes widen and a happy smile flick across her face.
Hikari spends a moment collecting herself before clearing her throat and twirling the dimmer switch she'd had installed into the lamps.
Kunou isn't the only one with money, though she doesn't splash it around or make a scene of it like he does.
Time for the show – she's been preparing for this kind of thing a while and if she can impress someone with as high an ego and low an IQ as Tatewaki then the others should at least find it charming.
The room darkens and Hikari pulls out a large brimmed hat with a long point that droops to the side. Cobwebs and pumpkins decorate it, and she slides it onto her head. She uses her foot to press down the play button on a tape recorder and the sound of faint chanting and whispers she'd found somewhere starts playing. Another kick and the fog machine stutters into life before dying after ten seconds.
Curses, she'll have to send that one back.
"Now, Kunou-senpai, I will give you a reading." She intones gravely. The girl sitting nearby, lets out a squeak and Hikari spares her a look. She's blushing. Hikari shakes her head. Tatewaki is entirely too popular for his looks, if not his personality or intelligence.
Tatewaki leans forward, eyes shining. "Verily, fair sorceress, thy gifts are unparalleled!" He exclaims. "Such atmosphere!"
"Thank you, Senpai. What reading are you wanting today?"
"A reading for my love for the pigtailed goddess, and the fierce tigress Tendou Akane, and my luck for the future!"
"A combined reading, then." Hikari resists the urge to roll her eyes. She shuffles the deck and then passes it to Kunou, asking him to shuffle it too.
He drops the deck and Hikari almost groans in frustration, instead taking her annoyance out on the candles on the desk that she lights with a vengeance. Well, actually, with the barbeque lighter she borrowed from her father.
Kunou spends a while playing seventy-eight card pickup, before handing the now messed up and a little dirty deck to Hikari. She shuffles it again, properly, using some of the card tricks she's been doing since her father taught her to play poker and blackjack on family holidays.
Eventually she lays down three cards and turns the first over.
"The Tower," she intones. Then she stares at it. "Well, this is off to a bad start." She mutters. "Senpai, The Tower means grave misfortune strikes at your quest for the love of the pigtailed girl. Great change comes. Your pride invites disaster." Kunou doesn't look like he's paying much attention except to the 'great change' which excites him for some reason. "Now, fortunes for your love of Tendou Akane."
She turns the second card over and stares at it incredulously.
"The Tower… again."
Only in Nerima.
"Grave misfortune still dogs your heels for your quest for your… ugh… 'fierce tigress'… Change comes to this as well, again your pride is your downfall."
Tatewaki nods again and Hikari reaches out to the third card. "For your luck for the future, then." She turns over the card and sighs, almost imperceptibly. "The Tower, once more." Idly she wonders if she's mixed up her decks again, but these are all from the same deck. And she only ever bought one of this deck, and she checked all the cards.
This damned town.
"Grave tidings, Kunou-senpai. Misfortune follows your luck. Pride, before the fall. Great change, and not for the better. You stand upon the precipice of disaster."
Tatewaki nods excitedly. "Verily, thy talents are surpassing! Great change indeed!"
Hikari shakes her head. "Do you not worry for the other signs?"
"Nay, great change always has cost." There's a flash of lightning in the corridor and a rumble of thunder. "Passing strange." A stack of bills lands in front of Hikari. "Your payment, madame. Thank you for your reading."
Hikari takes the money without more comment and watches as Tatewaki leaves, humming happily.
"Idiot." She grumbles.
"I agree, Gosunkugi-san."
Hikari jumps and sees the girl from her class still here. "O-oh, you're still there, Izumi-san."
"Kana." The brown-haired girl with the weird resemblance to Saotome says. "You can call me Kana, Gosunkugi-san."
"Th-then you can call me Hikari, Kana-san." Hikari tries a smile, but once again it's panicked.
Kana flops into the seat in front of Hikari. "Can I have my reading now?"
Hikari blinks and then straightens up, putting her 'mysterious fortune teller' persona back on. "Of course, Kana-san." She says, adjusting her hat and relighting a couple of the candles that had blown out when Tatewaki left. She kicks the fog machine a second time and it belches some fog for a few seconds. "What would you like your reading to be about?"
Kana ponders a moment and then shrugs. "Just a general one, I guess. Maybe something about love?"
"Love it is, Kana-san." Hikari gives her a smile. She shuffles her deck, then passes it to Kana, who shuffles it quickly but neatly, handing it back. Hikari concentrates and then places three cards face down. "Let us begin."
Kana beams happily and rocks on her chair. "Ooo!"
She turns the first over. "The Fool," she says, and Kana looks almost sad. "It means new beginnings. Innocence and being a free spirit. It's a good card, Kana-san. If we're thinking general with a bent to love, perhaps this means a new beginning for you; some new love to come your way."
She turns the next card over. "The Knight of Cups. The suite of Cups is related to emotions, creativity. Often relationships. The Knight in particular means you follow your heart, that you're a romantic at your core?"
Kana nods, eyes sparkling. Hikari turns the final card over.
"The World." Hikari says. "Fulfilment, for the main of it." She gives a smile under her hat to Kana. "All together, I think they're saying you're on the cusp of beginning a new relationship and that, should you follow your heart and remain the romantic you are, new love will come your way and you will be fulfilled."
Kana beams. "Wow!" She says, happily. "That's incredible! You're really good at this, Hikari-chan!"
Hikari thinks back to the impossibility of three Towers and wonders if Kana is okay in the head a moment before shuffling her deck back together and putting it to the side. "My disclaimer is that the future is always mutable, though, so don't think it's set in stone, alright?"
Kana shakes her head. "No, it's fine, I know exactly what to do!" She leans over and pecks Hikari's cheek. "Thanks, Hikari-chan!" She zooms out the room.
Hikari puts a hand to her cheek. A warmth at the honorific fills her heart and she takes a moment to process before blowing out her candles. As something occurs to her from that morning, she grips onto the chair to steady herself, staring disbelievingly after the departed girl. "Oh." She says. "Oooohhh."
Kana had been the girl going on about a 'goth gf' before getting ki drained by their teacher.
Does this mean?
Surely not…
But still…
Her thoughts are interrupted by the entry of a short, red-haired figure.
"Sup, Hikari?" Saotome Ranma says, ever-present smirk on his face. "Boy, you really dolled the place up, didn'tcha? This place is spoopy as hell, I love it!"
Hikari groans.