It's Monday, but I'm skipping school. I haven't gone since last Wednesday, but I honestly doubt the school has noticed. I entertain the idea that my desk has been taken over by some transfer student since my teacher would have forgotten that somebody (me) already sits there. But Gina wouldn't forget, and she'd speak up…

I blink away those thoughts. It's all hypothetical, anyway.

The fridge hums louder when I open the door to peek inside of it, as if scolding me for wasting electricity. I frown and close it, disappointed by its meager contents. I'm not even hungry, I just wanted to find something delicious to take my mind off stuff.

Well, really, there was only ever one answer. Luckily, I have an emergency pile of high quality chocolate hidden under my bed. And once I finish it, I'm going out.

******SK*******

Aiura Mikoto. I asked Kokomi this morning about the name of her fortune-telling friend, and that's what I got. A girl who seems to have powers, but doesn't seem to be affected by migraines that make her feel like the gods are actively attempting to rip her atoms apart.

Must be nice.

She even seems to know about Saiki's psychic powers, or seems to believe that he has super strength.

Now that I think about it, it's possible that that Nendo kid has super strength powers, right? He ripped out that door, and maybe he's even able to prevent other powers from affecting him, since I didn't get any memories, secrets, or headaches when I accidentally looked at his face.

Well, it's none of my business.

The only thing I'm concerned with right now is meeting up with Aiura Mikoto and asking for her help. And if my memories of her secret memories are correct, she should have a secret job in a shady-looking shop on West Est 3rd Street.

It's a train ride and a walk to arrive, and the glowing LED sign to announce the shop almost makes me want to turn around.

But victory doesn't suit a quitter, and famous quotes like that.

So I swallow thickly and push open the door.

"Welcome!" A woman, overdressed on every level, greets. I remember not to look at her face, but it would be hard to anyway. Her loud clothes demand all of my attention. Her too-tight leather pants are mostly covered by a ruffled tiger fur coat, and I sincerely wish I hadn't seen her slightly see-through white tanktop. She's wearing bright pink spiked heels and so much jewelry she could be her own costume-jewelry store. Her voice is obviously damaged by a lifetime of smoking, and her attempt at a high-pitched sweet voice completely fails. "Do you have an appointment?"

I glance behind me, looking for someone who probably walked in behind me, but there was no one. Since I couldn't look at her face, it took me a moment to realize she was looking straight at me.

"O-Oh, yes, I mean, no, I don't…"

"Would you like to make one?"

Recovering from my surprise that she had noticed me in the first place, I glanced over the walls. A fortune-teller shop, where Mikoto-san was the top seller. A huge picture of her face was plastered on the wall and her dramatic signature covered the bottom corner.

"Is Mikoto-san in?"

The woman leans back in her chair, pulling out a cigarette and a notebook, probably to mark down any appointment I make.

"Yes, she's in right now, but she's got a customer. I must let you know, though, that she is our most popular fortune-teller, so her services are more expensive than the other girls."

"Oh, that's okay, I'm not here to get my fortune told. I just need to talk to her."

The woman squinted at me. "Are you a friend?"

"I—" I hesitate. Mikoto and I aren't friends, not by any standard, but if I say no, would I be allowed to go in and talk to her? "I'm the younger sister of one of her good friends."

"So, no?"

I frown. "No."

Her eyes look me over. She must have realized how low-threat I am because she loosely shooed me away.

"You can wait for Mikoto on that couch there, but you can't talk to her until all her appointments are over."

After hesitating a moment, I shuffle over and plop onto the couch. I never thought myself a coward, but I feel uncomfortable asking her when Mikoto will be done.

This place is seriously sketchy, but has a weirdly steady stream of customers. Characters of every kind continuously enter and exit the doors leading to the rooms where the fortune-tellers wait for their customers. It takes hours, but Mikoto eventually exits her room, stretching into a yawn and still wearing her school uniform. I jump up from my seat and step closer to the exit door.

"Hannah, I'm going to be done for today," Mikoto calls to the overdressed lady. The tiger coat swished as the lady bounces up from her chair.

"Good work today, Mikoto-sama!" She sings, waving off her MVP. "See you in a couple days!"

"Yeah," Mikoto grins, flashing a victory sign. She walks right by me and has begun pushing open the door by the time I grab hold of her wrist.

"What the—who are you?!"

"I'm Kokomi's little sister." I explain bluntly. "We met the other day when you located Randy Upwald."

"Kokomi's—? Ohh, yea! You're...um...sorry," she laughed uncomfortably. "What's your name again?"

"It's Nomi. Can we talk? I need to ask you something important."

"Totally, sure! Let's go to a café, I'm in the mood for a cold drink!"

"O-oh, sure…" I reply, but I'm completely unprepared for her to grab hold of my hand and rush out of the building. She didn't stop until several blocks later, when we were both panting and standing in front of a pleasant coffee shop. She leads the way inside, confidently finding a small table and placing her order.

The color theme of the shop is a soft yellow and blue. It's calming, regardless of its vague resemblance to a baby shower.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Mikoto asks. I wonder if she's noticed that I haven't looked at her face at all this whole time. She probably hasn't.

I'm not sure how to ask her. Or where to start. Is this a situation that I can approach bluntly? My stomach begins to twist uncomfortably. I barely know this girl, can I really bare my deepest secret to her?

"Is it love trouble?" Mikoto says, checking her nails. I shake my head.

"Aw don't be shy. I could like totally solve your love problems, or check compatibility?"

"Really, no, it's not about that."

She hums thoughtfully. "Did you lose something? Need to find Mr. take-down-the-celebrities again?"

I shake my head again. "No."

"Okay…?" Her voice seems both concerned and bored. She probably has a million things she'd rather be doing at this moment, and here she is, trying to figure out what this random girl is trying to ask her.

"Here you girls go," the waitress suddenly appears, placing down a plate of an assortment of cake and two forks. Mikoto brightens and begins attacking the desserts, but I hold back.

Deep breath.

"Is it true that you have psychic powers?"

She doesn't stop eating, in fact she just answers around the bite of red velvet. "Yea, of course," she said, like it was obvious, like it wasn't something only a crazy person could believe.

I'm relieved. Because only a crazy person would believe my story, too.

"You can see everyone's secrets? Uwo, creepy."

I just blink and decide not to mention how she had tracked down the exact location of some stranger that she'd never met before for not much reason other than boredom.

Mikoto hums in thought. "But I don't think that's a psychic power, not a complete one anyway. Oh, don't worry! Your powers just aren't mature! They'll develop in no time." She puts a hand on her hip and gestures proudly towards herself. "My predictions used to only be right 30 percent of the time, but now it's a total, undeniable 1000 percent!"

She pats me on the head twice.

I frown. "I have to doubt that," I tell her honestly.

"Geez," she moans. "But it's true!"

"But can you help me?"

Mikoto sighs. "I just told you, your powers will mature as you grow up, it'll just take time."

"But isn't there a way for me to just get rid of these powers completely?" I blurt.

"Hah?"

I'm staring at the frosting on the vanilla cake, but I refuse to lose my nerve. "I don't want these powers. They just make my life harder. And they make other people's lives harder too," I add, thinking about the trouble I've caused my siblings, and Gina, and probably a ton of other people.

She doesn't answer for a while, taking a few bites of cake instead, but eventually says, "Well, I guess there might be a way? I don't know why you'd want to, like, at all, but I might know someone who might know something."

"Really?!"

"Yea, sure, totally. I'll contact them and get back to you, 'kay?"

I go home resisting the urge to skip. I try to talk myself down, saying they might not be able to help or they might not want to help, but for some reason the sparkly feeling in my chest won't go away. It's just a little bit of hope. If my power is gone, things might go back to normal. If my power is gone, I can talk to Gina while looking her straight in the eyes. If my power is gone, I'll never have to worry about anything again. I'll be able to go back to leading my simple, below-average life, under the radar.

It sounds heavenly.

A/N

This chapter was kind of short, but next chapter is going to be the final chapter! Yayyyyy