Chapter 2: Blessings and a curse

A light object hit his forehead and dropped on top of the pages of his book. The fallen object was a scrolled up piece of paper. He flicked it away with a quick movement of his fingers.

A loud female voice suddenly roared into his direction.

"YOU!"

Naru looked up. A middle-aged woman pointed at him with a trembling finger. Her grim face wrinkled into a grimace. The strange figure wasn't very pleasant to look at.

"Yes...?" he said, blinking his eyes.

Slowly she lowered her finger.

"Be careful of this tree!" she warned with a raw voice.

The young man frowned at her. Who was this rude woman and why was she talking to him? Naru inspected her closely. She wore square glasses, had cropped curly black hair and her clothing indicated that she was of low social standing. From the way she behaved herself she was probably someone he should ignore.

However, the mentioning of the tree caught his interest, so he narrowed his eyes and sat upright.

"What do you mean?"

"This tree!" The woman exclaimed, dramatically spreading her arms. "This tree has sent a malevolent male spirit upon you!"

The young boss looked very much unimpressed.

"Yes, and...?"

Her head shook furiously as she conveyed her message of terror.

"He will make your life miserable!"

Naru stared at her for a while, then sighed. He leaned back against the tree and continued reading his book. There was no point in taking this any further. He concluded she was mad.

Unfortunately, the woman wouldn't leave him alone.

"Hey, pay up!" she yelled and held her hand out.

He glared at her.

"What?"

The woman put her hands on her hips, threw her head back and looked down at him with a large grin.

"I'm a professional fortune teller."

He scoffed.

"I never asked for your services."

"No, you did ask for it."

She threw a business card at Naru just when he was about to argue back.

He made an attempt to read it:

'Yoyogi Barren Tree O-Mikuji, Every weekend (incl. Friday), Free of charge to whomever is underneath the barren tree.'

Naru sighed.

"It says free of charge."

She swayed her hips and said, "Read the small letters."

He looked at the card again. There was indeed a line with very small letters at the bottom. He squinted.

It read, 'First time service requires payment of 50 yen.'

That was absolute nonsense.

"See?" The fortune teller triumphantly pointed out.

"No, I won't," he said, not giving in.

She made a cat-like grin.

"It's only 50 yen. Can't you even afford something like that?"

Oh, she was playing it like this?

"That's very nice, but I don't intend to pay you," he said, and pulled out his cell phone, "Please go away before I call the police."

Before the woman could react, a person stepped beside her.

"I'll pay."

A girl with middle-long brown hair held a can in front of the fortune teller's face. She wore a grey skirt, black knee-high socks and a brown jacket.

Naru frowned.

"Mai?"

He hadn't seen the girl in a while, so this came as a surprise.

"Actually, I don't have any money with me, but I do have this can of coffee worth 100 yen. Will you accept it?" Mai said to the woman.

The woman was surprised at her offer, but seemed pleased.

"That will do," she said and took the can from her.

The woman apparently started looking in her purse for small change, but Mai quickly refused it. Instead the girl came over to the moody young man underneath the barren tree.

"Hello sunshine," she said with a sarcastic smile. "Long time no see."

Naru didn't bother greeting her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were busy with your studies."

"Well, I heard that you would be here. So I thought of visiting you," she replied. "It's not far away from university."

"I see. So you have that much free time," Naru said with a smirk, "No wonder you failed one of your classes."

"What are you talking about, you idiot scientist? That was just-" Mai said, but a hand on her shoulder made her stop.

"Hey you," the woman said.

Mai turned her head.

"Eh?"

Naru was displeased to see the fortune teller still around, but Mai smiled at her.

"Oh you really don't have to give me change. I-"

"That won't do! Here!"

The woman pushed a piece of folded paper into her hands and immediately scurried off. They stared after her until she disappeared into a crowd.

"Um, what just happened?" Mai asked.

Naru brought a palm to his face.

"I have no idea."

She looked down at her hand.

"Ah, it's an o-mikuji!"

"O-mikuji?"

"Oh, you don't know about them? These are fortunes written on strips of paper. You can get them at a shrine or temple for about... five yen...?" She frowned and slapped her forehead. "Hey, I've been ripped off!"

Naru smirked at her. "That was very stupid of you."

"Maybe not," Mai said and stuck out her tongue. "Perhaps I'm lucky this time."

After unfolding part of the paper she broke into a grin.

"Oh this is so awesome! I never got this before," she sat down next to him and nearly pushed the paper into his face. "Look look! I have a Great Blessing!"

He stared at the piece of paper, but could barely read it. Yeah, he knew 'great', but he could vaguely recall the kanji for 'blessing'. Naru pushed her hand away.

"Do you really believe those things?" he muttered and drew his attention back to his book again.

"Not really, but it's fun to look at," she replied, "But that's only a general blessing. They also list fortunes regarding specific aspects of life."

"Really," he commented without listening intently.

Mai slowly unfolded the rest of the paper and smiled at what she read.

"One's wish or desire... a small blessing! Hm, a person being waited for, lost articles, business dealings, studies... Great blessing, blessing, blessings!"

"Good for you," he said.

She started giggling, "Now it comes... romantic relationships.."

There was only silence and Naru glanced at her after he heard a little sob.

"What?"

Mai was pouting.

"What's wrong?"

He looked over her shoulder and tried to read it.

Romantic relationships: Near curse.

"I thought you didn't believe those things."

"No, I don't!" she angrily said, "Next! ...Oh, this is good, I wonder if I'll move into a new spacey apartment soon."

Mai stared dreamily in front of her.

She continued, "Childbirth or pregnancy... Great blessing."

Naru raised an eyebrow.

"What? Pregnancy?"

Mai stared back at him and bit on her lip.

"I'm not pregnant!" she growled.

"Why do you say that?" he said, "It's just surprising that they include those kind of things as well."

She sighed.

"Well, these o-mikuji are for all people in general. They have to include everything."

"Right."

"Oh, illness. Blessing," she said, "Last one's also big... marriage proposal or engagement... Small blessing!"

"How can that be when you have a Near curse for romantic relationships?" Naru said, "It's not logical."

She huffed.

"I don't care about your logic."

Naru ignored her and returned to reading his book. Similarly, Mai stared at some children playing with their parents. She made a sad smile.

He suddenly spoke, "Or..."

"Hm? Or what?"

"Perhaps it's an arranged marriage."

She almost exploded.

"No way! I would never!"

He smirked at her.

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Idiot, I'd never do that," she quietly said and looked away.

"Poor girls may want to marry a rich guy. What do they call it? Omiai. That's pretty convenient, isn't?"

She gave him a glare with her cheeks red.

"That's not funny at all," she bristled and as if wanting to make a point, she added, "I'm going to get some tea. I'll pay!"

Mai ran off.

Naru suddenly heard a whistling sound above him. At first he mistook it for a bird, but it eerily sounded like a human whistling. He wasn't wrong, because an adolescent male voice from above spoke.

'"Whoa whoa, that was really low! I can't believe he said that."

He looked up and saw a black clad young man up in the tree.

The malevolent male spirit?

Author's notes

Naru is such a ray of sunshine.

*cough*

As of today, 50 yen equals 0.41 Euro equals 0.53 US Dollar.

Omiai is a Japanese tradition of matchmaking. I don't think it's very probable that a poor girl is matched with a rich guy through such means though, but who knows.

Anyway, I had fun with writing the fortune teller. She was somewhat inspired by the fortune teller in the prologue of Cheese in the Trap. Only more dramatic. Hm, I wonder who she is?

But more importantly, who is the malevolent male spirit?