Well, since it's now Sunday it's high time I give the gift of myself to the world again!
Just kidding. I just need to go to the grocery store. Nothing strange here.
Teruhashi strode out of her front door with all the grace needed to fit the expectation of the goddess the world saw her as. The sunlight made way for her resplendent aura, and the contrast caught the attention of several onlookers who properly rendered Teruhashi her salute. Just another day in the life of a perfect pretty girl. She waved back at them like a movie star which compelled them to blow air out of their noses and their eyes to roll back into their heads. She started to think about what she might need until something; rather, someONE caught her attention. She passed Mikoto Aiura ambling down the street in the direction she was going.
As Teruhashi pondered how to get Aiura's attention, Aiura figured out how to do it for her.
"Hey, Teryukoko! I just realized we hadn't really seen each other outside of school so I figured I'd come say hi!" Aiura waved and flashed a cheerful smile. Teruhashi did not sense an ulterior motive from her, but did pick up a bit of inquisitiveness. She was pretty sure she knew what it was about, but wanted to make friendly conversation first. They met up and started to walk together. Teruhashi sweetly implored all of her admirers to keep enough distance to allow her and Aiura to actually talk.
"So, Aiura, I heard that you have a job doing professional fortune telling outside of school. How is that going?" Teruhashi had decided to start with a softball.
"Oh, ya know, it's going pretty well! I think I'm pretty good at my job, so I get a lot of repeat clients." She folded her arms back behind her head in a carefree stretch.
"I've heard your fortunes are extremely accurate, does having that much power ever weigh on you?" Teruhashi inquired, genuinely interested in her answer.
"Nah, not most of the time. All I really do is tell people what's going to happen; I don't have the power to actually change anything. Sure my words hold a lot of weight, but if I were to try to lie to people then it would destroy my credibility as a fortune teller. Then again, fortune telling in general is considered kinda out there so I wouldn't be much worse than anyone else. Even if I were to divine winning lottery numbers, my luck would balance out sorta like a wave. I could win the lottery and then be hit by a truck the next day," she remarked as if she were recounting the plot of a TV show.
"So that explains why you're not as rich as Saiko."
"Yep! Precisely!"
"Besides the money, why do you do it then? If any bad people caught wind of your power, would they not try to kidnap you?" Teruhashi riffed of her answer.
"It did almost happen once and it was really scary, but let's say my luck swung back in the opposite direction. I do it because I'm glad to use my powers to help people. I didn't choose to be born with these powers, but since I have them I might as well use them to make the world a better place," she said as she smiled and leaned forward knowingly.
"I see… That's very noble of you," Teruhashi said as she withdrew, considering her response carefully.
"I don't really see it that way. From my perspective the way luck works sorta makes all your actions insignificant because it all ends up becoming a balanced checkbook anyway. You could say me helping someone with my fortune telling is good fortune, so they could have bad fortune as a result of me helping them. But to me even if it does ultimately end up canceling out you might as well try to help it swing in the right direction," Aiura said as she smiled sweetly.
Teruhashi had grossly misjudged Aiura. It was easy to judge her from a distance, but she herself had stooped to what she looked down on to get closer to Saiki. Teruhashi shuddered as she had even thought of Aiura as a bitch because she envied her closeness with Saiki. She still had a lot of growing up to do. Aiura had a heart of gold.
Aiura clapped her hands.
"So, Teryukoko, we've talked about me enough. I wanna learn more about you! First question of course is why are you so frikken beautiful?!" Aiura's face immediately shot close to hers, surprising Teruhashi. It took a lot to prevent herself from recoiling; her fans were watching, after all.
Teruhashi had been able to tune them out for a while but Aiura's comment made her more aware of her surroundings. She started to notice the cavalcade of offus, but also noticed some… off looks. They didn't seem to be directed at her but Aiura instead. They all looked to be some variation of undressing her with their eyes or looking down on her. She knew it happened at school but seeing it outside as well was startling, especially while Aiura was with her.
"Oh, that?" Aiura interrupted her thoughts with a happy smile and a dismissive hand motion. "Don't worry about them, I get that all the time."
"How in the world do you manage?" Teruhashi, said taken aback.
"It took me a while, but I learned not to care what they think. If I wanted to stop them I'd dress more properly, but I like this me. My experiences lead me here, and I ain't gonna let anyone get in the way of that!" Aiura made a silly face and stuck out her tongue.
Teruhashi chuckled and smiled warmly.
"I guess you're right."
"Soooo you never answered my question though. Why are you so frikken beautiful?!" Aiura must have noticed how close she was last time; she kept her face at a more reasonable distance despite her excitement.
"Would you believe me if I said my beauty was a power?" Teruhashi said bashfully.
"I mean, yeah from your aura it makes sense, but coordinating all those outfits and keeping that bod takes hella work!" Aiura said excitedly.
Oh, right. I forgot about the aura thing. Also she seemed oddly unfazed by the concept of beauty as a power.
Teruhashi looked down to conceal her embarrassment and pushed her clasped hands down to her dress.
"You're right, it does take a lot of work. I don't know exactly how to explain it because it's just always how I've done things," she said. She faced down the long hall of memories again, but was saved from walking down it.
"Ah, I see. With a power so apparent expectations are always going to be placed on you, so it makes sense that you would rise to meet them," Aiura mused, her eyes wandering slightly.
"Well, not exactly. I probably could have coasted by just being extremely pretty. I'd have never wanted for anything, but being a passive participant in my own life is not something I want. I originally wanted to figure out a way to play to my strengths, but now I'm questioning who or what all that effort is for," Teruhashi answered a little more honestly than she would have liked.
Why am I telling her this?
"It's easy for me to say, but you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You didn't choose to be born with that power any more than I did with mine," Aiura attempted to gently reassure her.
"I don't even know if I can undo it at this point. I hold way too much power, allowing myself to slip could have disastrous consequences. That probably sounded silly to hear," she said, her voice growing quieter with each passing word.
"No, I get what you're saying. I don't understand the limitations of your power, but getting Saiko to transfer to our school just to get a shot at marrying you is pretty serious. You remind me of someone I know. I won't pretend to understand what it's like to be as powerful as you. I can't promise I won't get sucked in by how really really ridiculously beautiful you are; but if you ever need someone to kick it with, I'll give you my digits."
Aiura smiled warmly, took out her obnoxiously gaudy phone, and opened LINE to connect. Teruhashi giggled, smiled warmly, and completed the LINE handshake.
"Thanks Aiura, I'm glad I got to talk to you. Shouldn't you have waited until we actually got where we were going before we exchanged contact info, though?" Teruhashi teased.
"Nah, what's the point of waiting for it? We were gonna have to do it anyway. Societal standards are overrated," the gyaru said with a faux annoyed expression followed by a cheeky smile.
Subtle as always, Teruhashi giggled again.
"I guess you're right."
"So, Teryukoko, what does a perfect specimen such as yourself do for fun?"
Teruhashi became embarrassed yet again after just a moment of reprieve. She really didn't do anything for fun outside of her persona.
"Not very much, honestly. Between cram school, koto lessons, exercising, cooking, baking, and doing everything I need to do to be pretty, I don't have much time for anything else save meeting with friends occasionally."
"Ah, figures. Well, my offer still stands. If you roll with me, I promise you'll have a good time," she winked.
"What about you, Aiura?"
"Most of the time I go clubbing or whatever, but I like to do beach sports when I want to be a bit more low key. You won't catch me dead with a spray tan," she laughed.
"You must go a lot, even I can respect that color!" Teruhashi complemented.
Since when are beach sports low key!?
"Yeah, I go when I can. Work hard, play hard ya know? When I'm at work and school I'm sitting in a chair most of the time so it feels great to stretch," she said as she immediately raised her arms above her head to stretch as if she were reminded to.
"I've never done beach sports before, which is your favorite?" Teruhashi asked. She was curious as she had ruled out beach sports, as it didn't seem like something a perfect pretty girl would do. Too much chance to embarass herself and too vulgar.
"I don't really have a favorite, all of them are fun for different reasons. I do beach volleyball, jetskiing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and a couple other things I don't remember," Aiura explained casually.
"Wow, that's a lot! It sounds expensive, how can you afford it?" Teruhashi didn't know a lot about beach sports, but she knew jetskis cost about as much as a car, often more for higher end models.
"I share a jetski with a few other friends. We all maintain it, split the costs evenly when it breaks, and fill it up when we're done using it. It's still expensive but it beats renting every time we go. We should go out for a spin sometime, I'll show you the ropes," she winked.
"It sounds really fun, I think I'll take you up on that offer," Teruhashi smiled politely. "Oh, it looks like we're here! Are you going to the grocery store, too?"
"Yeah, I'm almost bone-dry so I have to make a big haul," Aiura's face dropped a bit, as she seemed to remember how hungry she was and potentially kicking herself for waiting so long.
"I see. Well, it was great talking to you! I'm glad I got to know you a bit better," Teruhashi said genuinely.
"Same! Catch you later, Teryukoko!" Aiura waved her off cheerfully as she started to peruse the nearest aisles.
Since she was talking to Aiura, Teruhashi forgot to think about everything she needed. She gave up trying to get everything perfect and decided she would treat herself to some dessert. She smiled warmly when she passed by the coffee jelly and picked some up. Despite the groceries she was carrying, she went back home lighter than she came.