The next day arrived, and as I was heading to the address Olympia sent me (for some reason, she chose not to send me the name of the arcade, just the address), I came across multiple shops I'd never seen before. This is a part of town that I am unfamiliar with.
One of the shops I saw was a naughty bookshop. I noticed it only because a fortune-telling shop was right next to it.
The shop didn't pique my interest, but a woman was standing right outside of it. A very beautiful woman, might I add. She was only slightly shorter than me. With silky, long black hair.
Her eyes, however, I can't describe with words. All I can say is that they draw you in.
She called out to me, wondering why a fortune-telling shop was plopped right next to a sex shop, are you?
"Sex shop? I just assumed that that was an ordinary bookstore."
"You know I know you're lying, right? Of course, you don't. You know nothing."
This person seems like the type I can never get along with. But why is that? Is it because what she's saying is pissing me off. But why do her words anger me? Is it because they are the truth?
"Do you think the words I'm saying are the absolute truth?"
"..."
"Ah, sorry, my bad. It is rather strange for an adult to start a conversation with a child she has no relation with."
I'm not a child.
"Of course, you are. You do and say the wrong things. But that isn't what makes you a child. What makes you a child is the way you react to your mistakes. You self-loathe over them and beat yourself up. You don't do anything to fix your mistakes. All you do is avert your eyes to what you have done."
"..."
"You don't just avert your eyes from the mistakes you make but also from whatever challenges stand in front of you. I'm known as a challenging woman. Most people tend to run away from me. Few try to fight back. But I've never had anyone flat-out look away while I berate them. Running away is seen as cowardly, but more often than not, it is the right choice of action. But you don't even do that. You pretend that everything's fine and let whatever bad thing happen happen."
"..."
"Speak. You don't need to counter anything I said, but I'd like to hear what you have to say. Maybe you have something interesting in mind. Even if you don't, I'm so bored that anything should grant me amusement."
"Is it safe to assume you're the fortune-teller?"
"Indeed I am."
"Then, can you tell me my fortune?"
She frowns. "Sure, but it'll cost you."
"How much?"
"One thousand dollars."
"I don't have that kind of money!"
"Ah, sorry, I misspoke. What I meant to say was that I'll read your fortune for free. I'm in a giving mood right now."
As suspicious as her deal is, I take it. What's best is free, right?
"So, should we go inside or do you need to prepare?" I ask.
"Step inside? Sorry, but I'm on my thirty-minute lunch break right now. So I can't do a proper reading. Plus, the taste I just gave you, which wasn't necessarily a fortune-reading, should satisfy you for now. In due time will I conduct a proper reading."
"So our paths will cross once more."
"Within this boundless sphere of fate, of course, they will."
"What made you say what you did to me? I'm just a random person to you. Is that how you treat others?"
"I don't recall treating you in any cruel way. What I said, also, wasn't the truth. I'm not going to spew nonsense such as 'there's only one truth' or 'there's as many truths as there are people.' What I do believe, however, is that there are as many misapprehensions as there are people."
"Misapprehensions?"
"Indeed. The words I said to you may have an ounce of truth within them. But that is merely my biased perception of you. I know not exactly who you are or what life you've lived. But I can make an assumption. An assumption that's most likely wrong. Or perhaps I should say an assumption that isn't right."
Not an assumption that is wrong, but an assumption that isn't right?
"Emanon," she says.
"Emanon?"
"Yup, that's my name. Or that's what I go by. That's what you can call me. That's what you will call me."
"My name is–"
"Kiyomi. Kiyomi Otonashi. Beautiful nothing."
"How do you know my name?"
"Lucky guess."
Did I mention my name during this conversation? I don't recall doing so. I'm usually conscious of what's being said throughout a conversation. How does she know my name? Hell, how does she know who I am?
"My niece attends the same school as you. I've heard quite a few tales about you. I heard that you traveled to Egypt to defeat a bisexual vampire whose body below the neck is your elder relative."
"No, I don't go on bizarre adventures like you described. I'm a rather boring, uninteresting person."
"You have rather dull responses to what I have to say, but believe me, Kiyomi, you are the farthest from uninteresting. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have more than a lifetime of experience in life. Perhaps experience is the wrong word."
What is she talking about? Is this some vague description to prescribe the everyday person to encourage them to get a reading? But what she said is a rather apt description of me. I don't have more than a lifetime experience of life, but I do have something similar. Similar? Or is what I have the farthest thing from it?
"Kiyomi, if I'm being entirely honest, I don't know what exactly your future holds. No one does. So make it one that you can laugh about. You have a long time ahead of you. Literally. Try to help other people. And most importantly, save yourself. Sure, others help influence our lives. But it's you, and only you, who walks the path that you choose. Our meeting here today wasn't fate. Something or someone willed our crossing. Here, I'd like for you to have this."
She hands me… Wait, is this seriously what I think it is!?
"Does the girl on the cover remind you of anyone? Heh, you little creep. Have a blast (literally)."
…
I think to myself, kimochi warui, as I briskly walk away to avoid showing Emanon the embarrassment written all over my face.