Chapter 178: The Fortune-Teller Begins to Question Her Life!
Yuto pinched Airi's worried cheek and smiled.
"Don't worry so much. If that guy dares to bother you, just tell me. I'll find a way to deal with him."
"Mm."
Feeling reassured, Airi nodded and gave him a sweet smile. "Let's go buy clothes, then I'll take pictures of you."
"Sure."
Although Airi normally wasn't interested in shopping, she was still like any other girl once she actually started. She picked out several outfits for Yuto without showing the slightest sign of exhaustion.
Yuto was practically a walking clothes rack. Everything looked good on him, which left Airi staring with sparkling eyes.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what made choosing difficult.
So Yuto solved her indecision in the simplest possible way—he bought every outfit she had selected.
Once they finished shopping, an excited Airi left Keyaki Mall with him and searched for somewhere quiet where she could take pictures.
By the time their photography session finally ended, Yuto was thoroughly exhausted. Airi seemed tired as well, so the two sat together on a bench to rest.
Leaning her head against Yuto's shoulder, Airi looked at the streetlights that had already come on and breathed in the cool evening air.
"Today was really wonderful."
Yuto played idly with her soft hand and smiled. "Airi, how was today's date?"
"I was really happy!"
"As long as you enjoyed it."
Just then, Yuto's phone chimed.
He released Airi's hand and pulled it from his pocket.
It was a Line message from one of his girlfriends, Kei.
The moment Airi noticed who had messaged him, she voluntarily turned her head away instead of looking at the screen.
It wasn't that she was avoiding something unpleasant.
She simply respected Yuto's privacy.
Yuto opened Kei's message.
[What are you doing, Yuto?]
[I'm outside enjoying the moonlight. Did you need something, Kei?]
Kei was currently lying on her bed. She blinked her lively eyes and lightly swung her legs as she hesitated for a moment.
[Yuto, are you free around nine? Let's go to the fortune-telling shop together.]
[Sure.]
Yuto accepted without hesitation.
By nine, he and Airi would already have eaten dinner and returned to the detached apartment, so his evening was free.
His immediate agreement brought a sweet smile to Kei's face. She pulled a stuffed toy from beside her bed into her arms and arranged to meet Yuto outside Keyaki Mall at 9:20.
"Come on, Airi. Let's get dinner."
"Mm~"
After eating at a nearby restaurant, Yuto and Airi returned home to the detached apartment.
The moment they arrived, Airi lazily collapsed onto the living-room sofa, her face finally showing the exhaustion one would expect after spending most of the day walking around.
"Tired?" Yuto asked with a smile.
"Mm, really tired. My legs feel like they don't even belong to me anymore," Airi mumbled from the sofa.
"Take a shower and get a good night's sleep. You'll feel better afterward."
"Together?"
"Of course together."
Smiling, Yuto picked the exhausted Airi up from the sofa, and with a sweet smile on her face, the two of them entered the bathroom together.
After a session of washing and gentle caressing, Airi—face flushed red and body covered in fresh water vapor—was once again carried out of the bathroom by Yuto.
The temporary gold color in Yuto's hair had washed away, restoring his original jet-black hair.
Yuto carried the somewhat soft-bodied Airi back to the room and used a hair dryer to gently dry her still-damp fiery red hair.
Perhaps Airi was genuinely exhausted today. While Yuto was still blow-drying her hair, she drifted off to sleep, resting softly against his chest.
Fortunately, her hair was already dry.
Yuto switched off the dryer, carefully picked up the sleeping Airi, and gently laid her on the bed. He tucked a thin blanket around her mature, soft body.
It was only 8:50.
There was still roughly half an hour before his 9:20 meeting with Kei.
Yuto switched off the lights, quietly closed the door, and left the detached apartment for Keyaki Mall.
He arrived more than ten minutes early, yet immediately spotted Kei's slender figure waiting near the entrance.
Kei was wearing a pale-green skirt with delicate lace trim that gently cinched at her slim waist, and a softly pleated hem that covered her snow-white legs. The entire look made her appear quiet, elegant, pure, and refined.
Most of their classmates probably wouldn't have associated the girl standing there with the Karuizawa Kei they knew from class. Because the Kei everyone knew was a strong-willed gyaru who would never give anyone the impression of being quiet or reserved.
Yuto saw Kei, but she hadn't noticed him yet. She seemed distracted, apparently lost in thought.
A slight smile appeared on Yuto's face.
He deliberately stayed outside her field of vision and quietly approached from behind.
Once he was close enough, he leaned near her ear and whispered, "What are you spacing out about?"
"Wah!"
The sudden male voice startled Kei, who had actually been thinking about Yuto. She hurried two steps forward before spinning around.
The moment she realized it was him, she puffed out her cheeks and stomped her foot.
"Yuto! You scared me!"
"Sorry, sorry~"
Laughing, Yuto stepped closer and affectionately rubbed her puffed cheeks with both hands. "I apologize. Don't be mad."
Kei enjoyed the warmth of his hands while her lively eyes looked at him with an expression caught between annoyance and happiness.
"I'm not angry. Why are you apologizing?"
"You're really not?"
"Maybe just a tiny bit~"
"Then I'll buy you a drink."
"Then I'm completely not angry anymore."
"Hah~ Come on."
Yuto took Kei's soft hand, and she naturally wrapped herself around his arm as the two entered Keyaki Mall together.
After buying two drinks from a nearby café, they headed directly toward the fortune-telling shop on the fifth floor.
The place really was ridiculously popular.
Even though it was already after nine at night, quite a few couples were still waiting in line.
Yuto had no intention of wasting time standing around, so he once again relied on the principle that money made the world go round and bought someone else's place.
This time, it cost him fifty thousand points.
Yuto and Kei entered the fortune-telling shop, where the same familiar dim lighting and mysterious decorations awaited them.
The only real difference was Yuto himself.
He was no longer the blond-haired boy wearing clear-lens glasses who had accompanied Airi earlier that afternoon.
Surely the elderly fortune-teller wouldn't recognize him.
Unfortunately, she still became suspicious.
The old woman vaguely remembered seeing those exact palm lines earlier that day on the hands of a blond boy.
She stared suspiciously at the handsome black-haired student before her.
"Why do your palm lines look familiar? Guest, have you already come here once today?"
Hair color and appearance could be disguised.
Fingerprints and palm lines were considerably harder to change.
And because the fortune-teller was skilled in cold reading and particularly observant, the pattern on Yuto's palms had left a faint impression on her.
Yuto's heart skipped slightly, but his expression remained perfectly calm.
"You're the fortune-teller. Can't you divine whether I've been here before?"
"...Ahem. Of course I can! This is your first time here. I simply mistook you for someone else."
The old fortune-teller only recognized his palm lines and had no memory of ever seeing Yuto's current appearance, so that was the only answer she could give.
Kei quietly sipped her drink through pursed lips.
She, however, wasn't convinced this was Yuto's first visit.
'If that blond guy with Sakura Airi really was Yuto, then he probably came here with her this afternoon.'
"So sour..."
Yuto looked sideways at the muttering Kei.
Wasn't she holding a honey milkshake?
Could that even taste sour?
The little incident with the fortune-teller mistaking Yuto for someone else soon passed, and the reading continued.
Once again, Yuto was reminded just how much of the old woman's performance was bluffing.
Because the fortune she gave him tonight was almost completely different from the one she had given him that afternoon.
...
The next day, the elderly fortune-teller stared at the couple sitting across from her with an expression that suggested she was beginning to question reality itself.
Hadn't she seen the palm lines of this purple-haired boy yesterday?
And not just once...
Kikyo, who had dyed her hair black as part of her disguise, looked curiously at the fortune-teller's increasingly troubled expression.
"Is something wrong, Obaa-san?"
"N-No... nothing..."
After accompanying Kikyo through yet another fortune-telling session, Yuto was finally liberated.
There was nobody else he had to bring here.
His pleasant yet exhausting weekend finally came to an end, and Monday arrived.
...
As usual, Yuto woke in the morning, gently tucked the blanket around Airi, washed up, changed into his sportswear, and went out for his run.
After silently running alongside Suzune with their usual easy coordination for more than an hour, Yuto returned to the detached apartment and brought inside the food container Chabashira had already delivered.
Finally, Yuto ate breakfast together with Airi, whose legs were still somewhat unsteady, then the two headed toward the first-year school building.
They entered the classroom one after the other.
Kei immediately came over and affectionately wrapped herself around Yuto's arm.
Everything was exactly as usual.
But after Yuto sat down, he unexpectedly received a Line message from Manabu.
[Shimizu, Secretary Mizowaki and the three general affairs staff have all submitted their applications to resign from the student council. Start contacting the new members and have them come to the student council after school this afternoon.]
Yuto smiled with satisfaction after reading the message.
There were finally no Nagumo lackeys left inside the student council.
[Understood. I'll notify them in a moment. President, let me ask about the clubs too. Has Mizowaki already handled the ghost-member issue?]
[It should all be resolved. Tachibana told me Mizowaki spent the entire weekend visiting every club.]
[Good.]
After ending the conversation with Manabu, Yuto sent messages to Katsuragi Kohei of Class A and Ichinose Honami of Class B, telling them to meet him after school and report to the student council together.
Katsuragi's normally composed expression showed a trace of happiness when he saw Yuto's message.
Although he had originally been rejected, Yuto had given him an additional chance to enter the student council.
Totsuka Yahiko happened to notice the message on Katsuragi's phone and exclaimed happily, "Katsuragi, you're going to report to the student council?"
"Mm."
"But didn't the student council only accept Shimizu Yuto before? Huh? This message was actually sent by Shimizu Yuto!"
Only then did Totsuka notice the contact name displayed in the Line conversation.
"That's right. A few days ago, he asked whether I still wanted to join after being rejected. I said I did, and Shimizu told me to wait a week because he might have a way to get me in," Katsuragi explained.
"Shimizu Yuto has that much influence...? He hasn't even been in the student council for very long."
Katsuragi shared Totsuka's doubts, but that wasn't particularly important.
What mattered was that he could now join the student council.
Ichinose received Yuto's message as well.
Compared with the composed Katsuragi, her reaction was considerably more expressive.
Her lips curved upward and her brows lifted, her face glowing with obvious happiness as she replied through Line.
[Thank you, Shimizu! It's because of you that I finally get to join the student council.]
That was indeed true.
If Yuto hadn't driven Mizowaki and the other three out, neither Katsuragi nor Ichinose would have had an opportunity to join.
Suzune was different.
She was being personally brought into the student council by Vice President Yuto.
[You don't need to thank me, Ichinose. Let's work hard together in the student council from now on.]
[Mm!]
The thought that she would soon be working alongside Yuto in the student council made Ichinose's bright smile grow even more radiant.
…
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