After Story: Compassion

Chapter Eight: Misfortune-Telling

I watched as Ryou told fortunes for the mass of girls hovering around her desk. I smiled at the look on her face as she told what must have been a particularly favorable one to a blue-haired second-year. I chuckled softly to myself as the girl clapped her hands over her mouth, then bowed repeatedly as she backed out the classroom door.

Finally the crowd disappeared and Ryou sighed heavily. "That was exhausting," she sighed.

"It looked like more than usual," I remarked as I opened and handed her a can of tea.

She took a couple sips of the beverage before speaking. "Most of them were from the Theater Club, I think. I remember their faces from the other day."

I moved behind her and gently massaged her shoulders. "When you're ready, we'll head for home, 'k?"

"Okay," She relaxed in her chair and let me work on her shoulders.

After a few minutes, she started to fidget, so I removed my hands. "All ready, then?"

She stared at her desk for several seconds before pulling out her tarot cards again and began shuffling them.

"Ryou?"

"I have to do this," she said. "I have to know." She finished shuffling and laid them out in one of her circular patterns. I straddled the chair of the desk ahead of her and watched.

I enjoyed the look on concentration on her face. I didn't mind that she didn't seem to notice me; it gave me the chance to study her.

Suddenly, her expression turned to one of dismay. "No..." she breathed. "No no no..." Tears began to fill her eyes. "I knew it..."

I immediately went to Red Alert. "Ryou? Cutie? What's wrong?"

"The cards..." She pointed at them with trembling hands. "Y-You're surrounded by beautiful girls, and all of them desire you-"

"B-Bullshit!" I panicked, causing her to jump. "That...That can't be right!"

"Look!" she said, pointing to one card in particular. "That's Sakagami-san! See the sword? It's silver, like her hair! And this one, with all the stars?"

"Fuuko..." I said, remembering her as the first girl I met with because of Yukine's stupid spell. "It's her, isn't it?"

She nodded sadly. "And look at these two; look at the backgrounds..."

"They're rooms full of books," I said. "So what...?" Then it hit me. "Oh, hell no!"

"D-Didn't you meet a girl in the library? And Miyazawa-san stays in the Reference Room d-during breaks, right?" She pointed to another card with twins on it. "O-Onee-chan and me-"

"STOP IT!" I cried, sweeping my hands across the desk, knocking the cards to the floor. "I'm sorry about your cards, but this can't be right! You must be reading them wrong or something!"

Ryou reached down and picked up one of the cards. "This..." She showed me the card, but I was paying more attention to the tears in her eyes. "This is Furukawa-san."

I reluctantly looked at the card. It showed a sickly-looking tree with colorful, vibrant leaves; I felt as sick as the tree looked. "Ryou, why are you doing this?"

She bit her lip. "I-I can't compare to these other girls, Okazaki-kun."

My heart sank; 'Okazaki-kun'?

"Even on the card that shows Onee-chan and I..." she picked up the remaining cards from the floor and pulled the twins card to show me. "Where's the girl with the short hair relative to the long-haired one?"