Crystal-Gazers Fortunes.
That was what was written on a wooden sign standing just outside the beaded tent. After seeing the woman dressed the way she was, and how the beads hung from the top of the tent, it all made sense. Anything else would have been weird.
"A fortune teller, huh?" Kaito wondered out loud. "Do you think she could tell us about how well we'll do as heroes?"
"Obviously," Sakura answered.
"You'd really want to waste your money on that?" Raiden questioned. "All fortune tellers are scams. It'd be a waste of time."
Instead of saying anything, I looked back at the crowd, seeing if I couldn't find the green haired man. It was strange what he said to me when we met up, almost as if he was warning me about something. True, I could have been reading too much into it, but the fact that he was at this fortune teller's tent, well, I wasn't so sure about it anymore.
"Doesn't hurt to give it a visit, right?" I asked before looking over at my three friends.
Kaito and Sakura smiled, clearly in favor of the idea. Furthest away from me was Raiden. He didn't look very happy about going in. Instead, he just looked at the tent in front of us, shaking his head in disagreement.
Someone's hand wrapped around my wrist causing me to jump and snap my head to the the person standing in front of me. My eyes widened as I saw the woman in odd clothing standing in front of me. Her eyes were covered by a pair of dark, circular glasses.
"Tami," she said, before she turned her head, looking over at my friends, "Sakura, Kaito, Raiden. I've been expecting you."
"Shit," I heard Raiden curse under his breath as the woman pulled me inside. The beads slid past me, revealing a much larger room on the inside. Seeing everything, I felt my heart pounding faster.
She really was expecting us, I thought as I saw a round table with five wooden chairs sitting around it with a small white teacup sitting in front of each chair. In the middle was a crystal ball, and a stack of cards sitting beside one of the teacups.
The woman, who had grabbed my wrists earlier, let go as she walked over to the chair with the cards sitting in front of it. I looked back, noticing that Raiden, Kaito, and Sakura had followed us inside, looking around the room. Curtains hung up everywhere, with candles lit sitting on the smaller tables around the room to give it light.
One thing caught my eye though. On one of the shorter walls was a chest that was just as long as the wall. A part of me was curious as I wanted to know what was inside, but I was stopped before I could even walk over there.
"Children, have a seat. I'm sure you all have questions for me, so I'll make you all a deal. As my treat, I'll do a crystal ball reading for free. If you want more, well, we'll discuss that later," the fortune teller told us.
"Don't believe a word she says," I heard Raiden whisper. I turned my head, noticing he was standing to my right, lowering his head, so that I could hear him. "Something's not right here."
Kaito must've overheard as he slapped his hand on Raiden's back and pushed him towards a chair. "Relax a little. This will be fun."
Sakura scurried over to the chair closest to the fortune teller, clearly in awe of everything. I watched as she was talking to the fortune teller, probably talking about her outfit or something. Meanwhile, Raiden purposefully took the seat next to Sakura, but pulled it as far as he could from the fortune teller.
The only chair open was the one to the other side of the fortune teller. This was my idea, but I didn't think I would be the one sitting next to her. Seeing that chair, I started realizing how right Raiden was. Not that she could be a phony, but that this was a bad idea.
What if Raiden was wrong, and she could tell our futures? Would she tell them about me not wanting to be a hero? If they found out, my friends would probably all turn on me, wouldn't they?
Maybe that was what that man meant by being more careful. I shouldn't have come in here.
As if sensing my fears, the woman tore her gaze from Sakura to look at me. She smiled. "Sweetie, it's okay. I won't bite. Take a seat, so we can start."
I nodded my head, knowing there was no backing out now. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the chair next to the woman and placed my hands on my lap, feeling the silky material of the kimono under my fingertips.
"Good. Now, I'm going to we—let the spirits guide me. If I say something that applies to you, feel free to chime in," she said.
The fortune teller pulled the crystal ball closer to her as she peered inside. We all leaned closer, trying to see what was going on, but there was nothing inside. I would've thought there would've been smoke or some sort of change in lighting, but all she did was place her long elegant fingers onto the crystal ball and looked at it.
"Hmm," she hummed, "I see a group of heroes, but one's rising to the top."
"Oh! Is is me?" Sakura eagerly asked, leaning in as close as she could to the fortune teller. "Please tell me!"
We all looked at her, but I couldn't say it surprised me. Ever since I met Sakura, it had been her dream to become a hero, a pro hero. Seeing her so eager to see who the fortune teller was talking about, well, it didn't surprise me.
"Shh," the fortune teller hushed, causing us all to look back at her. She had her eyes closed as she looked down towards the crystal ball. "I see a grass-like Quirk, something long sprouting out of the hero's arm."
"That's me! It has to be! My Quirk is Common Vine!" Sakura excited explained.
A smile curled onto the fortune teller's lips. "Ah yes," she said as she opened her eyes and looked at my best friend. "You're going to do great as a hero."
I looked over at Sakura, who looked as if she had already been announced number one hero at the Hero Billboard Chart. It didn't surprise me that she was going to do great. Sakura had what it takes to become a great hero. She was confident, had a useful Quirk, and was pretty street smart. Book smart too, if it was things like our hero classes and math, but she always seemed to know what to do in tough situations.
My head dropped when I thought about it more. She was going to be a hero, but what about me? What was it I was going to do once I graduated? I knew I didn't want to be a hero, but what was it I could do?
Before I could think more into it, the fortune teller started giving another prediction. Once again, Sakura, Kaito, Raiden, and I gave her our full attention.
"Hold up...I'm getting anudder," she froze for a moment before coughing into her fist. "I mean, I'm getting another reading. This time, I see a boy, but he looks a bit torn, as if he has to make a decision between his friend and..."
The woman's voice faded away as she looked up, scanning everyone's faces for a moment. No one spoke up as she kept looking at all of us. I slowly glanced over towards Kaito, but he seemed just as confused as the rest of us. For a moment, I was going to ask him about it, but the fortune teller spoke up.
When she did, she locked her gaze over towards Raiden.
"I see that you're trying to make everyone happy," she said. "But, word of advice, you're going to have to do what you think is right for those who need it, including yourself."
Once again, we all looked towards Raiden, who just rolled his eyes in response. Even though she wasn't as direct as she was in Sakura's prediction, I could tell her prediction was somewhat serious. Despite that, Raiden didn't seem to care.
While the fortune teller gazed into her crystal ball once again, I tried to make sense as to what she said. It just didn't make sense. What kind of decision would Raiden have to make? He seemed like the kind of person who was pretty sure of himself. How was it he could be torn? Was he feeling that way now, or was that further down the road?
Seeing that Raiden wasn't going to react to what she had said, the fortune teller decided to move on to the next fortune. "I see...I see a close family. One once broken, but appears to be doing fine."
My lips pressed together as I snapped my head back at the fortune teller. There was only one person she could have been talking about when she said that. Sakura's family was complete. She had two loving moms who took care of her to the best of their abilities. As for Kaito, he never seemed to complain about his parents or his two sisters.
While I knew nothing about Raiden, I knew there was no way she could have been talking about him, not when she gave a fortune that was pretty abstract. Still, I kept quiet, trying to figure out what she had to say about everything.
"There's a boy, one who seems pretty innocent and kind compared to the rest of his family," she continued.
"Ollie," I whispered.
Everyone's head snapped over towards me, shocked that I had said anything. Everyone, that is, but the fortune teller, whose soft pink lips curved into a smile. Her eyes were closed as she looked into the crystal ball.
"Yes, Ollie. But, I fear there's something more troubling this family, something that happened in the past that's going to be more of a problem. Pride, is it? No...no that's not it. He seems troubled, and—"
The woman's eyes widened as she snapped her head towards me. I flinched as my hands clenched into fists. Everything she was saying started to scare me, but maybe because I already knew about it all.
The past...that was me. I didn't want to be a hero. I acted as if I did, so he was proud of that. Being troubled? That had to be that he was about ready to find out.
Why did her eyes widen like that?
"Run, girl, run while you still can. Your brother is in grave—" she started to say. Her voice seemed completely different from before, but maybe I was just imaging things as someone grabbed the back of my chair, pulled it back, and yanked me out of it. Seeing that this happened, the woman stopped. She looked around as if she was lost.
Likewise, I looked back, wondering what had just happened. Raiden stood beside me, letting go of my shoulder as soon as he knew I could regain my balance. Behind him, I could see Kaito and Sakura running towards us, until Sakura got close enough to grab one of the long sleeves of my kimono and pull me closer to her until I was a few steps away from the fortune teller.
Kaito stood beside me. I could tell it was taking every ounce of strength for him not to grab my hand or do anything comforting at the time. In the end, Kaito decided to play a protector role, taking a step in front of me, so I could no longer see the fortune teller.
With him and Raiden standing in front of me, there was no way she could get to me. All she ever did was try to tell me my future.
My stomach turned when I thought about it. Ollie was going to be in trouble. Ollie never got in trouble. Sure, his grades weren't always the best, but he never got in an argument with his classmates.
Unless...
"Who's going to hurt him?" I asked as I stood on my tippy toes to try and get a glimpse of the fortune teller. "He's going to be okay in the end, isn't he?"
Sakura, who stood beside me, tugged my sleeve and shook her head. "Don't listen to her."
"What's going to happen to Ollie?" I asked.
"We're leaving," I heard Raiden announce. "You better move this shit-show somewhere else, or I'll make sure someone shuts it down."
I drew in a short breath as everyone turned around. Sakura pulled me out of the fortune teller's tent while Kaito and Raiden stayed behind me. I wasn't sure if they did that to protect me from the woman inside, or if it was to prevent me from running back inside.
With them around, I knew there was no way I could turn back. Sakura could use her vines to pull me back. If I managed to get past her, then I would have to deal with Kaito, who could use his Light Quirk to slow me down. For some reason if he couldn't, I knew it was impossible to get past Raiden's Ultra Strength Quirk.
Instead of fighting, I let them pull me away from that tent. All I could think about was Ollie.
Author's Note:
Question of the week: Do you believe what fortune tellers have to say? What about this one?
Character Spotlight: Raiden Yamamoto
Quirk: Ultra Strength
Likes: Tamales
Shoutout to sd1229 for finding this picture. This is the closest thing I've ever seen to how I envisioned Raiden Yamamoto as the rest made him look like a twig. Thanks for sharing this!
Oh, and here is the inspiration for his kimono. Of course, make the kimono plain black, and it all works out.
Song: Arabian Nights Live Action Version Instrumental by Alan Menken