P.O.V: Blair

The second and third days in Tokyo-before the finalist exams-weren't so interesting. It was basically just me practicing and Shi-Shu sleeping with Daisy snuggled up on top of them.

The first day, however...

Shi-Shu had wanted to pay me back for bringing them along with me by taking me out around Tokyo. They asked me this at, like, 3:00 a.m., and thus I was too tired to say no. And so, our adventure began!

We got up bright and early and began exploring our new environment. First, we headed to a restaurant for breakfast. The food was pretty good, and I WAS enjoying it. Until Daisy, who was in Shi-Shu's knapsack and had smelled our food's sweet aroma, leaped for a taste.

And a chain reaction began, starting with an employee screaming at the sight of Daisy and yelling at us to get her out of the establishment, which caused Daisy to get freaked out and run wild all over the place, which then caused the entire restaurant to stand up on their booths and scream, throwing things at the ferret and screaming, "rat!", promptly leading to us to be kicked out.

Daisy stayed in the hotel after that.

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

Shi-Shu and I managed to do a lot in the short amount of time the day gave us. Including going to a karaoke place, trying foods from several different countries, and just having a good time.

That was until Shi-Shu and I got separated in the afternoon tsunami of people who were getting off work.

So now, I was trying to find them.

I cracked my knuckles nervously as I walked down a street. They better not have gotten into any trouble.

But my nervousness was set aside as a voice rang in my ear. "Come one, come all! To Yasahiro Hagakure's Hut of Fortunes!"

Out of curiosity, I turned around to see a stage outside of a local store. The stage had a banner above it that read, "Yasahiro Hagakure's Hut of Fortunes!" [Didn't look like a hut to me, but sure]. In the front center of the stage was a guy with wild hair holding a crystal ball and shuffling a pack of cards while sitting on a purple pillow. He seemed to be pretty popular, with a pretty decent sized crowd forming around him.

I scoffed. I usually wasn't one to make quick assumptions, but I always saw fortune tellers as shams. They always gave people fortunes that were extremely vague so that you would connect it to some random thing in your life and come running back for more. Some people argued that it was supposed to be "just for fun," but to me it sounded like straight up manipulation. But for some reason I couldn't explain, I walked over to his "hut" just to see what was going on.

"Who wants their chance!?" the fortune-teller asked the crowd around him. Several people-mostly kids-raised their hands. And Yasahiro seemed a little taken aback by it all, as if he'd never had so many people wanting to give his fortune-telling a try. So, he resorted to nervously scanning the crowd, his eyes for some reason settling upon me.

"There! You! With the orange hair! You'll do!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes, you!" I was still a little hesitant. After a few seconds he asked, "Well, do want your fortune told or not?"

I decided that with all these people's eyes on me, it was too late to back out now. Succumbing to the pressure, I handed him some money that he put it in a bowl next to him. He then started circling his hands around his crystal ball and whispering to himself, as if he was actually seeing the future.

I stood there for a while watching him do this, while everyone around me oohed and awed I rolled my eyes. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. It's not like he was going to tell me anything important anyways.

So, I took my money back from the bowl, saying, "I changed my mind."

I was expecting Yasahiro to tell me to wait while he thought up my fortune and was surprised when he didn't. I looked over at him to see what the deal was, but I paused when I saw his focused expression.

Yasahiro still had his eyes closed shut and was circling his tanned hands over his crystal ball. He looked a bit distraught and confused, as if he was looking into a vivid future he would rather not be seeing.

"Umm..." I started, not exactly sure what to say. Was he just putting on a show for the audience?

"I see... I see that you're about to get yourself into a situation you'll have a hard time getting out of." He talked slowly and suspensefully, keeping most of his focus on his ball. "I see... blood, distrust, regret." A chill ran down my spine. Yasahiro continued, "While all this happening, someone meaningful to you will be in grave danger as well. Maybe even more than you..."

I could feel the crowd's piercing gaze, and my heart started beating faster. What the hell is this guy going on about?

"Both of you caught in a tornado of memories and emotions you would rather-"

"Okay, that's enough!" I cut him off, finally cracking, and took off with my money. Something about that fortune felt a little too close to home.

"Hey! Don't you want to know what your tarot readings are? Hey, come back!"

I didn't turn around.

"Come on, man..." I heard Yasahiro say as I stomped down the street to find my friend.

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

Shi-Shu called me a while after that situation with Yasahiro to tell me that they went back to the hotel to lie down because they didn't feel too great.

Must have had too much mochi... I guessed, recalling all the sweet treats my friend had ordered at that one restaurant.

I wanted to go back to see if they were doing alright, but I still had some of the money I was planning on spending today, so I decided I would buy myself a little souvenir. 

After looking around a bit, I stepped inside some kind of antique store that looked interesting. It had everything from chimes to glass figurines to old rocking chairs. The place seemed to be empty, with the exception of the cashier, and it gave off a calming aura that I think I needed right now, so I decided to look around.

Something that caught my eye was this cute glass figurine. It was shaped like an angel, with its tall, elegant body dyed a soft purple, like lavender. I held it up to my eye to look closer at it. It was see-through to an extent, but everything was warped through its view.

As I was looking around the store to see all different things through the angel, my eyes rested on the morphed view of a person.

Hm. I didn't realize there was anyone else in here. I lowered the figurine to see the person clearer.

It was a girl.

She was around my age with a brown jacket, a skirt, and black shoes. Her white hair was tied back, and she was staring intently at something.

Purple eyes...

As her features began to become more and more familiar looking, I almost dropped the angel, causing her to turn her gaze over to me.

No. I'm being ridiculous. That can't be her, can it?

We stared at each other for a while. It was getting awkward, so I gave the girl a smile and took a step toward her.

I need to play this cool...

"Um... hi. I-I think we might know each other. My name's Blair Hiriyama..." I trailed off, waiting for a look of recognition to light up her face. But that never happened.

Instead, she looked away from me and tucked the thing she was looking at before in her pocket. Now that I was closer, I could see that it was a picture. But I didn't get to see exactly what was in it.

"Kyoko Kirigiri," she told me, and my eyes widened. "And no, I don't believe we know each other." She looked me up and down, before turning around without another word, about to exit the store.

"W-wait!" I leaned forward and grabbed Kyoko's wrist. She looked back at me with a glare, but I held my ground.

As she held that cold stare, I wondered if she could see the desperation and hope in my eyes.

I wondered if she could see all the nights, I lay awake wondering what my childhood best friend was doing at that moment, imagining fictious endings to our story. Or whenever I looked at that picture of her and I as kids, a picture that I couldn't bring myself to delete, and wondering if I would meet her again someday.

"Y-you said your name is Kyoko Kirigiri, right? Your father's name is Jin Kirigiri..." I look up at her, and I thought I saw a look of shock flicker in her stoic expression.

"Your family is made of detectives, but you always talked about how you didn't want to be one... Because you hated when people assumed that's all you would ever want to be."

A small gasp escaped Kyoko's lips.

"You used to be shy when we first met, but you came out of your shell quickly. When your mother first got sick, I would-"

Suddenly, Kyoko pulled out of my grasp with all the force she could muster, making me stumble forward a bit. I watched as she stomped out of the store. I wanted to yell to her, but I knew it wouldn't do any good.

She didn't look back as she disappeared from my view.