Chapter 176: Money Makes the World Go Round!
Still full of doubt, Kikyo looked toward Chiaki. "What's his name?"
"I don't know. This is my first time seeing him too."
"Kikyo-chan, don't you have friends all over the school? You've never seen him before? You don't know his name?" Ichihashi Ruri teased.
"I do have a lot of friends, but this really is my first time seeing him. He's probably an upperclassman," Kikyo replied.
If he had been a fellow first-year, Kikyo, who had practically made the rounds of the entire grade, definitely would have seen this blond boy before.
"Come on, he already has a girlfriend. Stop staring at someone else's boyfriend."
Kei pulled Chiaki away, but Kikyo stayed behind, still staring suspiciously at Yuto sitting in the restaurant below.
"Stop looking, Kikyo," Onodera Kayano teased. "He's handsome like Shimizu-kun, but that girl beside him is obviously his girlfriend. Don't tell me you're interested in a guy who already has a girlfriend?"
"..."
Kikyo's mouth twitched subtly.
Sorry!
She absolutely was interested in a guy who already had a girlfriend—Yuto.
'That boy really does look familiar. The girl beside him is Sakura Airi from our class, right? Are those two dating? Who would've thought the nearly invisible Sakura Airi had such a handsome boyfriend?'
Kikyo silently thought about it as she left with Ruri and the others.
Just like Kei, Kikyo felt a strong sense of familiarity when she saw the disguised Yuto.
The only difference was that unlike Kei, she hadn't connected the blond boy with Yuto himself.
...
Yuto glanced toward the second-floor railing of the shopping center, then withdrew his gaze.
'Looks like neither of them plans to come down.'
Although Yuto and the girls were separated by an entire floor, Kei's stare had been so focused and purposeful that he had noticed it almost immediately.
Seeing her watching him gave Yuto a headache.
He had disguised himself, but Kei still might have recognized him. Otherwise, why would Kei—who had no interest whatsoever in other boys—have stared at him so intently?
Then Yuto spotted Kikyo as well.
The appearance of his secret girlfriend turned his headache into a full-blown migraine.
Kei being here was already enough. Why was his little-devil girlfriend at the shopping center too?
Fortunately, neither Kei nor Kikyo came over to investigate, which allowed Yuto to relax slightly.
'They probably didn't recognize me... Kikyo most likely didn't, but I'm not sure about Kei.'
"Yuto?"
Airi's puzzled voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"What is it?"
"That's what I should be asking. You seemed distracted just now."
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the movie we're going to watch."
"Really?"
"Really."
Smiling, Yuto lightly traced a finger across Airi's palm.
Although Airi already knew both Kei and Kikyo were also dating him, Yuto had no intention of telling her that the two had just appeared nearby.
It would definitely affect Airi's mood, and she might even suggest leaving Keyaki Mall immediately so they wouldn't run into Kei or Kikyo again.
Yuto was supposed to be the one worried about their relationship being exposed, yet Airi—the girlfriend whose relationship with him went back the longest—was even more anxious about Kei and Kikyo discovering them.
After that small incident, nothing else unexpected happened.
Yuto and Airi finished lunch at the restaurant, then went to the third-floor movie theater at Keyaki Mall to watch a film.
During the movie, Yuto spent most of his time eating popcorn and feeding popcorn to Airi. He barely paid attention to the screen at all.
Because...
He had already watched this movie twice!
Once with Kei.
Once with Kikyo.
And now a third time with Airi.
For the first time, Yuto truly experienced one of the inconveniences of having multiple girlfriends.
After leaving the theater, Airi looked at him expectantly. "Yuto, are we going to the fortune-telling shop next?"
"Yeah. It's been one of the hottest topics lately."
"Even I've heard rumors about it. Apparently it's really accurate, especially when it comes to reading a couple's romantic compatibility."
"Mm."
Yuto nodded, then quietly curled his lips.
Of course the fortune-telling shop was accurate about romance.
The shop had a rule: it only accepted readings for two people together, not individuals.
And the students who came together for romantic readings were usually either already dating or mutually interested in each other.
How could predictions about those people's romantic futures possibly be difficult?
As long as the pair clearly liked each other, the fortune-teller only needed to say positive things about how compatible they were.
Couples in love naturally loved hearing that kind of thing.
Using the stairs, Yuto and Airi reached the fifth floor.
The fortune-telling shop really was popular, and since it was the weekend, a long line stretched out in front of it. Everyone was waiting in pairs.
Most were boy-girl pairs, and judging from how close they were, the majority seemed to be couples.
There were also a few pairs of boys or girls, but they were clearly the minority.
Airi, holding Yuto's arm, looked at the long line and frowned slightly. "That's such a long queue. I wonder how long we'd have to wait."
"Airi, wait here for a moment. I'm going to cut the line."
"Huh? You can do that?"
"Of course."
Yuto smiled mysteriously and pulled his student ID from his pocket.
"Money makes the world go round."
Airi wasn't foolish. She quickly understood.
"Yuto, are you planning to buy someone's place in line?"
"Exactly. So wait here for me."
"Mm."
Airi obediently nodded and watched Yuto head toward the front of the queue.
A couple was currently standing directly outside the entrance.
When Yuto offered to buy their spot with personal points, the boy immediately rejected him with obvious irritation.
He especially hated handsome guys with lots of points!
"You think you can buy the spot we spent all this time waiting for? That's an insult to our time and patience!"
Yuto tilted his head. "Would a hundred thousand points change your mind?"
"Only a hundred thousand— Wait, that's a lot! Deal!"
"Hey! You changed your mind way too fast!" his girlfriend immediately complained.
"You know how much a hundred thousand points is! We could eat an amazing dinner with that!"
"...That's true."
Money really could make the world go round.
Just one hundred thousand points was enough to make the couple happily accept Yuto's offer and sell him their place.
The people standing behind them were obviously unhappy about Yuto cutting in, but nobody said anything.
After all, Yuto wasn't forcing his way into the line.
They had also heard that he was paying a full hundred thousand points.
Then the girl in the next couple suddenly had an idea and hurriedly called out, "Our place only costs fifty thousand! Interested? You'd save half!"
The original couple immediately became unhappy.
"Hey! What are you doing? He already agreed to trade with us!"
"You haven't actually completed the transaction yet, so what's the problem? Handsome guy, think about it. If you trade with us, you save fifty thousand points!"
"Then ours is fifty thousand too! Buy ours!"
"..."
Yuto's expression turned strange.
What exactly was happening here?
Airi looked at Yuto when he returned and asked, "What happened over there? It looked like they started arguing."
"They really did start arguing..."
"Was it because you wanted to buy their place with points?"
"More or less. They both want to sell their place to me, so they started fighting over it," Yuto replied with an amused smile.
Airi blinked blankly.
She had assumed the two couples were arguing because they refused to sell their places to Yuto.
Instead, they were fighting because both wanted his business.
As the saying went, when two sides fought, the third benefited.
After the two couples argued back and forth, Yuto eventually bought the very front spot for the bargain price of ten thousand points.
What had originally cost one hundred thousand was now only ten thousand.
He saved ninety thousand points.
"We really got ripped off..." the girl from the first couple murmured. "We waited for more than three hours and only got ten thousand points. That feels like a huge loss."
"Actually... yeah. It's all those two bastards' fault!" the boy said through gritted teeth.
They now hated the couple behind them for trying to steal their "customer."
If those two hadn't interfered, the spot they had spent more than three hours waiting for would never have sold for only ten thousand points.
They had suffered a huge loss.
Yuto and Airi, on the other hand, had gotten an incredible deal.
For only ten thousand points, they skipped hours of waiting and entered the fortune-telling shop immediately.
...
The interior was filled with mysterious shades of purple.
The dim lighting created an oppressive, tense atmosphere that naturally made people uneasy.
Airi, who was timid and shy around unfamiliar places, instinctively moved closer to Yuto.
Yuto smiled and kept her close. "Already scared?"
"A little... It feels less like a fortune-telling shop and more like a haunted house."
"Hah."
Yuto walked with Airi through a purple curtain and into the center of the room, where the fortune-teller was waiting for them.
She looked extremely mysterious.
Because she wore a hooded robe, neither Yuto nor Airi could clearly see her face or head.
A table stood in front of her, with a crystal ball about the size of a human head resting on top.
The crystal ball emitted a faint purple glow, making the entire setup look incredibly mystical.
Seeing Yuto and Airi standing close together, the elderly fortune-teller narrowed her eyes slightly. A small smile appeared on her aged face.
Another deeply affectionate young couple.
She pointed toward the two round stools in front of the table and spoke in a low, aged voice.
"Please sit, both of you."
After Yuto and Airi sat down, the old fortune-teller chuckled, pulled out a small card reader, and held it toward them.
"First, please pay for the reading."
"You charge before the reading?" Yuto complained. "Shouldn't it be free if your predictions aren't accurate?"
"...That 'no accuracy, no payment' line belongs to street fortune-tellers in China. I'm a legit fortune-teller," the old woman replied irritably.
She pointed toward a price board beside her.
"Health, academics, career, general fortune, romance, personal preferences, and many other subjects are all within my range. You may choose whichever categories interest you."
Airi looked over the available readings and prices, then exclaimed, "It's expensive. Every category costs five thousand points."
Five thousand points was enough to buy a generous, delicious set meal at the student cafeteria.
"My readings are highly accurate. Naturally, my prices reflect that," the old fortune-teller replied mysteriously.
Since Yuto had no shortage of points, he simply selected the most complete package for both himself and Airi.
"Then which of you would like to begin?"
"Airi can go first."
"Mm."
"First, let me examine your palms."
"Okay."
Airi solemnly extended both hands toward the fortune-teller.
The hooded woman carefully studied them.
At that moment, a strange gleam flashed through Yuto's eyes.
Then he quietly curled his lips.
As expected.
This fortune-teller was just putting on an act.
"Guest, judging from your palm reading, your life line is very long, which means you'll enjoy a long life. I also don't see signs of serious illness along it, so you're unlikely to suffer from any major disease throughout your life."
"Really?!"
Airi's face immediately lit up with delight.
Yuto sat beside her, smiling without saying anything.
That was essentially how fortune-telling worked.
Say comforting things people wanted to hear, make them feel reassured, and they would happily believe it.
Still, this elderly fortune-teller did possess some genuine skill.
Through his mind-reading ability, Yuto had discovered that she had mastered a technique known as cold reading.
…
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