Her natural reserves felt abnormally high, especially considering how young she appeared.
"Right, it also works for those who don't have an unlocked valve, as long as your affinity is high enough. It shouldn't be a problem.." She whispered to herself.
"I see then.. Well, I will be on my way now. Goodbye." Getting the answer to her question, Yumi tried to head back from the direction she originated from. Although there was a slight problem.
"Wait.. What way did I come from again?" Unsure of what direction she originally took,Yukihime stood still in silence whilst trying to figure out a solution. It didn't help that her mind was scattered.
"Yes, my phone!" Pulling a phone out of her pocket, she hastily entered an app displaying the surrounding area. After searching for a few seconds, she surprisingly found no results..
"Wait, what.. Is the store not available?" Looking at her phone intensely, exiting and reopening the app, looking away and back, it didn't appear to change results. In the end, Yukihime rotated her head watching the mysterious woman looking back in eager anticipation.
"I'll just call my mom instead." Just then, as she was about to press the screen to call mother, her phone froze before flickering black a few times. Seeming to have run out of battery. Unaware of why her phone died so suddenly, Yukihime quickly realised the reason why the phone died was due to the countless amount of high definition photos she had taken throughout her tenure in Tokyo.
Now locking eyes several times in quick succession at the woman on the street, an unwanted conclusion was reached.
"I suppose I have no choice now.." Embarrassingly putting away her phone, she waltzed up to the woman somewhat uncomfortably. After all, her mom always told her to be careful around strangers. Especially those who posed as Entropys.
"Ehhh.. ermm.. Would you by any chance know of a local store in this area going by the name of E-ano?"
"Hmm.." Looking around for a brief moment, it was followed by a smug smile which appeared to convey the answer alongside ulterior motives.
"I think I might just do. Would you like me to show you the way?" Nodding her head profusely, Yumi was anxious about the possibilities of getting lost in the heart of Japan and never finding mom and Yoko again. After all, she had read horror stories from one of the past books.
"Alright, I'll show you the way, miss!" Her earlier mysterious nature seemed to have changed into enthusiasm now.
"Really!?" Although Yumi couldn't put it into words, her opinion on the strange woman was seemingly changing to one of warmth instead of uncertainty.
"Yes, on one condition.." And then it didn't.
"Have your fortune read by me!" Holding her hands together reminiscent of an excited child, it seemed like the strange woman really was eager for a customer similar to Yumi, or any customer for that matter of fact.
…
"F-fine!" Pouting her cheeks, Yukihime felt disappointed that she'd have to go the extra mile in order to meet her guardians again, despite already being extremely tired in the evening.
"Follow me, miss." To Yukihimes's surprise, the woman's earlier outgoing personality had now seemed to change into a much more serious one. Feeling the slight unease of her shift in demeanour, she decided to follow behind her cautiously.
Lifting the curtain and walking through the door together, the place looked rundown. The walls were unpainted, with barely any decor except a shoe rack and chair for customers to await their turn. Furthermore, the woman had somehow managed to fit a small tent inside for what seemed to be the location of where your fortune would be read.
Taking turns taking off their shoes, the mysterious woman first entered her tent.
"..." With a suspicious face, Yukihime didn't have much of a choice but to follow behind. Using her hand to draw the bind aside, she slowly followed suit. What transpired would be a sight befitting of the seer.
"W-what..?"
In the instant she entered the tent, nothing seemed real. Everything above looked to have morphed into a clear blue sky. Underneath her it appeared as if she was standing on crystal clear water whose clouds rested alongside the sound of unrelenting free flowing water. Standing in complete awe for a moment, it didn't take long to realise the implications of such a situation.
"I need to get out! The exit!?" Swiftly turning around, the exit seemingly disappeared completely. Instead, across her starboard stood a round table made of glass alongside two seats made of equal material, and on the seat furthest away from her, sat the strange woman with her chin resting on both hands.
"Take a seat, Shinano Yukihime." With the veil now pulled up above her face, the mysterious woman's crimson red eyes were now visible.
"Wa-whe-where am I..?" Her voice was trembling, eyes on the verge of tearing up.
"Do not be dread, dear guest. This place is harmless." Smiling whilst waving her to come over, the woman wasn't afraid at all, or rather. Was she the master of this space?
Her hands were shaking, but nonetheless she had no choice but to walk over. Gently sitting down, her eyes were too afraid to meet hers.
"What is my fate?" Yukihime subtly asked. Her every letter was shivering.
"Hm, let's see here.." Spreading her right arm wide, a red knot appeared from below and slowly wrapped around the pair. Looking around, it reminded Yumi of a shimenawa knot found on shrines.
"All roads lead to one collective destiny. Your fate will eventually lead you to A. Terra."
"The Pan-Pacific? You mean A. Terra, and its capital? Am I going to become a Stabiliser in the future?" Without noticing, her fear had waned and instead curiosity had befallen.
"That I don't know of." Her mellowed eyebrows and expression implied the truth.
"W-who are you?" At last, Yukihime's eyes met her briefly.
"I am but a mere fortune teller with vision, nothing more." As Yukihime wanted to ask more questions, a loud noise could be heard towards the distant horizon. The voice was accompanied by the sky splitting and floor underneath breaking. Feeling the intense surge of energy, everything began shaking and distorting.
"Where'd Yumi go?" Was it her mom? Or Yoko that just spoke?
"Maybe she's just around the corner of this stall? Is there usually this many people at this festival?" Their voices sounded familiar, yet she didn't remember such conversation ever taking place.
"Dude, check this out! Bullseye! OH YEAH!" On the opposite end of her ears, two unknown voices could be heard. The sounds implied that they were playing some kind of prized shooting game.
"Pfft, damn. I can't believe that you seriously hit that, haha! Way to go XXXXX." As the voices continued echoing, everything began distorting rapidly.
"Looks like our time is up. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.. My first customer.." Her body began breaking apart into tiny particles consisting of energy, it started from her head and eventually reached down to her feet, until she became nothing more but a voice.
"And remember, fate remains unchanged throughout the past, present and future. Someday everyone will meet their predetermined conclusion." As she fully disappeared, everything broke apart in one swift motion, and the young girl now began falling.
She fell, and continued for a long time. It felt like an endless freefall. At first everything around her was blue, then it turned white. Was she falling through the sky? The clouds soon turned into a heavy sensation of pressure and the inability to move. In the end, everything turned pitch dark. Feeling completely drained and devoid of life, she closed her teary eyes and prayed.
"Mom.. Mom.."
"..."
"Yumi dear, is everything okay? You look paler than usual." Familiar voices.
"Yuki-chan, did anything happen!? Did a weirdo scare you? If so, tell me and I'll knock them senseless!"
She opened her eyes, standing outside of the Eaon supermarket. Ahead of her stood two familiar faces. One she has known ever since birth, and the other, an awesome woman beaming with confidence.
"I'm so happy..! So listen, I saw.. Something.. Odd.. She had black lines.." Feeling her eyelids giving out and balance swaying, her vision slowly blurred until she fell down in front of them exhausted. Catching Yumi with their arms together, they stood wondering what just had happened.
…
"She must be very tired to sleep so soundly on your back, Ayanami-san." Giggling to herself, they eventually found themselves ascending a hill towards Yoko's home.
"Hey, I'm the one that's tired here." Carrying Yumi on her back whilst walking uphill, it was quite taxing on her body.
"Ah come on! You have to train your muscles more! You used to be way more fit back in the day, you know!" Raising her tone without noticing, a certain someone started to grunt slightly.
"Shh! That was back when I was a guardian in our prefecture." She rolled her eyes.
"Psst, hey.. By the way, how long are you going to be staying in Tokyo?" Appearing to be whispering to each other now, they didn't want to wake up the sleeping princess.
"We'll be back at Hamamatsu by tomorrow evening."
"Oh I see, then our daughters will probably have time to meet each other!" Yoko clapped her hands together softly.
Ayanami sighed in a worry. "I hope they get along."
"Oh don't worry, they will. I mean if we can, so can they!" Getting closer, Yoko started to play with Ayanami.
"Hey! Stop hitting me with your elbow!" As they continued to ascend, they kept bickering about every possible detail from the past, present and future.
Eventually they reached the top of the hill. In front of the pair, a big traditional house was laid. Encompassing the house was a wall made of plaster and in the centre, a garden. The centre had small ponds with koi fish swimming around.
"Wow, impressive house Yoko-san." Ayanami gave a thumbs up to Yoko. Although her action may have been positive, her face almost deemed to mock Yoko.
"Are you mocking me..? It took a few years to build." Walking through the entrance, the surrounding lights around the buildings started to glow. To Ayanami's surprise, the ponds started to glow faintly in response.
"Oh? Why are the ponds glowing?"
"Ah, that? Our ponds actually have concentrated energy residing within. Do you feel your reserves recovering? Whenever someone possessing any amounts of energy reserves walks through. The naturally occurring energy will rise and be absorbed by us."
"It's a beautiful phenomenon, it's almost as if they're all watching us." Skipping her feet whilst dancing beautifully around the ponds, the particles slowly continued rising from the water. In addition, the particles weren't all the same. Some were bigger, whilst others were smaller. Some were red, while others were blue, orange, white and much much more.
When she finished, the energy that had arisen during her dance had been fully absorbed. Although it would seem neither Yoko or Ayanami had absorbed any but instead a peculiar child whose silvery hair was now glowing in the full moon.
"But it seems like your daughter was the one who absorbed most of it today hehe."