"Akira-kun?"
Tashiro Benika's voice pulled Kuroba Akira back to reality. She looked at him with concern.
"Your face looks terrible… Is my palm reading that bad?"
Akira pushed down the shock in his heart, shook his head, and said:
"No, it has nothing to do with you, Tashiro-san. I just… suddenly thought of some things."
He forced out a thin smile, trying to put her at ease.
"Sorry, I must have scared you. I'm really not trying to hide anything from you, and you don't need to put too much faith in my skills. Palm reading is just for fun, after all."
But that explanation only made it sound like he was trying to cover something up, which made Tashiro Benika take it more seriously and care even more about the result.
"Akira-kun, you can just tell me. Don't lie. No matter what the result is, I can accept it."
"…"
Akira wasn't the type of person to be relentlessly positive, but he'd never believed in fatalism either.
If a person's entire life was under the control of fate from start to finish, then all the struggles made to avoid tragedy were nothing but a joke.
Sure, fate was fickle and no one could completely control it. But Akira chose to believe that people could use their own initiative to create more options for themselves—then pick the one they'd regret least. That was enough.
Anyway, as long as he refused to go back to work, he could never become a corporate slave again.
Still, to get rid of that faint unease in his heart, Akira hesitated for a moment before finally asking:
"Tashiro-san… in your previous life, were you blind?"
"…!!!"
Tashiro Benika's eyes went wide like copper bells, her mouth falling open into a perfect O—like you could fit an egg in there.
She had never expected Akira to be able to see that from palm reading.
"How do you know…?! I'm sure I've never told anyone about this!"
"So you really can't see the words on your hands, Tashiro-san."
"Words on my hands?"
"Actually, I'm not reading your palm. After crossing over, I gained a special ability—I can see the talents and skills a person has just by looking at their hands."
For the first time since transmigrating, Akira revealed his cheat to another person.
The reason he told Tashiro-san was because he wanted to win her trust first, then trade for the information he wanted.
"I saw that you can read Braille. And when you said there are very few novels you can read, I figured it was because novels translated into Braille are pitifully scarce."
This world, in the end, was built for the majority of ordinary people. Those with disabilities were the most disadvantaged group, often unable to enjoy even the most basic forms of entertainment.
"I also saw a set of skills that most ordinary people never develop… but now you have normal vision. That's why I guessed that in your past life, you were blind."
"…I see."
Maybe it was because she'd already experienced something as absurd as transmigrating, but she quickly accepted the fact that Akira had a special ability.
She also immediately understood why Akira had looked so worried just now.
"I know what you're worried about—you're afraid that in this world, you'll still end up with the same fate as in your past life, right?"
"That's right…"
Tashiro-san was sharp. He didn't even need to explain much for her to pinpoint the source of his unease.
"As for that, I don't think you need to worry. Right now, we're already 'living a different life than before,' so I don't believe we'll meet the same fate. At least, that's how I see it."
"Mm…"
"And I'm not just guessing here—I actually have some proof. So… how about I tell you about my last life? Do you want to hear it?"
"I'm all ears."
And so, Tashiro Benika began to calmly recount her past life.
"First, yes—I really was blind in my previous life."
"Even though your onee-san here was just a technical college grad, I still chose a major tied to my personal interests. Back then, I studied cosmetic manufacturing technology."
"Because my makeup skills were already good and I understood cosmetics well—and my major courses were excellent—after graduating, I smoothly landed a job at a famous cosmetics company, working in product quality inspection."
I see… so she'd recognized her talent early on, and happened to be interested in it too.
Even though her talent rank was only C, personal passion was the strongest drive. Doing what you loved meant your skills would improve faster.
"At that time, I was full of hope. I thought that even without a good background, I could still succeed through hard work. But then I quickly ran into the thing that changed my whole life…"
Tashiro Benika took a deep breath, steadying her emotions. Even after all these years, bringing it up again still left a trace of resentment in her heart… resentment at the unfairness of the heavens.
The hemp rope always snaps where it's thinnest; misfortune always seeks out the ones with hard lives.
"One time, when I was at the factory inspecting a new product, I was caught in an accident. A yet-undiluted high-concentration chemical splashed onto my face… it didn't just ruin my looks—it blinded me."
She kept her tone light as she spoke of her tragedy.
"In the end, the company gave me five hundred thousand in compensation."
"I lost my sight, my face as a woman, and even the right to live as an ordinary person."
"And all of that together was only worth five hundred thousand… heh…"
Akira didn't know how to comfort her—and he didn't think he should. No one could truly understand her pain.
This… was the truest example of fate's cruelty.
"But no matter what, you still have to live on your own ability. So I went back to my hometown, and with the compensation money, I opened a massage shop and learned massage from scratch."
I see—that explained the massage skill.
And from the fact that it had reached LV4, it was clear she had truly lived on that skill. It was the profession she had worked at her whole life.
"The signboard 'Blind Massage' was quite well-known. Once people saw I was truly blind, they trusted my hands more. And in a small city, there were plenty of elderly folks with back and leg pains, so business was pretty good—enough to support myself."
Akira had seen many "Blind Massage" signs used to scam customers, so whether the technician was truly blind had become the mark of whether the massage was genuine.
"You're amazing, Tashiro-san…"
Akira felt genuine respect for her.
After such a tragic accident, she hadn't cursed the heavens or blamed others. She'd picked herself up again, and with her own effort, mastered another trade to survive.
Greatness in the ordinary—that was exactly what people like her embodied.