Scattered Fortunes and Lucky Draws

※ New Years ※

As Yui moved hastily through the crowds, she clutched the swan-adorned love charm tightly against her chest, as though it might otherwise sprout wings and reveal itself to all. With each step, her face burned brighter while the elderly shrine maiden's words echoed in her mind:

“Your feelings shine brighter than any omamori...”

“Mou...” she whispered, finally finding refuge near the temizuya fountain. The area had momentarily cleared of visitors, leaving her alone with her fluttering heart and the gentle gurgling of flowing water.

She stared into the softly luminescent water, her reflection faintly rippling back at her—flushed cheeks, turquoise and amber odd eyes, and the unmistakable expression of someone whose innermost feelings had been casually exposed by a complete stranger. Even the dragon spout's golden eyes seemed to watch her knowingly, water flowing serenely from its mouth while she internally combusted.

Piyo! Having tailed his absconding airfield from above, Mochi settled on the dragon spout's head with a quizzical tilt of his own. Piyo! Pipiyo piyo! (Alert! Primary Airfield ceasing escape manoeuvres! Now experiencing routine case of critical thermal overload! Recommend immediate immersion in adjacent H2O reservoir!)

Yui smiled wearily at him. “Even a shrine maiden I've never met before could tell...” she murmured, carefully tucking the omamori into her kimono sleeve. Her fingers brushed against the paper of her ‘Great Love Fortune’, making her groan in mortification. “Is it really that obvious...?”

For a moment, the little bird scrutinized her. Piiiiyooo... (Scanning...)

Piyo! (ALERT! Stealth capabilities: Nonexistent!)

“Yui-chaaan!” Narumi's unmistakable voice suddenly called out from somewhere in the crowd. “Yui-chanyaaa! Where are you?”

Yui took a deep breath, the cool winter air bringing welcome relief to her overheated face. With trembling fingers, she splashed a little of the purification water on her cheeks, hoping it might wash away some of her obvious feelings along with the blush. [Good luck with that!]

"Come on, Mochi-chan," she murmured, straightening her kimono with one final tug. "Let's head back before Narumi-chan gets bored waiting and decides to clean out the kingyo-sukui stall of every last goldfish again..."

***

"Yui-chaaan! There you are!" Narumi seemed to materialize from the festive crowd, immediately pouncing on Yui. She nuzzled her friend’s cheek, black furred tail swishing excitedly. "I've been looking everywhere for nyaaa!"

"Mou, stop hugging me so hard!" Yui protested, trying to dislodge the overexcited catgirl.

The rest of their party soon emerged from the sea of festival-goers. Akari had taken the lead, her looped twintails practically glowing beneath the paper lanterns as she approached. Clutched in her hands was an omamori featuring some sort of green creature,

“Herrokero! I can see the omikuji tree!” Akari pointed in excitement to a large Japanese pine tree rising behind the crowds. Under its dense canopy of dark emerald needles, countless fortune slips covered its lower stems like colourful paper leaves—a second foliage of fates overlaying the pine's natural greenery. Paper lanterns hung like glowing fruit among its branches, illuminating spots amongst both foliages.

The group made for the tree, soon finding the omikuji stall where a gentle-faced shrine maiden waited beside a table neatly arranged with cylindrical wooden boxes.

“100 meseta for omikuji reading!” the shrine maiden announced with a smile.

Pikon! Their MAGs interfaced smoothly with the payment terminal, transferring 100 meseta each.

“Remember to shake it properly!” Emi demonstrated with startling intensity, her lavender updo somehow maintaining perfect composure while the rest of her... did not. Her kimono strained against kinetic forces that would make a photon reactor engineer nervous as she mercilessly rattled her cylinder. “The more you shake, the better your fortune will be!”

“Is that really how it works?” Yui wondered aloud, eye twitching as she watched her friend’s questionable omikuji technique trigger an edge case in soft-body physics that the developers had clearly never QA tested. [Developer Note: "It's a feature, not a bug"]

Meanwhile, Narumi’s eyes gleamed with determination as she gripped her own cylinder with both hands.

“Come out, come out, good fortune nyaa!” A familiar cerulean glow began emanating from her arms as she shook her box with sheer enthusiasm, unconsciously applying photon enhancement.

“Nnnnnnnn-nyanyanyanyanyany—!”

CRACK!

The bottom end abruptly detached, shotgunning a hundred numbered sticks straight down to the ground. They bounced once, before clattering off in every direction, rolling under nearby stalls and into the shadows.

“Ah—” Narumi’s ears flattened guiltily against her head as she held up the now-bottomless cylinder.

“NARUMI!”

After several minutes of frantic apologies to the remarkably patient shrine maiden (and Yui forcibly extracting payment for a replacement box from Narumi’s MAG), they each drew their numbered sticks before handing it back to receive their corresponding fortune slips.

“Eeeto,” Emi unfolded her slip, before reading the elegant calligraphy aloud with theatrical flair:

“末凶 – Future Misfortune

What shines brightest casts the deepest shadows

The warmth you cherish may slip through your fingers like starlight

Take care, for autumn comes too soon to summer gardens

Even the sweetest gifts can turn bitter with time”

“Ara ara, sweetest gifts turning bitter? Isn’t that ominous!” Emi exclaimed, completely unfazed as she raised her instant camera to photograph the fortune. “I better be extra careful not to drop my new camera!”

Don't worry Emi-chanyaa!" Narumi pounced from behind, hugging her tightly. "I'll protect you from any bad lu—!"

“Hiiie! The camera!” Emi squealed as the sudden impact nearly sent her precious new gift flying. She fumbled, managing to catch it at the last second with a relieved sigh. “Uwaaaa… That was close…”

“Ah—Gomenya, Emi-chan…”

[Maybe the real bad luck was the Narumi we met along the way...]

“Hmm, what did I get nya?” Narumi unfurled her own slip, tail swishing curiously.

“末凶 – Future Misfortune

When butterflies dance with shadows

Loyal kittens leap without fear

Though spring’s warmth dims too soon

Sacred love births endless night”

"Nyaniiii? What's that supposed to mean?" Narumi's head tilted at such an extreme angle, her twin-tails nearly brushed the snow-dusted ground. She squinted, flipping the slip sideways, then completely upside down as if the mysterious words might suddenly rearrange themselves into clarity. "Loyal kittens? Is it talking about me nya?" She pressed the paper against her nose. "Maybe I'll understand if I sniff it" [That’s not how it works]

Meanwhile, Yui’s face had achieved a shade of red previously unknown to science as she read her slip. “G-Great L-L-L-Love Fortune!?” She hurriedly crumpled the paper. “I-It’s just random nonsense anyway! These things don’t mean anything!”

Piyo piyo! Mochi observed from Ash’s shoulder. (Primary Airfield experiencing unexpected deviation between verbal communications and cardiovasular telemetry data!)

“Great Fortune with Animals!? Ehhh!?” Akari’s reddish-pink eyes sparkled as she read her omikuji in excitement.

“大吉 – Great Fortune with Animals

Little frogs guide curious eyes

To where sunbeams touch ancient pond

Your gentle heart finds golden light

When frost yields to spring’s dawn”

She finished it practically hopping with joy. “Little frogs will help me find more frogs!? This is the best fortune ever!”

Ash calmly unfolded his own slip. “Moderate Blessing,” he read quietly.

“中吉 – Moderate Blessing

Like stars appearing in the twilight sky

What seems lost merely sleeps beneath the surface

The path forward lies in footprints left behind

When the moon reflects in still waters, truth ripples forth”

Akari tippytoed beside Ash, her face an expression of earnestness as she studied his fortune slip. “Humu, humu…I think the metaphor of stars suggests that what you’ve lost isn’t gone forever, just like how stars are always there even in daylight, we just can’t see them until…” She trailed off, her eyes catching movement near the ground.

“Herrokero! A tree frog! In winter!”

They all watched as she crouched down, kimono and all, examining the small amphibian with scholarly intensity—her looped twin tails dangling almost to the snow dusted ground.

“Sugooi! Tree frogs shouldn’t normally be active in winter! They usually produce natural antifreeze proteins in their blood and then go into hibernation. But this one must be enjoying the shrine’s heat sources, like the warm temizuya water! The—ah! Matte! Come back, little froggy!”

Piyo! Piyo piyo! From his observation post on Tertiary Airfield, Mochi’s head rotated in precise increments as he maintained visual lock on the small green frog. (Alert! Amphibious micro-drone detected near Secondary Airfield! Target executing rapid hop-based evasion patterns! Recommend immediate interception!)

Unfortunately, the froggy fiend almost instantaneously outmanoeuvred its pair of bumbling pursuers, disappearing into the night. The group soon resumed their way to the pine tree, ready to tie their fortunes among the countless others.

"Let’s hope this misfortune doesn't actually mean anything," Emi giggled as she stretched up to tie her slip around a low-hanging twig.

"Nyaaa! Mine's going right next to yours, Emi-chan!" Narumi declared, reaching up to tie her own. "That way they can keep each other in misfortunate company nya!"

Nearby, Akari stood on her tippytoes, stretching as high as her tiny frame would allow. Her fingers barely grazed the branch she was aiming for, falling just short despite her determined efforts. "Can't... quite..."

Ash, who had just secured his own slip, caught sight of her struggle.

"Need a hand?" Without another word, he effortlessly lifted Akari up.

"Waaah!" Akari's surprised gasp transformed into a delighted giggle. "Arigatou, Ash-nii-san!" With newfound height advantage, she carefully tied her fortune alongside the others.

Yui watched the scene with a smile, an uncrumpled "Great Love Fortune" slip in her hands. As the others began chatting excitedly about which shrine attraction to visit next, she quietly slipped the fortune into her kimono sleeve, right next to the swan-decorated omamori. Some fortunes, she decided, were better kept close to the heart.