Karuizawa slightly lifted her chin and said with a smile.
After their relationship became more familiar, at least on one side, Karuizawa's attitude toward Saiki had undergone quite a change.
'I don't want to do this kind of troublesome thing at all.'
"Mm."
Although completely different from his thoughts, Saiki still perfunctorily nodded, but he still slightly used his ability, manipulated Karuizawa's phone, took a glance at the other party's birthday, it was at least something for next year.
"In a few days, are you free? I heard a fortune-telling shop just opened at school, and the fortune-telling is very accurate!"
"Probably not."
Saiki almost didn't hesitate at all and immediately gave a negative response.
"I had promised Sudo and Ike before that I would go swimming at the pool, so I probably won't have time."
'This reason should be the best, and I can also shift the blame onto Sudo and the others.' Saiki thought so in his heart.
During the previous gathering, Sudo Ken and Ike Kanji had mentioned this matter, saying they planned to go to the pool during the holidays.
The swimming pool would be open to students during summer vacation, and they had already made plans to go together then. Even Sotomura Hideo was joining them.
However, Saiki of course knew that the purpose of these guys wasn't pure. Their goal was to use the opportunity to secretly film girls changing clothes, but because their mini cameras hadn't arrived yet, they had no way of executing the plan for now, they had to wait a while.
Saiki definitely wouldn't take part in that, but for now, it could be used as an excuse to decline Karuizawa.
"Oh, Ike and the others already asked me about it."
Karuizawa immediately responded.
"Huh?"
"Ike also asked me about the pool thing, but he said it's at the end of the month. These few days should definitely be no problem, right!"
Karuizawa wore a bright smile on her face, as if everything was within her grasp.
'Even though it wasn't intentional, I still got played.'
Saiki felt a bit helpless in his heart, but since the reason he brought up was no longer valid, there was nothing to be done, he could only agree to her.
"All right then."
'Great! I'll call you when the time comes!'
Karuizawa nodded hard. "Hey, happy birthday! The birthday gift I gave you is something to be worn on your hand!"
"Mm, thank you."
———
Unknowingly, a few more days passed.
These past few days, Saiki basically stayed in the dorm, spending time alone, occasionally teleporting home to change up the taste of his meals.
And he also noticed that more and more people in the class group were discussing fortune-telling.
Kushida, Recently a fortune-telling shop opened at school, seems super popular, can divine love, career, and so on.
'Yare yare, as long as Kushida says something, the one who replies instantly is always Ike, huh.'
At that moment, Saiki was lying on his bed, continuing to scroll through his phone.
'Sudo Ken, fortune-telling, huh? I'm kind of interested.'
"Even a guy like you is interested in fortune-telling?"
Saiki furrowed his brows. Several girls in class had already taken part in fortune-telling, and all said it was accurate.
To Saiki, of course, he wouldn't believe such words. In a sense, he also had fortune-telling abilities, predicting the future. It's just that this ability was uncontrollable, and he only knew a general direction, not specific details.
"Generally speaking, fortune-telling is just saying some ambiguous words to make the customer feel a sense of agreement, right? But there are still many people fooled by it. Didn't expect such a store to appear in this school." Saiki muttered to himself.
Just then, a call came in, it was from Karuizawa.
[Saiki, where are you? I'm at your dorm door, open up!] Karuizawa's cheerful voice came through the phone.
'Asking where I am, but already came to my door?'
Saiki sighed. His telepathy also sensed Karuizawa's presence, so he opened the door.
Karuizawa had changed into even prettier clothes today, making her look cuter and more playful.
"Let's go, Saiki. The class group is all talking about fortune-telling, let's go see it too!"
As she spoke, Karuizawa leaned her body forward, slightly leaning against Saiki, but Saiki instinctively stepped back half a meter at a speed beyond human visual limits, causing Karuizawa to almost lose her balance and fall.
"Ah!"
Karuizawa barely kept her balance and turned to look at Saiki.
[Wasn't Saiki just beside me? Did I see it wrong?]
"Let's go."
Saiki said slowly. He just wanted to finish today's matters quickly and go back to the dorm to rest.
At that moment, he heard a familiar voice from behind.
Ayanokoji just happened to come out of his room as well.
[Karuizawa and Saiki, huh? Looks like Karuizawa is already completely under Saiki's control now.]
'What on earth is going through your head all day long?'
[A few days ago, Sudo asked me to invite Horikita to go fortune-telling, but she rejected it without hesitation. I'm somewhat interested in things like fortune-telling.]
[But there were too many people in line at that time, and I ran into Ibuki too. Fortune-telling must be done in pairs, but the other party didn't seem to want to team up with me, so I had to come back.]
[Today I thought I'd try my luck again, didn't expect to run into Saiki. Did he suggest it, or was it Karuizawa's idea?]
'You, interested in fortune-telling? And you've even been there once? Changed your character setting, have you?'
Saiki internally complained. This meant Ayanokoji would be joining them too.
"We are too!"
Karuizawa said loudly, announcing her and Saiki's next move, as if stating some kind of position.
"Then let's go together."
Very quickly, Saiki and the others arrived at the school mall. As soon as they reached the floor where the fortune-telling shop was located, they saw a long line, dense crowds filled the wide corridor.
'Wait a second, there shouldn't be this many students in the school, right?'
'And it's just a fortune-telling, is it necessary to bring so many people?' Saiki internally complained.
He hated crowded places the most, because all kinds of voices would flood into his mind, making it impossible to identify who else was around.
"There are too many people…"
Saiki was going to use this as an excuse to dissuade Karuizawa, since in his impression, she wasn't someone with a lot of patience.
"No worries, we'll just wait!"
Karuizawa smiled and nodded, pulling Saiki into the line.
On the other side, Ayanokoji seemed to have run into Ibuki Mio again, a strange coincidence. But this time, it looked like they had successfully teamed up.
[I've already heard that this place requires two people in a pair to do fortune-telling, and Saiki and I doing it together… it's just like being a couple, huh.]
'Sigh.'
Saiki sighed inwardly. Of course he didn't want to participate in this kind of thing. But because he no longer had a reason to reject the other party, he could only come here.
Just then, Saiki's phone vibrated twice.
He pulled it out to take a look. Two messages had arrived almost at the same time.
[Sakura: Saiki-kun, are you free? I want to go to the school fortune-telling… but it seems like you need two people… I didn't know who to invite, so I could only invite you. If you're not free, it's okay…]
[Shiina: Saiki-kun, I wonder if you're interested in things like fortune-telling?]
'Yare yare, are there really such coincidences in this world? As long as they're not both here, it's fine…'
'Let's just find an excuse to brush it off first.'
Saiki thought to himself and was about to send a message to the two.
But at that moment, Saiki caught a familiar voice.
[Saiki-kun… will come, right…]
'No way?'
Saiki froze for a moment, his eyes widened.
There were too many people here, even with telepathy, he couldn't distinguish individual voices. But Saiki clearly heard Sakura's inner voice.
This meant… Sakura was very close.
Saiki turned his head slightly, and there was Sakura nearby, looking timid, as if waiting for someone.
'Crap. I hope she didn't see me…'
Saiki thought, and quickly turned his body as if he hadn't seen anything.
But in that instant, as if she had telepathy too, Sakura also turned around, and just happened to see Saiki turning away.
"Saiki-kun?"
Sakura was surprised, her gaze showing a trace of joy. She hadn't expected to see Saiki here.
"Sakura…"
Saiki had no choice but to greet her stiffly.
But at that moment, Sakura's gaze moved to Karuizawa's face. She hadn't expected Karuizawa to be here.
[Why is Karuizawa here… Could it be Saiki-kun… came with Karuizawa to do fortune-telling?]
[On Saiki-kun's birthday… Karuizawa also came alone…]
[Could it be… Karuizawa and Saiki-kun are already… in that kind of relationship?]
A sense of discomfort welled up in Sakura's heart. She really wanted to ask but didn't have the courage. She could only greet the other party awkwardly.
"Karuizawa-san… you're here too…"
"Good afternoon, Sakura."
In terms of personality, the two were complete opposites. But compared to before, Sakura was already doing much better, at least she had the courage to greet others.
"Karuizawa wanted to try fortune-telling, but since it requires two people, she asked me to come along."
Before Sakura's imagination could run wild, Saiki quickly explained, to avoid her coming up with even stranger ideas.
"Oh, oh!"
Sakura nodded. After confirming that Karuizawa and Saiki weren't a couple, for some reason, her heart felt a bit happier.
'Yare yare, let's just leave things like this for now. Fortunately, it's just Sakura. If Shiina is also here, '
"Saiki-kun!"
Before Saiki could even finish the thought, Shiina Hiyori's voice rang out nearby.
'???'
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