Chapter 46: The Ice Lady and Hatsumode

After standing in a long line without any end in sight and praying with two bows, two claps and one bow, Fuyuka seemed to have gotten used to Hinami’s vigor.

She still hadn’t developed a tolerance for excessive skinship, but the initial nervousness and anxiety was long gone from her expressions.

Chiaki, in contrast to Hinami, was maintaining an appropriate distance and steadily deepening his relationship with the “Ice Lady”.

Asahi wondered if the fact that most of the conversation was about a mutual friend, or in other words, about himself, was simply a way to avoid the awkwardness of meeting for the first time.

Asahi couldn’t help but feel that 80% of it was intentional manipulation of the topic, as they were grinning and making tricky faces from time to time.

As such, time flew by as Asahi kept an eye on Hinami to make sure she didn’t perform excessive skinship, and also Chiaki in order to make sure he didn’t say anything unnecessary.

“What comes to mind when talking about Hatsumode?”

“It’s fortune slip, alright!”

At the sudden suggestion of the lovebirds, the four of them decided to divine their fortunes for this year, and the results were wonderfully different for each of them.

“Wow, terrible luck does really appear! I think I’ve never seen this one before.”

“Basically, all it says is bad things… In times like this, I should just tie it there, right?”

“Yep. Look, they’re all gathering there.”

“Then, I should tie this up ASAP.”

“Oh, wait, Chi-kun! I’m coming with you too!”

As if being pushed by Hinami who pulled a medium good luck, Chiaki, a man who pulled a terrible luck, walked forward.

On the way there, he almost slipped on a small step, so perhaps the effect was really working.

Hinami laughed happily at Chiaki, who exaggeratedly shrugged, saying he thought he was going to die.

“Aiba-san and Yoshikawa-san seem to be very close.”

“Well, you know, they’re dating.”

“R-really?!”

 

“What’s so surprising? It’s so obvious.”

“Come to think of it… but I didn’t think they were in love…”

For Asahi, it was outdated news, but for Fuyuka, who had never had any contact with the two before, it was a shocking fact.

This was apparently the first time she had seen the lovebirds flirting, partly because Hinami had been with Fuyuka all day.

“Look, Chi-kun! On the bottom of the fortune slip!”

 

“Let’s see… [If it’s with this person, there’s happiness.] Oh, that’s exactly right.”

“I guess we’re a God-approved couple!”

“They look good together.” Fuyuka said honestly while looking at Chiaki and Hinami from a distance as they tied the fortune and exuded an air of happiness.

“What to do? Maybe I’ll go tie a knot too.”

“You pulled good fortune, right, Asahi-kun? Then you don’t need to tie it…”

“But isn’t good fortune pretty vague?”

“That’s not true. There are two interpretations for the order of fortune in fortune slip, and some believe that good fortune is next to great fortune.”

As expected of the most knowledgeable person in the school, Fuyuka gave a detailed explanation with her wealth of knowledge.

It seemed that the head office of the shrine was divided between two different interpretations.

If someone was really curious, they could contact the priest and ask him to tell them about it.

“I’ll just keep it then…”

“By all means, please do so.”

In the end, Asahi decided to put the fortune away in his pocket after he once tried to let it go.

Whether his good fortune was really good or vague remains to be seen, but if Fuyuka says it would be good, then it must be right.

 

“Fuyu-chan~!”

“Wah… Aiba-san?”

“Let me see the great fortune you pulled!”

 

“Okay…”

 

“Why?” A question mark hovered over Fuyuka’s head.

However, Hinami didn’t care about that.

When she received a small fortune slip from Fuyuka, she began to look at it with sparkling eyes.

“Hina, what does it say?”

“[There is happiness in the future.] It says.”

“Oh, I see. This is something to look forward to.”

 

“Yep, it’s looking very promising!”

The lovebirds returned before they knew it and put on matching grimaces at each other.

Their warm gaze was not only on Fuyuka, but also on Asahi.

“What are they saying with all those smirks?”

“I-I also don’t get it either…”

Fuyuka’s cheeks turned slightly red as she said this.

“…I’ll have that back.”

 

“Eh? I’m not even halfway through reading it!”

 

Fuyuka, who took the fortune back from Hinami with a half-heartedly forced manner, was clearly in a panic.

Apparently, some kind of shame was stimulated in the short exchange.

Looking alternately at the confused face of Asahi and the blushing face of Fuyuka, the lovebirds grinned even more.

They had already done everything they could do at the shrine, including writing an ema (prayer plaques) and drinking amazake (sweet sake), and when they were ready to leave, the crowd had just reached its peak.

If four of them were lined up in a horizontal line they would be a bother, so they walked in two vertical lines, Chiaki and Hinami in front, and Asahi and Fuyuka behind.

“Those two hold hands so naturally.”

“By the way, sometimes when you take your eyes off them for a sec, you’ll see them hugging.”

“I’m not sure about that…”

Fuyuka stared back at their intertwined hands, which hadn’t even exchanged glances, let alone words.

Perhaps they felt her eager gaze, or perhaps they simply heard the conversation, but Hinami and Chiaki turned around at the same time with great vigor.

As usual, the expression on their faces was not very welcoming.

“Why don’t you two hold hands?”

“…Ha?”

“….Eh?”

Hinami’s unexpected suggestion almost brought Asahi’s thoughts and his steps both to a halt.

He couldn’t stand still in the middle of a crowd, so he kept moving his feet, but he couldn’t think properly.

“Why do we have to hold hands?”

“That is, of course, so we don’t get separated like we did before.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer if we just held hands like this?”

“…You got lost because you went off the rails though.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but still with this crowd, there’s a chance it could happen!”

It may sound like an outrageous argument, but somehow the words of someone who experienced being lost sounded strangely persuasive.

Indeed, the flow of people on the road had been as fierce as a mountain stream for a while now, and if one was not careful, one could easily become isolated.

‘However, was it okay to hold hands?’

It was something natural among people in love, but it was an abnormal act among friends.

It might be an exaggeration to describe it as abnormal, but when the person you were talking to was someone of the opposite s*x, you couldn’t help but become aware of it.

‘Why am I thinking about this so seriously?’

Asahi felt like he was going to be swept away, but when he thought about it with a calm head, he came to a conclusion.

Unlike Hinami, they didn’t lose sight of their surroundings.

If they were always careful, they wouldn’t need to hold hands.

She had been lying face down and silent since earlier, but he was sure that Fuyuka had the same idea.

As he was thinking this, Asahi was overturned in his consideration by a hand slowly approaching him.

“…Fuyuka?”

 

“Because they both have a point…”

Fuyuka’s cute little hand moved closer to Asahi, one centimeter at a time.

Chiaki and Hinami watched with bated breath, as well as Asahi.

Her slender fingertips closed the distance another inch, and then―

“…With this, we can rest easy.”

 

Fuyuka discreetly grabbed the sleeve of Asahi’s jacket with her thumb and forefinger.

“Huh?”

“Woah!”

An incomprehensible response came from the front, but Asahi didn’t have time to pay attention to it.

“…Hold on tight.”

“…Of course.”

 

That unreliable connection pulled their shoulders together.

Even though their skin was not in direct contact with each other, Asahi felt a warm heat emerging from Fuyuka’s fingertips.

“In this shrine, the next best thing after great fortune is good fortune! They say!”

“Then we’re next to each other!”

 

The cheerful voices of children came out of nowhere.

Apparently, they were showing off their fortunes to each other.

“Isn’t that great, Asahi-kun?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

As they slowly walked along the path, their footsteps piled up on top of each other.

The distance between them was a few inches closer than usual.

Even the words and smiles they exchanged seemed to bring them a little closer to something.