246 22 Fortunate

As Norio began roaming through town, he noticed a tent propped up on display in the middle of the street. "Fortunes...?" Before He could keep walking he heard a man start shouting. He quickly turned toward the noise. "How many more times are ya gonna cry!?" The man shouted. "You're fifteen, f.u.c.ks sake!" Norio realized the noise was coming from inside the tent. He narrowed his eye. There was sobbing, then the man came out from the tent. "Ah...!" He cried as he noticed Norio standing there. "are you awaiting a fortune...?" Norio smirked. "Sure am." The man chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that, all that noise, please, step inside!" The man lifted the veil to the tent. Revealing that inside the tent was a young teenage girl. The girl had lavender hair, twirled in two pigtails, fair skin, and an eye patch on her right eye. "O-oh! welcome...!" She greeted, stifling back a sniffle. "Good fortunes!" The man said, quickly taking his leave.

"Ah...so you'd like a f-fortune, yes?" She smiled. Norio sat down on the mat. "Why not." He studied the tent for a minute. A crystal ball...how cliche. He thought to himself. "Uhm...ok!" The girl said, slowly taking off her eyepatch. Norio looked up. The girls eye the eyepatch was covering was white, while her other eye was pink. "Say," Norio began. "Yes?" The girl replied. "What was all that noise about before, you okay?" The girl quickly looked toward the entrance of the tent, then back towards Norio, not making eye contact. "Mm, I'm fine!" She smiled. Norio looked at the crystal ball, and back at the girls eye. "Oi-" Before He could finish, girl cleared her throat. "Your fortune..." she began. Norio fell silent. "You um...you'll lose a loved one, a parent..." she said, shutting her eyes. Norio quickly looked up. "What the h.e.l.l kind of fortune is th-" he stopped himself. This wasn't the girls fault, she was probably told to spew this kind of bulls.h.i.+t. "Sorry..." He said, collecting himself. "Mm, no need." The girl said looking down steadily. "You're not the only one, my fortunes are hard to bear for others too." The girl looked up. "By the way, my name is Vera!" She smiled. Norio, who was busy digging for his wallet nodded. "Norio." He replied. "Mhm!" She nodded happily. "How much, Vera?" Vera quickly looked at outside the tent. "Free!" She smiled. "Hah?" Vera kept smiling. "I have a feeling...this won't be the last time we meet, Norio!" Norio got up. "That so?" He said as he gave a wave goodbye.

As he left, Vera put her eyepatch back on. "Vera Takes.h.i.+..." she whispered, smiling to herself.