Chapter 27: Divining Fate (1)

The bustling market was filled with a chaotic array of lights.

Fu Yuan found herself standing in front of an office building, watching a crowd of young men with white hair moving in and out.

An anime convention.

She understood immediately. The place was so crowded that, for a moment, she couldn't tell who was the dreamer. Perhaps the dreamer hadn't paid much attention to the ticket-checking process; she didn't have a ticket either, but she simply followed the others inside. The convention wasn't just for cosplayers; there were many tourists like her, there simply to collect stamps or sightsee.

Upon entering, she saw a massive standee displaying the event poster, which featured Edogawa Conan, Mouri Ran, and Haibara Ai. The three figures in the image looked terrified: Ran had collapsed to the ground, while Conan and Ai were clutching her arms. Behind Conan and Ai were two shadows, standing with their backs turned; Fu Yuan roughly surmised they were Kudo Shinichi and Miyano Shiho.

Strange... she thought. Once she woke up, she would check if there was actually an anime convention in Jiang City.

The venue was vast, spanning four floors, and Fu Yuan began to wander through the first. The entire space resembled a commercial district, with all sorts of cosplayers walking about. As she watched, she felt her shoulder get bumped, and a cup of milk tea spilled all over her sleeve.

A girl wearing a white peaked cap looked at her, flustered, and bowed repeatedly to apologize: "I'm so sorry..." As she spoke, she rummaged through her bag for tissues to wipe the stain off Fu Yuan's clothes.

She looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, with golden hair. Under the brim of her cap was a pair of large, watery eyes, clear and lively. She wore a neat white uniform complete with a small yellow flag, and loose shorts that covered her thighs.

"A platelet?" Fu Yuan took the tissues and wiped the stain off carelessly, not minding it at all.

The girl looked up, pleasantly surprised, and leaned in closer: "You know this character?"

Fu Yuan took a step back to create some distance. "I watched *Cells at Work!* a while ago."

The girl pressed on: "Then do you like platelets?"

Fu Yuan curled the corners of her lips slightly, her eyes crinkling with a hint of a smile: "I like macrophages."

"Oh? Is that so..." The girl looked a bit dejected. She waved the flag in her hand and looked around. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She pointed to a spot not far away and said to Fu Yuan, "Since I accidentally spilled milk tea on you, why don't I treat you to a tarot card reading?"

Fu Yuan didn't refuse. She didn't know where the dreamer was anyway; she was essentially just wandering around, so it didn't matter where she went.

Compared to the popular merchandise stalls, this booth was desolate, without a single customer. The stall owner was a short-haired girl with yellow hair, wearing a high school uniform and a fox mask she had likely purchased from a nearby booth.

"Eh? Are you Kanzaki Hitomi?" the Platelet asked with curiosity.

"That's right," the high school girl giggled. "Want to try a tarot reading? It's very accurate!"

"Oh, oh, oh! How much for a reading?" The Platelet sat on a chair in front of the stall. In front of her was a long table with three decks of cards, all stacked to the same height.

Kanzaki Hitomi placed her right hand on the deck furthest to the right and smiled. "No rush. My readings are a bit different from others; there are a few rules I need to tell you first."

The Platelet looked at her blankly and nodded.

Kanzaki Hitomi said, "When you come to me for a reading, no matter what the question is, you can only ask it once a year."

"You can only divine your own destiny; you cannot ask on behalf of others."

"You must hold a sense of reverence and cannot treat it like a joke." As she said this, she lowered her voice, feigning mystery: "From the moment you touch the tarot cards, the gods are watching you."

"So, do you still want a reading?"

The Platelet was taken aback by her words, but her interest was piqued: "Yes."

Kanzaki Hitomi looked directly at her and said, "You don't need to tell me what you're asking. Just keep it in your heart. I am merely a messenger of the divine will."

After speaking, she looked down at the three piles of cards and said, "Go by your intuition. Choose a pile, and I will shuffle them for you."

The Platelet’s eyes flickered with hesitation as her index finger hovered in the air. Finally, she chose the one on the far right—which was on the far left from Kanzaki Hitomi's perspective.

As Kanzaki Hitomi shuffled the cards with interlocked hands, she looked thoughtful: "This one, then."

After shuffling three or four times, she asked the Platelet, "Do you think this is enough? Do you need me to continue?"

The Platelet snapped back to reality, surprised by Kanzaki Hitomi’s perfunctory manner, and nodded. "That's fine."

Kanzaki Hitomi placed the cards in front of her and spread them out in a counter-clockwise arc, with the backs of the seven cards at the bottom of the deck facing up.

Kanzaki Hitomi closed her eyes. "Now, choose one from these seven cards. It will guide you in the right direction."

The Platelet hesitated. "Can I only draw one?"

Kanzaki Hitomi nodded, seemingly sensing her hesitation. "Don't be nervous. Choose by feeling, and you will find the card that fits you best."

She didn't urge her, waiting quietly for the Platelet to make up her mind.

Fu Yuan watched from the side. She knew a little about tarot cards; they were said to be a form of psychological suggestion. If the result was good, the stall owner would usually say some pleasant things and add: "The future can be changed, just be sure to avoid arrogance and impatience." If the result was bad, the owner would also say: "The future can be changed..."

In short, Fu Yuan didn't believe in such things. But since the Platelet had dragged her over and she had nothing better to do, watching was fine.

It was a dream, after all, and it differed slightly from the tarot readings she had seen others do. At the very least, she knew that in reality, one shouldn't hesitate when picking a card. It was said that only the card caught by one's first instinct truly aligned with the current energy; overthinking it would introduce unnecessary thoughts and interfere with the result.

The Platelet hesitated for half a minute before her finger finally stopped on the middle card.

Without waiting for her to speak, Kanzaki Hitomi said, "Since you've decided, flip it over yourself. Your destiny is decided by you."

Fu Yuan was stunned. Didn't she say earlier that "the gods are watching you"? Why, then, did she say "destiny is decided by you"?

Regardless of what she thought, the Platelet pinched the tarot card with two fingers and flipped it over.

Judgement, reversed.

The Platelet looked at the reversed card and panicked slightly. She wanted to flip over another one, but Kanzaki Hitomi pressed her hand down on it.

Kanzaki Hitomi looked at her: "Customer, according to the process, you need to listen to my interpretation."

The Platelet pulled her hand back.

Kanzaki Hitomi picked up the reversed Judgement card. Fu Yuan saw that the face of the card showed a blonde girl with her eyes closed, lying on the ground and holding a yellow cotton ball.

Kanzaki Hitomi said, "The matter you are asking about is not optimistic. It may lead to a total defeat and the shattering of your dreams. However, it is not without a turning point; it is just that a long time remains before any recovery, and that depends on whether you can endure this difficult period."

"Your recent decisions may be very disadvantageous to you. Your ideas are not being accepted; it has ended before it even began."

"The worse news is that you have been unable to make a decision. Even if you choose to start over, you will not be able to return to the way things were. Lingering attachment will only plunge you into a long-lasting state of confusion."