Four Leaf Clover
“Wait right here, okay?”
(My oldest memory. I’ve recalled it countless times…)
…Every morning, I look in the mirror and ask myself, “I wonder who I resemble more?”
Because I can’t really remember the face of my mom, who gave me that four leaf clover.
So you search for traces of her within your own reflection? How pathetic, pitiful, worthless even. Quite human of you to do so, Hachinoya Nagi.
I don’t think it’s…worthless.
Oh, did I hurt you? Then I shall repeat myself. ’Tis a meaningless action for you to take.
In any event, you still sat there, with your fingers in your mouth, waiting for her. You believed your mother when she told you to wait.
Yeah. I was always waiting.
But after I joined HAMA Tours, I realized that doing everything you can possibly do makes your life better. Now that I’m moving forward…
Everyone in the park is really enjoying themselves because of your idea, Nagi-kun. You did amazing.
I’ve met people who’ll praise me for what I do.
I won’t stand around and wait anymore. That’s why I came here. I want to move forward.
Fool. There is nothing you can strive for out of your own free will, yet you wear your confidence on your sleeve with no awareness of how unsightly it is.
You shall rue this. You shall realize that it was better for you to let go of all hope and resign to living in the pits of despair.
But that doesn’t matter. I’ve been living off of baked sweet potatoes and saving all of my money just for this moment.
Toi, please. Please tell me where my mom is…!
Haha… Hahahahaha!
This is precisely why I adore you humans. You never fail to serve me the most sweet, honeyed joy.
Very well. Hachinoya Nagi, allow me to bestow upon you an invaluable truth.
Night driiiive!
Netaro-kun, close the window! Don’t let the rain in!
Boo…
……
(Ryui-kun was up in arms back at the house, but he’s been eerily quiet this entire car ride. I wonder if he’s alright…)
(I haven’t even asked him why he’s so panicked in the first place…)
Um, so Nagi-kun is getting his fortune told by Toi-kun at Angel’s Eye, right?
Maybe he’s trying to find out where his mother is.
Duh, what else would it be?
Hohhh? But why must we go to Angel’s Eye? We can simply allow him to get his fortune told.
We have to stop him.
May I ask you why?
……
Toi doesn’t make a good diviner. He’s too sensitive and nice.
Huh? But isn’t Toi-kun pretty famous in the fortune-telling world?
He’s got potential, but that ain’t mean he’s cut out for it. Divination is way harder than everyone thinks it is. Even if your client won’t like the results, ya gotta tell ‘em.
A long while ago, a couple a’ brothers from a rich family came to visit him. Toi gave one of ‘em a death prophecy. Wasn’t easy.
(Death prophecy…?!)
He is able to predict deaths?!
‘Specially if the guy’s got a real short lifespan.
Ryui-kun, was that person’s name—
(Could he be talking about Raito-san…?)
I was a kid, so I don’t remember it. Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.
M-Makes sense…
A death prophecy’s pretty tough. Not just to be given one, but to give one out too…
That’s when it started. Whenever the prediction’s tough, they’re always the one to make it instead.
Who?
Oshisha-sama, I presume!
Ahh…!
But we do not know if this prediction will be difficult.
*scoff* The guy’s tryna find his mom who’s been missin’ for over 15 years. Y’really think it’ll end well?
……
Toi’s nice. He always puts other people’s feelings first. All he does is wish for people’s happiness.
(Maybe Toi was feelin’ down today ‘cuz he knew somethin’ bad was gonna be in store.)
Do y’even know how exhausting it is to tell someone ‘bout a future they ain’t wanna see? Just ‘cuz you always end up seein’ too much?
(And if Toi found that book, it explains why he never talked to me about this.)
I knew that… I knew more than anyone else, but… Fuck, what the hell am I even doing…?!
Deep breaths. Ryui. There is no need for you to blame yourself.
No, this is all my fault.
What do you mean by that?
…I was s’posed to be the head of the Shiramitsu family. And that sham of a god named Oshisha was s’posed to possess me.
But…
Brother dearest, can we play the swappy game again?
It all got pushed onto him by accident…!
Possess? As in, when a god or spirit takes over a human body, yes? How utterly unscientific. Perhaps that “god” is nothing more than an alter ego that Toy’s brain made u—
I’m not tellin’ you all this ‘cuz I expected you to believe me!! That family’s been fucked up for ages. Normal people wouldn’t get it.
I just… I gotta keep ’im safe from everything that happens. I have to…!
I gotta protect Toi from that fuckin’ demon…!
Deeeemon…?
So you’re worried about both of them, right?
Both?
It’s a given that he’s worried about Toi-kun, since he’s very sensitive. But Nagi-kun might receive a difficult prediction from Oshisha-sama.
No, dammit! I don’t give a shit about…
Yeah. I was abandoned.
……
Either way, we need to hurry!
In order to protect their eggs and chicks, they attract predators to themselves to keep them away. They must protect their young, even if that means hurting themselves.
This is a behavior exhibited by certain species of birds, dubbed “distraction display”.
…?
That aside, I see that some flowers have been laid by the road as an offering a few dozen meters away from your shop. Do you know what happened there?
I just know that offers are left there… It’s been like that for a while.
I sometimes leave flowers too when I pass by there on my delivery runs, but I don’t know what happened.
Hm…
It was probably a car accident or…
Something…
Haha…
(No.)
(No…)
Ahahaha! Has the shock rendered you speechless? Or do you simply not comprehend?
……
A woman from a certain affluent family had an illicit love affair! She was pregnant at a tender age with an unwanted life. The father of whom was far too vile!
A truly clichéd tragedy, one hardly even worth telling. They argue time after time until the heroine finally flees, wherein she attempts to play the role of mother.
Ah, but do not be mistaken. She has not one inkling of care for the child’s happiness.
However, wretched brutes stubbornly retain their presence in every era.
“Crash!”
Surely, young as you were, you would have heard the sound yourself, no?
……
(I don’t know where that four leaf clover she gave me went… And I lost the tag that was on my clothes too.)
(I don’t care if they got tossed into a landfill in some far corner of the earth. I don’t care if they got ripped up. I don’t care if there’s only a small piece of them left. If I just knew where they were, I’d do anything to have them again.)
Allow me to explain it in simple terms for you, so there is absolutely no room left for interpretation.
Your mother is…
Hark! It is I, the first one in!
*gasp*
The nitro-propulsers I attached to my heels worked marvelously. ♪ Are you okay, Gii?
Netaro…
You again…!
*pant, pant, pant…* We…finally caught up…!
You fuckin’ freak…! How are you…so fast…?!
Halt! We shall not allow the disowned to step foot onto our holy grounds!
We are terribly sorry, Master! We tried to stop them, but they broke past us…!
Chief!
Sorry for breaking in! And sorry in advance for locking you out!
*door closing*
Call for reinforcements!
Contact the great master at once!
Hmph…