The shrine maiden with purple hair smiled softly, her beautiful eyes curving gently, making her look especially lovely.
Sato subconsciously glanced at the other shrine maidens sitting nearby, then came to the conclusion that the one in front of him was the prettiest.
Gentle, refined...
"One fortune slip and one omamori."
"Yes! What kind of omamori would you like?"
Omamori came in many varieties, each offering blessings in different areas: academics, health, traffic safety, romance, safe childbirth, and more...
The categories were incredibly detailed. Clearly, one charm should theoretically be enough for divine protection, yet they had divided them into countless subcategories. This meant that if you wanted blessings for both academics and health, you had to buy two.
No one really knew whether these things worked, but one thing was certain, if you wanted blessings in multiple areas, you would definitely spend more money.
"Health."
"That will be one thousand yen in total."
Sato did not pay immediately. Instead, he looked down at Kanna, whose hand he was holding.
"Kanna, what do you want?"
"All of them!"
Kanna stood on tiptoe and peered inside for a long while before replying in her childish voice.
"And you two?"
After asking Kanna, Sato turned toward Yukino and Mio behind him.
Yukinoshita Yukino glanced at the dazzling array of charms and ema plaques inside the booth, then her beautiful eyes settled on Sato, who was looking at her.
She softly said, "Same as yours."
"Mine too!"
Behind her, Mio hurriedly added.
"Alright, then let's pay for everything together."
After receiving their answers, Sato turned back toward the shrine maiden.
The purple-haired shrine maiden's gaze swept curiously between Sato and the two girls behind him. Her emerald-green eyes seemed to be pondering something, carrying an unmistakably gossipy look.
"Yes, the total comes to 4,700 yen."
The shrine maiden quickly calculated the cost.
Seven hundred yen per omamori, three hundred for each fortune slip, and seven hundred for each ema plaque.
Pretty expensive, but Kanda Myojin Shrine was one of the most famous shrines around.
Sato checked his wallet before pulling out a five-thousand-yen bill and handing it over.
"Here is your change."
After putting the change away, Sato led everyone to the area in front of the booth to wait for the others.
It also happened to be where the ema plaques were hung.
Red cords were stretched between two large trees, with rows upon rows of ema swaying like hanging wind chimes. Beneath the tree was a neutral-colored marker pen tied with red string, so Sato let Kanna go write her wish by herself.
"Here's the money from earlier."
Suddenly—
Along with a cool voice, a slender white hand extended in front of Sato, pale fingers pinching a crisp thousand-yen bill.
Sato looked up in confusion.
Yukinoshita Yukino was calmly looking at him.
"I don't like owing people things."
"Same here."
Another bill appeared before him. Looking up, he saw Mio standing there with a serious expression.
"Alright."
Sato smiled as he accepted the money from both of them without saying anything more.
Still, Yukinoshita Yukino and Mio did share a few similarities. Both were black-haired beauties with long straight hair and serious personalities.
Yet the differences between them were equally obvious.
Yukinoshita Yukino was unquestionably the classic ice queen type of black-haired beauty, while Mio possessed a sort of gap moe. She looked cool and dependable on the outside, but anyone who knew her understood she embarrassed very easily.
"Sato!"
At that moment, Kanna returned holding her ema plaque. Tugging at the corner of Sato's clothes with her chubby little hand, she looked up at him with sparkling eyes full of anticipation.
"Let's hang it together!"
"Sure."
Sato agreed immediately.
He accompanied Kanna to the place covered with ema plaques. Strings upon strings of wooden plaques hung there, filled with wishes written in all kinds of languages.
He even spotted quite a bit of familiar kanji writing.
Wow, the literary pretentiousness is strong with these ones.
Each ema had a ribbon attached, so all they needed to do was tie it onto the red cords.
Sato glanced at Kanna's wish.
Childish handwriting covered the plaque, each stroke carefully written, clearly showing the sincerity of its author.
"Forever stay together with Sato, Lady Tohru, Riko, Ren-chan..."
An entire string of names was written on it. Kanna seemed to have listed everyone she liked, full of a child's innocence and kindness.
Sato could not help smiling as he rubbed Kanna's head beside him.
When they returned to the original meeting spot, everyone else had already gathered there too.
What surprised him, however, was that Ritsu was laughing arrogantly for some reason, while beside her, Mio and Yui were crouching there looking utterly devastated.
"What happened?"
Sato asked curiously.
Did Ritsu bully Mio and Yui again in the short time he was gone?
"Sato, look! Great blessing! I told you I'd get a great blessing!"
Ritsu excitedly waved her fortune slip around, proudly raising her chin.
Huh?
This idiot really was that lucky?
Sato gave her an astonished glance before sighing lightly.
"I guess fools really do have fool's luck."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
Ritsu angrily waved her fist.
Sato coughed twice before looking toward Yui and Mio.
"What about those two?"
"Big sis and Akiyama-senpai both drew... bad luck."
Hirasawa Ui looked worriedly at Yui as she answered.
Sato: "..."
Their luck was truly unbelievable.
Normally, during festivals like this, shrines and temples removed the worst fortune slips, leaving behind only a few "bad luck" and "minor bad luck" fortunes. Yet somehow both of them still drew one...
Thinking of this, Sato opened his own fortune slip.
The words Great Blessing immediately entered his sight.
Even though he knew it was meaningless, the corners of his mouth still lifted slightly.
Afterward, everyone walked down the mountain together.
At the foot of the mountain, just before they parted ways, Sato suddenly stopped while holding Kanna's hand and turned toward everyone else.
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
Then they saw a smile appear on his face as his gaze swept across the group.
"Happy New Year!"
Everyone froze for a moment before smiles gradually appeared on their faces.
"Happy New Year!"