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“Humu, humu. Fate's clouds swirl over the image of your future… but they are not impermeable.” Matikanefukukitaru nods her head sagely in front of her crystal ball. An anxious student whose fate hangs in the balance leans over the table with shivering ears and a fiercely shaking tail.
“C'mon, Fuku! Wh-what do you see?!” The blushing girl trembles in her seat. Fukukitaru holds up one hand to stop her.
“Patience, child of Shiraoki. Calm your heart and allow the spiritual energies to flow through you. Think hard of the one you love.” The fortune seeker nods weakly, closing her eyes. She breathes in deep. Exhale. In. Out. Her mind's eye opens to the object of her desire. Elegant, pretty, and admirable. Mystic power coalesces in the dim light of the small tent. The student can feel her nerves vanishing thinking of that radiant smile, those tender hands, that gorgeous mane of hair…
“Good, good. Keep that image in your mind. The mist is clearing.” A low drumbeat rumbles in the student's heart thinking of their crush. It took all of her willpower to offer chocolates to her senpai a month ago, but taking that leap paid off in spades and they have grown closer ever since. Her ears flutter & flap. She surrenders to the magic in the air as her heartbeat intensifies. Sharp, otherworldly percussion strikes through the air. Dreams stirred by Fukukitaru's incantations swirl in the fog trapped behind crystal glass.
“Aha!”
The hopeful girl's eyes fly open as Fuku makes a breakthrough. She ponders the orb but sees only smoke. Fuku, however, sees inspiration.
“I see it clearly now. You must find the one special to you on this blessed day and offer them tea after their training concludes. Drink it together in earthenware cups on the east side of the arts building's seventh floor. This is the path to great fortune for you both.” The seeker's eyes light up vividly in the crystal ball after Fukukitaru renders her reading.
“Thank you, thank you so much, Fuku! I-I'll do it! Their training should be done right around…” They take out their phone and yelp at the time. “EEK! I gotta go right now! Thank you Fukuuuuu!” A smitten runner flees the tent with all the haste of a storm's gale. An apology calls out after they nearly bowl over a young man waiting just outside the tent. He blinks in surprise before ducking his head and parting the cloth to enter.
“Oh! Good afternoon, Trainer-san!” Fukukitaru beams up at her trainer as she puts away the wooden clappers she uses to enhance the atmosphere of her fortune telling. “I did not foresee your arrival today, but it is a fortunate surprise! I'm about to pick up my stuff, though I can divine one more fortune if you desire.”
Her trainer laughs and shakes his head politely. “That's alright, Fuku. You already told our fortunes this morning.” He fishes out a small wooden charm from his pocket. “Your ward against evil spirits works well; I haven't felt a lick of possession all day.” Fuku stands from her seat with eyes sparkling even brighter than usual.
“It worked? I-I mean, yes! It worked! Works! Very lucky, yes!” Fukukitaru trips over her words, but their sentiment shines through clearly. The pair laughs together. Somehow, a feeling that he is forgetting something crosses the trainer's mind after a grateful Fukukitaru accepts his offer to help clean up for the day.
Just as they finish rolling up the outer fabric of the tent, the man slaps his forehead to Fukukitaru's surprise.
“Trainer!? Did a mosquito get you? Oh, I should have a charm to ward away those pesky bugs!” Before she can sprint off and undo her hard work packing away her stuff, Trainer flags her down.
“No, no. I didn't get bit. I just remembered why I came out here in the first place.” Fukukitaru thankfully holds back her super ☆ lucky ☆ dash and stays to listen. Her long, sensitive ears turn squarely towards her trainer. The sight of her gleaming eyes looking up at him like this stirs something deep.
“I heard there's a few nice constellations out tonight and wanted to go stargazing for a while since the weather is clear. We should be able to see most of them before curfew hits.”
Fukukitaru briefly flips through her mental encyclopedia of star charts around this time of year. There should be some interesting formations here in mid-March that can bless them both with good health and extra luck on their horoscopes tomorrow. Many considerations align with a steadfast “Yes” to her trainer's offer only for a single, devastating truth to fly into Fuku's stream of consciousness like a brick through the window.
Fuku's first reaction is to hold her head in her hands and scream with despair, like usual. How could Trainer suggest something so inauspicious?! Tonight is the night of the new moon! Totally dark, like a really big black cat curled up in the sky! There will be no gentle illumination to light their way in the darkness and banish the murk of bad luck with silver! Nobody else will be going outside on such a pitch black evening, that's for sure!
…
Nobody else will be going outside tonight.
Meaning it will just be the two of them.
Matikanefukukitaru and her trainer.
Alone.
A million thoughts spanning infinite possibilities race and collide inside Fuku's head. Her starry eyes glaze over slightly. She might even be drooling a little bit.
“Uhh… Fukukitaru?”
“HIIIYAAAAGH!”
Ah, there's the scream he expected, though it comes with a scarlet hue on her cheeks that he didn't.
“Yesyesyes, of course Trainer! Tonight is a mega-lucky day for stargazing, after all! Just look!” She pulls out a tarot deck from somewhere and gives it a shuffle before drawing the top card and flashing it to her trainer.
He screws his brow into confusion. Fuku flips the card to see what she divined.
“Oh! That was my divination for three days from now, don't mind that.” She swiftly shuffles The Tower back and clears her throat. “Now then, behold our mega-lucky forecast for tonight's stargazing! WOIYAAA!” Fukukitaru pumps herself up before drawing another card, making sure to peek at the front before presenting her 1000% accurate fortune reading to the man in front of her.
“Behold! The auspicious blessing of The Moon! We shall drink deeply of its wisdom on this fine spring evening!” Fuku bounces and sways merrily. Her trainer opens his mouth to point out that tonight is a new moon (which he only knew because she told him a few weeks ago) but quickly thinks better of it.
“I see, that's a relief to hear.” A strange pause hangs in the air. He is usually the one getting dragged around by the whims of fate, so taking the reins himself still feels a little odd. “I'll, uh, see you later, Fuku.” Trainer nods at her with a little wave, turning on his heel and leaving the shrine in Fukukitaru's care.
Her brow furrows curiously. Whatever is making her dear trainer act so strangely? Did he get possessed when she wasn't looking? No, that doesn't make sense; he still has her charm.
He… still has her charm. Right there in his pocket. Always on hand. Close.
The lingering chill of spring vanishes for an entirely unknown reason not at all related to her boiling blush that Fukukitaru desperately tries to keep in check.
She doesn't succeed for a second.
The air is colder when Matikanefukukitaru returns to the usual shrine. The sky above her head is a perfect blanket of twinkling lights stretching to the realm of the gods. Without the glow of the moon, nothing disturbs the silent regard of stars. A small lantern hangs in her hand to light the way forward. She sets it at her side on a bench, taking a seat as she waits for her trainer.
Fingers poke together. Ears lazily flap. A tail swings idly. Eyes behold the beauty of the night, but she almost feels guilty tracing lines between the familiar shimmers. He isn't here yet and he invited her. Trainer invited Fuku here. Cheeks burn again. A tail swings faster. Ears wiggle excitedly. Thumbs twist and fidget together.
Footsteps approach from the east. Fukukitaru swerves her entire body towards the source of the sounds. She spies a gentle luminescence steadily marching closer. When his face comes into view, she opens her mouth wide to hail him heartily before swiftly remembering the time and snapping her lips shut. Fuku settles for a wave to guide him over to her, even if it would be pretty hard to miss the only other person here at the shrine.
In contrast to his lean figure, the trainer's silhouette is a broad-shouldered block on account of the gargantuan coat he wears. Fukukitaru winces. This was her doing, once upon a time. His old jacket was practically threadbare and he refused to replace it, so she resolved to buy him one as a gift that Christmas. Unfortunately, the retailer she ordered from did not have a great mobile site, so the expected “X-Tall” came in as an “XXXX-Tall” just in time for any replacements to be sold out. The despair she (and her wallet) felt back then was all-consuming. Yet even if Fukukitaru monumentally screwed up, he accepted the gift with a smile all the same. His kindness still tickles her heart whenever she sees him wearing it.
“Hey again, Fuku. You're not too cold?” Trainer greets her with a brief lift of his left hand before joining his trainee on the bench. She shakes her head, tossing around the fluffy lower strands of her slightly longer winter mane.
“I'm all comfortable tonight! I even brought my secret weapons…” Fukukitaru grins as she unzips her jacket in a flash. She holds the halves open for him to see the several hand warmers strapped to her flanks. He sighs in defeat.
“Fuku… never mind. Just make sure you don't burn yourself, okay?” She nods her head with enough confidence that he almost believes her. Almost.
Fuku zips back up to banish the chill for good and turns her eyes skyward. Her trainer follows suit, dragging his gaze to the places Fukukitaru points out for each constellation. Her gloved hand looks so small against the tapestry of the night's sky, but she cheerfully traces the connections without a care in the world. She really is larger than life.
“Ooooouh! So THIS is the ultra-lucky blessing bestowed upon us by Shiraoki! It all makes sense now!” Fukukitaru's smile shines in the lamplight. Her voice startles a sound from her trainer, prompting Fuku to swivel her head towards him.
“Oya? Is something wrong, Trainer?” His throat is suddenly so dry. Over two whole years of watching over this beautiful, blessed runner seems to well up in his chest. Her eyes are brighter than the starry pinpricks reflected in them.
“Nothing's wrong, Fukukitaru. If anything, I'm glad everything is all right.” He smiles at her. She returns it without a second thought. Uma ears twitch at the sound of him reaching into the voluminous coat for something.
It's a small white box tied together with red ribbons bearing a single blue streak down the center and a faint gold trim along the edges. He offers it to her. She accepts it without a second thought.
“A month ago, you gifted me the stars falling out of the sky. So I felt it was fitting to give you the moon watching over them.”
Matikanefukukitaru does not respond. She stares at the box in a trance. Her fingers move to carefully untie the bow as if handling a sacred object. To her, it is. The bindings fall away. Fuku opens the lid and gasps.
A pale disk of sweetness lies on a bed of midnight blue. Dark outlines formed by crumbled chocolate cookies mixed into the white chocolate moon evoke the craters visible from Earth; there's even one big outline that looks a bit like a rabbit.
“It came out a little bigger than I expected, so you really don't have to eat all of it.” Trainer scratches his cheek sheepishly. “But I still wanted to make something myself for White Day to thank you for everything, Fuku.”
He looks up at the night sky in relief. A weight lifts from his shoulders. Maybe this is how they're meant to be: a trainer showing his gratitude for his trainee's hard work and her appreciation of his own efforts. It's a quiet, but peaceful little life.
A choked sob disturbs that peace.
He immediately turns to see his trainee shivering from an unknown force. Tears glitter during their descent to earth like comets tumbling out the sky.
“Fuku? Fukukitaru, what's wrong?” Panic filling his throat leaks into his voice. Is she hurting? Is she cold? Does she need–
She faces him. A look he has never seen fills her eyes.
“Trainer.” She sniffles. It's an ugly, shaking, entirely ordinary thing. His heart is pounding. He knows hers is, too.
“Thank you.” Rivers pour down her cheeks, staining the front of her jacket. There is no sorrow behind them, only joy. It ties a knot in his breast.
Fukukitaru sets his gift on the bench and moves closer. He needs to stop her. He can't. He won't.
She flicks her tail when she straddles his lap. Her face becomes the beautiful moon lighting up the sky. Their breaths mingle in a space too narrow for a trainer and trainee. They both know. They both knew.
Chimes sing in the breeze. A shooting star streaks overhead.
They share a kiss sweeter than any chocolate.