My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 316

"Okay, okay, stop making that long face."

I felt tired as soon as I saw the crowds, which could be described as sardine cans, so Jie pulled me along with all her might.

"With so many people around, there's no need to worry about being seen by acquaintances. We should look on the bright side."

"When did you become so optimistic...?"

"Hmm—let's start today."

Jie chuckled shyly twice. I finally understood; she was overly excited. Not because of the special New Year's atmosphere, but because of this new relationship and new daily routine.

I'm afraid I'm not qualified to talk about her. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone against my usual practice and come to the New Year's shrine with her.

Back when we were still dating—oh, I need to correct that later—during junior high school, we didn't go to shrines together for New Year's.

Perhaps it was because neither Jie nor I liked crowded places, and we didn't have many opportunities to meet during winter break, so neither of us was too embarrassed to initiate the breakup. If I had sincerely prayed and sought divine intervention back then, maybe we wouldn't have ended up breaking up—

--Oh, damn it, I've developed a bad habit.

Looking back is pointless. Because we are no longer ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, but a genuine couple in a stable relationship.

Two bows, two claps, one bow.

We joined the crowd, lined up to donate money, and prayed earnestly.

Please bless our relationship so that it may last—that's all.

While I have considered praying for Isana's success as an illustrator, if my judgment is correct, she doesn't need to pray to gods or Buddhas given her talent. Although there's a saying, "Do your best and leave the rest to fate," if she really doesn't want to be rejected by fate, she should be the one to pray for it herself.

I think that so-called fate really depends on luck.

I've been tricked by fate to get to this point, trust me, you won't go wrong. No game relies more on luck than the bonds between people—so, I guess all I can do is pray for divine intervention. I'll tell God I'll try my best to hold onto this connection, so please, God, help me out.

Although I'm very resentful that I have to be so humble.

"Hey, shall we draw lots instead?"

After the worship, the woman asked me to go with her to queue at the shrine office. There we drew lots and exchanged slips of paper with divine pronouncements written on them with the shrine maiden (who was probably working there).

After leaving the office with it, Jie turned around and said:

"The shrine maiden from earlier was so cute!"

"Yeah, it's not bad."

"I'll come work here next year too."

I couldn't help but imagine what she looked like. The woman dressed in a red and white shrine maiden's outfit, her long black hair tied up in a bun—

"...That's so pretentious."

"What do you mean?!"

"It means you're too good for it."

The girl puffed out her cheeks and said:

"...Why don't you just say it directly?"

"I just feel that frankly praising the outfit of long black hair and a shrine maiden seems a bit thoughtless, and it's a little hard to say."

"Shut-ins have so many bad habits!"

With her looks and hairstyle, she would definitely look good in a shrine maiden outfit, but it lacks surprise and feels a bit less creative. Perhaps it's a habit she developed from assisting Isana with her creative activities… though it's not that I don't want to see shrine maiden outfits.

"Enough of that, let's look at the divination slip."

"You're the one who brought up the topic."

We each opened our own fortune slips together.

I am Xiao Ji, and Jie Nu is Mo Ji.

"...It's alright."

"……Well enough."

It seems that even if your personal life takes a major turn for the better, God won't be particularly lenient with you.

"Oh, right, did you know? I heard that the most important part of the divination slip is here, this short song written in the first half."

"Huh? Is that so?"

Almost everyone focuses their attention on things like love, business, or studies, and may never even notice that a short poem is written in one corner of the divination slip. There are dozens of versions of these short poems, and their content is a revelation from the gods—I saw this online.

"...So, it's unverified information?"

"You could say that, but thinking about it carefully, I really haven't noticed it."

"indeed……"

Now that you've remembered, let's take a closer look.

My divination slip reads:

The spring breeze warms the lake and melts the ice; beautiful scenery and flowers reflected in the water.

"...The ice has finally melted?"

The girl leaned over to look at my fortune slip and laughed as if she had caught me red-handed.

"Oh, who is this flower referring to? It says it's reflected on the melting lake surface?"

"...Stop being so vain."

The girl chuckled softly, in a very good mood. Seriously, that's enough! She was just casually writing a poem, yet she made me feel inexplicably embarrassed.

"Show me yours too!"

I grabbed her wrist and peered at the fortune slip.

The fortune slip for the woman reads:

The sea was calm, but suddenly a wind arose; towering white waves threatened the small boat.

"...This seems a bit dangerous."

A calm sea suddenly becomes stormy, and the small boat is in danger—that's probably the best way to interpret it. If this is an indication of the year's fortune, then it's truly unlucky. It turns out the auspicious days are actually later in the list than I imagined.

The woman quickly looked away from the divination slip and said:

"No, it's just a fortune-telling poem, why are you worrying about such superstitious things? How childish."

"It's not convincing to say something like that when you're looking uneasy."

I smiled and gently patted Jie Nu's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm on your boat too."

Jie Nu was startled and opened her eyes wide, staring at my face.

"...Did you say something cool?"

"what?"

"Are you trying to show off? Are you trying to show off because you've started dating? Are you just too excited and starting to be all smooth talk?"

"~~~~! It's not like it'll cause any problems, just mention it occasionally!"

Jie giggled happily. She always does this whenever she gets the chance! What a waste of my time trying to comfort her!

However, we never had such a conversation during junior high school.

We dated before, and then we broke up. But during that time, we didn't experience everything.

There are still many new experiences waiting for us.

Just thinking about this makes me realize that bickering a little isn't so bad.

Just as we tied the divination sticks to the tree branch and started discussing whether we should go home or take a detour...

"Huh? Isn't that Yuuko?"

Upon hearing the sound, we turned around and saw a tall, familiar-looking senior and a senior with a youthful hairstyle looking at us.

Irito Mizuto ◆ Watching people post lovey-dovey photos during the New Year

"Yukiko is also visiting the shrine for the New Year?"

A girl wearing a frayed coat and with her hair tied in pigtails—Senior Sister Ya Shuang—waved and pulled the tall boy beside her—Senior Senior Xing Bian—to walk towards us.

Senior Xingbian glanced at my face and said briefly, "Hi." I nodded in response.

"Ah... Senior Ya Shuang..."

Without making a sound, the woman took a step away from me.

"Are you here for New Year's prayers too, senior? What a coincidence!"

"Students from our school often come to this shrine~ I originally wanted to come early in the morning to see the New Year's Day sunrise~ but my senior said he couldn't get up~"

"The shrines on New Year's Day are cold and crowded, it's torture."

Hearing Xingbian's rude criticism, I silently agreed.

Senior Sister Ya Shuang grinned mischievously, looked up at Senior Brother Xing Bian's face, which was twenty centimeters taller than her, and said:

"You're always so stubborn. You must be so happy to see your lovely girlfriend during the Lunar New Year, right?"

"Ah—yeah, yeah, if a woman who keeps banging on your phone in the middle of the night can be called 'cute'."

"That's outrageous! I even wanted to pray to the gods to bless my senior!"

"I'm sorry, my decision to decline the nomination has already been made."

"Then why am I here to worship the gods?!"

It seems their relationship has progressed well since that trip. Although they don't seem to have changed much since before they started dating.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Perhaps she had finally thought of us, because Senior Sister Ya Shuang looked at us and thought for a moment, puzzled.

"Little Jiezi, you... came to the New Year's shrine with just your younger brother?"

"Ah—I guess so..."

Jie gave a vague answer, subtly averting her gaze. Senior Ya Shuang frowned even more, her eyes darting between us with hidden curiosity.

"...Could it be...?"

At that moment, Jie suddenly grabbed my arm.

"We still have chores to do, we have to go now!"

After saying that, she grabbed me and quickly fled towards the torii gate.

After passing through the torii gate and completely disappearing into the crowd, I turned around and said:

"Is that okay?"

It seems that Jie often confides her troubles to that senior student, so it shouldn't be a problem to confide in her...

"...just a little bit more."

Jie muttered something and quietly reached out to take my elbow.

"I want to... have you all to myself just a little while longer."

Then, she looked at me with a pleading gaze.

"OK?"

Before I knew it, I was staring at her face, completely mesmerized.

At that very moment, the answer was already decided.

"...There's nothing wrong with it."

"Hehe, thanks."

The girl gave me a meltingly gentle smile, and I felt too embarrassed to look any longer, so I looked away. You should always watch where you're going when you're walking.

...You want to have me all to yourself, right?

As I pondered this statement, I also thought about it in a corner of my mind.

That's what I say, but I've already told one person.