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The dining hall table was lavishly decorated with a celestial tablecloth, a crystal ball, and several other fortune-telling implements. The attendant of the booth found it perfect, just waiting for some lost soul to wander in to be whisked away to a world of whimsy.
And there he was, that grumpy red-haired sap, strolling in with his head down and his shoes dragging.
“Fuuta-kun! Fancy seeing you here!”
The warm greeting caught him off guard, leaving him vulnerable to the trap of a coy gaze. When he regained his composure, he snapped, “Oi, Mahiru! What the heck did you do with-”
“Come get a palm reading!” Mahiru placed her fingers delicately on the crystal ball and rested her chin on her knuckles.
“No way. I’m just passing by to get some jerky from the pantry. Don’t think there’s anything special about y-”
“So sour… You’ll never make friends like that.” She pouted and batted her eyelashes, the final blow that got her mark to concede and take a seat across the table.
“Fine, but only because I know you won’t leave me alone until I say yes.”
“Yay!” Mahiru clapped. “Now which is your dominant hand?”
“This one.” Fuuta held out his right hand. “I can tag with my left, though spray paint doesn’t-”
“A bit ambidextrous…” Mahiru clasped the outstretched hand. “That’s an admirable quality.”
The expertly crafted remark elicited a wonderfully flustered response, and the fingers curled in. “D-don’t make a big deal of it!”
Without giving Fuuta time to recover, Mahiru straightened his fingers and began tracing her thumb along the lines of his palm, starting with the topmost one.
“This is the heart line, which indicates one’s emotional expression. Yours is quite deep, which means you have very intense-”
“I think this is all a load of b-”
“Case in point!” She moved on to the middle line. “Now the head line marks one’s intellect and attitude-”
“Are you calling me a bonehead?”
“No, you made that conclusion all on your own!” Mahiru responded with a wink and a smirk.
Fuuta lowered his head, clearly trying to hide that his face was flushed. To further tease him, Mahiru squished the muscle below his thumb and the third line.
“Finally, the life line-”
“If you’re going to tell me I have a short lifespan or some sh-”
“Contrary to popular belief, the life line doesn’t actually indicate lifespan. Instead, it’s about one’s health and well-being.” She noticed the crease turning jagged and tapped it with her index finger. “Hm…”
“What? Is there something wrong?”
“Oh, my life line happens to break in the same spot!” Mahiru held her right palm in front of Fuuta’s face. “Could it be… fate?”
His expression flattened. “What the heck? Are you making up some-”
“And there are other things that can be inferred from the shape of the hand.” Mahiru traced her thumb along the edges of his palm. Then she pinched the base of his middle finger and drew her grip out to the fingertip.
“Square palm. Long fingers.” She turned his hand over and brushed his knuckles. “Prominent knuckles. Rough and dry skin. These are the characteristics of air hands.”
“If anyone’s an airhead, it’s you!”
“Calculating and practical, but quick to jump at change.”
“Y-you’re just pulling this from your stupid horoscope magazines, aren’t you?”
Mahiru nonchalantly lifted Fuuta’s hand so she could get a better look. She breathed gently on his knuckles, which were a mere twitch away from her lips.
“You may see it as folly, but I find immense joy in it!” She looked up at him and noticed his head was turned away. The tips of his ears were red. “Nervous, are you?”
“N-no… I… it’s that…” He shifted his face just enough for his shaky pupils to show.
“Never held a girl’s hand before?”
For once, that boisterous motormouth was struck speechless.
“Fuuta-kun, why don’t you… look at me?”
Slowly, he turned his head until his eyes were locked on Mahiru’s. A luminescent blush spread across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, the same color as his hair.
One more enticing grin with the underlying message, much better, was enough to summon the other hand.
Entranced, Fuuta brushed a stray hair out of Mahiru’s face and cupped her cheek. His palm covered a surprising amount of her face, and she leaned into it. It felt nice. She brought her right hand up and laced her fingers between his.
And she leaned closer. He did too. They closed their eyes as the distance closed between them.
And then their lips locked.