Ryou Saito .: + :. Day II .: + :. 1463



The word destiny with any of these people made Ryou want to cringe.

‘It was a mistake,’ he noted mentally as Karen approached the group after her little comment, ‘to come here. I should’ve stayed at home, or went…’ His eyes scanned the familiar group and stopped.

Rounding the corner were three more people. The girl, who had been attacked last night, the brat and Katsumi, or at least, Ryou thought that was her name. He couldn’t quite recall, that night on the train had been such a blur, all he wanted to do now was avoid any reminder of it.

Of course, his luck being the way it was, he had ran into everyone.

Abruptly, Ryou found his arm taken hostage by Kurosawa-san. He frowned, looking down at her with an expression which could’ve only been that of confusion, irritated and a little surprise. The girl grinned up at him, giving him wink before pointing towards the shop.

“Are we going to head in now?”

Ryou blinked. “Are you all here for the shop?”

Most, except for Sanya, nodded.

‘Joy oh bliss, please God; let this not be fate, destiny or anything in between, just a cruel joke.’ He mentally prayed as Yuki tugged him forward.

“Come on Saito-kun!”

‘Oh great…’ He gave her a sideways glance. ‘Now I have a suffix. I’m doomed.’

“Karen-chan!” She stopped and pointed at the shy girl. “You didn’t even notice I was here?”

“W-what?” She began to blush. “N-No Yuki! I noticed, I was just-“

“Staring at Ryou~”

She flushed red, and looked down, hiding her face. Ryou let out a sigh of annoyance.

“I’m sure she was just surprised to see us all.” Came a voice from behind. A couple of people turned, including Ryou, to see Birgitte standing there, a small, soft smile on her face. “Anyways, if we’re all here why I think we are. Let’s go inside.”


The shop was sketchy at best. Inside looked like an old book store, lacking the books. The lightning in this place was dim and all sorts of odds and ends were everywhere. Ryou frowned, gently tugging his arm free, Yuki and him parted, interested in opposing sides of the store. Dust gently fluttering in the beams of light from the dying bulbs in the ceiling, and one of the shelves wobbled when Kutsuu touched it.

“Do all shops look like this?” Sanya questioned from behind.

Ryou frowned. “No, most are…” He ran a finger on the shelf and noted the dust on his fingertip. “Clean and modern… Not like this.”

‘For a new store…’ The man thought. ‘It looks like it’s been here for ages…’

As he rounded the corner, Ryou spotted Karen, who had seemingly found one of the few books actually in this place. He moved up beside her as she examined the worn-out, peeling cover. The picture it had was faded, but both of them could just see the faint outline of a heart. He tilted his head somewhat as she opened it to the middle, perhaps maybe just to get a feel for it.

Only neither of them could, because it was written in strange symbols. It wasn’t any language as far as he could recognize, maybe it was ancient and was left over from the last shop that had been here.

“D-Do you recognize the symbols?” She asked nervously.

“No.” He replied, and changed the page to more towards the end. The symbols were there, along with pictures that made absolutely no sense. “… I don’t think anyone will.”

Suddenly though, the book was plucked from her hands. Both of them looked up to see a rather shady looking man holding the falling apart reading material. His suit was a dark grey, along with his eyes. His smile was something capable of sending shivers down the spine of children, and his hair looked a tad greasy, making it shine in the dim light.

“That my dear customers, is not for sale, I’m sorry to say.” He pivoted easily on one vote and moved behind the warped desk at the back. Gently he placed it on the counter. “I’m surprised to see so many here, and so many young. What brings you my lovely little shop?” His eyes shot to Yuki, and a sly smile appeared. “Destiny, perhaps?”

Ryou blinked. ‘Alright… That’s creepy…’

“What exactly does this shop specialize in?” Katsumi questioned, coming up behind Birgitte and moving past.

“Nothing.”

Everyone was quiet.

“Nothing?” Naomi asked, though Ryou believed it was more to herself.

“Yes, nothing.” The man grinned. “Call it a shop of chance and delight. You roll the die and see what you get here, sometimes it’s good.” He gestured to the book. “Sometimes…” His eyes scanned the group and then focused at the darkness behind him. “It’s bad.”

Ryou rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Not interested in this crap in the least.

“My dear sir, are you not interested in what my shop has to offer?”

He was nearing the door now. “Nope.”

“Even if what I had was the cure?”

That made him stop, abruptly, the words echoing in his head. ‘Cure?’ Ryou thought, narrowing his eyes. There was no way on Earth that this man could know anything about that.

“A cure for all your problems.” Came the man again, as if answering his mental query.

Slowly he turned, glaring at the man. “What then?”

The man almost seemed to dance in happiness at the renewed interest. He reached into a drawer of the desk and brought out a piece of rolled up black fabric. Ryou moved to the front, watching as the clerk unrolled the fabric and revealed a set of very odd keychains.

“A keychain?” Came the voice of the brat, who Ryou had to agree with. “How does that cure anything? How stupid do you think we are?”

“Now now,” The clerk smiled. “These keychains are lucky.”

“Lucky?” Hotaru-san questioned a note of disbelief in her voice.

“Yes.” He held up one of the keychains, which ended in a small, old fashion lantern that had a dim glow to it. “A light in the darkness; when you need it most.”

Her expression seemed to change to distant, as if recalling something as she stared at the chain.

“It won’t hurt to pick one will it?” He smiled, it had a sort of warmth to it, but Ryou still didn’t trust him. “You may all pick one for free, as a show of good faith. If they do nothing for you, then nothing lost. But on the off chance they do manage to bring you luck; I believe I’ll be seeing all of you again.”

Hotaru-san picked first, she took the latern from the man and stared at it with that same distant expression.

“Are you okay?” Ryou questioned, as the others went to pick.

“Hm?” She looked up at him and then back at the keychain. “Oh, fine. Just something he said.”

“Yeah…” The man shot a glare at the creep behind the counter. “He has a way with words.”

She smiled a tad. “Aren’t you going to pick one?”

“I’ll just take the one that’s left over.” He shrugged. “I don’t believe a word this guy says.”

“Saito-san,” Came the voice of Karen. “Y-You haven’t picked yet.”

He turned and looked at the fabric. There was only one left, one with a black chain and a large sort of dark eye on the end with a snake like pupil. Ryou shrugged and plucked it off, twirling it in his hand for a second before connection it to his keys.

“Happy?”

The clerk smiled. “Delighted.” He glanced at the odd, rusted clock on the wall. “Oh, time flies it seems. It’s lunch time for me, have a nice day!”


Outside the store, Ryou shrugged and looked around. He was hungry, and there were shops all around them. The man turned to Sanya, who was staring at her keychain intently. “You hungry?”

She looked up at him and almost beamed. “Yes! I haven’t eaten since…” She trailed off. “I’m just really hungry…”

He smirked but it faded as he looked down to see Yuki once again clinging to his arm. “Food you say?” She smiled.

“Hn.” He grunted in response, and noted the small smile growing on Sanya’s face. She was finding this far too amusing.

“Kutsuu! Karen! Come on, we’re getting something to eat with Saito-kun.”

Slowly, the idea of food transferred to everybody, and Ryou found his irritation level at a new found high for today. With a heavy sigh he moved, unintentionally becoming the leader of a rather large group of odd-balls and misfits.

‘It’s going to be one of those days…’

.: + :.


Lunch time. :3 Time to eat peoples, carry on and have fun~