The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 293 Cat Pago (6) - The Fortune Teller "Ta-da!! The diary I promised!" Popuri looked at what Hinosaka held out with a dubious expression. Slightly larger than two palms put together. The red leather cover, worn and blackened as if it had faced the storms of time head-on, showed off a bizarre texture that at first glance looked not like animal hide but like it was patched together from bandages that had wrapped ancient mummies. Strange lustrous metal pieces were clustered all over the cover forming geometric patterns, and if you watched carefully, you'd get the illusion that metal worms were writhing. "How is it, how is it? Doesn't it look super atmospheric?" It certainly did have an atmosphere. The problem was that the atmosphere was more like a grimoire than a diary. "Um, well, Hinosaka? I think I just asked for a sturdy diary." "Yeah! That's why I picked a sturdy one! They said even if you hit someone's head with it, the leather won't get a single scratch!" Why would you use hitting someone's head as an example to explain a diary's durability? "My grandmother runs an antique shop! When I asked if there were any good items, she personally picked this out! How is it?" "I-I see." Popuri, who had been thinking of asking whether she'd been scammed by some con artist at a strange shop, hurriedly shut her mouth. If she tried making disparaging remarks about family against the school's top socialite, Popuri would be socially dead. Even if Hinosaka herself brushed it off casually, the people around would kill her with things like 'Hey, did you hear? About Hanamori.' 'What? How could she say that to Hinosaka?' "Do you not like it by any chance? Should I go buy a different one?" "No, no! It's fine! I really like it!!" Popuri hurriedly received the grimoire... no, the diary. Hinosaka smiled broadly as if relieved, and seeing that face, Popuri also laughed awkwardly, going "haha." Right, well. What if it looks a bit bizarre? The request to get a diary in the first place was just something she asked for casually to relieve Hinosaka's feeling of being in debt, since she would continue feeling indebted if no compensation was requested at all. She could get a new diary anytime, so she'd try using this one first and replace it later if it really bothered her. It was then that Popuri let out a small sigh. "Oho, quite a good item. Not bad for compensation, huh?" Next to Popuri, who was at the edge of the classroom. That is, at the voice that came from the window side, Popuri's body stiffened with a jolt. Creak, creak, as she turned her head to the side, the white cat with heterochromatic eyes was sitting on the windowsill, calmly looking at her and the diary. Gape, gape. Popuri's mouth repeatedly opened and closed several times. Popuri, who was about to ask why on earth he was here, soon got chills. Just now, just now! With Hinosaka here, the cat spoke human words!! When Popuri urgently looked at Hinosaka, she had her eyes wide open. Popuri despaired, thinking she was doomed, but only for a moment. "Wow, woah!! What?! What's with this cat?! It's super pretty!! No, handsome!!" At Hinosaka's joyful voice, the students who turned their gazes wondering what was happening each let out exclamations of admiration. "Oh, what. Its eyes are heterochromatic? That's really interesting." "Didn't you know? Heterochromatic eyes are common in cats originally. Especially white ones." "But this one, how should I put it, does look quite noble." One of the students reached out as if enchanted to pet Pago, but Pago casually avoided that touch and settled firmly on top of Popuri's head. "You really have no reservations about physical contact with someone you're meeting for the first time. I suppose it's due to the characteristics of the creature called a cat, but it must be quite taxing." This crazy cat!! You can't talk!! Popuri screamed inwardly, but soon felt puzzled. Despite the cat so openly speaking human words, the surrounding students only admired Pago's appearance and made no comment whatsoever about the speech. "To people other than you, it'll sound like meowing at most. You don't think I would speak without considering that, do you?" 'How am I supposed to know that!!' "You have the face of someone who wants to say how are you supposed to know that. You should have figured it out yourself." Popuri seriously contemplated whether it would be a crime to grab that annoying cat's tail and slam it on the desk. But since she was a gentle high school girl, she decided against it. It absolutely wasn't because she was being mindful of the people around her. At that moment, the class bell rang and with the sound of the door opening, the teacher in charge of the class entered the classroom. The students who had gathered around Popuri each returned to their seats, and Pago also jumped out the window. "Now, uh... Everyone open your textbooks to page 142. Continuing from last time, um... It's time to go into classical poetry...? Uh... The reason the author here set the speaker as, well... a woman banished from the Heavenly Realm is... um... to substitute and express loyalty to the king as love between man and woman, uh... we said... Everyone underline it..." The voice of the teacher in charge, who had a tendency to drawl his words slowly, was in itself a stronger drug than any sleeping pill. Despite it still being morning class, the students' eyes became hazy, and students swaying their heads increased here and there. Just as Popuri was also struggling, forcing her stiffening eyes wide open. —Meooow! A cry sharper and more piercing than usual. Already having trouble concentrating on class and now being disturbed on top of that, an irritated Popuri turned her gaze out the window nervously, trying to find Pago's location. But what Popuri found was not the figure of that annoying white cat. Beyond the window, toward the school flower bed. A man stood there with his hood pulled low and his face covered with a mask. A leg extended forward and an arm pulled back greatly. Right after recognizing that this was a preparatory motion for throwing something, Popuri moved almost reflexively. Scraaape!! She roughly pushed her chair and stood up, grabbed the thick curtain tied next to the window frame, and pulled it hard with her full weight. At the very moment the curtain covered the classroom window and completely blocked the view. Crash—!! Clang!! A terrible ear-splitting crash swallowed the peaceful classroom. Glass fragments shattered to pieces by the flying rock. What should have been scattered wildly into the classroom instead hit the thick curtain that Popuri had pulled at the last moment with thuds, losing their momentum and falling helplessly to the floor. "Kyaaaaaah!!" "What, what!! What's happening!!" "The window's broken!!" In the classroom that had instantly turned into chaos, Popuri breathed roughly while gripping the curtain tightly. It was a terrible moment when, if she had been just a little late, glass would have poured onto the faces of herself sitting by the window or the children around her. From somewhere outside the classroom, shouts of "That bastard's running away!! Catch him!!" echoed, and the classroom was divided between children trying to get away from the window and those approaching the window to see what had happened. "Shit, I almost got my face cut up!!" "Hey! Your reaction speed is killer!!" "Hanamori! Are you okay!? Are you hurt anywhere?" "Someone take her to the infirmary!!" "I-I'm fine." After trying to calm down the classmates who were frantically talking to her, Popuri glanced through the gap in the curtain. Seeing the white cat's tail swaying, she felt a sense of relief for some reason. *** Fortunately, the culprit was soon caught. Several police officers came to the school, and with some teachers stepping forward for cooperation and testimony, classes naturally turned into self-study. Of course, in this situation, if they just quietly studied with no one watching, they wouldn't be spirited students. "So what was that person anyway?" "Who knows? The teachers don't tell us anything, so how could we know?" "Could it be, you know? 'The Fortune Teller.'" "The Fortune Teller? What's that?" "Ah! I think I've heard of that!" As the students gathered together, one student began to tell the story. *** ─When walking alone on a deserted path late at night, you sometimes encounter a fortune teller completely covered in a purple robe from head to toe. The fortune teller recommends that the passerby get their fortune told, but if they ignore this and just continue on their way, he mocks the passerby while arbitrarily telling them about the misfortune they'll experience in the future. No matter how careful the passerby is after hearing this and feeling uneasy, that event will definitely happen somehow. You might think then just getting your fortune told would solve it, but this has its own problems too. This fortune teller demands actions rather than money as payment for the fortune telling, and those actions are all malicious without exception. For example, things like 'Tonight, go scatter chicken blood in front of someone's front door' or 'During rush hour, densely attach thumbtacks with tape to the subway stair handrails where many people pass.' Complete crazy acts that harm or hurt others. If you don't pay that price because your conscience bothers you or you're scared? Then truly unimaginable terrible destruction comes to the person who got their fortune told. That's right, exactly. Essentially, from the moment you meet the fortune teller, there are only two choices. Either you bear the misfortune yourself, or you inflict misfortune on others. Isn't that really vicious? Could it be that the crazy guy who threw the stone at our classroom was also caught by the Fortune Teller and forced to do strange actions?