“Come to think of it, if you trip on these steps, they say you’ll die within three years.”
As they were climbing the stairs, Amaka cheerfully brought that up.
She had a fondness for this sort of curse and occult talk.
On the other hand, some people weren’t so fond of such topics.
“Eh? W-what is that…?”
Arisa’s face went pale.
Apparently quite frightened, she clung tightly to Yuzuru’s arm as if determined not to trip under any circumstances.
…If anything, that made Yuzuru more likely to fall.
“Hm? I think I’ve heard that before… maybe in some kind of picture book?”
Sei tilted his head curiously.
Now that he mentioned it, Yuzuru also felt like he’d heard something about “only living three more years” somewhere before.
If he remembered correctly…
“Isn’t that from the Three-Year Pass?”
Soichiro said.
“That’s it!” Sei exclaimed.
Yuzuru remembered too—it had been in a language textbook back in primary school.
“…I know that one as well. It scared me so much I couldn’t sleep at night.”
“Seriously…?”
Yuzuru looked puzzled at Arisa, whose face was still pale.
Sure, the beginning of the story was a bit scary—but it ended happily.
At the very least, it wasn’t something to lose sleep over.
“But I don’t think that story was about Kiyomizu-dera…”
Arisa’s question was answered by Ayaka.
“The Three-Year Pass is actually a Korean folktale. But, well, stories about being cursed after doing something three times exist everywhere, not just here. Who knows… maybe even a slope near you has something like that?”
With a teasing grin, Ayaka said that.
Arisa shuddered.
“…I’m going to avoid slopes from now on.”
Apparently, the story had traumatised her quite a bit.
(I wonder what would happen if she saw one of those ‘look at this three times and you die’ images online…)
Yuzuru was curious—but decided against it. She might actually believe it.
“Curses don’t exist. If they did, the Takasegawa family would’ve died out long ago.”
Chiharu said that with amusement.
Hearing that, Arisa looked up at Yuzuru anxiously.
“…A long time ago, the Takasegawa family was cursed—every last member of the clan.”
“D-does that include me…?”
“Who knows? The people who cast it would know best.”
As he said that, Yuzuru glanced at Chiharu.
She shrugged lightly.
“Don’t ask me. It wasn’t me—it was my ancestors. But if we’re being logical, you’d probably be included.”
She grinned.
Arisa looked worried.
“I-I don’t want to die…! I-is there anything we can do?”
“Even if you ask me… the ones who cast it are long gone. Besides, as you can see, Yuzuru-san is perfectly fine, and the Takasegawa family is thriving. So clearly, it doesn’t do anything.”
“In the end, curses are just in your head. You worry about them, and then you feel like something’s wrong. So… it’s best not to think about it too much, Arisa.”
With Yuzuru and Chiharu’s reassurance, Arisa seemed to relax a little.
A relieved expression appeared on her face.
Speaking of Kiyomizu-dera—
There’s the famous stage, known for the phrase “to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu.”
And another well-known attraction—
“Love fortunes, huh… do they actually work?”
Amaka said sceptically.
Within the temple grounds was Jishu Shrine, dedicated to matchmaking, and its love fortunes were quite famous.
“They’re said to be pretty accurate…”
Sei answered while looking at his phone.
Chiharu gave a small shrug.
Her expression practically said: curses, fortunes—it’s all nonsense.
She likely didn’t say it outright out of respect for the shrine.
“For us, there’s no need to draw one.”
“Right—we’re already a couple. And engaged, too.”
Arisa smiled brightly at Yuzuru’s comment.
Ayaka, however, smirked.
“Oh? You never know. It might tell you something about your future together.”
“You two only just had a silly argument recently. Might be worth drawing one.”
Both Yuzuru and Arisa frowned slightly.
It sounded as if they might argue again.
…Which they couldn’t entirely deny.
“Well, fortunes are less about prediction and more like advice from the gods. There’s no harm in trying. …Though most of them are pretty vague.”
At Chiharu’s words, Yuzuru and Arisa exchanged glances—
And nodded.
No harm in trying.
So, the seven of them each drew a love fortune.
The results—
“Oh, I got good luck…”
“Same here—good luck.”
Sei and Amaka spoke with mild excitement.
Not the best, but still decent.
“Oh! Great blessing! I knew it—must be my good behaviour.”
Chiharu sounded particularly pleased.
Despite claiming not to believe in such things, she clearly enjoyed a good result.
Apparently, she only believed in them when they were favourable.
“Half-blessing, huh… I was hoping for either great blessing or great curse.”
“Hmm, small blessing… anything between good and bad is hard to react to.”
Ayaka and Soichiro laughed awkwardly.
They didn’t seem to take it too seriously—just something for fun.
And then—
“S-sue-kichi…”
“…Same here. Sue-kichi.”
Yuzuru and Arisa both stiffened.
Not exactly a great result.
Not terrible either, since it wasn’t a curse—
But still…
“Chiharu-san… how bad is sue-kichi?”
Arisa asked anxiously.
Chiharu glanced at her fortune.
“Hmm… it means things aren’t great now, but they’ll improve later. If it gets better eventually, that’s basically a good outcome, isn’t it?”
“I-I see…”
Even with the reassurance, Arisa still looked a bit down.
She clearly took these things—especially bad results—quite seriously.
“Do you tie up bad fortunes here?”
“Yeah. Though… Yuzuru-san, you care about this sort of thing?”
“Hm? Ah… well, a little.”
At Chiharu’s surprised question, Yuzuru gave a vague smile.
In truth, while the Takasegawa family didn’t necessarily believe in such things, they still placed some importance on rituals and wishes.
“Do you feel like things are bad right now, then?”
“Eh? Of course not.”
“No, not at all.”
Yuzuru and Arisa both denied it quickly.
Seeing their reaction, Chiharu seemed to understand something and gave a wry smile.
“These things are written to apply to anyone. It’s better not to think too much about it.”
The two of them could only smile awkwardly.
