Persona 5 x persona 4

chapter 9

November 24 Thursday

The streets of Shinjuku were busy as always as Yu followed Ren through the streets. Naoto's small stature could have easily been lost in the sea of the crowd, but luckily the detective was quite familiar at tailing people. Yu saw Ren dart off into an alley and quickly followed after him. The alley was fairly barren except for a woman sitting at a small table, a deck of Tarot cards in front of her. As soon as they entered the alley the woman locked eyes with Ren and had a surprised look on her face.

"Ren-kun!?" She quickly got to her feet almost knocking over the table as she stood. Ren quickly made a slick move to stop the table from being tossed to the ground.

"I need a fortune, Mifune-san" Ren curtly said as he moved to sit down at the table in front of the woman.

"A fortune, really?" Naoto seemed to grumble, but she didn't see what Yu saw, this woman was clearly a confidant of Ren's.

The fortune teller glanced towards Yu and Naoto with an uneasy look which Ren quickly picked up on. "Don't worry about them." Ren announced.

"Okay Ren-kun... Which type of fortune can I do for you?" Chihaya Mifune let a smile grow on her face as she picked up the tarot cards.

"A special fate reading." Ren calmly announced.

"Alright then!" Chihaya placed the cards out in a familiar pattern before slowly flipping them over one by one. There was a silence as she read the cards before her. "Trickster, you have evaded death once, but it would appear it is still on your heels. You have gained new friends that will help you. They will prove invaluable in the future. There is a problem in your near future, but it will be solved today."

Ren nodded as if almost expecting this reading. Yu had to admit it sounded pretty accurate with the information he had about Ren. Maybe this simple fortune teller held more power than it would first appear. Ren had seemed to be putting quite a bit of trust in her abilities. Also the fact she called him Trickster was a note that really hit home for Yu.

Ren took a deep breath before pointing to Yu. "Can you do his fortune? I'll pay the standard price for him."

Chihaya looked towards Yu before picking up her cards and once again. "Sir, can you please take a seat?" She gestured to the seat before her as Ren took one next to her.

Despite Naoto's scoff, Yu took a seat in front of the fortune teller. Naoto took a few steps forward to stand behind him, clearly not hiding her skepticism at the woman's abilities to predict anything. Yu didn't blame Naoto. For her everything could be explained with enough facts, even the fact they were persona users. Yu however, got the distinct impression the woman before him had powers that weren't something Naoto would be able to explain easily. Slowly the woman before him placed down Tarot cards and carefully flipped them over.

"You're a strong leader and have faced much adversity, but you are deeply scared of being alone so you keep those around you close." Chihaya started as she slowly flipped over cards. "You came here to solve a mystery but it would appear your fate became closely tied to the trickster because of this." For a second her eyes flickered to Ren before she looked back at the cards and slowly flipped over the last ones. "You will find some victories in the near future but..." Her face contorts slightly. "There is an unseen danger lurking, for death is on your heels as well." Chihaya looked to Ren. "You keep some strange company Ren-kun."

"Thank you Mifune-san, that's all I wanted to know." Ren said as he paid the fortune teller.

Naoto stared at the table as if analyzing it. Yu got up, his own mind going over what the Fortune teller told him. Unseen danger. The words just echoed in his head before he dismissed them and bowed to the fortune teller. He would dwell on those words later, but for now there was much too do. Ren threw his bag over his shoulder and looked at the two adults.