The Bunny Girl Fortune Teller
The original heroine of Romance Tale, Melia. A commoner with no noble surname whatsoever. Her kindness toward everyone, her pure and untainted innocence, and that truly beautiful smile of hers had captured the hearts of the noble male students at the Academy in an instant. She was a woman with a magical charm. Despite being a commoner, her exceptional talent for magic had allowed her to enroll in the Academy, where nobles made up the vast majority. She often blended her magic with her tarot reading skills to put on little magic shows, quickly drawing people's attention. But rather than a femme fatale, she gave off more of a harmless quokka or capybara vibe. Maybe it was because she was the player character and they couldn't make her personality too sharp, but whether you played as a male lead or as Melia herself, she got along well with everyone and never tried to leverage her popularity for personal gain. With her great affinity for people, that pretty smile, and the fact that she never flaunted her face or figure, Melia was known more for her pure, innocent image—like a pink quokka—than for anything sexy.
Which was exactly why seeing her right now, working as a tarot reader in a casino while wearing a bunny girl outfit that left her bare legs completely exposed without even stockings, was an absolute shock. Even though this was definitely our first meeting, I unconsciously acted like I knew her. At that moment, Melia tilted her head slightly to the side.
“Hmm…? Have we met before? Ah…! If I’ve forgotten your face, I’m so sorry! I see so many people every day that…”
I finally snapped out of it and shook my head.
“No… I think I was mistaken. You just look a lot like someone I know.”
“Ah, I see! Well, since you’re here, would you like a tarot reading? Considering my skill level, the price is very reasonable! We accept both mana stones and shillings! And…”
Melia glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then leaned in and whispered.
This girl’s trying to commit tax evasion.
Anyway, it was true that her tarot readings in the game were incredibly accurate. She had a habit of reading her own fortune every day, and in the game, her readings served as a kind of milestone for various events. A good reading meant your favorability with the male lead you wanted that day would rise more easily, while a bad one meant you’d get tangled up with Amari, that sort of thing.
Since this was a famous resort, the price for tarot readings here was actually quite high compared to other places. But considering Melia’s real skill, what she said wasn’t wrong—it really was a bargain.
When I froze for a moment at this completely unexpected encounter and couldn’t respond, Melia seemed to think I was hesitating because of the price or doubting her abilities. She let out a small huff and stepped forward to the table.
“You’re the one serving the Imperial Princess who rented out this place for a few days, right? If you’re hesitating because of the price or if you think I’m just some clumsy person who spouts vague nonsense that could apply to anyone, then let me change your mind! I’ll give you one reading for free as a service, so please take a seat!”
Melia approached to offer me the chair. As she walked, her two enormous melons jiggled heavily, and I quickly averted my eyes. Seeing a character I never expected to encounter in my entire life working in a casino wearing a bunny girl outfit created a massive sense of cognitive dissonance.
After sitting me down at the table, Melia returned to her seat across from me with a confident expression and asked,
“Alright, ask me anything you’re curious about! I’ll give you one free reading for any question!”
“Hmm, I haven’t really thought of anything… Uh… Then how about reading my fortune for today?”
“Hehe. That’s a very easy question!”
Melia spread the cards out with a flourish and chanted a short incantation, activating her magic. A levitation spell took hold, and the cards laid out on the table floated gently upward. More than seventy cards hovered before me, all face down. While I instinctively copied the flow of mana and stored it in my head, the cards floating in the air gathered into one spot, shuffled at incredible speed, then dropped back onto the table in neat rows.
“Now, pick any three cards in order! Or I can choose them randomly for you! Um… May I ask your name, sir…?”
“Aran.”
“Then I’ll read today’s fortune for Sir Aran! And if you think it was accurate after hearing it, you should introduce me to the people you came with, okay?”
“Sure. Uh… Just pick any cards for me.”
“Got it! Then I, Melia, shall guide you with the hand of fate!”
When I crossed my arms, Melia used her magic to shuffle the deck in an instant. As the cards whirled, three of them slid out from the deck face down onto the table one by one. Once the selection was complete, the remaining cards flew back through the air with a flourish and returned to Melia’s deck.
With three cards left on the table in order, Melia smiled and placed her hand over them.
“Alright then, the one and only famous Melia will now begin a special free service reading Sir Aran’s fortune for today! Are you ready?”
When I nodded, Melia murmured an extremely short incantation. Without even touching it, the first card flipped over, and at the same time, Melia’s eyes widened.
“Ooh…! The Wheel of Fortune in the upright position! That’s quite an impressive card for a daily reading, isn’t it?”
“What does this card mean?”
Even though I had played the game so much, I didn’t know the specifics of how Melia read daily fortunes. I had just accepted whatever the game told me.
“The first card represents the past. The Wheel of Fortune means that a great wheel of fate has already begun to turn. The very fact that you, Sir Aran, have come here can be seen as a tremendous twist of destiny. It doesn’t seem like you came here just to have fun—you must be here to do something very important, right? I’ve done thousands upon thousands of daily readings, but I’ve never seen the Wheel of Fortune come up as the first card.”
This place really is legit. I shrugged and reached for the second card.
“Then what does the second card mean?”
“It represents the present situation guided by the past. After that massive wheel of fate rolled forward, you arrived here, Sir Aran! What meaning does the present hold for someone like you? Here we go!”
As the second card flipped over, it revealed a winged angel in the center with a naked man and woman standing on either side. The moment she saw it, Melia’s pupils shook violently.
“Th-this… Why is this coming up…? It was supposed to be a daily reading…?”
She was genuinely flustered; she even started stuttering.
“What’s this card?”
“The Lovers… in the upright position… That card should only come up when reading about romance…? I definitely did a daily reading, so why is this… And both of the first two cards are Major Arcana—Wheel of Fortune and The Lovers…?”
“Hey, I asked what the card means.”
When I called out to the muttering, shell-shocked Melia, she belatedly came back to her senses and answered in a trembling voice.
“The second card represents the present… This is The Lovers… When reading about romance, it points to sexual attraction, excitement, or fate with a romantic partner, but when it appears in a daily reading, The Lovers means… partnership, an important choice, or a companion. But the fact that the Wheel of Fortune came before it… Sir Aran, did you happen to have a specific person in mind before the reading?”
“No? Not really.”
“A great fate that began long ago has led you here, and here you will meet someone with whom you will share that fate. Hmm, I’ve never seen such heavy cards appear in a daily reading, let alone in this combination, so I can’t quite grasp the thread yet… Then I’ll reveal the third card!”
“The first was the past, the second the present, so this one’s the future?”
Melia nodded at my question.
“Correct! It represents the future fate that will appear before you, Sir Aran! Honestly, I’m a bit confused, but I, Melia, have never once failed to read and interpret the cards! Now, the third card!”
When Melia flipped the third card, a picture of an angel blowing a trumpet appeared.
“This is impossible!!!”
The moment she saw it, Melia screamed and slammed her hands on the table as she shot to her feet.
“What is it?”
“Judgement… Resurrection, salvation, tremendous news or reunion… This is absolutely not a card that should appear in something as light as a daily reading…”
Melia’s gaze darted to the previous two cards, and she frantically ran her hands over them.
“If I shrink the meaning as much as possible, it could mean receiving long-awaited contact or reuniting with someone from the past… but the presence of the first two cards completely prevents that kind of downscaling. How could this result even happen…? There’s no way I misread the cards…?”
Melia muttered as she frantically scanned all three cards. The result must have been incredibly shocking, because she completely forgot she was in the middle of a free one-time service and kept examining the cards like she had lost her mind.
“A massive wheel of fate has led you from the past through the present to this very moment and place, bringing you face to face with an important connection, and that bond will bring about salvation in its literal sense…? Why is something like this coming up in a daily reading? All three cards are Major Arcana in the upright position, and they’re cards that should never appear in a daily fortune…?”
With trembling hands, Melia picked up The Lovers card.
“Then who is this connection? The Imperial Princess you came with…? No, that wouldn’t be a new connection. Then our boss…? But I don’t think that person has ever lived in the capital… Who on earth could it be? Wait, the person who drew these cards…”
Half out of her mind, Melia looked up and pointed at me.
“Sir Aran, you must have been thinking of someone specific when you drew these cards earlier! Otherwise there’s no way a reading like this would—”
“I didn’t draw the cards, though?”
At my words, Melia froze on the spot.
“……Huh?”
“I told you to pick any cards you wanted, so you randomly drew them yourself.”
“………!!!”
Melia’s eyes trembled wildly as her pupils suddenly contracted.
“N-now that you mention it… the person who drew this absurdly powerful reading was… me…? Then… does that mean I chose all of this fate? So the person the reading indicated as the destined connection… is… me…?”
“No matter how you look at it, it’s just a reading. Don’t you think you’re reading way too much into it?”
Her condition looked strange, so even though I knew Melia’s tarot readings were extremely accurate, I deliberately said something else. But Melia shook her head vigorously.
“No! My readings have never been wrong before! But this… Ah, it seems… this is the first mistake I’ve made in my life. I’m truly sorry, Sir Aran. I don’t think I can continue operating the tarot booth today. It looks like my condition is quite poor. I’m sorry for wasting your time.”
Melia led me outside the booth, bowed deeply, and then pulled the tent flap shut.
Having been ushered back into the casino lobby, I stroked my chin while staring at Melia’s now-closed tarot booth.
“I don’t know why she’s doing this here at this particular time, but the reading seems accurate. I thought I just had to protect Serena well, but it looks like I might end up with one more person to guard.”
And the very next day proved that my hunch was not wrong.