After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

The wedding had taken everything out of Kagura Hikaru, and for a moment, he thought his pants might just wear out from all the friction.

Now he was certain who had been sneaking strokes on him because, under the table, those two restless legs had started off not sharing their plunder evenly, even getting into a scuffle. Kagura Hikaru clearly saw Kiryu Hina and Kohinata Suse, who were seated together wearing casually elegant smiles, but each time she gestured, she twitched slightly.

If he hadn't noticed by now, Kagura Hikaru might as well gouge out his eyes.

Among the high school girls at this table, only Ayakoji Chiyoko was the honest one, though midway she too caught on to her two "friends'" odd behaviors, looking at them with suspicion.

Luckily, before she deciphered the mystery, the two had already struck a secret foot deal under the table, agreeing basically to a non-interference shared usage policy.

Kagura Hikaru was in pain yet felt bliss.

As a man, having beauties rub his leg was of course joyful, but the problem was neither of these lovely girls was easy to handle. The aftermath of the last time he provoked them was still vivid in his mind, like a crime scene repeatedly replayed in his memory.

If he couldn't find a wife in the future, there'd certainly be some reasons attributed to the psychological scars they'd left him.

Moreover, Kagura Hikaru saw no point in their actions.

It was one thing for Kohinata Suse, given her obsessive nature, but Kiryu Hina had been living with him long enough to get his hints. Was she playing dumb?

Kagura Hikaru responded with resignation.

All he thought about now was graduating peacefully and later becoming someone useful to society. He shunned thoughts of romance.

Kiryu Hina seemed to think she had him figured out, that he was helpless against her, which was somewhat true... right now, Kagura Hikaru had no desire for intimate relationships, nor did he wish to unnecessarily resist others.

To put it in a slightly cheesy way, he wanted to be friends with those around him, but nothing more, especially with the three girls present. Aligning with one would only turn the others cold, so better to maintain the status quo.

Kiryu Hina seemed to disapprove of him being so passive, but she probably didn't know yet—Kagura Hikaru's dad was soon concluding his business trip abroad and coming home. Once he moved out of the Kiryu Family's place, her chances to cause mischief would greatly decrease.

Plus, frankly speaking, Kagura Hikaru was a bit too preoccupied to care about minor issues at the moment.

The wedding came to a close, and Xiaosong Lisha and Kiryu Masaki personally bade each guest farewell, chatted with family members for a bit, and then "entered the bridal chamber."

Luckily, the wedding venue was a hotel, so convenient.

They planned to romance through to dawn today, obviously not returning home.

Thus, Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina, the two kids, had to take the train home by themselves.

The trip was unusually quiet.

Kiryu Hina didn't know what was wrong with Kagura Hikaru—who started daydreaming as soon as he sat down on the train, unresponsive to whatever she said, eventually she too lost interest in making conversation, mimicking Kagura Hikaru's distant gaze before awkwardly turning to her phone.

The train rumbled into life, sounding as if it hadn't been lubricated enough, and created an especially grating noise, causing all the passengers, including her, to frown.

Yet Kagura Hikaru wasn't affected, still with half-closed eyes, motionless, completely out of touch.

It was only after more than five minutes that he suddenly shook himself awake, silent, rubbing the back of his head.

Kiryu Hina noticed but thought he was merely lost in thoughts and didn't take it seriously.

But Kagura Hikaru kept staring blankly at the train floor, an indication that this was not something simple...

Back home.

"Do you want to shower first?" Kiryu Hina asked as she changed her shoes upon entering the door.

"You go ahead." Kagura Hikaru replied.

"Okay then."

Back in the room, Komori Ai suddenly appeared, in a fluttering red dress, hands behind her and bouncing up to Kagura Hikaru with her big eyes fixed on him, her face wearing a hugely amused grin.

"You were 'Spiritually Communicating' again just now, weren't you? Hehe, what did you see this time?"

Kagura Hikaru pursed his lips, a mysterious flash passed through his eyes, "I saw you asking me that question, and by the way, that's not called spiritual communication."

"Tsk—so boring. Can't you look at something interesting? Like how you'll look when you're old and dead."

"You're cursing me to die?"

"Everyone dies, big brother. Hahaha."

"I can't control those images."

"That's why it's boring!" Komori Ai pouted and flopped onto the bed, lifting her slender legs and kicking at the ceiling.

For her, it was a matter of being interesting or boring, but for Kagura Hikaru himself, it was different; he was seriously distressed.

This new ability had already brought him trouble.

Let me explain. Actually, before the wedding started, Kagura Hikaru had obtained a third new ability through mind-reading.

The previous guess was correct. Golden Finger granted abilities in an odd sequence of maximum-level skills. During the time Kagura Hikaru spent investigating the character of Kiryu Masaki, he used mind-reading on some related persons, and accidentally reached maximum level on the fifth skill—[Judo lv5 (non-upgradable)].

That didn't matter much to Kagura Hikaru; he wasn't particularly concerned about it, nor did he deliberately avoid it, after all, it didn't have any drawbacks.

But this time, his lowered guard dug a big hole for him, and he stepped right into it, unaware.

Because the new ability, unlike the previous 'mind-reading images' and 'truth detection', was useful but had inescapable side effects.

To get to the point, the ability Kagura Hikaru obtained this time was 'predict future.'

It was exactly what it sounded like, without any exaggeration: he could receive memory fragments from the perspective of a third party in the future, whose accuracy had already been verified.

It sounded powerful, but it had many flaws.

One was that the future images he saw were completely random and uncontrollable. They included everything; some weren't even about Kagura Hikaru himself. He had seen an old man in a red hat being shot during a speech, witnessed white-jerseyed players lifting the World Cup trophy, and more often than not, just mundane daily scenes.

Afterward, he would inexplicably gain random experience in a skill, unrelated to the prophetic vision.

The key issue was that the timing of this ability activation wasn't certain—it could happen anytime.

Maybe while using the toilet, maybe while reading a book, maybe while sleeping—at any time, anywhere.

Just now, while daydreaming on the streetcar, his consciousness was pulled away to watch a prophecy; he saw himself and Kohinata Motoyo walking along the street in school uniforms.

It was just a very ordinary clip, yet it made him space out for several minutes.

This was another, and the biggest, downside of the new ability—his body lost consciousness when the ability activated.

The vision of the prophecy itself only lasted a few seconds, but when he came back to his senses, he would find that several minutes had passed. To outsiders, it looked like he was just standing there, daydreaming.

It was somewhat like those patients with narcolepsy; he couldn't be sure when he would "fall asleep." This uncontrollable feeling was terrible.

This problem of spacing out, though minor compared to becoming a prophet, was a price he'd rather not pay. He wasn't living in a perilously fantastical world; why would he need to know so much about the future?

With sufficient knowledge, he could control his own fate.

Moreover, having gained the ability to predict the future, he didn't think his fate was more under control.

On the contrary, Kagura Hikaru felt as if fate was grasping his throat; he could almost feel the invisible shackles tightening around his neck, as if a ripe fruit was reaching its harvesting season.

This mysterious thought frightened him.

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Maybe he should reevaluate this Golden Finger.

Is it a blessing or a curse?