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

Indeed, predicting the future is a powerful ability, and it's unquestionably a bug-level feature even in a game, likened to a cheat if it were to appear in an anime protagonist.

But it happened to manifest in an almost danger-free ordinary world, and the side effects it brought were unbearable for the ordinary Kagura Hikaru.

The timing of the prophecy's activation was uncertain, and during its activation, his body would completely lose consciousness for several minutes.

No one could predict when he would suddenly zone out; if it happened on the street and he got hit by a car because of it, it wouldn't be surprising, and it was inconvenient in daily life too.

Before long, everyone would think he had a brain disease, otherwise why would he zone out so often and be unable to be awakened, evidently abnormal.

However, even with an understanding of the consequences, Kagura Hikaru had no way to cope because he couldn't find a way to turn the ability off.

The Golden Finger that had always been viewed as a handy tool now seemed to reveal its dark side, starting to become repulsive.

Was this a punishment for his wanton use of abilities? If it wasn't for overusing mind-reading, this new ability wouldn't have emerged.

Speak of the devil.

No sooner had Kagura Hikaru thought about this new ability than he suddenly fell into the state of prophecy again.

Without any warning, it was like being swallowed by darkness instantly.

The next second, Kagura Hikaru's consciousness found itself within a fragment of prophecy, observing the future world from a first-person perspective.

It was a strange experience, like watching a VR movie, being there but also not.

This time, the prophetic scene was quite mundane; for a change, he saw himself, sitting with his back to the room's desk, reading a light novel.

The first time he saw himself in a prophecy, Kagura Hikaru found it quite awkward, as if he had turned into a ghost, watching a person who had possessed his body move about in the human world.

But after seeing it many times, he got used to it. The details of his words and actions in the footage were exactly like his own; that was him.

Seeing his own future in a prophecy was actually quite rare; most of the time, Kagura Hikaru saw random, irrelevant things. It was good enough if he saw himself once in every hundred times, and now, in such a short time, he'd seen himself for the second time. He felt lucky.

Kagura Hikaru looked at the electronic clock on the desk in the prophetic image, which showed today's date, and only half an hour from now. The image was so clear that he could even see which page of the novel 'he' was reading.

This was the first time the prophecy was about a time so close; it made Kagura Hikaru contemplate.

A few seconds later, the prophecy abruptly ended, and the scene dimmed instantly like a television screen being turned off. Kagura Hikaru opened his eyes, and what appeared before him was the real world.

[You have gained through peering into the future: Handicraft +5]

[Handicraft Lv3 (89/100)]

After the prophecy ended, he would gain a random skill experience, a direct addition of five points, equivalent to reading someone's mind five times. It was like hastening his own demise.

Kagura Hikaru composed himself and realized that Komori Ai had moved him to the bed at some point, setting him in a seated position, and then nestled in his arms playing a Steam handheld console—that was recently bought by Kagura Hikaru for her because she had wanted to play it after seeing an advertisement, and now she was playing Old Man Ring.

Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

Leaned against the wall, Kagura Hikaru tilted his head back, resting it on the wall and gazed at the ceiling with a long sigh.

The side effect of zoning out was not completely unbearable in reality, what truly incited fear in him was the gaining of experience.

Did you notice? He did not need to read minds anymore, and he would automatically gain experience. The Golden Finger was actively delivering him experience packages; he would become stronger even without moving an inch.

But was this really a good thing?

Whether it was the way he acquired experience or the amount, it was now completely out of control; Kagura Hikaru could not manage the growth of his skills at all.

If this continued, it would only be a week at least, a month at most, before he would be forced to obtain the next new ability for fulfilling certain conditions.

And the next ability might come with uncontrollable risks and side effects, just like the present 'Predict Future.'

The magnitude of those side effects was completely unknown...

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What humans truly fear, from ancient times until today, is only one thing: "the unknowable future."

Imagine if all new abilities acquired henceforth have side effects, and Kagura Hikaru is unable to stop the accumulation of experiences, with only various strange "symptoms" building up.

Then, without a doubt, he would be driven to madness through prolonged torment.

In the worst case, perhaps only self-destruction could be the release.

Kagura Hikaru didn't want to view the situation so pessimistically, but he knew that this world never grants wishes as desired, and what he predicted could very likely happen.

Ironically, he still didn't know how to stop it. Golden Finger, in the strict sense, didn't belong to him because he was merely the user, not the creator. This supernatural power? Or high technology? It was simply not something modern humans could control.

Kagura Hikaru picked up Komori Ai and tossed her to the side, then got up from the bed, found the light novel that "he" had seen in the prophetic segment, opened it, ripped out the page that "he" had been reading, tearing it into small pieces before throwing them into the trash can.

The page was now shredded; whether half an hour later or now, he couldn't read the page in the book.

Kagura Hikaru had done something completely contrary to the prophecy, and thus the prophecy could not be fulfilled.

It was intentional. Kagura Hikaru wanted to know what consequences there would be if the prophecy was wrong.

All he could do was wait.

Kagura Hikaru spent half an hour scrolling on his phone in bed.

After the time had passed, Kagura Hikaru got up and went to the desk, flipping to the novel's pages—the page he had ripped out hadn't restored itself; the pieces lay obediently in the trash can.

Nothing happened. The predicted future was wrong.

The so-called "ability to predict the future" seemed to be just a mechanical calculation, not absolute.

He hadn't acted according to the prophecy at the appointed time, yet he didn't encounter a time paradox, which meant the future could be changed. Philosophers' imagined concept of "fate" was nonexistent. This brought some relief to Kagura Hikaru.

Although it was a minor consolation, the real problem still existed.

Kagura Hikaru put the book back on the shelf.

On a whim, he decided to go out for a walk.

It was night now, pitch black outside, but that suited him just fine; the quiet environment was more suitable for contemplation.

After greeting Kiryu Hina, Kagura Hikaru left the house on his own.

Komori Ai, unusually, didn't follow. She wanted to play video games in her room.

Kagura Hikaru walked out of the apartment building, wandering aimlessly in the vicinity. The streetlights weren't very bright, but thankfully the moonlight illuminated the path ahead.

Without realizing it, he arrived at a riverside. There was a bridge over the river, and crossing it would take him to the bustling downtown.

The lights coming from that side were very inviting, and he could faintly hear the sound of drums—were they holding some kind of festival at this late hour?

Kagura Hikaru was about to cross the bridge when he saw a strange night stall at the head of the bridge.

It was like those small stalls near tourist areas that sell antiques and souvenirs, lit with a sinister red light and hanging a "Divination" sign outside.

Sitting behind the stall was an ancient-looking old lady, her skin sagging, her silver hair sparse, and she seemed extremely frail—an appearance of over ninety years old at the very least.

"What do you want to ask?" the hoarse voice of the fortune-teller opened one eye.

"..."

That mystically convincing aura compelled Kagura Hikaru to logically analyze that a fortune teller emitting such an aura for free would not likely be inaccurate!

Driven by restlessness and an inexplicable atmosphere, he found himself sitting down in front of the divination stall.

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