<h4>Chapter 518 Warding Off The Evil</h4>


    Fire Elf Fairy Shrine, Shee Arsurinya Shrine, Ancestral Town, Sakura City.


    After waiting for a while in the line it was finally their turn to pray.


    They didn''t waste much time before liting up their incense and sping their hands together to offer their prayers.


    They closed their eyes and silently prayed to the Fire Elf Fairy.


    Obviously, their prayers were different, but there was amon point among all of their prayers. Which was that they started their prayer by expressing their gratitude for the blessings they received in thest year.


    In thest year, most of them received so many blessings that they were able to change their livespletely.


    So, they had to express their gratitude to their patron and ask for another prosperous new year.


    A minuteter, everyone finished their prayer and gave their turn to the people behind them.


    "I feel much lighter now." Sayurimented with a happy smile.


    "Yeah, it seems like a weight is off my back." Kumiko agreed.


    "..."


    The others were equally relieved to have offered their new year prayers.


    At that moment, it finally felt like the new year had started.


    "We should buy some fortune papers before leaving." Ayia suggested.


    The others agreed and headed to the shrine shop where they could buy the talismans.


    Along the way, they even stopped a few times to take some pictures as the shrine was really beautiful and they wanted to register the ce.


    That''s why they took longer to arrive at the shrine shop, but their phones were filled with several pictures of the shrine.


    After waiting in line for a while, each one of them was able to buy a fortune paper.


    The fortune paper or Omikuji supposedly could tell their luck during the next year, so they were eager to know what their paper predicted for them.


    Theo carefully opened his own Omikuji and read what it said:


    [No. 12 Best Fortune]


    [When springes, willows are in bud. Just like flowers bloom on old branches, something happy wille. There is still frost and snow, but brilliant happiness is in it. Your Fortune is always good, never be destroyed.]


    [*Your wishes will be realized. *A sick person will recover. *The lost article will be found. *The person you are waiting for wille butte. *Building a new house and removal is good. *Making a trip has no problem.]


    Theo beamed in happiness as he finished reading his fortune, it couldn''t have been better!


    Especially the part that said that his wishes would be realized.


    He had several wishes.


    He wanted that every project from hispanies would be a sess.


    Mangas, novels, animes, animation movies, games, games, and many other projects.


    He wished that every one of them ended up just like he envisioned.


    The part that the person he was waiting for woulde butte was also exciting as he was indeed waiting for someone.


    He was waiting for someone he could trust enough to assume the head position of his gamingpany.


    His gamingpany would be an important part of his dream, so he had to find a person he could trust enough to head this project just like he did with Ryoko, Sam, and the others.


    After observing the whole fortune paper carefully, Theo lifted his head to see the others'' reactions.


    Most of them had satisfied faces with their fortunes, but a couple of them had ugly faces.


    They had received a Bad Fortune!


    Max was one of them, and his fortune was like this:


    [No. 88 Bad Fortune]


    [Even if you try to do anything, you can''t get along with others. Trying to avoid dangers, another trouble wille. Troubles and difficultiese to the person who takes care of the home. Be careful to be more religious, because bad things happen repeatedly.]


    [*Your wishes will not be realized. *A sick person will not recover. *The lost article will not be found. *The person you are waiting for won''te. *Building a new house and removal are both bad. *It''s bad to make a trip.]


    When Lauren saw her boyfriend''s fortune, she could only suggest, "Dear, why don''t you tie your fortune in the Fortune Tree?"


    The custom is that the person should leave the omikuji behind if it''s not good fortune. Traditionally they''re tied around the branches of a pine tree.


    This goes back to a pun with the word for "pine" (松, Matsu) and the word for "wait" (待つ, Matsu). The idea behind this is that bad luck will wait by the tree instead of sticking with the person who drew the sacred lot!


    Nowadays, they''re not only tied to pine trees anymore but to all sorts of things. One reason is that not all shrines or temples have a pine tree in the first ce.


    But as the Shee Arsurinya Shrine was traditional and ancient, they had several pine trees where the people could tie their bad fortune on it.


    Max and the others who received a bad Omikuji didn''t waste much time before tying their bad fortune to the nearest pine tree.


    But even after tying the bad fortune on the pine tree, they still were not relieved, so they decided to buy some amulets to tie at the Fire Elf Fairy Shrine.


    They bought some Omamori to protect themselves against bad luck and also wrote on some Ema to wish for a prosperous new year.


    Omamori are usually covered with brocaded silk and enclose paper or pieces of wood with prayers written on them, which are supposed to bring good luck to the bearer on particr asions, tasks, or ordeals. Omamori are also used to ward off bad luck and are often spotted on bags, hung on cellphone straps, in cars, etc.


    Once inscribed with a wish, ema are hung at the shrine until they are ritually burned at special events, symbolic of the liberation of the wish from the writer.


    As a ritual, the ema is a means tomunicate wishes to both priests and the kami. The public nature of the ema, which are disyed at shrines before their ritual burning, also serves a social function formunicating to themunity that an individual has made the wish. Burning the wishes helps to "symbolically liberate" the spirit of the wish into the world. In some cases, however, wishes are taken from the shrine to be hung at home, though still ritually burned in special ceremonies


    It was only after buying several Omamori and writing several Ema that Max and the others felt relieved.


    The others that received good fortune also did the same thing even though they received a good Omikuji.


    Their motto was that it was best to over protected than under protected.


    Just like that, Theo and the others warded off the bad luck for the next year.