Note: This was written for the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal flash fic challenge.

"Durbe, do you want to play fortune-telling with us?"

Durbe glanced up from the book he'd been reading to find a cluster of girls watching him hopefully. It was lunch break, and he had thought that he'd moved far enough out into the schoolyard that most of his peers wouldn't notice him. He still wasn't entirely used to being a middle school student, and cherished his lunch breaks as a time to get some peace and quiet. Still, he was too polite to simply brush off someone trying to be friendly.

"Fortune telling?" he repeated.

"It's fun! You should try it!" said one of the girls.

Before he knew what was happening, he was pulled from his seat and hauled over to another corner of the grounds. Papers were scattered there, with names written on them in neat arches, like monochrome rainbows.

"You hold this," said a girl, holding up what seemed to be a piece of quartz tied to a string, "and you let it swing over the paper. It will point towards the name of your true love, see?"

She let the pendulum swing over a page. It moved in wobbly circles for a few seconds before settling in a straight line that brought it over one of the names in the arch.

"That looks simple enough," he said. He took the pendulum and set it swinging. While it swung, he let his eyes travel over the names on the paper: Yuma, Alit, Mizael, Michael, several others he didn't recognize... and there was Shark's name, near the top. As soon as his gaze fell on it, the pendulum changed its direction and began pointing to it.

"Oh, no," said one of the girls, pushing the paper aside. "That's the boys' names. This one has the girls."

She slipped a new piece of paper under the pendulum. The pendulum changed its course again, now pointedly avoiding the arc of names. It was trying to go sideways, back towards the original paper. The girls stared at it.

"Um," said one, looking mildly dismayed.

"Oh!" said another.

A look passed among the girls that Durbe didn't quite understand.

"So it's like that," said the lead girl, the one who'd captured him originally. "Sorry, we didn't know! It's okay. We'll totally support you!"

They bustled off, having apparently lost interest in fortune telling. Durbe was left staring at the jumble of papers in front of him. He allowed the pendulum to continue to swing. It maintained its course, stubbornly trying to point to Shark's name.

True love, hmm? he thought. I wonder if there's anything to it...

A shadow fell over him. Durbe tilted his head back to see Shark looking down at him.

"What are you doing way over here?" he asked.

"Nothing, really," said Durbe. He offered Shark the pendulum. "Do you want to play fortune telling?"