Another day, another appointment! Or, would it be more accurate to say "another two-to-three days, another appointment"?

Business had not been good for Lady Crane's Mystic Services. Not that it was ever good, to be honest. Now, though... Oooooh boy. The finances were going from "bad" to "dire". As in, DIRE dire. If she wanted to keep the lights on and the doors open, then something would have to change. As for what that was? W-well, Mitsuru wasn't quite sure yet... But until she figured it out, all she could do was keep providing high quality service to her customers!

...Arceus, she really hoped she didn't screw this up...

And so, when Yuina stepped into her candlelit office that sleepy afternoon, Lady Crane was already waiting in the reception, ready to greet this rare customer personally.

"Ah, Miss Higashi!" The mystic smiled, an expression just barely visible from under the brim of her straw her. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. You're here for your 2:30PM appointment, I presume?"

---

Yuina Higashi

"Excellent! Walk this way, please."

With a mysterious smile on her face, Lady Crane turned and walked, leading Yuina deeper into her cramped office. Past the front desk, down a short corridor, through the sliding door (singular), and into the innermost chamber. There, the soft carpet beneath their feet became hard wood, the plain walls changing to be covered in ukiyo-e paintings and scrolls. It was as though they had stepped out of modern day Hoenn, and into the Johto of the past.

Moving towards the centre of the room, Lady Crane took her seat on the floor, cross-legged at the low table in the centre of the room. Then, she gestured for Yuina to do the same.

"Oh, please, don't worry about it!" The mystic assured her valued customer. "You're hardly the first to do it, and I doubt you'll be the last."

She really, really, really hoped it wouldn't be the last.

"Tea?"

---

Yuina Higashi

Was it particularly common, or customary, or acceptable? Well, er... Not really? Divination was an intensely personal affair, not just for the seeker, but for the reader, too. Everything was based on interpretation, which meanings they chose to focus on and which they chose to dismiss. In that sense, doing this was a bit like being given someone else's sketch and being asked to finish painting it herself. Part of her felt bad about this, as though she were somehow disrespecting the medium, doing something wrong...

...But, well, money was money, right? And she needed all the money she could get, even if that was only 14.99PD for the first hour and 19.99PD for each hour thereafter. So, pushing her apprehensions to the back of her mind, she simply smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry, Miss Higashi. You're in good hands."

With a tap of her Pokeball, Lady Crane sent out her part-time secretary and full-time Dusclops. For a moment, the apparition started blankly at Yuina, watching her. Or, was it staring right past her? It was hard to tell.

"Ichi!" The mystic spoke up, her tone almost like that of a rebuke, as though she'd had to tell him off for this many times before. After that, however, her voice softened into something kinder, yet nevertheless stern. "Be a dear and fetch us two cups of tea, would you?"

With a low groan, the ghost bowed its head, before trotting off to follow its orders.

"Sorry about that." Mitsuru bowed her head by way of apology, before straightening up again. "Now, tell me: What was the fortune you wished to discuss?"

---

Yuina Higashi

What did it mean if someone believed in past lives?

"Hm..."

Mitsuru took a moment to ponder that question.

Her first thought was that it simply meant what it meant: That Yuina DID believe in past lives. That wasn't particularly strange. She'd heard about some religious sects back in Johto that were big into reincarnation, a never-ending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. But it couldn't be that easy, could it? No, if she was going through the effort of seeking out "professional" help, then it couldn't be as simple as that. She had to dig deeper.

So came her secound, more daring thought: Did Yuina have some connection to the past, maybe? Like an ancestor whose legacy she kept accidentally stumbling upon? She'd heard about something like that before! Where was it...? C'mon, think...! Oh. Right. She saw it on television. In that new show, where the boy has the Donphan, and the girl has the Volcarona, and they travel through time. Mitsuru really liked that one, too! At least, she liked the episode she was. She really should watch more of it.What was it called again...? Um, a-anyway, it probably wasn't that one, then... Heck...!

So, finally, she came upon her third, spiciest option.

"Miss Higashi, do you have many strange dreams?"

---

Yuina Higashi

Okay, well, that was her fault. She probably should've been more specific, huh?

"I mean... Dreams where you're yourself, but you're not yourself?" Lady Crane attempted to explain. "When you're still you, but you're living a completely different life in a completely different place with completely different people."

Was that the best way to explain it? Mitsuru sure hoped so, because she couldn't come up with anything better off the top of her head. Still, it sounded good when she said it, so she hoped that it'd sound good when Yuina heard it, too.

She hoped.

"Or, maybe you're a different person, but you've living your same life? Or you're going through unfamiliar situations in a way that feels normal? Or... Well, I think you get the idea."

---

Yuina Higashi

Okay. Okay! Things might have been a little muddled at the start, and they may have gotten a little confused in the middle, but it seemed like they were finally straightening it out! This was progress. Not fantastic progress, but still progress.

But just because they were over the hump, that didn't mean the questions were getting any easier to answer.

"Ah, well, that's..." Lady Crane began, before quickly trailing off. It was probably best to just keep the information to the essentials. It's not like Yuina had much use for the complete history of the religious practices of the Brass Tower monks, did she? "...I can't speak for everyone and everything, but from my understanding, reincarnation isn't so much a black or white thing, as it is shades of grey."

She paused for a moment to take a sip of her tea, before continuing.

"It's based on your karma. If you were good in a past life, you're reborn into a better one, while if you were bad in your past life, you're reborn into a worse one. Of course, it's, um, a little controversial of a theory, but that's the gist of it, anyway."

---

Yuina Higashi