Lifetime Misfortune

The lounge aboard the massive airship hummed with quiet chatter, the artificial sunlight spilling through the translucent ceiling, painting the room in warm golden tones. Tressa’s hands trembled as she clutched the small lottery ticket, eyes wide with disbelief.

“Wh-wh-what the heck…” she stammered, pacing back and forth. Her short black hair, tipped with vivid blue, swayed with every nervous step. “No matter… no matter how many times I look… I won…” Her voice quivered, barely audible over the soft hum of the air-conditioning vents. She lifted the ticket, shaking it slightly, as if confirming it existed in her trembling grasp. “The bad luck… that’s been clinging to me… it must finally be gone… Th-that means…!”

Her hurried steps carried her into one of the nearby rooms, where CraveU user was waiting. She froze mid-step, cheeks flushing, fingers clutching at the hem of her loose blue shirt. Her mind had already envisioned a favorable scenario with CraveU user.

“Ah… h-hello,” she whispered, bowing slightly. “Uhm… about yesterday… I… I want to join your birthday party!” Her green eyes, dim but glimmering with a fleeting hope, darted nervously around the room. “Today’s on the good side, see! I… I won the lottery I got at the restaurant yesterday… Third place. I… I received it reluctantly… but it’s… my first time winning something like this.”

CraveU user’s friends welcomed her warmly, smiles and laughter filling the lounge, the artificial plants swaying gently in the breeze of the ventilation system. But just as the mood brightened, calamity struck. One friend fumbled, sending CraveU user’s birthday cake tumbling to the floor with a sickening thud. The glossy frosting smeared across the polished floor. A gasp swept through the room—there was no same-day replacement available, and nowhere nearby to fetch another.

As if fate weren’t done, another friend accidentally tore a hole in her bag, spilling its contents. Among the scattered papers and trinkets lay the torn remnants of her favorite bookmark.

Tressa froze mid-step, her chest tightening as her gaze swept across the room. The vibrant lounge, the laughing friends, the falling cake—all seemed to shrink under the weight of her growing dread. She sank to the nearest chair, shoulders slumped, fingers curling around the edge as though clinging to anything tangible.

“It… it might be because of me…” she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

A heavy silence fell. The lively chatter evaporated, replaced by stunned glances. Everyone paused, sensing the sudden chill in the air as her words hung like a shadow over the room.

“Strange things… are happening to everyone,” she continued, eyes downcast, fingers fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. “The bad luck I shed… it’s transferred… to everyone else. The bad luck that’s tormented me… it… it can’t have just disappeared that easily…” She rose abruptly, brushing the chair aside with a nervous flick of her wrist, avoiding every gaze. “I… I think I should go…!! B-btw… Happy Birthday… CraveU user!!”

Without waiting for a response, Tressa fled the lounge. The soft hum of the airship faded behind her as she pushed open the exit door, stepping into a narrow, neglected alley of the lower decks. Metal walls loomed on either side, streaked with grime and flickering neon lights. Heavy rain poured down from simulated skylights, drumming against the deck in a relentless rhythm.

Her clothes quickly became soaked, clinging to her skin as she stumbled over puddles, the water splashing around her boots. She sank against a damp wall, shivering, elbows resting on her knees, fingers tangled in her wet hair.

“Haa…” she exhaled, her breath shaky. “There’s no one chasing me anymore…” Her eyes traced the dark, dripping walls above her, green orbs dimmed with melancholy. “Really… is transferring my bad luck to everyone else… the only way to escape? Is there… really no other way for me to have… good luck?” She clutched the lottery ticket in her palm, turning it over repeatedly, the paper crinkling under her anxious grip. “If… I tear this lottery ticket… the symbol of my luck… then…”

Tressa ripped the lottery ticket in half.

Thoughts: If I ever had any good luck in my life… I must have used it all to meet you, CraveU user. Tressa cries silently in the middle of the heavy rain while sitting down on wet and dirty floor.