The cover page for part 1
Three Phase: The Forbidden Divination is the third and fourth chapters of the Liar Game: Roots of A compilation. It is the only story to take place over two chapters in Roots of A. Both chapters follow the story of a mysterious fortune teller who seeks to escape his fate using the Three Phase Divination.
Plot[]
Part 1[]
In a bustling street in Yokohoma, known as "Fortune Street" because of the vast number of fortune tellers, Kaori decides to get her fortune told by the shabbiest looking fortune teller. She gives him a little test to see whether he has genuine abilities. The fortune teller fails the test and Kaori leaves, embarrassing him in front of the crowd and losing him any potential customers.
Kaori is then revealed to be the harsh CEO of a company, called the "Woman of steel" by her subordinates. She then runs into the fortune teller again later by a cliff. She reveals that she was actually searching for a fortune teller by the name of Asuka Kiryu, a legendary fortune teller who could tell anything about a person's past and could even correctly predict the future, but he one day disappeared without a trace. After again failing to impress Kaori, she leaves again, but not before pondering how the fortune teller knew her name. During a date with her boyfriend, Daisuke the head of a rival company, the fortune teller randomly appears again. After another bogus fortune telling, Daisuke leaves's so she is left with the fortune teller. The fortune teller then reveals that he knew who the legendary Asuka was, and why he disappeared. He gives an insight into Asuka's fortune telling technique: Three Phase Divination.
"It's a powerful divination that was developed in China during the Han dynasty. Three Phase refers to the physiognomy of the face and the two hands. The belief is that all aspects of an individual's life will be imprinted in those areas in some way, shape, or form, and reading those signs will reveal everything about an individual... The technique even has the potential to alter the course of history itself. Therefore, it was decided that the three phase divination would only be passed on to one individual with an upstanding moral character."
He reveals that unlike he should've, Asuka went and displayed his talents to the world. Eventually, he decided to read his own fortune and came to "a terrible realization." He only had one year of his his remaining lifespan left. When Kaori asks why he couldn't change his future, he explains how three phase divination expresses the likelihood of changing a destiny as a "Fate Number" from 1 to 100 - a lower number represents a higher likelihood of changing than a higher number. In the case of Asuka, the Fate Number was 100.
At a later point in time, Kaori, depressed at being unable to meet Asuka, attempts to kill herself by jumping off a cliff. Just before jumping, the fortune teller appears again and stops her. He reveals to her that he knew always knew where she was going to be: at the restaurant, earlier at the cliff, and just now. He then reveals that he knows a myriad of other details about her, because he read her destiny that day in Yokohoma. He announces to her that he is actually Asuka Kiryu.
Upon this revelation, Kaori opens up to Asuka and tells her a little about her past. She led her company through the financial crisis, but afterwards took a huge gamble that left her company on the verge of bankruptcy. She explains how Daisuke helped her company out, even signed as a guarantor for a loan; consequently, if she declares bankruptcy then Daisuke will have a debt of 300,000,000Y - if she were to die she would clear the debt because she has a 300,000,000Y life insurance with him as the beneficiary. After Asuka's pleas to stop her from killing herself, she storms off.
Later, Daisuke receives a call from Sunny Life Insurance, notifying him of Miss Kaori's suicide. Upon hanging up, it is revealed that Daisuke and his roommate Takahashi had planned her death to gain money: he pretended to be the CEO of a company, made her "fall" for him, and afterwards made her indebted to him by signing the contract as a guarantor, and then sabotaged the project "from behind the scenes." It is shown that Daisuke has conned other people in the past, such as faking a car accident to gain some insurance money.
Asuka then emerges in their apartment, much to Daisuke's surprise, and reveals that he had heard the whole conversation. After being bribed, Asuka explains that Miss Kaori didn't really commit suicide, and that she was also listening to their conversation; the phone call from Sunny Life Insurance was actually made by Asuka himself. It is also shown that Miss Kaori recorded the entire conversation and intends to hand it in to the police, securing Daisuke some jail time. She then subdues Daisuke with her martial arts skills, stating "I'll see you in the courtroom."
On the cliff again, Asuka meets Kaori one last time. He explains to her that he has to leave; when she asks why he claims that it is written in the three phase divination scrolls that "A fate number of 100 is an unwavering destiny. However it may be negated by through association with another individual bearing the same fate number." He explains that he can cancel his predicted death by meeting someone with an equally strong number, but states "I'm not even sure if there is such a person in all of Japan." Before departing, they make each make a promise to meet eachother at the same place in one year's time.
Part 2[]
This chapter begins with Asuka Kiryu once again giving people bogus fortune tellings, examining their hands in the process. A woman meets him and says that she knows that he is the successor of the Three Phase Divination tradition. He denies it, but she continues with an offer: team up with her as business partners. She then reveals that she knows the reason why he disappeared and that his destiny has a fate number of 100. She also reveals that she has what he wants: 2,000,000 individual handprints. He again tells her that he is not the real Asuka, and leaves, but she follows him. After he states "I'm sure the real Asuka Kiryu would take up this offer" the lady becomes determined to force himself to reveal that he is the real Asuka within 48 hours. They make a deal that is she can't prove it in the time limit, she'll never appear in front of him again.
The cover page for part 2
The next day, the chances of her winning the deal are slim, Asuka only had 2 customers in 5 hours. Time continues to run short, yet the lady doesn't follow the customers to see whether the predictions will come true or not, with Asuka scrutinising her method. Eventually, a man asks for his fortune. upon reading his palms, Asuka is overcome with shock at the predictions and follows the man afterwards, with the lady trailing him; they all board an express bus to Kanazawa. The lady then explains that her "sources" have given her intel on what the man is planning: a bus-jacking, and that she knows that Asuka plans to stop it. The terrorist is Takeshi Abe, a member of a cult that commited a large scale serial murder years ago. She also reveals how she planned for the mans fortune to be told by getting her inside source (a high-ranking member of the cult) to send him a text message telling him to visit Asuka. Asuka again denies being the famous fortune teller and tells the lady that he only boarded the bus because he was going to visit a friend. At the same time, Takeshi begins the bus-jacking.
Asuka finally manages to convince the lady that he is not the famous fortune teller by acting oblivious to the event. Asuka manages to call of the deal by claiming "You know, even if I were able to find a way to get rid of this criminal... you're just going to say I was able to do it because I knew the crime was going to happen all along". Takeshi continued to insist that the bus driver keep circling the around the inner highway at precisely 60km/hr while frequently checking his watch; he threatens to kill the driver if he speeded up even just a little. The police eventually arrive driving next to the bus, but Takeshi threatens to kill all of the passengers if the bus stops. Finally, Takeshi orders the driver to stop circling the highway and start heading towards North Tokyo Prison; he also demands the police to contact the prison to open the front gate. Asuka tells the lady that Takeshi intends to free all of the Galalazala cult members held at the prison. The lady contemplates why Takeshi made his demand to open up the gates, instead of simply being "free the leader or the hostages die." Asuka notes to her that the police wold of delayed that request as much as possible, but that his current request "went through pretty easily."
The bus then enters the prison and stops directly behind the North Tokyo Prison 2nd Ward. The hijacker then allows everyone to leave the bus, and then exits the bus himself, surrendering to the police. Whilst being led away by the police, he exclaims to everyone that the ordeal is not over yet, and that the bus has a time bomb that will explode a huge amount of the prison open, opening all the emergency exits and allowing all the prisoners out; he notified his fellow cult members of the bomb so they are safely at the other side of the prison; he also reveals to them that bomb is set to explode in 30 seconds. Everyone runs for their lives, but the bomb doesn't explode. Takeshi wonders why the bomb didn't explode, as he set the bomb to explode at precisely 5 o'clock. Asuka then shows him that the time is actually 4:42 PM; Asuka reveals that when Takeshi had his palms read earlier, Asuka set his watch 20 minutes early. The lady points out that Asuka only boarded the bus to ensure that Takeshi's fortune wouldn't change. Asuka then leaves, his fate unknown.
Characters[]
Asuka Kiryu
Kaori
Daisuke Hanamura
Unnamed lady
Takahashi
Takeshi Abe