Inhio had started feeling as though he was back at school. It was just another boring day, and another boring customer had brought him another boring tool.

"That's it?!" the unsatisfied man asked as Inhio handed him back his rod.

"Yep," Inhio calmly replied and leaned back into his chair.

"What a rip-off!" the man shouted as he got up from his chair and turned away from the Coin Master.

"Want your quarter back?" Inhio asked, drawing the man's attention back towards him. "It's still right there, where you left it." He looked at the shiny coin sitting on his table.

The man had already raised his hand, ready to reach for the token. His hand twitched and his expression wavered. He spent a few seconds staring at the coin with a disgusted look.

"Gaah!" He finally decided to not even bother. He swung his hand down, grabbing the object he had brought with him, and then walked outside without saying another word.

The coin sat on Inhio's table for some time. He was even less eager to reach for it than the man that left it.

I'm beginning to think that it would be a better idea to just come up with a story on my own, rather than tell them the actual history of the stuff they bring me...That way, at least one of us could walk out of here even somewhat satisfied. Inhio didn't have much time to ponder on this question. He snatched the coin from the table as soon as he heard the bell clinging from the door opening again.

The next customer didn't look as boring as the last one...In fact, he looked like someone who might inspire fear in some people, but Inhio didn't even flinch. A man with a large baseball bat opened the door and didn't hesitate to walk over to the owner of the facility.

Either he wants to know what has that bat been through, or he's come to put me out of my misery...Either way, I ain't budging. Inhio thought to himself as the man approached.

The man slowly approached and stared at Inhio for a few seconds, after which he gently placed the bat on the table. "Could you, uuh...do your thing, with this thing?" he quietly asked, still unsure of himself.

"That's what I'm here for," Inhio replied and reached for the bat, ignoring the man's seemingly shy attitude.

Inhio bent his elbows and held his hands forward, balancing the bat on his palms. He focused his mind on the bat and let out a sound of disappointment after a short moment. "Eegh...The story this bat carries is about as simple as it gets," Inhio explained. "It spent most of it's life as a proud tree, and then several months in a stand, before you finally arrived and liberated it." Inhio finished his sentence with his head hanging low...He had seen enough disappointed customers for one day.

"Yeah, that's about what I thought..." The man didn't seem surprised, but he wasn't unhappy either.

Inhio sighed. "Tell you what..." He placed the bat back on the table and pushed it towards it's owner. "If you have another object with you that you want me to have a look at, go ahead and put it forth. As for the bat...Well, lets just say I didn't see it."

"Actually, I had a different thought in mind," the man said, arousing Inhio's interest.

The Fate Reader raised his head to face the man and awaited an explanation.

"You see, the thing is..." The man started rubbing the back of his neck. "I just recently got this bat for my son who's a major baseball fan. He was overjoyed, of course, but I just thought that he'd be even happier if he thought that the bat came from a real professional baseball player..."

"Aah...I think I know where this is going," Inhio calmly interjected.

"The whole thing wasn't my idea," the customer continued in a slightly nervous tone. "He just asked if that's where I got it from, and without giving it a split second to think about, I just kinda..."

"Say no more," Inhio stopped the man by holding his palm up. "Is he on his way here?"

"Not just yet, but it won't be too long before he comes around."

"Any particular player that he's fond of?" Inhio inquired in a polite tone.

"Ooh!" The man's face lit up. "Yeah! Perfringo Magnison! That's the one I told him it's from." (Don't bother looking up the name, I made it up.)

"Alright," Inhio replied and leaned back into his chair and folded his hands behind his head, as if saying job well done to himself. "Consider it done."

"So you'll tell him that it's from Perfringo, then?" the man asked in a bemused tone after a short pause.

"Yep," Inhio answered like a proud-looking business man.

"Great!" The man sighed with relief. "Thanks a bunch, man!" Relieved and almost jubilant, the man placed two quarters on the table and started walking towards the exit. "One for me and one for the boy."

Inhio didn't move an inch. He heard the bell cling and the door close, which meant that the customer had just left. That was the most pleased person Inhio had seen leaving his little boutique in a very long time, and he felt like enjoying the moment for just a wee bit...Somehow he just knew that it wouldn't last long.

"It's funny how little it takes to get my heart to smile these days..."

***

Just as the Coin Master had predicted, the moment did not last long, and another face had already appeared in the door again.

Inhio quickly left his euphoric state and was back to sitting with a solemn expression before the customer could even get to look at him.

The person that had just walked in looked a lot younger than his usual customers. At first, Inhio thought that the boy was the same one that he was expecting to arrive sooner or later, but that thought quickly left his mind as soon as he noticed that the lad was holding something that wasn't even remotely close to resembling a baseball bat...In fact, it looked unlike anything that had ever been brought inside his domain.

As the boy came closer, it became clear that whatever he was holding had a round shape, and yet, it wasn't the kind of ball that kids of his age like to play with. It looked more like the kind that you would see on a table on top of a pedestal and inside a similar housing like his own, only with a purple-hooded gypsy lady as the owner.

"Don't be afraid, boy. Come on closer," Inhio encouraged the hesitating kid that was slowly walking towards him with very small steps while constantly shifting his sights left and right and holding tightly onto his prized possession. Inhio's words didn't seem to affect him.

Isn't that the son of that local hillbilly mechanic? Inhio seemed to recognize the boy. He placed his elbow on his table and leaned towards the boy. "Why don't cha take a seat there, partner? Ye'll get tired mighty soon if ya keep on walkin like dat," Inhio said in a friendly tone, trying to maintain a western accent.

Those words seemed to be exactly what the boy wanted to hear. He immediately picked up the pace and was already sitting in front of Inhio in a moment's notice. The boy looked happy, but he got slightly confused when he saw his host staring at the item in his hands with a raised eyebrow.

Is it just me or did that ball just giggle? Inhio thought to himself. Snap our of it, Inhio! You're scaring the boy. His inner conscience spoke to him when he saw the kid looking at him with an almost frightened expression.

Inhio shook his head and spoke to the boy in the same manner as before. "So what can I do for ya, partner?"

Still a bit unsure, the young boy did not say a thing. Instead he just placed the ball on the table and pushed it towards the person sitting at the other end, after which he pulled a coin out of his pocket and placed it next to the ball.

Inhio smiled. "Don't worry. You don't have to talk if you don't want to," he spoke in a quiet and compassionate tone as he reached for the ball. He grabbed the ball with both hands and focused his mind on it.

Huh? Inhio widened his eyes after a short moment. He furrowed his brows and grabbed the ball tighter as he focused his mind on it again. "What the?" He loosened his grip on the ball for a short moment, right before he focused on it again. After a slightly longer moment of focus, he loosened his grip again, this time exhaling loudly. Is it just me or does this thing have no history?

"Give me a moment..." Inhio said to the boy, right before he held his breath and focused on the object as best he could. Inhio wouldn't let go of it for quite some time. His face started turning slightly red, it almost looked as though he was trying to break the object.

"Hello?"

Inhio got startled by something and gasped loudly, nearly dropping the ball. The boy also got scared by his sudden jump.

"Are you alright, mister?" the boy asked. Inhio's actions made him feel a bit uneasy.

"I think he can hear us."

"Shh!"

Inhio looked at the boy. He then took a quick glance behind him and then back at the boy. "Did you just hear someone talking?"

The boy shook his head. "No one but you, Sir."

Inhio looked behind him again. "Strange...I could have sworn I..."

"Hello?...Can you hear me?"

There was no denying it now. Crazy or not, but Inhio had definitely heard a female talking to him. With his eyes wide open, eyebrows raised and mouth agape, Inhio finally realized just where were the voices coming from. He paused for quite some time, just staring mindlessly at the ball in his hands.

As his hands began to shake and sweat started running down his temples, one small word slowly crossed his lips, "Yes..."

As an instant response to him, Inhio heard a loud gasp of excitement, followed by the same voice as before.

"Did you hear that, girls? We found someone who can hear us!" The excited female started cheering, and several other female voices joined her right away.

Inhio just kept sitting there with that dumb expression as several women were dancing and singing inside his head. Well...I suppose there are worse ways in which one could lose his mind...May as well play along for some time.

The assumed leader of the females stopped cheering and cleared her throat. "Ahem, my name is Twilight Sparkle,"
she introduced herself.

Inhio bit his tongue in order to avoid a chuckle that was set in motion after he heard the hilarious name. Keep your cool, Inhio...

"A pleasure to have your acquaintance, Miss Sparkle. My name is Inhio Hellbridge," he returned the favor and introduced himself, as well.

"Charmed," Twilight instantly replied. "I suppose you're wondering what's this all about."

"Aye...that thought did cross my mind," Inhio answered with a wry smile on his face.

"Well..." The voice paused for a moment. Judging by the sound in Inhio's head, he assumed she just rubbed the back of her head. "It's somewhat of a long story, not to mention, complicated," she explained in an unsure tone.

"Oh, by all means, do tell."

The voice in the ball paused for a short moment.

"Take a deep breath..."

Inhio did just as instructed.

"By using an exceptionally rare spell that took me months to master and five times as long to acquire, me and my companions were able to cross dimensions and find your world using this sphere. All seemed well until the moment we realized that after our arrival, our minds were still trapped inside the sphere. We did not know how to get out, so we tried to make contact with the inhabitants of this plane. Alas, no one seemed to be able to hear us, no matter how loud we shouted...Well, none except you, that is. That's why we were so overjoyed to find out that you could hear us."

The voice finally finished it's monologue, leaving Inhio even more bemused than he was the moment he realized that the ball was talking to him.

"Umm..." the voice from the ball said after some time of not getting a reply.

"Give his mind some time to process all of this, darling," a different voice added.

"He's been processing this for a full minute now!" another voice whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Hush, Rainbow!" the previous voice silenced her.

"Are you still there?" the assumed leader asked.

"Yes...Sorry, I was just..."

"Mister?" Another voice drew Inhio's attention away from the ball. "Who are you talking to?" the utterly confused boy asked.

Without much thinking, Inhio slapped a ten dollar bill on the table and said in a rather serious tone, "You were never here."

The boy's confused look lasted for another split second, right before it got replaced by a wide smile. "You've got a deal, mister!" the overly excited boy grabbed the piece of paper and darted out the door.

"Right, then..." Inhio continued as he stood up and went over to the door to switch the open sign around. "Where were we?"