These days, you can’t really trust psychics (especially police ones). But what if there was a fortune teller who had a 100% rate in all of her readings? That would certainly make anyone pay close attention to the words coming out of their mouths. Sakamoto Days has someone just like that, and it’s not Shin. (Mind reading is totally different from predicting the future, if you didn’t know.) In Volume Twenty-One, we are introduced to the JAA’s go-to for predicting outcomes: Atari.

But first, Shin and Heisuke need to meet this mysterious psychic. To do that, they need to go straight to JAA jail without passing Go and collecting $200. Even when they’re put behind bars, it’s not like they can just walk up to Atari and speak to her. In fact, her location is so difficult to get to that one needs to do a lot of bad things to reach her area. So Shin and Heisuke have to act bad, and they’ve got a real hard-boiled guy that can help them out.

Atari’s not the only new character in this volume of Sakamoto Days. Enter Jo Shackles, the head guard of JAA Prison’s B1 section. He seems like a happy-go-lucky guy, until his actions show just how twisted he really is. In order to get to Atari, Shin and Heisuke need to take Jo out. At first, it would seem like Sakamoto’s pals have met their match. That’s when Shin pulls off a trick so magnificent, Penn & Teller would award him with a Fooled Us trophy!

A lot of the time in this volume is spent going back-and-forth between Shin and his pals and Atari and a couple of guards. Although B3 was the goal to get to, Atari’s psychic premonition has her leaving the area and straight into the maze-like B2. And in there, Shin makes friends with one of Slur’s toughest guys: Tenkyu. Once you see what this eyepatch-wearing fellow is like, you would have two choices: try to be friends with him, or die.

From there, it’s a race against time to see who’ll get to Atari first. A little plan to trick Tenkyu into thinking Shin was the psychic is a fun distraction, but as soon as Atari shows up, the facade comes to a violent end. The way Tenkyu uses his bow to deflect bullets and defeat guards is impressive to read through, especially with Yuto Suzuki’s stylistic art emphasizing the hits and blocks. But man, how exactly did Atari turn a bunch of metallic junk into one of the cleanest guns around?! (Must be the magic of her lucky item!)

However, there’s one thing that left me wondering about Atari. Throughout the volume, she keeps saying that she’ll be meeting her soulmate that day. Does that mean one of Sakamoto’s pals will be finding love in the near future? And if so, who’s the most deserving? While I’m sure Atari and Shin would get along splendidly with their mind powers, I can’t help but think Heisuke deserves a soulmate more than Shin. (He’s got those sad puppy eyes that just beg for someone to love him.)

I can’t predict the future; that’s Atari’s thing. But Volume Twenty-One of Sakamoto Days gives me hope that we’re in for a very fun and exciting storyline. We’ve got assassins, psychics, mind readers, and a couple of guys who are handy with their tools of the trade. What more can you ask for? Well…as I said, maybe sprinkle in a bit of romance, which I’m sure Atari will help to push along. Don’t call it a prediction though; maybe just a hunch.

Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media. Click here to read past reviews of Sakamoto Days!