The air was filled with the charred aroma of takoyaki and the cloying sweetness of candied apples.
Lanterns lit up one after another along the riverbank, string after string, as if someone had plucked the stars and strung them into warm, glowing pearl chains with red thread.
Children darted through the crowd holding goldfish scoop nets, with exclamations of torn paper nets and joyful shouts of catching fish rising and falling in turn.
Young women wore yukata, linking arms with their companions. The morning glories and wave patterns on their yukata shimmered and flickered in the lantern light.
An elderly couple sat on a bench, fanning themselves, watching the liveliness of the youth, their eyes holding a distant, gentle light.
Suddenly, all sounds fell silent for a moment.
Whoosh—
BANG!!!
The first firework shot straight into the night sky, exploding at its peak—a huge, golden chrysanthemum, its threads of light slowly cascading down. Before they could touch the water, the second and third blooms had already unfurled in succession.
The fireworks boomed in a continuous string, each explosion eliciting a chorus of 'Wow's. The light reflected on every upturned face, flickering bright and dark, each pair of eyes holding another brilliant starry sky.
"So beautiful." Shoko remarked involuntarily, looking up from her spot on the stone bridge.
"I don't look at anything that isn't as beautiful as Shoko-san." Renji teased, feeling the warmth from Shoko's hand.
"Mhm. Renji-kun is still so good with words." Shoko said, smiling with her eyes narrowed.
The next moment, countless points of light soared into the sky in succession, turning the night sky into a canvas—first the outline of Mount Fuji, then the character for 'Festival,' and finally a sky full of shooting stars, pouring down with long, trailing tails of light.
People held their breath and even the children fell quiet.
After the last firework faded, the silence felt particularly profound, the air permeating with the unique, slightly acrid scent of gunpowder.
People began to move again, and voices resumed, but much softer, as if still immersed in the dream of moments before.
Sporadic lanterns drifted on the river's surface, slowly flowing towards the darkness downstream.
Beside Renji and Shoko, a young couple held hands and whispered, "Keiko-senpai, please go out with me. The starry river is my gift to you. If I'm lying, please take my heart... No. I can't give you my heart anymore."
"Why? Are you joking?"
"Because my heart has already been yours."
Watching the couple next to them kiss as if they were invisible, Renji and Shoko instinctively glanced at each other. Then, it was Renji who first looked away, defeated, because Shoko was too beautiful today.
Shoko led Renji away from the crowd. The two did not head in the direction agreed upon with Satoru. Instead, they walked into a nearby forest.
Fireflies twinkled like stars in the forest.
"Shoko-san, what's wrong?" Renji gulped, his heart beating a little faster.
Then...
Thud!
Shoko pinned Renji against a tree, looking up at him. Her usually calm eyes were now filled with an indescribable, youthful affection. Love during student days was like this—subtle, and attempts at adult-like confessions were ultimately just imitations.
The two gazed at each other for a moment.
"You... lower your head a bit, I can't reach." Shoko's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.
But Renji was, after all, a Special Grade Sorcerer.
He slowly lowered his head.
As if impatient with Renji's slowness, Shoko raised her hands and pulled his head down, eyes tightly shut.
Besides the scent of shower gel on Shoko, there was a faint trace of smoke from her mouth. They gradually tightened their embrace, each feeling the heartbeat from the other's chest.
As that softness pressed against Renji's chest, he could feel himself becoming restless. To avoid any accidents, he had to strenuously suppress it.
As if sensing Renji's unusual state, Shoko gently bit his tongue. Renji winced in pain and raised his head.
The two parted reluctantly, a glistening thread of saliva flashing for a moment in the moonlight.
[Ding! Heart-throb Critical Hit! Ieiri Shoko Favorability +3]
[Current Favorability: 80]
[Drawing ability, please wait.]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host has obtained ability: Curse Healer Basic Knowledge (Can perform temporary surgery. Current knowledge can only treat curse complications caused by Grade 1 Cursed Spirits and below.)]
"I could hardly breathe." Shoko said, gently pulling open the collar of her clothes and continuously fanning herself with her hand.
"I never imagined Shoko-san had this side to her. So cute." Renji said with a smile, brushing away the strands of hair stuck to Shoko's cheek. Shoko did not refuse his intimate gesture.
She gave a light laugh. "Praising me is useless. I am past the age where compliments from a little kid make me happy, you know."
Saying this, Shoko took a cigarette from the bag she carried with her and put it in her mouth.
Click!
The flint sparked, producing tiny embers.
"Huh? No next step?"
A disappointed voice sounded from a bush behind them. The voice was soft, unlike a Jujutsu Sorcerer's.
Only then did Renji realize someone had been over there the whole time. He had subconsciously ignored them because they meant no harm. It seemed there were two people.
Renji walked straight towards the bush. "Come out, I see you."
Rustle!
The little boy who had bumped into Shoko earlier emerged, pulling another boy along.
"You... what are you doing?"
"Watching you kiss."
"Huh?"
"Don't be such a bumpkin. Every year during the Fireworks Festival, couples come here. Your little kiss and sweet talk are nothing."
"Are you really a kid?"
"The genuine thing, from Tokyo. I came back to my hometown to see a friend and appreciate some art on the side."
Renji fell into deep thought looking at the little boy, who appeared only seven or eight years old.
"Go home, shoo."
"So boring, I thought I could jump out at the critical moment to give you a scare. Come on, Tomio, let's go scare someone else."
Then, without a hint of regret, the little boy immediately took his friend to the next 'battlefield.'
"Let's go, Satoru and the others must be getting impatient." Shoko said with a smile, linking her arm with Renji's.
"So, Shoko-san, what is our relationship?"
"Don't ask. Of course, it's me and you."
"But..."
"That kind of thing... wait another five years. Talk to me about it when you're seventeen."
...
At a campsite somewhere in the wilderness outside Tokyo.
Masamichi dropped the meatballs in his hand into the pot.
"Damn! Where did the vegetables I bought go? Vegetables are so expensive now." Masamichi said, getting up from the tree stump and looking towards the tent.
Inside, a panda was stuffing spinach into its mouth non-stop.
Masamichi asked, puzzled, "Panda, what are you doing?"
The panda waved its little paws. "Helping daddy store all these vegetables so he doesn't have to carry so much stuff."
"Store them in your stomach? Wait, pandas shouldn't have been designed with stomachs." Masamichi stroked his chin, then adopted an expression of indifference.
"Did I help daddy?"
"Of course, hahahaha."
"Then I'll go back and store all the money daddy keeps at home."
"Let's not do that."