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Even Mitsuba from centuries later still clearly remembered every detail of what happened at the fireworks festival this night.
Not only because this was the last night she spent as a human.
More importantly, this was a memory most precious to her.
"Only two left! Go for it, young man!"
The evening breeze carried a hint of coolness. The late-night market was brightly lit with lanterns, and among the crowd walking everywhere were either parents out with their children or young couples holding hands.
Among them, Butterfly carrying a large basket on her back was particularly conspicuous.
At this moment, she stood at the front of a crowd, holding two skewers of rice dumplings she had bought along the way, staring intently ahead with the surrounding onlookers.
There, a young man in a washed-faded hemp garment with a delicate face stood behind a white line, holding a small bamboo ring in his hand, nervously staring at the pile of objects placed several meters in front of him.
Clay dolls, wakizashi, hairpins, kitchen knives, bracelets, wooden clogs, even rice dumplings... The stall before the young man displayed a large assortment of items.
This was a very simple ring toss game, also a new game appearing for the first time at this year's fireworks festival.
Participants only needed to stand behind the white line and throw the bamboo ring in their hand—whatever they caught, they could take away.
The bamboo rings cost only one coin each, but the prizes on the stall varied in price. There were wooden clogs worth a dozen or so coins, and wakizashi that would cost at least several hundred coins to buy.
Though the game looked simple, there was considerable depth to it.
The distance at which prizes were placed, the weight differences of each bamboo ring, and the size comparison between the rings and prizes—all these factors significantly affected participants' probability of catching prizes.
Due to its inherent gambling nature, this game attracted quite a number of visitors at tonight's market.
Relying solely on those one-coin bamboo rings, the stall owner had already earned at least several hundred coins tonight.
And the young man currently standing behind the white line, concentrating and aiming, was naturally one of them.
Just from his clothing, one could tell the man was not wealthy. He had only been able to take out five coins earlier to exchange for five bamboo rings from the stall owner.
Compared to previous participants who casually threw a dozen or two dozen rings, this number was indeed somewhat small.
In stark contrast, the young man's target was not relatively easy-to-catch items like wooden clogs or rice dumplings.
Instead, it was that jade bracelet—the second most valuable and second furthest item on the stall.
The material of this bracelet was not top-grade, containing quite a few impurities in the jade, and its luster was somewhat dim.
Mitsuba estimated its value to be around one hundred coins.
It might not sound like much, but for ordinary families with average means, this was also a considerable expense.
Undoubtedly, the man wanted this jade bracelet precisely to give to the young woman accompanying him.
At this moment, that young woman stood in the crowd to the man's right, hands tightly clasped, watching the man before her with a nervous expression.
The young woman had not yet tied her hair up, clearly indicating she was not yet married.
Not yet married, yet already had an intimate male companion...
Hah, they must be a young couple who sneaked out to play together during the fireworks festival behind their parents' backs.
Wearing the fox mask and crouching in the basket, Mitsuba discovered the truth.
It was also at this moment that the man who had been aiming for a long time threw out the bamboo ring in his hand once again, attempting to catch that small jade bracelet.
But regrettably, his result this time was the same as the previous three—the bamboo ring brushed past the jade bracelet and rolled onto the muddy ground beside it, failing to catch it.
"Oh! So close!"
"Go for it, young man! You only have one ring left!"
"I say he won't catch it~"
From the surrounding crowd, sounds of regret and teasing immediately arose.
"This young man is pitiful—four rings thrown and nothing caught. He should have at least caught a rice dumpling..."
"It's normal. That bracelet is placed far away and small in volume. The owner clearly doesn't want people to catch it..."
"That young woman will probably be sad~"
The sounds of teasing from the crowd around her ears continuously came. Looking at the young man before her holding his last bamboo ring, already covered in sweat beads yet still concentrating and striving to aim at that jade bracelet, Butterfly lightly bit into the rice dumpling in her hand and suddenly spoke:
"Mitsuba, do you think he'll catch it this time?"
"He cannot."
From the basket behind her, Mitsuba only glanced at the man's movements and replied very affirmatively.
Her eyes were good. She could see that although the young man had been carefully adjusting the angle of throwing the ring in his previous four attempts, he had never found that correct angle.
This time was the same—his final attempt would inevitably fail.
"Is that so..."
Hearing this, Butterfly lightly sighed. She turned to look at the young woman accompanying the young man in the crowd not far away, her tone carrying slight regret:
"It seems this young man will spend tonight's fireworks festival with regret..."
"Regret..."
Hearing this, Mitsuba lowered her head in silence.
As if touched by this word in her heart, she who had originally only intended to quietly observe suddenly raised her head and looked at the young man before her.
After brief hesitation, she ultimately chose to speak.
"Young man, move your hand slightly to the left."
"Huh?"
The young man who had been concentrating, upon hearing the voice, subconsciously turned back to look, his eyes full of confusion.
"Believe me, move slightly to the left, then throw with the same strength as before. You will definitely catch it."
"Ah, o-okay..."
Perhaps influenced by the faint air of authority emanating from Mitsuba, or perhaps he truly sensed the determination and confidence in Mitsuba's words.
In any case, the young man ultimately chose to do as told.
"Yes, that's the angle. Don't be nervous, relax your arm, properly recall how much strength you used before..."
Following Mitsuba's reminders from behind, the young man adjusted the angle and force of his arm bit by bit, then forcefully threw out the last bamboo ring in his hand.
Thus, under the young man's nervous gaze, that not-quite-round small bamboo ring drew a beautiful parabola through the air, finally landing steadily on that jade bracelet.
"Oh! He caught it! He caught it!"
"That kid actually caught it!"
"Using five coins to earn a bracelet worth at least one hundred coins! How is this kid's luck so good?!"