Chapter 73

* * * Just one more. Only one left. Can I? I wondered… —Can I give a name to this feeling? “…” “You took your sweet time, Saku!” As soon as I returned to the group, Kaito piped up. Nanase, who left after me, was planning to return a few minutes later. “My bad. The stalls were crowded. I bought a lot of things.” “Yuuko was worried and went to look for you. Didn’t you see her?” “No? I mean, it was pretty crowded.” I felt a stab of guilt, thinking of her searching around the stalls for me. Just as I was thinking of going to look for her… “Oh! Saku, you’re back already!” “What did I tell you? He was just off looking at cute girls in yukata.” Yuuko and Nanase returned together. “Yuuko, you were looking for me? Sorry, we must have missed each other.” “It’s fine. It was my idea to go off looking for you anyway, Saku.” Then she smiled. Did she just happen to run into Nanase? Either way, I was glad she didn’t interrogate me about where I was. The fireworks display lasted for only about an hour. Somehow, we were already halfway through. “I wanna sit next to Saku!” Yuuko kicked off her geta sandals and stepped onto the sheet, so I scooched over to make room. “What did you buy?” “I recommend the chocolate bananas and the frankfurters.” As I spoke, I passed around the food I bought to everyone. “Eh, I’d rather have marumaruyaki,” she said. “…Are you sure?” “Yeah! I love those!” “Gah, I thought chocolate-covered bananas were bound to be a hit with any girl!” “What are you saying, Saku?” Kaito interrupted the conversation to say, “Man, I wanna eat a chocolate banana! Haven’t had one of those in ages!” “You want me to kick you to the other bank of the Asuwa River, huh?” “What did I do?!” I didn’t answer that, but I split the marumaruyaki in half with the tip of my disposable chopsticks. “Here, Yuuko, you can have the bigger piece.” “All right! Feed it to me.” “…Er, I think Kaito’s crying blood over there.” “Don’t worry about me! Sure, I’d like to see you six feet under, Saku, but I’d rather see Yuuko enjoying a treat more!” Damn, really? “Well, try not to combust.” I cut it up into bite-sized pieces and picked one of the pieces up with my chopsticks. “All right, open wide.” I lifted it to Yuuko’s mouth, which hung open as she waited with her eyes closed. “Nom!” With a snap of her jaws, Haru leaned in from the side and ate it. “Ooh, it’s yummy! You can really taste the egg yolk!” Yuuko’s eyes flew open. “Haru!!!” “I’m sorry, did you want some first?” Haru took my disposable chopsticks, grabbed another piece, and lifted it to Yuuko’s mouth. “Look, Yuuko, a nice big piece! Open wide!” “That’s what I’m after!” “Now, now,” Yua said, calming them both. “Oh man.” Kazuki sighed. “Kenta, what do you think of this kinda thing, huh?” Kenta’s eyes twinkled. “This is amazing! I’m adding all the summertime events to my collection of experiences right now!” “Yeah, I understand that you’re excited, but can you stop talking about it like you’re building one of your weeb shrines?” “But I mean—fireworks, festivals, girls in yukata! And I’m experiencing all the above with actual friends!” Kazuki opened his mouth, ready to make fun of Kenta, but then he stopped and just said, “Right on,” instead. “We finally all got to come here as a gang.” Kenta looked confused. “So I’m just here to fill out numbers…?” But Kazuki shook his head. “It’s not like that. You know, we’ve only been able to become good friends with Yuzuki and Haru since we all ended up in the same class this year. I was just thinking about how special it is to be able to get everyone together for a rare event like this fireworks festival.” Unusually sentimental, coming from this stoic guy. Seeing that Kenta still didn’t get it, though, Kazuki continued. “It’s nothing complex. It’s just, everyone has club activities, family trips, plans with other friends, that kind of thing…” He paused, then muttered with a solemn tone. “—I mean, who knows. If someone here gets a girlfriend or a boyfriend, we might not all be able to get together like this again next year.” His words, delivered in the gaps between firework cracks, must have had a deep impact on everyone present. Maybe he wasn’t talking to Kenta but to someone else. Maybe he was just talking to himself. Eventually, as if to break the tumultuous silence, Kaito chuckled. “Let’s not talk about that stuff right now.” Kazuki smiled back. “Right, it’s almost the big finale.” The fireworks were coming fast now, as if to signal that the end was approaching. Crack, crack, crack. Fssh, fssh, fshhh. Yuuko, Yua, Nanase, Haru, Kazuki, Kaito, and Kenta. Everyone was just staring, rapt, at the night sky. If we were those fireworks… Could we burst with this much vigor, and then dissipate? Could we make a solid promise that we’d be back again next year? Could we be colorful marbles inside someone’s heart? —The last firework shot up into the sky. It opened wide, like a chrysanthemum flower; then a golden rain of sparks came falling down. …And with that, this year’s fireworks ended. Silence came suddenly with a white plume of smoke in the air, like the ending credits on a pitch-black movie screen. “Until next year.” Someone whispered those words quietly, like a sparkler in the dark.