“That was so mean...” Ichika was still coughing as he walked with Ling and Houki. Houki on the left, Ling on the right. Flowers in both hands, indeed.
“If you managed to annoy Charlotte and Kanzashi, of all people, you probably deserved it.”
“Yeah. Ichika, you really need to learn to keep it in your pants.”
“Hey, all I did was take a picture! I’m the victim here!”
Yeah, no one was buying it.
“.........”
“.........”
“You don’t have to give me the silent treatment! C’mon, don’t be so mean!”
It was, of course, his own fault.
“Anyway, where are we going?”
Ling was kind enough to answer Ichika’s change of subject, “We’re in Kyoto, right? So we’ve gotta go to Kamogawa!”
Ling pointed a finger dead ahead—toward the banks of the Kamogawa river, otherwise known as the hottest date spot in town. It was sure to be swarming with couples.
“Yeah! Definitely Kamogawa!” Houki nodded in unison.
“Mhm. So— I can get the pictures now, then?” Ichika rounded the viewfinder on Houki.
“Wait, hold on a minute! You’re just trying to get away from us as quick as you can, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, Ichika! Don’t you want to have some fun?”
“I guess. Hey, there’s an open spot over there, why don’t we sit down?” Ichika let the camera hang around his neck as he sat down. “I’ve only got one handkerchief, though. Houki, Ling, which one of you wants it?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
“Me too.”
Both of them were happy just with Ichika thinking of it.
The three quietly sat, listening to the murmur of the river. Flower in each hand or no, nothing rose to Ichika’s tongue.
“C’mon, say something, Ichika!” At Ling’s prompting, he suddenly managed to come up with a topic.
“Oh, right! Didn’t we roast sweet potatoes in the fallen leaves once? That’s a really fall thing.”
“Ichika...” The more enthusiastically he spoke, the more Houki’s face clouded. Not least because of her memories of roasting sweet potatoes in fallen leaves with him at Shinonono Shrine. Whether or not it was a good idea for the two, with Chifuyu and Tabane and her parents gone, to be tending a fire together.
“It’s not hot enough, we should put in more leaves!”
This did not turn out as they planned. Ichika was officially banned by Chifuyu from ever roasting sweet potatoes again, in fact.
“Huh? What happened?”
“Oh, whatever! Stop bringing up stuff from back then!”
And it was a given that Houki wouldn’t want to hear about it. Chifuyu may well have been a demon, with how angry she got. Houki would certainly never forget her face.
“Wait, that mess when we tried to roast chestnuts wasn’t your first time?”
“Ahahaha...”
“‘Ahaha’ isn’t an answer!” Ling blanched as she thought back to it. “Chifuyu was piiiiiiiissed, too. I don’t think I’ll ever forget her face.”
That was in sixth grade. It was Ichika’s idea, when he found a pile of wild chestnuts while they were raking up outside their elementary school.
“These are tasty if we roast them!”
Ling hadn’t disagreed, per se, but the fire was definitely Ichika’s idea.
“It’s not hot enough, we should put in more leaves!”
After that, Chifuyu had banned Ichika from fires, completely, for life. And Ling would never forget her face then, either.
“Yeah, not a lot of good memories about bonfires.”
“Agreed.”
Good kids should never light a fire without an adult present.
“It’s pretty chilly along riverbanks at this time of year.”
“Should we go somewhere else, then?”
“No, wait! That’s not what I meant...”
“......?”
Ling and Houki kept Ichika from leaving as they opened up a private channel between each other.
“What the hell are you doing?! This is our chance to get Ichika for ourselves!”
“I know, I know! But... I just, I’m just a little nervous...” They each glanced over at Ichika.
“It is chilly, isn’t it.”
“Yeah. It is,” they intoned, as if trying to make a point, as Ichika stood up.
“I know! Hold on a sec!” Suddenly, he ran off toward the nearby shopping district. Ling and Houki could only watch in shock.
“What the hell is he doing?! Where’s he going?!”
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Then whose was it?!”
“Grrrrr...”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrr...”
As they glared at each other, Ichika came trotting back.
“Sorry about that. Here you go.” He plopped matching hats on their heads. Berets, to fit over Ling’s twin tails and Houki’s ponytail.