CH 12.1

From somewhere, the rumbling of drums and the whistling of flutes reverberated. The hanging lanterns brightened up the shopping street as countless stalls were lined up.

Dawn grew and night approached, and the weather gradually cooled down. Many people gathered in front of the various food stalls, and the delicious aroma of yakisoba and takoyaki wafted through the air.

Lively and colorful, the summer festival’s atmosphere made my heart skip a beat. I was dressed in a blue jinbei¹ with Yuki by my side.

(¹Jinbei is a traditional Japanese kimono. It’s informal and usually used in summer.)

She wore a yukata, her hair tied up in a bun with a blue hairpin cutely adjourning her hairdo. Walking shoulder to shoulder, she had a red candy apple in her mouth.

We both came to a summer festival during our vacation since we’ve been planning this for a while now.

I had been to the festival several times with her in the past, but my family accompanied us at the time. Often I recall my time with her and my parents, though, this was the first time I went to one only with her.

“There’s a lot of people here. Let’s try not to get separated.”

Since this was one of the most famous summer festivals in the prefecture, there was a huge amount of people. I reached out my hand to Yuki, knowing that it would be a disaster if we got swept away by the passing crowd and lost each other.

“Hey, Yuki. Give me your hand.”

“O–Okay…” She squeezed my hand tightly.

I was thrilled by her soft touch but tried not to show it. She looked down, cheeks flushed as the candy apple she ate.

It was our first one-on-one summer festival, and you can’t blame two high schoolers for being nervous about holding hands. I noticed hers were a bit sweaty, and I relaxed involuntarily.

“Let’s go,” I said. “Let’s have lots of fun together.”

“Yes! We’ll have lots, Haru-kun!”

We arrived at the venue and decided to enjoy visiting the food stalls. All the while, I admired the sight: before me.

Yuki was extremely cute in a yukata. Her beaming smile also added to it, fitting the atmosphere of such a festival. She had a different charm than usual.

Holding out her candy apple to the food stall ahead of us, she excitedly pointed out.

“Look! There’s yo-yo fishing here!”

“Hm? Oh yeah, sounds good. Let’s go there.”

“Yay!”

She let go of my hand, happily walking towards the aquarium. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of those beautiful water balloons floating in the tank. Yuki had always wanted to try yo-yo fishing ever since before the festival, so she must’ve been looking forwards to it a lot.

“Hmm, hard to decide which water balloon to take…”

“They’re all nice colors, aren’t they? Let’s do it, then.”

We both give the owner a 100-yen coin each, asking him to give us a paper clip. After that, we squatted down in front of the tank and started playing yo-yo fishing together.

She went first.

I kept her candy apple in my hands and watched as she fished. Taking aim while watching the balloons floating around, she reached for the one with red stripes. She then hooked one with a paper string, and just as she was about to pull, the string snapped.

“Ah…”

“Maybe you got the paper part a little too wet.”

“It’s surprisingly difficult.”

“Once you learn it, it’s easy. Watch.”

My turn.

I aim at the striped balloon she went for earlier and dipped the clip into one of the targets floating on the surface of the water. Pulling it up, I safely took the striped balloon in my hand.

Though I didn’t stop there, continuing to catch another one with polka dots. Unfortunately, on the third one, the string snapped.

“Haru-kun, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you just yoinked two so quickly!”

She clapped her hands with a smile, happy just as if she was the one who caught the yo-yo.

I held out the red balloon to her. “Look, Yuki. You wanted this one, right?”

“Eh, you don’t mind? I mean, you took it.”

“I took it for you.”

When I handed her the water balloon, she slipped the rubber ring through her fingers and smiled gently.

“Thanks, I’ll take good care of it…”

Yuki played around with the water balloon I gave her. The water inside made a splashing noise as it was thrown around left and right.

She was just like a child, and it was soothing to see her playing so innocently.

I thought to myself, “I’m going to enjoy the summer festival with Yuki all the more today,” as I watched her smile.