Flower Parade III

The streets were crowded. Left and right, the stands selling food, trinkets, and other goods were all packed. Almost everyone was outside to celebrate the first blossom of the year. The current atmosphere made it felt as if there wasn't a war going on at all.

Kies and Nina walk down the streets, both feeling uncomfortable.

"I can't deal with crowded places," Kies told her while doing his best to avoid bumping into people. Nina, on the other hand, did not need to worry about that since she stuck out like a sore thumb. As they walked down the streets, people strayed away from Nina's path while shooting her funny looks. Kies could hear them chuckling as they walked past.

It goes without saying that Nina needed to do something about her appearance. They were attracting too much attention.

Nina looked to her right and saw a small clothing store. She pointed at it and told Kies, "Let's go there. It shouldn't be as crowded." "Also, I don't think I can make it through the rest of the day looking like this." She said embarrassingly.

Kies nodded his head in silent agreement and they both turned and made their way towards the clothing store. Kies walked into the store first, holding the door for Nina.

"Welcome," said a friendly voice as they walked in. The store was empty except for the store owner who was staring wide-eyed at Nina.

"Well, the shop manager should be the last person giving you that look," Kies remarked to Nina as he started looking for more familiar clothes for himself as well. Nina turned her head to the store owner, who suddenly directed her gaze elsewhere. Nina could see that she was smirking and was trying her hardest to hold back from laughing. Nina couldn't blame her. She would laugh too if it weren't for the fact that it was her who was wearing it.

Kies scanned the store to find something to wear and while he was at it, maybe recommend something to Nina as well. He saw something sitting in one of the corners and pointed it out to Nina. "I think that will look good on you."

Nina followed Kies's finger to a blue dress. It wasn't exactly fancy but it wasn't plain either. It was somewhere in the middle. The shop manager also turned her head to the dress that Kies pointed out and said.

"That one just came in months ago. It was too expensive for the commoners and too plain for the nobles. In the end, no one brought it so I left it sitting in that corner."

Nina, without a second thought, told the shop manager. "I'll buy that one." It was exactly what she needed to avoid attention.

"And I'll buy these," said Kies. He had chosen a shirt and a pair of pants that he had liked. They looked fairly similar to the clothes that he usually wore.

After changing their clothes, Kies and Nina walk out of the shop. Nina was feeling much more comfortable now that she had taken off all the jewelry and changed into a more suitable dress.

"It's a good thing that the store had a changing room. Now we can enjoy the festival without having to worry about you standing out," Kies said happily. He rotated his wrist a bit which got sore from the watch. He had taken it off and put it in a bag along with Nina's original dress and all of the jewelry.

Nina stretched her back and looked up towards the sky. "The weather is nice today. There are very few clouds and the temperature is a little warmer now," she noted.

Kies looked up to the sky as well and saw something fly by. He tried to follow it with his eyes but it was too fast. "Did you see that?" he asked.

Nina looked up confusedly. "See what?"

"I saw something transparent fly by. It looked like a ghost."

"A ghost in broad daylight?" asked a man who was walking by. He had overheard Kies talking and was

"It might have been my imagination," said Kies embarrassingly.

The man laughed. "If there were a ghost, I'm pretty sure it's here to enjoy the festival, and even if it were after you, you don't have to worry about it with this many people around," he joked as he walked off.

After the man left Kies searched the skies for a minute before Nina waved her hand in front of his face.

"It might have been a really fast bird," Nina proposed.

"That, or there's something wrong with my eyes," said Kies. It probably was just his imagination. "So where are we going first?" he asked.

Nina was quite excited since this is the first time where they had gone by themselves. All the past festivals, they had to follow their parents around and she didn't have as much freedom to choose where she wanted to go.

"You don't have to worry about me," said Kies. "You can choose any place you want since I know just how excited you are because your parents aren't here." Kies didn't really care where they went, but he would prefer it if it were somewhere with few people.

Nina's eyes jumped from one stall to another before finally deciding which one to visit first.

"That one," she pointed. Kies followed after her as she hopped over to the stall.

***

"You were almost caught. What made you think it was a good idea to jump from rooftop to rooftop?"

A hooded figure appeared from the shadows. "Ah sorry, I wanted to have a bit of fun. Anyway, when will we go?"

"You're lucky that the roofs were pretty close to each other, else, we would have had a problem," the woman said, ignoring his question.

"I already said I'm sorry, sheesh. Just let it go will ya? Now back to my question, when will we start?" The man asked again.

"In a moment," the woman replied in a pissed-off tone.

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