Chapter 38: Summer Festival

Tonight was the second last day of the summer holidays. One week had already passed since my latest performance, and all I did during this week was laze around with Shouko or go out to play.

Sounds pretty carefree, right? Yea. Elementary school life rocks. Another reason why I didn't want to get promoted early.

For some reason, Shouko seemed to be more...assertive in her actions. Just slightly, and it wouldn't be evident if I wasn't paying a lot of attention to her. Since it didn't seem anything detrimental to her or me, I just let her do what she wanted.

To be perfectly honest, I feel pretty happy that Shouko was trying her best to attract my attention. Not that she needed to since I do pay her a lot of attention, just above my dear little sister.

But enough of my family matters.

This year, the summer holidays lasted until the 31st of August, and the summer holidays could not be considered a summer holiday until we've experienced the festival!

Thus, on this brightly lit night, my whole family had come together to explore the festival. Even Shouko's mother and my father had come back from their work to celebrate with us, something I was grateful for.

Call me old-fashioned or childish, but I think that festivals are something you go to with your loved ones. Parents would naturally accompany them for elementary students, but for high school students, it was the time for YOUTH!

Of course, since I was not a high school student (in this world) yet, I decided to go with my whole family. Shouko didn't mind it either and wanted to spend more time with her mother.

Yukata are most popular during the summer months, where the unlined cotton fabric is most suited to combat the hot temperature.

Thus, every one of us wore a yukata, even Raiha and Yuzuru. Shouko said that Yuzuru was cuter with a yukata, but let's agree to disagree with that without being disagreeable.

Anyway, my mother actually sewed Raiha's and Yuzuru's yukata by hand, making me feel a little surprised. I thought my mother would just laze around the house doing nothing with me doing the household chores and cooking in this house. I actually thought she was turning into a neet, but I guessed I was wrong.

[A/N: A NEET is a person that is Not in Education, Employment, or Training. It doesn't necessarily mean being a Kazuma.]

"Brat, are you thinking something rude about me?" Turning towards the source of the voice, I found my mother's eyebrow twitching and looking at me with a glint in her eyes.

Wow, a woman's intuition is scary. Thus, I did what any honest person would do in this situation.

"Of course not. I was thinking about how pretty you are."

I told the truth.

"Ne, ne, onii-chan!"

Looking down towards my waist, I saw Raiha bouncing around in her yukata, looking extremely adorable with that pink floral pattern on her white yukata. At the base of her ahoge was a small ribbon hairclip that I had gotten from the system.

I had already used up all seven tokens, gaining me some good stuff.

I have gotten the hairclip that I gave Raiha, an advanced summer festival games proficiency, advanced English Language proficiency, 1000 proficiency points, 1000 proficiency points, a packet of seeds, and an intermediate proficiency on skating.

While I gave the first one away to Raiha immediately, and the second one was oddly specific, the next three were pretty good. Proficiency points were always welcome, and with the addition of advanced English proficiency, I could now combine Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, and English to become academic proficiency since these five subjects were the core.

Using 1,000 proficiency points, I directly combined them into master proficiency, saving me the effort to increase each of them one by one.

I ignored the seeds since the system mentioned it was nothing special. I was a little disappointed, but I couldn't get everything I want every time, right? As for the last one...interesting.

"Yes?"

"How do I look?" Raiha asked as she twirled on the spot, causing her yukata (and my heart) to flutter about.

"Absolutely adorable!" Carrying Raiha up in the air, I sang my heartfelt praises as I spun around as well.

"Hehe..." Raiha couldn't stop giggling as she enjoyed 'flying' in the air.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's go now, shall we?" My father tapped my head lightly and suggested, interrupting my fun time with Raiha.

It was regretful, but I agree with you, old man. This wasn't the first time I went to a summer festival, but damn, was I excited. I think I'm slowly reverting back to a kid's mentality, though I don't feel too bad or anything. If anything, I would probably say that these past few years were probably some of the most enjoyable years of my life.

"Alright."

Upon reaching the festival, I saw the entire street flooded with street lights and numerous stalls.

There were all sorts of stalls present, from the food stalls to the candy stalls to the game stalls.

"Onii-chan! Let's play!" Within this festive atmosphere, Raiha couldn't endure it any further and jumped out of my mother's arms. She went towards me and started pulling me along with her.

"Onii-chan! Let's play this!" Dragging me to a shooting stall, Raiha pointed towards the gun and excitedly said.

Not letting down her expectations, I paid the vendor with my parents' money, obviously, and gave the gun to Raiha.

Due to her height, Raiha could not reach the counter at all. Thus, I carried her to the counter and let her sit on it, allowing her to have an easier time to aim.

Pew!

Yep. It wasn't a 'Bang!' but a 'Pew!' since the bullets were real bullets, but rubber bullets. The recoil was also non-existent, making this game virtually risk-free unless Raiha somehow managed to aim the nuzzle at her own body. But with me around, I would never allow her to aim the nuzzle at herself.

Pew!

Pew!

Having shot six times and missing all six times, Raiha seemed dissatisfied and wanted to try it again. Seeing her puppy eyes, I immediately gave in and paid the vendor again.

The vendor smirked as he kept the money in his pocket, making me feel very annoyed.

Let's see how much more you would smirk once I personally step in and shoot everything down.

Hehehehe...

Needless to say, Raiha missed everything again.

"Onii-chan...can you help me get that lion plushie?" She lightly pulled my sleeve and pointed towards a small, cute lion plushie.

"No problem!" Replying confidently, I paid the smirking vendor once again and took aim.

Raiha cheered for me at the side, and abusing the hell out of Advanced Summer Festival Games Proficiency, I shot all six bullets consecutively at my desired targets.

Pew! x6

The lion plushie, along with the shark plushie, giraffe plushie, a cat plushie, and transformers toy box, dropped to the floor.

I had to shoot the giraffe plushie twice since it was bigger than the other plushies, but I got all five with a mere five hundred yen in the end.

How worth it~.

"Thank you for the prizes, Ojii-san!" I bowed down and extended my hands towards him, enjoying that shocked facial expression on his, well, face.

"O-Ok..." The man depressingly murmured as he went to give me my prize.

"Wow! Onii-chan! You're very good at this game!" Raiha happily cheered as she watched the man pick up the prizes on the floor.

As much as he wanted to renege on the prize, his reputation was at stake here. If he had refused to give me his prizes, no one would be willing to spend money at his stall.

"Congratulations, kid." The man had a forced smile on his face as he handed me my prize.

Just as I was about to reply, we heard someone say, "Woah! That little boy managed to hit down five prizes in one go! This must be one of the stalls that don't cheat! Let's try this!"

A woman dragged her boyfriend (presumably) towards this stall, and following the man was another two girls.

Wow...I still can't get used to this harem world.

All four of them didn't particularly stand out in any way, but they seemed to be pretty happy together.

This would be my future, huh?

[A/N: Not really. Your harem would be much, much bigger.]

When I turned my head back to the stall owner, I realized he now had a much brighter smile.

"Thank you for your participation, kid! Here's an extra present for being able to shoot down five prizes!" The man repeated his words, now much, much friendlier than before. He even emphasized 'an extra present' loudly, as if to attract more popularity.

And sure enough, more people managed to see what was going on and decided to come to this stall.

As for how much this matter escalated, I didn't know. Since I had already grabbed my six prizes and Raiha, we got out of the crowd.

This man actually managed to turn this into a profitable business using my win...wow.

Businessman 101.

If he hadn't paid me for this, aka given me an extra prize for my 'hard work', I would have purposely done something to ensure that he won't be able to utilize my win to earn back all the money he lost.

For example, telling the 'truth' to the participants that I was actually collaborating with him to put on a show so that they would all be scammed to playing at his stall.

Yes. I was that petty.

But since I had gotten what I wanted and more, I decided to leave it.

"There you go, Raiha-chan~." Handing her the lion plushie and shark plushie, I said.

"Thank you, Onii-chan!" Raiha hugged my waist before receiving the two plushies, "I'm going to give Yuzuru one as well!"

"Give me one what?" Yuzuru's voice suddenly appeared behind us, giving us a small fright.

"Wow, you actually managed to get so many plushies, huh? How much did you spend?" Carrying Yuzuru, Yaeko (Shouko's mother) asked, "Be careful not to spend too much, alright?"

"Don't worry too much about it, Yaeko-san. I only spent 1500 yen on the stall." I said.

My father had a big grin on his face as he started slapping my back once more, "Haha! Good job! As expected of my son!"

What does being your son have anything to do with me being good at the summer festival games?! You make no sense whatsoever! And your slapping hurts!

"Hey, old man! Stop slapping my back!"

"There there...no need to get so upset." My father stopped slapping my back, much to my relief, but his next actions made me sweatdropped.

He started patting me on my head instead...

This old man...at least it's better than slapping my back...

"So, let's go get more plushies, then we'll have some food." My father helped put all the other plushies back into a plastic back before helping me hold on to them.

And so, we went around the festival visiting each stall.

We scooped some goldfishes, and by some, I meant a whole two buskets worth of goldfishes with only 300 yen spent. The stall owner had to beg me to not come ever again...

I couldn't possibly raise so many goldfishes at once, and since I also felt slightly bad for him, I returned most of the goldfish I had gotten, leaving us with only 5 goldfishes, enough for each child to raise one.

The stall owner also decided to take my photo with my parents' permission, of course, for unknown purposes. Hopefully, he wouldn't do anything with the photo.

Following on, we also went around to play a whole lot of games, yoyo fishing, ring throwing, and another shooting stall since Yuzuru wanted a hair clip.

There were also stalls where we could feel the tradition of Japan, such as Amezaiku (traditional Japanese candy fashioned in animal forms), Kumanote (bamboo rakes), Daruma (Japanese traditional doll modeled after Bodhidharma), and Hagoita (traditional Japanese battledore).

We tried all of them except the last one. I had never liked dolls much to begin with, and the battledore looked too creepy for my tastes.

Urgh...

And of course, once we had our feel of the games, we moved on to the actual food.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake made of cabbage, pork, and cheese topped with a savory and sweet sauce and some mayo.

Yakisoba is stir-fried noodles seasoned with a sweet and savory sauce almost the same as the one used for Okonomiyaki sauce.

Ikayaki is grilled squid on a stick. The Japanese love to eat nicely chewy grilled squid with beer, though the children didn't drink the beer. The adults liked this particular dish since beer matched really well with Ikayaki, apparently.

As its name suggests, choco-banana is a banana on a stick is dipped in chocolate. There is no way it isn't good, and it is easy to eat too. Like, seriously easy to eat. All I had to do was slide it straight into my mouth, swallowing the whole thing in one bite. The choco-banana size wasn't too big since they used the smaller banana, but it was still delicious and filling.

Ringo-ame is an apple coated with crunchy sugar candy or toffee.

Wataame is cotton candy. They did have huge cotton candy in a colorful bag, but we chose to get some fresh cotton candy rather than those packed beforehand.

A must-try festival drink is the ramune, a sweet and refreshing soda. This is very popular in Japan, but I don't usually drink it at normal times. Now that there we are at a festival, we, of course, had to drink it! The drink itself isn't the most special thing in the world; it's the bottle (packaging) that makes it unique to other sodas sold.

Finally, Kakigori, or shaved ice, is very refreshing during a sweltering hot summer festival. There are usually many flavors like strawberry, lemon, melon, and so on. Kakigori is an excellent dessert since the weather now is humid and hot, allowing us all to cool our bodies down.

"It's almost time for the fireworks, huh?" My father commented as he ate his Kakigori while checking the time.

"Yeah. Let's find a good spot to watch the show." My mother agreed with him, holding onto Raiha's hands tightly so as to not lose her.

Soon, we found a relatively deserted spot. It still had plenty of people but compared to the main street just now, it was comparably more deserted.

There wasn't too much light either, allowing us a better night view of the sky.

Wearing a white yukata with grass and flower patterns, wrapped around by the waist with a yellow sash, Shouko's hair was tied up in a particular way that looked like a mixture of a bun and a ponytail, with three flower hairclips securing it.

[Picture here--> https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2867259]

"You're beautiful," I mutter, but Shouko must have managed to hear me since I could see her face turning red. Standing just behind our parents and in their shadows, we, as twelve-year-old kids, were hidden.

"Thank you..."

My hand clasped her's tight, our fingers intertwined, as if I never wanted to let her go.

Shouko returned my gesture and slowly inched closer to me.

"Fuu-kun..."

"Hmm?"

"I love my life."

I became a little stunned by her sudden declaration. Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Why the sudden comment?"

"I was just thinking about the times before I met you.

If I hadn't met you, I wonder how much my life would have differed from now. My mother would still be distant, my sister would probably not be the cheerful girl she is now, and I would probably still be bullied...

After grandma's death, if you weren't there, I don't know what my family would have done...

With your simple act of kindness of befriending me, not only have you saved my life, but you have also saved my entire family's life, singlehandedly changing the direction my family was going."

"Hey, hey...stop thinking about all that, all right?" I interrupted her before she could go on any further. After ensuring that she was fully focused on me, I continued, "That is all in the past already. No matter how bad or how much you suffered in the past, keep it in your heart, but don't ever let it drag you down. Always remember one very important thing: I'll always be beside you. Always."

Shouko didn't cry or anything like that. She just merely smiled at me.

"Yeah, I know that."

Without waiting for me to react, Shouko tipped-toed and planted her lips on mine.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Simultaneously, loud explosions rang out in the air, and the massive, colorful fireworks could be seen.

My eyes widened at her unexpected action, and before I could even react, she released me.

"Shou...chan?"

"Didn't I tell you before?" Shouko cupped my cheeks with her hands and spoke, "I'll make you fall for me so hard you wouldn't be able to live without me."

Her face was still very close to mine, and I could feel the heat of her breath on my skin. She spoke bravely, though her flaming red face could be easily seen, proving that she wasn't as calm as she was showing on the surface.

My first kiss on the lips in both lifetimes...was stolen by a little girl.

"I hope you don't regret your choice," I said, "because I'll never let you go now."

"I won't."

"Good."

Men are insatiable creatures. Once they had felt, achieved, or done something amazing or sensational, they could never stop easily. It was one of the seven sins, Greed. It was an addiction.

Like smoking, gambling, and even sex.

Her face didn't go too far from mine, and thus, without warning, I leaned my head forward and pressed my lips against Shouko's, now causing her to feel stunned.

Shouko eventually learned how to enjoy her second kiss ever and closed her eyes.

Kissing a twelve-year-old girl on the lips behind our parents, that feeling felt a bit wrong, yet slightly exhilarating. It made me seem like a lolicon, but then again, I'm now twelve, right?

There should be no problem with kissing someone my age, right?!

Well, I would not do it again anytime soon.

Today was just a special day.

30th August 2011. The day I had my first kiss.

*****************

School started not long after the festival.

I think the adults might have seen what had happened behind their backs since they gave Shouko and me weird smiles whenever we sat together. Mostly my mother since my father had disappeared off to Hokkaido to do some business there while Yaeko went off to do her job as well.

Raiha and Yuzuru didn't seem to notice anything strange and just continued being our cute little sisters. They particularly enjoyed their respective plushies. I gave the cat plushie to Shouko while keeping the giraffe plushie for myself. AS for the transformers toy, I'm planning to give it to Haruma, and if he doesn't want it...well, that's a question for another day.

One more interesting thing that I didn't seem to notice until now was that my mother avoided extreme food and was a lot more mild-tempered.

The latter observation scared me since volcanoes usually hold it in for a long time before exploding a lot more violently, right? So, I figured that my mother was the same as a volcano.

Though, I had other suspicions since there was one more reason. There were significantly lesser sounds during the night from the first floor.

"Hey, Okaa-san?"

"Yes?"

"Are you pregnant again?"

Shouko immediately paused her food and stared at her, "Is it true, Okaa-san? You are pregnant?"

My mother didn't seem particularly surprised about my discovery and calmly put down her spoon.

"Took you quite a while to figure it out." She stood up, and her shirt revealed a big bulge on her torso. It was much bigger than I expected.

How on Earth did I not notice this before?! And how the hell is it so big?!

"Oh, I'm pregnant with twins." As if reading my mind, my mother continued talking, "I went to the hospital with your father somewhere during late March."

Hmm...that means...eight minus three...

"So you're five months pregnant?!" I exclaimed with shock while Shouko went closer to my mother and started rubbing her tummy gently, "How the hell did I not notice?!"

"Language!" My mother scolded me, and luckily, my two little sisters didn't copy what I said. She continued with a slightly teasing smile directed towards Shouko, "And how would I know why you didn't notice? Maybe you were too busy with Shouko?"

"Okaa-san..."

No, I think it's just the author screwing around with the timeline now. I don't believe that I wouldn't be able to notice it earlier.

Screw you, plot.

But there was one thing that concerned me, though.

"Okaa-san, is your body suitable for another round of childbirth?"

No one apart from my mother knew what I was referring to. We didn't tell any of them since I didn't want to make Raiha think that she was the reason why my mother almost died, after all.

"You still remember that, huh? Didn't expect you to actually remember it..."

"How could I not? If it wasn't for that miracle..."

I didn't complete my sentence, but the atmosphere was not more solemn than before.

"Don't worry too much about me." My mother spoke gently, relieving the atmosphere slightly.

"You're my mother. If I don't worry for you, who else would I worry about?" I snorted.

"Haha, looks like you're just a tsundere, after all. Normally, you would just snort back at my affections, but now..."

No way that's true. I never showed any tsundere tendencies, did I? I just don't say it often, but I'm sure my actions convey my feelings...at least, I hope that I did...

"Anyway, the doctor said I was perfectly healthy. I just have to pay closer attention to my health, less heaty or cool food, and more nutrient intake."

"That's good to hear."

I still have three more senzu beams, but I'm going to give one of them to Kaori, leaving two left. If anything goes wrong, I still have some hope, but I would rather my mother not suffer at all.

"Anyway, are the both of you supposed to be here at this time? I remember that both of you are leaving for Kyoto today, no?"

Both Shouko and my eyes lit up, and we hurriedly ate the rest of my breakfast.

"Yep! Thanks for the food!" Taking our school bags, Shouko and I rushed out, "Don't forget to take care of your health!"

"Hai, hai!" I could hear my mother sigh a little, "Take care of Shou-chan, you hear me? If anything happens to her during the trip, I'll smack your butt!"

Woman! Worry more about your son instead of your future daughter-in-law! Who said mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law couldn't get along with each other?! This here is a prime example...but...

"You don't need to remind me about that."

"Good."

*****************

Upon reaching school, I realized that everybody was excited about the trip.

"Yo, Fuu-chan! I see that you're excited as well."

I don't even need to see who said that since only one person in this school calls me by that name.

"Haruma, how many times must I say it? Stop calling me Fuu-chan!!"

"Okay, Fuu-chan. I'll stop calling you Fuu-chan, alright, Fuu-chan?"

This guy...

"Well, so who are you going to explore the place with?" Haruma casually asked.

"Huh? Aren't we in the same group?"

"Nope. I went to another group since I thought you and Shouko-san might not want the third-wheel to be with you guys." He said, causing Shouko to blush slightly.

What a good wingman...if only we were in high school, Haruma would be a great wingman! But why on Earth would I need a wingman in elementary school?!

"Urgh...then I'll probably just explore with Shou-chan then. Since you decided to let us be alone, I'll just take the chance then. What about Kaori-chan, though?"

"Oh, our classes will be separated. So I don't think you'll get the chance to see Kaori-san. Though, I don't think I even saw her today..." Haruma frowned a little while trying to remember.

"You don't have to think too much about it. She's probably running late."

"Hm...I suppose so."

Just as this time, the door was slammed open, and my teacher went inside with a frown on her face.

"Quieten down!"

Not daring to refuse her orders, the entire class immediately became silent, awaiting her next instructions.

"Now, I know that you're all excited about the school trip today, but something came up. When the principal was booking the train tickets, he realized that he had accidentally booked the following day's ticket instead for the return trip. So..."

"Does that mean we get to stay in Kyoto for a bit longer?"

"Sigh...yes. But! But!" The teacher hurriedly continued her words before the class could erupt in cheers, "But you have to ask your parents for their permission. I know that some parents wouldn't send you overnight, so don't get your hopes up to high."

At her words, the class's excitement died down slightly, though the majority of them knew that their parents would probably let them go.

"Everybody, gather outside the staffroom and one by one, according to your index number, follow me inside to call your parents in case they want to speak to you."

The class did as they were told, not willing to dawdle about. The faster they got this done, the faster they would be able to go on their trip.

It didn't take long since most parents either gave a direct yes or no, the majority leaning towards the former. There were a few pretty hesitant parents, but the school allowed them to follow their child on this trip, causing them to give in.

As for my mother? She not only allowed me and Shouko to go on the trip, she even told the teacher to warn me to take care of Shouko over there, only giving me one line of encouragement to have fun.

What a great parent.

Now that it was all settled, the trip was pushed back to an hour later to allow us to have some time to pack.

Afterward, it was time for the school trip!

We got on the bus for fifteen minutes before eventually alighting at our destination.

Matsuyama was pretty far away from Kyoto, and since most of us had never gone outside our province before, this trip naturally made us all excited, including me.

Even by bullet train, this trip would take four hours and fifty-two minutes. Thus, I ensured that we wouldn't get bored by bringing some entertainment like cards.

All of us couldn't wait anymore. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10.08 am, and it was already 9.55am.

"Alright, children! Let's get on the train. Be sure to carry your bags at all times!" Our teacher called us as she ushered us to the train.

I'm looking forward to this trip, though I have a feeling that I'm forgetting something...I wonder what I am forgetting...

Well, until then, I'll make sure to enjoy this school trip and make plenty of happy memories.

*****************

A/N:

1) Since I couldn't decide on filler or straight to the next arc, I decided to do the filler first before writing about the start of the school trip. I know some (most) of you will probably be pissed, but it is what it is. Muahahaha!

By the way, childhood would be different from canon, so do expect more than just strolling together with the childhood friend.

2) And before some people would ask, Fuutarou had eidetic memory after dying, not before dying, so he won't be able to remember every exact detail of his past life, much less what he read in his past life.

3) I just watched, 'I want to eat your pancreas'. Hmmm...I don't know why I torture myself with all those sad and/or touching romance shows...Romance manga/anime is the best genre!

Your lie in April, I want to eat your Pancreas, Your name, A silent voice, Fuuka, Gotoubun no Hanayome, we never learn, Nisekoi...

4) I'm actually thought of adding Weathering with you, but I don't think it's actually necessary. The main place of this story isn't in Tokyo in the first place, and I do need sunshine to let this story progress. Plus, there's no point, lol, Unless you want me to focus on the side story, which I don't think any of you want.

Fun fact: Did you know Mitsuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana from Your Name appears in Weathering with you as well? If you knew, then good for you. But if you're like me and didn't know, then you learn something new today.

PS: Nino almost became my number 1 if not for Miku's last action in Episode 8. The tsundere became a dere more than a tsun.

PPS: I remembered saying to not expect long chapters, but I can't seem to stop writing...