Chapter 76: Fragments of a Festival: The Nakano Sisters' Bond

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...

Badr glanced at Itsuki Nakano, feeling slightly speechless. The girl had both hands full of snacks, her mouth stuffed as she continued to chew with enthusiasm.

"This girl is really a foodie…" he thought to himself.

Noticing Badr's gaze, Itsuki blushed and shyly responded, "Stop looking at me like that while I'm eating…"

"You know you're a foodie yourself, don't you?"

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It seems like you even changed your hairstyle; it looks nice," Badr casually remarked.

Seeing the bowl of food in Itsuki's hands, he naturally picked up a toothpick and poked a piece of hot tofu, tossing it into his mouth.

"Ha ha, Badr has been observing us well!"

Ichika Nakano leaned in with a playful smile and said, "So, are you interested in the fact that we aren't wearing underwear under our yukatas?"

"Now that you mention it, I am quite interested."

"Haha! Want to see?" Ichika teased, slightly pulling down her collar, revealing a hint of cleavage.

Her bold move instantly shocked Miku and Itsuki, who were standing nearby.

"Ichika!?"

Ichika just laughed, "Haha, I'm just kidding."

Badr remained calm, already knowing Ichika's personality. He could see through her antics and knew she was teasing him.

Naturally, he wouldn't fall for it, so he calmly responded, "I'm not interested in seeing; I'm just curious if it would be uncomfortable with nothing rubbing against the front."

Ichika: "…??"

Everyone else: "…"

The girls were stunned by Badr's unexpected comeback.

Nino Nakano looked exasperated. "Seriously, what's going on in your head?"

Badr shrugged, continuing to take food from Itsuki, who cried out in protest, telling him to go buy his own.

…

After some playful banter, they prepared to move to a better spot to watch the fireworks.

"Where are we going?" Badr asked.

"It's the rooftop of a restaurant. Nino has reserved the entire rooftop," Yotsuba Nakano explained.

Badr was speechless, thinking to himself how much they must have spent just to get a good view of the fireworks.

"Wait, are we really going without buying anything from the stalls?" Nino suddenly reminded everyone.

The girls were slightly taken aback before realizing what she meant.

"Oh yeah! We haven't bought that yet!"

"Do you mean that?"

"Is there a stall for that here?"

"I want to eat that soon!!"

They all seemed quite excited.

Seeing their synchronized reactions, Badr raised an eyebrow, "So, what exactly is that?"

Nino smiled mysteriously, "Ready!"

She meant they were all going to answer together.

And in the next second, the five sisters simultaneously called out their cravings.

"Candied apples!"

"Chocolate bananas!"

"Fried noodles!"

"Taiyaki!"

"Shaved ice!"

Each of the five sisters shouted out a completely different answer.

Badr was speechless and couldn't help but sigh, "So much for being in sync…"

Everyone: "…"

The girls were a bit embarrassed but decided to go all out and turned around together, saying, "Let's just buy everything!"

Badr had no choice but to follow them as they began their shopping spree before the fireworks began. His task today was to be their diligent bodyguard.

"Badr, hurry up!" Miku called out.

"I'm coming," he replied, quickening his pace to walk alongside her. "You're really enthusiastic about this. Don't they have fireworks every year?"

"Fireworks remind us of our mother. She loved watching them, and she would take us every year. Even though she's not with us anymore, we still come here every year," Miku said softly.

Badr nodded, understanding her feelings.

"Fireworks are fleeting, but memories last forever."

"Yeah." Miku smiled gently, her eyes reflecting a sense of nostalgia. "To us, fireworks are just like that."

At that moment, Ichika suddenly pulled out her phone, glanced at it, and looked apologetically at the group.

"Sorry, I have to take this call."

She squeezed through the noisy crowd, finding a quieter corner to answer her phone.

Badr watched her from a distance, his mind deep in thought.

Recently, Ichika had been getting calls quite often, and she always seemed busy with something. He couldn't help but wonder what she was up to…

But that was her personal business, and he had no right to pry.

Just then, the announcement for the fireworks show blared through the speakers, indicating that it was about to start.

Nino hurried everyone along to the reserved rooftop, only to realize that they had lost sight of each other in the crowd.

The bustling crowd pushed Nino around, and the sisters were separated. Badr quickly noticed and identified their locations.

Thanks to his demonic abilities, sensing their presence was a piece of cake.

Badr squeezed his way to Nino, who was struggling to stay upright amidst the crowd, and grabbed her wrist.

"Badr, where are the others?" she asked.

"They got separated. It's too crowded right now. Let me get you to the rooftop first."

"What a mess…"

"Stop complaining. I'll bring the others over soon," Badr reassured her, gently pulling her along.

With Badr leading the way, Nino fell silent, her thoughts wandering.

Soon, Badr managed to get Nino to the rooftop of the hotel, which was completely empty.

"…Oops, I forgot I'm the only one who knows the location of the hotel," Nino said awkwardly. She quickly pulled out her phone to make a call but realized there was no signal.

"Seriously… why does this rooftop have no signal?" Nino was frustrated.

"It's fine. Don't worry. The fireworks will last for an hour. Just wait here, and I'll bring them over," Badr said before hurrying back down the stairs, leaving Nino to sigh in resignation.

Using his keen senses, Badr soon found two of the sisters, Yotsuba and Itsuki.

One had been distracted by a goldfish scooping game, and the other by the delicious food, which explained why they had gotten separated.

After telling them the hotel's location, Badr set off again and found Miku.

He noticed that Miku seemed a bit off, limping slightly as she walked.

"What happened?"

"…Someone accidentally stepped on me. It hurts," Miku said with a bit of a pout.

Badr looked down at her foot and, remembering that Nino and the others were probably waiting for them, softly suggested, "How about I carry you?"

"…Huh?"

"We promised to watch the fireworks together, didn't we?"

With that, Badr crouched down and gently lifted Miku onto his back.

As she rested her head on his shoulder, Miku's face turned red, her heart racing.

This was so unexpected.

"Are we really going to walk like this?" Miku worried about being too heavy.

But her weight was nothing to Badr;

After all, he was used to doing push-ups with Rias and Asia both sitting on him.

"Let's get you to the rooftop first. Miku, did you see Ichika?"

"No… I didn't," Miku shook her head. Lying on Badr's back, she quietly murmured, "She's been acting a bit strange lately."

"She has, hasn't she?"

"Ah, I remember seeing Ichika get out of a car with an old man with a mustache…" Miku added.

Badr was left speechless.

Getting out of a car with a mustached old man?

What kind of situation is that?

Pursing his lips, Badr carried Miku to the hotel rooftop, where the four sisters were finally reunited.

Now, only Ichika was missing.

Perhaps feeling guilty for making him run around so much, the sisters sincerely thanked him, saying, "Please bring Ichika back to us."

Badr understood. For the five sisters, it was a tradition to watch the fireworks together, and they didn't want to miss out.

"Leave it to me."

Badr descended the stairs and quickly made his way to the spot where he had sensed Ichika's presence earlier.

Although he couldn't distinguish each sister's aura perfectly, he had already located the other three, so by the process of elimination, the remaining aura had to be Ichika's.

He rushed toward the designated area and soon caught sight of Ichika's familiar figure.

As he approached her, reaching out to tap her shoulder, someone suddenly jumped in front of him, blocking his way.

"Who are you? What are you trying to do with Ichika?"

...

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