Taisho Summer Festival

~~~~~~1912-Taisho Era~~~~~~

A hot summer day, with the sun beaming down the heat on the residence of the Butterfly Mansion. Tanya wiped her forehead of sweat. "I do not envy Shinobu" she muttered as her adoptive older sister had left a couple of days ago on a mission. She flinched, worried that by merely mentioning it she would be called on a mission as well. But so far nothing, so she was good for now. Another year had passed, another year of her fighting demons and being ticked off by both Being X and Being Z. 

Tanya looked down at her hand, "16 huh?" she muttered to herself. 'That's one year longer than my last life.' her eyes strained as she thought back to that, while she was sorta happy that people from her unit were now in this life as well, it did not help that just them being around made her constantly remember her fuck up at the end, especially with Mary sue. While she can no longer say she hated the girl, she had after all become an asset in combat, every time she spoke to her she got a nasty feeling at the back of her throat. She hated it so much. But that was neither here nor there, right now she did not need to focus on that. 

Wiping her forehead one more time she stood up. 'I know I promised Shinobu I'd help train Kanao when she's gone, but this heat is hell.' Tanya went to go inside, but she bumped into the girl she was just thinking of. "Oh, Kanao…did you want to train now?" the other girl was silent. "Okay, I am going to go inside then." Kanao remained still in front of her. "The hell…" she whispered that of course. 

"Did you need to tell me something?" Kanao nodded. Tanya sighed "fine, tell me what it is." hearing an order Kanao said in her soft voice "there is a man waiting for you inside, a smiling one." Tanya had a feeling of who it was. She nodded "well thank you but next time, just tell me." she patted Kanao on the head and moved passed her. Tanya may like giving orders, but it's not as good when the person either won't do anything otherwise or needs to flip a coin to make their own decisions. 'Though neither Shinobu nor Kanae could do it, maybe I can try teaching her proper decision-making skills.' 

Finally, Tanya made it to one of the rehabilitation training rooms the Butterfly Mansion had. Sitting on his knees on a cot was Rengoku, Kyujuro Rengoku. "HELLO TANYA KOCHO! HOW ARE YOU?!" Tanya mumbled 'of course' under her breath, as if he expected him not to start like that. She sighed and walked inside the room "I am good Rengoku, sorry Shinobu is not here, she went off on a mission." Rengoku shook his head "it is quite alright, I am here to see YOU AFTER ALL!" Tanya was not sure if it was a good thing or not that she had come to be used to his inconsistent, and yet very consistent shouting. She approached him more and looked up at him "oh? And why is that?" 

A few moments of silence passed, with the man just staring at her. She was starting to think she should poke him or something to make sure he was still okay. Rengoku then walked forward and quickly grabbed Tanya's hand, the suddenness of this made her eyes widen in surprise. "R-Rengoku what are you doing?!" the smiling man took a deep breath in and out. "TANYA KOCHO, a festival is happening close by tomorrow night, and I was hoping you would come with ME!" 

Tanya heard a sound in her brain that sounded like glass breaking. 'H-huh?! Now?! In the summer?!' she of course suspected a summer festival would be likely to be the one Rengoku would ask her to, but this heat made her want to outright say 'no' even if it was happening at night time. That and she still wanted to make Being Z feel her wrath in one way, and saying no to this would be a way of doing that. '...damn it' as she stared at the widely smiling face she normally either hated or at best tolerated, she found herself unable to say the word 'no' despite thinking it in her head many times. Tanya could blame Being X or Z for this, but ruining her free will would break one of the rules they set, so neither of them would have messed with her thoughts or emotions. 

Emotions, more importantly making decisions based on them were one of the things Tanya hated the most unless, of course, she could take advantage of that herself. But this time it was being used against her! Even if not intentionally by so the man in question. Tanya thought the logical thing was to say 'no' and yet she found she could not say it. She finally caved, she shifted her eyes as small pink dust covered her cheeks "...yes, just tell me where it is and I'll meet you there, Rengoku." 

Rengoku was certainly happy, though Tanya heard some happy squealing coming from somewhere outside of the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanya found out that the person listening in was Mitsuri Konroji, because of course it was. She found an apologetic Obanai and Senjuro, both of whom tried to stop her, but the woman was stronger than both of them combined. It was already the next day, and just after eating breakfast found something, strange happening in the front yard of the Butterfly Mansion. Sitting in a circle was Mitsuri, Viktoriya, Erya, Mary, Aoi, and three women that Tanya did not recognize. "Um…who are these three? Also what the hell is going on?" Viktoriya was the one who answered "Tanya, we need to have a talk." 

Tanya, after a little while of Viktoriya explaining that they were all here to "help her" prepare for the festival tonight. With only Aoi and Mary giving her apologetic looks. The three new women also introduced themselves, the messy black-haired one, who seemed to be scared of Tanya was "Suma Uzui", the one with black hair and yellow bangs was "Makio Uzui" and finally the black-haired one with a ponytail was "Hinatsuru Uzui" and that all three were wives of Tengen. Her eye twitched a little 'that bastard has three wives?' she thought to herself, as when she met Tengen his flashy and in your face style annoyed her almost as much as Rengoku's smile and yelling did. 

"Okay, I appreciate it, but I don't need help. I am fine" Tanya said as she rubbed her head, while she had not been to many festivals in her first life, she had been to a few. "Besides I barely call this a date." when she said that she heard Mitsuri say "oh, denying it, so sad yet so romantic." Tanya felt a vein pop "no. not that-" this time, it was Viktoriya who cut her off "let me guess you were planning on going in your uniform still?" Tanya blinked and turned her head to say "well you can never be too prepared." Mary rubbed her hair "I mean you are not wrong, but I doubt you will run into much trouble there." 

Erya then walked up and held Tanya by her shoulders "no, no can do. Do you even own a Kimono? Or a Yukata even?" the blonde girl shook her head. She was about to look at Aoi and say she could just borrow hers or Shinobu's. But Erya shook her head and placed her finger on Tanya's mouth. "Shame, well, since my father is with your date and the other boys fitting them for Yukata's, we can all go over for Kimono fittings later." Tanya then shook her head "oh no, not doing that. I'm perfectly fine thank you very much! And stop calling it a date!" 

Erya then gave her a devious look, one shared by all the other girls except Aoi, Mary, and Suma, the girl still too scared to even say anything. "and since we are waiting, we can do make-up as well. Sure we will have to reapply it before the festival. But that's no problem." Tanya's eyes went wide, "I said-" before she could even think of getting away Makio and Hinatsuru were already behind her and holding her arms, Tanya having forgotten that they told her they were Kunoichi. Mitsuri and Viktoriya approached with dark yet gleaming smiles. Tanya felt sweat go down her head "h-hey, what if I don't want to? We can talk about this." 

~~~~~~~That night~~~~~~~~

Tanya grumbled, her face flushed as she could not believe the day she endured. 'Girl time is hell. Hell, I say!' she thought to herself as she walked alongside the other girls. Kanao and Aoi were the closest to her, they had simple blue and pink kimonos, Aoi had planned to take Kanao back soon since she wanted to make sure the other girls were back at the Butterfly Mansion were sleeping. 

A little further than that were the three Uzui wives, dressed in Kimono that matched each of their individual color schemes but had lines around the back and front, their kimonos were also more revealing than the others in the chest area, something Erya said they specifically request, except for Suma, but she wanted to match Makio and Hinatsuru. Then was Viktoriya and Erya, who had matching green kimonos with flowers on the back, it was kinda cute Tanya had to admit. Then was Mary, who also sorta looked cute in the Kimono, but Tanya was off-put that it still matched the color of her father's Yukata. Mitsuri's Kimono was pink with lotus flowers all around, while it was revealing still it was less revealing than her demon slayer uniform. 

Finally, Tanya, her kimono was a yellow color with red flowers on the back of it, and some flower patterns near the bottom. She did not hate it, but she was certain Erya and the other had the pattern picked out way ahead of time as the second she got Tanya's measurements she pulled out the specific kimono without even asking what she wanted. Tanya could live with the kimono, it was hard to walk in with the sandals, but she could live with it. No, what was making her boil inside was the makeup on her face. All the girls had make-up on, lip-stick eye-liner of sorts with white make-up over the flap of their eyes. And a couple of them had rosy cheeks made by the make-up. Something which Tanya was forced into. 

'One day Viktorya, Eyra, Mitsuri, and the ninja twins. One day…' Tanya thought darkly to herself, swearing revenge. While most might ladies may like a make-up session. To Tanya, it was more grating than when fighting a demon, at least any she had fought. The number of times they slathered it on her face only to wipe it off, how many colors of lipstick they went through before landing on the classic red! And so much more, She. would. Have. her. Revenge! They were safe, but only because she could barely run in the kimono she was wearing. They were safe, for now. 

When they finally got to the festival grounds they saw many stalls and children running around with their parents close by. "Yo!" they heard a voice call over, with Kyujuro, Tengen, Senjuro, and Obanai walking up to them, all wearing Yukatas. Senjuro and Kyujuro wore similar red Yutaka's with fire-like patterns around the front and back, though Kyujuro's seemed to have more intensity to them. Tanya had to look away, she kinda liked how Kyujuro looked in it. Tengens was white with a floral and snowy masterpiece. And finally, Obanai, who still had his snake around his neck. His yukata was matched exactly with how his Haori looked, white with black stripes. 

"HAHA! You three look quite flamboyant, almost as flashy as me even!" Tengen said as his three wives ran up to him, the four of them split off quickly, not even giving a second glance back at the others. "Iguro? Iguro?" Mitsuri poked the now frozen serpent hashira, he had not moved since the moment he laid his eyes on the love hashira in her kimono. "Oh no, is he sick?" she asked with a saddened voice. And as if being snapped out of a coma he jolted his face around. "NO! I am fine Konroji." Mitsuri smiled and held her arms around Obanai's making his go red. "Come on, I smell amazing food nearby!" she shouted as she pulled the blushing man along, who followed along with a dazed look. 

"Hmm, I feel like I should not go with them," Senjuro said, feeling as though being a third wheel to that would be, overwhelming. "It's okay, you can come with us if you're okay with us leaving early." Aoi offered, which he nodded and agreed to. "SEE YOU LATER SENJURO! BE SAFE!" Kyujuro shouted after his brother, getting the attention of a lot of people near them, who just looked and moved on. "Well, we should get going as well. See you two later." Erya said as she wrapped her arms around Viktoriya, who smiled and waved as well, "bye, Tanya." Mary said as she went with the other two girls. 

Which then left Tanya and Kyujuro. "You look AMAZING Kocho, that kimono looks really good on you," Kyujuro commented, his patented wide smile accompanied by a small pink blush. Tanya looked back at him, pretending her face was not blushing as well. "Thanks, you look…good Rengoku." a few moments of silence passed. "Well shall we get going?" he asked, as she nodded. 

The two walked along with the festival grounds, staying close to each other amongst the crowd. They played a plastic fishing game and attempted to get a prize from it. Kyujuro kept failing, Tanya nearly killed the poor man running the stall when her fishing rod kept breaking despite her precision perfect timing. The man was lucky Kyujuro was there to hold her back. 

They played an archery game, and Kyujuro did decently. But when Tanya played, she always hit a bullseye. "WOW! That was amazing Tanya." he complimented her, and she smirk confidently, "it was simple." to Tanya it really was simple. Compared to the Arial gun combat she had to do in the empire archery was child's play, and she could perfectly calculate when to fire the arrow to hit the center of the target, even on the moving ones. Unfortunately, she had no use for the two giant dolls she won, so she let Kyujuro give them to two girls that failed to hit any targets when they played the game. The girls hugged Tanya and thanked her, she just said "your welcome" and tried to resist the urge to struggle free of their hug. 

When the two were walking near the outer part of the festival Tanya kept a lookout for any demon attacks, lest Being X try to have one happen when she is unarmed, though unbeknownst to her Being Z had taken precautions to ensure that a demon attack would not happen at the festival they were in. "Kocho, you don't have to be guarded here. It is unlikely demons would attack in a heavily crowded festival. Doing so would garner too much attention." Kyujuro said as he noticed her defensive stare toward the field outside of the festival. "You never know." She huffed, annoyed how a hashira could be so cavalier about there being no demon attacks. 

"Hey, can you close your eyes for me?" Kyujuro suddenly said as he turned toward Tanya. The woman, with caution, said "sure…just don't try anything." the small defensive look she had was back, it was one step down from her glare. He nodded. Tanya closed her eyes 'if I feel lips. I'm breaking his jaw'. Instead what she felt was something rubbing against her face. She sputtered as it happened "hey- what- stop- huh?!" 

when it stopped and she could open her eyes without something rubbing against them she saw Kyujuro getting up from his kneeling position. "Much better Kocho, right?" as her eyes adverted from the smiling man, she saw one of his Yukata's sleeves was covered in colors, white, black, red. She felt her face "you ruined your yukata you idiot!" she shouted as punched him in the stomach, he saw it coming and tensed it up, though he still felt plenty of pain. "Heh, sorry, but when I saw the make-up. While I do think it looked good, I can't help but feel it does not match you." 

Tanya was not sure whether or not to be insulted. On one hand, he was right, she hated both the make-up and the time she was forced to put it on. On the other, she kinda felt, a little tinge inside. 'Am…am I annoyed that he doesn't like my make-up?!' she was a mix of annoyed and pissed off. "Damn it, you did not have to ruin your yukata like that though!" Kyujuro's smile widened "are you saying you like how I look in it?" Tanya blinked and turned her head, muttering out "irrelevant." Kyujuro laughed a little "sorry then, but I am okay with ruining something of mine if it makes you a little happier." her eye twitched hearing that, she was not going to fall for some shitty chivalry "that, and I prefer seeing you, as well, you." 

Tanya felt her heart skip a beat, she hated that line and how it somehow made that happen. "Idiot. Fine, whatever" She glared back at him after saying that. The two were still standing by the outer part of the festival. Kyujuro rubbed his chin "Hmmm, I'm a little hungry. How about you Kocho?" Tanya was still somewhat glaring but nodded "yeah, we've been playing booth games for a couple of hours now. Let's find some food." she was certain that they would have their fair share of food to pick from the stalls. There were many, most of them in the designated spot for food stalls, but some were riddled throughout the festival grounds as well. 

Before they could leave to see what food there was, Kyujuro spoke "Tanya, want to make a bet?" this, coming out of nowhere had Tanya taken aback. "A bet? Really?" her eyes narrowed, it was her losing a bet that trapped her in this situation, to begin with. "That depends, on what we are doing, and what I get for winning." Kyujuro gave a cheeky grin "already confident you'll win huh? I LIKE IT!" he would motion his hand toward where the food stalls started "simple, we go separately and find something we know the other will like. To eat of course. If we guess right, then that person wins. As for the prize, well, I guess whoever wins gets something they want from the other." Tanya was suspicious of that phrasing "fine, however, much like last time, you can't ask them to do something they are not willing to do." he nods, pointing at the hill at the other side of the festival "we will meet at the base of that hill." And their bet was on. 

'This was a mistake.' Tanya thought to herself, as she realized she was not actually sure what Kyujuro would want. 'Rengoku always seems to like anything he eats…to an annoying degree.' she wondered if the smiling excitable man was secretly as manipulative as her, as this felt like a trick since he likes all foods, he could potentially hate anything as well. 'What do I do?' as she was walking around though she ran into Aoi and Kanao, the little girl in the pink kimono licking on a candied apple. "Oh hey, Tanya. We were just about to head back. Where is Rengoku?" 

Tanya shrugged "your guess is as good as mine. Off getting food." she left out the part where it was a bet. "And the one that was with you?" Aoi shrugged "since we wanted to head back home, and he wanted to stay longer, we ran into Viktoriya, Erya, and Mary. so he stayed with them. So hopefully he's still with them." Tanya rubbed her forehead, she hoped Viktoriya or Mayr protected the poor boy from Erya's antics, whatever they may be. "Well, I need to get food as well. See you Aoi." the other girl nodded, but before they could leave Kanao tugged on Tanya's sleeve with the hand not holding the candied apple. "Oh uh… goodbye as well Kanao." the silent girl smiled and the two left. 'Now what to find…' 

Eventually, Tanya waited in line for some yakitori, getting six sticks of it, and left after paying for it. She carried it in a small case. After what felt like a while of walking around, Tanya blinked "wait isn't that the stand I bought this from?" she whispered as she looked around, she walked around more, and quickly realized she was lost. 'How?! This part of the festival should only be a straight line!' Tanya had not checked the festival layout, the specific food area of the festival was actually many turns and corners than an exact straight line. 'Calm down, if I can just spot the hill I can…I can't' she silently cursed out Being X for making her short again, with all the people walking around she could not see over them, and worse, she could not tell if going back the way she came would get her more lost than she already was. 

Tanya rubbed her hair and then thought to herself 'maybe this is for the best. If I just found a place to hang out here Rengoku will think I ditched him, and then I can leave when the foot traffic dies down.' she sighed and looked toward the ground by her feet. 'Getting attached makes no logical sense anyway. The moment I am done here it's over after all. I have less than half my time left after all, why waste it.' Tanya turned, trying to find a spot she could comfortably sit and wait, a part of her felt guilty. Then she heard a loud "HELLO KOCHO!" she jumped, as did many of the people around her who scrambled around the crowd that all undoubtedly heard the loud shout. Tanya turned to see Kyujuro holding a red lamp in one of his hands, and under his arm were two cases of what was likely food. 

Tanya was confused about how he found her, not to mention they said they were meeting up at the base of the hill, not on the festival grounds. But more than that, "Hey! We agreed to one thing. Why do you have two?!" she was glaring at him once more, almost instantly forgetting her thoughts of hiding or leaving Kyujuro by himself. He grinned "I know, the other is something for both of us in case neither of us was right but we still wanted something to eat." Tanya's facepalmed a little, a little annoyed by his thoughtfulness. She grumbled a little before she said "what are you doing here? We agreed at the base of the hill." he nodded "yeah, but I just so happened to finish up and spotted you. So I thought we could both walk over together." he would grin wider. 

Tanya sighed in annoyance and then looked at the ground again. "Hey, Kocho, if you're done we can head over right now." she looked back up to see Kyujuro holding his hand out to her. Tanya hesitated for a moment, but reached out her hand and grabbed it. The warmth his hand had from recently holding the food matched her own. 'This is…just so I don't die here, at least this festival lasts an eternity and I'm trapped inside due to being lost.' she told herself, ignoring the red flash on her cheeks, something that can no longer be excused as the rosy-cheek make-up on them. 

The two made it out of the food grounds, still in the festival but by the base of the hill near it. They sat on the bench and exchanged their food items. Kyujuro quickly ate an entire stick of the yakitori chicken Tanya had gotten him, "AMAZING! ASTOUNDING! MY MOUTH HAS TRULY BEEN BLESSED!" he shouted in pure excitement, he really liked it, but his reaction was almost always the same anyways. 

As he ate Tanya looked down at hers 'is this…' on her small tray were chocolate-covered marshmallows and strawberries. Her eyes twitched 'i'm going to kill him' yes, she liked chocolates, but this was so simple! She picked up one of the strawberries slathered with fudge. She popped it in her mouth, her world went silent 'unholy crap…this is amazing!' had she no self-control she would have shouted just as loud as Kyujuro usually did. She ate it and a couple of chocolate-covered marshmallows. The stuff covered was nothing special, but the chocolate fudge itself was perfect, she would find out who made this, no, she had to! 

After finishing the two were not sure who won, they both had picked well enough. 'Can't believe I overthought it for him.' Tanya thought to herself, crossing her arms. "Well, I guess that means neither of us wins." she was better off tying than losing outright, sometimes a stalemate is the best outcome you can get. Unfortunately, Kyujuro had other ideas "well, actually, I think that means we both win." Tanya grumbled as Kyujuro elaborated "I simply said that if we bring back something the other likes, that person will win. I did not say only one of us could win." though his smile was not a cheeky one, Tanya felt like she was being played a fool. 

"So…we both get something we want from the other at some point?" Kyujuro nodded. Tanya blinked, she was sorta impressed that he had a loophole in his own bet, though maybe that was the intention all along. 'Did, did he want us both to win?' once again, Tanya was sure he had a secret manipulative side, even if he did it for the exact opposite reasons from Tanya when she manipulated someone. Tanya sighed "fine, fine, I guess we both win." she conceded, better to have something than was nothing at all she supposed. 

The two would eat the other thing Kyujuro bought, just some grinned beef which both enjoyed. After they were done they stayed seated on the bench. The fireworks would be starting soon, in her first life Tanya remembered not really liking the fireworks and would not stay for long when they started going off at festivals. She looked over at Kyujuro, who looked deep in thought with his eyes closed. "Rengoku? Are you okay?" after she asked that, he would open his eyes. "Kocho, if I may ask, what do you think this is. What we did here tonight?" Tanya was confused, she raised an eyebrow "well, eat, play games, walk around." Kyujuro chuckled "I see, I saw it as a date. I apologize." Tanya's eyes dropped to the ground again as she looked away from him. "Rengoku, it's not- well I don't really know what to say." she spoke honestly, she wanted to say 'sorry, but no' or some rough equivalent, but she could not. 

Kyujuro chuckled again "it's fine. Kocho, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I can't help but feel hurt that you distance yourself from others. Not just me, but everyone." Tanya looked back up at him, meeting his smiling gaze. "Huh- no. I don't do that." Kyujuro gave a knowing look "with your friends, you only don't hide your rage when fighting demons. I Imagine even your best friend Viktoriya doesn't know half the things that go on in your mind. While your own sisters, probably are in the same boat." Tanya wanted to point out that Shinobu hides behind a smile now, but held her tongue. 

"And what if I do? That's none of your concern" Tanya kept her gaze on him, lest she gives away any weakness. It was not like she could just act herself all the time, she needed to perceive power! It was not like she could give away what she was thinking, because explaining Being X, Being Z, and the whole crazy situation she was in, at best no one would believe her think she doing a horrible joke. At worst, she would be marked as a loony person, and if the situation were reversed, that would be how she reacted. 

Kyujuro's smiles stayed as he kept up his gaze as well "it is. Because I care about you deeply." He adjusted himself up, keeping the look he had as he stared at her. "Tanya, I want to be that person you trust, that you feel you don't have to hide anything from." his eyes closed for a moment, opening again to meet her own. "Tanya, I Kyujuro Rengoku, want to be the person worthy of standing beside you!" it was then that Tanya also broke the gaze that he broke first when closing his eyes. She turned away, looking in the exact opposite direction. She muttered 'idiot, moron' and other various symptoms under her breath. Tanya felt strange about him saying her name, everyone else called her it for the most part, and yet he called her by it made her want to hide her blushing face. 'That was so corny! I- I should not be affected by this!' she told herself in anger, trying to force her own emotions down. 

Suddenly Kyujuro got off the bench they were sitting on and knelt down with his back facing Tanya. "What- are you doing?" her face was still blushing a little from his confession. "The fireworks will start soon. Come on, I'll carry you up the hill so we can get a better view!" he shouted in excitement, his sudden confession suddenly becoming second fiddle. "Rengoku I don't think-" she stopped when he looked back at her "trust me, Tanya." 

That word 'trust', was not one Tanya associated with many people, at least not to a very wide degree. She sighed, she climbed on as she gave him a piggyback ride, her legs held by his arms. She placed her hand on his shoulder, she was a little embarrassed by it but said nothing. "OFF WE GO!" Kyujuro shouted only further adding to Tanya's embarrassment as people watched them for a couple of seconds due to his shouting. Kyujuro ran up the hill, carrying Tanya with him to the very top. 

On the way there Tanya thought more and more about what he had said. 'Worthy of standing beside me huh?' she wondered if she even had any worth at this point, her only goal was beating Being X, and sorta being Z but to a lesser degree. Did that even have worth outside of her own self-interest? No, it did not. Tanya hated people who acted on emotion, but she always knew how to take advantage of that in her second life, and even in this one. But never had her emotions been used against her, never. This world was just a pebble on the road, and yet, she thinking of everyone here as merely a pebble as well, felt wrong. She had gotten close to many people, especially Kyujuro. 

They both had seen each other in vulnerable positions before. They were fundamentally different in every regard, her a pessimist, him an optimist, her someone who had for a while now only seen other people as tools even if that thought had mostly died down, and him, someone who would die for even the most useless of humans if he had to. Tanya was not sure about any of this, it was all new to her. Viktoriya had been her first friend, and even that took a leap for Tanya to accept as true. And now what Kyujuro wanted, Tanya wondered if she could even handle it, she never dated before, never been that close with anyone. 

Kyujuro felt her fingers dig into his shoulders, but he did not divulge that to her. They made it to the top of the hill. And just seconds after, the fireworks started. They popped up into the air. Making many shapes, simple and complex. "WOAH! THEY LOOK AMAZING! HAHA!" Kyujuro shouted loudly as the fireworks went off. Tanya's eyes narrowed 'these are nothing compared to what they will have in decades from now. And yet…I don't hate them.' her gaze softened as she watched from a top Kyujuro's shoulders. 

Elsewhere, Tengen and his three wives were also watching from the festival grounds. Makio is held up by his left arm, Suma by his right arm, and Hinatsuru sitting on his shoulders. Not to far away from them Mitsuri is holding onto Obanai's arm, her mouth partially stuffed with pork as she points up at the fireworks. Obanai was shifting his gaze from her and the fireworks. 

Far away from the festival, but still in sight of the fireworks, Shinobu and Giyu, who were on their way to the Butterfly Mansion since Giyu got harmed a little on their mission, had stopped to watch as well. Though they could not see much, it was still astounding. Shinobu had regretted not going with Kanae so many times now, she kept her smile up. Giyu looked at her and then focused back on the fireworks. 

Back in the festival, Senjuro watched in amazement, his face covered in a lion's face paint. Viktoriya was hugging Erya from behind, as they each pointed out any animals, food, or interesting shapes made by the fireworks. Mary watched on, enjoying the fireworks, but also sort of wishing she was not here for, reasons. 

Tanya and Kyujuro continued to watch the fireworks from on top of the hill. Her grasp of his shoulder had softened, as had her look as her eyes filled with the fiery display. Tanya then noticed the moon, a full one hidden behind the fireworks. She smiled a little. And as Kyujuro finished saying "that long red one reminded me of second form flame breathing!" Tanya would right afterward say "the moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it Kyujuro?" 

The sound of fireworks surrounded them, Kyujuro having gotten silent. Tanya thinks that now is as good a time as any, and if she is going to do this, she can not just let him get all the victories tonight. "Hey, Kyujuro, tilt your head up." he does so, they look at each other, and quickly Tanya places a peck on his lips, pulling away just as quickly. Both of their faces are blushing a deep red. His mouth opens agape, "if you make a dumb comment Kyujuro, I'm punching you in the head." Tanya says, trying to keep her cool while still blushing wildly. Kyujuro grins "understood Tanya, and yes, the moon is beautiful tonight." She lightly punched him in the forehead. 

The two went back to watching the fireworks, now with Tanya's arms wrapped around him rather than grasping his shoulders. Kyujuro was grinning as widely as he possibly could. Tanya was happy, in her own way. For once, perhaps for the first time in a long time, she could afford to act on her emotions. '14 years left till the time limit, you better not have me waste a moment of it Kyujuro.' she laid her head on top of his fiery hair. Watching more as the fireworks went off.