Chapter 94: Summer Festival

The soft twilight illuminated the dimly lit streetway.

Many people gathered on the street, all aiming for the same place. It was the site of a summer festival.

Even only seeing it from a distance, it radiated intense enthusiasm and bustle.

The orange-colored summer festival grounds that seemed cut from the outside world, and the thought of heading there now made it hard to contain his excitement.

Every now and then, a cool breeze would blow in, pushing him forward.

“There’s quite a lot of people here.”

Fuyuka, who was standing right next to him and sounded interested, had never been to such a large scale festival like this before.

She had been frightened at the shrine before too, she seemed to be uncomfortable with places where many people were gathered.

“Don’t go off on your own again.”

“Please tell that to Hinami-san.”

 

Fuyuka’s eyes narrowed in protest as she frowned and reacted to the joke.

“Don’t get lost yourself, Asahi-kun!”

“That’s never happening.”

“You seem very confident.”

It was a simple task as long as he didn’t lose sight of Fuyuka.

Neither of them were the type to move around a lot, so they didn’t have to worry about getting separated.

However, there was no guarantee.

Ahead were a man and a woman holding hands, looking at them made his hand fidgeted and he became restless.

Ignoring his hesitation, Asahi heard a cheerful voice.

“Fuyu-chan! Asahi! This way, this way!”

 

As a matter of course, Chiaki was next to Hinami, who was waving her hands in the air.

They were wearing jinbei and yukata, just like Asahi and Fuyuka.

“Oh my god~! You looooooook really cute, Fuyu-chan~! You could be a model if you wanted to!”

“I don’t think I’m that…”

As usual, Fuyuka seemed to be vulnerable to Hinami’s pressure, but she seemed to be satisfied with her praise.

“You two look great.”

“I could say the same to the two of you.”

 

“Hey, we’ve come all this way in a yukata, and that’s all?”

“You’ve probably had enough of Chiaki’s praise.”

“This is this and that is that.”

Asahi replied blandly to Hinami, who was showing off her yukata as if to say, “Look.”

“Geez, did you properly praise Fuyu-chan?”

“Well, yeah…”

 

“Then good!”

She nodded her head while Asahi was wondering what was good.

“Let’s go, then!”

The four of them quickly followed the backs of the others and stepped into the summer festival hall. Their whole body was enveloped in enthusiasm and hustle-bustle.

Soon after, a delicious smell hit their nostrils out of nowhere.

 

The source was an array of food stalls crowded on both sides of the street.

There were yakisoba, takoyaki, shaved ice, corn dogs, butter potato, okonomiyaki, and more. There was also no shortage of sweets such as fruit candy in the form of apples and strawberries hardened with syrup, cotton candy, crepes, and baby castella.

The more you walked, the more your appetite was encouraged from both sides.

The air was unbearable, partly because he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

“…Ah.”

 

Asahi heard a familiar gurgling sound that he had heard some time ago.

“Why did you look at me?”

“I mean there was precedent.”

He hadn’t said anything yet, but Fuyuka seemed to have guessed.

She puffed out her cheeks and punched him lightly on the arm.

Apparently, it was someone else who made their stomach rumble.

“You’re starving, aren’t you, Chi-kun?”

“You’re a genius for realizing that, Hina.”

“Fufunー, I know everything about you, Chi-kun.”

“No way! Did you even predict that I would skip lunch for this?”

 

“O-of course I knew that!”

The lovebirds having such a ridiculous conversation suddenly turned around to look at him.

“You guys hungry?”

 

“I’m not really hungry.”

“I’m also not hungry.”

“Then let’s start with something light!”

After walking around the area, the four of them stood in front of a stall.

“When talking about summer, it’s gotta be this!”

 

The colorful syrup and the sound of the ice shaving.

The curtain, which had a cooler air than the other stalls, had “Shaved Ice” written on it.

Hinami chose a melon, lemon for Chiaki, Asahi opted for blue Hawaii, and Fuyuka picked strawberry, and they sat down on a nearby bench.

A prick from the plastic spoon made a pleasant crunching sound.

“…Ugh.”

 

“Did you have a brain freeze?”

 

“Yeah, I ate too much at once.”

Asahi stuck out his tongue for no reason.　

Fuyuka suddenly burst out laughing when she saw that.

“Asahi-kun, your tongue is very blue.”

“On the other hand, yours is bright red?”

“I don’t think it’s noticeable, since it’s red from the start.”

Fuyuka silently stuck out her tongue.

Please check it out, that was probably what it implied.

The sight was so bewildering that he had trouble placing his eyes on it.

“How was it?”

 

“It was red.”

 

“I’m sure it is.”

On another bench, Chiaki and Hinami were slumped over, both holding their heads.

Meanwhile, Asahi and Fuyuka were quietly enjoying the summer atmosphere, rolling the slowly melting ice around in their mouths and savoring it.

“By the way, I heard that shaved ice syrup tastes the same, only the color is different.”

“Hmm, I didn’t know that. But I think it tastes like lemon or melon.”

“I don’t think it tastes the same either… Let’s give it a shot, shall we?”

With that, Fuyuka reached for the blue Hawaii flavored shaved ice that Asahi was holding.

Then she put two kinds of shaved ice on the bench, along with the strawberry flavor she had.

“Asahi-kun, please close your eyes.”

 

“….” Asahi nodded.

He didn’t know what she was going to do, but Asahi closed his eyes as he was told.

 

“Now open your mouth.”

After a short pause, the instructions were given and he meekly followed them.

Then he felt a cold sensation in his mouth.

“Here’s the question.”

 

Asahi opened his eyes and saw Fuyuka smiling at him with a spoon in her hand.

“What flavor of shaved ice did you just eat, Asahi-kun?”

Fuyuka, who was happily waiting for an answer, was even more adorable than usual.

She was just like a kid in a yukata having fun with the food stalls you would see in the background.

“Isn’t it the one that turns my tongue to purple?”

Feeling a little embarrassed, Asahi answered by showing the tip of his tongue.

“That’s correct.”

 

Fuyuka hesitantly stuck out her tongue again in shyness.

“It seems it’s quite easy to figure it out.”

 

Laughing mischievously, Fuyuka’s tongue was a vivid mixture of red and blue.