After their conversation, Chiane and Ishi finally joined up with the group on the now empty concert grounds. She had returned to her Chiana persona by the time they caught back up as they were greeted.
"Figures Ishi would find the chance to be alone with another idol." Otoya teased his friend as they stood around without a location to go to. Not that they needed to go anywhere else for the night. Things were beginning to wrap up, but more importantly, the fireworks show was going to begin.
"He sure knows how to keep a girl company." Chiana joined in on the game, knowing full well what happened between the two. It seemed that the joke was less funny to Rinse and Youna though. Meanwhile…
"Hey, looks like you guys are still hanging around." Ryugi also rejoined the group, but it wasn't just her coming to meet them. Her gyaru pals were right behind her as the gang had nowhere else to go now that the festival was winding down. "I guess we can all stay here for the fireworks show."
"At least she won't be ditching us again." Ritsuko had less kind words to describe the situation. "But it looks like we're hanging out with some real winners and losers." It was clear which was which considering the person speaking.
"Anyway." Ishi was ready to get things finished for tonight and go home again. It had been a long day, so it would be nice to have a meeting with his bed. "When's the fireworks show?"
"Should be in a few minutes now." Otoya answered. He was overjoyed at the situation him and his bud had found themselves in. Here they were as a pair of boys surrounding by plenty of pretty girls. Though it seemed that half hated them seeing how Ryugi's friends were acting.
"Just because we're here, doesn't mean I want to sit next to him." Said Non as she pulled the group away from Ishi's spot. He hadn't even chosen a place to sit at before they dragged away their gal pal from the main gang.
It seemed despite Ryugi's words to her friends, that she wasn't putting up a big fight against them. He knew that she wanted to be with him and the others, but they had set things up to be nearer to Rinse and Chiana.
Personally, he was unhappy that she wouldn't stand up to her friends. Where she wanted to go should be her choice. Though if they were friends, then she should be honest with them about who she wants to be with. Given their relationship, he was certain she did care about them after being friends for throughout now. So he understood why there was some challenge to speaking up to them.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting next to you." Said Youna, as she stood up besides him.
"I've never once complained about you doing that." He responded, and she took his acceptance by finally sitting down.
"Hope you don't mind me taking the other spot." Said Rinse, as she simply sat down besides him without getting any actual permission. Personally, he might've had minded since it only brought along some icy glares from the gyaru group. Well at least he wouldn't have to sit next to Otoya and listen to him gush about the concert they had just attended.
"So where did you disappear off to?" The reason for both the girls to want to sit besides him was obvious. After all, he was expected to meet her after the concert, yet now she was learning he made a slight detour to hang out with Chiana again. To both of them, it made no sense as he never seemed to hang out with that idol before.
"Yeah, did you do anything with her?"
"We just played around with some sparklers." He told them the truth. "She just asked to hang around so she could relax a bit after the concert. But she wasn't the reason why I kind of ditched you guys." He also told them about the offer he received from the producer. The business card handed to him being the proof they needed, even though the pair knew he wasn't the type to lie about it.
"Wow, that's so cool." Youna was massively impressed with the opportunity he was given. "Are you going to take it?"
"It's kind of doubtful." He admitted that he hadn't given it a fair chance yet though. Obviously having a career in this would be very lucrative, but was it really something that he could picture himself doing? Just as he had been open about his romantic interests for the future, the boy also had his career path planned out of becoming a salary man as well. Just something simple so that his life wouldn't be dominated by wacky people.
"I would be happy if you took it." Rinse told him as she stared down at the grass they were sitting on. Obviously, being able to work alongside someone she was in love with was major. Especially since she wasn't certain about what their lives would be post high school. She was worried that telling him this would give away he feelings, which is why she needed to make sure that wasn't all she said. "The idol industry still has lots of room to grow, plus it's already so big as it is."
"Yeah, a lot of people would be upset if I just passed over this chance." He chuckled. "But, you both know I don't do things because other people care."
"Right." They replied in unison. The idol was disappointed about that, while the class rep breathed a sigh of relief that he might not go for this. After all, if he worked straight out of school, then it was likely they wouldn't continue being able to spend time with each other. Not to mention that he'd be surrounded by so many beautiful girls that he might end up forgetting about her.
"But that's for the future, so I'm not going to fuss over it now." They still had the rest of their festival to enjoy. It wasn't like he viewed himself to be some super important person that everyone needed to know what was going on with his life.
"Say, about the fireworks." Rinse had an important question that would be on anyone's mind if they were in her position. "There's not some crazy legend that goes along with it, is there?" That was the other reason why she took the initiative to sit beside him before the show started.
"Don't know, I've never really watched the fireworks show in a long while now." Back then, he would've been way too young to care about those kind of things. Actually, even now he really didn't believe in them.
"I don't think there is." Youna answered. Of course, it wasn't like she had anyone outside of family to watch these shows with. "Not that it matters, right?"
"I don't know, you all kissed me on the cheek back during the bonfire." He reminded them. It wasn't as if he could forget a moment like that, even if they didn't bring it up to anyone outside of the group.
"Well, I only did it because you asked." Youna replied embarrassed by him bringing up that memory. She originally wasn't going to do it because that would've been too far for her poor heart to handle. But after Ryugi and Chiane did it, he said that she shouldn't be left out of whatever frenzy had been started by Rinse. It was either that or he kiss her on the cheek and she knew that a heart attack would be imminent if he did it to her.
"And at least I got you to blush, right?" Rinse bragged about it as if that was some type of special achievement.
"Only because you caught me off guard." He defended himself. Any boy would get a little weak in the knees if a pretty girl kissed them. By the time the others rolled around, he was pretty much desensitized to the whole deal.
As they chatted, finally the show had begun. The first set of fireworks shot up into the night sky. Their explosions illuminating the darkness with a shower of bright colors. It was like stars exploding into various images like balls and flowers. "Been a while since I've seen these." He commented, though he certainly heard them from his house during night like these.
"They're really pretty." Youna said, though it was hard to hear her voice from the sounds of explosions going on above. It was nearly pointless for her to talk to them since they could barely her hear quiet voice.
However, what could always be heard over these fireworks were certain actions. Which is something that Rinse knew he always preferred anyway. Which is why she 'accidentally' placed her hand on top of his as they leaned back to watch the shows. It didn't seem that he minded it too much since he didn't pull his hand away.
This also wasn't an opportunity that Youna wanted to miss either. Though she was sitting on her feet, so there wasn't an excuse to lay her hand over his. So gingerly, she moved one of her hands to rest on his thigh. Her face felt the burn as this was the closest she had ever been to expressing her feelings to him.
Yet again, he didn't seem to react to this move. All Ishi did while this was going on around him was look up at the fireworks. Lost in thought, the real question was what was he thinking about?