The children were eagerly awaiting the start of a new event. Four days before the Fireworks Festival, Yumiko was looking for a new yukata on her own before coming to school.
Three days before the festival, Akiko also stayed awake and looked for a yukata that Ryou might like. A suitable color between pink and beige was impossible for the girl to choose.
With two days to go before the festival, Ryou told her sister that she and her friends were going to go there. In response, her sister made Ryou go with him to a clothing store to buy him a matching kimono.
The day before the festival, the whole town was excited. The neighborhood slowly began to be decked out in colorful lanterns, and more and more customers showed up at the traditional clothing stores. The whole town was buzzing to participate in the upcoming festival. In the evening, Glenn posted in the general chat room whether they were ready for the festival, to which everyone else responded positively. Yumiko and Akiko were excited about the festival and looked forward to the next day.
For Yumiko, this would be her first experience of spending time with her friends. Ryou wanted to have a good time at the festival and fantasized about the day, not even noticing how he wanted to see Yumiko in yukata towards the end. Tomoyuki lay silently on the bed with his eyes open.
***
Just like that, the seventh of July came. It was a day everyone in the club remembered as one in which they had invested a lot of energy to spend together for the first time. For some the day was necessary to find new acquaintances, for others it was just a way to relax. In all cases, the day was an important entertainment for people all over Japan.
It was five p.m. outside and most people in Tokyo began to gather for the festival by the Sumida River. The club members organized a meeting in the vicinity of the big bridge, right in the middle of the street. The whole area was full of city lights, and the colors of the big buildings shone nearby. Coming in his new kimono, Ryou took his time meeting at the point. His hair was styled back in a rubber band, but his top remained in place. When he reached the designated spot, he met Glenn, also dressed in a kimono. Ryou was surprised.
"I thought you were coming in a undertaker's uniform."
"Ryou-kun, stop teasing!"
"Didn't you notice the others?"
"No one but us shows up to the meeting before the appointed time."
"True enough," Ryou relaxed, and gathered himself to wait patiently for the others to arrive.
On the way, they met Akiko, who had run through the crowd. Her yukata was the color of a sakura and her hair was styled back in a ponytail. There were no words, the young girl looked cute and could brag about her beauty, which she had achieved on her own. She matched her light makeup perfectly, and her flushed cheeks matched her whitish powder perfectly. Ryou marveled at her good preparations for the festival.
"Wow, Ryou-kun!" approached Akiko and slowed down. "Your new hairstyle style?" she pointed her eyes at his hair, to which the young man blushed.
"Just wanted to try… My sister did it!"
"She knows how to style! It suits you very well."
After a little while, Yumiko came up to the guys as well. Her yukata was also the color of a sakura, but a little lighter, and her delicate, silky hair was styled in a bun. Ryou was most stunned by the sight of her, which struck him as cute. Pretty soon the short Tomoyuki, dressed in a kimono, arrived, too.
They walked together toward the center of the festival, and as they approached they noticed more and more glowing booths and playful lanterns that gave a warm atmosphere before the festival of lights itself began.
On their way they encountered a whole block of stalls and game boutiques, by the river. Such places were plentiful throughout the area that day, and the street was dragged by the stomping and noisy chatter of crowds of people dressed in traditional garb. Everyone wanted to try the sweets prepared for this festival. All these places were lit with lanterns of Japanese origin, glowing bitter red, and illuminating the whole neighborhood, which made the effect of a warm festival feel strong.
The boys took their time piling up and walking down the straight street with the stalls and examining the handicrafts that were interesting to their eyes. They reached the counter where they were molding large cotton candy with a variety of flavors. Noticing Yumiko and Akiko's eyes sparkling with cotton candy making, Ryou spared no expense to buy cotton candy for all five of them. Yumiko said not to, but Ryou insisted.
Another time, Akiko and Ryou were playing target shooting, and Tomoyuki was silently watching the couple. Yumiko, on the other hand, was standing at the fish stand, where she watched the fish swimming in the small pool. She was childishly curious to get her hands on one goldfish.
Anyway, the boys were furiously going about their business, and Akiko saw Ryou's eyes sparkle with vigor for the first time as he hit the targets the first time. The young man whipped out his toothpaste, which made the humble maiden laugh.
Glenn and Tomoyuki stood watching. The dark-eyed man was more interested in what Yumiko was doing alone, but looked back at her to realize that she was happy to keep an eye on the fish.
"I seem to be completely unused to the holidays," Tomoyuki said, closing his eyes. "I've stopped finding them meaningful."
"Holidays bring people and nations together. People need to believe in the magic of holidays."
"But it also wastes a lot of material resources, Glenn-san. Do people have to like a few days off the entire calendar to still spend money from those days for holiday enjoyment?"
"People pay for the fun with funds, isn't that a fair exchange? Families, on the other hand, enjoy the vacations by being together. It's the same here."
"As far as I'm concerned, fairness comes from a very different order. Pay to laugh or cry? No thanks," Tomoyuki clarified.
"And what is your perception of justice based on, Tomoyuki-kun?"
"Paying back what one deserves, how else could it be? The weak should be helped, and bad people should not be spared. That is the basis of the vitality of all humanity. Once a bad, always a bad, and it won't change," he crossed his arms thoughtfully. "They harm good people, they burden their lives. It's only fair to stop at their forgiveness and atone for their sins in full. Justice is when a person may get nothing in return for committing an act. But he won't stop evolving."
Glenn hummed wryly, tempted by his bitter, hard answer.
"Maybe you're right," the dark-eyed man said, and looking slowly then at Ryou and Akiko and then at Yumiko, he smiled sincerely. "But people can change. For the better. And it is only fair to let them forgive themselves. The person who accompanies the rejected to the right path will be rewarded in full. I believe that," Glenn added, and looked back at Tomoyuki. "I know that. And the joy that people experience, paying by any means necessary, will affect them fully so that they will change and forget all the bad things."
Tomoyuki froze for a few moments, then turned his head away and pouted his lips. "Your understanding of justice is incomprehensible to me," the young man retorted, and ran up to Yumiko.
"Yamashita-kun!" called out Yumiko cheerfully, not looking away. "Look at those fish!"
"Come on! There's a lot of golden ones floating around."
"There's another one swimming in the tank."
Glenn, who approached them, immediately returned his smirk, "You're surprisingly much more energetic today. Do you really like it?"
"Glenn-kun," Yumiko finally uttered, and, lowering her lashes, turned her head gently toward him. "Are you our mother?" the maiden added, causing the dark-eyed man to falter and Tomoyuki to clutch his stomach with laughter.
"Ah?! Have I really crossed the line of being overprotective?"
"Quite."
"That's hilarious!" slapped Tomoyuki on the dark-eyed man's back. "And you didn't notice that yourself?"
"Glenn-kun," Yumiko retorted with a rank look, and Glenn became all ears. Tomoyuki, seeing that the maiden had kindly squinted at him, voluntarily withdrew. "Is that what you meant when you said that Yamashita-kun and Akiko-chan's conversation was about me?"
Glenn followed her eyes and looked back at Ryou and Akiko passing the dash. Ryou whipped out a teddy bear the size of half a maiden's hand, which made Akiko not be able to drop a word for the first few seconds. Of course he would, because men don't need teddy bears at all, Ryou counted in his head. Akiko, covered in blush, warmly accepted his gift.
"Akiko-chan probably doesn't like me," Yumiko looked at the fish swimming aimlessly in the small aquarium. The modest girl had no time to recover from her musings, as the goldfish turned its gaze on her and froze.
"You shouldn't worry," Glenn stared meekly into the distance, trying not to show his emotions. It pained him that Yumiko was thinking about such things, for, in his opinion, the worst thing a man can feel in his own skin is an insult to his dignity. "I will certainly save you all," he complemented without hesitation. Yumiko did not doubt his confidence either, for they had come to trust each other wholeheartedly. Only to her could Glenn utter such words.
"Then I will wait. If it can take forever, I'll wait."