Ryou's sister called and he stepped forward from the stall. Akiko, who was beside her, looked with vivid interest at the corn-dogs that were being sold at the nearby counter. She couldn't look away, for their taste was distinctively exquisite, and the girl sensed this exquisiteness with all her taste buds, so much so that she was thrilled even to think of touching one corn-dog with her lips.
Glenn, looking at her eager to eat the corn dogs, calmly asked to give the vendor three pieces. Akiko was surprised by his ambiguity for her. Glenn quietly handed her one hot corn-dog. The maiden like fox pushed back a step and instinctively hissed, lest the young man trick her with bribery. But the fox was hungry, and the dark-eyed man graciously served one fresh corn-dog with his hand. In the end, Akiko couldn't object.
"Oh my, you're the best!" returned Akiko's human manners, eagerly devouring the sweet, crunchy corn dog. Akiko was completely oblivious to the aroma and taste of this food, and she covered her face with her pink hair and continued to eat. When he noticed that neither Tomoyuki nor Yumiko were around, the dark-eyed man looked around. There was no sign of Ryou either, as if they hadn't been there all along. He decided to give the other two corn-dogs to her, since he wasn't too hungry himself.
At this time, Yumiko was looking at the stalls with a fierce gleam and Tomoyuki's unprecedented interest. Tomoyuki kept an eye on her.
"You look like you're no native at all," Tomoyuki stammered bashfully when he saw some of the stares of strangers passing by squinted at Yumiko.
"But there are a lot of interesting stuff here…! I don't know at all what I want to buy out of all the items."
"In that case, buy the one you liked the most. Honest to God, Sato-chan, you're like a child."
"I can't help it. I love being here!"
And this is just the beginning of the festival, Tomoyuki thought to himself, covering his eyes with his hand. Tearing his gaze away from the girl, he stared at Ryou, who was talking over the phone. Tomoyuki couldn't figure out who was calling him.
Ryou walked ahead, and finally hanging up with the words that he had to go, stopped pacing and looked around all corners, but found no familiar soul. Tomoyuki saw him, and in fact he was not far from the boys, but he still looked around eagerly in all directions. Maybe it was because of the large gathering of peoples that he couldn't find his friends, or maybe he didn't have any in this town at all. Who knows? Certainly not Ryou, for he had cast aside all thoughts and was only going to spend time with his comrades.
"Sato-chan," Tomoyuki looked away with all humility, and the maiden sitting near the counter smelled a certain spark of unidentified hope in the tone of his voice. "I'm having fun at the club and hanging out with you, too. But I'm sure it will stop someday, for I don't know where I stand. How many extra masks are left on your faces?" he folded his hands into his sleeves and darted a step toward Ryou. "When you notice the revolver pointed at my whiskers – change my mind. For then, even hell won't be terrible for me," he finished breathlessly and with a monotone that Yumiko might not have taken note of the young man's words at all. Tomoyuki continued to step.
Ryou finally saw the humble Tomoyuki walking in his direction, and was glad he was not lost alone among the crowd in an area unknown to him.
"Where did it take us?" the young man with the wavy hair asked, and saw Yumiko sitting behind Tomoyuki, who in the meantime was looking at both boys.
"I think we got separated from the others. What a setback."
"I'll try to call them."
"No need!" Tomoyuki waved his hands confusedly. "I'll get them myself. They should be nearby," and he ran to meet the lost ones. So, Tomoyuki stealthily walked away through the crowd and Ryou's eyes involuntarily stopped discerning the amount of people nearby.
Yumiko continued to look around the counter, and the young man followed her.
After watching her face from the angle, the boy calmed down. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her flat forehead and natural lashes. To the young man, she seemed graceful and harmless, like a princess sitting at the very top of a lonely tower where no man had ever set foot. This was exactly what Yumiko's innocence seemed like.
"Once when I was a child," Yumiko muttered softly, "I went to the Fireworks Festival with my father. What a shame, I don't remember anything of what happened back then. When it comes to realization, you begin to appreciate… how important memories are. Happy, warm memories. But the mind soon forgets them too. They are lost in the abyss of new, fresh memories, whether they are as warm or not. I would like… to have happy memories that I will capture and never forget again."
Ryou couldn't find the right words for the girl's revelation, staring serenely at the starry sky. Somehow he tried to respond and cheer the girl up, but he didn't know what he should have done better. Laugh? Not likely, he would only sink before her eyes that way. A shrug on her shoulders? Would Ryou have been pleased if he had received such an incomprehensible response?
"I don't socialize with my family," Yumiko continued, dismissing the silence beneath the veil of people's clatter, "That's why I don't remember festivals! Sorry."
"Neither do I..." muttered the young man bashfully, lowering his gaze, but Yumiko heard every letter from his trembling lips. "Rarely went to festivals with my parents."
A spark of bitterness soon appeared on the maiden's startled face, followed by the warm smile that Ryou's presence so lacked.
"I see. Festivals like this are only memorable when you have someone to celebrate with, so we don't remember what it was like when we were kids!" encouraged Yumiko the boy, folding her arms behind her waist.
Ryou dared only nod. So did the space around them as the pair looked up, open, expansive, and filled with millions of stars glowing from afar. It was a starry sky, giving the lands of Japan a noble sense of light and human hope, intoxicating the human soul. Death, pain, suffering… All these burdens only paled at the sight of the whole galaxy shining through the sky, like a path that it is not a sin to follow in order to meet a better world. A world without death and pain and suffering. Through the girl's wide-open eyes the stars reflected, and in her ears rang the music of will and of human willfulness. In that sky flaunted true freedom.
"Do you see them too, Ryou-kun?"
"Uh? Ah… yes. An endless number of…bright stars."
"But what do they illuminate with their light?"
"Space that humans can only get to after hundreds of generations."
"And beyond it? What is there…?" Yumiko continued to ask, struck by the greatest sight for her eyes.
Seeking friends among the crowd of people, Tomoyuki paused not without reason, and tearing his resigned gaze away from the counters, stared up at the starry sky. A crown of hope flickered in his belly, giving confidence to his striving. Tomoyuki's blue pupils dilated and his eyes shone, as if he had seen the same feeling from years ago.
"The view from the top," Ryou and Tomoyuki responded simultaneously.
Tomoyuki was slapped on the back by Akiko, unnoticed because of her short stature, and behind her stood Glenn, who hid his anger toward the young man under the guise of sadness. Akiko tapped the young man on the shoulders and shook her head toward the path down the street to direct them toward Ryou and Yumiko. Tomoyuki slowly pointed with his hand which way to go, and Akiko continued treading in her haste.
"Stop it already..." drilled Glenn quietly, staring at the boy, "You don't know what you're doing yourself. Awake."
"Locked in endless despair will not escape the cycle," alienated Tomoyuki stared at the dark-eyed man with a weary gaze.
"The heavens harbor uncountable mysteries that mankind cannot solve," Yumiko finally added. "Well, we can't imagine what lies behind that sky. But I do know that somewhere out there in the distance… there is calm and serenity. And there are black holes."
"Black…holes?"
"Some say that inside the black holes, deep-deep, there's a void, and some are sure it's another dimension. Another, not like ours. But no one will know exactly what this mystery holds within it either," she touched her fragile hands to her heart area and closed the eyes gratefully. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to know if my lost, happy life was out there in the black hole. If I knew for certain that I could be reborn with a family whose smile never disappears from their faces, I would surely sacrifice my life."
Ryou listened intently, with so much interest that he could hear her light, mind-stirring sighs. Her modest and soft lips faintly moved, and the hand rankly placed against her chest showed the girl's decency.
"I'd settle for being sucked in there," Yumiko whispered, but Ryou heard. He couldn't help but hear, his indifference to the dialogue that broke the time count around the boys would not have allowed him. Those endless footsteps of strangers no longer mattered to the young man's ears, for the only thing he heard was Yumiko's gentle, and slightly hoarse voice.
Ryou suddenly imagined a black hole appearing in the middle of the street in front of Yumiko, and noticed the girl reach out her hand to the hole, and the levitating illusion began to fly up at a low speed. Catching his breath, he imagined as if it were real, and imagined all the pressure from the black hole that it was even pulling the air toward him.
"Even if I had plans for the future, I'd give up everything to experience myself with a family like that. For that… I could afford even death itself."
The black hole touched Yumiko's finger, and Ryou's ears rang violently, so ringing that he stopped discerning people, and was enveloped in momentary darkness.
In an instant, Yumiko saw Ryou grab her thin arm and pull her aside, grabbing her forearms. The action that occurred in a split second lost its meaning when the girl soon noticed the flitting sadness and fear on Ryou's face.
Upon coming to his senses, Ryou threw back his hands and dropped his gaze to the ground. The boy didn't realize what he had done, but the only thing he knew was that his reaction was due to his attachment to Yumiko's identity.
"Sorry."
"Ah… yeah, it's okay… I think you're overworked."
Ryou nodded, and Yumiko fell silent. Glancing around the one-lane area, the girl finally recovered from her reverie.
"We must have gotten lost from the others."