The festival was bright and shiny and extremely crowded.
The only reason Karma and Gakushuu hadn't separated in the crowd was because they were holding hands. It was sweaty and Gakushuu was tempted to pull away just so she could wipe it off, but she didn't want to lose the warmth, nor actually pull away.
So their hands stayed clasped together as Karma made his way through the crowd, guiding Gakushuu towards a less crowded area.
The festival grounds were huge, sprawling across parks lit with lanterns and across shrines. There were stalls for food, games and everything that could be packed and carried away in a few hours.
They had arrived quickly, mostly due to Gakushuu taking out her bag of clothes she had tucked away at Karma's house. It held a makeup set and a set of Chiho-appropriate apparel.
It, very suspiciously and conveniently, didn't hold a change of her own clothes Gakushuu-version but that was only because Gakushuu was aware of the set of neat, bland, and very Gakushuu-like (unlike Karma's tasteful style) clothes that hung from Karma's own closet.
Chiho tended to use her own fashion sense instead of trying to fit it in as Gakushuu. She found Gakuhou's fashion wear far more professional and stylish than the emo teen thing that everyone seemed to like. Though she enjoyed watching Karma in his casual outfits.
Gakushuu would have found the keeping away clothes for him more sweet if she wasn't equally pragmatic and Karma didn't have the oddest humor of finding the worst of shirts to give when she actually needed it, instead of getting those out.
Gakushuu would have liked to say she had an emergency out for Karma because the other boy was her boyfriend, but unfortunately, that wasn't the sole reason.
She had just about all sorts of emergency places hidden around the city, one of which had once held the class E surveillance equipment.
That had caused one hasty clean upto prevent being exposed.
But Gakushuu had come to the festival as Chiho, and she couldn't wear a kimono with class E there. So she had unfortunately also lost the chance to see Karma in a yukata.
It was such a shame.
She would have bet Karma would look heavenly. Maybe she would convince him to wear one next year, one with autumn colors. Maybe they both would.
Then she snickered when she spotted a candied apple being sold, she tugged at Karma's hand, pulling him close to whisper in his ear.
"Want one?" She asked, laughing.
It looked almost exactly like the one Gakushuu had given to Karma on their first Valentine's. The one where Karma had given her chocolates with wasabi filling and Gakushuu had frozen a layer of wasabi under a thin layer of candy as revenge on White Day.
Karma gave it a considerate look before smiling.
"I suppose it was your first gift to me. Quite apt to be the first thing you feed me on a date too, " he teased. Gakushuu tried not to flush, instead leading the way as she shot him a cocky look.
"If you're going on dates with both Chiho and Gakushuu, wouldn't someone accuse you of cheating on me with me? Not to mention both of us feeding you the same thing. Maybe you should have thought it through better before taking me out today," Gakushuu flipped her hair in Karma's face.
In a typical romance-movie style, Karma pulled her back, making her turn around almost dramatically, as Gakushuu stumbled into Karma. Karma wrapped an arm around her waist.
Her heart skipped a beat, her face suddenly half an inch away from Karma's. Her face flushed a light pink when Karma looked her in the eye, his eyes a deep gold, mischief clear on it.
"Or maybe they'd envy what a lucky son of a bitch I am to land both Gakushuu and Chiho," Karma whispered, almost against her lips.
Gakushuu's mind went hazy, their breaths mixing together, she tilted her head just slightly towards Karma's. Their lips almost almost brushed.
Of course, that's when someone stumbled between them.
"So-sorry," a kid flushed deeper than either of them, apologized, not even looking at their faces before stumbling away in a hurry.
Karma took a reluctant step back, and Gakushuu took in a steadying breath before pulling the other boy towards the stall. He would at least feed Karma sweets, because he wasn't sure he would be able to handle it with the knots his stomach was twisting itself into.
Gakushuu had been to the festival before. She used to come with Ren and then again in their second year with a few of her more available classmates.
But it still felt different compared to going with Karma. It was fun, but in a different way.
Gakushuu had to battle with a nervous giddiness, exhilaration, and the urge to kiss Karma when he did something random like con a con-man. Classic festival but still, people generally tended to not care anymore. But Karma would of course take advantage of someone like that.
And Gakushuu wanted Karma even more so when he looked at her with bright eyes, and an intense gaze that looked like it wanted the same.
The festival crowd died down a little, and they had spotted a few groups of class E as well. Some were not-so-subtly stalking them.
Both Karma and Gakushuu were used to being paid attention to and had predicted something like this would happen. Though Karma seemed surprised at Gakushuu's observation of their stalking skills, which weren't bad, just not perfectly blended in with the environment and people of the festival.
They got entertainment from watching class E's reactions to them doing random things. Once Gakushuu brought out catnip and got a bunch of cats tumbling over themselves to get to her, and she could swear someone from their band of stalkers called her an angel with too many devil friends.
Karma laughed himself into a fit.
Gakushuu frowned at the thought of the cats being bunched together with Karma. The cats were innocent, all right? Karma clearly wasn't.
She made up for it by throwing a cat to Karma (gently, she wasn't into animal cruelty) and Karma received yet more cat scaratches on his hand.
Gakushuu kissed it better while class E spluttered in the background.
They sneaked away for the fireworks display, Gakushuu leading the way to a good spot. It wasn't totally empty, but there were few enough that there was enough privacy.
Karma had a faint knowing smile while Gakushuu brought them there, and he couldn't help blushing.
If she was asked, he would probably refute it. But Gakushuu was secretly a romantic. Or, not so secretly, because everyone close to her already seemed to know.
A kiss under fireworks was cliche, overdone and extremely romantic. Gakushuu wanted it. He wanted it with Karma, to be specific.
End of the world was just as good an excuse as any other.
Karma wrapped an arm around her waist, letting his chin rest on Gakushuu's shoulder. He let out a soft breath, closing his eyes.
Gakushuu kept watching the night sky that was perhaps the darkest it would be that night, waiting for the fireworks to light up. The crowd from the festival had dispersed quite a bit, even the stalls had closed down, to watch the fireworks.
The last event of the festival.
"You're so predictable, Shuu," Karma whispered in her ear, his hands tightening around the other. Gakushuu's lip twitched.
People generally didn't really like being called predictable, but she knew what Karma was actually talking about. Karma liked that Gakushuu was someone who went above and beyond.
Not just for Karma, but for most things she chose to do in life. Gakushuu was an overachiever, plain and simple.
Perhaps the only reason they had even worked out so seemingly smoothly was because Koro-sensei had been there.
In just half a year, Karma had undergone a tremendous amount of growth, suffering and coming out the other end stronger, and Gakushuu had spent her third year trying her hardest to relax and balance instead of working into an early grave.
Though Gakushuu's changes could be credited to class A and Karma's relaxed attitude towards life, instead of Koro-sensei.
But in the end, they had both been through a lot of things to end up where they were.
"There's no rush," Karma hummed, looking into the starry sky. "I'm not going anywhere you know."
Gakushuu stiffened. Karma laid a soft kiss on Gakushuu's cheek.
"Hey, Shuu?" Karma loosened his grasp, letting Gakushuu turn to look at him. Karma was smiling, his eyes were warm, soft.
Gakushuu could feel nervousness bubbling in her stomach. Anticipation crawled up her spine. There were goosebumps on her skin.
She didn't know what Karma was about to say.
Would he refute Gakushuu's plans? Would he go along with them?
Karma loved to be unpredictable. He liked teasing her and making things go his way.
Gakushuu was always the one who made plans and Karma always saw through them, through her, to the core of who she was.
"I like you, Gakushuu," Karma confessed.
Gakushuu's mouth dropped open.
"Huh?" She asked, unflatteringly. Karma gave him an amused smile but agreeably repeated.
"I like you, Shuu."
"No, you called me by my name!" Gakushuu spat out, eyes wide with surprise.
Karma deadpanned.
"No, I mean. You just- you confessed!" Gakushuu stumbled over her words.
Then she went silent, turning the words around in her head.
Karma patiently waited. Gakushuu blushed, slowly then turned a cute pink that Karma always enjoyed seeing.
"Well, I like you too, Akabane Karma," Gakushuu said finally.
A smile blooming on her face. Her chest warmed up similarly. She wouldn't even be surprised to see flowers blooming around her at the sudden force of the feelings. She had a bright but shy smile playing on her lips.
"I figured," Karma laughed.
Gakushuu wrinkled her nose but didn't protest at the easy reply. Hers had been worse, if they were comparing.
Plus, she was feeling quite happy.
Karma wasn't exactly wrong though. Gakushuu was always the one who was always a little insecure about their relationship.
But maybe it was the confession, or the way Karma fit his fingers between Gakushuu's and pulled her close again, because she was feeling pretty good.
Karma had always shown his feelings to Gakushuu by affectionate touches or kisses. So she actually hadn't even realized they hadn't even confessed properly.
Their feelings had always been out in the open for the other to see, but even then, the words reassured Gakushuu.
She closed his eyes, leaning back into Karma and letting his temple rest against Karma's cheek.
"I guess I'm keeping you," she whispered softly, almost to herself.
Then the fireworks lit up bright against her lids, and Gakushuu kept her eyes closed, feeling only Karma around her.