The teachers and students began putting up more decorations near the booths and outside the school. Many visitors strolled in and browsed through the various booths, one of them being Shinobu's which had terrariums, flowers, and other items related to her club's biodiversity theme.
Many students stopped by the event after school. Groups of them participated in the interactive games that a few booths had to offer. Other booths were still getting ready, Shinobu saw the students at these booths tending to the items and instructions given by the teachers in-charge. It appears that everybody was really excited to make new friends and share their interests.
Meanwhile, Douma was walking down the streets towards the direction of the music playing at the event. The blonde was curious about it, he could hear cheering and prizes being won. Something big must be going on around here.
"Hmmm sounds like there's a carnival at that school over there." To get a better look, Douma flew up to the sky and headed towards the building of the school.
As the angel got closer, he saw a crowd gathering at the school court with booths and decorations around. Slowly, Douma dove towards the center of the court glancing at the booths and games.
"Wow everybody's having so much fun. Wouldn't wanna miss out on all that!" With the crowd to busy to notice him landing from the sky, Douma got down and sprinted to the booths. They were very educational and fascinating, it's no wonder the public was drawn to this event.
On the other hand, Shinobu was busy arranging the items on display at her booth. When she was done, she sat down and watched the ongoing games in front of her. Those who had their shift today didn't arrive yet, so as much as she wanted to join her friends at the game stations, she had to fulfil her duties first.
It got distracting after a while, especially since her friends had told her about the games during their visit at her booth. Shinobu continued staring at the games, unaware of the tall familiar figure approaching her.
"Hey Shinobu! I see you have a booth too, that's cool."
Shinobu turned around and saw Douma standing in front of her. "Oh hey Douma I didn't expect to see you here. Welcome to the Horticulture Booth!"
Douma gazed at the terrariums and flowers on the table. He read the information about the topics covered on the boards displayed and smiled.
"Shinobu you seem to be a huge fan of science and nature. That's a great combination, people can learn a lot from you."
"Yeah science is my forte and it's something that means a lot to me. It's not surprising to see me here, events like these give me the chance to reach out to others."
One of the flowers on the table fell from its stem. Douma saw the flower and scooped it up before it landed on the soil.
"I'm sure you'll do a great job." The blonde looked at Shinobu and placed the flower in between her purple locks.
Shinobu blinked and looked away, blushing. That was something she didn't expect and now she had a hard time trying to hide her reactions to it.
"Oh wow Shinobu has a boyfriend."
There was a group of girls beside a booth slightly further away who were giggling and staring at them, mainly at Douma which wasn't surprising.
The violette stepped away in an attempt to hide from the group of girls peering in their direction. Regardless, they could see every form of interaction both she and Douma had. There was nothing Shinobu could do but wait for them to move on to another booth.
Both Douma and Shinobu heard the girls' comments about their 'relationship' and Douma's attractive looks and charm. Shinobu really wanted the girls to turn their attention some place else while Douma didn't know how to respond to this, he just wanted to catch up with Shinobu.
"Well this is awkward..." Douma said scratching the back of his head.
Soon the group of girls left. The violette sat down and watched the games that were still happening. Douma looked around waiting for Shinobu to say something but she was quiet.
"Here's your ticket!"
Douma turned around and saw a barrel with an arm outstretched from the small opening. Whoever was hiding in it wanted to give him something.
Without a second thought, Douma took the ticket from the person's hand. "Thanks I guess." He read through the details on the ticket and found them quite interesting, it didn't have anything to do with this event, rather an attraction that collaborated with a chess competition.
Shinobu heard Douma talking to someone. She immediately sat up feeling apologetic because she wasn't paying attention to the guests. To her surprise, there was nobody in front of her just Douma who was talking to a barrel which was strange.
That's when she noticed the ticket in Douma's hand. The barrel became still the minute Shinobu got up from her seat and stomped towards them.
"Yushiro!" She growled.
"Oh that's Yushiro? I thought he sounded familiar. Nice hiding spot." Douma replied watching the scary Shinobu getting closer.
The barrel hopped away as Shinobu grabbed it and held it in place.
"Hey let go!" Yushiro shouted.
"What do you think you're doing? Sneaking around here with your lousy tickets!"
"It's a form of advertisement you're hurting my barrel!"
"Ugh you're such a clown! When will you ever grow up?!"
Douma continued staring at the ticket for a while. He then turned to face Shinobu and Yushiro who was struggling to come out of the barrel. Unfortunately the boy was stuck and could barely move given that half of his body was constricted by the barrel since it was too small for his weight.
And it seems Shinobu had no intention of helping Yushiro break free from the barrel, they were practically fighting at this point.
"Yushiro you won the chess competition? That's awesome." Douma said oblivious to the commotion happening right in front of him. "When are we going to Dice and Roll Valley? What's it like there?"
"Since you have nothing better to do, why don't you mend the booth I'm sure you'll get a lot of good listeners with that attention-seeking attitude of yours." Shinobu was still grabbing the barrel tightly.
"You bet I will!" Yushiro began pulling away with his remaining strength.
Douma pouted feeling disappointed with the lack of response he was getting. He kept the ticket and waited for the two of them to stop fighting.
"Well I'll best be on my way to that booth over there! Look at all those rubber duckies!"
Shinobu released her grip on the barrel and glared at Douma who was about to walk away. "Don't you have some shrine duties to tend to?" She questioned him.
The blonde stopped in his tracks. "Shrine duties? I left the Hasu Mountains some time ago."
"Whaaaaaat?!" Both Shinobu and Yushiro yelled at the same time.