Soon the fireworks festival arrived with the heat of late July clinging to the streets. Laughter floated through the air, mingling with the scent of grilled yakitori and sweet candied apples. Paper lanterns swayed from stalls, casting a warm glow over the crowded paths of the summer celebration.
Ren stood just outside the train station near the edge of the riverside path, adjusting the sleeves of his light gray jinbei. He looked up as the crowd parted—and there she was.
Celia.
Her yukata was a dark navy, stars printed in swirling patterns across it like the night sky itself. Her usual ponytail was replaced with a loose braid, a few soft strands falling around her cheeks. She looked completely different—and yet completely like herself.
Ren stared for a beat too long. Celia blinked at him, then glanced away, pretending to adjust her sleeve.
"You gonna say something," she said, "or just keep standing there like you've never seen a girl wear actual clothes?"
Ren grinned. "You look like the night sky if it decided to show off."
Celia rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth curled. "That was corny."
"Still true."
Their eyes met. Just for a second. The noise of the festival seemed to blur in the background—the swish of yukata fabric, the distant crackle of fireworks prepping, the low murmur of excited voices. In that brief stillness, it was just them.
Then—
"OI! LOVE BIRDS!"
Celia jumped like she'd been caught sneaking out past curfew. Ren turned as Andre strolled into view, towering and impossible to miss in a blindingly floral shirt that flapped open halfway down his chest. He held two sticks of grilled squid in one hand like victory flags.
He leaned toward Jingli Yue walking beside him and said loudly, "Told you they'd be all moony under the lanterns. Bet he even rehearsed his compliments."
Behind him trailed Yui and Bonk—her expression bright and bouncing in a bunny-patterned pink yukata, his… much less so.
"Someone better explain why I've been dragged into this humid, overpriced human festival where you win plastic fish and this earthly clothes costs more than a weapon upgrade," Bonk muttered, his stubby robotic limbs jerking in disapproval.
Andre leaned down and offered one of the squid sticks to Yui with dramatic flair. "Fear not, small warrior, for I bring you the sacred bounty of grilled snacks."
Yui's eyes lit up. "Big bro! Big sis! They're selling watermelon candy and goldfish scooping and they have cotton snow and there's a haunted ninja house!"
Yui—dressed in a pastel pink yukata with bunny patterns, her hair in twin buns—rushed past Bonk and Andre and grabbed Celia's hand. "Big bro! Big sis! They've got watermelon candy and goldfish scooping and cotton snow! Come on before they run out!"
Celia laughed and let Yui pull her down the path. "We're coming, we're coming."
Ren rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Andre, who gave him a knowing wink and a thumbs-up before disappearing toward the food stalls.
The narrow paths of the summer festival were alive with color and noise. Lanterns bobbed on overhead wires, glowing like soft orbs of fire against the deepening indigo sky. Booths lined either side of the walkway—red and white striped canopies offering everything from grilled corn to masks shaped like popular mascots. Firework pops echoed faintly in the distance as vendors shouted over each other, hawking treats and prizes.
Yui dashed from one stall to the next, dragging Celia along with her like a miniature pink comet. Celia barely had time to react before Yui shoved a goldfish scooper into her hand.
"Come on, big sis! I got one already. Bet you can't even catch one!"
"Oh-ho?" Celia grinned, crouching down. "That sounds like a challenge, shrimp."
Ren stood back and watched as Celia leaned over the water tank, her brow furrowed in cartoonish concentration. She made an exaggerated show of squinting and sticking her tongue out while slowly dipping the fragile paper scoop into the water. The goldfish darted away in a streak of orange and white—and the paper tore instantly.
"Ugh! Sabotaged!" she cried. "Yui, I blame you."
Yui stuck her tongue out. "Excuses!"
Ren laughed, a rare, full sound that made Celia glance up. She caught his eye, and for a second, the world slowed down. The noise, the lights, the people—all blurred into a distant buzz. Her smile lingered. Warm. Close.
Then Bonk stomped between them with a disgruntled beep, arms crossed tightly and his fuzzy brows furrowed. "Goldfish scooping is a statistically unfair game. The tools are rigged. The fish are trained. And I stepped in syrup."
Celia burst out laughing.
Andre loomed behind Bonk, towering and grinning, his floral shirt clashing gloriously with the candied apples in one hand and three yakitori skewers in the other. "Y'all better hurry up. I ain't carryin' all this just so you can lose to a seven-year-old with goldfish game."
Yui stuck her tongue out at him. "Eight! I'm eight now!"
"Oh, pardon me, Miss Grown-up." Andre winked. "Guess I better start callin' you ma'am."
Bonk huffed and muttered, "I will burn this entire place down if someone hands me a wet nap."
A soft voice interrupted the chaos. "You're all loud," said Jingli Yue, gliding into view with her usual calm elegance. She was dressed in a flowing silver yukata, pale flowers etched along the fabric like frost. Her long hair was pulled into a sleek bun, her eyes unreadable as always, but with the faintest glint of amusement at the corner.
Celia perked up. "I didn't think you would actually come miss Yue!"
"I was bribed," Yue replied dryly. "With candied plums. And silence if I showed up."
Ren leaned in toward Celia. "You bribe her?"
"Please, like I didn't know how to motivate an ice queen."
Yue shot Celia a deadpan look. "Try that again and I'm feeding Bonk your festival coupons."
Bonk raised a tiny fist. "DO IT."
Everyone laughed. Even Yue's lip curled faintly, which for her was the equivalent of a belly laugh.
The group moved together through the thronging festival lanes, drifting from one booth to another like a migrating school of semi-chaotic friends. Bonk lost a rock-paper-scissors match and was forced to try a ring toss game—he missed every shot and then blamed the wind. Andre roasted him mercilessly while simultaneously dunking on Celia's aim, which was somehow both precise and absurdly flashy. "Girl throwin' like she summonin' a Pokémon move."
Yui rode a tiny spinning tea cup ride three times in a row before dragging Ren on for a fourth. Ren nearly lost a corn dog halfway through the spin, but Yui just shouted, "You gotta grip with your soul, big bro!"
At one point, they found a food stall run by an old couple selling handmade mochi. Jingli paused there, uncharacteristically quiet. Celia noticed.
"You okay?" she asked softly, nudging her with an elbow.
Yue nodded slowly. "My sister used to bring me mochi during fire festivals back home. Same flavor. Red bean and plum."
Celia's smile softened. "Then we're buying two. One for you, one for her."
"…She's not here."
"So? We'll eat hers and tell her about it later."
Yue didn't argue.
Elsewhere, Bonk was being force-fed takoyaki by Yui, who insisted he needed more "festival spirit." Bonk screamed about it being too hot, and Andre had to hold him back while laughing so hard his glasses fogged up.
As the sun began to dip lower and the lanterns grew brighter, the group found a place near the edge of the park where the crowd thinned a little. Music drifted in from a live shamisen performance, and children ran past them chasing fireworks sparklers, leaving streaks of light in the air.
Ren sat on a low stone bench, watching Yui and Celia try a yo-yo balloon game. Celia kept dropping hers and blaming the string. Yui was a natural—of course. Andre passed Ren a can of soda and dropped down beside him.
"Feels good, don't it?"
Ren nodded, his voice low. "Yeah. I didn't think it would."
Andre's grin softened. "Well, that's the trick, ain't it? Peace don't always show up all big and loud. Sometimes it just slips in when you ain't lookin'. Like this."
Ren looked over as Celia glanced back at him with a grin, waving her victory prize—a neon yo-yo balloon that glowed in the dim light.
"Yeah," he said. "I think you're right."
The music shifted again—flutes and drums rising in tempo, woven with cheers and calls echoing down the lantern-lit paths. It was the signal. The fireworks were close.
More people began filtering toward the riverbank, toward the wide open fields just past the market lane, where the town had prepared rows of viewing mats and food stalls lined the perimeter. The excitement was contagious—like the air itself had caught fire with anticipation.
Ren stood, brushing grass and bits of straw from his yukata pants. "It's time."
Celia tilted her head, one hand still gripping her glowing yo-yo balloon. "Time for what?"
He extended a hand to her. "To find the best spot. We don't want Yui missing a single firework."
She blinked, then smirked and took his hand. "Lead the way, team leader."
They rejoined the group—Yui already perched on Andre's shoulders, pointing toward the river with enough energy to launch herself like a firework. Bonk followed close behind, grumbling about "predictable chemical combustion" and "sensory overstimulation," while Jingli floated just behind, serene and silent as ever.
But the closer they got to the riverbank, the denser the crowd became.
Vendors were shouting, kids were darting between legs, and the slow push of people made it harder and harder to stay together.
"Yui!" Celia called. "Hold onto Andre!"
"I am!" Yui shouted back, but then a gust of festival-goers swept between them, breaking the group apart like a tide pulling at the shore.
"Ren!" Andre's voice was swallowed in the noise. "We'll meet at—!"
Too late.
The crowd surged forward.