A Spark Among the Fireworks

Under the dim lights, amidst all the noise, she was there. As if her very presence was declaring its independence from the outside world.

I stood frozen beside Ray, just staring at her.

And then, I remembered something.

I had told her in the messages that we’d be in a big group. But right now, there were only two of us—and in total, we were only three.

She was going to realize I had lied.

My eyes widened, and the sudden realization made me want to hide immediately. If she turned her head to the left, she would see Ray holding a candy apple and cotton candy in one hand, and me, staring at her in fear.

"Ray, come here!" I whispered urgently.

"Huh? What—hey, hey!"

I grabbed his arm and practically dragged him in the opposite direction.

After moving away from the stands, I stopped in the dark and finally let go of his arm.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" Ray asked, still baffled.

I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead and back. Seeing her again in such a big place was strange, yet not entirely unexpected. No matter how crowded it was, after all, we were at the same event.

I explained everything to Ray. There was no point in hiding it anymore, even if I didn’t really want to talk about it.

"What you did wasn’t exactly wrong. But you do know the best thing to do right now, don’t you?" he said, giving me a strange look. Under the city lights and the faint moonlight, I could barely make out his face.

"What?" How was I supposed to know? What good would talking to her do? And besides, maybe she was alone right now, but what if she normally wasn’t? She had dressed up so nicely—it wouldn’t be crazy to assume it was for something special, right? I mean, sure, today was special for me, but I had just worn my casual clothes.

"The best thing to do is to hurry back to Yasu, of course."

Huh?

I stared at Ray blankly.

There was a sudden glint in his eyes, as if he was about to say something—but he stopped. His lips moved slightly before he simply shrugged and returned to munching on his snacks like nothing had happened.

That was weird.

Ray was never quiet like this.

Something twisted inside me, but I didn’t have the energy to bring it up right now.

The only sounds breaking the silence were Ray stuffing his mouth with food.

"Alright," I finally said, still finding his reaction odd.

We walked back to the festival grounds without another word. The place was overflowing with people, making it hard to see in the dark.

Well, hard was a relative term. Considering the average height in this country, spotting someone as huge as Yasu was actually pretty easy.

His massive frame stood out among the crowd like a lone goat among a herd of sheep.

"You two late," Yasu muttered, clearly annoyed.

"Uh, we got here as fast as we could," I said. No way was I going to explain everything to him right now.

"Whatever. I’m gonna hit the restroom. You can put my food in the back."

As he stood up, I suddenly panicked, thinking we had forgotten to buy his food.

Turns out, I had made Ray carry all of it.

After Yasu left, Ray and I just sat side by side, watching the river. The festival was about to begin.

We started chatting again. At first, we talked about university classes and assignments. Then, Yasu returned.

But he wasn’t alone.

Behind him, I could see two more figures.

"Oh, hey, you’re back," Ray lifted his head to look at Yasu.

"Yeah. Look who I ran into on the way."

Yasu slowly stepped aside, revealing two girls behind him.

"Good evening," they both said in turn.

Even in the dim light, their yukatas and hairstyles were visible.

It was obvious who he had brought.

And I didn’t really have the right to ask how he found them.

After all, we had seen them first and hadn’t told Yasu.

"They were looking for a spot when I ran into them, so I invited them over. That’s fine, right? I mean, we’ve already met." Yasu spoke casually, with no hesitation.

And this was the moment I completely froze.

We were screwed.

7-2

"G-good evening. Y-yeah, no problem at all. Our mat is big enough," Ray responded, glancing at me.

I couldn’t see his face clearly, but from his tone, I could tell he was basically asking, "What do we do now?"

My answer was simple: I had no idea...

"P-please, have a seat," I added quickly, right after Ray.

We were paying the price for not telling Yasu earlier.

Then again, Yasu didn’t know that I had run into Lyra again.

"Thank you. If you don’t mind."

Lyra sat down right next to me without hesitation. Noa took the spot beside her.

Yasu sat down next to Ray.

I turned my head slightly to look at Lyra.

I could barely see her face, and I had no idea what she was thinking.

I HAD REALLY LIED TO THIS GIRL, AND WE WERE SITTING ON A MASSIVE MAT WITH JUST THREE PEOPLE!

She was sitting right next to me, looking straight at me. I swallowed hard.

Her eyes were smiling, but… I didn’t feel relieved at all.

"Hey," she said casually.

I looked back at her.

For a few seconds, I didn’t know what to say.

Finally, I managed to force out a single word:

"Hey…" I tried to stay calm.

I could already predict where this conversation was going.

Now that I thought about it… Where was her boyfriend?

Did they come alone?

Then again, looking at the mat, there wasn’t any space left for another person.

Even if he had come, he’d have to sit on the grass.

Then again, if that happened, the right thing to do would probably be for me to offer my spot.

After all, this was their night too, wasn’t it?

"We ran into each other again," she said quietly, still looking at me.

I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yeah…" I was so nervous.

I could feel the stress taking over me.

"I thought you were coming with a big group today?" she asked in the same tone.

OH, HERE IT WAS!

THE DAMN QUESTION!

I had no excuse.

No justification.

Nothing.

I was feeling guilty for lying.

Maybe I should just tell her the truth.

I mean, so what if I lied?

Maybe I just didn’t want to hang out with her.

Did I really owe her an explanation?

"I actually—"

"One of our friends wasn’t feeling well, so they left to take care of him!" Ray suddenly jumped in, cutting me off.

Well, actually nice save, Ray!

"Oh, really? That’s too bad," Lyra sounded convinced.

Even though I couldn’t tell her the truth and things were getting more complicated, I felt a bit relieved inside.

"What? Who’s sick? What are you talking ab—"

"Y-Y-YASU, DID YOU BRING THE LAST PIECES?"

Ray literally covered Yasu’s mouth, blurting out some nonsense.

This was beyond ridiculous.

Ray, for God’s sake, what even are the pieces?

"U-uh, yeah…"

After a brief silence, Yasu just went along with it.

Lyra and Noa sat quietly, staring ahead.

Suddenly, the whole group fell silent.

We were so screwed...

No one was going to believe this mess.

I could hear the rustling of plastic behind me—Yasu was doing something, but I wasn’t even in the mindset to check.

I could barely glance at Lyra from the corner of my eye.

She looked expressionless.

Anyone with a brain could tell what had just happened.

She probably didn’t even like us now.

And I couldn’t blame her.

I was the one who lied.

"It’s starting!" a child’s voice rang out.

In the distance, sparks flared on the ground.

The fireworks were about to begin.

This was such a weird thing to experience on my birthday…

The sky turned red as the first firework shot up.

"Yuta!"

Ray touched my shoulder.

The firework exploded at its highest point, a massive burst of glowing lines.

I was about to understand what he meant by pieces.

And before I could, through the loud noise, the most overwhelming voices rang out together:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YUTA!"