Chapter 24 – “Twilight Fireworks”

The sun melted into the sea, painting the sky orange and violet. A soft wind carried the smell of salt and grilled food from the beach stalls.

Yuuto sat by the crackling bonfire, surrounded—as usual—by chaos in every direction.

Akari Shinozuka waved a sparkler like a sword. “Behold! Queen of the Summer!”

“Akari, you’re going to set your hair on fire,” Yuuto warned.

“I live dangerously!” she declared proudly, nearly singeing his sleeve.

Rika Hanabira sighed beside him, rubbing her temples. “Honestly, it’s like supervising a hyperactive monkey.”

“Hey!” Akari shot back. “I’m a fun monkey!”

Mizuki Onodera giggled softly, sitting with her notebook open. The glow of the bonfire lit her face as she read aloud a new poem she’d written just for the evening.

> “Evening sighs with light,

Hearts reflect the ocean’s glow,

Summer never sleeps.”

The quiet rhythm of her voice carried over the sound of the waves. For a moment, the entire group stilled.

Then—

“Fireworks incoming!” Akari shouted, pointing at the sky as the first rocket burst above them. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

Mizuki froze mid-line, her words lost beneath the explosion of color. She pouted faintly, clutching her notebook to her chest.

Yuuto glanced at her. “Hey, I liked it. Even if we missed the ending.”

She smiled shyly. “Thanks, Yuuto-kun.”

“Just Yuuto,” he said without thinking.

Her cheeks turned pink. “O-okay… Yuuto.”

Rika, sitting on his other side, raised an eyebrow. “Already on first-name basis with everyone now, huh?”

He scratched his neck awkwardly. “It’s… simpler.”

“Hmm,” she murmured, turning her gaze back to the fire. “You’re getting too comfortable.”

But the smallest smile tugged at her lips.

---

As the fireworks painted the sky, laughter and chatter filled the beach. Sensei Amamiya sat in a chair a few meters away, sipping juice like a queen observing her subjects. “Ah, young love and combustion—both so unpredictable,” she mused aloud.

Yuuto decided it was safer to ignore her.

Rika stood up quietly. “Too noisy here,” she said, brushing sand from her skirt.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Nowhere,” she replied. “Maybe just… under the pier. It’s quieter.”

He hesitated, then followed. “I’ll come with you. You know, in case the pier attacks you or something.”

Rika glanced back, smirking faintly. “How heroic.”

---

Beneath the pier, the air was cooler. The water shimmered with reflections of the fireworks above, each burst flickering across the wet sand. The noise from the bonfire faded to a distant hum.

Rika stood beside him, her arms crossed lightly. For a long moment, neither spoke.

“You’re weird,” she said finally.

Yuuto blinked. “Thanks, I guess?”

“I mean it,” she continued, voice quieter now. “You actually… care about people. Even when it’s inconvenient.”

He looked at her, surprised. “Is that weird?”

“For me? Yeah.” She kicked at a shell, watching it roll away. “I used to think people were just… variables. Predictable, messy, not worth the effort. But you…”

She trailed off, biting her lip. The light of another firework flashed across her face, turning her eyes into tiny galaxies.

“You made me realize some people are worth the experiment,” she said finally.

Yuuto smiled softly. “I didn’t do anything special.”

“Exactly.” She met his gaze. “You were just yourself. And somehow that worked.”

The waves washed gently at their feet. Neither moved. The silence between them was oddly comfortable.

Then, as if realizing how long she’d been staring, Rika looked away sharply. “Anyway, don’t let it go to your head, idiot.”

He laughed. “Too late.”

She leaned closer—close enough that he could feel the warmth of her breath near his ear.

“…Thanks, idiot,” she whispered.

Before he could reply, she turned and walked back toward the firelight, her ponytail swaying. Yuuto stood there, blinking, his heart pounding a little too fast for comfort.

---

When he returned to the bonfire, Akari and Mizuki were roasting marshmallows—Akari had somehow set hers completely on fire.

“There you are!” Akari said. “What took so long?”

“Just… talking,” Yuuto said.

Rika sat on the other side of the fire, arms folded, eyes fixed on the flames. But when he caught her gaze for half a second, she quickly looked away, pretending to scold Akari.

“Don’t burn everything, you maniac!”

Mizuki smiled knowingly, whispering, “Rika-chan looked happy.”

“Did she?” Yuuto asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Mm-hm.”

Sensei Amamiya approached with her usual smirk. “So, Mr. Kanda—enjoying your fireworks and your romantic subplots?”

Yuuto groaned. “Sensei, please stop calling my life a subplot.”

Akari raised her marshmallow sword. “We’re the main story!”

“Absolutely not!” Yuuto said quickly.

Everyone laughed, the fire crackling louder, the night wrapping around them like a soft blanket.

Above them, the final fireworks burst—a spray of gold across the dark sky. For just a heartbeat, Rika’s eyes met his again, and she smiled the smallest, shyest smile he’d ever seen.

The moment was gone in a flash of color, but it lingered all the same.