It's Summer! It's Holiday! It's Sakuya-chan! Part 2

Just as Sakuya predicted, the result was a crushing victory for Yuuki.

No matter if it was a shooting game, a racing game, a rhythm game, or even one-against-three air hockey game, Yuuki completely dominated all of them.

“W-Why?! Why is he such a cheat-like player?!” Hiiro sank to his knees, disbelief was written all over his face.

“Damn…he’s way better than I thought. It seems we really can’t judge a book by its cover.” Ouji’s eyes were blazing with fire of rivalry.

“President…I’ll never play with you in the arcade again…” Asahi was prostrating in front of Yuuki. “So please forgive my cheeky attitude…!”

“Hmph…it seems I’m a bit rusty after not playing for three years.” Yuuki grumbled, not satisfied with his current record.

“See?” Sakuya said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Whoa…how did you know, Sakuya-san?” I asked her in amazement.

“Well, Koyama was quite famous back when he was still in middle school. They called him the ‘Crimson Demon King’ and he was the strongest delinquent in this area, both in terms of fighting power and gaming ability.” Sakuya easily revealed such a shocking fact. 

“W-What?! A delinquent?! That diligent, strait-laced President?!” My jaw slackened from the shock.

I could imagine Yuuki reigning as the strongest delinquent, seeing how easily he handled those Takamine delinquents back then. But I couldn't quite picture him playing around the arcade like any other delinquents. In my mind, Yuuki was more suited to working on some documents or studying in his free time.

“Wait, where did the ‘Crimson’ part come from?” I asked Sakuya, unable to hold my curiosity back at his seemingly disjointed nickname.

“When Koyama was in middle school, he dyed his hair to vivid red and crushed all of the delinquents that challenged him. His brutal strength and razor-sharp brain earned him that nickname. But when he entered high school, he completely changed his image and hid his past. I guess he’s the same as me in that aspect.” Sakuya explained all of these smoothly, as if she had known him herself.

“And how did you know about this, Sakuya-san?” I eyed her suspiciously.

She shrugged and answered nonchalantly, “It’s no big deal, just that my family kept an eye on strong youngsters like him. And I happened to read his files back then.”

“That…” I gazed at Yuuki with a newfound pity in my eyes. “Isn’t that just a dark history he never wanted to remember?”

“…maybe.” Sakuya averted her eyes, not denying that she might’ve dug up a dark history Yuuki would rather erase from his memory.

“A-Anyway!” She coughed and changed the topic. “Why don’t you play some games as well, Ryuu?”

“Uhh…to be honest, I really suck at arcade games.” I scratched my head.

Even though Kazu and the others often invited me to play together, I always ended up losing pathetically. I had tried playing the easiest game that even children could win, but I still lost in the end.

“It can’t be helped, then.” Sakuya sighed before grabbing my hand. “I’ll help you out, so tell me which game you want to play.”

“Um…” I looked around the arcade, carefully going over each game. It was rare of Sakuya to indulge me like this, and I wasn’t going to waste the chance. “Then, can you help me with the crane game?” I pointed at one of the machines.

I noticed that the delinquents were steering clear from the crane game. The reason was obvious—it took god-level skill and god-level luck to actually win the prize. Of course, some people said that you would eventually win something if you kept trying, but in my opinion, the cost wouldn’t worth the prize.

“Hmm…” Sakuya didn’t say anything for a moment.

“A-Ah, like I thought, is it too hard?” I felt bad for pointing at the most difficult game in the arcade. “Then, how about…”

“No, I’ll do it.” Sakuya wore the fierce smile she always had whenever she was facing a tough situation. “I’ll get the cutest prize and gift it to you.”

Without letting me say another word, Sakuya dragged me to one of the crane game machines.

*****

“Uh…I thought you said that you’ll get me the cutest prize?” I asked Sakuya doubtfully.

“Yeah, I did.” Sakuya answered without any hesitation.

“So why am I the one holding the controls?” I stared at the joystick and the game buttons in front of me.

Sakuya snorted. “Don’t worry, I’ll give instructions easy enough that even a child can follow it and win the prize in one shot.” She said proudly as she literally stuck to the side of the machine.

Sakuya’s face was completely glued on the glass pane and her eyes carefully scrutinized each and every prize inside the machine. Incidentally, this machine offered various animal-shaped dolls as its prize.

“Ah, Sakuya-san, why don’t we try to get this one?” I pointed at the pink, pig-shaped doll nearest to the prize hole. It seemed like a reasonable choice, since we could easily drop it into the hole.

“Hmm…no, it’s not nearly cute enough.” Contrary to my expectations, Sakuya flatly rejected my suggestion. “We’ll get that one.” She pointed at the furthest doll, which was shaped like a black dog.

“Wha—?! Are you kidding, Sakuya-san?!” I looked at her in disbelief. “It’s freaking far, and it’s not even in a good shape!” I protested.

The doll’s design was cute, I had to admit, but it seemed a bit old. The color already dulled and its stitches were starting to unravel in some places.

“I want that one. We’ll definitely get it in one shot.” Sakuya declared with so much confidence that I couldn’t help but wanting to believe her.

“It can’t be helped.” I let out a sigh and prepared myself. “I’ll follow you, Banchou.”

“Good.” Sakuya smiled happily. “Then, put in the coin.”

Once I had inserted the 100-yen coin, the machine started playing a song to announce the game’s start.

“Okay Ryuu, move the claw up 7 centimeters, then twist it clockwise up to 45 degrees, and move it to your 3 o’clock. Don’t forget to keep your hand steady. Once you’ve moved it for about three seconds, twist it for another 15 degrees and let the claw stabilize itself.” Sakuya started rapidly firing complicated instructions.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sakuya-san! There’s no way I can do that freakishly complicated instruction! Which part of it that a child can follow, huh?! And the claw can’t even be twisted, you know! Make it simpler!” I snapped at her.

“Geez, you’re such a handful…” Sakuya muttered, and I nearly choked her.

Why did she make it sound like I was in the wrong here?!

“Okay, let’s not waste more time whining about this and get back to the game.”

My knuckles made a cracking sound when I heard that sentence, but I managed to suppress my anger.

“Ryuu, move the claw closer toward you. Make sure to stop at the exact moment when I tell you.” Sakuya instructed.

I nodded and started operating the joystick. I strained my eyes and pricked my ears to make sure that I didn’t miss a single word.

“There. Stop.”

I quickly stopped the claw according to Sakuya’s instruction.

“Now, move it to the right. Slowly, so that we won’t miss the right angle.”

I pushed the joystick to the right, while my eyes were fixated on the claw. Cold sweats started forming on my forehead, but I didn’t have the leeway to wipe it off.

“Stop right there. Move it back a bit—no, you’re going a bit too far. Move it forward again, this time slower. Slowly, slowly…okay, hold it there for a bit.” Sakuya pulled away from the glass and started observing the claw from different sides, checking if she had the angle right.

“Sakuya-san, we only have twenty seconds left before the claw automatically grabs the prize.” I reminded her.

“Shush, don’t rush me. If we don’t get the angle perfect, we won’t be able to get it at all.” Sakuya hushed me without looking away from the claw even for a moment.

“Yeah, but…”

“Move it a bit left. A very, very slight left.”

I was forced to shut up and followed Sakuya’s instructions. When the timer showed only ten seconds left, it started blinking and letting out an alarm.

“S-Sakuya-san!” I instinctively looked at her in panic.

“Don’t panic. We still have some time. Push it back a bit, Ryuu.” Sakuya calmly answered.

“Can we even get it in one shot?! The doll’s position is too far!” I protested.

“Ryuu, when did I ever tell a lie to you?” Sakuya finally looked at me. She put a hand on her chest and declared, “Trust me. Push the claw a bit further back.”

I stared at her dubiously. “You technically lied to me when you sent me to the rebel’s trap. And when you told me that you didn’t need my help. And…” I recited her lies while still operating the joystick.

“S-Shut up!” Sakuya’s face reddened in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, okay?! I won’t do it again, so trust me!”

Without waiting for my response, Sakuya reached out and pushed the button to let the claw down.

“Whoa!” I jerked away from her, surprised by her sudden action. “A-Are you absolutely sure, Sakuya-san?! The claw’s angle is a bit off, you know?!”

When I looked at it, the claw was positioned at the rear side of the four-legged, dog-shaped doll. Usually people would aim for the head side, since it could grab the doll better. Wouldn’t it just slide off if the claw tried to grab the rear side?

“Don’t worry. It will not fall off.” Sakuya said calmly, as if she could read my mind.

I watched nervously as the claw went down and grabbed the rear side of the doll. Fortunately, it managed to grab the doll properly. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the claw went up, with the doll in tow.

But as the claw went toward the prize hole, the doll started slipping off bit by bit.

“Sa-Sakuya-san! It’s slipping! It’s slipping off!” I grabbed her shoulders and started shaking it violently.

“I can see it too, you know! Calm down a bit!” Sakuya yanked my hands off with an annoyed look on her face.

We watched helplessly as the doll kept slipping off the claw, pulled down by the weight of the dog’s head—until it completely fell.

“AHHH!!!”

I stuck myself to the glass pane and watched the doll fell off the claw—

—only for its stitches to get entangled with the claw.

“H-Huh?!” I blinked repeatedly, trying to comprehend the impossible sight in front of me.

I kept staring at it blankly, even as the claw dropped the doll into the prize hole smoothly.

“We…we did it?” I muttered while Sakuya took the doll out from the machine.

“Yeah, we did it.” Sakuya smiled and showed the doll to me.

“We did it! We freaking did it in one shot, just like you said!” Her smile rubbed off on me—I started smiling widely as well.

We both raised our hands and our palms met in a perfectly synced high-five.

*****

“Ahh, that was fun!” Asahi commented as we all went out from the arcade.

The sun had started to set, so Yuuki pestered us to quickly go home.

“I’ll definitely defeat you next time, Koyama.” Ouji glared at Yuuki with blazing eyes.

“Stop it, this is the last time I’ll ever step foot into the arcade.” Yuuki wearily shot him down. “What kind of Student Council president plays around in the arcade until sunset, huh?”

“ “ “Just you.” ” ”

As Yuuki was reeling from a chorus of accusations, I looked around the crowd of delinquents.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Ryuu?” Kazu caught my suspicious behavior and asked.

“No…have you seen Sakuya-san, Senpai? She suddenly disappeared after we played the crane game together.” I explained.

“Now that you mention it…” Kazu also looked around. “I haven’t seen her either.”

“What?! You played a crane game together with Sakuya-chan?!”

Suddenly I was ambushed by Hiiro from behind.

“Why didn’t you call us too?! I thought we were friends, Ryuuji-kun!”

Asahi also popped out and started shaking my shoulders violently.

“No…that’s…I kind of forgot…” I averted my eyes. Even if I remembered, I wouldn’t call for you guys. Who would share such precious moments with Sakuya-san?

“Ryuu, here you are.”

The person in question’s voice appeared behind me.

“Sakuya-san, where have you been…?!” I quickly escaped the two Sakuya fans and turned around, just to have a doll thrusted into my arms. “Eh? This is…”

It was a black dog-shaped doll. Compared to the one we got from the machine earlier, its black fur was well-combed and shiny. It also seemed like a brand new doll, without a single flaw to it.

“It’s the prize from the crane game earlier.” Sakuya answered flatly.

“Oh, so you exchanged it for the newer doll?” I looked at her with gratitude.

“No, it’s the same doll.”

“Oh, it’s the same—huh?! Wait, no matter how you looked at it, it’s a completely different doll, isn’t it?!” I protested in surprise.

“It’s the same doll.” Sakuya insisted. “I simply borrowed some tools from the staff and fixed it up.”

“That’s…amazing.” I examined the doll with newfound admiration. Her handiwork was already at pro level.

“I’ll give it to you, so treasure it well, okay?” Sakuya smiled softly.

My heart couldn’t help but skip a beat, and my face was completely flushed.

“Aah, that’s unfair! Sakuya-chan, what about me?!” Hiiro interjected and started whining like a child.

“Me too! I also want something from you!” Asahi piped in excitedly.

“Then, I’ll give you two these.” Sakuya, unexpectedly, took out two keychains and gave it to them.

“Whoa! Thank you, Sakuya-chan! I’ll make it my family’s heirloom!” Hiiro carefully, very carefully, stored the keychain inside his pocket.

“Thank you! I’ll make sure to use it!” On the other hand, Asahi quickly swapped his house key’s keychain with the one Sakuya just gave him.

“Hey, Sakuya.” I secretly whispered to her. “Aren’t those keychains…?”

“Consolation prizes.” Sakuya answered nonchalantly.

“I knew it…” I gave the two boys a pitiful gaze. Those keychains were something that Sakuya got in the passing when she tried another crane game. “Sakuya-san, you should stop that bad habit of yours to gift meaningless things to other people.”

“So, is the black dog meaningless?”

I was taken aback by Sakuya’s unexpected question.

“That’s…no, I’m really happy to receive it.” I shook my head.

“Then it’s fine.” Sakuya smiled faintly. “Because I don’t give special gifts to just anyone.”

“H-Huh?” I could feel my face heating up again. “Wait, what does that—?”

“All of you, go home quickly before it’s dark, okay?!” Yuuki’s loud voice interrupted my sentence. “And make sure not to cause trouble for anyone during summer break!”

“Yes…” The delinquents answered flatly, like a bunch of kids being nagged.

“Sakuya-san…huh?” I tried to continue my question earlier, but Sakuya was already gone. “…I feel like I’m getting played around by her.” I sighed, but my hands hugged the black dog tighter than before.

And thus, our summer holiday officially started.

*****

True to her words, Sakuya did spend the rest of her summer holiday with the delinquents. And they never forgot to kidnap—take me along with them, to the point that I didn’t have time to finish any of my summer homework.

If I were to tell all the events that we did during summer, I was sure that it would take a whole book on its own. Basically, we went out almost every day and had fun together—while also troubling everyone else around us.

There was that time when we all went to the beach, and nearly got detained by the beach guard because he thought we wanted to forcefully take over the whole beach for ourselves. There was also a time when we went to watch Sakuya acting in a drama alongside the drama club—as a result of her deal with the club president to borrow their practice hall. Sakuya was so embarrassed that she shut herself in her apartment for three days afterward.

And let’s not forget that time when we got our hands on some juicy watermelons, so we sneaked into Natsuhiko’s school, Takamine Academy—simply because they had an outdoor pool available. The new Banchou, Kyoya, kindly guided us inside in exchange for a few slices of watermelon.

The party started getting out of hand when some idiots (read: Abe and Narumi) brought fireworks and the delinquents played around without any restraints. As the result, a neighbor called for the police and we had to run for our lives. After that, Sakuya thoroughly chewed them out for getting carried away.

As the summer days passed by, a feeling of uneasiness started sprouting inside my chest. I really enjoyed every day of my summer break, but conversely, it made me anxious. It felt like I was too happy, and something bad was bound to happen to balance it out.

Nonetheless, the end of our summer holiday approached regardless of how I felt about it.

Today was our last day of summer break, and we all promised to go to the summer festival tonight—in our yukatas.

The last time I wore a yukata was in elementary school, so it took me quite some time to wear it properly. By the time I reached the temple, the delinquents were already gathered around the entrance.

“Ah, there he is! Ryuu, over here!” Hiiro waved at me. He was wearing a jade green yukata with leaf patterns. The color complimented his blonde hair and gave him a refreshing look.

“Sorry I’m late! Am I the last one?” I asked while panting heavily.

“No, Kagura-san isn’t here yet.” Ouji answered. The delinquent was clad in navy blue yukata that suited his cool demeanor really well. Despite the subdued color, the yukata had patterns of dragon on it, subtly revealing Ouji’s hotblooded nature.

Compared to the two, I was wearing a plain black colored yukata, since I had just bought it at the last minute. I coughed awkwardly and looked around, hoping that I wasn’t the only plain-looking man here.

However, all the other delinquents were clearly excited for tonight’s festival. They wore flashy-looking yukata and proudly showed off their new appearance. Many passerby stared at us curiously, who were occupying the temple’s entrance like a group of mafias.

Under normal circumstances, they’d have already called for a police officer. But as the old saying goes—fine feathers make fine birds. Their yukata made the delinquents look cooler than usual, which turned them into a feast for the eye. I even saw several groups of girls stealing glances at our group, like a hawk eyeing their prey before it got taken by someone else.

Unfortunately, the girls’ confidence were splendidly crushed when a single girl stepped into the fray.

“Sorry for the wait.”

A strong, familiar voice rang clearly in my ear.

“Ah, Sakuya-san—”

I turned around…and completely forgot how to breathe.

A petite girl was walking toward us. Each of her movements were elegant and graceful, completely different from her usual fierce demeanor. She was wearing a jet-black yukata dotted with vivid red camellia flowers. The yukata’s color contrasted her pale skin, yet the flowers complemented her ruby red eyes. Her long hair was pulled up into an elegant knot, revealing her snow-white nape.

“It’s been a while since I wore a yukata, so it took more time than I expected.” Sakuya explained as she joined our group. Then she noticed our dumbfounded stares. “What is it? Does it look weird?” Sakuya looked at her yukata with a frown.

“No!” “Definitely not!” “It doesn’t look weird!”

All of us snapped out from our daze and hurriedly assured her.

“Is that so? I’m glad.” Sakuya smiled softly. “It’s worth the trouble of dressing up, at least.”

The effect of her dazzling smile, coupled with her lovely appearance, resulted in our complete defeat. Some of the delinquents were writhing on the ground from happiness, some of them were fervently thanking the gods, while the others were busily taking pictures of Sakuya in yukata. As a side note, I refrained from doing any of the above, but I swore to get her picture from the delinquents later.

“Then, shall we go and enjoy the festival?” Sakuya was about to take a step forward when Hiiro suddenly blocked her way.

“Please wait, Sakuya-chan! Don’t you know how rare this event is?!” Hiiro exclaimed exaggeratedly. “Everyone here wants to spend time with you, but if we go around with such a huge number of people, it will trouble everyone else! And so, we came up with an idea!”

He presented a box of lottery to Sakuya.

“Please draw three names from this box, Sakuya-chan. Those three will have the privilege of walking around the festival with you! So, won’t you choose who the lucky person will be? Incidentally, since me and Ouji-senpai are your closest subordinates, we automatically get the privilege!” Hiiro added with a sly smirk.

As expected, everyone started booing Hiiro for his blatant abuse of power.

“I agree with everyone, Tarou.” Sakuya crossed her arms and glared at him. “Everyone needs to have an equal chance to enjoy themselves tonight. So I’ll still choose three names.”

“Hmph…fine, but we’ll only do this once, okay? No redo, no matter what the result is!” Hiiro pouted, but he backed down quite easily.

I stared at the blonde delinquent suspiciously. He was usually so stubborn when it came to Sakuya. Could it be that Hiiro had predicted this development and tampered with the lottery box? But before I could voice my suspicions, Sakuya already agreed and reached out to draw a name.

“The first name is…” Sakuya started opening the lottery paper and everyone leaned forward in anticipation. “…Mikoto Hiiro.”

“Yeah!” Hiiro yelled happily and pumped his fist in the air.

I could hear a grumble here and there, but everyone still remained optimistic. After all, there was still two more spots that they could take.

“And the next one is…” Sakuya took out another paper. “…Mikado Ouji.”

This time, more people were groaning in frustration. Ouji had a proud look on his face, but he remained silent.

“The last one is…” Sakuya took the last lottery, but her face changed the moment she opened it. “…another Mikoto Hiiro?”

For a moment, silence descended among us.

The next second, everyone shot accusing glares at Hiiro, who stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

“I never said there’s only one name each inside the box, though?”

“ “ “Y-You cheater!!!” ” ”

The delinquents yelled loudly and lunged forward to beat Hiiro up.

Fortunately, Sakuya quickly intervened before it turned into a brawl and got us into more trouble.

“Well, calm down and hear me out first, you all. How about this? Tarou will be disqualified for cheating, and I’ll draw two more names. Okay?” Sakuya spoke in soothing tone.

“WHAT?!” Hiiro looked at Sakuya in shock, while everyone else was nodding in agreement. “But…! But…! You can’t do this…!”

“Sorry Tarou, but you brought this upon yourself.”

Sakuya snatched the box out of Hiiro’s hand and drew another name.

“Shirasaki Touma.” Sakuya announced, eliciting another wave of groans from everyone.

“Ah, I’ll pass.” Touma raised his hand and instantly rejected the honor. “I planned on going around the festival with my girlfriend tonight. Ryuu-san, why don’t you take my place?”

“Eh? Me?”

Suddenly I was stabbed with numerous envious gazes from the delinquents.

“Aaah! Why did he choose Ryuu?!”

“Touma! I’m also a good Senpai to you, right?! Why don’t you choose me?!”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Touma! Pick me!”

This time, the delinquents were pestering Touma to pick them. But he shut them up with a single sentence, “I think Ryuu-san deserves it the most.”

I was surprised by the sincerity in Touma’s voice, and I was even more shocked when the delinquents accepted his words, albeit begrudgingly.

“Then, it’s decided that Ryuu will replace Touma.” Sakuya announced.

Her face didn’t change when she said that, but I felt like the edge of her lips rose for an instant. Was she looking forward to going around with me? I quickly shook my head to chase away that wishful thinking.

“And the last one is…” Sakuya took out the last paper. “…Karasu Takashi.”

Was it just my imagination that her voice had a hint of exasperation in it?

“Eh?! Seriously?! I won?!” Takashi’s jaw slackened at the unexpected victory.

“If you don’t want it, then nominate me!” Hiiro immediately lunged at Takashi and threatened him with bloodshot eyes. “Say that you’ll give that position to me! Or I’ll reveal your most embarrassing secret to everyone here—gah!”

Before Hiiro could finish his sentence, Sakuya’s fist hit his head squarely. Hiiro immediately collapsed on the ground, cradling his head with a silent scream of pain.

“Tarou, no blackmailing your friends.” Sakuya scolded him like a master scolding its dog. “If you behave, I’ll spare some time for you later.”

“Yes! I’ll be a good boy, Sakuya-chan!” Hiiro instantly sprung to his feet, as if he had already forgotten his pain.

“She’s completely wrapped him around her finger…” I muttered to myself.

Then I noticed the absence of someone who usually got mixed among us.

“Hm? Where’s Asahi?” I asked. “It’s not like him to miss this kind of event.”

“Aah, he caught a cold and was forced to stay home.” Tanaka, the delinquent who always discovered Asahi, spoke up. Before we knew it, he had gotten close enough with Asahi to exchange text messages every few days. “He wanted to come as well, but he can’t even get up from bed. His twin told me.”

And apparently Tanaka also knew Mitsuki. At this rate, Hiiro’s position as the twins' childhood friend might be threatened.

“O-Oh, I see. Thank you for telling me, Tanaka-kun.” I nodded.

“Then, now that everything is settled, let’s enjoy the festival!” Sakuya announced.