It's Summer! It's Holiday! It's Sakuya-chan! Part 4

By the time I realized that we had reached the outskirts of the festival grounds, Sakuya finally let me go.

“Sakuya-san, what the hell just happened?!” I demanded. Since there was no one around, I didn’t have to keep my voice down. “Why did you suddenly disappear? Do you know how worried we are? And why are you wearing that mask? What are you—”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Sakuya cut me off as she removed her fox mask. “I didn’t mean to disappear like that. It’s just that…I was going to buy you guys some food, but then I got lost and…”

“If you’re going to lie, then make a better one.” I interrupted in exasperation. “There’s no way you can get lost when the delinquents are scattered all around the festival grounds. And it doesn’t explain your fox mask nor your suspicious, sneaky behavior. You’re hiding from the Kagura Family’s people, aren’t you?”

I recalled the person with scarlet eyes that I saw earlier. I didn’t get a clear view of their figure, but if Sakuya bumped into me at the same time, then that person couldn’t possibly be Sakuya. It must be someone else who possessed a similar eye color—a member of the Kagura Family.

Sakuya stared blankly at me, clearly stunned by my accusation. Her lips moved as if to refute it, but no words came out. She finally sighed and slipped a lock of stray hair behind her ear. I noticed her fingers trembled as she did that small action.

“…yes. I don’t know how you figured that out, but…you’re right.” She admitted reluctantly.

“Sakuya-san…” I bit my lips with guilt.

No wonder she acted very suspiciously earlier. If the people chasing me suddenly appeared here, I’d freak out as well.

“But then, why did you…?” Come back here, was what I wanted to say. Unfortunately, my stomach chose this exact moment to let out an embarrassingly loud growl.

Sakuya jumped in surprise at the sudden sound. We both stared at each other for a moment, then the next second we broke out in laughter. It seemed some of the tension had left Sakuya’s body.

“Before I tell you about it, how about we eat something first?” Sakuya grabbed my hand and led me further away from the festival ground.

We went deeper into the forest that surrounded the festival ground, which was pitch-black from the lack of lighting. I stumbled in the darkness, solely relying on Sakuya’s guidance. I once again felt awe at Sakuya’s superhuman ability to traverse the dark forest easily without any light.

“S-Sakuya-san, where are we going?” I couldn’t help but speak out when I noticed that we could barely hear the festival’s noises anymore.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” Sakuya dodged my question.

“Yeah, but…”

Before I could finish my sentence, the forest around us suddenly opened up as we stepped into a clearing. We could see the night sky clearly, as well as the festival ground below us. Apparently, Sakuya had led me to a nearby hill, where we could get a clear view of everything.

“Wow…” I took a step forward, admiring the night view.

“Ryuu, come here and eat something.” Sakuya’s call snapped me back to my senses.

She was already sitting on the grass, with a box of half-eaten takoyaki and a couple of apple candies on her lap. Seeing that convinced me that what the delinquents said earlier was true. I approached Sakuya and sat down next to her. Somehow, this felt like a secret festival date. I quickly took one of the takoyakis to distract my mind.

“How did you find this place?” I asked while munching on the food.

“By coincidence. When I first came to this town, I wandered around looking for places to hide, if I ever needed to. And this is one of those.” Sakuya casually answered.

I swallowed the takoyaki ball before continuing, “So are you going to tell me what happened earlier?”

Sakuya frowned upon hearing it, but she still answered me, albeit reluctantly. “It’s just like I told you. I went to buy some food, since I knew that you guys would be starving by the time you finished. But on my way, I happened to see a man with scarlet eyes. He didn’t notice me, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I headed straight to the entrance, coincidentally meeting a few delinquents on the way.”

“I see.” I nodded. “Then…you should’ve left right away. Why are you here now?”

Sakuya hung her head and played with the apple candy in her hand.

“I was ready to leave right away.” She agreed. “But when I thought of what might happen if they didn’t find me here and caused an incident instead…my feet stopped. I couldn’t—I didn’t want to leave you guys behind.”

“Sakuya-san…that’s very brave of you.” I said admiringly.

“No, that’s just irrational and stupid.” Instead of accepting it, Sakuya spat out with a scowl on her face. “There’s no way they would reveal themselves in public just because they can’t find me. There’s less than 1% chance of them harming you guys for no apparent reason. I should’ve just escaped without any hesitation, like what I’d have done two years ago. I knew that. I knew, and yet…”

“That’s not a bad thing.” I gently cupped Sakuya’s face and lifted it up. “It means that you’ve found something precious to you. Precious enough that you are willing to stay and fight for it.”

Sakuya let out a small laugh that sounded like she was relieved. “I see… maybe you’re right. Anyway, I decided to disguise myself so he won’t recognize me and go after you guys instead, but you’ve already gone when I came back.”

“Urk…” I averted my eyes, since it was me who insisted that we went to look for Sakuya.

“Then you know the rest.” Sakuya finally looked at me. “A certain someone nearly shouted my name to a member of the Kagura Family. I had to stop him at any cost.” A hint of exasperation colored Sakuya’s ruby-like eyes.

“Ahaha…I’m sorry.” I lowered my head.

Back then, I was too panicked to think clearly, but I wouldn’t make any excuses. Speaking of which, I felt like I was forgetting something…

“AH!!!” I leapt to my feet.

“W-What is it?!” Sakuya was startled and looked around in high alert.

“I forgot to tell everyone that I found you!” I took out my phone from my carry bag in a fluster.

“Ryuu, you’re seriously…”

The rest of Sakuya’s sentence was drowned by a loud sound resembling gunshot in the distance.

“Huh?”

We both looked up, just in time to see the fireworks blooming beautifully in the sky.

“Ah…so this is a fireworks display.” Sakuya murmured as she stood up, captivated by the fireworks display. “So beautiful…”

I glanced at the petite girl, who was blooming even more beautifully than the fireworks above. “…to me, you’re even prettier.” I muttered.

Unexpectedly, the fireworks’ noise paused at the exact moment when I said that. The mood between us instantly turned awkward as we both looked away in a fluster.

“U-Um…that’s not what…” I frantically tried to explain, but the fireworks chose this moment to resume its loud explosion. “Damn those fireworks! Are they picking a fight with me or something?!”

Suddenly I felt a warm hand took hold of mine. I looked at Sakuya in surprise, but she feigned ignorance and kept looking at the fireworks display. I wasn’t sure whether her face was truly flushed or if it was caused by the fireworks’ red light. I decided not to worry too much and called out to her.

“Sakuya-san.”

“Y-Yeah?” She replied awkwardly.

“Let’s go to the festival again next year. Let’s walk around and try every food stall in the festival. Let’s play a lot and get all the prizes.” I said in between of the fireworks’ explosion. “And let’s watch the fireworks again next year. Promise me, okay?” I gently squeezed her hand, as if making sure that she wouldn’t disappear again.

“…yeah.” She paused for a long time, but eventually she answered me. “I’m looking forward to spending next year’s summer with you guys again.”

Our hands remained in each other’s warmth until the end of the fireworks display.