Goldfishes and Kidnapping

“…goldfish scooping? Seriously?” I stared at Takashi coldly.

“It’s still a proper festival game, okay?!” Takashi retorted proudly.

“Yeah, but isn’t this for kids?!” I looked around the goldfish scooping stall, where most of the participants were elementary school kids.

“Onii-chan, did you come here to get some goldfish?” One of the kids innocently asked Ouji.

“No, I came here to win against my past self.” Ouji’s serious and profound answer only resulted in the child tilting her head quizzically.

“Then, why don’t we make it more interesting?” Sakuya suggested. “Instead of playing it ourselves, we’ll help these kids play. The kid with the most goldfish wins. How does that sound?”

“I’m on!” Takashi instantly yelled.

“Let’s do this.” Ouji started rolling up his yukata’s sleeves.

“Ryuu, I’ll hold on to these, so go and win this round.” Sakuya took over the prizes in my arms.

“Huh?! I’m playing this time?!” I looked at Sakuya in surprise.

“Yeah, where’s the fun in only watching other people play? You should enjoy the summer festival too.” Sakuya lightly pushed me toward the goldfish pool.

I hesitated for a moment, since I never had much luck with games like these and I was bound to lose in the first place. But one of the kids approached me and pulled on my sleeve.

“Onii-chan, are you going to help me get the goldfish?” She asked with sparkling eyes.

Facing such a pure and innocent expectation, I had no choice but to nod. “Y-Yeah, I’ll help you as best as I can, okay?”

I let the little girl lead me to the goldfish pool, where Takashi and Ouji were already in position with their respective kids. They were teaching the kids with such intensity that the kids cowered in fear.

“Onii-chan, how can I get a fish with this?” The little girl showed me her paper scooper—or usually known as ‘poi’.

“Have you ever played this game…er…” I looked at her with puzzled face.

“Rina!” She answered cheerfully. “And this is my first time! Usually Papa will get it for me, but today he can’t come, so…” Her voice drooped by the end of her sentence.

“A-Ah, it’s okay, I can teach you all about it!” I hurriedly comforted her. “Rina-chan, you can use that scooper—poi to scoop goldfish into your bowl. That’s all you need to do, but it may be a little harder than it sounds. Here, let me give you an example.”

I took the poi and faced the goldfish pool. It was quite crowded with goldfish, to the point that it was difficult to distinguish each fish. I gripped the poi tighter and took a deep breath. It had been years since I last played this game, and I was afraid that I’d let Rina down with my poor skill.

“Ryuu!”

I instinctively raised my face the moment I heard Sakuya’s voice calling me.

She gave me a thumbs-up and encouraged, “You can do this!”

Strangely, that was all it took for me to find my courage. I smiled back at her before returning my attention to the pool. I set my sight on a particular goldfish and slowly dipped the poi under water. I carefully guided the fish to the corner of the pool before scooping it up with one quick motion.

“Whoa!” Rina shouted with sparkling eyes. “It…it got away!”

“Ahaha…” My shoulders slumped at the harsh reality. The fish had swiftly evaded my poi at the last moment, leaving me with only a puddle of water. “Well…basically, that’s how you do it. Do you want to try now, Rina-chan?” I offered her the poi.

“Yes!” Rina excitedly took the poi and faced the pool.

“Good, now concentrate on just one fish, so you won’t get distracted.” I started coaching her. “Then slowly dip the poi in, as to not scare the fish. It will be easier if you can corner the fish. Then all you need to do is to scoop it up quick enough before it can escape.”

“I understand!” Rina nodded with a serious look.

She started practicing what I told her, but her poi’s movement under water was too fast. It scared all the nearby fishes, causing her to lose her target over and over.

“Mm, Rina-chan, why don’t we do it a bit slower? The fish won’t run away if you approach it sneakily, like you want to surprise it.” I advised her.

“Oh!” Rina’s face lit up in understanding. “I see!”

This time she managed to approach the fish close enough without scaring it away. But when Rina tried to scoop it up, the fish always managed to slip off the poi, or struggle enough to tear the poi.

“Onii-chan…” Rina looked at me with teary eyes. “This is harder than I thought…”

“Yeah, I feel the same.” I crouched down and patted her head. “What do you want to do? Do you want to quit? I may not be better than you, but I can try to get it for you.”

Instead of nodding, Rina shook her head fiercely. “No, I want to get it myself! You see, Papa is sick right now. Mama said that…that Papa might not be able to take me to festivals anymore…”

Her small hands were trembling as Rina clutched the poi tighter.

“But…but if I can get fishes for him, then Papa will be happy! After all, I’m always happy when Papa gets me fishes! Then Papa will definitely get better!” Rina looked straight at me with hopeful eyes. “I heard that you will get better quickly if you’re happy! Isn’t that right, Onii-chan?”

“That’s…” I was at loss of words. I didn’t want to destroy her innocent belief, yet the reality wasn’t that kind.

“Right, Onii-chan…?” Rina urged me once again, but this time her voice was trembling.

“Aah…she already knows.” I realized. Rina wasn’t so innocent that she’d believe her father could get better with just some goldfishes. She was simply grasping at straws, determined to do whatever she could for her father’s sake.

I inadvertently glanced at where Sakuya was waiting. Even though she also knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape from her family forever, Sakuya stubbornly refused to give up. She was just as desperate as Rina here.

“Huh?” I unconsciously let out a dumb sound.

“Onii-chan? What’s wrong?” Rina tilted her small head.

“A-Ah…it’s nothing.” I quickly reassured her.

I glanced once again at Sakuya’s direction, confirming that she was no longer there. I scanned the crowds carefully, but Sakuya was nowhere in sight.

“She probably went to buy some food.” I assured myself. “She’ll be back…right?”

I turned towards both Ouji and Takashi to tell them that Sakuya was gone, but those two were completely immersed in the game.

“Go! Go! Go! Just scoop in as much as you can! Even if most of them escape, you’ll still get a few fishes! Just do it as fast as you can!” Takashi yelled at the boy he was helping.

The boy had teary eyes while holding his poi with trembling hand, clearly pressured by Takashi’s intensity. It didn’t help that Takashi’s yelling only served to scare the goldfishes away.

On the other hand, Ouji wasn’t yelling or even saying anything. He simply stood behind the little girl he’d chosen as his champion with crossed arms, glaring menacingly at the pool of goldfishes. The reason for his glare was that the goldfishes all avoided his side of the pool, since they instinctively felt danger for their lives from Ouji’s bloodlust.

The little girl was looking at the pool with confused eyes—puzzled that the fishes wouldn’t even come near them.

“You guys…are totally ruining the fun for the children.” I let out a sigh at their childish behavior.

“Hey, Onii-chan, can we continue?” Rina tugged on my sleeves.

“Ah, sorry.” I turned to Rina and smiled at her. “Why don’t we try again? This time I’ll help you get it.”

“Yeah!” Rina beamed at me.

We faced the goldfish pool together and chose a fish as our target. Instead of letting Rina did all of it by herself, I held the poi together with her. We slowly guided the fish to the corner of the pool and waited for the right moment to strike. I held my breath as I tuned out all of the distractions around me, focusing only at the lazily swimming fish. The moment that fish turned its head away from the poi…

“Now!” I yelled.

Splash!

Rina, who shut her eyes tightly, slowly opened one of her eyes. The moment she saw the bright-colored goldfish swimming around in her bowl, she squealed in pure delight.

“We did it! Onii-chan, we really did it!” Rina shouted enthusiastically.

“Yeah, we finally caught it!” I smiled back at her.

It might just be a single fish, but for the inexperienced Rina and the clumsy me, it was a big victory.

“I’ll go home and give this to Papa!” Rina proudly showed the goldfish after it was put inside a plastic bag by the stall owner.

The owner, having overheard Rina’s sad story earlier, kindly offered to give her more goldfishes. But she stubbornly refused, insisting on giving her father the only fish she actually caught.

“Yeah, I hope your Papa will get better soon, okay?” I stroke her head.

“Thank you, Onii-chan! Bye bye!” Rina waved at me before running off to a couple of elders that seemed to be her grandparents.

“Well…that’s an unexpected development.” I scratched my head. We were only here to have fun, but I ended up listening to such a sad and heavy story from a child. “Now…where is Sakuya-san?”

I looked around, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. Anxiety started creeping on me as many bad possibilities swirled inside my mind. What if Sakuya got kidnapped by someone? Or could it be that she went off to buy something and got lost in the crowds? Could it be that she even got injured and unable to call for help?

“…yuu…Ryuu!”

“Y-Yes?!” I turned at Ouji, who called my name. Next to him, Takashi also stared at me in concern.

“What’s wrong? I’ve been calling you repeatedly.” Ouji asked.

“Ouji-senpai, Takashi, have you seen Sakuya-san?” I quickly explained that I hadn’t seen her since a few minutes ago.

“What, that’s all? Maybe she just went to buy some food?” Takashi dismissed my worries. “I’m not the only one who’s hungry here.”

“Yeah, but…it’s not like her to just disappear without saying anything.” I frowned as I couldn’t get rid of my bad feelings.

“Let’s just wait here for a bit longer. If Kagura-san hasn’t come back, then we’ll split up and look for her.” Ouji decided.

Although Takashi was grumbling a bit from his hunger, we all lingered around the goldfish stall, waiting for Sakuya to come back. As a side note, both Ouji’s and Takashi’s child didn’t manage to catch even a single fish, making me the unexpected winner of our little competition.

By the time 15 minutes had passed without any signs of Sakuya, even Takashi had to admit that she might be in some kind of trouble.

“Okay, let’s split up and ask everyone else to help search for Kagura-san. If someone finds her, make sure to notify the others.” Ouji instructed.

The three of us split into different directions. I ran around the festival ground, asking every delinquent I passed by if they had seen Sakuya.

“Ah, I met her earlier. She gave me these and asked me to share it with everyone before going off somewhere.” One of the delinquents showed me the prizes Sakuya won at the shooting stall back then.

“Kagura-san? Oh, I’ve seen her. I called out to her and asked where she was going. When she told me that she was going to buy some food, I gave her directions to the best takoyaki stall around.” The other delinquents explained.

“Hm? Sakuya-chan? Yeah, I ran into her earlier. She said that she’s heading back to you guys, but I don’t think she’s going the right direction.” Hiiro said.

“Really?! Wait, how did you know she’s going the wrong way?” I asked suspiciously.

“Well, they don’t call me the intelligence-gathering team leader for nothing.” Hiiro puffed his chest proudly. “I know you guys are playing at the goldfish stall, but she’s heading toward the opposite direction. I figured that she might be going to the restroom, so I didn’t follow her.”

“You…never mind, at least you have the decency to not stalk her all the time.” I sighed in exasperation.

“But Kagura-san does seem a bit suspicious earlier.” Kazu, who was going around with Hiiro, added. “She kept glancing around and being really fidgety. It’s as if she’s sneaking away from someone.”

“Could it be…no, it’s not possible.” I shook that thought off. “There’s no way they’re going to kidnap Sakuya-san in front of these many people. And they don’t know she’s here in the first place.”

“So? Why did you ask about Sakuya-chan? Did something happen?” Hiiro asked in serious tone.

I recounted Sakuya’s disappearance earlier, and our current effort to locate her among the crowds.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier?!” Hiiro grabbed my collar and shook me violently. “Sakuya-chan is missing?! We have to do something quick!”

Before I had the chance to say anything, Hiiro had already pushed me aside and stormed off somewhere.

“Aah, I already know he’s going to react like that.” Kazu sighed. “I’ll take care of him, so you can continue your search, Ryuu.”

“Thank you, Senpai. Call me if you find anything, okay!” I waved at him before continuing my search.

I ran all over the festival ground, scanning the crowds frantically for Sakuya. Her petite body certainly didn’t make it easier for me to locate her among all the visitors.

I reached the outskirts of the festival ground and took a break on the nearest bench. Exhaling a weary sigh, I thought to myself, “If we find her, I’m going to scold her to death for making us so worried. Sakuya-san, if you leave without saying a word, it’s just like you’re trying to disappear—”

A muffled sound entered my ears, interrupting my thoughts. I ignored it, thinking that it might be some couple making out somewhere secretly, but then it was followed by a heavy thud, as if someone just hit the ground.

I stood up and quietly went toward the source of the sound, which came from behind an unused stall. I took a peek—and my blood went cold.

Several men in plain clothes were surrounding and restraining someone, with one of the men lying unconscious on the ground. Those men had well-built bodies, but I managed to catch a glimpse of the petite woman in their midst.

“Saku—!” I was about to shout her name when I realized the dire situation we were facing and quickly clamped a hand over my mouth.

However, a peep was enough to alert those men.

One of them turned his head and locked eyes with me. The sight of those dark red eyes sent chills down my spine as I realized who those men were.

The Kagura Family was here.

Just as I turned around and about to get help, a successive sound of heavy thuds resounded behind me. Too curious to leave just yet, I glanced behind my shoulder. My eyes widened as I saw Sakuya taking advantage of the men’s momentary distraction and knocking them out in one clean hit.

Once she was done dealing with five grown men, Sakuya rushed toward me. “Ryuu, are you alright?” She asked worriedly.

“Er…I think that’s my line. Are you alright, Sakuya-san?” I helped rearrange her disheveled yukata, then I turned her around to redo her hair, whose knot had gotten loose during the scuffle.

“Mm…I’m fine.” Sakuya mumbled, becoming quieter than usual as she let me take care of her.

“…are they from the Kagura Family?” I finally asked once I was done with her hair.

Sakuya didn’t reply nor turn around, but her silence was enough as an answer.

“Putting that aside, we should get out of here first and—”

“There were more of them.”

Sakuya suddenly interrupted as I started planning how to handle this situation.

“These people…” Sakuya gave a kick to one of the men who was lying on the ground. “…are just small-fries. There were more of them around here, I’m sure of it. Now that they know I’m here, they won’t ever let me get away.” Her ruby red eyes were blazing with a mix of hatred and fear.

I fell silent for a moment, trying to think of something. As I was racking my brain, my phone suddenly rang.

I fumbled around and took it out. The moment I saw Hiiro’s name on the screen, a theoretical lightbulb lit up in my mind.

“Ryuu? Have you found—?”

“Hiiro, I need your help.” I cut him short. “You’ve gathered all the delinquents to look for Sakuya-san, I assume?”

“Yeah, that’s right, but what about—?”

“I’ve found Sakuya-san, but she’s being chased by some suspicious men. We think they might be trying to kidnap her. Sakuya-san has knocked out some of them, but more will be coming, and they aren’t going to give up so easily.” I mixed some lies and truths as I told him the situation. It’d be too long to tell him about the Kagura Family now.

Sakuya’s head snapped toward me when she heard my words. Fortunately, she decided to remain silent as I talked with Hiiro.

“WHAT?! How dare they do that to my precious Sakuya-chan?!”

“So we need everyone’s help to get Sakuya-san out of the festival grounds safely. Here’s what we’re going to do…” I explained my plan to Hiiro.