School festival (2)

When Makoto was done, he met up with Mami again on the side of the corridor that was miraculously not that crowded.

“By the way,” the red-haired boy started, “where did Nakano go? You two were eating together, weren’t you?”

“Oh,” the girl gasped as if she had forgotten about this even happening, “Karasu Tengu had to flee back to his companions. Not all of his quests have been finished yet.”

“Ah, I see,” Makoto had no idea what the girl meant by that exactly but from the context he had, Nakano’s class probably was in charge of something more than only the performance they had given for the day. “By the way, how was their play? Shame I couldn’t see it.”

“The writing was lackluster and rough over the edges,” Mami criticized, “but the passion was visible so considering it has been created by novices, I could call this performance solid.”

“Hmm,” the gang leader hummed. “Anyways, is there any specific attraction you wanted to go to?”

“Indeed there is!”

“...And which one would that be?”

“All of them!”

He should have seen that answer coming from how many things Watanabe was already holding. This one was a festival maniac all right.

“Well then,” the teenager put his hands on his waist, “let’s check them all out before it’s time for bonfire dance.”

And so they did. Makoto was sure he had never before experienced living the school festival to the fullest because what he was doing now with Watanabe, was far more exciting than all the previous events like those he had participated in.

Thanks to the paper schedule all the participants received, Onitsuka was able to create a plan to make sure they wouldn’t miss out on anything other than the performances that took place during the boy’s shift at the cafe. So for example, before going to the concert organized by one of the third years’ class, they decided to grab some food and drinks.

And boy was Watanabe Mami a black hole that consumed everything with no care in the world. Choco banana, yakisoba, kakigori… The girl wanted to try everything and she barely asked Makoto to finish something for her.

That limited amount of indirect kisses he had received but of course the fearless gang leader didn’t think about something like that. He most definitely didn’t think such virgin thoughts.

At some point, the red-haired delinquent noticed that the weather had changed from sunny to a bit more cloudy but he brushed it off. After all, there was still a lot of time for the weather to change again, it’s nothing unusual.

He and Mami managed to go through a haunted house that was traumatizing but not for the reason it should be. Instead of getting scared by the creepily dressed up students, both of the teenagers left red-faced after they realized that most of the people went there as couples to get a bit… Indecent in the dark.

Thankfully other attractions made them forget about this experience. They got their future read from the cards and played some games and Makoto even managed to set the record for the number of basketballs thrown through the hoop. Mami was able to beat the record as well, no one before she had a round zero on their scoreboard after all.

“Just so you know, Red Oni, I have impeccable skills at ice skating! I am by no means slacking off with physical activities! It is just that round objects and their trajectory of flight does not appeal to me, therefore I was unable to obtain any points in this exact challenge!”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say…” Makoto chuckled while Mami was fuming in embarrassment. “Sore loser,” he added quietly but loud enough for the girl to hear to tease her a bit more.

“How dare-” Mami was about to argue but froze suddenly.

Onitsuka wasn’t sure what was the reason for it but he didn’t have to wait long to understand what threw her off as himself he felt tiny raindrops falling from the clouds right onto his body.

“Crap, it’s raining,” With a smooth motion he put his left hand on Mami’s left shoulder and delicately pushed her into the direction of the roofed area.

Once they were safe from the rain, they stood there looking at all the students running towards the school entrance before they got wet. Suddenly the crowded place became almost empty. Everyone hiding either in their stalls or in the building made a really sad picture.

“Ah, that’s just sad, isn’t it?” a voice that hadn’t belonged to either Mami or Makoto suddenly spoke up from behind them while they were lost in the feeling of melancholy.

They both jumped up and turned around to see that it had been Tomoya, rocking short brown hair with an undercut.

“Shit, Tomoya, don’t scare me like that!”

The shapeshifter giggled, “Oh my, did I just scare a scary big Oni? Cannot be!”

“Oh, shush it!”

“But for real,” Tomoya looked up at the sky. “A damn shame we won’t be having a bonfire dance. It will be the second year in a row too. We are really unlucky, huh?”

“Right, the storm last year was awful.”

“That is unacceptable!”

Mami who was standing there quietly all the time suddenly shouted surprising both of the boys. Not waiting for them to react in any way to her sudden outburst, she left the roofed area and walked toward the student council booth that was also used as an information spot not minding the rain at all.

Makoto wasn’t sure what her intention was. He focused his gaze on the girl to see how she talks with the student council president who handed her an object. Was it… A megaphone? With that in her hand, Mami walked towards the stage, raindrops falling on her constantly. Once she climbed it, she turned on the megaphone and started speaking through it.

“Kinishiro High School students,” she started gaining the attention of everyone in the stalls and under the roofed area, “I have gained a piece of crucial information that to your belief, the weather is your enemy but it is quite the contrary!”

Two delinquents looked at each other confused. It was impossible to guess where was Watanabe going with her speech but it did pique their curiosity. Not only theirs. Slowly, the students who decided to hide from the rain in the school started coming up closer to the windows, opening them to see what is going on.

“Who is that girl? She’s not from our school, is she?”

Makoto looked around to hear more confused muttering coming from the people standing nearby but he couldn’t get more of it as Mami continued with her speech.

“You wanted to play with the fire gods so badly that you did not see the opportunity to praise the lords of rain!”

It’s funny how just months ago, the reed-haired delinquent would be as confused as everyone around him was, Tomoya excluded. But after spending more time with Watanabe, it was so much easier to read between the lines and understand the true meaning behind her words.

It looked like the girl has realized that no one got her message as she put the megaphone right back in front of her mouth and turned it on.

“To say it in a simple way, why dance around the bonfire when you can dance in the rain?”

But even with the clear information, it appeared that the students weren’t convinced as they started shouting in reply.

“Are you crazy? I don’t want to get sick the next day!”

“My hair will be ruined!”

“This won’t be the same thing anyways!”

Makoto wondered if this was the right time to intervene but before he could decide the girl decided to speak up once again.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know Kinishiro High students are a bunch of wusses who don’t know how to have fun.”

It’s scary how she knows how to trigger them easily…

And of course, as expected from Kinishiro delinquents all of them started coming out of the school and crowding the patio where the dance was supposed to take place shouting things like: “Oh we will show you how fun we can be, little girl!” which would have been seen as a threat if not spoken with a teasing tone.

It felt like the legs carried him there on their own as before he could realize it, the leader of the Yokai gang was standing right next to Watanabe who was now on the patio where most of the students started dancing already to the music that has also been put on by someone from the council.

“Well, looks like you set a new tradition to dance in the rain. Good job,” he chuckled looking down at the girl.

“I could not let the spirit of the festival die so easily in front of my eyes,” she put a wide smirk on her face that quickly turned into a pout. “It is a shame to see though that the rain is wiping off your demonic powers. I rather liked seeing you in your true form”

“Huh?” Makoto asked confused at first but after seconds he realized what she meant. His makeup. It has been slowly dripping off, destroyed entirely by the rain. “Ah yeah, rain, my greatest enemy. Just don’t tell anyone I lose my power because of it.”

“I will make sure to have a shield commoners call an umbrella to prevent from that happening again, don’t you fret,” she giggled and suddenly grabbed Onitsuka’s hand.

“For the final event, we shall complete our festival experience by dancing, come on!”

It was definitely the best festival Onitsuka Makoto has ever experienced.