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People are scattered around one of the city’s local parks, which is more crowded due to the first fireworks festival of summer taking place today. Paper lanterns decorate several of the trees in the park, a large stage sits at one of the edges of the park for the different musical acts hired to perform, and colorful lights were installed in the floating fountain in the park’s lake and several of the ground fountains throughout the park.
Several families are sitting on the park’s grassy hills, the large blankets they bring from home serve as makeshift tables for their picnics. Couples wearing yukata of different patterns and colors, sit around the different fountains of the park and take selfies around the festivities. There are even groups of friends occupying themselves by playing frisbee or soccer on the flatter areas of the park, or sitting at one of the tables sharing food from the different vendors in the park.
The food booths around the park are each decorated with brightly colored paint, with some of the booths even stringing up decorations on their signs or setting up cut-outs on both sides of the stand. During the hotter hours of the day, the park’s patrons would choose to purchase colder items like boba tea, ice cream bowls, ice-cold lemonade, or chilled mochi of different flavors. Now that the sun was getting closer to disappearing, and the night hours would be bringing colder temperatures, people were starting to favor the warmer food options. Couples are sharing freshly-made takoyaki, children munch on sticks of fried chicken pieces, and meat-filled dumplings are being passed around families and groups of friends.
At the entrance of the park, Makoto Naegi and his wife, Kyoko Kirigiri, are patiently waiting for the last group for tonight’s outing to arrive. Their son, Shuichi, sits with his two friends, Kaito and Kokichi Hinata, on one of the benches by the entrance. The seven-year-old is playing on his navy blue 3DS, something to pass the time while they wait for Komaru and her family to arrive. The family was dressed appropriately for the fireworks show taking place in a few hours.
Kyoko has styled her lavender hair into an elegantly braided bun, with a few loose strands hanging down near her ears, and has a white floral hair pin in her hair as a final touch. Her dark violet yukata is tied at the waist with a magenta sash, the design of the yukata has pale yellow and white blossoms printed throughout it. Even with her gloves on, the entire outfit still highlights the beauty of Kyoko’s features.
The yukata on Makoto almost appears to fit him rather loosely, if he wasn’t next to his wife and son it was very probable he could be mistaken for an eighteen-year-old. Thank goodness for that final growth spurt. His youthful green eyes matches really well with the forest green and olive zigzag-patterned yukata.
Because Shuichi didn’t feel comfortable going out in public without his hat, his parents had to find him a yukata that paired well with his black cap. The navy blue yukata, along with the black sash around his tiny waist, does well to match his hat and hair color. Unlike his parents’ yukatas, the sleeves of Shuichi’s yukata are much shorter.
Grouped up with Makoto and his family at the front entrance were Hajime and Chiaki Hinata, and their two sons. Chiaki occupies the ice chest Makoto brought for the fireworks festival, joining her sons and Shuichi in their gaming session with her light pink 3DS. Meanwhile, Hajime holds onto the bundles of blankets they brought from home while making conversation with Kyoko and Makoto.
The two families have made it a point to set aside dates for group outings such as this one; ever since Shuichi met Kaito and Kokichi a few months ago, the trio have been practically inseparable. Usually, Komaru takes the boys out for ice cream or takes them to the movies when she is let out of work, and occasional play dates are held at either household during the weekend. For group activities such as the festival, the parents make sure that whatever gets planned will be enjoyable for all of the people involved. Hajime’s family seems to have put in as much effort into their yukatas as Makoto’s family has, so it’s quite clear that this outing was a great choice.
Even with Hajime’s dual-colored eyes, his choice of a navy-colored yukata with a subtle checker pattern compliments his heterochromia quite well. As a contrast to her husband, Chiaki wears a white yukata with a light pink sash and peach-colored trimming around her sleeves. Faded pink maple leaves are printed on a large portion of her outfit.
Their sons, like Shuichi, both have short-sleeved yukatas on. Kaito’s yukata is actually two-colored, with a large portion of the outfit being the color of the night sky, while the right side of the torso down to the sleeve was white. White stars are scattered around the yukata like a comet’s trail, with night blue stars decorating the right sleeve, and a large crescent moon rests at the bottom of the outfit. Kokichi’s yukata was a lighter shade of purple than Kyoko’s, and he has black fabric trimming the sleeves and collar of his yukata. The checker-patterned sash around his waist brings the most attention to his outfit, but not in a bad way.
“Moooom,” Kokichi whines as the four of them finish another race in the game “can’t we go inside the park already?”
“Yeah! I want to run around the park already!” his older brother adds in.
“Sorry boys,” their mother denies gently “but we have to wait for Shuichi’s aunt to get here with the rest of the stuff we need before we head in.” Chiaki lays her 3DS in her lap as they wait for Shuichi to select the next course, and reaches over to rustle Kaito’s hair, chuckling at how much it resembles Hajime’s hairstyle rather than her own. “Don’t worry, you kids will have lots of time to play before the fireworks start, I promise.”
About five minutes pass before they see Komaru’s car drive into the parking lot. As Toko and Shuichi’s cousins get out of the car and start to unload the trunk, the kids hand over their handheld systems to their parents for safekeeping. Komaru steps out of the driver’s seat, wearing a light blue yukata with a red and white hibiscus print, and walks over to the group waiting for her. “Sorry we’re a little late!” She laughs as she wraps her older brother and sister-in-law in a hug, then greets Hajime’s family and Shuichi in the same way. “It took some convincing to get Toko to come, and Masaru was really shy about wearing the yukata I picked out for him.”
“H-Hey, don’t say it like that Sis!” Masaru shouts as he approaches the adults, carrying a frisbee and soccer ball under his arm while trying to fight the embarrassed blush on his cheeks. His short-sleeved yukata is a bright red, with an orange and yellow flame pattern rising up from the bottom left side of the yukata. “I just...think dressin’ up for stuff like this is kinda stupid.”
Kotoko playfully bumps him with her hips as she walks over with a small quilt, giving a teasing smirk to the red-haired teen. “Aww there's no need to be so shy Masaru, everyone here is dressed up for the occasion!” The Ultimate Actress demonstrates this by twirling around in her light pink, rose-patterned yukata. Her bright pink hair, which has been tied into a loose ponytail, circles around her like a ribbon in the breeze. “Besides, you look totally adorbs in your yukata too!” she squeals at Masaru as she pokes his reddened cheeks.
“I have to agree with Kotoko,” Nagisa tells the two, approaching them in his aqua-colored yukata decorated with white snowflakes “the color and design fit you perfectly Masaru.” He adjusts the rim of his glasses, giving his adoptive sibling a supportive smile.
However, the two’s encouragement only seems to annoy Masaru rather than ease him. “Well unlike you two, I don’t care about dressing up just so I can send selfies with a cheesy caption to my boyfriend! I can’t even kill time with some kinda sport now, thanks to this dumb yukata!” he growls at the two of them. Both Kotoko and Nagisa roll their eyes at their brother’s weak accusation; even if they were planning to send nice pictures to their boyfriends, that wasn’t the sole reasoning behind them agreeing to dress up for the outing their family planned.
Before Kotoko can argue with Masaru, Jataro joins the three teenagers, nervously clutching a sketchbook to his chest. His light brown hair is tied into a small ponytail, and a kitsune mask hangs on the side of his head. “Hey c’mon Masaru, you don’t need to be upset...” The eldest of the teens attempts to calm his younger “brother”, fiddling with the sleeves of his navy yukata patterned with gray and tan clouds. Jataro still felt he wasn’t the best at this kind of thing, so his nervous tick was comforting in a way. “B-Besides, Big Sis Komaru said that you could still run around in the yukata...you just gotta be careful not to rip it..”
Masaru, not willing to concede, crosses his arms and pouts as he looks away from the other teens. “Tch, whatever…”
Komaru looks at the red-haired boy with concern, but just as she tries to make her way over to console him, she spots Toko walking over with the last bundle of blankets nestled under her arm. To say Toko look irritated would be an understatement.
The older woman approaches the teenager, and Masaru’s shift in demeanor was instantly noticeable. “Stop acting like a brat, Masaru.” Toko didn’t need to yell, the authority in her voice conveyed her message clearly. “Komaru and the others put a lot of thought into this gathering, so try and be a little appreciative. And you’re here to have fun with your family, y-you shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks!” Toko was trying her hardest to keep her frustration at bay, but her short fuse made this quite a challenge, so she resorts to nervously staring at the ground to keep her cool.
She hears Masaru sigh, and looks up from the ground to see a guilty look on his face. “I’m...I’m sorry…” the teen says, lightly kicking at the pavement. “It was immature of me to get mad over something like this, I overreacted and that was really stupid.”
Toko’s eyes nervously dart around, as if trying to signal someone to tell her what she should do. Without thinking, she walks over to Masaru and ruffles his hair - Komaru did this all the time, so in theory it should work. “D-Don’t w-worry about it...j-just...have fun, ok?”
The Ultimate Soccer Player looks at her with confusion, before catching Toko off-guard by chuckling at her gesture. “Y-You’re right Big Sis Toko,” Masaru says, slamming his fists into each other, failing to notice how Kaito mimicked the gesture “it’s not like me to give a crap what others think! I’m just gonna enjoy myself today!” He turns around to meet his adoptive siblings, and hooking his arms around their shoulders, he starts pushing them into the park “C’mon slowpokes, move your asses!”
Makoto looks at the remaining party members, scratching at his chin awkwardly. “Well, should we head in you guys?”
“Yeah, lets do it.” Hajime replies, hoisting Kaito onto his shoulders while Chiaki leads Kokichi into the park by his hand.
Shuichi walks up to his parents, seizing both of their hands and following the groups ahead of them.
Komaru chuckles to herself as she grabs the ice chest Makoto left behind. That’s when she notices that Toko has been oddly quiet since Masaru left. When she looks over at her best friend, the purple-haired woman is squirming in place. “Umm, Toko? You doing alright?” Komaru asks, though she seems more confused rather than concerned.
“B-Big Sis T-Toko?!?” she blurts out as she scratches at her hair, ignoring the time it took for her and Komaru to straighten the normally wild strands. “J-Just what does that b-brat think he’s trying to accomplish?!?”
“That was a delayed response..” Komaru mumbles. “I’m sure he was being genuine Toko, Masaru and the others aren’t the same kids we fought against all that time ago. I think they are just glad to be around adults they can trust now!” Komaru tries to reassure Toko as she gently lays her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
Toko sharply points her finger at Komaru. “A-And another thing, why did you invite me to this thing and make me dress up in this dumb outfit?” She gestures down at her black yukata with white polka dots. Toko didn’t want to admit she had taken a double take in the mirror after Komaru had finished dressing her up and straightened her hair. Toko was far too shy to acknowledge that she felt she had looked nice for a change. “This whole thing was for Shuichi, his friends, and your family...so why include me?”
As expected of Komaru, the girl looks back at Toko with a confident smile. “Because like it or not, Toko, you’re part of that family. Sure, Makoto will always be my older brother, but you and the kids are my personal family too!”
“...Gross…” the smile on Toko’s face betrays her as she says this. “You sound like your brother when you say stupidly cheesy stuff like that, you know.” Toko tells Komaru with a teasing smirk.
“Oh,come on! Admit it - what I said made you feel nice!”
Instead of giving her an answer, Toko walks past her best friend with a smug smile as she enters the park - she wasn’t about to give Komaru another easy victory.
Komaru lets out an offended gasp as she tries to chase after the writer, while carrying the ice chest. “Hey, no fair, you can’t just leave a girl hanging like that!”
Once the group found a nice enough spot on the hill, Hajime and Komaru rolled out two larger blankets for everyone to sit on, while keeping the blankets for the colder weather by the ice chest.
Everyone relaxes on the blankets once everything gets set up, and they all take some time just to take in all of the festivities happening around them. Kotoko pulls in all the girls for a group selfie, Kyoko seemed hesitant at first, finding the whole concept of a selfie rather ridiculous, but complied when Chiaki encouraged her to lighten up. Even Toko, who was the most camera shy out of all the girls, agreed to the group selfie with some coaxing from Komaru.
At one of the corners of the blankets, Jataro lies flat on his stomach as he starts sketching out different scenes in the park. From a couple holding hands by a fountain, to the musician who was singing her heart out on stage, all of these moments would forever be stored in the memories of his sketchbook.
In the center of the blankets, Kokichi and Kaito are continuing to teach Shuichi how to play with Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Kaito had admitted to his little brother that he was growing out of the card game, which left Kokichi feeling really sad initially. But after Shuichi had expressed a small interest in learning about the game, Kokichi jumped at the chance to teach it to him. To Kokichi, it meant he could have another partner to play with after Kaito left the game completely.
Kotoko, Toko, and Kirigiri end up volunteering to go stop at the various food booths to buy snacks to pass the time before the fireworks start. With the girls volunteering to buy the snacks, Komaru decides that it's only fair for Makoto and Hajime to buy the bigger food items for them to enjoy during the fireworks. And with both of them being the nice guys they were, Hajime and Makoto agree to the terms.
After the girls leave their area, Masaru gets off the blanket while holding onto the frisbee he brought. “C’mon guys, let's toss the frisbee around for a while! I don’t wanna just sit around listening to the bands before the fireworks start!”
The teen’s suggestion immediately captures Kaito’s attention, as the eight-year-old stands up from his place on the blanket with an excited smile on his face. “That sounds fun! Hey Masaru, can I join!?” Kaito practically begs the older boy.
“Don’t see why not little guy!”
“Shuichi, your cousin is so cool!” the boy says to his friend, before walking over to Masaru.
“What about you, little cousin? You want in?” Masaru asks.
Shuichi looks over in the direction of his cousin, but doesn’t meet his gaze knowing full well that he’ll feel too bad when he declines his cousin’s offer. “I’m s-sorry Masaru, but I w-want to stay with Kichi instead..” Shuichi says, tugging at the tip of his cap.
He hears Masaru chuckling, and the teen pats Shuichi on the head not long after. “Haha, don’t sweat it little guy!” Masaru turns his attention to the two men on the blankets. “Mr. Hajime, Uncle Makato, how about you guys? Wanna join us?”
“Sure thing Masaru, you can count me in!” Makoto replies, taking one last sip of his soda before standing up.
“Sounds fun,” Hajime brushes off any crumbs that may ended up on his yukata after finishing a chocolate cookie “though I can’t promise that I won’t fall over or accidentally hit one of you with the frisbee!” Hajime warns them as he scratches the back of his head in embarrassment.
The guys head over to one of the flatter parts of the field, and everyone gets a good laugh after seeing Makoto trip backwards trying to catch the frisbee. As Chiaki watches Kokichi and Shuichi’s practice game, Komaru catches a glimpse of Nagisa smiling at his phone. Scooting herself closer to him, Komaru decides to pull a ‘big-sister-and-not-a-mom’ move by purposely looking over his shoulder. “Texting with Yuuki I see?” she teases the blue-haired boy with a smile.
Nagisa avoids looking at the woman as a subtle shade of pink comes across his face, the phone in his hand shaking slightly due to the sudden embarrassment. “I...um...yeah…” is all Nagisa manages to mumble out. He only manages to relax when he feels Komaru rub circles into his back.
“Don’t worry Nagisa, him and his family will only be gone for another week!” Though the reminder was meant to be uplifting, it does the opposite for Nagisa, and Komaru wants to mentally kick herself for screwing up. “W-Why don’t you video call with Yuuki so he can see the fireworks? I’m sure he’d really appreciate it!” Komaru tries to recover from her misstep with the impromptu suggestion. When she sees Nagisa smile at the idea, Komaru is relieved to know her suggestion worked.
“Y-Yeah...I think I’ll do that…” Not one for intimate gestures like hugs, Nagisa rests his head on the woman’s shoulder as a compromise. “Thank you, Komaru.”
Komaru smiles as she runs her fingers through the strands of Nagisa’s soft, light blue hair. “No problem, little brother…”
Back at the Yu-Gi-Oh training session, Shuichi is still having some difficulty understanding some of the “Trap” and “Spell” cards - he was still confused on some abilities, and didn’t exactly know how to “activate” them. Feeling that Shuichi might hate the game if he tries to explain too much, Kokichi starts picking up the cards scattered on the blanket and hands them to Chiaki. “Its ok Shushu, we can talk about that stuff later,” the purple-haired boy scoots himself closer to Shuichi, tilting his head to the side with a curious expression “but what do you wanna do now? Let's do something fun before we gotta come back for the fireworks!” He reaches out and excitedly grabs his friends hand in his own.
“W-Well, since we are at a park we could see if there any cool bugs, i-is that ok Kichi?” Shuichi was really shy about asking his friend to take part in this activity, but he hoped Kokichi would say yes. He thought bugs were cool and sometimes even pretty to look at, but even Shuichi knew it wouldn’t seem as fun as the card game.
To his surprise, Kokichi’s eyes sparkled like stars and his grip on Shuichi’s hands tightened. “That sounds awesome Shusu, let’s do it!”
“O-Ok,” the boy can barely hide his excitement “Let me ask Aunt Komaru if she can take us!”
Once Shuichi steps away, Kokichi’s face immediately shifts from excited to fearful. Chiaki’s “mom senses” seem to go off, because she’s by Kokichi’s side before he can hide his worry. Her eyebrows relax as she smiles at her son, and Kokichi can already tell what “advice” she’s about to give him. “Kokichi...aren’t you scared of bugs? Why didn’t you tell Shuichi? He’s your best friend, I’m sure he would understand.”
She’s right. About both things. Ever since that tarantula crawled over his legs when he was four, Kokichi has had a slight phobia of bugs. But if Shuichi wanted him to help look for colorful, totally not disgusting bugs, then Kokichi wasn’t about to disappoint his best friend. “Mooom,” he sighs “I’m not a little kid anymore, I’m gonna be seven soon! I can’t be scared of bugs if it means I can’t do things with Shuichi... ”
“Well...if you say so, Kokichi. Just be careful, alright?” Chiaki pats the boy’s shoulder, doing her best to encourage her son for attempting to face his fears.
Once Shuichi asks his aunt to join them, Komaru holds the boys by their hands as they walk over to an area more populated with trees. The woman decides to observe the boys from a nearby bench, promising to treat the two to an ice cream bowl after their bug hunt.
About ten minutes go by and, thankfully, no bugs had been found yet. That is until Shuichi spots a shiny beetle stuck against the trunk of a tree, and suggests that he and Kokichi get a better look. The normally shyer of the two is all too ecstatic to reach his hands out to the tree, letting the small beetle crawl onto his skin. He takes joy in examining the small creature’s shape and color, giggling cutely as its tiny legs tickle his palms. It takes all of Kokichi’s willpower not to scream out in panic, and the curious grin on his face does well to hide the fear in the pit of his stomach.
When Shuichi extends the stationary beetle out to him, Kokichi swears he feels his heart drop. “Do you want to hold it?”
”Please no please no please no…”
“S-Sure!” Kokochi says without a second thought. When Shuichi gently lays the bug in hands, Kokichi wants nothing more than to cry. The beetle’s legs feel prickly on his skin, and Kokichi is convinced that the beetle wants to eat all of his fingers. “W-Wow...s-so cool! Bugs are soo fun Shushu...haha..” he chuckles nervously.
“Kichi? Are you ok?”
“Y-Yeah Shushu, I’m ok-” the beetle suddenly flies onto his neck. “WAAAAHHHH!!” Kokichi cries out, flailing his arms and crumpling to the ground as the beetle flies away. “I-I’m s-sorry Shushu, I really don’t like bugs!! Please don’t hate me…” The smaller boy hugs his knees as he begins to cry.
Feeling sorry that the poor boy felt he had to lie to keep him happy, Shuichi kneels down by the crying child and wraps his arms around him. “Don’t be sorry Kichi, you at least tried to give it a shot. And please don’t sad, I could never be mad at you…”
When Kokichi looks up from his knees, he rests his head on Shuichi’s shoulder. As the two of them separate, a blue butterfly flies by them. It flutters onto Kokichi’s nose, and although he freezes at the sudden contact with the bug, Kokichi finds himself giggling at how much the butterfly’s legs tickle his nose.
“Woah!” Shuichi stares in awe as the butterfly flaps its wings on Kokichi’s face. “The white dots on the wings make it look like you have a mask on Kichi!” He reaches his finger out to the butterfly, allowing the small insect to crawl onto it. This time, Shuichi pays closer attention to Kokichi - but the boy doesn’t look frightened in this instance. In fact, when the butterfly flies to Kokichi’s head, the purple-haired boy smiles at the return of his small insect friend.
The butterfly stays with boys for about five minutes, before it flies off to join a small swarm of other butterflies. Dusting off their yukatas, the two stand up and start walking toward Komaru, with Kokichi leading Shuichi by the hand the whole way. After Shuichi comforted him over his fear, and the butterfly came by to lighten the mood, Kokichi supposes that not all bugs are terrible. The two of them end up sharing a small bowl of chocolate ice cream before Komaru takes them back to the others.
When they arrive back at their miniature camp, everyone has already started bundling up as the night air gets chiller. Kaito has one of the blankets wrapped around his body like a cape, a small bowl of beef ramen sits in front of him. Both Hajime and Chiaki, and Makoto and Kyoko are wrapped together in their own blankets. Chiaki relaxes her head on Hajime’s shoulder, a large to-go cup of hot chocolate resting in his hand. Makoto holds Kyoko’s hand while they share a plate of takoyaki. Nagisa, Kotoko, Jataro, and Masaru are all huddled together in one of the larger blankets. Nagisa is propping his cellphone up on his knees, a boy with blonde hair could be seen talking with him on the screen. Toko is helping herself to a steamed pork bun, her blanket is large enough to hold Komaru when she sits by Toko’s side.
Kokichi and Shuichi decide to share a blanket too, sitting themselves close to Kaito so the three of them could share their own plate of hot takoyaki.
Soon the fireworks start, colorful explosions of blues, greens, and reds start to fill the night sky with more color. Sparkling fireworks shriek out in the darkness, before exploding into powerful streams of light. The children all sit in awe as the firework show continues, each new burst of color reflecting off of their eyes. The parents decide to sneak in kisses with each other, finding the beauty of the light show rather romantic. And Komaru’s own family all decide to huddle closer to one another, each member happy to be able to experience something like this together. Without a second thought, Shuichi and Kokichi find themselves resting their heads against each other and slowly taking the other’s hand in their own.
This friendship may only be a few months old, but the two of them wouldn’t trade what they have for anything in this world.
Within the final minutes of the fireworks show, during the time when all the colorful explosives are shot out with no pauses in between, both Kokichi and Shuichi end up falling asleep. While the group starts to throw their trash away and begin rolling up the blankets, Makoto hoists Shuichi onto his back, being mindful to not wake his sleeping son. Kaito offers to carry his brother so his parents only have to take the blankets, and lifts the smaller boy onto his back.
After making it back to the parking lot and saying their goodbyes to Komaru’s family, the parents decide to mingle for a few minutes after safely securing their kids into their cars.
“This was really fun, I’m glad we all managed to get together and enjoy ourselves with the kids!” Chiaki clasps onto Hajime’s arm, her tiredness showing as she yawns into his shoulder.
“Definitely,” Makoto wraps his arm around Kyoko’s waist, kissing her on the forehead “thanks again for letting Komaru, Toko, and the kids tag along Hajime - they all really appreciated the invite!”
Hajime chuckles as he gently pats Makoto on the shoulder. “We were happy to have them! And we actually have a party planned soon for Kokichi’s birthday, and they are more than welcome to come.”
“We’ll be sure to extend the invitation to them,” Kyoko smiles, appreciating the gesture “but right now, we need to get these kids into bed.” Kyoko chuckles as she stares at the sleeping boy in the back seat.
“You know, it's kind of funny that despite seeing each other at work almost everyday, we’re probably going to be seeing a lot more of each other now that these three are good friends!” Makoto points out.
They all can’t help but share a laugh over this irony. Chiaki let’s a hopeful smile come onto her face as she lays a hand on her chest. “That’s true...but whose to say that’s such a bad thing, right?”
As they all look at the sleeping children, the adults couldn’t help but get this sinking feeling that this friendship between their sons would be lasting for a lifetime.