Archive of Our Own

Winter had come and gone, and spring had slowly begun to wilt from the heat that was the slowly approaching summer. School was only a few hours away from being let out and the sounds of something metal slamming into thick soil echoed across the practice garden. Hands gripped at a red shovel and pushed it further into the dirt before a body leaned all its weight on top of it, satisfied that it hadn’t gone to the floor and merely bent forward. “It’s almost the summer festival,” a voice calls out as dirt is flung towards an ever growing pile of soil and the trowel digs around the hole some more. 

Silence seemed to be the initial response before a quiet hum broke it into two. “Yeah and?” The shovel is dug in further at the words and a hand reaches out, pale skinned and slightly bigger than average, thin fingers take up locks of cream colored hair with mint green tips. “If you’re asking me on a date, Yashiro, this is totally not the way to do it. Where’s the pizazz, the knock at my door, the love letter and all mannerisms of hopeless romanticism?” And he snorts at the end when Yashiro pulls back her head and he’s left to watch her hair trickle past his fingers like sand. She huffs, taking out a flower out of its pot and trying to arrange it within the hole she had created. 

“I am not asking you,” her voice is collected and calm despite the undertone of severe consequences if Amane interrupted her, “I’m telling you, there’s a vast difference there, Amane-kun, you’re going to the summer festival with me, it’s just a matter of yes or—” 

“And who’s to say I wanted to go?”

A thunk sounds as the trowel drops to the ground and Yashiro finally tilts her head enough to smile at the boy leaning on the large gardening shovel behind her, his cheeky grin and glittering eyes filled with mischief—what an idiot. “I dunno,” she mumbles soon after, shrugging her shoulders as she picks up the trowel again, “but I’d like to think of it as a way to prove if you’re really a better matchmaker than me.” And maybe, we can have some fun there too. 

Arranging the flower, she began to dig another hole, gloves stained with dirt. “Huh?” Amane mumbled, now blinking, “ huh? Is this about what happened on New Year’s? I got them together already, are you just too stubborn to admit I’m the better matchmaker between us?” The sun is bright against the practice garden and Amane’s body is providing an excellent shade for Yashiro as she digs holes into the soil to plant more flowers into. She doesn’t humor him with an answer, only side glancing as Amane huffed and fidgeted, digging the shovel in deeper, frowning at her like she’s stolen his donut and ate it right in front of his face. “Even if we didn’t see them kiss, my plan was still a total success.” No answer, not even a hum, and Amane groans despite himself. 

“I’m being serious here!” 

“So am I,” Yashiro fired back with a grin, “I am being serious, you went to New Year’s to set them up but that’s not romantic in the slightest, not when a bunch of people are all over the place, my plan is to get them comfortable enough that they kiss, and we see it, and then you have to tell me I’m better than you.” She gets up and into his personal bubble then, hands right on top of his as he frowned further. “Or is it that you're too scared to fail that you won’t go against me?” Amane looks to be contemplating the sudden decision, chewing on his lip before narrowing his eyes. 

“What’s in it for me if I win?” 

Her head lolls around for a bit as if in thought before she reaches up and messes up his hair. “If you win, you get homemade donuts for lunch and—” she leans in close, mumbling words into his ear before suddenly shoving herself away, “—if I win, you have to stop teasing me about my ankles!” Amane raises a brow for a second, mulling the awards in his head before he sticks his hand out, a grin forming on his face. 

“Deal then,” he huffed out Yashiro grasped his hand in her own, “hope you like baking me donuts, Yashiro~”

The girl frowns at him, gripping his hand within hers as she uses the other one to grasp onto the shovel he had been leaning against. “Then it’s a deal,” her eyes narrowed at his cheeky grin and she yanked the shovel right out from under his arms. “Hope you like doing kanji drills, Amane-kun .” A huff leaves her lips as she whirls around just as the bell rang and she tossed the shovel into the other pile of tools, pulling off her gloves and walking off. 

“I will not be writing kanji drills!” Amane’s voice goes shrill the farther Yashiro walks away and he huffs before looking down at the invisible space where he was supposed to be leaning against something. “Uh oh…” a loud thud echoed in the practice garden as dust flew up in the air and he twitched on the floor, sprawled out with a groan. It doesn’t help that only minutes after, he could feel water dampening his shirt and took a single glance upwards to see Akane Aoi smiling as she held a watering can in one hand.

Their eyes meet, purple against amber, and the girl hums as she crouches to the floor. “You’re in front of the violets, Amane-kun.” She moves the watering can away from him the best she can and then smiles once more. “Good luck with your competition with Nene-chan.”

Amane could only roll over onto his back and stare up at the sky. “I am not losing to her,” he grumbled as he turned his head to Aoi and she smiled at him, eyes holding no semblance of warmth whatsoever.

“Good luck with that, Amane-kun.”

He cursed at the cheerful girl under his breath as he lay sprawled out on the floor of the practice garden getting watered just like one of the flowers Yashiro Nene had been placing into the soil only moments before. 

Aoi’s words rang in his head through the days leading up to the summer festival. Even if Amane was certain that he could win in their so called bet, it wasn’t helping his courage that one of Nene’s friends didn’t believe in him, only offering him some cryptic good luck before watering him just like she watered everything in the practice garden. Of course, he should have figured that Aoi of all people would be in favor of Yashiro rather than him if not because they were best friends and knew each other since middle school then maybe Amane having stuck gum in her hair and attempting to leave her behind on their mandatory family trip was enough to hold a decent grudge against him. 

Still, he was sure that the six year old him had his reasons. 

Besides, even if Aoi was in favor of Yashiro winning, Amane was sure that he could tilt the axis instead. He was the one who knew his brother best after all he lived with Tsukasa since the day he was born and knew everything from his favorite color to the middle school crush he’s had on one of his best friends (though that would be more attributed to the fact that Tsukasa never seemed to shut up about it) and with more extensive knowledge on his brother than Yashiro could ever acquire, he considered the possibility of her winning and promptly shook his head at the nefarious thought. There was no way.

“Are you thinking about Nene-chan again?” 

Speaking of the devil, his brother’s voice rings through the air as he tied the obi around his waist and nearly tightened it without warning. While he was thinking of Yashiro like his brother asked, it definitely wasn’t in the usual romantic way he often did when they were the only two in the room and he could spill out just how much he loved the ruby eyed daikon girl to his heart’s content. That is, if you could even call thinking about the crushing defeat Yashiro would face when Amane won their little contest as romantic. He assumed Tsukasa would at least, staring down at him as he helped tie the sash around his waist and ludicrously eyed the outfit Amane had worn. 

While his brother had opted to go for a traditional way to go off towards the summer festival, Amane knew he couldn’t move well in a yukata even if he tried and the objective of the festival was to see if he was the better matchmaker anyways so looking fancy wasn’t really the most worrisome thing for the older twin. That being said, he couldn’t just tell Tsukasa the reason he decided to wear shorts with a kimono styled shirt instead of a traditional yukata and risk blowing his secret operation straight out of the water. “Sort of,” Amane gave a hum as he answered, finally securing the sash in place, “Hey, did you bring your money?” As much as he loved his brother, Amane didn’t think he could afford giving Tsukasa his money to do whatever he wanted and he hoped, at least mostly, that Mitsuba had brought money as well. 

“Uh huh.” Tsukasa nods while shaking the little purse of coins and bills he brought with him, nearly identical to the one resting on his brother’s chest. Amane nodded just as the sounds of two more footsteps broke the silence and he turned over to see that Yashiro and her charge had also arrived, both seeming to take the unsolicited hint of wearing more normal clothes to move less stiffly in. “Aw,” his little brother looked absolutely baffled, pouting at the two as Yashiro giggled, “you’re all wearing normal stuff! Now I look weird!” 

Amane wasn’t blind to the way Yashiro elbowed Mitsuba in the ribs as she made her way over to them, pinching Tsukasa’s cheek as he pouted miserably on the sidelines. “I think you look nice, Tsukasa-kun, don’t you think so too, Mitsuba-kun?” And she looks over to Mitsuba with bright eyes as he huffs, crossing his arms over his chest with his own purse of money dangling between two fingers. He didn’t miss the way his brother’s eyes lit up slightly when Mitsuba was addressed or when Mitsuba himself wouldn’t look his way, the tips of his ears already turning a bright pink. 

“You look fine, pipsqueak,” he grumbled as Tsukasa cheered and suddenly latched onto him like a leech. Amane didn’t know if he was supposed to feel sorry or nothing at all by the way his classmate was being given a vice grip by his brother, arms encircled around his own while Tsukasa looked way too happy at being somewhat complimented by his crush. Instead of commenting on it however, the older twin leaned over and pulled Yashiro towards him by her wrist, a grin already on his face as he clapped his hands together. 

Both boys looked over at the noise, seeming to have been lost in their own little world. “Well, now that we’re all here—” and by good measure too, as Amane still didn’t forget the extreme measures they had to take to actually get Mitsuba to come over. While Tsukasa was a shoe-in for going to the summer festival, Mitsuba needed more of an incentive and the fact he was even there at all was surprising given how no matter what Amane had bribed him with, the boy simply didn’t budge. “—Let’s go have some fun! I think we should start with the gaming stalls first, eh?” He tried to ignore the scathing look Mitsuba passed his way as Tsukasa suddenly cheered and let go of him for a brief moment. 

“Oh, oh! Mitsuba can come see me play Katanuki!” 

“Eh? You know that’s not the only—”

“Let’s go!” 

And then Amane was left to watch his brother drag Mitsuba into the festival only hearing his shrill complaints about how Tsukasa tugged too hard on his arm all the while his brother, as naive as he was, ignored his complaints. He watched them for a moment only to tense when something nudged at his side. “Shouldn’t we go after them?” Yashiro was smiling and under the light of the moon, she looked more radiant than if she had worn a Yukata like Tsukasa had so insistently tried to persuade her to. “My plan was the summer festival but they won’t fall in love after a single game.” 

He couldn’t help but agree with her, grabbing her wrist while a grin slipped onto his face. “Who says that?” His brows raised as he pulled them into the festival, crowds of people already blocking their exit route. “For your information, my little brother fell for Mitsuba the moment he saw him.” Well, not precisely the moment he saw him but Amane couldn’t count on his fingers the amount of times Tsukasa had asked him about Mitsuba since they met in middle school and the amount of times that his brother seemed to tiptoe around his feelings for the entirety of middle school and the first few weeks of high school. Yashiro didn’t seem too convinced, holding his hand while looking around at all the stalls and people crowding around them, as if she was searching for something. 

“For your information,” She spoke up when Amane was busy trying to admire the star shaped satchel that she had brought with her, only distinctively remembering that he had won it for her when they had gone to the arcade once, not a date but definitely not a typical hanging out with friends either. “ I would like to take part in some games too, mister, you didn’t expect us to just sit there spying on your brother for the whole night did you?” There was a pause on Amane’s part as for a moment, he did think that all they would do was spy on Tsukasa and Mitsuba until one of them made a move but with Yashiro’s face getting increasingly upset the longer he stayed silent, the younger of the two opted to shake his head vigorously in hopes of convincing her.

Unfortunately, it had no effect.

“ Amane-kun !”

The passersby around them pretended not to notice the angry girl repeatedly hitting the shorter boy beside her despite his numerous protests and apologies. 

The last time Amane had gone to a festival, he had been seven years old with an eighth birthday slowly approaching and as a premade gift from his parents who wouldn’t even be around on November 25th, they had been allowed to go to the Tabanata summer festival taking place so long as Tsukasa took his meds ( actually took them this time) and so long as Amane, as the benevolent big brother he was, kept an eye on his younger twin for the rest of the night which included, but not limited to, making sure Tsukasa had enough fun that he was tired out the moment it was time for bed and he wouldn’t have to deal with getting him to sleep (more like wrestling if Amane was being honest). Part of Tsukasa’s ‘have fun until he’s too tired to protest bedtime,’ had been to let his baby brother go haywire on the katanuki stand and hoping that with enough failed attempts at getting the prize he wanted, he’d eventually be too tired to continue.

That game had lasted three hours or more the last time Amane had recalled it and the present was no different as he massaged his head while Yashiro stormed over to the Katanuki stall where Mitsuba was leaning against the pole with a look of exasperation on his face and his baby brother was intensely concentrated on the candy cutting game he had dragged his classmate over to watch. “I gave up after the twelfth try,” Mitsuba huffed at them as he eyed Amane’s head injury warily, “it’s been minutes, maybe hours, and he’s still not done.”

Having promised Yashiro that he would at least try to win her a prize, Amane coughed and clapped his hands together. Maybe, if he suggested a game… “how about the shooting range?” Tsukasa’s ears twitched at the sound of his voice, “I bet I could beat you there easily, and win Yashiro a prize too.” Both Tsukasa and Yashiro perked up at this and his brother fled from the katanuki stand after the twentieth cut in a row, tugging on Mitsuba’s sleeve over and over. 

The pink haired boy, wearing shorts and a dark kimono like shirt with flowers as pink as his hair, only scowled at him. “As if I’d stoop so low as to go against you—” he nearly stumbles when Tsukasa tugs on his arm again and directs his scowl to him instead, “—and the hell, pipsqueak—”

“Can you win me a prize too? Come on, come on, I want one too!”

Amane swore he could see the exact moment Mitsuba seemed to short circuit and his ears take on an even pinker appearance than his hair and eyes. He could have joked that any more pink would turn his classmate into a whole fruit but abstained if not because Tsukasa was gripping onto his arm and tugging on it then it was more of the fact that right behind him, Yashiro looked like a demon ready to kill. His head still throbbed after she whacked him moments ago. “H-hah?! Of course I can! What, do you think your lame excuse of a brother can beat me?” The boy pushed at his brother, huffing and upturning his nose like some sort of rich snob. Ironic, he figured, considering one of them lived in a three story private house and it wasn’t the boy his brother was currently attached to like glue.

“Really?” He raised a brow, fighting back a laugh, “do you wanna test that theory? You against me, whoever can win the prize they want is the winner.” He stuck out his hand with a smile threatening to split his face into two. “Shake on it?” Mitsuba eyed him warily once more before another tug on his arm was enough for him to shake Amane’s hand and nod his head, immediately being carted off towards the shooting range and leaving Yashiro and Amane behind. 

The boy blinked for a moment and glanced over at her with a sheepish grin. “Looks like I’m competing with two people today—” he paused upon seeing her displeased face and Yashiro merely pushed past him, rolling her eyes. 

“Yeah,” her tone dripped with annoyance, “I guess you are.”

Multiple prizes were seen stacked up once both of them had reached the booth. Tsukasa’s eyes were lit up with infectious joy that not even the prickly Mitsuba could ignore as he paid for his own turn and Amane dug the coins from his wallet. “I want the bunny, the bunny!” Said prize that Tsukasa kept insisting on was the pink bunny that was wearing a traditional geisha outfit and Amane gave a side glance over to Yashiro who huffed at him before pointing towards a plush bear with puffed out cheeks. “Can you win it, Mitsuba? Can you?” His brother’s voice filled the area as Amane picked up the gun he had been handed and his classmate did the same. 

“Course I can,” the pink haired boy grumbled, “stop doubting me already, pipsqueak, it’s getting annoying.” And just like that, Tsukasa had sealed his lips shut as the two squared off against one another. Distinctly, Amane could hear his brother enthusiastically talking to Yashiro about the festival, both of them only a few feet away from the two. If he could let go of the fact that he and Yashiro (or he and Mitsuba for that matter) were both competing, shooting a box of tissues instead of the plush bear Yashiro wanted could have almost felt like it warranted a laugh but instead, he huffed as Mitsuba taunted him from only a few inches across. “Looks like you won’t be able to win after all, you can’t even hit the bear she wanted you to get her!” His guffawing laugh only made Amane more determined to prove him wrong, out of spite of course.

Angling the gun, he didn’t hesitate to taunt the boy himself when Mitsuba missed the bunny Tsukasa so dearly wanted him to get for him. “Say that again?” He didn’t dare take his eyes off the prize, “cause it looks like to me, you’re the one about to lose.” Amane cackled to himself as they both fired at the same time only to miss entirely as the end result. It eventually became a game of their pride quite quickly as a matter of fact and by the end result of having gotten every other prize but what Yashiro and Tsukasa wanted, the two boys were at their wits end. 

“We could just go….” Tsukasa offered as he watched the booth become depleted of their prizes one by one, Mitsuba had even managed to hit a beige colored cat off the top bench. “I don’t need the bunny anymore, Mitsuba, it’s fine—” he was cut off by a loud (or rather two ) loud bang and jumped just as both Amane and Mitsuba suddenly rose to their feet with vigor. Both boys deposited their guns almost immediately and Tsukasa was left to stare in bewilderment. 

“Guys…?”

Without warning, Mitsuba happily whirled around, suddenly holding the bunny Tsukasa had prattled on about just as Amane held the bear Yashiro had asked him to win for her. “Tada! I told you I could win you the—-” Mitsuba is barely able to finish his sentence when Tsukasa practically launches himself over and squeezes him to the point of suffocation. “Okay! Okay! Pipsqueak, get off !” 

Amane only gave a triumphant grin as he sneaked over to where Yashiro sat, holding the bear in front of his face and tapping her shoulder with its furry paw. “Why, is something the matter, little lady? Why do you look so down?” His voice lowered in volume as he attempted to try and tip the bear’s old school hat forward. Yashiro’s lips twitched before she huffed and shook her head back and forth, pretending not to notice the boy behind the bear giving it lines to say. 

“Well, It’s just that someone I came here with tonight admitted to not even taking me out here to have fun but to watch other people have fun, isn’t that just crude?” She turns around to speak fully but instead of the bear, Amane is staring at her, so close that their noses are brushing together. Even with the pink color dusting her cheeks and making her eyes pop out, Yashiro doesn’t stop speaking. “And he promised to win me something you see, but then he let his pride get the best of him.” 

Amber eyes glittered in the shade of a tree and Amane draped his arms across the bench with a lopsided grin, voice still as high as he could make it go. “I have to say, little lady, that sounds mighty awful of him, you didn’t let him go scot-free now did ya?” Much to his delight, Yashiro didn’t seem to lean away, cupping his face in her hands while shaking her head, strands of hair tickling his fingers. 

“Course I didn’t,” she huffed, “I gave him a stern whack against the head for ever suggesting that I’d spend the night without having fun of my own and you know what he did?” 

“What did he do, little lady?” 

Yashiro leaned close just as a loud cough startled her into falling off the bench with a thud. Amane panicked, jumping over the bench as the girl glared heatedly at the two before her. Tsukasa looked confused, holding onto his bunny while Mitsuba had a hand covering his mouth, brows raised and lips pressed into a thin line. “Stop being lovebirds already will you?” He pointed an accusing finger at Amane, “this ended in a draw so unless you’re satisfied with knowing you’re on equal grounds as me, I’d suggest you pick another game.” 

Grabbing at the plush bear Amane had won her, it was Yashiro’s turn to stand up as she grinned and dusted off the dirt from her trousers. “While I would love to see you and Amane-kun battle it out again, aren’t you hungry? I know you guys didn’t eat anything to save room for festival food,” she gave a quick look between both of the twins, “ especially you two.” 

Amane pouted. “I’m not—”

His stomach let out a loud grumble in response and Amane groaned alongside it. 

Eating festival food after just arriving wasn’t the most ideal way to make sure you didn’t go hungry during the night. Luckily, Yashiro had only expected them to eat something before they left to go play another game and even more luckily, she accepted the twins' proposal of eating corn dogs while she took yakisoba instead. Mitsuba declined eating anything, having gotten his own food before he left his house unlike the twins who had defended themselves by saying that they didn’t want to end up too stuffed to enjoy the festival. Likewise, right after their eating, Amane was already up in arms with the girl who had already figured out their next course of action. 

“Let’s go goldfish scooping!” She grinned, “well, it’s more like prize scooping but there’s some goldfish there too,  I bet Amane-kun can win me one.” Turning puppy eyes to the boy with his arm hooked around hers, Yashiro wobbled her lower lip. “Right?”

Eh? What happened to our match making competition?! 

Amane could only stare, wide eyed as he nodded his head. He was too certain that they didn’t need a pet fish when they already had a cat at home and it looked like Tsukasa agreed, nodding his head rapidly and tugging at Mitsuba’s sleeve once more. “Can you get me a prize too?” Just like before, Mitsuba was puddy in Tsukasa’s arms only hanging his head with a nod as his little brother cheered and off they went, leaving Yashiro and him in the dust once more. The younger of the two scrunched up his face as Yashiro tossed their trash away and linked arms with him once more. 

“Come on,” she pulled at him with eager eyes, “I want myself a goldfish, Amane-kun!” 

The sukui booth was indeed filled with prizes. Usually, these were only small toys and rubber bouncy balls, another section of the large water tub had goldfish that Yashiro had eagerly yanked him towards. Mitsuba was on the other end, getting tugged on by Tsukasa who seemed to have his eyes set on a small gachapon ball floating around. If he squinted, Amane was certain he’d be able to see the elephant charm bracelet bunched up inside. With both of them getting their own wands of washi paper, the boy nearly doubled over when arms wrapped around his waist. 

“Good luck, Amane-kun,” Yashiro mumbled into his ear before pulling away and really, how could he lose after that? Fueled with determination to not only end the draw he and Mitsuba currently had but win Yashiro the goldfish she wanted, he began trying his best to scoop up at least one goldfish before time ended. The problem with this was that all his rapid movement in the water was scaring the fishes to other sides of the tub and if that wasn’t all, all the water rippling was causing Mitsuba’s prize to get further and further away leaving for the two boys to scramble for their designated target.

Slowly, the clock ticked on until Mitsuba let out a cry of frustration and held up his wand with broken washi paper. Amane grinned, almost triumphantly in fact. “I told you,” he taunted, “you’re the only loser here!” He pulled out his own wand, eager to have a fish flopping about.

It was broken.

The loud guffawing laugh Mitsuba let out wasn’t enough to cover the sound of Amane’s little squeak of horror as he dropped the wand into the tub and suddenly slumped his shoulders, sulking even as the stall owner scooped up both a goldfish and the gachapon that Mitsuba had his eyes set on. “Better luck next time, son,” the gruff old man that owned the booth smiled at him as he handed over a small plastic bag with a swimming goldfish within. He was still grumbling even as he handed the bag towards Yashiro who looked overjoyed to have gotten her prize. 

“I can’t believe it’s a draw again,” Mitsuba mumbled as he placed the bracelet on an overly excited Yugi Tsukasa, “there has to be some kind of game we can play that doesn’t end in either of us both winning or losing.” Yashiro held the goldfish to her as gingerly as she could before glancing over at the boy with a raised brow. 

“Why don’t we cool it with the games for now?” She suggested as all three boys looked at her with varying degrees of confusion. Her smile grew as she glanced towards a booth in the far right. “I mean, why don’t we try our hand at getting our fortunes told? Wouldn’t that be cool, you’d know your love life instantly!” As if realizing what the girl was getting at, Amane rushed to his feet, opening his mouth to say something just as Tsukasa interrupted and sealed their fate. 

“Fortune telling? Whaaa, Mitsuba that would be so fun, can we, can we?!”

Before Mitsuba could object, and before Amane could have them reconsider, Yashiro was already nodding her head. “It would be pretty cool, Tsukasa-kun, they can even tell you who has a crush on you!” She got him there and without warning, Amane could only watch desperately as his brother yanked Mitsuba off to have their fortunes told while Yashiro grinned in his direction, clearly smitten with herself. 

“You’re not winning this,” he mumbled as he took her arm with his, “how do you even know that this fortune lady person will tell them what Tsukasa wants to hear?”

Yashiro only smiled. “Easy,” she gestured over to the booth with her free hand, “who sees two people as close as those two and don’t say they’re in love?”

The fortune teller did, apparently. 

By the time they had reached the booth, having been trying their hands at the shooting game again and even paying extra to scoop up a few more prizes, Tsukasa and Mitsuba were walking out and only the former of the two looked absolutely dejected. Yashiro fidgeted the closer they got to the duo as Mitsuba fumed from his spot near the booth. “Tsukasa-kun?” She looked at the two hesitantly, “what ha—”

Mitsuba scowled at her as if she had some sort of plan in all this. “What happened is obvious!” He threw his hands up in the air, “this old hag tells us to sit down, says that we have some sort of stupid aura of gloom around us and then proceeded to tell pipsqueak that his love life is utterly void of any sort of companionship when he asked, I mean, can you believe her? She acts like he doesn’t have people who love him already, fucking hag, making me waste all my money on her stupid no-show of a bullshitty festival booth, I can’t even get a refund back!” 

Amane was relieved when Yashiro didn’t ask to go inside herself. Even if the booth looked pretty with its silver stars and hanging crescent moons, he wasn’t sure he could handle her getting worked up over some fake fortune telling. “I’m sure whatever she said isn’t true,” he piped up when noticing just how upset his brother looked—as someone who strived to get friends and people to genuinely like him, Amane could already guess the amount of turmoil stirring around his little brother’s heart like some sort of tornado of grief. “Your love life is probably filled with way more things than she could ever have in her 80 years of living so—” he placed a hand on Tsukasa’s head, ruffling up his hair (and ignoring the complaining Mitsuba did about how he had spent hours trying to style it) with a smile, “—just ignore her stupid words, okay?” 

It took a few minutes, minutes that that the four of them spent seated on a bench, to calm the youngest one down but eventually, Tsukasa’s lingering tears had ceased and Amane was wiping away the stains on his cheeks with a handkerchief as he hugged the bunny plush to him a tad bit closer. “Done crying?” He mumbled to the smaller boy who was toying with the bunny’s ears and not looking him in the eye. Tsukasa was not one used to the average person that showed off their painful emotions. For as long as Amane could remember, his little brother smiled and smiled and smiled no matter what came his way and now, at the summer festival and wiping away his tears, he’s almost glad that the fortune teller had been able to make him cry.

“Done crying,” Tsukasa whispered as he sniffed and hastily wiped at his eyes. Amane nodded once, dabbing at his face just as Yashiro looked up from patting his back with furrowed brows. Mitsuba looked over, brows raised. 

“What’s got you looking constipated, Daikon-senpai?” He held a hand to his mouth, “don’t tell me you actually —” 

Yashiro’s head whipped towards him with a scowl. “I am not!” She huffed irritably, “I was just going to ask if Kou-kun had come over, for a bit, I thought he had just come with his family and was somewhere in the crowd but now….” She bit her lip, eyes glowing with worry. 

Mitsuba rolled his eyes at the girl. 

“He’s home,” the pink haired boy stood up with a stretch, “his little sister, Tiara, and his big brother, Teru are sick so he stayed home to take care of them.” They tried to ignore the way Mitsuba mumbled ‘zero sense of self preservation,’ as Amane coughed and immediately pulled away from his brother who, thankfully, had stopped his crying. 

Maybe lightening the mood would be better. “Well, Tsukasa can make sure to bring a few souvenirs—” said boy cheered in agreement, “—but I think we should play another game now and I have just the one planned.” His grin seemed to grow wider than either of the three had ever seen it as he jumped to his feet and soon enough, was beckoning them along the festival path. 

All the other festival booths seemed to be filled with people as they walked along. Even the Katanuki stall that Tsukasa tried to go to was cramped with kids and teenagers leaving for him to cower away as Mitsuba pulled him along. Yashiro, Mitsuba and Tsukasa followed Amane as he led them towards another gaming booth, no doubt filled with prizes as Mitsuba began to complain about his feet hurting. “We’re almost there, drama queen,” Amane huffed, rolling his eyes as he turned the corner. Just up ahead was a booth that had empty bottles lined up from top to bottom as they neared it and with a flourish, He presented the stall. 

“Hoop toss!” He chirped, “we need to get four for the bigger prizes, three for the medium sized ones and two for the small ones like a keychain or something.” As he said this, he gestured from the top shelf where prizes like plushies and Drones were there to the medium sized prizes which consisted of things such as pocket tissues, a box of Legos, dolls, etc. the smaller shelf had keychains and one in particular stood out to Yashiro. It looked similar in size to the one Amane always had dangling off of his keys; however the color and everything else seemed to be massively different.

Tugging on his sleeve, she gave a quick pointer finger to the object and his eyes glittered like stars. “Oh! Looks like you found where my rocket keychain originated from,” he gave a smile, suddenly looking over towards Tsukasa who was pestering Mitsuba to win him another prize. “I uh… Tsukasa had insisted that he play the game when I was too tired to do much and he at first wanted to get me a cat plush to sleep with but…” pulling out his keys, he gave a quiet laugh. “That really wasn’t what happened.”

He could still remember the day as if it was yesterday, they had been seven years old, it was perhaps the last time they’d even be in the summer festival now that their parents were strictly advising bedtime routines and the like. He had been exhausted from trying to play games and win prizes left and right, having eaten a bunch of food with his brother didn’t help and only gave him more of a reason to lay down and rest but like his parents had expected, Tsukasa had not been tired in the slightest as he played katunki for hours on end only stopping when Amane suggested another game.

Tsukasa had dragged him around then, trying to find a game they could play while also chattering on and on about whatever he could. Amane had tried his best to keep up, staggering behind as he yawned and stretched until bumping straight into his brother’s unmoving back. “Ugh, Tsukasa—” the boy had complained about why his brother had stopped moving but it looked like Tsukasa wasn’t going to answer him, only dragging him to a stall filled with bottles and prizes. 

The goal had been clear. Four for the prizes on the top shelf, three for the prizes on the middle shelf and two for the prizes on the bottom shelf. At first, Tsukasa had been eager to win his brother a cat plush, happily telling him that it would ‘be the best birthday gift ever!’ Before throwing coins on the table and grabbing the basket of hoops that the owner slid over. He needed to sit on Amane’s shoulders to play the game (which did hurt now that he remembered) but in a matter of minutes, Tsukasa was whining out of frustration. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I couldn’t get the cat, I couldn’t! But I got this…” and his brother’s rambling of apologies went in one ear and out the other as he presented Amane with a keychain of a rocket that was big enough to fit on a key entirely.

That day had been perhaps one of the best days of his life as the roles were switched and instead of Tsukasa hugging him, Amane had squeezed his brother as hard as he could to express how happy he was. Now, the keychain looked old, and dirty, but he still looked at it with soft eyes as he placed the key back into his pocket. “Anyways, enough of me reminiscing about the past…” slipping his arm away from Yashiro, he cracked his knuckles as he stepped up with Mitsuba to the booth. “It’s time to crush this cotton candy's spirit already.” 

Mitsuba huffed in response. “ As if.”

Thus, the game had begun. At first it wasn’t clear who the winner would be as both Mitsuba and Amane had already lost two hoops already and were down to two more left. It made them try harder, launching both hoops in clear succession after one another. All four landed around a bottleneck and Mitsuba couldn’t even gloat about having his hoops touch the bottle first as he and Amane both numbly chose bottom shelf prizes. “A draw?” Amane mumbled as he groaned in dismay, “ again ?!” Just what was his luck with these games? Even Mitsuba was getting agitated even as he gave Tsukasa a matching bunny keychain like the one he had on his keys and Yashiro slipped on over, holding the bear Amane had won her. 

“Don’t be upset over a draw, mister!” She tried to mimic a high pitched voice while raising the bear’s paws, “I’m sure you can win the next time you play, besides, you even got your lady friend a gift!” 

Amane tilted his head to the side, leaning forward to push the bear down and blink at her. “Since when did your bear become a girl?” He mumbled as Yashiro’s ears grew pink, “and lady friend?” The girl huffed, holding the bear close to her chest. 

“They’re not a girl or a boy.” She held the bear up again, “they’re just Bearington the nicely dressed bear.” For a moment, there was silence before Amane hummed and nodded his head. 

“I guess I’ll give them one of my pride pins when I get home,” he grinned as he held up a skull keychain, “and I got you a little something, totally not to hang up on your bag or anything like that.” 

She scoffed. “Yeah,” her hands gripped the keychain tightly, “totally not.”

A loud cough once again interrupted their conversation and Yashiro’s ears grew even pinker as Amane pulled her close and raised a brow at Mitsuba. “Lovebirds,” he mumbled despite the fact that Tsukasa was latched onto his arm with big amber eyes directed right up at him, “this is still a draw you know.” 

Amane grinned. “I think I know just how to fix that, actually.” 

The amount of time spent in the festival was obsolete when it came to the four. As long as the fireworks hadn’t started yet, they were clear to continue playing for as long as they liked no matter how much time it took. Though, on occasion, they had to take breaks to at least gather some sort of food to eat before their next pit stop at a prize stall. Thankfully, they all made sure not to eat too much as Amane didn’t have trouble recounting the type he gorged on food before the fireworks and when it came to, had ended up vomiting in a bush because he wanted to prove he could eat more food than his stomach could handle. Even though none of them had stomachs the size of seven year olds, the fear of puking for the entire firework event was enough to make them reconsider eating a whole meal. 

Amane was still searching for a game that would end the draw between him and Mitsuba. While he could just ignore it and continue on with the festival, without Kou there to be his rival amongst the festival stalls, competing with Mitsuba was almost fun in a way as he could do or say anything and the pink haired boy would get so riled up that he’d accept his challenges hook, line and sinker. Yashiro and Tsukasa seemed to be enjoying themselves as well, likely happy that their large competition was giving them whatever they wanted in terms of festival prizes. His brother had a bunny plush, a keychain and a charm bracelet while Yashiro happily carried around her fish (which was still somehow alive throughout all of this), her own plush bear and a skull keychain tucked into her satchel. While he and Mitsuba didn’t have any prizes of their own, he was certain that just seeing their loved ones happy was enough of a win for them. 

Still, as much as they loved Yashiro and Tsukasa—they were still looking for a way to end the draw and declare themselves the victor of the festival. Amane looked at every stall he could but most of them were either filled to the brim with other people, they had already tried the game or Amane knew this was a game they would both lose or win at no matter what they did. And because of these factors, the two were still searching for a game in a crowded place of people, not daring to stop until they could find one.

Luckily, Tsukasa’s keen eyes seemed to have found one for them.

Or rather, his excited squeal did. Mitsuba didn’t have time to protest when Tsukasa practically dragged him over to a stall and, sharing a look of confusion, Yashiro  and Amane could only follow suit. “That, look, it’s an art supply box, the newest kit!” His brother was practically vibrating in place as he pointed towards the prize he wanted and Amane looked up at the senbonbiki stall with an uneasy face. Luck based games were always a hit or miss with him and this game was no different, having to pull on a string to know which prize you picked. He looked at Yashiro for some sort of help but all the girl did was smile at him and point towards a marker kit. 

Mitsuba seemed to at least catch sight of the uneasiness Amane was portraying and took it as his chance to goad as much as he could. “What is it? Cat got your tongue?” He smirked as he pushed Amane forward and crossed his arms over his chest. “You go first, I insist .” 

Biting back a retort, Amane paid the stall owner before gazing amongst the strings with uncertainty. There was no thinking to be done with a game like this, all you could do was grab a string and hope to god that you were right. The odds were already stacked against him but surely he could at least win something right? “Here I go…” the boy breathed in before yanking on one of the strings and for a moment, he was hopeful for whatever prize would come shooting out.

Then a box of pocket tissues flew into the air.

Amane stared, mouth open as Mitsuba burst into laughter and stumbled over with his money. “My turn, my turn!” He grasped the strings once he had finished paying, going through each of them as Amane scowled at his back. There was no way he could win that, no way he could actually be able to—the new art kit went flying into the air and if it was possible, Amane’s mouth dropped open even harder as Mitsuba cheered and grasped at the prize, shoving it over to Tsukasa and smirking right at him. “Looks like I won.” He gloated as Amane rubbed his eyes over and over, confusion settling on his face. It didn’t take long for Yashiro to walk over, sympathetically patting his back as he slumped his shoulders. 

“It’s alright,” she cooed, “I didn’t need the marker kit anyways, Amane-kun, I just wanted to see how’d you do, besides, this isn’t even the best part about these summer festivals!” She tried to lighten the mood, shoving him gently as his eyes lit up and Mitsuba looked over from having bought cotton candy from the stall across from senbonbiki. 

“It’s not?” He echoed. 

Amane jumped up in response, “of course not!” He grinned, “there’s a whole other game—-”

“Are you trying to make up for being a sore loser?” Mitsuba interrupted him warily as Tsukasa took bites of his cotton candy. The younger of the two boys shook his head back and forth, rolling his eyes as he huffed. 

His eyes were shining as he flailed about trying to explain the game they would be playing. “See up ahead? The bamboo tree?” He pointed over to the left and all three heads turned to face the direction. “You can hang tanzaku on it, small slips of paper either with written wishes or poetry! It’s usually burned after midnight or set afloat on a river, the last time I was here, I’m pretty sure they floated it…” Amane tapped his chin as he tried to recall when he had been there before. 

Distinctly, he could remember that he had all the wishing slips and that a little girl had wanted the red one, even going as far as to chase him for it before he obliged to give it to her if she ate with him. Tsukasa had still been playing Katanuki at the time and he had managed to give the red slip to the girl but a turn of events had allowed her to hand it back, telling him that if he used all of these, his wish to be an astronaut would surely come to fruition. At the time, Amane didn’t even think it could be possible as it was already well known that the tree didn’t actually grant wishes but for a seven year old kid with absentee parents, this was the best hope he could have gotten. 

A voice snapped him out of his memories. “It was floating on the river!” Tsukasa chirped up as he unlinked his arms from Mitsuba’s lone one. “You had all the slips back then Amane, remember?” He nods his head at the recollection just as Mitsuba coughed. 

“Wishing slips?” He mumbled while gazing at all of them in confusion, “that’s a thing in this festival?” 

Amane snorted. 

“Of course it is,” he rolled his eyes, “what, didn’t you—” the dull stare that Mitsuba offers him makes him stop his sentence midair, pausing as the boy shrugged his shoulders. 

Mitsuba didn’t bother to sugarcoat it. “I never had friends to go to the festival with,” he shrugged once more as if it was a mere pastime, “my mom was too busy as a nurse to go with me and my dad wasn’t around so I just stayed home watching tv and doing homework.” 

The words sound empty when Mitsuba says them as if he’s already had to explain why he didn’t know such easy customs. Tsukasa gave a whine, suddenly tugging even harsher on his arm. “Mitsubaaaaa!! We can make sure you participate, you don’t have to be sad!” He spluttered almost instantly, suddenly trying to push the boy away with a groan. 

“I only ever started going here when I became friends with you so stop hugging me so tightly! Just cause I never did the wishing slips thing doesn’t mean I’m lonely, gah, pipsqueak, let go !” He hissed even as Tsukasa refused to abide by his command and gripped him even tighter if it was possible. 

Amane opened his mouth, ready to say something or anything he could before Tsukasa stomped his foot on the ground. “Let’s go find the slips before Nene-chan and Amane do, before it’s midnight, come on, Mitsuba!” 

And then they were off, Tsukasa immediately dragging the other boy despite his protests. He could only stare in bewilderment for a few minutes before Yashiro walked up and nudged him with her elbow. “Gonna go after them?” She inquired as he shook his head, linking his arm with hers and grinning. 

“Nah, I think we should find the slips before they do.” 

At that, Yashiro wholeheartedly agreed. 

Trying to find the wishing slips was just as hard as he remembered it had been when he was only seven years old. They were scattered amongst the festival, hidden in either plain slight or stuffed somewhere no one would bother to look. Amane knew from experience that he had to check everything to make sure the slip wasn’t there (and no, even if Yashiro claimed that it was a tactic for him to look under skirts, he only had eyes for her anyways) and so far, they were getting lucky with each slip they managed to find. There were seven in total for them to have (including the red tag) and so far, both of them had found 5, the rest being nothing but duplicates. 

Yashiro had suggested they write their wishes down in the meantime to avoid forgetting later and after being persuaded by Bearington (and a few promises to make homemade donuts), he eventually grabbed a pencil and began to write. His wishes were nothing too grand and as he filled each slip out, Yashiro glanced towards him with bright eyes. “Are you wishing for anything big?” He wondered how he should answer, eventually finding how when he shrugs his shoulders and grins. 

“Not really,” he confessed, “I have everything I could ever want right in front of me after all.”

Amane’s grin only grew wider as Yashiro’s face seemed to burn red and she hurriedly finished the rest of her slips. In the end, they had gone back to searching and had found one more for each of them. The last tag—the red one, was seemingly nowhere to be found and the two had to trudge their way up to the bamboo tree with six slips and a gloomy aura. A loud cheer was what made Amane look up and almost immediately, he stumbled back as his brother tackled him and squeezed as tight as he could. “Amane, Amane! I found the red tag, Mitsuba and I did it before you!” He fell to his butt with a laugh as Tsukasa prattled on and on about how he had found the tag himself, patting his brother on the head. 

“Good job then.” He didn’t bother looking at Mitsuba’s smug face as he helped his brother up. “Let’s hang these up and then get some food to watch the fireworks, okay?” Tsukasa nodded rapidly before rushing back to the tree as Yashiro and him followed suit. All of them began to hang up their tags, Amane gently pulling Yashiro towards him when Mitsuba began scolding Tsukasa for accidentally getting too riled up that he pushed a kid away. 

“Hm? Hey, Amane—”

“Shhh…” Placing a finger on his lips, Amane shook his head back and forth as he gestured towards the food stalls. “Let’s go get the food now, if we come back quietly enough, they could end up kissing.” Neither of them spoke about the competition that they had agreed upon before the festival arrived but Amane figured that at this point, they couldn’t care less about it, buying food from whatever stall they could find as Yashiro happily ate her corn dog. 

Walking along the festival path, she grinned. “Soooo,” moving her body closer to Amane, the girl continued to speak, “are you gonna admit that I’m just as good at romance? I was the one who suggested the summer festival and Mitsuba loves Tsukasa in his Yukata.” Amane paused midway of eating his grilled chicken, huffing as he shook his head back and forth.

“Oh yeah?” He pointed towards where they had last left the two, “I was the one who suggested the bamboo tree, you just suggested that there was one more game to play, so technically if they kiss because of the wish then it’s my win, don’t you think?” The girl looks flabbergasted and Amane would have laughed as he placed the food down on a bench for a quick break. “What?” He teased, “cat got your—”

The Loud explosion of fireworks behind him drowns out his words and the two turn their heads just in time to see colors bursting into the sky in all shapes and sizes, filling the once cloudy night with a kaleidoscope of colors that shone brighter than the stars. He had seen fireworks before, loads of times in fact, but right now—with his hand slowly inching towards Yashiro, they looked brighter than he’s ever seen them before. “Pretty,” the girl whispers as the colors reflect in her cherry red eyes and she doesn’t even pull away when Amane reaches up and tilts her head towards him, eyes finding his own and seeing the reflection of fireworks ten times brighter. 

“Yeah,” Amane agreed as he leaned forward to close the distance between them, “you really are pretty, Nene.” 

Fireworks exploded behind them, casting their bodies in a silhouette  as the moon shone through partially transparent clouds and Amane’s hand slipped to intertwine with hers just as— “Nene-chan, Amane, did you see the fireworks? Did you, did you?!” Tsukasa’s voice snaps them both back into reality and as Yashiro hastily pulls away from him, she is quick to notice that she wasn’t the only one flustered beyond belief. Mitsuba only looks like he’s been covered in a dusting of pink from his ears to his neck and collarbone while Tsukasa looked like a strawberry, freckles more noticeable against the red tinge spreading across his ears, neck and face. 

“I missed it…” she mumbled as the boys looked at her in confusion and Amane, after recovering from his shock, looked utterly terrified. “I let you kiss me and I missed it?” 

Suddenly, the third oldest of the group jumped to their feet, looking all the more fearful once Yashiro landed her eyes on him. “Hey!” She pouted, standing to her feet as Amane continued to back away. 

“Yashiro, come on,” the boy whined, “at least you know they’re together now, that’s good enough right?”

Apparently, judging by the way she glared at him with what he could only assume as murder in her eyes, it was not good enough. “You said we’d come back to see it!” The girl looked annoyed and Amane could only look between her and his brother and classmate before smiling and bolting it away from them. “Amane-kun, you jerk!” She didn’t hesitate to run right after him either. “Come back here!” 

Neither of them noticed when Mitsuba tilted Tsukasa’s head towards him and closed the distance between them again.