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The atmosphere of the festival is anything but boring; the smell of various different kinds of food is in the air, laughter comes from every direction around Sakura and despite the amount of noises surrounding him, it feels peaceful.
Umemiya came up with the plans for the festival, quickly turning a simple idea into a whole celebration for the town with everyone at Bofurin joining in to prepare. It wasn’t the first celebration he participated in, Bofurin held plenty already since he joined, but nothing of this scale yet.
Sakura looks around, scanning his surroundings before he stuffs his hands into his pockets. He makes his way across the street, walking alongside the various food stalls. It still feels awkward when the townspeople greet him with open arms and push bags of food into his arms before he even manages to properly respond to their gratitude, but he accepts it.
Sakura puts a piece of candy he received earlier into his mouth as he continues walking. He has plans to meet up with Nirei, Sou and the rest later but he arrived early, swallowing the excitement for the meet up alongside the candy.
He can imagine the amount of teasing he would receive if anyone knew about how much he was looking forward to celebrating together. Sakura hasn’t forgotten about the day he met Kotoha and the amount of teasing he receives ever since. It was embarrassing and awkward at first; up until that point he had only experienced teasing as a negative response to his looks, but lately he understands that it can also be used to express affection.
“Oi, Sakura.” A voice calls out, stopping Sakura in his tracks.
He turns his head in the direction he hears the voice coming from, quickly recognizing the man walking towards him.
“Togame, you here?”
“Yeah, Choji heard about the festival and wanted to join in. Actually, It’s more like we got invited here. Everyone from Shishitoren is around.” Togame says, swinging the Ramune bottle in his hand around.
“Oh? I see…” Sakura trails off, looking around. He hasn’t seen anyone else yet, so hearing that surprises him. Bofurin and Shishitoren were friends nowadays, but it would still stand out to him if he saw a member from another group walk around here.
“Heh, what are you doing here?” Togame asks.
“Just patrolling before the meet up.” Sakura says, kicking his foot lightly against the ground in an attempt to hide his excitement. But the redness on his face made it hard to hide.
Togame blinks before letting out a laugh, causing Sakura’s face to heat up even more.
“What are ya laughing at?! Come over here, I’ll beat you up!”
“I wasn’t laughing at you.” Togame says, putting his free hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “You wanna sit down and talk a little before everyone else gathers?”
“Sure, I don't mind it.”
They settle down on a bench together, close enough to still hear the chatter of the people walking along the food stands but far away enough to allow some privacy. Sakura shifts around a little before leaning against the back of the bench. He wasn’t nervous; he has no reason to be around Togame, but he occasionally still feels a weird pinch in his chest when someone gets this close to him.
And somehow he could tell that the distance between him and Togame was only going to get smaller.
“You want one?” Togame asks, holding a bottle of Ramune in front of Sakura’s face. It takes Sakura a second to collect himself before he manages to respond to the sudden offer with a simple “Yeah, thanks.”
“Want me to push the marble in for you?”
“T-there is no need to, dammit.” Sakura growls, grabbing the bottle. “….You already showed me how to do that last time.”
Togame smiles at him before turning his focus to his own drink. Sakura pushes the marble into the bottle, oddly aware of how close they are to each other. Their shoulders were just inches apart, and only then does Sakura notice the red clothing Togame is wearing instead of the usual Shishitoren jacket.
“Something wrong?” Togame asks, turning towards him.
“Huh? Nah. Why are you asking?”
“Heh, you just stared at me. That’s why I was curious.”
“Yeah, um. Your jacket.” Sakura’s eyes flicker to the side. It feels weird to ask someone else about themselves, but Sakura was admittedly curious about him. “I was just wondering since I never saw you wearing that before.”
“Ah, yeah. I work at the food stalls during festivals sometimes.” Togame explains, not taking his eyes off of Sakura. “Today I'm helping out too. I was walking around during my break and that’s when I saw you, so I thought it would be nice to catch up a little.”
“You are helping out even though you've been invited?” Sakura asks, surprised. He knows Togame was a good guy, he just didn’t expect anyone from another group to help out at their festival.
“Haha, I’ve been working at food stalls even before joining Shishitoren, so I thought it’d be a nice way to contribute.” Togame says, putting one arm around the back of the bench.
“Festivals are places that bring joy, right?”
Sakura gives him a quiet nod as an answer before he turns his head away, slightly embarrassed.
Together, they just sit there for a moment, looking at the groups of people wandering past them. The streets were getting more busy, now bustling with even more people and loud chatter, but when they sat together like this it felt calming for Sakura’s nerves.
Togame takes a sip from his Ramune, reminiscing. He met Choji at a festival and now he ran into Sakura. They both were important people to him after all, so he can’t help but feel that there is something special about festivals.
“Pretty peaceful around here lately, huh?” Togame speaks up again, breaking the silence between them.
“Yeah. Haven’t gotten to kick a guy's ass in days.”
“…Haha.”
“What’re ya laughing at?” Sakura scoffs.
“Nothing. You just never change, Sakura.”
“A-at least explain what you’re trying to say instead of being vague! I feel so damn weird every time you just start laughing without an explanation.”
“No, no. I wasn’t laughing about you.” Togame says, reassuring him. “Heh, if anything I’m really happy.”
Togame was smiling. Even Sakura could see that it was an honest smile.
He breathes out before smacking his fist into Togame’s arm, who looks at him slightly confused.
Sakura can feel his face heat up when he puts the bag of snacks in between them, quickly turning his gaze away to make the embarrassment a bit more bearable.
“You gave me the Ramune….so it’s only fair if I share some of my things too.” Sakura mumbles, still unable to face Togame.
“Thanks, Sakura.” Togame responds, earnestly. He takes a snack out of the bag, unwrapping it before taking a bite.
“Yeah, it’s no…big deal. Take whatever you want.”
“Heh, the snacks and the Ramune together hit just right. Do you like the flavor, by the way?” Togame asks. “It’s different from last time.”
“Mhm? Yeah, it tastes pretty good….” Sakura answers. He didn’t pay attention to it before, but the color of the liquid in the bottle was different from last time.
“I can bring different flavors for you to try out next time.” Togame offers.
“That….I wouldn’t mind that.” Sakura says, almost whispering the last part. “Thanks.”
“It’s fine, I’m just paying you back.”
“I already told you back then that there is nothing to pay me back for….”
“Haha. I understood that, but you just offered me a bunch of snacks, so it’s only fair if I offer you a bunch of drinks in return, right?”
“D-do whatever you feel like.”
Togame must take him very seriously because for a brief moment Sakura can feel a hand run through his hair. He is convinced he imagined it, but Togame was right in front of him, smiling, and Sakura can’t deny that it felt nice. He doesn’t even remember if anyone ever touched him like this, but when Togame ran his finger through his hair, even if it was just for a moment, it felt nice and pleasant.
“Da-damn, don’t mess with me like this.” Sakura blurts out, trying to hide the embarrassment, but his face always gives him away.
“You just told me to do whatever I feel like, right?” Togame says before getting up and waving at him. “I have to go back to the food stands now, break is over~ See you later, Sakura. I’m off to work now.”
“Yeah. See you later, Togame.” Sakura waves back.
When Togame walks away and vanishes into the crowd, Sakura thinks that he slowly starts to understand the joy of festivals. He grabs the bottle of Ramune in his hand tightly, promising himself to at least attempt to have fun today and bring more snacks to share next time.