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The last minute wedding order comes with the worst timing. When Isami relays the news over Friday dinner Lulu just puts down her chopsticks and levels a serious gaze at Isami, and nods once.
“Lulu understands.”
Isami feels like shit.
It’s Lulu’s very first school event that’s open to the public, and he has to skip it. Smith also reassures him that it’s fine, that there will be other events he can attend and Lulu will be equally happy for him to be there, but Lulu has been looking forward to it so much she’s been talking about barely anything else all month.
“Lulu will come in first place. For Isami.” She raises a fist in the air and flails a bit when she attempts a henshin pose. “Without a doubt, the heroes will prevail.”
Later Lulu will call them “friends who saved the day,” but when Hibiki and Miyu show up at Brave Flower in the morning of Lulu’s school’s sports day, all Isami feels is overwhelming relief. He tried to pull an all-nighter to finish the order as quickly as possible, but he’s getting too old for them. At least there’s only administrative stuff left and waiting for the pickup at 9 so when Hibiki fake threatens to throw Isami out of his own shop, he accepts the help. Not even Miyu’s suspiciously enthusiastic “You can count on us, Isami-san” is enough to deter him.
Isami showers and dresses quickly, and if he breaks the speed limit a few times till he gets to Lulu’s elementary school no one has to know. 9 o’clock finds Isami sitting on a picnic blanket next to an ecstatic Smith who’s cheering loudly for the red team.
It’s kind of nostalgic. Isami still remembers acing the three-legged races and mock cavalry battles, even though team sports weren’t his thing—and still aren’t.
“Lulu loved the banner,” Smith says proudly as he rolls out a sheet of fabric with ‘Go Lulu go!’ written on it with big, sparkly purple letters. It’s flashy and kind of looks like something out of an American comic book. Isami grabs a corner and helps Smith lay it out on the blanket in front of them.
Scavenger hunt isn’t the type of game where Lulu would be able to see the banner much, unless the task she gets somehow involves either of them. Given his initial surprise at the fourth years’ event requiring a kid to fetch their friend’s mother, Smith doesn’t seem to be fully prepared for it.
“Two more games and it’s Lulu’s turn.”
During the third years’ relay race and another tug-of-war game Smith chats with a parent: the mother of one of Lulu’s ex classmates from kindergarten who ended up in a different class in April.
(Isami is grateful his input is not needed.)
The tug-of-war ends in a group of crying children and some worried parents hovering, but soon the teachers usher the winning team away and the preparations for the first years’ scavenger hunt begin.
“Go, go, Lulu,” Smith cheers in English when the children start to assemble at the starting line. Lulu turns to them and jumps high in the air, waving her hands above her head. They lift up the banner Smith made and Lulu waves her arms faster.
“Smith! Isami! Watch! Lulu will win!”
Two teachers scatter a bunch of folded papers on the ground a ten-odd meters from the starting line, and the kids take the starting positions. Once the whistle blows Lulu darts straight towards the middle of the pile, way ahead of her classmates—she was always fast for her age. She crouches down and grabs the paper in the very middle. She unfolds the envelope shaped sheet quickly, raises it up in the air after reading it, and with a loud “Ga-ga-pi!” she takes off in their direction.
Smith turns to Isami with barely contained excitement. “I wonder what task she got.”
Isami threw a bunch of random items into his bag before he left: an extra pack of tissues, a torchlight, a baseball cap, a compass, a highlighter, some supermarket coupons, and he probably has a sewing kit somewhere.
Lulu barrels in, waving the paper.
“Smith! Isami! Treasure!”
Smith reaches out and ruffles her hair. “There’s my girl. So ‘treasure’ it is? What do you need?”
“Smith! Isami!” Lulu repeats. “Ga-pi.”
“I don’t understand,” Smith mutters. Isami, being more familiar with the game, knows what she means. He braces himself for the embarrassment.
Lulu starts rocking back and forth and looks at them expectantly.
“Isami, come,” she says and extends a hand to him.
Isami gets up and lays a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “C’mon.”
“Smith, too. Hurry up, hurry up. Lulu wants to win. We need to hurry.”
Confusion clear on his face, Smith puts down the banner and gets on his feet. “Where are we…? Oh.”
Lulu grabs them both by the hand and starts pulling them back to the tracks. Running as fast as her little legs can, Lulu sprints between them until they cross the line together.
The memorial picture they buy later is a bit embarrassing, but both copies will be framed and displayed.