Chapter 268: The Night of Fireworks Display (11)

After the twenty minute break, they finally started to shoot the second batch of fireworks. As planned, the remaining three thousand fireworks would be set off simultaneously.

Compared to the first batch, they’d be adding more variations to the fireworks. There’d be ones that would resemble particular well-known characters and various other shapes that’d keep the audience entertained.

During the thing, somehow, Umi found me with my mouth half-opened again. It felt embarrassing. I thought I was a changed man after the first time, but it seemed like I was still the same old me.

“...Everything will be over soon, huh?”

“Mhm. Time went by quickly.”

Currently, there were only around a hundred fireworks left, waiting to be shot. Those were a special arrangement of fireworks (they were called star mine) that would serve as a signal of the festival’s end.

It made me wonder what would happen next year. If they were to hold another festival, I guess they’d be holding it here again, but by that time, maybe not all of us would be able to come to see it again.

After a brief pause, the remaining hundred or so fireworks finally hit the night sky, lighting it up with colorful lights, followed by the loud sound of explosions.

“Let’s come back here again next year, Umi.”

“...Of course. We’ll come back with everyone here.”

“Yeah.”

While it would be nice if we were to go here only with the two of us, we couldn’t really do just that. There wouldn’t be many times for our group to hang out together like this.

All five of us were connected by my friendship with Umi.

There was only a year and a half left before our high school life ended. I wanted to make good memories with Umi, that was a given, but I also wanted to make good memories with the rest of them.

At that moment, the last shot came, it was bigger and prettier than anything that had come out so far. It flashed brilliantly before disappearing, prompting a huge applause from the crowds.

‘That was amazing! See you again next year!’ It felt like they hid that message inside their applause.

“Ah~ It was fun! My neck hurts though...”

“I feel you. My shoulders are all stiff. Seki, I’ll give you special permission to give them a good massage.”

“And why should I do that? Both your hands are intact, you can do it yourself, Nitta!”

“So cold! I can’t help it then! Rep, will you do the honor?”

“...Obviously, I’ll refuse...”

“Me too. Yuu, I’ll leave her to you.”

“Oh jeez! Fine, come here Ninacchi!”

“Woah, thank you, Yuuchin~ You really are the only one on my side here~”

“No, I don’t think that’s the case...”

After the fireworks display was over, we naturally started talking to each other. We talked about what happened in the morning, our change of plans at lunch time, me getting lost, our impression of the fireworks and many more. Various topics came unprompted and the atmosphere around us was rowdy to say the least.

“What, you expect me to forget the words you told me earlier today? Also, do you think I didn’t notice that you were staring at the back of my neck? C’mon~”

“B-Both is something that you should do, don’t you think?”

“Nah, I don’t think so~”

Perhaps she expected I’d react like this as she seemed to be in a really good mood.

No matter how she was dressed, I’d always find her pretty and my love toward her wouldn’t change. But, in cases like this, when she had put in more effort to dress up, I had to give her a proper compliment even though it was embarrassing.

Anyway, I’ve said it multiple times already, but I felt the need to emphasize a fact. My girlfriend was the prettiest girl in the world. She was prettier than Amami-san, Nitta-san or any other girls out there.

“That idiotic couple over there! It’s fine if you want to flirt, but can’t you do it after the rest of us are out of here?!”

“Seriously, you two! I’m burning with jealousy over here~”

“Well, gotta agree with Amami-san here. Get a room, you two.”

““...””

Their voices pulled us back to reality. We ended up bowing our heads to three, who were still yelling at us, before quickly leaving the station.

After walking for a while and making sure that those three were out of our sights, we let out a sigh of relief.

“...We got carried away like usual.”

“We’ve always been like this ever since we started going out, huh?”

“Yeah... Hopefully we’ll stay like this forever.”

“Of course. We’ll stay like this forever and ever...”

As if confirming our feelings to each other again, we walked side by side, intertwining our hands.

Yeah. Even if something were to happen between our group of five, there was one thing that would never change.

No matter what happened, I’d be staying by Umi’s side. I felt sorry for Amami-san and the rest of our group, but this was the only thing I could do.

“Umi.”

“What is it?”

“...Never mind.”

“Huh? What? What are you trying to say? Is it something that will make me mad again~? C’mon, I won’t be mad, so tell me~”

“...Let’s talk about it after we’re home, okay?”

I actually wanted to tell her that I love her again, but I had a feeling that we’d get carried away again if I did.

And so, the night went on as we spent the rest of it, acting like the lovers that we were.