CH 129

It was a brief moment.

The trails of light that shot up emitted a loud sound and then scattered across the night sky like a bullet.

They formed a shape, and the colored light poured down.

It just lasted a few seconds.

It was a beautiful, transient event.

But it is precisely because of that reason that the people find it attractive.

As I sat at the edge of the courtyard looking up at the fireworks, I turned my gaze towards the people who were also looking up at the night sky from the yard.

None of them said a word, and just watched the fireworks shoot up into the night sky.

I could hear voices that sounded like cheers coming from some distance away.

It was leaking from here as well, though the scale was different.

Each time one of them was launched, a small voice like an exhale leaked out.

They may not even be aware of it, but the vividness of the fireworks, the momentary glow of the fireworks, made them come out.

I looked up at the fireworks and thought about something unrelated.

Is this what youth is supposed to mean?

On the first day of a student’s summer vacation, to gather with a classmate …a childhood friend, a friend, and a girl sitting next to me, all sharing the same high school experience as we looked up at the fireworks.

This is certainly a scene that could be called a page of youth.

…Since it consisted of only extraordinary members, all of whom were beautiful girls and boys.

Many years from now, when I become nostalgic about my school days, I wonder if I would be able to recall this scene and have a conversation with them.

Will they talk about how much fun they had back then?

Shizuku, Yuuto, Kirasaka, and Kaede are all smiling happily.

I could see that they were fully enjoying this time right now.

But that exactly is the reason that make me wonder…

The difference between them and me…

After the end-of-term ceremony, which was nothing more than a formality, the first semester was over.

With this, Sakuranooka Academy will begin its summer vacation.

At the same time, the summer festival will be held.

This evening, the streets in front of the station will be closed off to all traffic, to make enough space for the festival.

The whole area in front of the station, including the shopping street, will be lined with many stalls and people from all over the town will gather for the summer festival.

At the end of the festival, there will be fireworks, the main event of the festival.

I left the classroom with my neat-empty bag hanging on my shoulder, conversing about my plans for the rest of the day.

I walked down the hallway, down the stairs, and to the school gate.

No matter where I went, the conversation remained the same.

We talked about our plans for the rest of the festival.

We were all supposed to go home and get ready for the festival, and then meet in front of the station at five in the afternoon.

It was now past noon.

There was plenty of time for us to have lunch at home and then get ready.

In fact, there was enough time for me to take a nap.

Today, both Kirasaka and Shizuku went home as soon as the ceremony was over.

I was wondering where they were going because they were walking so fast, looks like they wanted to go home and get ready.

So, inevitably, the person next to me was this guy.

“I had planned to go to all the stalls.”

“You know what? …think about the capacity of your stomach first!”

Yuuto laughed a couple of times and continued his meaningless conversation.

Because we both know each other well, there is no need to be cautious while talking, so even a passive conversation won’t hurt the atmosphere.

This made me feel a little more comfortable at the moment.

I guess it was because I had more opportunities to talk with strangers these days.

Yuuto also seemed to have calmed himself down, and asked me to give him some topics to talk about.

There wasn’t anything interesting to talk about, I didn’t have topics like ‘who did something stupid’ or ‘which classmate started dating’ …but it was enough to pass the time until we got home.

“So I’ll get ready and then come to your house.”

“k…”

I looked after Yuuto until I couldn’t see his back at the fork and continued walking.

And soon my home came into view.

The front door was locked, as if Kaede hadn’t come home yet, and the atmosphere around was silent.

I took the key out of my bag and opened the door, walking into the empty house.

Then, I plopped down on the living room sofa and closed my eyes quietly.

I’m going to get some …sleep.

I’m going to be more tired than I thought.

So, its better to rest my body as much as possible while I can.

Forgetting that I was still in uniform, I let go of my consciousness as I let the silence take over.

“–san, …nii-san”

“Hmm? …Oh, did Kaede come back?”

I’m not sure how long I’ve been asleep.

The outside of the window does not seem to have changed much.

When I turned my eyes to the clock, the time was pointing to two.

In other words, I must have been asleep for about an hour.

As I sat up to stretch my stiff body, I noticed what Kaede was holding in her hand.

“A yukata?”

“Yes! What do you think?”

Kaede held a pale orange yukata to match her body and asked.

Yeah, not bad.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”

In fact, is there a yukata that looks better than this?

I want to say to her, “In your brother’s opinion, Kaede’s number one.”

After eating the light lunch that Kaede had prepared while I was sleeping, I finally started getting ready.

All I had to do was to take a shower and change my clothes into casuals for the evening.

Unfortunately, my yukata is too small to wear because it’s an ancient one.

Well, even if I could, I would never wear it.

I thought I had plenty of time to get ready, but just as I was leaving the house, the bell rang to let me know that I had a visitor.

I knew that it was definitely Yuuto, so I slowly opened the front door without any need to rush.

“Heya!”

“You look so …normal.”

I was expecting Yuuto to be dressed up or something, but he was wearing a normal polo shirt and jeans.

I can’t say anything about it because I’m also wearing a black shirt and a pair of jeans.

As Yuuto and I were talking in the doorway, I heard footsteps coming from behind us.

I looked ahead and saw Kaede, who had just changed into her yukata.

Holding a small drawstring bag in her hand, she stops next to me and greets Yuuto.

“Yuuto-senpai, konnichiwa!”

“Kaede, hello to you as well. You look beautiful.”

“No, that’s not true.”

Yuuto also returns the greeting and naturally activates his lady-killer skills to praise Kaede.

However, Kaede responded normally as if she was used to it.

It seems that Kaede has known Yuuto for a long time and can handle him perfectly.

I was impressed with my sister, and the three of us were now ready to go from my house to the meeting spot.

As for Shizuku and Kirasaka, they were to meet us directly at the meeting spot, so the three of us set off for the clock tower in front of the station.