_Chapter 37~ Fireworks_

          "A festival?"

          I accepted the flyer Mom had outstretched towards me, my eyes flickering over the information.

          "Instead of staying coped up inside like you have been, why not go?" Mom suggested. "You haven't been to one in a while have you?"

           I mutely bobbed my head, picking up my finished plate and heading towards the sink to wash it. "I don't think I have," I admitted.

          "You should ask Erika to come with you," she went on, following after me. "She's still fairly new here so I'm sure she'd love to."

"That's true." I flashed Mom a small smile. "I'll ask her."

Just as I turned away to exit the kitchen, the words she called after me definitely startled me. "You should also invite that boy from next door. From the Iwasaki's."

I halted in my tracks, facing Mom in surprise. "H-huh? Why?"

She continued to scrub the remaining dirty dishes. "What's wrong with inviting your next door neighbour and fellow classmate?"

"Everything!" I replied.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it," she prodded.

My cheeks warmed at the notion. "Whatever you say, Mom, but no thank you. I'd rather save myself the embarrassment. I will invite Erika though."

She heaved a defeated sigh, waving me off. I took the opportunity to hasten up the stairs and enter my bedroom. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cell. Searching through my contacts, I easily found my cousin's name and with a deep breath, I dialed her number. I collapsed onto my mattress as the phone rang.

It wasn't until the second ring that she answered.

"Hello?" I said, my voice a higher octave than I thought it'd be. "Erika?"

"I apologize." I blinked rapidly at the voice—it certainly didn't sound like my cousin's. "I believe I am unfamiliar with this number. Who is this?" she continued.

My eyelids fluttered rapidly as I retreated the phone from my ear, eyeing the ID I had dialed. The name 'Erika' stared back at me, piquing immense confusion inside of me. Were my ears playing tricks on me?

"Hello?" I spoke again.

I guess that idea wasn't the case, though, because the same voice echoed over the receiver. "Is this a prank call?"

"I should be asking you the same thing!" I said, incredulity slipping into my tone. "Who is this?"

"I am Amaya's manager," she replied. "I am not sure who she has befriended at her new school but she will be unavailable until the end of July. Please leave personal inquiries until then. Thank you. Now—"

"Wait," I cut her off, gripping my cell tighter. "What are you talking about? Why does—"

"Goodbye." The line went dead. A deafening beep! resounded in the air, leaving me with mixed feelings.

"—Erika have a manager?" I murmured under my breath as I pried my phone away and once again stared at the screen and at my cousin's name I'd written with capital letters. Was... that a prank from her? She always was surprising, but a manager? Well, there went my plan of inviting her.

"You should also invite that boy from next door. From the Iwasaki's."

The memory of Mom's words flustered me. Yeah, right! Besides, I hadn't even seen the guy since the start of the break two weeks ago. After passing my exam (and embarrassing myself in front of the entire class) I doubted the same guy wanted to be around me. I slapped my cheeks. Jeez, me! Why did I always act without thinking? It was such a bad habit! And it always led me to rather mortifying predicaments...

As I mentally berated myself for the umpteenth time in my life, the sudden blare of my ringtone, and vibration, jolted me. I nearly dropped the device in my hand and I carefully rose it to my point of view. Was Erika calling again to admit it was all just a prank...?

Let me just say, it wasn't. Knitting my eyebrows together, I tried to make sense of 'The Death Of Me' flashing as the caller ID. What the heck? When did I add in a contact like that? After scrutinizing it some more, I realized my ringtone was nearly done.

"Hello?" I carefully drawled, placing the cell to my ear after answering.

"Took you long enough!" Aki's voice rang out. "Let's hang out, Senpai!"

My heart nearly stopped in my chest. Eyes as wide as saucers, I gawked. I was such an idiot! I changed Aki's number to that title that day! How did I forget? And even if I did, why would I ever answer a number clearly stating they're 'the death of me?'

Obviously because I was an idiot, that's why!

"Kikuchi-senpai?" spoke the cheerful Aki after a pause. "Did I stun you into silence? No way. Are you that happy to receive a call from someone like me? He he, that makes me happy."

"W-why are you calling me?" I demanded.

          "Eh, did you not hear what I said earlier?" Pouted Aki. "Let's hang out!"

And I did hear him right...! "Why me of all people?" I asked.

"What do you mean? You're super fun to kill time with!"

Astonishment seized me. "I... am?"

"You are!" Aki asserted. "I'm bored so picking on and teasing you a bit sounds amazing. Your reactions are always so hilarious! Will you do me this favour, Senpai?"

I deadpanned. This kid really was deranged. "I can't," I said flatly. "I have better things to do in life than be the victim of your amusement."

Aki merely laughed. "You say that but you sound quite disappointed too. Did somebody cancel their plans with you or something?"

My shoulders tensed. "How..."

"Hmm, so something like that did happen! What're the details? Tell me, tell me!"

It felt like ice travelled through my veins. My head jerked right and left in frenzy. "A-are you watching me right now—"

"Ha ha, you really are simple to read, Senpai," Aki chuckled again. "Don't worry, I'm nowhere near you right now. I can just tell by the tone of your voice."

"That's creepy," I said bluntly.

"I get that a lot," replied the guy. "Anyways, it's obvious you want to distract yourself from something so let's go out together."

Frowning to myself, I clambered off my bed and hurried to my window to close my blinds. Just in case. After the silence became awkward, my mind trailed back to the way he had said that. My lips tugged down more. "It sounds like that statement applies to you more than me right now."

He chuckled, though this time, it was drier and curt. "Wow, way to pin that on me," said Aki. "Then why don't you just hang out with me?"

"Like I said, being made fun of does not sound like an appealing way to spend one's weekend."

"Tch," Aki clicked his tongue. "Fine, I guess I'll just pick on other people then."

Albeit I knew I should've scolded him for such a thing, I had a strong feeling he wouldn't listen to me anyway. Also, because I had a greater focus eating away at me.

"Aki," I sputtered after a long pause. "Remember the last time we went to the amusement park together?"

He didn't respond so I kept going.

"And you told me that Iwasaki is your older brother? Is that really..."

"Yup, that's true." Aki's brusque answer allowed for the rigidness in the air to increase by a lot. Before I could attempt to speak again, the ding! of my phone caught my attention. I looked at my cell screen only to see that Aki had messaged me. The same picture I had seen at Ryu's house stared back at me—the one with the two brothers smiling from ear to ear. "There's evidence," Aki eventually managed out, as brisk as before. "I don't know why this is so hard to settle in for you. It's just the facts."

"But, it's just..."

"Remember when I told you that if you don't care, don't ask about me," Aki prodded. "If this is just to pique your curiosity, you might as well let your imagination do the roaming. Why we have different surnames, why we don't get along, why I don't... Why that house is not a home for me." Inhaling a shaky breath Aki's speech halted for a moment. "I see now... So this is why he kept his distance from you. Tried to get you to hate him. Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with us. You'd be better off not knowing what happened in the past."

"Aki..." I tried, swallowing back the growing lump in my throat.

"S-sorry." My eyelids shot up as Aki's trembling voice quickly spoke. "I'll call you some other time. Bye."

The line cut off, and I was left having to find comfort in the irking beeps of my cell phone. My heart was heavy in my chest as the conversation replayed itself like a broken tape recorder in my mind. I didn't want to admit it, but it was the only conclusion.

Aki almost sounded as if he were... crying.

* * *

"S-sorry for being late!"

Heaving hard, I ran as fast as I probably could in the sandals I wore as I approached the male standing by himself in the distance. When I finally came to a halt, I breathed heavily, feeling at my head and hoping that my hair hadn't gotten all ruined during my marathon here. The yukata wasn't very comfortable either. Jeez, it was Mom's fault she wanted me to wear this at the last minute. She got all ballistic on me when she saw that I was going to go in casual wear and practically forced me into it, making me tardy despite me being the one who called him out for this.

When I finally craned my neck upwards, expecting anger to be evident in Ryu's features, it was actually quite the contrary when I saw that he was gaping; eyes bulging, cheeks a rosy colour under the setting sun as he just stared at me and successfully left me flustered.

I averted my gaze to my feet. It probably was weird. I should've told Mom no.

"S-sorry I was late," I said, looking back up and plastering on my best smile. "My mom told me to wear this. Strange... huh?"

Ryu's mouth moved wordlessly and more colour reached his cheeks. He avoided my eyes. "N-no... it's not that it's strange..." He visibly swallowed, ruffling up his hair and hiding his face from me. "I-I mean... it s-suits... I-I mean..." The more Ryu tried to sputter out whatever he was trying to tell me the more he fidgeted and the more he blushed. Wide-eyed, I could only stare at him as he continued to fumble for words. Eventually, I produced a giggle, covering my mouth in the act.

"Are you okay, Iwasaki?" I dropped my hand as I smiled. "You're stuttering a lot."

Once again, Ryu was in a trance. Stepping past him, I nudged him forward.

"Come on," I said. "Let's head to the festival already. It'll be fun."

The walk there was oddly peaceful. Animated chatter was all around us as well as many citizens considering this festival was pretty famous, and the smells from the stands wafted throughout the surrounding streets. Although we were side by side, neither Ryu nor I took the initiative for some small talk. I would've tried but he was walking ways ahead of me and was avoiding to look my way for some reason, and I found it difficult to. But it wasn't so bad. In fact, the few occasions where passing boys would be giving me those awkward, flirtatious glances, he—keeping up with the whole bodyguard thing he was obsessed with—would glare at them, grab my arm and pick up the pace so that their focus wouldn't be on me anymore.

Entering the part of the city where the festival was taking place, I was in awe. It'd been forever since I'd been to one and it was still as amazing nonetheless. Excitement welled up inside me at once and my eyes scanned the many booths there. When I turned to Ryu I noticed that he seemed equally as thrilled.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I inquired, snapping Ryu awake from his daze.

Ryu's gaze flickered towards me and he shrugged. "What do you want to do?"

As an idea was already dancing around at the back of my mind, a wide smile broke out into my face. "I kind of want to go to the shooting booth," I admitted, raking him and his casual attire over. "I bet I could hit more items than you can."

My provocation allowed for Ryu's eyes to narrow. "Are you challenging me?"

"Nah, I'm jut stating the truth," I cheekily responded.

Though fickle, the corners of Ryu's lips definitely quirked upwards into a smirk. "That's a lot of confidence coming from someone so tiny."

A snort escaped my lips and I patted his shoulder before moving forward. "C'mon, after 'someone so tiny' beats you so badly she makes you shed tears, you're treating her to takoyaki."

Amusement seeped into Ryu's features as he followed me through the throngs of people towards the line for the shooting booth. Once it was our turn, I slid a 100 yen coin onto the countertop and the man running it reacted in a rather contemptuous manner.

"Are ya' sure about this, Lil' Miss?" he teased, holding out the gun for me and setting three corks in front of me. "If it's a prize ya' want, you should probably leave it to that young man beside ya'."

At the mention, Ryu gestured to himself. "It's fine if that's the case. Do you need me to go, Kikuchi?"

Not appreciating his sarcastic offer, I rolled my eyes. "I'm going," I finalized, stuffing a cork into the barrel.

My eyes scanned the shelves and when they landed upon a cute Rin Okumura keychain motivation swirled like a wildfire inside of me. If I remembered how to do this correctly... Gaining a grip on the gun, I leaned over a bit, squinting my eyes.

"Ignoring me, is it?" grumbled the man.

My fingertips were slightly jittery as I pulled the trigger, and it being the tiny target it was, the cork ended up nowhere near where it was on the middle shelf.

Both Ryu and the old man appeared content at my slip-up and I would've paid heed to the tinge on my cheeks if my resolve wasn't holding me in place.

"You sure you don't need me to go for you?" Ryu mused.

"I'm going," I enunciated for the second time, prepping my gun for the next shot. "Just be quiet."

Ryu produced a short chuckle, invoking another blush to rush to my cheeks. Maybe it was due to his belittlement or that old man's 'you can't do it' stare from ahead of me but on my second try, I successfully made the shot. The Rin keychain tumbled to the floor and both the man running the booth and Ryu were at a loss, filling me with pride. That probably improved my accuracy as well because I also hit an orange shaped cell phone strap for the shocked Ryu. The result had taken a lot of luck, yes, but even if something did, it was necessary for you to pretend that you did it all the time in order to rub it into other people's faces.

"Here you go," I said to Ryu, offering him the miniature orange I had shot down. "It reminded me of you."

Despite appearing disgruntled at the results, he blanked his face nonetheless. "Ha ha," he said, receiving the thing. Snatching the gun from my hands, Ryu sauntered up to the bitter old man and set his coin down, a smirk upturning his lips. He must've found the motivation.

Standing behind him, I watched him set up with folded arms. The only way for him to beat me was to hit all three shots, which was basically impossible. I had won this. "Don't need to beat yourself up too hard about this, Iwasaki," I said. "Instead of wasting the money, you should just—"

Clink. Clink. Clink.

Both the clerk and I didn't even realize what had happened until a few seconds later when Ryu said, "Um, I hit the items," to wake him up.

Blinking rapidly, the man hastily reached over to grab the items all the while I gawked. When Ryu spun around to me, items outstretched my way, a jovial smile adorned his face.

"Here you go," he said, nudging the three cell phone straps he had hit. The designs of three sheep stared back at me, hitting me with a new wave of incredulity. "They reminded me of you," he finished off with a laugh. Probably because of how out of it I was.

"How the..." I began, fumbling for words my mind clearly couldn't keep up with.

"I play a lot of shooting games so I've always been good at this booth," Ryu enlightened me with a shrug.

His response left me both speechless and mortified as I recalled my earlier words to him. This guy always made me feel like an idiot. I should've known it'd end like this.

A loud sigh left my mouth as I pulled out my cell and moved back so that other people could have a shot at the booth.

"Pass me your phone," I said, beckoning out my hand. Though puzzled, Ryu relented and handed me his cell. Taking one of the many sheep straps, I attached it to his device. "Staring at that every day would torture me to no end so you can keep it," I stated.

Ryu uneasily received his phone. "But you—"

"Which is why," I cut him off, plucking the orange strap I'd given him and easily attaching it to my own phone, "I'll be keeping this."

He appeared rather amused as he gave his phone another look over. "This is a little girly," he admitted with ease.

My jaw fell in embarrassment. "I was just trying to do us both a favour—"

"But it'll remind me of you for sure," Ryu finished, a smile curving up his lips. "You can decide for yourself if that's a bad thing or not."

My eyebrows shot upwards at first and despite another blush threatening its appearance on my cheeks, I ended up letting out a laugh. "It's a bad thing then! I don't want you thinking of me as a sheep."

"And you think I want you to think of me because of an orange?" Ryu responded. "You know I wouldn't even have had to get you those sheep if you didn't give me that disrespectful item."

"Oh, so now I've disrespected you?" I responded in mock surprise. "I'm pretty sure you put yourself into that situation even without me by dying your hair that colour."

Automatically, Ryu stiffened. "I-I can dye my hair whatever colour I want."

"Then I can have fluffy hair without being referred to as a sheep," I finalized. I grinned. "I wonder why you even dyed your hair ginger. Black hair was super nice. And those piercings—damn."

"H-hey!" He bashfully clasped his hands over his head. "Don't even start with that!"

"How can I not though?" I said, stifling a laugh. "You basically set yourself up for this, reiterating how much you weren't a delinquent and yet..." I ended up bursting into a fit of giggles.

"Kikuchi!" he shouted, attempting to glare at me with a bright red face. "You better not mention this to anybody!"

"I won't, I won't," I cooed, grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm serious!"

I laughed, "I said I won't!"

Ryu scowled at me but didn't say anymore. He ruffled his hair and spun around. "C'mon, you're treating me to takoyaki."

My mouth fell. "No..."

"It was our deal," he said.

"That... That doesn't count though! You had so much more experience—"

"Are those whines of defeat I hear, Kikuchi?"

"They're not whines— Hey! Stop smirking like that!"

"What smirk?"

"That one!" I snapped, pointing to his irritatingly smug face. I continued to glare at him after we reached the stand, digging for my wallet. "Fine! I'll get it! It'll haunt me if I don't."

Just as I pulled out a little short of what it'd actually cost, my heart settled into panic. Though, just as the realization hit me, it was to my surprise when Ryu gave the man the money and ushered me away from the stand.

"B-but..." I began.

"I was kidding," Ryu told me as he gestured for me to take a seat. "Did you really think I'd let you treat me?"

"Well... yeah," I admitted. "It was my proposal, and..." I frowned as I stared at it. "I'm paying you back."

"You don't have to," he said, offering me one. "Let me treat you, just this once."

Sourly eyeing the thing, I reluctantly took it. "This still doesn't settle well with me," I murmured, taking a bite. "I have to at least give you something."

A moment of silence lapsed around us as others continued on with their business. When I paid the silent Ryu a glance, it startled me to see that he was already staring at me. Startled, my heartbeat picked up, warmth spreading across my face. "Iwasaki...?"

He turned the other way, craning his neck up at the sky. Baffled, I followed his gaze and just as I did, sparks floated into the sky and exploded into a series of colours. Oohs and aahs erupted from the civilians around us, and I was experiencing the same amount of awe. I'd always loved fireworks.

Aki's previous words flooded my mind and I found my gaze flickering onto Ryu. It wasn't long before he caught on to my staring and faced me, eyebrows scrunching up together. "Why are you watching me?" he asked. "I would've thought the fireworks would be keeping all your attention and yet it's me."

I wryly smiled. "Are you trying to hint at something?" Shaking my head, a loud breath left my mouth. "Iwasaki, did you really dye your hair because you wanted to?"

The corners of his lips downturned. "Why are you bringing this up again?"

"I'm curious," I said, following yet another beautiful spark.

It took him a while to answer. At first I believed I'd gone too far but Ryu soon spoke up, "I lost a bet against Aki."

My head jerked his way in surprise.

"That's why it's ginger." He didn't bother to elaborate further; only continued to eat and watch the sky.

I ended up frowning. "What'd... you have a bet about?"

Ryu's countenance contorted, allowing for my lips to clamp.

"Sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to pry again."

He shook his head and distributed a sigh. "No, it's fine. It's my fault for dragging you into my life."

I redirected my gaze. Whenever Aki was brought up, Ryu really did change.

"Honestly I never wanted you to figure out," Ryu went on. "It'd have been better if you were able to remain ignorant and not know about Aki."

I found it hard to speak so I simply produced a tight-lipped smile. "You must really not like Aki, huh?"

Ryu didn't answer. Instead, he said, "I know I told you stay away from him, but he wouldn't hurt you intentionally. Not a girl, anyway. But it's just..."

"You're keeping him away from me for a different reason?"

I probably hit the bingo because Ryu said, "Enough about Aki!" He leaned back and training his focus back onto the sky. "I want to focus on the fireworks."

"So that is the case."

"Man this takoyaki really is delicious," he murmured, stuffing his face.

"Don't you think it's unreasonable not to tell me why?"

"Wow, that firework looks a lot like a chrysanthemum."

I deadpanned. "I see how it is. But changing the subject isn't going to—"

"Did I tell you you're really pretty today?"

That shut me right up. Embarrassment seized me in one whole swoop as I stared at Ryu's face which possessed no means of dishonesty at all. He was being sincere. My heart thudded against my ribcage and I smacked his arm. "H-hey! D-don't just say that out of nowhere!"

Although I meant it for flustering me beyond compare, Ryu laughed. "Earlier, I was a little too shocked to tell you that," he admitted. "It's not strange."

I blushed even harder. "Y-you didn't have to bring that up!" I said with a grunt. "Jeez, way to make things awkward."

"And here I was hoping my smooth-talking skills I'd acquired from being Class President could pay off."

"With that kind of face I bet you just scared people away all the time."

"Why're you insulting my face?" He frowned. "I complimented you, didn't I?"

Fiddling with my thumbs, I admitted, "I can't take compliments well. Besides, I'm only wearing this because my mom wanted me to..."

Ryu nodded. "You're a mommy's girl aren't you?"

"Oh hush!"

As Ryu chuckled once again, realization suddenly washed over me.

"Hey, wait! You changed the subject!" I accused.

"Successfully," Ryu responded with a grin.

I aimed a dirty scowl his way. But deep down, I couldn't help but admit it was nice. It felt like I knew Ryu a little better now.

And that made me happy.