Episode 14: A Summer Festival Date With My Childhood Friend Is Just Too Convenient!
The harbor festival grounds were already packed with people.
Lantern light, and the smell of food stalls.
Distant festival music drifting in from somewhere.
Today’s the local summer festival. The main event every year is the fireworks show.
If it’d just been me alone, I probably wouldn’t have come.
But Makina’s right beside me, so…
“We rushed getting here, but there’s still some time before the fireworks.”
I glance over, and Makina’s dressed more casually than usual today.
A simple white T-shirt, easy-to-move-in shorts.
Her hair’s tied back looser than usual too, giving off a kind of cool, breezy air.
“Hey, come to think of it, was it okay not wearing a yukata, Makina? You always wore one every year.”
“Hmm… I managed on my own up through last year, but this year’s a bit… And besides, without someone to help tie it properly, it’s tough to manage completely solo.”
“I wish I could’ve helped tie it for you, honestly. Unfortunately I don’t really trust myself with that…”
“It’s fine, Yotsuka. What matters way more than what you wear is who you come with, right?”
My cheeks go hot without warning.
Trying to cover it, I let my eyes drift off in some random direction.
“Y-yeah? Still, there’s a ton of people, huh~. Definitely more than last year, right?”
“This is the only festival around here that does a fireworks show, isn’t it? Everyone wants to see them. The fireworks.”
“I wouldn’t come here alone, honestly.”
“Funny, same here. I don’t think I’d come alone either… maybe.”
Is that okay, Makina? Me fitting into that most-important slot like that…?!
◇◆◇◆◇
We push through the crowd together, side by side.
“Don’t get separated from me, Yotsuka.”
Makina says that and grabs my hand.
…No, wait, she just — squeezed it. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world!
H-hey, Makina…! Give me a heads-up before holding hands! A person needs time to mentally prepare!!
But there’s no reason to shake it off.
Actually, there’s absolutely no way I’d want to shake it off.
My palm’s slowly warming up where our hands meet.
Ah, I’m starting to sweat too.
But at this point I honestly can’t tell if that’s from the crowd or from Makina’s hand.
“Oh, a shooting gallery!”
Makina’s eyes light up in front of a stall.
“Want to try it, Makina?”
“I’ve never done it before, I want to give it a shot!”
“These things are usually rigged so nothing actually falls, though…”
“Is that so? Well, life’s about the experience!”
Letting go of my hand, Makina takes a cork gun from the stall owner and levels it with a dead-serious expression.
“Which one do you want?”
“I’m aiming for… that one, I think.”
“That cat plush?”
Pop — a light sound, and the cork veers off to the side of the target.
“Oh.”
“Three shots left…”
“Still three, though.”
I’d been secretly thinking that cat plush was kind of cute.
Maybe I wanted it a little too, honestly.
The second shot only grazes the edge of the target without knocking it down either.
“Ngh…!”
“Ooh, so close!”
The stall owner chimes in from the side.
Yeah, mister, that’s definitely just a customer-service line. It didn’t even come close to grazing it.
“Makina, turns out you’re kind of a sore loser, huh.”
“I-it’s not that, exactly… one more!”
“Keep ‘em coming, young lady!”
Third shot, fourth shot, both miss in a row, and the crease between Makina’s brows gets a little deeper each time.
Every time, the stall owner keeps up his mysterious play-by-play commentary — “So close!” “Must’ve been the wind, the wind.”
There’s no wind, though. Even the fan in the back of the stall’s turned off.
“So frustrating… not even grazing it, let alone knocking it down. Yotsuka, the last shot’s up to you…!”
“Wait, me?!”
“I never said I was good at this kind of thing either—”
I take the cork gun in her place.
“Oh, is that your girlfriend there? Go get it for her!”
“N-no, that’s not it at all!!”
Flustered, I steady my aim and pull the trigger.
Pop.
The cork shoots straight, drawn like a magnet toward the cat plush.
And then, it just — flops right over.
“Ah.”
“You did it! Amazing! You’re amazing, Yotsuka!!”
Makina throws both hands up, delighted.
Taking the plush from the stall owner, she happily hugs it to her chest.
“Yotsuka, turns out you’ve got a real talent for shooting galleries.”
“Eh, just a fluke. Total fluke.”
“Ehe, but still…”
Makina readjusts the plush in her arms.
“Do you know why I wanted this one, Yotsuka?”
“Huh? I don’t know, just… thought it was cute?”
“Nope.”
Makina smiles, just a little proud of herself.
“Doesn’t it kind of… resemble your face, Yotsuka?”
For a second, my mind goes completely blank.
My heart gives an odd, jarring thump.
I can feel the heat rushing straight up to the tips of my ears.
“Th-that’s…”
“Come on, let’s go!”
Makina keeps the plush hugged carefully to her chest, showing no sign whatsoever of letting go.
As for me, I have no choice but to trail along behind her, still stuck with a face that won’t stop being red.
◇◆◇◆◇
“Hey, Yotsuka, doesn’t that smell amazing… takoyaki, right?”
“Makina, if you want takoyaki, just say you want takoyaki.”
“Ehe… caught?”
Our hands find each other again.
It used to be, just her hand brushing mine would make me flinch.
But since we started living together, I’ve gotten a little more used to it.
Well, “used to it” — my heart’s still just as busy as ever.
But I can feel myself slowly, gradually settling into the feeling of her hand in mine, like this.
Is it bad that I kind of wish it could just stay like this, forever?
We buy the takoyaki and sit down side by side on the curb, tucked out of the way of the crowd.
“Yotsuka, here, say ah.”
“No, no, no, I can feed myself.”
“Just, here.”
Refusing never works — this is the usual pattern.
Giving up, I open my mouth and eat.
…Though calling it “giving up” doesn’t quite feel accurate either.
“Good?”
“Good.”
“Right? Right? Told you, right?”
“Wait, that’s a lot of pressure for something you didn’t even make?”
Makina smiles, satisfied.
Every time I see that smile, I think the same thing.
However many times I see it, I want to keep seeing it.
…Hey, Makina.
That thing you said earlier. About the plush.
Could I ask a little more about that?
The words rise all the way to my throat, and I swallow them back down anyway.
It looks like my face.
So why are you still holding it so carefully?
Why am I so happy about this right now?
If I asked, I felt like something would break.
This — this exact distance between us.
So, not now.
Not yet.
“Yotsuka, there’s something else I want to eat…”
“Just eat whatever you want… you get paid daily at Kisa-san’s place, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah… I kind of want shaved ice.”
“You really do eat a ton, huh…”
We stand up and walk back into the crowd.
Makina walks beside me, happily hugging the cat plush. Our hands find each other again.
We line up at the shaved ice stall.
For a moment, the noise around us seemed to fade, just slightly.
What is this feeling.
“—Huh? Isn’t that Yotsuka?”
I turn toward the voice.
A face I recognize.
Hiiragi-senpai.
Back in middle school, she was my team captain during my second year on the basketball team.
“Long time no see. What are you up to?”
Right.
Turns out things weren’t convenient at all.