Festival Tales
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
It is probably a question all parents have to deal with at one point or another, was it okay to let go? It was a question that was weighing heavily on Mrs Tachibana and Mrs Nanase. The winter festival was on and their sons wanted to go. But neither mother could accompany them. Mrs Nanase had been schedule for the late shift at the supermarket for the foreseeable future and Mrs Tachibana didn't want to take her twin infants into the cold and crowd. Neither of their husbands were in town. They could just tell their sons no but they were eight going on nine. This may well be too young for many parts of the world but Iwatobi was a small town with an extremely low crime rate. This allowed the town's children to have a large degree of freedom.
Plus Haru and Makoto would be together. Like they always were. Surely it would be okay. Afterall, the boys managed to take themselves back and forth from school and swim club well enough. Indeed, they had even found their way to the swim club on their own even on the first day. Makoto had been a bit worried but Haru had been confident and Makoto had trusted Haru completely. So perhaps it would be okay to let him go to the festival by themselves. The mothers decided to take the plunge.
As the sun started to set, Haru came down the stone temple stairs to Makoto's house. He was already dressed in his kimono. Quite a thick one on account of it being winter. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for it to be opened. It was shortly by his very excited best friend, "Haru-chan, Haru-chan! Look, look," Makoto twirled a bit to show-off his bottle green kimono, "Isn't this pretty! It's new. My grandparents sent it for me."
"It's very nice," replied Haru simply. Makoto always looked nice but he seemed extra happy today and that made Makoto look even better.
Makoto's smile broadened as his mother came up behind him, "You look nice Haruka," she said.
"Yes! You look very pretty Haru-chan!" Makoto agreed.
"Thanks," came Haru's brief reply.
"Okay boy, stay together," she instructed, "And don't stray away from the crowd. Makoto," she knelt down to be eye level with him and handed him a little bag that matched is kimono, "I put your money in there and also my old phone. Careful not to lose it," she told him as she looped the purse around his wrist.
"I won't," Makoto promised his mother before turning to Haru and saying excitedly, "Let's go Haru-chan!" Haru simply nodded, only then realising that not only had Makoto been calling him Haru-chan but that he hadn't asked Makoto to stop yet. Haru wondered if it was because they were both nervous about going to the festival by themselves. His mother had asked him before if he was nervous. Haru had denied it. But maybe he was and so was Makoto.
It took them less than fifteen minutes to walk down to the section of the beach boardwalk where the festival was taking place. The area had been beautifully decorated with lanterns. Makoto didn't know where to look or where to go first. "What do you want to do, Haru?" he asked, "Should we go play some games? Get some food? I want to have cotton candy, Yakisoba, choco banana and maybe some Karaage too!"
"That might be too much Makoto," Haru replied with a slight grin before looking around, "Look, there's a Karaage stall over there. Let's get some Karaage and then we can look around for some games to play."
"Good idea," agreed Makoto as they headed for the stall.
They finished the Karaage as they walked. After they were done, they decided to play some festival games. Makoto was rubbish, Haru won with ease. "Haru-chan is so good!" Makoto praised. Haru simply shrugged and suggested they go find a cotton candy stall.
As they walked to the stall, Makoto got distracted by some water whistles. They were so pretty! They were mostly shaped like birds but there were a few that were shaped like dogs and cats. There was even a fish. Makoto decided to get a cat for himself and a fish for Haru. It was only after he had paid for the whistles that he looked around for Haru and realised he wasn't there. "Ha… Haru-chan!" he cried distressed.
Oh no! Oh no! He had gotten separated from Haru! What was he supposed to do now? Wait here? Head towards the direction Haru and he had been heading and maybe look for a cotton candy stall? Makoto also remembered that there was an announcer somewhere who Makoto had once heard advertise about a lot child. Mostly the announcer informed the crowd when it was time to go home. Makoto was just thinking about asking the water whistle seller where the announcer was when he heard his name being called.
"Makoto!" It was Haru, he had just spotted Makoto and was rushing towards him. To other people, he would look mostly calm but Makoto could tell that Haru had been very worried.
"Haru-chan!" Makoto moved towards him, meeting him halfway, "I am sorry, Haru. I stopped to buy these for us," he presented the fish to Haru, "But I should have told you to wait," he admitted.
Haru nodded before blowing on the whistle a bit, "Thank you," he said finally. Then, he took Makoto's hand, "Come on," he said, "Let's go get cotton candy," and don't let go. Haru didn't say the last bit out loud but Makoto could tell that's what he was thinking.
So Makoto smiled and said, "Don't worry Haru, I won't let go," Haru didn't speak but he did squeeze Makoto's hand. Just a little bit.
Author's Note: Just a bit of fluff for the MakoHaru festival.