The prospect of a festival excited Astral. The only one he observed was the culture festival that Yuma's school held but this time he got to participate. Yuma had explained that this one was different from the school one and was to celebrate some sort of holiday but Yuma being Yuma, he forgot which one.

"To be honest I really don't care but I really do enjoy the food there." He admitted.

That made Astral's mouth water. He loved trying new food. Maybe would finally discover if pancakes had actually pans in them.

The day before the festival Astral had found Haru looking over colorful robes in the living room.

"What are you doing Grandma?" He asked.

"Picking yukatas for the whole family for the festival tomorrow night," She smiled as she unfolded one, "I want to make sure everyone looks their best." She held up a red one up to Astral and shook her head, "Not quite….." Haru looked over the yukatas, "We certainly bought a lot of red ones for Yuma, he never really branched out in is favorite colors."

"I really can't picture Yuma in any other color than red." Astral admitted.

"That boy sure has a limited wardrobe…..perhaps we should purchase a new yukata for you Astral."

"Th-that won't be necessary! I'll just borrow one."

"Nonsense…." Haru grabbed Astral's hand, "You are part of the family now and I insist that you have a yukata of your own." Haru dragged Astral off as he grabbed her purse and slipped on her sandals. "Now be a good grandson and escort your grandmother as she does her shopping."

Astral had a feeling that this might have been something he should have backed out of.

….

The festival music was loud and the crowd was even louder. The smells of food from various vendors and the smoke of the fireworks and sparklers were present as well. Astral had to admit, this was quite the chaotic atmosphere.

"I can't believe you survived shopping with grandma." Yuma said adjusting the sash of his yukata.

"I was unaware a simple act of shopping could take several hours just to seek one item." Astral smoothed the lining of his own. Haru had selected a light blue yukata with a starlight pattern. It had been found at the third shop they went to after Haru had a pleasant conversation with the owner that lasted an hour. A similar conversation was held with the previous two shop owners. In short…it was a very long and boring trip for Astral. Still, he was grateful for Haru for purchasing the yukata for him.

"So what do you want to do first? Food? Games? Wonder around?" Yuma asked.

"Food. Takoyaki?"

"Sure thing!" They found the stall and purchased several servings of the octopus dumpling that disappeared into their stomachs in a matter of minutes.

"What's that going on over there?" Astral pointed to another stall.

"Looks like a shooting gallery. Want to give it a shot?"

It took Astral a few tries to get the hang of the toy weapon but he and Yuma did eventually win a few boxes of pocky.

"I don't get why you didn't go for the bigger prizes." Yuma said munching on their spoils of war.

"Because they were too heavy to knock over with the force provided by the toy gun. It made more sense to go for the smaller targets as they were easier to knock over therefore we would not waste ammo."

"I still wanted to get that action figure…."

"Some other time Yuma."

"You like the festival so far?" Yuma was curious.

"It's interesting, defiantly a different atmosphere from the school festival. Here you can see all sorts of families going about enjoying the evening. There are so many colors, smells, sounds. It's amazing."

"Wait till you see the fire works! Those are my favorite part. And I know the perfect spot to watch them."

"Lead the way then."

The area by the creek was quite compared to the festival atmosphere. It was darker too but Yuma insisted that it made watching the fireworks easier.

"Any time now…." He whispered.

There was a whistle in the distance as something shot into the sky, then boom! Astral couldn't believe it! Reds, blues, golds, greens, all sorts of colors shot across the sky in patterns that flashed in dimmed. Shot after shot more and more of these lights danced across the sky.

"Amazing…."

"This is why I love festivals."

"I think it has become my favorite part too."