Chapter 34 (Yuiren)
Stalls lined the road, and people thronged the entire beachside area, all clad in traditional wear for the fireworks viewing that was soon to come. Yuiren had never seen so many people gathered for hanabi before, and certainly the fireworks festival in her hometown was held on a much smaller scale. It seemed everything was bigger and grander here, in Shichirigahama beach.
As the group split up, she found herself with Syo-kun and Ittoki-senpai, while Miki bounced away with Natsuki, Tokiya and Nanami went off somewhere together, and Aria went off in another direction sandwiched in between Masato and Ren. The other girl seemed a little off tonight, but before Yuiren could really pay attention, Syo was dragging her off somewhere by the arm.
It was amazing, but even after that terrific dinner, they'd still had room for festival snacks. Ittoki had purchased yakitoriand was munching on it with a speed that seemed to suggest that either the chicken on a stick was very good, or he hadn't eaten in five days. Having seen the amount he'd put away earlier that evening, Yuiren guessed it was the former.
Right now though, looking at the crowd, she was only worried about getting lost. Her two male companions, however, certainly did not share her concerns.
"I have a terrific sense of direction," Syo said, not quite bragging, but definitely close. "Anyway, even if we do get separated, we have the others' cell phone numbers, so we'll just call and meet up again."
That was true. Yuiren had her phone with her as well, a not-so-smart Nokia smartphone (that she fully intended to dump on one of her younger siblings as soon as she could afford a new iPhone), but the only number she had out of all the people she'd come here with, was Miki's. Aria apparently didn't have a cell phone. She'd wanted to ask for Ittoki's, but since he wasan idol, and so were the others, she figured that they wouldn't simply give out their personal phone numbers to just anybody. When she told this to her companions, they instantly scoffed and pointed out that Yuiren wasn't "just anybody".
"Here, Yui-chan, lemme take down your number," Syo said, whipping his phone out of his pocket with a flourish.
Ittoki sputtered around his mouthful of masticated chicken. "You can't just ask a girl for her number like that!"
"Why not? It's for safety," Syo argued. "What if she gets separated from us? You don't mind exchanging numbers with me, do you, Yuiren?"
Yuiren shook her head. Dutifully, she reeled off her number for Syo, who keyed it in quickly, before Ittoki could say anything else. When she glanced to the side, however, she was amused to see that her senpaihad also gotten his phone out and was keying it in as well.
"Call me," she said, smiling. "I'll save your phone numbers."
This was said without the benefit of hindsight, with her momentarily forgetting that she'd set her phone ringtone as Starish's most popular song. Syo called her first, and the intro to Maji Love 1000% instantly rang from her phone, followed by none other than Ittoki's voice asking, "Are you ready?"Yuiren instantly hit the busy signal button, but the damage was done: they'd heard. She blushed, while the boys stared at her for a long, incredulous moment before bursting out laughing.
Ittoki impishly rang her as well, about a minute later, and she groaned, silencing the ringtone as soon as she could.
"My sister's a huge fan of you guys," she said in her defense. "She made me one, too."
"Aw, Yui-chan," grinned Syo. "We're real flattered."
She swatted playfully at him, and changed the subject as quickly as possible. "Ooh, takoyaki!"
They accepted this new topic quite graciously, probably because they were boys, and boys were always hungry. Ittoki insisted on paying, so they each got some. Yuiren blew lightly on the flour ball and bit into it, only to laugh and fan her mouth.
"Burned my tongue," she sighed, it was a familiar occurrence when it came to her and hot festival food.
They wandered for the rest of the night, taking photos and trying out food and games. Yuiren bought a few souvenirs for her younger siblings, small items she knew they would love when she got home.
And then they reached the stall with the ring toss game.
Yuiren would have been quite happy to keep walking, she'd spent most of the money she'd brought with her on souvenirs. But Ittoki and Syo, caught up in a discussion on how these type of games were usually rigged (countered quickly by Syo's argument that it was all about how you threw the ring, because Miki alwayswon) decided to have a go at tossing. Yuiren perched herself on the edge of the stall and watched as the boys went at it.
Syo, for all his talk about how it was "all in the wrist", missed all but one of his throws, with the rings flying wildly at the stall operator and to the sides. Ittoki guffawed, but he did about the same, until one of his rings bounced off the side and hit the grand prize ring.
Yuiren let out an excited screech before she'd even registered that she was capable of making that kind of sound. "Senpai! You won!"
Ittoki seemed stunned - he'd just thrown his own argument about the system being rigged out the window. "Er... I did, didn't I?"
"I told you so!" Syo crowed, manfully clapping his groupmate on the back. "You're awesome, Otoya!"
"For you, or the lovely lady?" the stall operator asked, holding up a large stuffed dolphin that was at least twice the size of Cuddles-san. It was light gray with a white underside and before Yuiren could stop herself, she was reaching out to it and cuddling it close.
"You so cute," she cooed, hugging the plush toy to herself. "I lovedolphins."
Ittoki and Syo glanced at each other in quiet amusement. There was no question about who would be walking off with the dolphin now. Yuiren loved dolphins, they knew. The pendant around her neck gave it away, even if Yuiren herself hadn't mentioned it earlier while on Ren's yacht - she'd hoped to see a few.
She had one now.
"Thank you, senpai," she beamed, with a smile that made it difficult for either boy to look away, and when they did, it was with light blushes. She squished the soft toy closer to herself with a teasing grin. "I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be my Squishy, and..." She had to fight to keep from laughing at the looks on their faces. Apparently neither of them knew the line from Finding Nemo. "No, seriously, I think I'll call him Kakashi." She grinned to herself. "And he shall be my Kakashi, just like the one in the anime with the sexy voice."
Syo and Ittoki now looked like they didn't know whether to smile or gag. Chuckling to herself, Yuiren skipped (as well as one could while wearing geta) towards the next stall. "You boys coming, or you gonna stand there and try to win Iruka next?"
She was thankful she had brothers, because boy, thanks to them she definitely knew how to get guys to move fast.
Soon enough, it was time to head back to the beach to meet the others. Yuiren snuggled Kakashi-irukaa little closer to herself, unable to stop herself from smiling. It had been a fun night, with fun company, and she was content to bring it to an end soon. They met at the prearranged spot by the sand, where the others had already spread out a tarp for the fireworks viewing.
Most of them had arrived, Tokiya and Nanami already seated in one corner, and Miki, Natsuki and a lone Masato in another corner with a stuffed dog, various snacks, and a guitar. Yuiren stared at the last item curiously. Miki was on the phone, talking loudly and animatedly with her older brother.
"Nii-Nii, I got myself a new guitar!" she was saying, and they all heard her brother's response from the other end (either the loudspeaker was on or Miki had her phone volume up quite high).
"No way! How much did you spend on it?"
Miki giggled. "I didn't."
"...what?"
"I won it!" Miki crowed happily. "From one of the stalls at the hanabi place! She pwetty- she much pwettier than your darling!"
"... I don't like you no more. My darling is the prettiest thing ever! No one is prettier than my waifu!"
"My baby is prettier! So there!" And with a grin, Miki childishly cut the call and grinned at the others. "Hee hee hee."
"They are talking about guitars, right?" Ittoki stage-whispered to Syo, who shrugged.
"It's hard to tell, with those two," he whispered back seriously.
Yuiren introduced Kakashi to Miki very quickly, and met 'Pakkun' - though he didn't really look like a pug (Syo grumbled something about Miki and naming all her stuffed toys names that started with the letter 'P') - and they both spent a few minutes cooing over each others' stuffed animals before trading them back. Yuiren tucked Kakashi into her yukata - apparently the dolphin was cold, for all that it was a lovely warm summer night.
"Oh hey, where's Aria and Jinguji-senpai?" she asked, once the dolphin was secure. She glanced curiously at Masato, who shrugged, then pointed off to where they could just make out the two slowly approaching.
Curiously, it seemed they were holding hands.
Yuiren wasn't sure she understood what that meant, but she felt Miki stiffen slightly beside her and sigh.
"So much for the broom closet," her friend mumbled, too softly for anyone but the two of them to hear.
Yuiren hugged Kakashi closer and wondered what exactly was going on. All of a sudden, there was definitely a chill in the warm night, and it sure as heck wasn't from the sea breeze.
Author (Aria's) Note: Yuiren's ringtone! And gosh Miki and Saeki chatting about guitars makes me laugh everytime I re-read that bit, lol~
Author (Yuiren's) Note: Character names are lovingly borrowed from Naruto, we don't own them, but we feel they're awesome enough for the dolphin and stuffed doggy to use!
Please R&R if you like and do stay tuned!