The fireworks show in Arakawa is tonight, but her schoolmates decided to put on a smaller show right here in the park. This way, they could all watch fireworks together without needing to travel, since she's still recovering from… whatever landed her in the hospital this time.
This isn't the first time the group's had such a gathering, but it's the first time they've invited Ukyo. He suspects it's only due to a secret plot he overheard to get some attractive single men in the vicinity for Sawa and Mine's review. Still, he's grateful to be here, talking and laughing with Shin, Ikki, Kent, Toma, and the rest. It's almost like he's one of them.
When the sun sets, Mine begins passing out sparklers. She hands one to Ukyo—already lit—and he twirls it anxiously between his fingers, trying to keep his breathing even. Not long ago, he burned to death, and, while he knows this fire is safe, it's difficult to look at the dancing light without tensing.
In an attempt to calm down, he wanders away from the group, near the old well. Maybe he'll drop the sparkler down there. If he did, could he get a glimpse of the bottom? Or is the well so deep he'd lose sight of the sparkler before it landed?
No, better to hold on to it. It's good practice, right? How can he bear an eternity of summer fireworks if he can't even hold onto a sparkler?
He sighs and turns his back on the well, resting against the edge. Back with the group, Sawa sets off a rocket. Her antics have put him on edge all evening, but this time doesn't bother him so much, with more distance between them. Objectively, that's foolish: If Sawa manages to set fire to the woods, that will pose a far greater danger to him than the sparkler in his hand.
Still…
He stares at the end of his sparkler. Awful. But pretty.
Someone else detaches from the group and approaches him. Ukyo lifts his eyes from the sparkler to see Shin. He's sort of flattered. Shin's spent the whole evening glued to his girlfriend's side. That he'd leave her behind to talk to him is like some kind of honor.
"Hey, that well's ancient. Is it really safe to lean on it like that?" The words alone would be kind and concerned, but his voice is so hostile they sound like an insult, or a threat. It feels like Shin's not only calling him an idiot but telling him his idiocy pisses him off.
"No," Ukyo responds, "It's very dangerous. They should just fill it in."
He remembers the cold, damp despair of dying down there. But that won't happen right now. Even if he did fall in, the others would see it happen and find a way to rescue him.
That's how he knows he won't fall in. The fate of death which follows him from world to world is adept at its task. When death comes for him this summer, it will be certain, with no hope of rescue.
Shin's nose wrinkles, but he says nothing. He retreats to gossip with his girlfriend some more. Ukyo tries not to stare at them.
It's kind of funny, that having all the others around keeps him safe from dying in the well, because it keeps her safe too. If he were to somehow get her alone…
Sawa sets off another rocket, a red starburst hanging low in the sky. There was a time he would've wanted to try to get photos of these fireworks, but tonight his eye is drawn to the more striking images on the ground: The way the red glow lights up all their faces, the rich dark shadows that form in contrast. He'd love to take some pictures, but that could lead to uncomfortable questions about where his camera's pointed.
Ukyo's sparkler runs its course, and he feels a twinge of relief when it fizzles out. He stands to throw it away, and a rock slides under his foot, nearly toppling him. He freezes in terror for several seconds, heart pounding, but doesn't fall. When, at last, he regains his senses, he shakily walks away.
It's a lot darker now the sun's fully set, and the adrenaline in his veins makes him jumpy. He peers at the shadowy trees, wondering what could be hiding around here.
No, he's being silly. He's with a group; why would someone attack him? And it's not as if there's dangerous wild animals here of all places… right? The twenty-fifth's still a while off. He needs to stop listening to his fried nerves and relax.
By his estimation, he's too jittery to socialize just yet, so he walks back to the well after dropping his spent sparkler in a trash can.
"Ukyo!" Shin calls to him from the rickety old pavilion the group's claimed for the night, "Why don't you stop testing your luck over there?"
"Come get another sparkler!" Mine adds.
Is Shin really so worried about his safety? Or is there some other reason he doesn't want Ukyo by the well? Or simply off by himself? Then again, does it matter?
Ukyo complies and returns to the group. He grits his teeth through another sparkler and more of Sawa's rockets. If the others think he's too quiet or tense, they're at least polite enough not to say so.
Eventually they run out of fireworks, and all the girls want to leave in a group. Toma, Ikki, and Kent all offer to accompany them. Chivalrous of them. Or perhaps something else: Only Shin and Ukyo are left behind to clean up the remaining trash.
"So what's your problem with us?" Shin unfolds and shakes out a garbage bag with alarming ferocity. Ukyo blinks at him.
"Sorry?"
"Don't play dumb. You've been eyeing me and my girlfriend all night. Why?"
Oh. He hasn't been as subtle as he thought, apparently. He watches Shin stomp over to the dirt patch where Sawa set off her rockets and start picking up debris.
"…you really want me to answer that, Shin? Can you imagine an answer you'd like?"
"Stop dodging. Do you think I pushed her off that cliff or something?" Oh right! That's this summer's hospital stay. "Are you angry we're still together after that?"
"I know you didn't push her off that cliff." Ukyo stands at the edge of the pavilion's floor, close to the northwest corner. He keeps his eyes trained to the ground, ostensibly searching for abandoned sparklers. "That said, I did warn you, didn't I? That the forest is dangerous at night? That, if you were to run into an accident, you should watch out for a second accident? You could've stayed at the lodge, after hearing that."
"What? When did you say all that?"
"Hm, perhaps I didn't. I did warn you, but I suppose it wasn't 'you' I warned. Oh well."
"What?" Shin looks confused—naturally—but mostly angry. He shakes his head violently, drops his trash bag, and stalks toward Ukyo. "Stop trying to distract me and answer my damn question: What's your problem? Are you jealous? Are you obsessed with her? Is that why you visit the café so much?"
Ukyo crosses his arms and leans his back against one of the pavilion's four wooden support beams. It gets harder and harder to care about what he says to the rest of them, the further he gets into August. None of this'll matter by the end of the month anyway, after all. And, besides, he's played enough poker with Shin to know better than to lie to him.
"You got me. I'm obsessed with her. Have been for a long time."
Shin's eyes widen—Why did he ask if he finds this answer so surprising?—but then quickly narrow.
"A 'long time,' huh? So this started before she fell off that cliff?" The boy stands uncomfortably close to him now. The support beam pressed against Ukyo's back is suddenly claustrophobic and he straightens up, feeling better when Shin backs off a hair.
"Yes." Long before.
"Huh. I should've figured this out sooner. Wish I had."
"It wouldn't've mattered." Why would it? Unless… "Hold on, you don't think I could be your 'culprit' now, do you?"
"Why shouldn't I, Ukyo? Can you give me any evidence that proves your innocence?"
Ukyo chuckles.
"For once, Shin, I can call your bluff. Come on. You know it wasn't me. You just wish it was. That would be so much easier, wouldn't it?"
Shin gapes at him but doesn't bother asking how he knows. Instead, he lets out a long sigh. Even in the dim moonlight, Ukyo can see how exhausted he is.
"…yeah. Okay, you're not the culprit," Shin grumbles, "But since you admit you're obsessed, I don't want to see you at the café anymore. And if Mine invites you out with us again, turn her down."
"You're telling me what to do now? And what will you do if I don't obey?" Ukyo doesn't actually have a problem with Shin's terms, but he's curious.
"Don't test me and you won't have to find out."
"Oh?" It's hurtful to laugh at a time like this, but Ukyo can't help himself. "But what if I want to find out? What will you do, Shin? Will you kill me? Prove you really are your father's son?" Even as the words leave his mouth, he feels guilty for such unnecessary cruelty. It's just so hard to stop himself sometimes, when the time limit draws near. He wants to blame moments like this on the other him, but, is that really fair?
Everything suddenly blurs in a starburst of pain and next thing Ukyo knows he's flailing backward and slamming into the support beam. Shin punched him in the mouth. Hard. He can't claim he didn't deserve it, but—
Crrraaaaaaaaaack!
The support beam shudders and splinters beneath his back. Damn, is tonight the night after all?
Ukyo's first instinct is to examine the roof above his head. (Have his many deaths eroded away the self-preservation instinct that would have him get out from under the roof?) Metal. Yeah, that'll be heavy enough.
The support beam breaks, and he falls the rest of the way backwards. Everything moves in slow motion. Before he hits the ground, he catches sight of the neighboring corner's support beam, already buckling. He hears Shin shout, and a red-gloved hand enters his field of vision, trying to pull him out of the way. Instead of taking it, Ukyo slaps Shin's hand away, like a startled parent keeping their child from touching the stovetop. No point letting the boy risk maiming himself just to die on him anyway.
The look of stunned and sickened horror on Shin's face is the last thing Ukyo sees, before the roof comes down and crushes him.