Hey everyone! I am taking part in the Flufftober this month. I missed the first three days but I'm hoping to do every day, Day 4 onwards. So here is my entry for today. I will be switching up fandoms but this one is for Appmon. The prompt is 'sparkles and fireworks'.
It had been a memory from their childhood – it had become almost tradition by now and even though Yuujin wasn't here to share in that festival spirit, Ai-chan was still here. Friends were always special and Yuujin and Ai had been his rocks growing up. Even if his best friend couldn't be here with him today, as Haru lit up the sparkler, waving it in the air, he almost felt the ghost of Yuujin's presence beside him.
"Ai-chan," Haru's voice was soft. "Can you feel that? Yuujin is still with us, in every moment, in every step that we take."
Ai's soft, tender hand grasped his own and he squeezed it. "He always will be, Haru-kun. In our memories."
What would have been a sad realisation of the friend they had lost in the war against Leviathan had turned into a more beautiful experience. A memory. One he and Ai could always come back to. The little moments, the small bouts of laughter. A chuckle escaped his lips as he heard kids laughing. Kids that had once been he, Yuujin and Ai. Yuujin would run with Ai and Haru chasing him, trying to grab the sparkler from him but he'd only let them catch up once the fireworks were about to start so they could all sit together and enjoy them. He put out the sparkler because he could see the sky starting to darken as it always did, sitting down in the soft, wet grass. Ai followed suit, sitting down beside him, and resting her head against his shoulder and he flushed a bit but smiled as the fireworks were started to come out.
As he watched, he felt a soft presence take his free hand as if someone were physically holding it. This startled him and he turned to see if Watson or someone else had come to sit beside him, but he didn't see anyone and he jumped slightly as he heard Ai gasp.
"Haru-kun, I felt something," Ai said softly.
"I felt it too," Haru said, and his eyes watered slightly but he smiled, pushing them back. No, Yuujin wouldn't want him to remember him with sadness but with something that made him smile. "I guess we can't break tradition, ne Yuujin?" It didn't bother him that this didn't make sense. It had always been the three of them on this night and it always would be. Haru. Ai. Yuujin. This was their night – their childhood and nothing, not even Leviathan could take that from them.
"Yuujin-kun," Ai murmured. "He really is still with us."
"Yeah," Haru said. "Today, Ai-chan, every year, it will always be the three of us. Forever."
Ai squeezed his hand. "Always."
Always and forever.