At the end of summer you were supposed to set off fireworks…even though both Mob and Sho knew that it was dangerous…but it was summer ad this was what you were supposed to do at the end of summer…
So that was what they were going to do. Shimazaki found fireworks and the sun was going down and now they were going to set them off. Mob had seen fireworks more times than she could count, she felt like she had spent half of her life at Disneyland after all, but she had never set any off. Also she had never watched them with anyone other than Sho. Back when they had lived at the Castle mom had just showed them fireworks on the TV. It was too dangerous for them to go and watch them with other people, mom had said, because something could happen. Mob didn't see, though, what was so dangerous about watching fireworks.
Setting them off seemed like something that was A LOT more dangerous.
"Fire in the hole!" shouted Shimazaki as he like another fuse. This was a good time for fireworks. It felt like the sun had mostly gone down. He would have waited until the sun was totally gone but two members of Operation: Don't Lose Any Fingers, were kids and they had to get home and go to bed and other such kid things. He didn't know when their bedtimes were but he knew that Toshi would kill him if he kept them up past their bedtimes.
But, hey, he just wanted to hear some explosions and smell some gunpowder. He could do that at high noon if he wanted to.
"Get back further you moron….or don't. I don't give a damn." said Minegishi from their spot on the grass. There was a reason that Shimazaki had called this Operation: Don't Lose Any Fingers. It wouldn't be too bad if he lost any fingers, it served him right really and they had a healer, but that was a lot of work that they did not want to have to deal with. They'd have to find his severed fingers and then deal with Fukuda because he was the only one who could reattach them, well there were hospitals but why go to the hospital when you had a healer on call?
"I hope he doesn't end up getting blown up." Said Mob. They were in the backyard of the house that her friends lived. Today was the end of summer, well Shimazaki declared it to be the end of summer, and then he had said that they were going to set off some fireworks that he had gotten from his friend in exchange for….well Mob didn't know what. Minegishi had covered her ears and ushered her out of the room. Probably something bad then. She hoped that he hadn't been fighting anyone.
"I don't care if he gets blown up." Said Sho. He crossed his arms and dug his shoes into the grass. Shimazaki still hadn't apologized for the bird thing. He was only there because he liked fireworks. He didn't care that Shimazaki was there. He still hadn't said sorry for letting that bird peck his head. Was it so hard to say sorry!? No harder than teleporting into his yard and telling him and big sis that they had to come over and watch fireworks….
"Sho! That's not nice. Shimazaki is our friend." Said Mob
"I don't care. I hope he gets blown up." Said Sho
"Sho…that's mean. Don't wish death on people. That's not nice." Said Mob
"I don't want him dead I just want him…hurt, I guess." Said Sho
"But you shouldn't want your friends to get hurt. Even if Shimazaki can be sort of annoying sometimes he's still our friend and I don't want him to get blown up and I'm sure that he wouldn't want you to get blown up either. We should be nice to him even if he's annoying and stuff sometimes." Said Mob. She took her brother's hand and tried to get him to listen…but then he pulled away. She wished she knew how to fix this, the way Sho felt, but she didn't. She wasn't good at these talking sort of things…even though she tried very hard.
"Yeah Little Suzuki. I mean he can be kind of…himself…sometimes and he's always jumping out to scare you…even though it's not funny….and also he eats everyone's food even though I specifically leaned brail and got a brail label maker….and also he puts wet towels back on the towel rod…and also…." Said Shibata. Little Suzuki should not have been talking like that! He was such a nice kid! Shibata hadn't hung out with him in so long. It felt like years and years. He was so adorable if he was scowling and ripping up handfuls of the grass.
"If you like him so much then why don't you marry him?" asked Sho as he ripped some grass up from his hands. He reached down to pull up some more and felt something sharp poke him on the hand…a little thorny vine. He felt Minegishi's aura focusing on him. What were they so upset about? It was just grass! There was plenty of grass! There was more grass on the ground than there were people in the world probably!
"Someone's getting married? Who in the hell would want to marry one of us? Suzuki's kids excluded, of course." Said Shimazaki as he teleported to a safe distance away. That fuse was way too long. He didn't like to wait. He wanted to hear some explosions and smell some gunpowder! Ok, he was cutting the rest of the fuses short. He didn't know what Toshi was so worried about. He had been drunk the time he held on to the firework for too long and blew his fingers off.
He was fine, now, those nice people at the hospital had reattached his fingers good as new.
"You guys could marry each other…if you really want to….not that I know why you would want to because everyone's just friends and also you fight a lot…but you could if you wanted to…in some countries…and we go to those countries sometimes…and you could all get married…well then Shibata would be the odd one out…but I made this new friend named Hatori and-" said Mob. She wasn't sure, entirely, where she was going with the. She tucked her vape further into her pocket. That was enough of that. Minegishi said that when Mob's brain stopped working it was time to put the vape pen away.
"Mob, quit while you're behind." Said Minegishi. They leaned in close. Yup. Someone had been at it again. It was difficult to teach Mob moderation when they were being undermined at every turn…and if Shimazaki ended up blowing his fingers off again then it would serve him right.
"Well Toshi if you want to-" said Shimazaki
"Shibata wants to marry you even though he thinks that you leave your wet towels on the towel rack and that you-" said Sho
"Look, it's going up. Come on Sho, look." Said Mob. She pointed at the sky. She didn't want anyone to fight with anyone else and she did not want Sho, especially, to fight. He had been so mad at Shimazaki because of the thing with the momma bird even though Sho had been healed up just fine and also…well….maybe he and Shimazaki should not have been playing with a bird's nest anyway. Not to blame the victims or anything…but maybe they should have just left the birds alone…because birds did not like it when you messed with their nests….
She just wanted everyone to get along.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see it." Said Sho. He crossed his arms and kicked his feet but he watched. He liked the kind that went up super high and then filled the sky with colors. Even though, also, there were a lot of trees around and maybe this wasn't safe all the way because those trees could have had bird families in them and stuff. The bird families could get scared, well the momma bird could, and then the babies would be alone and…
And he and Shimazaki weren't going to be rescuing any more birds together. Sho would do it himself, later, after staking out the nest for a few hours to make sure that the momma bird wasn't going to be coming back.
"Very nice, Shimazaki. Ok, let's all go inside and not get eaten by mosquitos." Said Minegishi as they murdered a bug who dared to try and steal their blood for it's own sustenance. Nope. They needed their blood and they did not need some itchy spot that they would scratch at until it broke open and bled.
"Here, you want some more bug spray?" asked Shibata
"No, bug spray is poison." Said Minegishi
"That's the point though….right? To keep the bugs off of you?" asked Mob
"Of course that's the point! Spray me! Quick!" said Sho. The mosquitos liked him. They thought that his blood was tasty. Maybe it was all the sugar he ate. He had heard about that, that you could give yourself high blood sugar, and that must have been why the bugs liked him so much. He didn't know why the bugs were biting someone like Minegishi, though. Who would want their blood? It was probably all sour like lemon juice.
"That's it, end the bloodline there." said Minegishi rolling their eyes. They wanted to go inside but they couldn't go inside because they were not leaving Mob alone out here. If they left Mob alone with Shimazaki then they knew what she would get up to. She would try and smoke or drink without her little brother noticing and would probably either fail and get the lot of them in trouble or she'd succeed and totally overdo it because she was ten and didn't know the meaning of the word moderation.
So Minegishi had to be the responsible one.
"If I have to end my bloodline in a terrible, fiery, bloody fireworks accident then so be it." Said Shimazaki before teleporting right back to his fireworks hoard. Was this even legal? He had no idea. Well it was all Claw in this area anyway and nobody would dare say a thing to the cops. That would be a one way ticket to the deepest traitor hole.
"Do a big one this time! It'll cheer little Suzuki up!" said Shibata. He couldn't stand to see a little person so very upset. Poor little guy. He was still scared because a bird had pecked at him. Shimazaki should have done more to protect him. That was what you were supposed to when you were with little people. You were always supposed to keep them safe. That was why you were bigger than them.
"I don't need cheering up…I am cheerful…the most cheerful…." Said Sho as he pulled up more and more handfuls of grass. He was cheerful. He was the most cheerful. He was watching fireworks. Who wouldn't be cheerful when there were fireworks going off? A weirdo, that was who, and he was not a weirdo. He was the happiest and the most cheerful, too. He was happy!
"Are you sure? Because your aura feels upset and you're also ripping up handfuls of the grass." Said Mob. She made the grass grow back before Minegishi did. They had accidentally made a thorny vine before and Sho's hand had gotten hurt. That was ok, sometimes accidents happened, and also Minegishi would have said sorry if they had noticed what they did.
"Well I am, ok? I'm not upset about anything at all. The only thing that I want to do is watch some fireworks…ok?!" said Sho. He tried to make himself calm down. He was not supposed to yell at his sister because then he would be upset with himself and then he would have to make it up to her by playing the Shoko game again and he really did not want to wear one of her itchy and uncomfortable dresses. Also if he yelled at her then that would make him a jerk and he was done being a jerk. Dad was a jerk and the world did not need another dad, well his dad, in it.
"Ok. But if you were upset then you could tell me." Said Mob
"He knows. Don't keep bringing it up or you'll just end up pissing him off." Said Minegishi. They did not want to deal with Suzuki's shrieking demon child. They didn't know why Ryou invited him. Well because he had a soft spot for the kid and also Minegishi strongly suspected that he wanted to have kids…even though he knew for a fact that he was the last person who should have been reproducing. Not that they cared. He could do whatever he wanted, they didn't care. He could go out there and get a hundred women pregnant. A thousand. A million. They didn't care just so long as they were not included in that number.
The only kid that they could stand was Mob and even then it had taken years to get to this point.
"No you won't…..maybe you will just….just watch the fireworks." Said Sho. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to talk about any of it. He wanted an apology but he couldn't ask for one without looking dumb and he had already looked dumb enough around Shimazaki….and he didn't even know why that mattered. Shimazaki had come into his yard and asked him specifically, well him and big sis specifically, if they wanted to watch some fireworks. Of course he had said yes, they were fireworks, and he knew that the fact that Shimzaki had asked him meant that he still wanted to be friends…
But he still could have said sorry for being a jerk.
"Ok…" said Mob. She so hated it when Sho was upset and she especially hated it when there was nothing that she could do about it. Sometimes people needed to get themselves sorted out, Minegishi had said, and Mob….she knew that sometimes people had to get themselves sorted out on their own but she didn't see why people should have had to be all alone like that. There was no worse feeling than being alone.
She took Sho's hand.
He wasn't alone. He had her and no matter how upset he go, or what he was so upset about, he would always have her. She was his big sister and even if she wasn't, even if she had just been his friend or someone he didn't even know that well, she still would have been there for him. She just wished that it was easier, being there for him, but it wasn't.
At least they had fireworks they could watch, though.
"I'm not afraid of the fireworks." Said Sho as big sis held his hand. When he had been little, a lot littler than he was now, he had been scared just a little bit because they were loud and stuff. Well he wasn't six anymore. No, he was nine and he was not afraid of the fireworks at all…but he held her hand because maybe she was just a little bit scared. That last one had hit a tree and then exploded kind of low to the ground.
"Well you should be considering the fact that we almost got incinerated. Shimazaki, come on. Aim away from the trees." said Minegishi. First of all they did not fancy spending the night getting their massive burns healed by Fukuda and second of all trees could feel pain and that one felt pain and Minegishi did not want to deal with that right now or ever.
"Maybe someone who can actually see should be the one doing this. Just a thought." Said Shimazaki as he went through his fireworks hoard looking for a big one. This was fun. The explosions, the bursts of heat and sound, and everyone's reactions to this. He had picked a good night for this. Suzuki was elsewhere so there was no one around to shit all over their fun. Well there was Toshi but they were just worried about him. They were capable of that, being worried about another human being, they just liked to pretend that they weren't.
"You can see the trees. You said that you could sense the world around you and…stuff." Said Shibata. He actually wasn't sure how well Shimazaki could see. He couldn't see that all the food was labeled, apparently, but he could dodge bullets and stuff…and Shibata had no idea how that worked or even if it was ok to ask how that worked.
"To a degree." Said Shimazaki. He could see every single tree within range but he wasn't going to tell Shibata that. He wasn't aiming towards the trees, that would have been stupid, but if a firework happened to hit one of the trees and a fire started well that would be pretty exciting now wouldn't it? Things had been so boring around here since Suzuki's son got all mad at him for some reason. Now there was a kid with a sense of fun.
When he wasn't sulking, that is.
And he had been sulking for a while now. He had been sulking and there was nothing fun at all about sulking. What was even with him? He used to be the most fun…well the second most fun…ever. His sister was a pretty fun kid but he was fun too. Fun in a different way. He wanted the kid to be fun in his way…but for some reason he just…wasn't being fun. It made no sense. He should have been all over this. He should have been begging to set off fireworks and have roman candle fights and all the other fun things a person could do with fireworks.
Well then he would have to do something about this.
"….can't see birds…." Muttered Sho. He maybe shouldn't have said that. He thought that he was being quiet but Shimazaki had very good hearing. Maybe he wanted him to hear. Maybe he wanted him to hear and then feel bad about laughing at him…because friends didn't laugh at friends…even if Sho had made an idiot out of himself.
He felt the energy around him shift.
And then there was grass under his feet again. He stumbled a bit but didn't fall. No, he was caught. He was caught and steadied. He pushed away the hands that were holding him up even though he didn't want to…well he did and he didn't. He mostly didn't. He mostly didn't so he pushed Shimazaki away from him.
"Wha0's you bring me here fort?!" asked Sho. He crossed his arms and stomped his feet and he would have hit Shimazaki if he could. He knew that he couldn't hit Shimazaki unless he wanted to be hit but he didn't want to be hit. They hadn't come here to play fight. Sho had no idea where 'here' even was but he knew that they hadn't come here to play fight.
Even though he wanted to.
Sho didn't know how he felt. He missed hanging out with Shimazaki, he was the coolest guy ever, but also…also he had looked so stupid and Shimazaki probably thought that he was dumb…even though he had brought him there…but also Shimazaki had been a jerk. If he had been a jerk and stuff then why did Sho still want to be friends with him? He just…he didn't know what his feelings even were!
So he stomped his feet and hurt the grass. He didn't care. It was better to hurt the grass than to hurt another person even if that other person was Shimazaki.
"Sidebar. You've been sulky lately. It's really bringing down the mood. So come on, tell me what's up? Want to throw rocks at me until you feel better? Hit each other with sticks? Find another bird's nest?" asked Shimazaki
"Shut up about birds…." Said Sho. He couldn't look at Shimazaki even though he knew that Shimazaki was looking at him. Even if he wasn't facing him he was looking at him so there was no point in Sho turning away but he did because it made him feel better and stuff. He was just…mad. He was mad at Shimazaki and mad at himself and also mad at birds even though the birds hadn't done anything to him besides peck his head and even then that was only the momma bird and only because he had taken her babies out of their tree and stuff….but he was still mad at himself and at Shimazaki and also at birds and…and stuff.
"What? We have fun last time we found birds. Come on, you're usually fun. Get back to being fun already. Suzuki-chan? Little Suzuki? Sho? Come on?" asked Shimazaki. He poked him a few times. He had to get this kid back to normal. That was his mission as of then seconds ago.
"Leave me alone, ok?! It wasn't fun the last time we found birds. It was scary and it was…it felt bad. Ok? It felt bad and I'm….I'm still mad at you! Ok?! You handed me the nest and you let the momma bird peck my head and you….you laughed at me! And it was mean!" said Sho. He didn't want to say it, well scream it, but it was either he scream it out or he hit Shimazaki. He didn't want to start a fight that he couldn't finish and also…also he didn't want to be the sort of person who just beat people up all the time…he didn't want to be like dad…
So he just settled for screaming.
"Whoa, whoa, bring it down to eleven, huh? Come on, it was fun. Finding the birds was fun and taking the nest was fun and even the part where you got pecked was fun. Actually that was the most fun. That bird was so pissed at you…." Said Shimazaki. That whole thing had been fun and hilarious. Besides, the kid had gotten all healed up. No harm no foul. So what was he so worked up over.
"None of that was fun! It hurt and it was scary and then you laughed at me and-and-and-and why did you have to laugh at me! I thought that we were friends!" shouted Sho. He took off his shoe and threw it at Shimazaki. He hadn't been planning on it, his shoe had just come loose in the course of his stomping, and then he had the idea to throw his shoe and then he had to throw his shoe because, well, what else was he supposed to do?! Besides, Shimazaki deserved it! And also this didn't count as hitting because the shoe had been the thing to hit Shimazaki and not Sho's fist!
Well almost hit him.
Shimazaki caught his shoe and teleported in front of him. Sho wiped his eyes and snatched his shoe back. Shimazaki crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. Sho felt like he was being looked at. Well he was being looked at. He was being stared at and…and it felt like he was being picked apart. Like he was being sized up.
"You throw pretty hard, you know that?" asked Shimazaki. Well then. This kid was well and truly pissed off at him. What was up with him? He's apparently been sitting on this since it happened. Shimazaki felt…not good. He didn't want to piss the little guy off…well not this badly….not badly enough that he stopped being fun.
"Shut up." Said Sho as he put his shoe back on.
"Nope. I can't do that." Said Shimazaki with a shrug.
"Why not? It's easy. You just stop saying stuff to me. It's not even doing anything. It's the opposite of doing anything." Said Sho
"Well I can't shut up because you're pissed off. Normally I wouldn't care, there's a lot of entertainment value in you being pissed off, but we went too far in the other direct. The whole thing went horseshoe shaped and, honestly, it's not a fun shape." Said Shimazaki
"So? What do you care if I'm…if I'm pissed off? Why the hell do you care?" asked Sho. He said the words, the ones he didn't usually use, because he was just that mad at Shimazaki…and also big sis wasn't there to tell him not to curse. He had to curse. This was a cursing situation.
"Well someone's upset. It's a shame Shibata isn't here. He'd be all over this adorableness." Said Shimazaki. There was something oddly adorable about a nine year old's attempt at cursing him out. If Shimazaki ever had a son he hoped that his son was better at cursing him out than Sho was. Also that his son just kicked his ass on the day that Shimazaki pissed him off and didn't just let this stew until he exploded like an unattended to pressure cooker.
"Shut the hell up you…um…asshole." Said Sho. He was bad at cursing. He was bad at cursing and now Shimazaki thought that he was stupid and a kid and…and stuff. Even though he was a kid and stuff. He wished that he wasn't a kid. He wished that he and Shimazaki were the same age. Then Sho could have beaten him up and it wouldn't be wrong…and also he would have a shot at winning…even though he should not have been beating anyone up because big sis would have been mad at him.
"Oh, please, stop. I can't take anymore." Said Shimazaki
"Fuck you! You're a…fucker!" said Sho. That was the worst word that he knew. That was the one that dad had almost put him through a wall for saying. He was a Suzuki and he wasn't supposed to talk like that but Sho would say whatever the…fuck…he wanted to say! Because he was not a baby and he was mad and yelling curse words was a hell of a lot better than kicking someone's ass! Yeah, it was better to take up cursing than ass kicking!
But not where dad could hear because he was scary.
Shimazaki wasn't scary. Even though he was right in front of him now and before Sho knew it he was being picked up. He was picked up and then held upside down by his ankle. He was being held upside down and his whole back was showing and Shimazaki could see his scars…well he couldn't, actually, but Sho felt like he could and it was making feel all…well he was mad and also kind of…red and warm and embarrassed…..even though he liked his scars…
He had a lot of feelings right now and he got the feeling that he couldn't just curse until these feelings went away.
"Ok, listen the fuck up you little asshole. If I pissed you off this badly then you should have opened your god damned mouth you little bastard! Also if you want to start a cursing match you'd be better prepared to finish it you little son of a bitch!" said Shimazaki. Yes, this was good. Fun Sho was back. His sister was fun too but in a different way. She was fun to get wasted with. Her brother was fun to get into elementary school cursing matches with.
Which he would win, of course, because he was twenty years older than this kid.
"Fuck you!" said Sho
"No, fuck you!" laughed Shimazaki
"Don't laugh at me you…you bitch!" said Sho
"I'm a guy, I'm a bastard!" said Shimazaki
"Fine! Shut the hell up you bastard!" said Sho
"Hey! I'll have you know that my parents were married!" laughed Shimazaki
"What's that got to do with anything?!" shouted Sho. He would have said more but he was dropped down onto his face. Shimazaki was laughing so hard that he was doubled over. His face was red and he had tears on his cheeks and his nose was even starting to run.
He looked so stupid.
He looked so stupid. He looked like an idiot. He looked…Sho had never seen him like that. So…not cool. Not all…Shimazaki-like. Sho…he didn't brush the dirt off his face. He didn't brush it off because he felt all red…but not the angry sort of red he turned. He just felt…he didn't know how he felt. He didn't know how he felt and…and he wanted…he wanted to stop feeling like this and…and he also wanted to feel like his forever.
"You have no clue what you're even saying….God….kid, I fucking love you…you know that?" asked Shimazaki. The kid was still pissed at him. His body temperature was rising and his breathing had picked up and his aura was all…yeah, he was pissed off. So pissed that he couldn't even move. Shimazaki tried to stop laughing. The whole thing was just so….they kid didn't even know what he was saying! God, he should have brought Toshi around for this little sidebar. They would have gotten a kick out of this.
"Shut the hell up…." Said Sho. He hid his face in his hands. He didn't want to look at Shimazaki and he didn't want Shimazaki to look at him…but he was looking at him. He was looking at him and now he was patting his hair like he was a dog or something…
"OK, you win this one by default. There. Now don't you feel better?" asked Shimazaki
"….yes…no….I don't know." Said Sho quietly. He felt good and bad at the same time. He felt happy and nervous. He wanted to hit Shimazaki as hard as he could in anger and also he wanted to play fight him…and he had no idea what he was even supposed to call this stupid feeling…
"Well it should have. Listen, I'm sorry, ok? About letting a bird attack you and about laughing at your completely hilarious pain. Ok? I, Shimazaki Ryou, son of Shimazaki Seiko, who was the son of Shimazaki Noromi, who was the son of Shimazaki Kouiki, who was the son of-" said Shimazaki
"Are you going to go through your whole family tree?" asked Sho. He calmed down. His face stopped being red and his heart and lungs went back to doing their job. He wanted….he wanted to run around or something….because even though his body was calming down his mind was telling him to just…run or jump or climb or something….but he didn't. He just stayed there and stayed still and…and stuff….
"Well I was about to but you made me lose my place. Do you have any idea how hard it was to learn my whole lineage? I had to hear it recited, you know. I had to sit and listen….for hours…hours and hours on end…" said Shimazaki
"Well I only know my dad so, no, I don't know." Said Sho
"Well consider yourself lucky. You're lucky not to have a lineage to remember and you're lucky to get one of my very rare and heartfelt apologies." Said Shimazaki
"….are you really sorry or are you just saying so?" asked Sho. He wiped his eyes again. Shimazaki could just say things sometimes. Sho knew how he could be…and he liked that about him…how he just said stuff…he didn't want this to be another one of the things that he just said. He wanted this to be real and…and he didn't even know why….
"I'm sorry I was such an asshole to you, ok? I forgot how kids could be. Next time you get the bright idea to steal a bird's nest then I'll be sure to have your back. Deal?" asked Shimazaki. He sensed the kid nod. Good. That was the end of it.
Now they could go and celebrate the end of summer in their country by blowing up a small part of it!
"You'd better….you bastard." Said Sho. Shimazaki flicked him over the head.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" laughed Shimazaki
"No! Not for a while! She ran away from home!" said Sho. Shimazaki just laughed at him again and flicked him over the head, again, even though that was annoying.
"Well let's get back before people think that I kidnapped you or something…because apparently people think that I'm creepy…." Muttered Shimazaki. He grabbed Sho and teleported them back to the yard. He smelled…smoke. A lot of smoke. Smoke and also….burning leaves?
Damn it! He had been so busy clearing the atmosphere with a kid that he'd missed whatever the hell that was.
"Sho! I missed you so much! I missed you so much that I wanted to find you but then Shibata tried to set off a firework to make me feel better and then it hit the tree and then it exploded and…um…maybe it was better that you weren't here. Shibata's ok, though, he went inside to see if he got hurt too bad. He didn't want to call Fukuda…because nobody likes him for some reason….but I'm glad that you're here!" said Mob. She was just a little bit…spacey….but that was ok! Little brother was back!
She loved her little brother so much!
She hugged him. He hugged her back. He smelled like grass…she wondered where he had been. Minegishi said that Shimazaki had his reasons and that Mob shouldn't worry…of course when someone told you not to worry then you couldn't help but worry…and stuff. But Sho was ok and that was what mattered.
"Come on…I love you too…now let's just…um…blow up some more fireworks. Yeah, I want to do that next one! I don't care if we all get blown up!" said Sho. He went over to the fireworks pile and picked out the biggest one that he could find. He felt…lighter. Lighter and better but also…also there was this other weird feeling inside of him…and he didn't know what it was but maybe…maybe he could make it go away…by blowing something up!
After all, that was what the end of summer was all about.