Summer Festivals. I've always wanted to go to one in Japan and the only references I have for Japanese Summer Festivals are from my best friend (whose half-Japanese) and anime/manga. So I hope this will suffice culture-wise and grammar-wise, and I hope you all like it!
NOTE: Anything with a * at the end of it has a note at the bottom of the page!
~8~
Boom, boom, boom!
The festival drums boomed loudly as Hide watched them. There were about a dozen or so drummers in dark blue mid-length robes over black shorts and white headbands on twisted around their heads. One of the drummers was Morita, who was intensely beating the drums and trying to keep up with the others.
"Taiko! Taiko! Taiko!*" the children that were around Hide cheered as they watched the drummers.
Boom, boom, boom!
Hide managed to trudge through the crowd of children and was pulled out of the mob by a helpful Suzuki, who was wearing a light blue yukata** that had white waves along the bottom and was dark blue around the top and tied together with a dark green obi***. Hide was wearing an orange yukata that had an autumn leaf print on it and was tied with a red obi.
"Wow, I can't believe a middle school kid is playing the drums with the festival drummers!" Suzuki said in awe.
"That's probably because they thought Morita-kun was a high schooler when he asked to join them," Hide shrugged.
They watched the drummers a little more before they decided to visit the gaming booths before the festival ended.
The Namimori summer festival was always held in the town center, Hide once heard that it was once held over by the abandoned shrine but he couldn't believe that anything as festive and fun as the festival could ever be near that scary, haunted temple.
"Hey, Hide," Suzuki began as they were walking through out the town center.
"What?" the blonde Japanese asked.
"Isn't that your tutor over there?"
Hide looked and saw Reborn in a tiny yukata at the shooting booth. The infant picked up one of the toy guns and shot every single target with just one of the corks.
"Too easy," he said as he blew imaginary smoke off the muzzle of the toy gun.
"Nooo! My business!" the owner of the booth cried out.
"Hurry and wrap them all up," Reborn commanded.
"Reborn!" Hide gawked.
"Wow, you must be one sharp shooter, kiddo," Suzuki said with amazement as the booth owner grudgingly gave the hitman a box filled with all the toys that were on display.
"Reborn, what are you doing!" Hide yelped.
"Just playing the local games," Reborn said innocently.
You're making the booth owner cry!
"Here, you can carry my other prizes," Reborn then pointed behind him and revealed a huge pile of even more toys and prizes from various other booths.
How many booths did you rob! Hide gaped, "There's no way we're taking all those home, Reborn!"
"Why not?" he asked innocently.
"Because mom will think I stole them or something!" he argued.
"And?"
"Reborn!"
"Oh fine," the infant shrugged, "It's not like I need these cheap toys anyways."
~8~
So after Hide vehemently apologized to all the booth owners and returned the prizes, him and Suzuki began to play the other games that were around.
"Hide, that booth looks pretty crowded!" Suzuki said and pointed to one of the booths that had a ton of people crowding around it.
The boy took a few steps back so he could see the booth's sign over the crowd and said, "Goldfish Catching, huh? I wonder why so many people are there when there are other booths just like it…"
"Hide-kun! Suzuki-kun!" they turned around and saw Megumi, who was in a spring green yukata that had a white lilac print on it and a large yellow obi her chest. Her red hair was tied up into a neat bun, her bangs were swept aside and held in that position by green hair clips.
"M-Megumi-san!" Hide stammered and blushed at the sight of the girl, Wow! Megumi-chan in a kimono!
"Hey, Tanaka-san!" Suzuki waved cheerfully.
"Did you guys see Morita yet?" she asked sweetly.
"Yeah!" Hide immediately stated, "He was, um, pretty cool on those, um, drums…yeah…" Hide then mentally smacked himself for the failed sentence.
Suzuki noticed this and came to his friend's rescue by jerking a thumb over at the Goldfish Catching booth and asking, "Hey, Tanaka-san, do you know what this huge crowd is for?"
"Oh yeah," she quickly nodded and said, "I think I remember Hanabi-chan telling me she was working with her brother at a Goldfish Catching booth, maybe this is it?"
"Gokudera?"
"That would explain the large amount of people," Hide grumbled and quickly shook his head, "No, if it was Gokudera-san, then everybody here probably would have gotten blown up by now."
"Why don't you check?" Reborn suggested as he came out from seemingly no where dressed in a goldfish outfit. He opened a closed palm and Leon jumped out of it and turned into a ladder, "You can even use Leon."
"Great idea, little guy!" Suzuki brightened as he took the Leon-ladder and propped it on a nearby building.
"Why are you being so nice all of the sudden, Reborn?" Hide questioned suspiciously.
But before the infant could answer, Suzuki called to him and said, "C'mon, Hide!"
"Right, coming!" he called back and gave Reborn a suspicious look before climbing up the ladder.
"What do you see up there?" Suzuki asked.
"Um," the blonde squinted his eyes at the booth, "I can't see anything, there's too many people around it!"
"Then maybe you should make a path!" Reborn stated and kicked the ladder over.
"Hey-Wait! Reboooorrn!" Hide screamed and waved his arms around as he fell over towards the booth.
"Look out!" someone screamed and, the next thing the future mafia boss knew, he was face down on concrete in front of the Goldfish Catching booth.
"T-Twelfth!" he heard Hanabi gasp.
"H-Hey Gokudera-san," he groaned.
~8~
"Sorry you guys had to close up your booth," Hide apologized, to be honest he wasn't all that sorry since this event had led to Megumi putting band-aids on his face.
They were now behind the Goldfish Catching booth, now closed, where it turned out that both Hanabi and Nagi were working at. Nagi had brought a first-aid kit but had no clue what any of the stuff inside was for, so Megumi ended up being the one to put band-aids on Hide's bruised and beaten face.
"Not a problem, young sir," said Nagi as he put up the first-aid kit, "We were out of goldfish by the time you fell from the sky."
"Oh really?" he sighed with relief.
"Are you sure you're all right, Twelfth?" Hanabi asked worriedly.
"Y-Yeah, I am," he nodded.
"Hanabi-chan, your yukata is so cute!" Megumi squealed in delight.
Hanabi then quickly changed from 'right hand man/woman'-mode to 'teenaged girl'-mode in an instant, "Isn't it? I got it on sale for like 50 percent off!"
"Eh? Really? No way!" and then they started chatting it up fashion and other girl-stuff.
"Gokudera-san sure has a lot of different personalities…" Hide muttered.
"Haha, sometimes I think she's been kidnapped and replaced with another person!" the older brother laughed.
Hanabi was dressed in a red yukata that had black and gold carp on it and a gold-colored obi; her hair was in a ponytail and a red flower rested on the hair-tie that kept the ponytail in place. Her brother, on the other hand, was dressed in a white t-shirt and faded jeans with a dirty apron over him and a light-blue bandana keeping his silver-white hair out of the way.
"Why were you guys working at a goldfish catching booth anyways?" Hide asked.
"We're trying to get rent money," Hanabi said miserably, "Because my stupid brother got fired from his job."
"Fired? How?"
"Well, it all started when-" Nagi began cheerfully before his sister pushed him aside.
"I don't know, and quite frankly I don't want to know," she sighed.
"Well it's actually a pretty funny story, Hanabi," her brother smiled, "I was working at the ice cream cart and then my boss came up to me and fired me."
They were all silent before Hide asked, "Which part of that was supposed to be funny?"
He laughed and said, "I guess none of that was funny!"
Hanabi rolled her eyes and sarcastically clapped, "My brother, everyone!"
"Gokudera-san, don't you have a job?" asked Suzuki.
"No," she shook her head, "I lived off of my allowance from my parents, until my brother decided to plug my allowance and make me work for a living," she then shot a glare at her brother.
"I thought it would build responsibility!" he said nonchalantly.
"I have enough responsibility looking out for you!" she yelled.
"Now, now," Suzuki grinned, "No need for siblings to fight, right?"
"Speaking of siblings," Megumi began, "where's Anna-chan and Adam-kun?"
"They said that they were going to come later," said Hide, he then grimaced and said, "I just hope they don't come in with some corny joke like they usually do…"
"Did someone say corn?" a voice asked, Adam then burst out of no where with an ear of corn in each hand with Anna at his side wearing a corn-costume.
Hide then slapped his face with his hand and muttered, "Why am I not surprised…"
Adam on the other hand was cracking up at his own joke, "Get it? Corn? Corny? Haha!"
That's such a horrible pun… Hide gawked.
"W-Where did you get that costume, Anna-chan…?" Megumi asked unsteadily, apparently she was also shocked by the sudden appearance.
"Mr. Reborn gave it to me," the foreigner answered as she took the corn costume off, she and her brother were dressed in jeans and plain t-shirts, Anna had her short blonde hair pulled into a pony-tail and Adam was wearing a baseball-cap, "He was very useful and even offered different costumes for us."
Why am I not surprised at that either…? Hide thought grimly, and then asked warily, "Wait a minute, where's Reborn?"
"We saw him playing some games on our way here," answered Adam.
"Great," he groaned, "He's probably making all the booth owners cry…"
"Oh yeah, he was doing that too," Adam nodded.
"Wonderful," he muttered reluctantly, he stood up and said, "I'm going to go find him, do you guys want to meet up somewhere?"
"I don't know," Suzuki shrugged, "Where's the best place to see the fireworks?"
"Fireworks?" Hanabi questioned, "There's going to be fireworks?"
"Yeah," Megumi nodded, "It wouldn't be a festival without fireworks!"
"Oh," she said and shifted in position, "I think I might go home early then."
"Eh? Why?"
"I'm just really tired, is all…" she said despondently.
"Hanabi's scared of fireworks!" Nagi said cheerfully.
Hanabi blushed and yelled, "Sh-Shut up you stupid brother! I am not scared!"
"Then why do you always leave before fireworks start?" he asked.
"Because they're loud and annoying," she said flatly.
"So…you're going to leave then, Hanabi-chan?" Megumi asked sadly.
"Yes," she nodded.
"Come on, Gokudera! Don't be such a downer!" Suzuki grinned and slapped her on the back friendly.
"Touch me again, and I'll break your wrist…" she threatened.
"It's okay to admit if your afraid of fireworks, Smoking Bomb," Adam shrugged dismissively, "Anna's scared of dogs-"
His twin sister quickly put her hands over his mouth and said to everyone else, "You didn't hear any of that."
"O-Okay…?" Hanabi nodded.
"Anyways," Hide began and looked at Hanabi pleadingly, "Gokudera-san, are you sure you don't want to see the fireworks with us?"
Hanabi hesitated for a second before replying, "Well…um…" Hide's large hazel colored eyes caused her to have seconds thoughts until finally she gave in and muttered, "A-Alright, but only because the Twelfth asked me!"
"Thanks, Gokudera-san," Hide sighed with relief and turned back to everyone else, "I'll go then and find Reborn before he starts making all the booth owners cry…"
~8~
The group split up, promising to meet each other on the bridge over the river. Hanabi grumbled as she was left alone to watch annoying kids run around laughing while circling they're parents.
"I can't believe what I'm doing here…" she grumbled as she walked around the festival grounds, "I should just head over to the bridge and wait there already."
She then turned around and started heading towards the bridge when a couple of very large and menacing men appeared in front of her and grinning very creepily.
"Hell-o thar, little lady," one of the two menacing men said in a creepy voice.
Hanabi ignored them and kept on walking, one of the men put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Wut? Do ya think ya're te gewd fer us?*****"
The bomber grimaced as they reeked of alcohol and said, "I need to go."
"'Ay! I bet yer one of dem…Namimori kids, right?" the first menacing man said drunkily.
"Leave me alone," she demanded and started walking away, she had her cards but she bet that there was no use in blowing up a couple of drunk idiots.
"Oi, little…girl," the second drunk man swayed uneasily, "Ya look mighty fine en dat…kimono…"
"How old do you think I am?" she asked dangerously, flirting was where she drew the line when it came to drunk idiots.
"Seventy-en!" the drunk claimed.
"Thirteen, sicko," Hanabi grumbled and quickly started to leave.
"Hold on!" one of the men yelled and grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me!" she yelled and tried to pull her arm away, his grip tightened and she decided to reach for her deck of cards.
"She said let go of her," Hanabi looked at the bandage-wrapped hand that had suddenly grabbed the menacing man's arm. It must have hurt since the man was suddenly whimpering in pain.
"Fine, screw ya!" the menacing man yelled drunkily and let go of Hanabi's arm, him and his other drunk friend staggered away before deciding to hit on some other poor girl.
Hanabi then shot a glare at her rescuer and said sourly, "Who said I needed your help, giant?"
"Geez," Morita sighed, "You can be really ungrateful, and girls shouldn't be walking alone especially in that outfit! You're practically a walking target for drunks!"
Her face went red and she yelled, "Don't underestimate me, giant-bastard!"
"You can be scary sometimes," he stated, "But you're still a girl, you need to be more aware of your surroundings."
"I was about to blow them up!" she claimed, and she really was but if Hide had been around then he would have tried almost every resource to stop her from creating a crater in the middle of the festival grounds.
"Hey, did you go see the drum-beaters?" he asked eagerly.
"Don't change the subject!"
"So you didn't?" he asked sadly.
"Well…" Hanabi hesitated before answering, "How could I not? You guys were so loud and were right at the festival entrance."
"So you saw us?" Morita brightened.
"What's with those stupid outfits that you guys were wearing?" she asked.
"These?" he pointed at his own clothes, "They're the uniforms for the drummers."
"What a stupid costume," she commented.
"They might be stupid, but it's tradition to wear these!" he argued and then asked, "Have you seen Megumi? Or anyone else?"
"Yeah," Hanabi nodded and said sourly, "We're supposed to meet at the bridge over the river for the fireworks."
"What's wrong? Do you not like fireworks?" Morita asked when he noticed that she wasn't exactly happy at the moment.
"What made you think that, genius?" she asked sarcastically.
"Well, you just said 'fireworks' like it was something horrible," he pointed out.
Hanabi spun around and started walking towards the bridge, she turned her head slightly in his direction and said, "I'm going to the bridge; knowing you, you might get lost so it's probably best if you follow me."
"You know," Morita began as he followed her, "People who think they're acting cool on the outside usually look like complete idiots in reality, it's not like this is a manga or anime filled completely with good looking and cool people."
"Shut up," she sighed.
~8~
This is the happiest moment of my life…Hide thought blissfully as he was walked alongside Megumi.
"Hide-kun, are you okay? You're face is all red and you keep looking up when nothing's in the sky," Megumi asked with sincere concern.
The blonde-haired boy quickly shook his head and said, "No! I'm completely fine! I just can't wait for the fireworks to start!"
He then glanced upwards and quickly prayed, Thank you god! Buddha! Anyone of thing that let this happen!
"It was very nice of you to walk me around the festival, Hide-kun," the red-head said cheerfully, she smiled sweetly at him and, as corny as this sounded, it felt like an arrow of love struck through his heart.
"N-No problem," he smiled back at her brightly, "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know, I already played most of the games here," she said thoughtfully, "Do you want to go get something to eat before going to the bridge?"
"Yeah! Sure!" he quickly nodded, This is the best night ever!
"I still don't see why we couldn't get Boss to show us around," Anna stated as she and her brother were being dragged away from Hide and Megumi by Suzuki.
~8~
"Shh! They need to be left alone!" Suzuki stated.
"Wouldn't that leave Boss out in the open as an easy target?" asked Adam.
"Are you guys still on about that Mafia Game?" the baseball player sighed, "Look, Hide wants to be left alone with Tanaka, for very specific reasons. Haven't you guys ever wanted to be alone with someone you like? And I mean really like too!"
The twins just stared at him blankly and said in unison, "We've never had someone we really like."
"Are you serious?" he asked in complete bafflement, "Really?"
"I don't have the time for that sort of thing," Anna stated.
"I don't want that sort of thing," Adam stated.
"Well," he began, "You guys need to understand that when a boy likes a girl, he usually wants to spend time with her. Alone. Uninterrupted."
"Okay, fine," the male-foreigner nodded reluctantly, "But how will we know if Boss is safe or not?"
"We'll know if he comes to the bridge over the river with a happy smile on his face," Suzuki stated satisfactorily and quickly tried to divert their attention with games, "Look, its one of those hoop-games!"
"Hoop-games?" Anna questioned.
"Yeah, you toss a hoop at one of the items, and if the hoop lands on it you get to keep it!" the baseball player said cheerfully, "It's pretty fun!"
"You get to keep it as long as it's in the hoop, right?" Adam asked, the table where the prizes were at was a flat, long table and seemed to be organized from how great the prizes were as in the most expensive prizes were at the top and the cheaper ones like candy and toy rings were at the bottom.
"Yup!" he nodded.
The blonde-haired boy smiled and looked at his sister, "Anna?"
"Okay," she nodded and went up to the booth owner.
"My, my! You're pretty cute, girly!" the booth owner grinned when he saw Anna, he took three hoops from underneath his table and said, "Here, I'll give you a free game just because you're so cute!"
"Thank you sir," she said politely and glanced at the items, "I want the purse."
"This purse?" the owner pointed at the extremely fancy and expensive looking purse that was at the top right-hand corner of the large table, "You're going to have to win it, girly!"
"Okay," Anna nodded and threw one of the hoops towards it, it didn't even reach the purse and the booth owner laughed.
"Don't worry! You still have two more hoops, girly!"
"Okay," she nodded again.
"Anna, that isn't like you," her brother pointed out, "Usually you hit the target on the first go."
"This isn't like shooting a gun, Adam," Anna stated, "It's all in the wrist."
"That sounds about as stupid as it seems," Adam teased.
"Leave her alone, Grandhart-brother!" Suzuki grinned, "She needs to concentrate in order to get that purse!"
By now a huge crowd of people had surrounded them and were all watching the twins and Suzuki. The booth owner was getting a little nervous, mainly because a group of people and a good looking girl didn't go well when the good looking girl lost and the group of people got angry for her and started a riot.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely get this one," Anna said confidently and threw the hoop.
As it turned out, the hoop bounced and caught/dragged every single prize on the table, including the peaces of candy and toy rings, and only stopped when it reached the purse and landed on it peacefully.
"W-What!" the owner's mouth fell down in horror.
"I'd like that all in a box please," the girl said politely.
"Well…she got the purse…" Suzuki shrugged.
After a ton of begging on the booth owner's side of things Anna decided to have mercy on the poor man and give everything back…except for the purse though.
"Um, do you guys want to try another game?" Suzuki asked.
"No, that was entertaining enough," said Adam who kept the image of the grown man crying fresh in his mind.
"I guess we should go to the bridge then? It's kinda early though…" Suzuki said doubtfully.
"How far away are we from it?" Anna asked.
"About ten minutes, but I guess we could sorta stroll around," the baseball player shrugged.
"Or we could go find Boss!" Adam suggested.
"No," Suzuki stated flatly and then said cheerfully, "How about we all just go to the bridge then? I'm sure Gokudera is probably there already by herself."
~8~
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the river in Namimori…
Hanabi sneezed.
"Only idiots catch colds in summer!" Morita quickly said, he had been waiting to use that line ever since he had heard it from one drummers.
"Shut up! Only old men say that sort of thing!" Hanabi scolded as she wiped her nose.
~8~
"I know! We can watch the parade from the bridge too!" Suzuki said excitedly, "You guys have to see the parade! It's the best part of the festival!"
"A parade?" Adam questioned, "You mean like a bunch of people on overly decorated cars throwing candy at you?"
"Um, no," the raven haired boy shook his head uncertainly and said, "The parade is filled with dancing and music and people in costumes and all that stuff!"
"You say 'and' too much," Anna commented.
"Oh, so it's like Mardi Gras******!" Adam nodded.
"Um, I guess," Suzuki nodded, uncertain of what a 'Mardi Gras' was.
"I'm not taking my shirt off for beads though," Anna stated flatly.
"Y-You don't have to!" the raven-haired boy said quickly, "And beads aren't involved in it in any way!"
"So it's just the dancing, music and people in costumes part?" Adam asked.
"Isn't that what I just said?" Suzuki's sweat dropped.
And so, Suzuki spent the rest of the night trying his best to explain parades in Japan did not involve topless people and drunk people handing out beads.
~8~
"Geez, why am I stuck here with you?" Hanabi muttered as she waited for everyone to come to the bridge with Morita, "A giant boxer who dressed in a ridiculous outfit and talks like an old man…"
"No I don't, and I told you that this is a uniform!" Morita argued.
"Shut up," Hanabi threatened and whined, "Why couldn't the Twelfth be here…"
"Huh? Why do you want to be around Hide so much?" the boxer asked.
"Because he's not you!" she yelled.
"Wow, you can be kinda rude sometimes, scary girl," he shrugged.
"Quit calling me scary, or I'll make you blow up!" the bomber threatened.
"If you keep threatening people then you'll just become scarier, scary girl," he pointed out.
"Why you-!" she began when a fistful of playing cards ready to explode but immediately calmed down and spun on her heel when she heard someone yelp:
"Gokudera-san!"
"Twelfth!" she said brightly and noticed Megumi at his side eating some takoyaki, "Oh, hey Megumi."
"Hey Hanabi-chan," the red-head chirped and saw Morita, "Morita! How did you get here?"
"The scary girl told me we were all meeting at the bridge," he answered.
"You don't call girls 'scary' Morita…" Megumi sighed and turned to Hanabi, "Thanks Hanabi-chan."
"Yeah, yeah," the silver-haired girl waved dismissively before turning back to Hide and exclaiming, "Twelfth! You can't believe all the trouble I've been through making sure this guy," she jerked an accusing thumb at Morita, "didn't get into trouble."
"Wasn't it me who saved you from those drunks?" Morita asked.
"I'm just glad no one got injured," Hide sighed with relief.
"Hey guys!" they saw Suzuki's waving figure and Adam and Anna just behind him, "We're all here now, huh?" he grinned when he finally came near them.
"Yeah!" the young Boss nodded and then asked, "Wait, where's Reborn and Nagi-san?"
"Didn't you say you were going to get him?" Suzuki asked.
"Oh no! We forgot!" Megumi paled and quickly apologized to Hide, "I'm so sorry Hide-kun! I distracted you because I was hungry!"
"D-Don't worry about it!" Hide blushed, "Reborn will be alright on his own."
"Knowing Nagi, he's probably lost…" Hanabi sighed.
At that moment Nagi crawled out from the river and onto the bridge, seaweed trailed down his arms and stuck to his clothes as he go on the bridge, and he looked up at them and said nonchalantly, "Hey guys."
"Don't 'hey guys' me!" his sister yelled and punched him in the mouth, "What were you doing coming out from the river like that! That was so creepy!"
"Well it was Reborn-san's idea," he said as he rubbed his mouth.
"Reborn?" after Hide said that name, a kappa******* came out from under the bridge too and crawled up it.
"Reborn! What are you doing in a kappa-costume!" Hide gaped.
"Ciaossu," Reborn answered and waved his green kappa-hand.
"It's already too late for that greeting!" his student argued.
"Don't interrupt me," the tutor scolded and kicked Hide in the shin.
"Then what were you going to say?" he asked.
Reborn was silent for a bit before saying, "…guys."
"You were totally not going to say that!" Hide yelled.
"Shut up, the fireworks are starting," Reborn stated and right at that moment something shot off in the distance and the sky was lit pink with a pink sakura flower.
"Wow…fireworks…" Hide said in awe as he watched.
"What?" Hanabi asked.
"No, I mean those fireworks not you, Gokudera-san, sorry," Hide quickly said.
"Hm," she looked back up at the sky and said, "I still don't see the big deal."
Another firework zoomed up and became a red dragon before slowly fading out and allowing more to occupy the sky.
"Isn't it cool though, Hanabi-chan?" Megumi asked, "Look, a four-leaf clover!"
"Wow, that one's spinning!" said Morita in amazement.
"And that one's looks like its raining green!" Suzuki pointed at another.
"It's just a mixture of chemical compounds activated by an excessive amount of nitrogen in the air," Hanabi muttered.
"I have no clue what you just said," said Nagi, who was probably the only one listening to her.
"Idiots…" she grumbled, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"
She then looked up when she heard something scream in the sky and a large orange firework boomed loudly and made the entire sky look like it was on fire for just a few seconds.
"That one must be a new one!" Suzuki yelled as everybody had gone deaf from that last one.
"Wow…" Hanabi's mouth fell open in amazement.
"Oh? Is Hanabi beginning to like fireworks?" her brother teased.
"Shut up, Nagi," she said before kicking him in the shin. She looked back up at the fireworks and wondered, When will one of those come back up…?
~8~
* I found out that 'Taiko' is what the drums used in Japanese festivals are called.
** A 'yukata' is what is generally worn by guys at Japanese summer festivals, it's like a lighter version of kimono.
*** An 'obi' is the strap that goes around a yukata to keep it from coming open. A wider version is also used on kimonos.
**** translates as 'octopus balls' its favorably eaten at festivals and other Japanese festivities along with things like chocobananas (i.e. chocolate covered bananas), yaki-soba (BBQ noodles) and okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake).
***** Don't worry, this is just a bunch of drunks talking drunk-talk. Drinking is bad kids!
****** A parade normally held in New Orleans or anywhere by the sea and in the south, it's filled with dancing, music, and tons of drunk people in weird costumes.
******* A mythical creature that is like a mix between a duck and a turtle. It generally lives in lakes or ponds.
Ugh, so many notes, I'm beginning to worry whether all these asterisks (These '*' things) are good for my health…well this chapter is done! My school is starting up soon and I can't wait to see my school friends again :)! Best 16th summer ever :D.
Next chapter will be at the beach! There will be surfing! Fishing! Swimming! And possibly skin cancer (aka sunburns)!
KHR belongs to Amano Akira, but my own OCs belong to me :)