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Day 11: Festive II
The guesthouse was noisy.
Currently, RimFire and Tanaka were in Kyoto, having just returned to their temporary stay after doing some souvenir shopping. They bought daruma dolls, they ate food at the stalls and restaurants, they took a million and one pictures everywhere they went but most importantly, they had fun.
Tanaka had given them to choice to select a place where they wanted to go, and through rounds of janken, it was decided upon the "Hanatoro Festival" in Kyoto. They stayed at a guesthouse in Arashiyama, not wanting to be in a stuffy hotel.
Arashiyama is a district on the outskirts of Tokyo that holds the Hanatoro Festival every December. For ten days, more than five kilometres of streets around the town centre and river are lit up by lanterns. Among the most spectacular attractions is the Bamboo Forest behind Tenryuji Temple.
Which is where RimFire is preparing to head to at the moment.
They were changing out of their regular street clothes into traditional kimonos with their haori jackets. Yukio's was purple and white, Shouichi and Shuuzou's was of a dark colour, Kazunari and Kotarou decided to match out like twins and theirs were red and white with a unique pattern. Shige wore a green coloured one, and Tetsuya's was light blue to match his hair. Tatsuya's was full white.
"Are we all set?" Tanaka asked, his haori and kimono was lovely royal blue colour.
"Hai!"
They exited from the guesthouse and hopped into the man's car, before he drove off to the Festival. The ride was a peaceful one, the boys "oh"ed and "aww" ed at their surroundings. And of course, the chatter was endless, and sometimes it led to bickering and bitching.
After minutes of driving, they finally arrived at the Tenryuji Temple. Like the other patrons present, they made their way to the back of the structure where their eyes met the entrance of a forest.
"Let's go!" The boys chirped, grabbing Tanaka's wrist, pulling him forward. Soon, they neared a grey bridge —ancient in its construction, grandly arching crystal clear waters below. There were patrons here as well, chatting and taking pictures in the cool, evening time. The sun had long disappeared from the sky, leaving only a blanket of darkness above.
With a light tug, they pulled Tanaka towards the bridge, even the landlord himself eager to see the Hanatoro lights on the Bamboo path. He's seen a million pictures online, and he couldn't wait to see it with his own eyes.
Making it to the entrance of the Bamboo Forest, the two felt their breaths hitch. There, nestled along the walkway in precise intervals were beautiful path lights and emanating from their bulbs was a soft ambient glow, stretching all the way up the bamboo.
It was breathtaking sight.
"Wow…" Tanaka breathed out; for a moment he was a bit lost in the scenery but then when he glanced at his eight boys, he saw that they were just as mesmerized as he was or perhaps, more.
There was a something special about this scenery that takes one's breath away the instant it is seen. The group trudged the bamboo lined path, walking close to each other so as to not lose anyone. As for Tetsuya, he was handcuffed to Shige for safekeeping.
Although there was a crowd here on the path, it was peaceful ―the only sound one could hear was the sounds of the camera shutter whenever people took pictures.
That said, RimFire did take a lot of pictures.
They took individual photos, duo photos such as Shouichi and Yukio only, Kazunari and Kotarou only etc, and of course, they took group photos by asking random passers-by since Tanaka had to be in those pictures.
For those pictures, Tanaka held his boys close, and with the beautiful ambient lights along the bamboo as their background, this picture became the one that they all planned to print out and frame to keep forever.
Thank you for reading~!