Shintaro swore he could hear someone charging and about to tackle him down... he was right though.
"Ow! What was that-?!"
"Shintaro!"
Ayano got up from tackling him down and he saw Kano, Mary, and a girl with black... pigtails.
"Sorry Shintaro but-"
"Are you Enomoto Takane?"
Takane realized he was talking to her.
"Yes..."
"See, I met a guy named Kokonose Haruka who was looking for you-"
Takane immediately grabbed Shintaro by the collar and brought him up to his knees.
"WHERE THE HECK IS HE?!"
"Woah, woah, WOAH! Calm down and don't scream in my ears!"
"Shintaro!"
The two looked to Ayano.
"Momo's missing!"
"WHAT?!"
Shintaro immediately pushed Takane away and stood up on his feet.
"When I was introducing the kids to Takane Momo wandered off... I think..."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU 'THINK'?! YOU JUST LEFT A 6 YEAR-OLD GIRL RUN LOOSE IN A FESTIVAL!"
"W-Waah! I'm sorry Shintaro!" Ayano covered her ears from anymore yelling and shut her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes to see Shintaro taking a deep breath.
"No, it's my fault for yelling, come on, let's search for Momo."
"Eh-hem," Takane was glaring daggers at Shintaro once she got up.
"And Haruka."
"Takane!" Haruka yelled again, "Taka-!"
He thought he heard soft crying coming from the shrine temple.
"Takane?" Haruka listened to the soft crying and followed it and opened the door to the tea ceremony classroom.
Haruka didn't see Takane but he did find a little girl with orange hair crying in the corner farthest from the door.
"*Sob* O-Onii*sob*-chan...!" she murmured between sobs.
"A-Are you alright?" Haruka walked over to the little girl and bent down.
The little girl opened her eyes, "Onii-chan...?"
"Are you looking for your older brother?" Haruka asked.
The little girl nodded quickly and wiped away her tears.
"What happened?"
"I-I saw that the tea ceremony teachers were selling charms so I went to get one but I didn't know how to get back so I ended up crying in the corner without anyone noticing me..."
"Eh, that sounds a bit familiar..."
She looked up to Haruka.
"You see, I went to go get some food from the food stands but ended up getting lost from the huge crowds."
"A-Are you looking for someone?"
"Yeah, I'm looking for a girl named Enomoto Takane, she has black pigtails and looks like she's been having a really bad day."
The girl couldn't help but giggle because of the last description. Haruka smiled because he cheered her up.
"Onii-chan is a bit similar to that, people tell him that he has rotten eyes."
'Rotten eyes' huh... I've seen a person who looks like people have been telling him that he has rotten eyes... what was his name again...?
"His name is Kisaragi Shintaro..." they both said and paused.
"... Eh?"
"EH?!" they both screamed at the same time.
"You met onii-chan?!"
"You're his little sister?!"
Now that I look more closely...
He saw that Shintaro's little sister had red "contact lenses" and black hair beneath her orange hair, black like Shintaro's hair.
"Oh! Are you part of those little kid cosplayers group who were with Shintaro?!" Haruka asked.
"'Little kid cosplayers group'...?" she sweated a bit.
"Here, how about we go find him together?" he held out his hand.
"Uh, okay!" she grabbed Haruka's hand and he pulled her up, "My name's Kisaragi Momo."
"I'm Kokonose Haruka."
Haruka and Momo went outside to hear familiar voices.
"Haruka! Where are you?!"
"Momo! Can you hear me?!"
"O-Onii-chan...?!" Momo murmured.
"Momo?!"
The two walked out of the shrine temple to see everyone they came here with.
Shintaro and Takane ran ahead of the group.
"Taka-!" Takane started pinching Haruka's cheek.
"Haruka! Did you know how WORRIED I was?!" Takane yelled at Haruka and started to pull at his cheek.
"I' m sorry!" Haruka yelled. Takane lets go of his cheeks and sighs.
"Momo, where were you?!" Shintaro bent down.
Momo started crying again.
"Waah! O-Onii-chan!"
"H-Hey! Why are you crying?!"
She stopped crying for a bit. "I saw the tea ceremony teachers selling charms so I went to get them but I didn't know how to get back..."
Shintaro hit Momo's head.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"For making me worried so much," he sighed, "Jeez, you already have a charm," he pointed to the charm hanging off of a piece of Momo's hair. "Remember? I bought it for you."
"These charms are for everyone else," Momo took the charms out from underneath her sash and handed one to Ayano, Kido, Seto, Kano, and Mary, "Those charms are for happiness and a long life."
"Here." she handed one more to Shintaro, "That charm is one of those love charms, where you give a charm to your beloved that way they're protected, happy, and have a long and healthy life."
Shintaro took the charm. He smiled and sighed. "Thanks."
"That'll be 2000 yen (which is around $20 in the U.S.)," Momo held out her hand.
"THAT'S HIGHWAY ROBBERY!"
"Charms? Shintaro can I see your's?" Haruka asked.
"You're calling me Shintaro even when we just met each other? -Sigh- whatever, here," Shintaro gave Haruka his charm to look at.
"That charm is one of those love charms, where you give a charm to your beloved that way they're protected, happy, and have a long and healthy life."
Those words repeated in everyone's heads (except Shintaro's and Haruka's) especially the love and give to you beloved part.
"YAOI?!" the others yelled.
"HAH?!" Shintaro yelled back while Haruka just said, "Eh?"
"And so begins HaruShin-"
"KANO SHUT UP!" Shintaro yelled.
Everyone began to laugh.
As long as Ayano saw and heard everyone laughing, she didn't care if the yaoi part was inappropriate to the kids, everyone was laughing or smiling.
I wish this moment would last forever... Ayano thought.