Chapter 2: The Lantern Festival
"Your balance is improving, Roy." Riza teased with a smirk as she walked behind Roy on the stone fence. "Have you been practicing?"
Roy flustered sheepishly but remained silent, still concentrating carefully on his footing. Thank goodness I'm walking in front of her this time. Riza giggled as she followed behind him.
"It's Friday. It's Friday!" Riza sang happily. "I really hope these clouds clear up before the festival tonight." She added, looking up at the sky with no need to watch her footing unlike her companion.
"Umm…yeah, me too." Roy responded, thankful for the change in subject. "Which festival is it again?"
"Roy!" Riza exclaimed in shock. "Don't tell me you've forgotten all about the Lantern Festival, you dummy! How could you forget? It's like the biggest, best one of the year!"
"S-sorry." Roy replied who had completely forgotten about the festival.
Roy had been so busy thinking about Riza's eighth birthday next week that he had completely forgotten about the festival. Every night, all that filled head, not to mentions his hands as well, had been needles and yarn. To purl this and knit that, to hold these stitches and add those stitches. He had been secretly knitting Riza a scarf for her birthday.
Roy had been adamant about doing it all by himself. However, he soon found that making scarves was not something he was too good at, but after several lessons from his mother, Roy had the improved greatly although he still found the process rather lengthy and tedious.
"You will need to be ready to go by six o'clock sharp! Me and Dad will be at your house to pick you up at that time." Riza said, jumping off the fence.
Roy, immersed in his thoughts about scarf-making, failed to notice the end of the fence. Roy waved his arms frantically before finally regaining his balance and also hopping off. If I give Riza her present tonight, she would be so happy, but that means I need to finish the scarf by six!
"Riza, I'm going to head home first. I umm…have a lot of homework to finish before tonight."
"But, we weren't assigned anything tonight!" Riza shouted with confusion to Roy as he ran towards his house.
Approaching the house, Roy reached for the door, flung it open, and quickly darted inside and closed the door. He did not have much time to finish the gift. With Riza coming to pick him up earlier than he expected, it meant he really had to work fast.
"Roy, I made you a snack. It's on the kitchen table?" Roy's mother called from the living room.
"Thanks, Mom." Roy rushed into the kitchen and stuffed a fresh pastry into his mouth.
"Why are you in such a rush?"
"I have to finish the scarf." Roy spoke between bites as rushed upstairs to his bedroom.
"Okay, dear. Just be ready to go at six."
"Humph." Riza growled as she came home. I wanted to play before the festival tonight because we don't have any homework. "Daddy, Roy was acting all funny today."
"Maybe he isn't feeling well."
"I don't think so. It wasn't even that cold outside."
"He's probably just excited about the festival tonight."
Without replying, Riza sulked down the hallway to the study to grab a book to pass the time. Although she preferred to play with Roy, reading one of her favorite fairy tales would be enough to pass the time alone. Riza grabbed a book off the shelf and flipped to her favorite part. 'The brave Prince of Pasta raced towards the distant tower to rescue the Mushroom Princess from the Meatball Dragon.'
(~~~)
"Yes, finished with time to spare! I have some time to get ready. Eight minutes before six o'clock!" Roy celebrated silently as he tied a ribbon onto the box and examining his handy work with great satisfaction.
"Roy! I hope you are ready to go. We're about to leave with Riza and Mr. Hawkeye. Hurry up, or I'll send Riza up after you!"
"Okay, Mom! I'll be right down!" Within a few seconds, Roy's celebration was interrupted by several loud knocks.
"Roy! It's almost time to go!" A very annoyed Riza shouted the other side of his door. "You had two hours after you got home to get ready for the festival, so unless you fell asleep, you should be done and ready to go, too!" In a softer voice, Riza added. "It's going to be cold, so wear a warm coat, okay?"
"Sure, I'll be out in a minute!" Roy bounced off his bed for the door. Agh! I'm still in my school uniform!
With a few crashes and a minute to spare, Roy rushed out of his room, slipping Riza's present into his coat pocket.
"Hey, what did you put in your pocket just then?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Whatever you say…" Riza mumbled inaudibly, disheartened by Roy's recent mysterious nature. Without further questioning, she trudged down the stairs behind him where her father and Roy's parents were waiting.
"Wow! Look at all the lanterns!"
Riza ran through the festival, spinning around in attempt to see everything at once.
"Slow down, dear, you'll make yourself dizzy and you won't be able to see all the sights."
"Yeah, wait for me, Riza!"
"Why do you have to be such a slowpoke?" Riza pouted. On a stand before her, there hung many different unlighted animals, waiting to be filled with life. Her attention was soon captivated by a small sparrow-shaped lantern hanging above her. "Wow, this one is so pretty!"
"Since you like it so much, you can have this one for free." The kind, elderly shopkeeper offered as she handed Riza the small bird lantern. "I can only apologize that my lanterns are much too small to hold a flame."
Roy smiled at Riza, who was joyfully gazing into her gift. As they began to browse through more vendor stands and the intricate works presented at each stall, a very large fuzzy muzzle was suddenly shoved into Roy's face.
"Wagh!" Roy yelped, losing his balance from the surprise.
"What an adorable bear." Riza admired from behind.
"Would you like to win this for the young lady, lad?" A rather round peddler asked, laughing that Roy had jumped at the sight of a simple stuffed animal.
"Fine, mister! I'll play your game!" Roy replied, flustered at his humiliation.
"Wonderful! The goal is to knock down those three bottles with this ball. Three dollars gives you three shots."
Three dollars! I only have five left after I spent most of it on yarn for Riza's scarf. I should be able to win this easy so why not. "Fine with me!" Roy announced confidently, slamming three bills onto the counter.
Roy concentrated, tossing the ball from hand to hand. He stared down his target, a simple, triangular tower of three small, plastic bottles. I can do this. They're just bottles. He aimed and pitched the ball with all his strength. He missed.
"Oh! So close!" The peddler chuckled as he retrieved the ball and handed it back to Roy. "Two more tries left."
I'll show him. Roy glanced behind him at Riza, who was gazing at the bottles intently. Turning back to his target, he held up his arm and threw the ball again. Once again, he missed.
"Miss again! You've got one more."
Roy was about to throw again when he felt a gentle hand on his arm.
"Roy, let me try." Riza requested, her eyes still fixed on the taunting bottles.
Roy reluctantly handed the ball to her. Riza held it for a little while, feeling its texture. Her eyes never left the target as she raised her arm and swiftly launched it straight towards the bottles. The flying projectile came into perfect contact with the bottles and knocked them to the ground. The peddler was shocked speechless.
"Excuse me, mister. Um, the bear. Can I have it now?"
"Here." The man replied grudgingly.
Riza received the bear after a bit of nudging, and Roy, also shocked, congratulated her numbly. Turning to Roy with a smile, Riza presented the bear to Roy.
"What? But you won."
"You paid for it, so it's yours."
"But, Riza…" Roy spoke trying to hide his slight embarrassment. "I was going to win it to give to you."
"Well. Then, thanks for the gift Roy."
Riza smiled and gave the bear an extra hard squeeze to show her appreciation. Although things did not go exactly as planned, Roy grinned sheepishly in return, glad to see that Riza was happy with the gift she had won for herself.
