Chapter 4

Azure: Hello everyone! I am so, so sorry for being on a... hiatus, basically. School and my life have just been absolutely crazy; my teachers - and my school district in general - don't really seem to realize that we have lives outside of school. And for you Catholic folks out there, I'm actually in my final year of confirmation, so that's been taking up a lot of my time.

Hotaru & Gin: ...

Azure: Oh come on. You so missed me.

Hotaru: Exactly why we're giving you this look!

Azure: ;;-;; I was missed... I am loved... *cries*

Gin: Good grief... If we ourselves weren't waiting to find out what happens, and if we weren't so attached to you, we would have left you a while ago.

Azure: ...I guess that's good, haha. Anyway, remember the thing I was going to do for this chapter? Where I was going to write an extra chapter about what Natsume and Gin went through? Well, nevermind. We're going right to the festival thing! Yay!

Gin: Good. I get to be with Hotaru now!

Hotaru: Aw, Gin...

Ignescent (Previously known as Terra): Ew, you guys are gross. Couples...

Azure: Says the girl we all know who has a crush on-

Ignescent: ...

Azure: Alright, I get it. Put the blowtorch away. Well, here's the new chapter!

"I can be Hotaru's date."

There was a long moment of silence after he said those words. Gin clearly had no idea about the possible emotional impact behind them, and looked quite confused when neither Natsume nor I said anything. He might have even expected me to humbly reply, "O-Oh! N-N-No, I couldn't p-possibly ask you of th-that..." or maybe even something along the lines of, "What?! No way!". Whatever he was expecting, silence was definitely not a possibility.

Gin tilted his head in confusion, and peered his dashing silver eyes toward my direction. "...Will that not work, Hotaru?" He asked me somewhat timidly, and I realized just then he must have built up a lot of courage to ask me that, and I never suspected it with that big, goofy grin previously plastered on his face. Why, asking me that would have taken up tons of courage - he doesn't even remember me for goodness' sake! - I will most likely never know. Nonetheless, I'm not about to pass this opportunity up. I had thought that Gin was dead, which led me to believe that I would never see him or hang out with him again. I was very wrong apparently. More importantly, I still love Gin with all my heart. Why would I skip out on a date with my - technically - lover?

I gave the entity a nod, and I found myself beaming at him. "Gin, I would love to be your date!" I told him without hesitation, and it seemed that a large weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Without my realization, Natsume had watched us the entire time, and had a look of slight sadness the entire time. Perhaps he was reminiscing about the past...

"Alright, so we established the fact that Hotaru is going to be your date, Gin. What does this have to do with the fact that we need to try and come up with a way to allow Hotaru to come with us without her grandparents being suspicious?" Natsume had asked the boy, who merely gave a smile to the fox spirit below him.

"Easy, Hotaru will introduce me to her grandparents as her boyfriend, and ask for permission if we can attend a festival being held nearby." Easier said than done... Hotaru thought to herself once the silver-haired boy had finished speaking. Both Gin and Natsume focused their attention to me as I closed my eyes to ponder. Overall... I think this can work. Ever since Gin had "died", my grandparents and my mother and father watched me transform into a ditsy and forgetful person. Although it's the middle of the night, I think I'll be able to manage to convince my grandparents somehow...

I opened my eyes as a confident grin found its way onto my lips. "Let's give it a try!" I exclaimed softly as the two others in my room gave me a smile in return. "Alright, Natsume - go hide for the time being. We'll try and find you when we've finished here." Gin told the fox spirit, who gave a happy nod before bouncing into the forest of the mountain god.

Meanwhile, Gin and I stepped on over to my grandparents' room quietly, as I knocked on their door softly to wake them up. A little while later, I heard some shuffling on the other side of the door before my grandmother slid it open.

"Hmm?... Hotaru, what is it, waking us up so late in the evening? Are feeling sick again?" She asked sleepily, trying to hold back a yawn until after she finished her last sentence. She doesn't appear to have noticed Gin yet, who was standing patiently and calmly beside me.

"No, grandmother. Actually, I know this is definitely not the best time, but I have someone to introduce you to..." I stepped to the side, and allowed Gin to give a bow to the elderly woman in front of him. With a sweet and sincere smile, he politely and very formally introduced himself. "Nice to meet you. My name is Gin; I'm in fact Hotaru's boyfriend."

My grandmother gave a look of shock, and rubbed her eyes to test herself if she was dreaming. The silver-haired spirit was still there, and my grandmother gave up trying to tell herself this wasn't real. "Boyfriend? Hotaru, how could you forget to tell me something this important? I didn't know you had a boyfriend that lived around here. But, why the introductions at this late hour? Couldn't the both of you have waited until the morning?"

I shook my head, and began to explain our real intentions. "Actually, it couldn't wait. I apologize for not telling you sooner..." I trailed off to give a guilty expression to show my apologies, as my grandmother motioned for me to continue. "Gin and I had plans on going to the spirit's festival tonight, and it ends at daybreak. We would love to go, but we wanted your permission, as well as we didn't want to worry you with only a note left from me explaining where I disappeared to."

My grandmother gave a gentle smile before nodding at the two of us. "I appreciate that you felt that you should ask my permission instead of just going on by yourselves. Gin, you seem like an honest, gentle, and sincere young man, I trust you with my granddaughter. Go have fun you two! I'll see you in the morning." Gin and I both gave a deep bow of appreciation toward the old woman, but before we turned to leave, my grandmother stopped us.

"Gin, please feel free to come to our place to rest and for breakfast after the festival is finished. And, if you don't mind me asking... how are the two of you going to attend the festival? It's strictly for spirits, is it not? You both are human." We couldn't tell her the actual truth, of course. Even if she was grandmother, whom I so loved very much.

"Believe me or not, I happen to know a spirit who I've been friends with for quite a while. He has spoken with the spirits in charge of the festival, and they have granted permission to allow the both of us to attend. We were allowed to tell you about the spirits if we had to, but for anyone else, we were sworn to secrecy." Gin's lie was so believable, that I couldn't help but give a genuine look of surprise toward him. However, I quickly remembered that my grandmother was still there, and I had to look as though I knew that piece of information. Thankfully, it seems that she didn't catch my falter, and threw another smile at our direction.

"Well, alright. Have fun you two! See you in the morning!" And with that, my grandmother waved us goodbye and slid her bedroom door closed.

With our mission accomplished, we ran happily - and as quietly as possible - away from my house and toward the forest. But first, we had to find where Natsume had hidden himself.

"Natsume!" We whispered as loudly as we dared to find our furry companion, and sure enough, a bushy tail popped out from the tall, moist grass. "I'm over here!" He beckoned us with a wave of his tail, as Gin and I ran over to his location a few feet from where we previously were.

Now we could see Natsume's head, along with the hopeful expression woven on his face. "So? How did it go?" He asked us. Although he appeared excited, there was no way I could miss the worry in his voice.

"It went great! My grandmother accepted Gin as my boyfriend, and granted us permission to go to the festival!" I told him with the biggest grin I've shown in years. Natsume must have understood why I was ecstatic, and gave a large and sincere smile. "Excellent! Well, we shouldn't wait too much longer, should we? Let's go!" Gin exclaimed, still softly, as the three of us began to make our way toward the area where the spirits' festival was being held.

Within minutes, we arrived at the festival, and my jaw dropped open in surprise upon seeing everything.

Gin really must have been important to the spirits, for this was easily the most lavished and most beautifully decorated festival I have ever seen. Gorgeous streamers and banners of fiery colors were strung up on trees everywhere, and glinted in the light provided by the many blue will-o-the-wisps that were suspended in the air. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors littered the place, whether in vases, decorations for booths, or posted with the streamers and banners. The booths were absolutely astounding: adorned with intricate clothing of designs and patterns I couldn't even imagine, and they even got butterflies to act as accessories for the booths, and fireflies to act as lighting. But best of all was the clear view of the moon and stars, which shone directly over the festival grounds.

It was truly breathtaking.

Before I knew it, I began crying just by the beauty of it all. Gin saw this, and delicately took my right hand and gave it a reassuring and comforting squeeze. I turned to look at him, and I saw one of the warmest smiles I ever saw from him. It matched the one he gave me seconds before he disappeared last year.

Not wanting to worry the two of them further, I wiped away my tears with the back of my free hand and gave a determined smile. Just as we began to examine the shops and whatever else was provided, we were greeted by a spirit who looked like a man in his fifties.

"Ah... Natsume's party! You have arrived!" He announced, as all commotion and sound came to a halt. Shopkeepers and other spirits alike cast their gazes at our direction, and I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. I guess the guilt I had felt a few days ago was coming back. I stole a glance at Gin, and also found that he as well bore an expression of slight unease. Natsume, on the other hand, didn't seem worried at all.

Instead, he gave a deep bow of appreciation to the spirit, as Gin and I soon followed suit. "Thank you very, very much for inviting us, especially Hotaru and Gin." He told the spirit, and turned his head to look at us.

The middle aged spirit now had his attention on me, and I felt myself stiffen up out of instinct. Sadly for me, the spirit saw this, but gave a warm and kind smile. "Rest assured, Hotaru. We do not hate you. In fact, we all like you quite a lot. You are our very first human friend that we all cherish and trust - apart from a special case." I gave a nod, instantly knowing who the spirit was talking about. Gin.

"We all believe, as a matter of fact, that you are part of our family now. Right everyone?!" The spirit asked loudly, as all the spirits in the festival gave a "Yeah!" in reply. Despite not wanting to, I found myself crying tears of joy at this sight, and helped both my hands over my heart before giving a grateful and joyous look to the spirit in charge of the festival. "Everyone... thank you so much... I was worried you all would hate me. But, I see now that I was very wrong. Thank you, all of you!" I exclaimed, and all of the spirits gave a whoop of glee. At this point, my emotions were going rampant. Gin - of course - noticed and placed an arm around my shoulders to comfort me while Natsume lovingly nudged my leg.

When things began to calm down, the middle aged looking spirit spoke up once more. "Now, we always have a grand festival like this one in summer, but why is it much more grand than usual, you may ask. Yes, tonight, we celebrate the return of a beloved friend - no, a beloved family member, who endeared himself to us when he was only an infant! After his supposed passing last year, we are glad to announce that he has returned! Now, let the festival begin!" Another shout of jubilation, and the festival commenced.

All the other spirits soon went back to what they were doing before our arrival, as we stood there and pondered what we should do. Gin finally came up with an idea after some thought.

"Hotaru, you must be pretty hungry, right? How about we get something to eat?" The thought sounded appealing, but I knew I couldn't eat too much for fear of ruining my appetite for breakfast in the morning. "Sure! I'd love a little bite to eat!" I told him, and we began to search for something to eat. Food stalls were all over, and had a lot of variety, from more western foods such as hamburgers and milkshakes to more Japanese dishes such as grilled fish and dango. Everything looked really tasty.

"I'm fine with eating anything. What are you in the mood for, Gin?" I asked him, but it appeared that he didn't hear me. His silver gaze was fixated on a food stand that was making and selling both mochi and manju. He seemed fascinated with the technique of making the mochi, and soon I found myself silently giggling.

"Gin?" I asked a bit louder this time, and touched his elbow to grab his attention. It worked this time, as Gin gave an expression that looked like he broke free from a trance before turning his head to give me an apologetic look. "Sorry, Hotaru..." He mumbled.

I shook my head while smiling at the entity. "It's alright. I noticed that you seemed interested in the mochi stand. Do you want some?" His eyes lit up, and from that I instantly knew that Gin would very much like to have some. However, his lips turned into a frown.

"W-Well... I'll be alright if you don't want some..." He muttered. Aw, he's still so cute! "No, it's fine, Gin! Mochi actually sounds quite delicious right now! Hey, Natsume, would you like to try-" I stop toward the end of my sentence when I realized that the little fox spirit was nowhere to be seen.

"That's strange... where did he disappear to?" I inquired, but Gin only gave a smile at this. "I'm sure he's fine. Perhaps he wanted to catch up with some spirit friends of his." He suggested, and I nodded in agreement. Natsume will be fine. All of a sudden, I became much happier. Gin and I can spend some alone time with each other! It's... "This is just like a date!" I giggled, voicing my thoughts out loud, just like I had back then. The reply that came from Gin stopped my heart.

"This is a date."

Just like last year. However, instead of the two of us being held together by a piece of cloth, Gin outstretched his hand to me, and I took it happily. His hands are so warm... how weird... I thought to myself. I had always thought that because he was a spirit, his hands would be slightly cold. But on the contrary, they were warm, and I soon found my face just as warm along with being a little more red than it usually is.

Together, the two of us walked up to the mochi stand and decided to order some manju. It was a whitish color, with an azuki bean paste on the inside. It was absolutely delicious, and seemed to be Gin's new favorite snack.

Hand in hand, we left the stand to wander and explore the rest of the festival.

It was about three in the morning when the festival came to a close. Spirits began to take down the stands and the decorations, while the goods being sold were packed away. We didn't see Natsume throughout the rest of the festival.

Gin purchased a mask, but said it was a "thank you" gift for my grandparents for allowing him to take me to the festival. My gift for my grandparents was more mochi and manju; they were so delicious, I couldn't help but feel the need to share them with the rest of my family!

When I told Gin that I would be able to make it to my home just fine, he bid me goodnight and left while promising to meet up with me in the morning to enjoy breakfast at my grandmother's invitation. Now all I had to do was find Natsume.

I asked a bunch of the spirits who were still cleaning up the festival if any of them saw the fox spirit. It took a while before one of them informed me that she saw the fox spirit resting on stone stairs nearby. I knew exactly where Natsume was now.

It didn't take me long before I found Natsume on the stairs, exactly where I was told he would be. He gave me a surprised look before giving me a smile. "Oh, hello, Hotaru. How was the festival with Gin?"

"I loved it!" I replied with a beaming grin. "He told me that it was a date." Natsume gave a gasp and looked truly happy. "Oh, Hotaru! That's excellent!" I shook my head in disagreement.

"Sure, it was nice, but I don't think it means that he loves me. To him, it seems like we just met after all. I think it was nothing more than courteous gesture." Natsume looked disappointed, but nodded anyway.

There was an awkward moment of silence before speaking up. "So... why are you here, Hotaru? I thought you would have gone home after the festival." He asked me, and I soon remembered the real reason why I was here with the fox spirit.

"I actually have to talk to you about something really important... it's about Gin..." I trailed off, assuming that Natsume would understand the importance of the topic. His face became serious as he gave me a slow nod. "From what it sounds like, we might need to have some of the other spirits to hear this. Perhaps we can figure out a time and place and we can all have a meeting about it."

I nodded at his suggestion, and smiled. "That sounds good. Will you come over to my place - once it's safe of course - and discuss the details with me? Oh, and be sure that you're coming over without Gin's knowledge! For some reason, I get this dreading feeling that we can't tell Gin about any of this, or something terrible would happen to him..." Ever since I've been having those visions of Gin's memories, I've felt that I cannot tell Gin anything about us from the past, or like I said earlier, something terrible would happen to him. Almost like he would disappear again... except for good.

Natsume also seemed to have sense my worries, along with the fact that there was a deeper meaning to my statement. "Sure. I'll try and meet up with you as soon as possible once I've talked to some other spirits that were pretty close to Gin. In the meantime, why don't you head home, Hotaru? You've had a long day."

I did indeed feel tired and drained, and took up Natsume's offer. I headed home, and climbed underneath the covers of my bed. That night, I dreamed of a future where I was living with Gin; the two of us lovers with not a worry in the world.

Azure: And, there's the long awaited chapter! I've been trying to be better about updating, so I plan to post the next chapter fairly soon. Also, just for reference in case you were wondering: manju and mochi are, for the most part, the same thing. They're are both rice cakes, however, manju has filling inside the rice cake unlike mochi. For example, the filling could be an azuki bean (or a red bean) paste! It's quite sweet. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Gin: I wonder why I'm not suppose to know anything...

Ignescent: Um, well, because of, um, stuff.

Gin: That really narrows it down, thanks.

Ignescent: Exactly.

Hotaru: *sigh* I hope you enjoyed the chapter, everyone!