After summer break had ended, Rei had suddenly become way more serious when it came to his studies. It wasn't uncommon that Nagisa would now help Makoto with most of the chores instead of Rei, because the older was studying.
"I thought you didn't have to study so hard until you were in middle school," Nagisa said, one day when he had asked Rei to go play with him and had been declined because Rei had to study.
Makoto smiled and shook his head. "It may have changed a bit from when I was in elementary school, but I remember that we too had to study, even back then,"
Of course Makoto had to play it of as if this was nothing when speaking to Nagisa, but in reality, he was worried about Rei. He had never thought he would see a 4th grader take his studies this seriously. In Makoto's opinion, as long as you were still in elementary school, you should at least have some time to play and fool around.
Rei's behavior towards studying continued for a few more days. For each passing day, Makoto's worry increased. He had to have Rei take a break, he just needed an opportunity for it. And this was when Makoto received a text from Kisumi, giving him the perfect excuse to have Rei do something other than studying all day.
"Rei!" he called out after reading the text. "We're heading out to see Kisumi at the mackerel festival!"
"Go ahead," Rei answered, simply.
Makoto walked to the living room where Rei was sitting, focused on his math. "You're coming along too, Rei. It's not good for you to just be stuck inside all day and study," he said.
Rei looked up at Makoto with wide eyes. "But…" he started
"Is something the matter?" Makoto asked.
Rei hesitated. "They're going to give us a test and we'll get grades for how well we do," Rei explained.
Makoto was surprised. He didn't think they would suggest giving grades to such young children, but he didn't know anything of the education system.
"You should've said that," Makoto said. "Also, if you need help, just ask. But right now you should come with me and Nagisa out and get some fresh air and get away from your studies for a bit," he instructed.
Rei nodded. He actually felt better about leaving when Makoto said this. He felt like he could really rely on his words. So he packed away his books and got up and to the door. Nagisa came running downstairs when Makoto called and they soon headed out, all three.
There were many people at the festival. Makoto was walking ahead, creating a path, as it was easier for Nagisa and Rei to walk through the crowd. There were especially a lot of people around the stage where the yukata contest would be held. It was like a human wall, almost impossible to come by. Makoto figured that he could see fine from where he stood, although he was a bit far. He was concerned about Nagisa and Rei though.
"Do you want to get closer?" he asked.
Nagisa nodded. "I can't see a thing here," he stated.
"Yeah… it would be nice to get a bit closer," Rei said.
Makoto nodded. "Go on then," he said. "Try going as close as you can, but promise me that you stick together. There are a lot of people here. It will be hard for us to find one another if one goes missing," he said.
"So… should we meet up somewhere?" Rei asked.
Makoto nodded and looked around for a good spot to meet up. "We meet up by the sushi stall over there, with the bright red sign," he said and nodded in the direction.
Rei and Nagisa nodded. They should be able to find that place relatively easily. Then Rei grabbed Nagisa's hand and they started heading towards the stage.
Makoto stood in the back. More people continued to arrive and soon he was surrounded by even more people. He had never been to the mackerel festival before and had never seen the yukata contest, but it sure seemed to be popular.
After around 10 minutes, the show started. A man presented the participants. They were from different work-places in town. There were eight participants in total and those who represented the convenience store were number 7.
It wasn't just a matter of showing off a yukata. It was also a matter of a good performance and a good show. Some nurses from the hospital, whom Makoto didn't know were participating, were throwing flowers over the crowd. This caused happy cheers to rise from the crowd during the rest of their performance.
Finally it was the convenience store-staff's turn to perform. Makoto watched with a happy smile on his face as Kisumi came out, showing off the yukata he was wearing. Two girls were dancing in the background while he was walking to the front of the stage and showing the Yukata to the crowd. He was smiling all the way through the performance, and waving at everyone in the crowd. Makoto could hear some girls nearby whisper about how hot Kisumi was and how one of them gasped when she thought he looked at her.
"He is really popular, isn't he?" a man asked another. They were standing right behind Makoto.
"Probably. I'm not from here, so I don't know," the other answered. "Do you know what his name is?"
"No idea," the first man said before he poked Makoto on the shoulder. "Excuse me, do you know the name of the guy up on the stage, the lead figure?" he asked.
Makoto turned around. He hadn't expected them to speak to him about it. "His name is Shigino Kisumi but… sorry for saying this, but he isn't that well known. Most people here probably don't know who he is," he answered truthfully.
The man looked questioning at Makoto. "How come you know?" he asked.
"He's my childhood friend," Makoto answered.
"Our luck," the other man smiled. "How old is he? Has he modeled before?" he asked.
"He's 26 years old and no… I don't think he has modeled before," Makoto said.
Both men exchanged looks before the first one turned back to Makoto. "Do you think you could introduce us to him? We would really like to speak to him if possible,"
Makoto wasn't sure why they were asking him about this, but he saw no harm in doing as they asked and therefore nodded. "I could do that," Makoto answered.
And so, once the contest was over, the nurses won the whole thing, Makoto went and led the two men behind the stage where he quickly found Kisumi and introduced them. Then he excused himself and went to meet up with Nagisa and Rei. Although he was slightly curious as to what the men wanted with Kisumi, he had responsibility as a parent and he didn't want to cause Nagisa and Rei to worry about him.
Thankfully they hadn't had the time to wonder about where Makoto had disappeared to and this saved Makoto from explaining where he'd been. He also soon forgot about it because Nagisa declared that he was hungry.
"Then, let's go buy some mackerel sushi," Makoto said.
They went and bought sushi from the stall with the bright red sign. They then went home, seeing as it was getting late, and Nagisa went to bed. Makoto stayed up to help Rei with his studies.
"What do you need help with?" Makoto asked.
"Math," Rei answered and pointed in the book at a passage that was troubling him.
Makoto was happy that math was still on a rather easy level for him and he started explaining to Rei how he was supposed to understand it.
It took less time than Makoto had thought. Rei seemed to follow rather easily and Makoto only had to come with a few helping methods for the first problem before the boy could solve the rest.
"Is it a math test?" Makoto asked.
Rei nodded. "We'll be tested in all we have been through in math since spring break," he answered.
"When is it?" Makoto asked.
"Tomorrow," Rei answered while solving another problem.
Suddenly Makoto felt really bad for dragging Rei out to the festival like this, but the boy didn't seem to regret it, so perhaps it was okay. It would be anyways if he got a passing grade.
And that was what happened. In fact, Rei's studies paid off so well that it earned him a top grade for the test. This was both to his and Makoto's relief. And Rei continued to get top grades in math through the rest of his time in school, up until he graduated from high school many years later.
Kisumi called on the day when Rei had come home with his top-grade and wanted to speak to Makoto about something important. He had just been in Tokyo for a model audition and had been accepted, like the two men had said he would be. It had turned out they were scouts, looking for new models. They hadn't expected to find anyone by going to the festival and were originally there to catch a break, but then they had found Kisumi, and now, because of all this, Kisumi would move to Tokyo. Makoto didn't want to imagine the sadness and disappointment that would be displayed on Rei's and Nagisa's faces when he had to tell them that Kisumi couldn't come by anymore.