The Bon Festival

Why, why, why did their teachers have to give them so much summer homework? Eren found himself silently screaming for the thousandth time.

After two weeks of leafing through textbooks, writing lengthy essays, solving equations, and memorizing dates while the summer breeze flooded tantalizingly into his bedroom, Eren finally caved in. As if it weren't bad enough that he had a bum leg to deal with…

He was not going to waste his summer vacation on any more homework. He closed his history textbook and shoved it aside, struggling to his feet and limping over to the window, throwing it completely open and inhaling the warm, sunny air.

He looked at his calendar. There were only 4 weeks left of summer break and he was going to enjoy them, damn it.

"Won't I look stupid in a Yukata with this cast on?" Eren complained as Mikasa carefully helped him dress.

"You'll look stupid anyway," said Jean, sniggering behind his hand.

Eren wound up a fist to punch him, but Armin caught his arm. "Eren, don't," he said placatingly. Then, to Jean, he added, "Be nice, he's hurt."

Eren dropped his arm and turned away as Mikasa finished adjusting his outfit for him: a pale blue yukata with gold, black, and white koi swimming through bubbles patterned onto it and a slightly darker blue obi.

This had been his father's compromise when he had caught Eren trying to sneak out earlier that day: if he was going stir crazy, he could go out for a bit, but only in a group. Eren supposed it made sense; the more people there were to keep a lookout for him, the less chance he'd have of worsening his injury.

It still pissed him off.

As happy as he was to hang out with his friends, it would have been nice to not feel like he was constantly under surveillance. But, there was no getting around it - he had been overruled on the activity of choice- so on the yukata went and they were off to the Bon festival, their multi-colored array of outfits making them look like a mobile rainbow.

The park, he had to (grudgingly) admit, was breathtaking. When they arrived, the sun was just beginning to set, but already the myriad of vendor booths were lighting their wide array of technicolor lanterns, the effect causing an eerie, yet simultaneously alluring sort of glow. They were all lined up in a gigantic aisle on either side of the park's northern and southern borders, so that the whole of the common green in between became a giant outdoor hallway filled with bustling festival patrons. The energy was infectious, and despite the clunky boot on his leg, Eren found himself enjoying the atmosphere before too long.

The first booth to attract the teenagers was a goldfish catching game. They each paid for a paper net and waited in line for their turn at swiping one of the lovely fish swimming around in the kiddie pool. Mikasa was at the head of the line, and she knelt down next to the water, trying her hand at it. "This is harder than it looks," she muttered after a couple unsuccessful attempts. She watched the goldfish as they swam artfully around her submerged net, like they were taunting her. During their time in line, the sun had fully disappeared beyond the horizon and the stars had come out to play, twinkling merrily over the festival as if they were enjoying it, too.

Armin smiled serenely. "There's probably a trick to it. Can I try?" Mikasa nodded and passed him the scooper, watching over his shoulder in an interested sort of way. Jean, Connie, Eren, and Sasha, who had snagged a bag of chips from somewhere, clustered around the sides.

Armin proceeded to stare at the water for a whole five minutes, his eyebrows knitting together in an expression of intense concentration. Connie snorted; Sasha shoved a chip in his mouth to shut him up. They all waited with bated breath as Armin silently calculated the hypothetical trajectory, angle, and speed for successfully procuring a goldfish from the pool. Eren couldn't blame Connie for his humor at the situation...they were all being rather overdramatic about the ordeal. But still, he kept silent.

"I think I've got it," he said finally, surging forward. Eren noticed Jean's prankortunity a little too late, and by the time he moved to stop him, Jean had already pushed a palm into the small of Armin's back, sending the blonde pinwheeling into the water with a cry of surprise as the goldfish scattered, narrowly avoiding being squished. There was a splash, and everyone waiting jumped back, trying and failing to stop themselves from being splattered. Jean, Sasha, and Connie roared with laughter and even Mikasa giggled a bit. Eren couldn't help it; he burst out laughing, too. "Oh my gosh, Armin! Hold still so I can take a picture!" He fumbled for his digital camera as Armin, with his butt sticking up in the air, groaned, "Take your time. No hurry here." He winced as something smacked his cheek and fell into his palm.

"Hey, look at that, you caught one!" Eren said with a grin, blinding Armin with a flash of light as he snapped a candid. Armin glared daggers at them all as the man running the booth placed the creature in a plastic bag for him. Mikasa and Connie helped him up as Jean and Sasha continued to laugh. Jean was actually crying. "Yes, well," Armin retorted prissily as he stood and squeezed out the ruined fabric of his yukata, "That wasn't exactly how I saw it happening in my mind."

Mikasa looked away and smirked. "That's what you get for trying to be smarter than everyone."

Still chuckling, Eren put the device away. "Come on, you guys. Let's get something to eat. I'm starving." His stomach rumbled as if to confirm this, and the group, with various murmurs of agreement (shouting in Sasha's case) made their way over to the food stands.

Everyone else wanted soba, but Eren's painkillers were wearing off and he wasn't feeling any heavy food so he made his way to the red bean bun stand alone. As he limped into line, the man ahead of him looked up and Eren was immediately stricken by the sharpness of his...everything. He had a rigidly strict undercut to start with, not one ebony hair out of place. His skin was so pale that for a moment Eren wondered if he was sickly or something. His face had some glass-cut, unforgiving lines, especially in his jaw and cheekbones. And his eyes…

They were as blue as a glacier and seemed just as cold and unforgiving. They surveyed Eren with so much intensity that Eren was sure the man could see right through him.

He gulped.