As expected, nothing happened between Artoria and Eichi after they finished drinking.
The two left the hotpot restaurant as usual and arrived at the Summer Festival under the brilliant starry sky.
Although it was already night when the Summer Festival officially began, the large number of streetlights, lanterns, and colorful signs at the foot of the mountain lit up the night like day.
"Boss, two candied apples."
"Alright, two for 500 yen."
Because Eichi had seen candied apples at Summer Festivals in anime before, he bought them as soon as he spotted them.
Perhaps Eichi had too many anime-inspired fantasies about candied apples.
After tasting the candied apple, he was a little disappointed.
"It's just ordinary candy, kind of like a lollipop."
The next second, Eichi thought of Artoria, worried that she might be disappointed by the taste of the candied apple.
He turned his head and saw Artoria sticking out her small tongue, licking the candied apple bite by bite.
"Good, it looks like Ria doesn't dislike candied apples."
"What's wrong, Eichi?"
Artoria, who noticed Eichi looking at her, raised her head.
When she first noticed Eichi looking at the candy in her hand, Artoria thought he had finished his own and wanted hers.
She was still hesitating over whether to share half with Eichi.
Then she saw the whole candied apple in Eichi's hand.
"Nothing, how does it taste? If you don't like it, there's plenty of other delicious food here."
For some reason, Eichi suddenly felt like he had been caught doing something bad.
He felt a little inexplicably guilty.
"It tastes pretty good."
Artoria replied with a smile.
"That's good then."
The two walked side by side through the bustling Summer Festival.
They only stopped when two familiar voices reached their ears.
"It's all your fault, Big Sister. Why did you win so many?"
"It's because you said you liked them, so I wanted to win them all for you."
"They won't even fit in my bedroom."
The troubled voices of two young girls sounded near Eichi.
Eichi instinctively turned his head.
Mai and Maki appeared not far from the two of them.
"What happened to you two?"
Eichi brought Artoria over to them.
He curiously looked at the large number of stuffed animals they were carrying, along with several bags in their hands.
"It's all Big Sister showing off. She shot down all the stuffed animals at the shooting gallery."
Because it was a rare Summer vacation, and everyone around them had been talking about the Summer Festival, Maki had thought of bringing her younger sister, Mai, out to play as well, so she would not be cooped up in the lab and Tokyo Jujutsu High every day.
Although she was not interested in gossip, Maki was very interested in taking her sister out to have fun.
Just now, when Maki noticed that her younger sister Mai's gaze had been drawn to the stuffed animals at the shooting gallery, she immediately decided to win them for her sister.
Because she was not sure which ones Mai liked, Maki directly pulled out several Fukuzawa Yukichi and then raised her gun and fired.
Amid the stunned expressions of the surrounding crowd and the pained heart of the shooting gallery owner, Maki kept firing, directly shooting down every stuffed animal on display at the stall.
Watching all the bullets be used up, the shooting gallery owner, moving faster than he ever had in his life, packed up all the stuffed animals and shoved them into the girls' arms.
Then he politely asked the two to leave, even secretly returning the Fukuzawa Yukichi Maki had just put down.
Just like that, Maki and Mai were blacklisted by all the Summer Festival shooting gallery owners.
The only thing the shooting gallery owner could be thankful for was that seeing a young girl easily win so many stuffed animals at his stall made the people around think that the owner's guns had not been tampered with and were easy to use.
So tonight's business was even more booming than the other shooting galleries.
"Hey, hey, it's my fault. I got carried away because it was too easy."
Facing her sister's complaints, Maki repeatedly admitted her mistake.
"I forgive you."
Mai was not really blaming Maki. She just enjoyed the feeling of being cared for and doted on by her older sister.
"It's inconvenient for you two to carry so many things. Just leave them with me for now."
Eichi, who had clarified the situation, looked at the close sisters with an amused expression.
"Then we'll trouble Eichi-sensei."
The two immediately nodded.
It was impossible to properly enjoy the Summer Festival while carrying dozens of stuffed animals.
So, under everyone's gaze, Eichi led the three beautiful girls into the nearby grove.
After all the stuffed animals were sent into Eichi's shadow, Maki and Mai's appearances were fully revealed before Eichi.
Maki was not wearing glasses. Ever since her Awakening into a complete Heavenly Restriction, Maki had been able to sense Cursed Spirits.
At the moment, Maki was wearing a simple yet elegant white floral yukata that highlighted her aura, with a Thousand Machine Umbrella, also mainly white and red with gold accents, strapped to her back.
Her hair was not tied up, but hung straight over her shoulders like a waterfall.
Her originally strong aggressiveness was softened considerably by the yukata and the Thousand Machine Umbrella, transforming into a striking heroic aura.
Coupled with the doting glances she occasionally cast toward Mai, this made Maki look like a cool older sister who cherished her younger sister.
Mai was wearing an orange kimono embroidered with large, blooming sunflower-like flowers.
It made her whole person look bright and cute.
Outside the grove, several boys whose eyes had been on Mai and Maki since the shooting gallery suddenly became agitated when they saw Eichi lead the two of them into the grove.
"He's taking three beautiful girls into the grove, damn normie."
"Exactly, exactly, normies should all explode."
However, before the indignation in their hearts had fully vented, the four of them returned to the Summer Festival street from the grove.
"Ah? That fast?"
"It's only been a minute or two, right?"
Slap, slap.
Their companions immediately gave each of them a hard smack.
"Enough, didn't you see they just went to put away the stuffed animals?"
"Damn it, we should have taken the chance to go help them just now."
Watching the four separate after only a few words once they came out of the grove, the boys immediately regretted not seizing the opportunity.
"Don't say that, we still have a chance now."
As if he had made some kind of decision, the boy whose mind had been clouded by beauty gathered his courage and walked behind the two girls.
"Beautiful ladies, I'd like to..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was intimidated by Maki's terrifying aura.
"You."
Maki looked the boy up and down, the one who had suddenly appeared and was now standing there stiffly.
With just one glance, Maki classified the boy as one of the annoying flies that needed to be chased away, the type that would buzz around Mai.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry!"
The boy immediately stood at attention with his hands at his sides, bowed deeply, and then ran off without looking back.
(To be continued.)