At this moment, Eichi and Artoria were each holding a sparkler.
They smiled as they watched the brief yet beautiful sparks after the sparklers were lit.
After one sparkler burned out, the two lit another.
These sparklers reminded Eichi of his childhood in his previous life.
Throwing firecrackers, small landmines, friction crackers, all kinds of fireworks and firecrackers pushed the festive atmosphere to its peak.
Just as Eichi was immersed in those irretrievable days, the last sparkler in their hands also burned out.
"Let's go, there are still a lot of activities for us to try."
Eichi stood up, and the two of them, like the others from Tokyo Jujutsu High, began sweeping through the Summer Festival stalls.
Although most of what they won was useless, and the difficulty of the games meant nothing to them.
For some reason, both of them felt extremely happy.
Especially Artoria. In the past, whether because of the era she lived in or the burdens she carried, all of it had prevented her from experiencing life as an ordinary person, as an ordinary girl.
Now, Artoria did not need to think about victory or defeat, did not need to think about consequences, and did not need to worry about the future.
She was simply immersed in games she had never experienced before.
She would seriously aim with one eye closed when shooting, and even if the gun was poor and it was difficult to knock down the prizes on display, she would not complain.
Instead, she quickly figured out the trick and got the prize she wanted.
She would seriously hold the hammer with both hands, knocking out every mole that popped up from under the table, cheering when she got a perfect score.
She would also panic in front of the punching machine when she accidentally broke it.
Water balloon stalls, accessory stalls, food stalls, photo booths... Artoria this evening was not a king, not a knight, nor a Servant.
She was just an ordinary girl enjoying the Summer Festival.
What Eichi used to hate most was when others played games in front of him and stirred up his interest.
The key was that the game console belonged to his friend, who would not let him play.
But now, Eichi felt that this was also pretty good. Accompanying Artoria and watching her genuine smile was nice too... At this moment, at the fireworks display preparation site not far from the Summer Festival.
The people originally responsible for setting off the fireworks had been replaced by another professional team.
And at the very front of this professional team, Satoru was giving a speech with a serious expression.
"In short, what I want is the most, most, most magnificent, most, most, most romantic confession, got it!"
Satoru slammed his right hand onto the whiteboard behind him, which had pictures of Eichi and Artoria taped to it.
"Yes, mission accomplished!"
Below the temporary podium, the professional teams immediately replied with great energy.
"So this is what you meant by 'extremely urgent'?"
Suguru's eye twitched.
He had originally been accompanying his family at the church.
But then he had suddenly received an extremely urgent call from Satoru asking for help.
Hearing the urgency in his best friend's tone, Suguru did not even think before riding his fastest Cursed Spirits to the location Satoru had sent him.
Suguru first used the Jorōgumo silk from his Cursed Spirits to package the dozen or so large boxes Satoru wanted.
Then, riding a Rainbow Dragon, he delivered the items to the foot of the mountain under the cover of night.
And now you are telling me this extremely urgent matter was just that there were not enough fireworks?
"Oh, this is for my best friend's happiness, so of course it's extremely urgent."
Satoru patted Suguru on the shoulder and spoke with a matter-of-fact expression.
"Is this your Plan C?"
Panda looked at the professional team setting up the fireworks site in front of them.
"That's right."
Satoru spun gracefully in place like a ballet dancer.
"Since the two of them are completely unaware, I'll directly place reality in front of them so they can't keep ignoring each other's feelings, and then... hehehe."
"I see, this way they really will have to face their feelings, hehe."
Whoosh, bang!
Just as the few of them were still discussing what expressions Eichi and Artoria would make, the first firework had already flown into the sky.
"What's that?"
"It looks like a face."
Amid the surrounding discussion, Eichi and Artoria also noticed that the fireworks display had begun.
The next second, Eichi's mind went blank, and he froze in place.
'I should have realized it back at the beauty salon, there's only one person who would be this whimsical, Gojo!'
Looking at the chibi-style fireworks of himself and Artoria exploding one after another in the sky after rising.
And those cheesy confession lines.
Eichi felt as if his whole body had frozen in place.
'It's over, will this be too much, will Ria hate me...'
Gulp.
Eichi swallowed nervously and carefully looked at Artoria.
He was afraid of seeing anger or embarrassment on Artoria's face.
"Thank you, Eichi."
However, Artoria did not react the way Eichi had feared.
Instead, she gently brushed the stray hair by her ear and smiled as she thanked Eichi.
"Eh?"
With his mind in chaos, Eichi, who had completely lost his calm judgment, widened his eyes and looked at Artoria.
"I had a lot of fun today."
At this moment, Artoria's face, illuminated by the fireworks, was deeply engraved into Eichi's heart.
'She had a lot of fun, huh?'
"That's good."
Eichi smiled from the bottom of his heart.
Then Eichi took Artoria's hand, and they stood there quietly.
Until all the fireworks blooming in the night sky disappeared.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)