Replace III

The summer festival of Kiseki

• Chapter 1 If the Generation of Miracles were in Yukatas.

The knocking sound of wooden clogs echoed throughout the residential street that has been enveloped by the rays of the setting sun.

Clad in yukatas, men, women, the young and the old mingled among the crowd of people who are donning everyday clothes. They headed towards the shrine where the Summer Festival was being held with smiles on their faces. One of these people was a young girl wearing a pink colored yukata with floral prints on it. She looked around in the crowd. This is Momoi Satsuki who has her hair tied up in a pretty style. Unlike the people in the crowd, she was pouting with displeasure.

“Dai-chan, you’re walking too slowly!” “You’re damn annoying. It doesn’t matter if I’m a bit slow. Even if you rush, it’s not like it changes anything.” Momoi’s childhood friend, Aomine Daiki retorted, an annoyed look on his face, in response to the cause of Momoi’s displeasure. Aomine is also different from usual, wearing a navy colored yukata. “Also, shouldn’t you stop calling me Dai-chan already?” “Why? When I called you ‘Aomine-kun’, didn’t you say it was strange?” Momoi started calling Aomine ‘Aomine-kun’ after she entered Middle school. That was because she gets teased when she calls him ‘Dai-chan’, so she had no choice but to change her way of addressing him to ‘Aomine-kun’. But when it’s just the two of them, she would address the other party in the way she was used to. However, unbeknownst to Momoi, this only made Aomine more irritated. Even though Momoi rushed him with a “Hurry up!”, Aomine would just sigh without changing his pace. After Aomine dragged his footsteps until he is next to her, Momoi started walking next to him. “ Given that we hardly go out in Yukatas, of course anyone would want to enjoy the summer festival as much as possible right?” “I can still enjoy myself even if I’m dressed as per usual.” In response to Aomine’s retort, Momoi stubbornly said “That may be true but it’s more enjoyable wearing a yukata. And Granny specially made them for us too.” Momoi raised one of her sleeves and looked at it. The yukatas worn by her and Aomine were both tailored by her Granny. On the last day of the school term, also known as yesterday, Momoi went to her Granny’s house after school. It was because her Granny called her and told her to make a detour to her house. What her Granny passed to her was the Yukata she was wearing now. Seeing Momoi happily try the Yukata on, Her Granny also smiled* (^_^) as said “I prepared this too.” And handed Momoi another yukata. The navy colored men’s yukata was prepared for Aomine. Her Granny still remembered that every year, both of them would go to the Summer festival together.

T/N: The way the granny smiled was described as squinting her eyes like this (^_^) unable to describe in words so I use emoticons.

“Although Granny was worried that that Aomine wouldn’t be able to fit into it, it actually fits you quite well.” Momoi assessed the Yukata clad Aomine once more. Even though he’s the childhood friend whom she was always with, after he wore a yukata, it was a kind of refreshing feeling. “Well…it’s okay, I guess.”

Aomine answered unenthusiastically. “Eh…that’s all you feel about it?” Momoi was unsatisfied by the answer but whatever it is, he still came wearing a yukata. So she can let it slide with that sort of answer. “What…What are you smiling about?” Aomine frowned when he saw Momoi’s expression. “Eh, Ah…Erm….Aomine kun, this Yukata suits you very well.” Momoi said while smiling.

“Really?”

“Yep. Both your skin and the Yukata are dark so if someone sees you late at night, all they see would be your eyes. That would be pretty scary.”

“You!!”

“But, that’s the truth.” Both of them bickered like that all the way to the shrine where the summer festival was held. At the entrance of the Shirine, Momoi couldn’t help but exclaim “Wow~~” As though filling up the entire path, the stores opened at the temple fair were lined up along the path. Even though the sun has not set yet, the booths have already had their lamps lit and the dazzling lights filled the entire street. The trees in the surrounding area had their branches extended and interlocked as though protecting the path, forming a large gate. Even though they came here every year, but upon seeing this scene, it really makes people excited.

The lights lit up Momoi’s face and Aomine made an irritated sound next to her. “Oi, aren’t there too many people?” “Because every year, the long awaited shrine carriages would parade this area so that’s why there are so many people. Ne, let’s go!” Momoi pushed Aomine and walked towards the shrine. Putting coin offerings into the shrine bow, Momoi prayed earnestly “I hope Aomine can go through this summer holiday smoothly. He can finish his homework and not get injured during practice” and “ I hope I can get closer to that person…”

T/N: It’s not really coin offerings. In Chinese and Japanese religious tradition, the coin offerings or donations are actually referred to as “Joss stick money” literally. Basically, we give money to the shrines and temples so they can buy joss sticks so we can use in prayers.

After giving her offerings, Momoi looked at the temple fair and asked “So, where should we go first?” She raised her head to look at Aomine only to receive an unexpected answer.

“I’ll wait for you at that resting area.”

“Eh?” Momoi’s eyes widened. The resting area that Aomine was referring to was a simple shelter with tables and chairs. It was set up for people who bought snacks from the stores to eat, it was akin to a resting area. Momoi pressed further, flustered. “Wh…Why?! You don’t want to look around?” “There’s too many people, it’s troublesome. Just buy something for me to eat…ah, meat is good, I want meat.” “Eh, Meat? A-re?A-re?” “So, that’s it. I’ll wait for you.” “Wait, wait a minute, Dai-chan!?” Aomine said “Thanks” and waved his hand, quickly walking off to the resting area.

T/N: Aomine actually said “Onegaishimasu.” “Please do me that favor”.

“You got to be joking…” Momoi was left there gaping.

She was actually looking forward to the temple fair, but being alone killed the excitement by half.

Stupid Dai-chan! And to think that I specially prayed for you, return me my donation money! Momoi scolded Aomine in her mind while walking through the temple fair and then… “Momoi-san?” A clear voice with a transparent feeling called out her name. At that moment, all the anger towards Aomine was gone and a faint feeling of joy spread. Momoi could not have been mistaken, it was his voice.

“Tetsu-kun!”

“Yes. Ah, I’m over here.” Perhaps not wanting to see Momoi looking around frantically for him, Kuroko waved his hand so Momoi could see his location. Anyway, Kuroko’s figure appeared before Momoi. “Te.TeTeTe, Tetsu-kun! The Yukata, it really suits you!!” “Thank you.”

Rather than saying her greetings, Momoi expressed her opinions first. Kuroko wearing a Yukata moved her completely.

Kuroko, who was wearing a black striped Yukata said “Momoi-san looks very nice wearing that Yukata” and it completely blew away her rationality.

“Te,Tetsu kun…!”

The 100 yen donation was totally worth it…!

Momoi thanked the gods in a ditzy manner. Seeing that Momoi seems to be in a joyful daze, Kuroko said another statement that brought her back to Earth.

“Isn’t Aomine kun with you?”

“About that…Tetsu-kun, it’s like this!”

Momoi talked about Aomine going to the resting area alone and instructing her “Just buy something back.” After hearing that, Kuroko said with a serious look on his face “That’s just like Aomine-kun.”

“Tetsu-kun, are you here by yourself?”

In response to Momoi’s question, Kuroko nodded. “Even though I came here with Kandou-kun…Kandou-kun said that he had some urgent matters and went home first.”

T/N: This Kandou-kun was mentioned in the first Replace novel. If you’re wondering who he is, he was also in Kuroko’s primary school class. If you reverse the Kanji characters of Kandou, you get…Fujimaki…guess he needs to rush home to finish the manuscript for the next chapter of KnB.

“I see…” Momoi replied and heaved a sigh of relief. …Maybe, this is an opportunity given to me. Momoi’s face reddened and she gathered up the courage to call Kuroko’s name. “…Te, Tetsu-kun!”

“Yes?” “I,I, If you don’t mind, Do…Should we have fun together?” “Eh?”

“Even though I have to get Aomine-kun something, but if I just buy something, it’s just regrettable. I want him to be a bit anxious. But it’s also boring just going to this night market by myself…” After hearing Momoi’s explaination, Kuroko sighed with a “Ha…” and answered, a bit troubled. “But, won’t Aomine kun be angry?” “Eh!?” “His mood would get bad if he’s hungry.”

“Erm…well…I guess… Momoi was bothered by Kuroko’s blunt statement. Just as expected from Aomine’s partner, he really understands Aomine well. “If it’s just for a while…” just as Momoi was feeling troubled, Kuroko said softly “Oh right.”

“How about you tell Aomine that you took so long because you were walking around with me?”

“Eh?”

Facing Momoi who looked surprised, “With that, I don’t think Aomine-kun would blame you” Kuroko said somewhat playfully. (^_^) This slightly cunningly joyful expression moved Momoi once more. Thank you! Kandou-kun!! Momoi thanked the same year student whom she had never met in her heart. “You’re right! If I’m with Tetsu-kun, I don’t think Aomine-kun would get angry at all.”

“Then, that’s decided.” Let’s go, Kuroko said and Momoi felt as if she was strolling on the top of clouds.

Although Momoi was completely over the moon with joy, she couldn’t get distracted. Because if she doesn’t pay attention, Kuroko would disappear.

T/N: Kuroko, I swear you are a Youkai or something.

So both of them went to the Balloon Fishing shop first. Kuroko suggested it because “I actually quite like this game.” He had said. After taking the fishing apparatus from the shop owner, Kuroko squatted next to the water tank which held the water balloons. “They’re so pretty!” Momoi squatted on Kuroko’s right side after receiving her fishing apparatus. Because he liked the game, Kuroko easily fished up the water balloons. A transparent red one, an opaque blue one and a transparent one with threads inside…various water balloons went into the small vessel that Kuroko was holding. In comparison, Momoi’s net tore after fishing up a few small balloons.

T/N: This is the part where’s I’m confused. Because balloon fishing uses a string and hook. At least, that’s how it was when I played it. But the translation here refers to a net…hmm… “Uuu~~What a pity. I wanted that one.” Momoi stared at the last balloon she was aiming at. “Which one?” Kuroko followed Momoi’s line of sight. “Eh…? That one, the one over there. I want that slightly big and transparent pinkish balloon, but…” “I understand, it’s that one over that right?” The target Kuroko was aiming for was the balloon Momoi was referring to.

Do,Don’t tell me Tetsu-kun is doing this for me!? Momoi’s eyes widened and she pinched her cheeks. It hurts. Looks like this isn’t a dream.

Te,Tetsu-kun, for my sake!! As Momoi was deeply moved by this turn of events, she, like Kuroko, fixed her gaze on that balloon. The pink ballon, while being stared at by a burning and calm gaze at the same time, moved with the currents and circled the tank before wobbling towards Kuroko’s direction. However, just as it drifted pass Momoi , it seemed as though it was about to float towards Kuroko when… “Yo-SHA! Let’s see what I can do!” From the right side, a net appeared and quickly that pink balloon was fished up.

“Eh!?”

Not comprehending the situation, Momoi quickly turned to her right to see who fished the balloon, “You wanted this right!? Here, for you!” It wasn’t clear when he was there, but there was a high school youth wearing black framed glasses on Momoi’s right side. “Eh, that…?” Seeing Momoi with a confused look on her face, the youth took the pink balloon from his vessel and passed it to her.

“You were staring at this balloon from earlier right? So I’m giving it to you as a present. By the way, are you alone? Do you want to play together with us?” “Us” Seemingly referred to another youth squatting next to this boy’s right side. He also seems to be a high school student, he smiled and waved at Momoi “Hello~”, the several chain bracelets and his wrist dangled, making a clinking sound as he waved.

“This Yukata, it really suits you~~. What’s your name? Are you a high school student?” “Um, that, I have to decline! I’m with here with a friend.”

Momoi got up flustered, the black frame bespectacled boy and the bracelet boy also stood up. “Oh, your friend is here too, isn’t that great! It good, we have two people here, two guys and two girls matching up is just fine, isn’t it? “……No, there are three boys. And thinking about it, I think it’s nowhere near appropriate.” “Eh?….YI!?” The black frame bespectacled boy stared widely. He was staring at the beauty while trying to hit on her but suddenly, a youth with extremely low presence appeared in front of him. “What!? You, You you, where did you show up from!?” The high school students took a step back in fright. Seizing that chance, Kuroko placed his hand on Momoi’s shoulder as if he was rushing her.”Momoi-san, let’s go.” “Ah, Un.” And just like that, with her back towards the high school boys, Kuroko pushed her away from this place.

The high school students took a while to recover from the initial shock, they exclaimed “What was that just now!?” “Where did he come from?” But those statements did not reach Momoi and Kuroko who had left earlier.

While walking, Momoi heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Tetsu-kun…Sorry for dragging you into that strange situation.” Momoi’s shoulders slumped. It was a rare chance for Kuroko to notice her and he also wanted to help her get that balloon too. It was all ruined. Seeing a depressed Momoi, Kuroko gently consoled her, “It’s okay.”

“Besides, I should be apologising to you instead. If only I had more presence during those kinds of situations…Like that.” Kuroko pointed in the distant direction of the crowd. Momoi looked in the same direction with an “Eh?” The person who was being pointed at was two heads above the crowd he was trying to mingle in.

That was someone you definitely cannot overlook moving through the crowd, a giant you’ll definitely try to look at again.

There was no mistake, it was Murasakibara Atsushi. Perhaps it was for the summer festival atmosphere, he was wearing a sleeveless Yukata today, and therefore looks more outstanding than normal.

“Murasakibara-kun.” Kuroko raised his arm and waved. “Ah, it’s Kuro-chin~~.A-re, Sa-cchin is here too~~”

Noticing Momoi and Kuroko, Murasakibara quickly parted the crowd and walked towards them. And next to Murasakibara, it was someone whom they did not expect.

“Kuroko, Momoi. I didn’t think I would meet you two in this sort of place.” Wearing a Yukata made out of white fabric with a flying dragon motif with his arms crossed- Akashi Seijurou.

“Did Akashi-kun accompany Murasakibara-kun here to play?” “No. We just met by coincidence~~” Murasakibara answered drawling. “Aka-chin said that he’s going to participate in a Shogi competition later~~” “Shogi competition? Is it being held here?” Momoi asked Akashi, a bit confused. He nodded. “Someone I know requested that I participate. It seems as if he wanted to make sure that there are enough people.”

“Would there be an opponent who would interest you?” Kuroko asked, Akashi smiled (^_^) “Who knows…” Then he lowered his head to look at his watch.

“It’s almost time for it to start…Murasakibara, I’ll contact you later.”

“Ok. I’ll be counting on you~~”

Murasakibara and the rest watched as Akashi left until his figure blended into the crowd and disappeared. “Mu-kun, did you and Akashi-kun make some sort of arrangement?”

Hearing Momoi’s question, Murasakibara nodded vigorously. “Yep! It seems that the first prize for the shogi competition is a gift box with sweets inside. Akachin said that after the competition, he’ll give me the sweets.” “Already deciding that victory is certain even before the competition begins…”

“But, I don’t think Akashi-kun would lose.”

“You’re right~~~” “That’s true…” Murasakibara and Momoi agreed with Kuroko’s opinion.

Because Murasakibara said “I want to eat Soy sauce Rice crackers after this~~”, the three of them went to look for the booth that sold soy sauce rice crackers and unexpectedly, met another familiar face.

At the hoop throwing store alone was a troubled Midorima Shintarou. “Midorin, is there something wrong?” Due to Momoi’s greeting, Midorima who was seriously playing the hoop throwing turned around. He was wearing a black Yukata with white prints and this made him look more mature than he usually did at school.

“Momoi…and, Kuroko and Murasakibara are here too.” “So Midorima-kun can also play games such as hoop-throwing.” Midorima readjusted his spectacles and immediately denied Kuroko’s statement.

“I am not playing.”

“Then what’s with all the hoops in your hand.”

“I’m just proving the fact that I’m always doing my best, that’s all.”

T/N: What Midorima says is actually that he’s trying to prove the “Man proposes” part of his “Man proposes and God disposes” statement. Quite surprised when I realised my Dad advised me using this statement too…

Midorima tightly clutched the hoops used in this game. “This hoop-throwing game has many prizes. I just thought there should be some among them that can act as my backup for my lucky-items.” Momoi looked at the goods in the store. By Midorima’s perspective, there were indeed a wide variety of prizes. Next to the obligatory snack prizes, there was actually a statue of Buddha. There were empty cans placed in front of the various prizes. The rule seems to be that if you can get the hoop over the can, you can get the prize.

“Which one do you want?” “The god-welcoming doll placed in the middle of the shelf.

“……That has personality.” “That’s right. It’s a rare find. If I get that, even if my lucky item is supposed to be ‘An item to welcome the gods’ or a ‘doll’ or ‘something that can scare children’ (This doll’s attire and mask can freak children out), this one can fit all that perfectly.” “……That sounds troublesome.”

Momoi was once again defeated by Midorima’s burning obsession. Midorima thought Momoi’s ‘troublesome’ referred to the hoop throwing, so he nodded as though meaning “That’s how it is.”

“If it’s shooting basketball hoops, obviously I can do this easily, but if it’s hoop throwing, I’m not that good at it. And it’s the shelf in the middle too. The aiming needs to be precise, how difficult…”

Midorima gripped the hoops tightly and glared at the God-Welcoming Doll in fury. Even in competitions, Midorima had never had such a detestable look on his face.

“Is it really that difficult~~? Just lightly throw it and you’ll get it.”

Murasakibara said with a sleepy look on his face. “Murasakibara, what does someone like you who doesn’t use his brain know!” “Really…” Murasakibara paid for a round to the owner, and after taking the hoops “Just like this is fine…” and extended his arm.

“What!?” This amazing sight made Midorima, Momoi and even Kuroko gasp.

Murasakibara’s extended arm, is extremely close to the prize shelf. “Un…this one would do” Murasakibara tossed the ring towards the empty can in front of some cookies. Or more accurately, he only used strength equivalent of “lightly placing something”. The hoop was hooped over the empty can steadily.

This situation which happened only for a split second caused Kuroko and group and the store owner to gape in shock.

“See~~It’s easy~~” Murasakibara turned and faced Midorima, smiling slightly. Midorima, however, grabbed Murasakibara’s shouders. “Muraskibara…this is the first time I actually felt that you were useful in something other than on the court!”

“Midorin, that’s so mean!” Even though Momoi wanted reprimand Midorima but Murasakibara just cocked his head questioning “Eh? What are you referring to?”

“Murasakibara, get that one as well!”

Midorima pointed to the doll with a serious look on his face but Murasakibara just tilted his head.

“Eh~~, why~~~?”

“Don’t think about it too much, just get it!”

“…Murasakibara-kun, Midorima-kun said that he’ll treat you to candied apples later.” Kuroko’s statement made Murasakibara eyes light up. “Eh,is that so?”

“Kuroko! Don’t decide that on your own!”

Midorima turned and stared at Kuroko, but Kuroko just replied softly “But…”

“Against Murasakibara-kun, this method is the most effective.”

“Urgh…! Ok. Murasakibara, I’ll pay for that and treat you to candied apples too.” “Ok. I got it~~” Murasakibara answered energetically. He gently raised his arm and released the hoop.

Then, as though attracted by the can in front of the doll, the hoop went around the empty can.

“Good. Next is that lion plushie!”

“Ok. Add on one serving of shaved ice~~”

“…Fine” Swoosh.

“Now, that metallic doll!”

“And cotton candy too~~” “Damn……I got it” Swoosh. “And that toy car over there!”

“Lemonade soda candy sounds good too~~”

“You still want to eat! Enough already!” Swoosh.

And through that exchange, the prizes all gradually became Murasakibara’s belongings.

Midorima carried the bags full of prizes and looked into his wallet, frowning.

“This was an unexpected expenditure…But, I never thought that Murasakibara’s long arms can actually have use here.”

“Midori-chin, don’t forget our arrangement~~”

Standing next to Midorima, Murasakibara smiled, satisfied. While attending to Midorima’s hoop requests, he also ended up with an armful of the snacks that he likes.

“Somehow, I’m kind of pissed off…” Momoi asked the store owner about the main rules. The store owner held his tears back and wordlessly stared at Midorima and Murasakibara in protest, but those two didn’t seem to care. According to the rules, Murasakibara did not cheat in any way. Even though it wasn’t cheating, but there wasn’t a need to win all the things in the store, the store owner lamented sadly. “……I’ll try too.” “Eh?” Hearing Kuroko mumble to himself, Momoi was shocked and the store owner was shaken.

“After seeing Murasakibara, I think I should be able to do it too.” “Un, it’s very easy~~” “Even though there doesn’t seem to be any worthwhile items left.”

After Kuroko paid for the hoops, he asked Momoi.

“Momoi-san, which one do you want?”

“Eh!?”

“The balloon fishing just now, just treat this as making up for not being able to get the balloon you want. Choose whatever you like.”

“Tetsu-kun…!!” Momoi blushed due to Kuroko’s kindness.

“Erm, which one is better…!” Momoi traced her eyes over the empty shelves while Murasakibara mumbled “I would like the fruit candies over there~~” and this made Momoi panic.

“Mu-kun, you can’t! I have priority!” “Eh~~Is it like that?” “Yes!”

“Murasakibara-kun, after I get what Momoi-san wants then I’ll challenge the fruit candies.”

“Un, please do~~”

But, the request wasn’t fulfilled.

“Ok, consolation prize~~!”

The store owner who was close to tears just earlier was now smiling broadly while he announced that. All the hoops that Kuroko threw missed.

“…It’s really difficult.”

Kuroko expressed his opinion in regret while Midorima who was standing nearby with his arms crossed added on with a strangely smug look on his face “That’s right.”

“Sorry, Momoi-san” Kuroko said apologetically but Momoi raised her hands, flustered.

“Don’t say that! You don’t have to apologise! It’s the thought that counts! I’m happy enough that Tetsu-kun had the intention.” “But…” “The consolation prize is a prize too”

“!” Kuroko and the rest gathered together, looking at the store owner.

The store owner took a cardboard box from the back of the shelves “There, just choose one from here”. Momoi moved closer. Inside the paper box was the word “Defects” written using a marker pen. “…………” Momoi and group stared at the box’s contents silently. There were Kendamas, marbles, paper balloons and old items that seemed like they were from the Showa era. The consolation prizes seemed more like a warehouse cleanup…everyone thought.

“…Momoi-san, is there anything that you want?”

“Um…Ah, this one!”

Seeing Momoi’s choice, both Midorima and Murasakibara’s eyes widened.

“Momoi, what’s good about that!?”

“Sa-cchin, don’t you want to reconsider~~?” “Eh! ? This is quite nice. You think so too, right, Tetsu-kun?” “…I think, as long as Momoi-san likes it, it’s okay.”

“为什么说的这么敷衍！？”

“Why did you say it so half heartedly!?” Momoi looked at the teddy bear she chose carefully. It was definitely not a normal stuffed bear. It had lazy, soulless eyes like Frankenstein’s monster, its head had a Jason mask hanging off it and it was carrying a sickle and electric saw on its back。

But, it was this unique stuffed bear which caught Momoi’s eye.

“Although it is a bit different, I think it’s kind of adorable.”

“I really cannot understand what girls are thinking…”

“But, it’s great that you can find something you like.” “Kuro-chin, you really can put a positive spin to everything~~”

“Eh?”

The statement that Murasakibara said unintentionally stunned Kuroko.

However, seeing how Momoi is happily hugging the stuffed bear and telling him “Thank you, Tetsi-kun. I’ll take good care of this!” Kuroko smiled and said “You’re welcome.” After saying goodbye to Midorima and Murasakibara who were browsing the sweet stores, Momoi and Kuroko set off once more in a two person group.

“Shouldn’t it be about time we go and find Aomine-kun?” As the sky started to darken, they both started to feel hunger pangs. “Aomine-kun should be getting hungry as well.” “Ah…un—, but, I still want to make him wait a little longer. How about the both of us get something to eat first.”

Hearing Momoi’s suggestion, Kuroko forced a smile and answer “I understand.”

Walking around the stores nearby, they found a booth selling Takoyaki. Attracted by the fragrance, the two of them queued up in front of the store. It seems like the business of this shop is quite good, there were about 2 or 3 groups before them.

While waiting in queue, Momoi asked “Tetsu-kun, do you prefer seaweed toppings of egg yolk topping?”, and other similar questions. Unexpectedly, another person tapped Momoi’s shoulder from being and greeted her with a “Ne, Ne”.

Thinking that something might be up, Momoi turned around and saw that there was a young man standing behind her. With short cropped brown hair, wearing a singlet and there were tattoos all the way from his shoulder to his wrist, he was eye-catching. The man smiled at her trying to act familiar.

“Rather than the takoyaki at this store, that one over there is nicer! I’ll treat you, do you want to go with me?” “That…I have no interest so forget it.” Momoi turned around again in refusal. She felt a sense of regret for turning around without putting up any sort of defense. Also, why did she get hit on again. But the tattooed man didn’t seem to care a bit about Momoi’s rejection, “Don’t be so distant~~You want to eat Takoyaki right? You can eat as much as you want, I’ll treat you! Ok ok, let’s go~” As though wanting to look at Momoi’s expression properly, the tattooed man went closer to her. Because the other party was too close, Momoi stepped back without thinking, putting some distance between them. She was about to protest when, “I don’t think you should do that.” Kuroko suddenly stood in front of Momoi. The tattooed man was of course, shocked.

“What!? Why, You! Where did you pop out from!!”

He angrily glared at Kuroko.

“She already said that she wasn’t interested in other stores. Please go back.”

Kuroko said while looking at the tattooed man with no emotions in his eyes.

As though pissed off by how Kuroko is, the tattooed man grabbed his shoulder.

“What the hell, you brat…This has nothing to do with you, scram!”

The man used more strength in order to push Kuroko aside. Although Kuroko grimaced in pain, he stood his ground.

“You bastard, stop looking down on me…!”

The man’s voice was filled with fury, and the hand which had a lizard tattoo clamped down hard on Kuroko’s shoulder.

The tense atmosphere caused the people around to move away from the war zone and they stood around watching, and then…

“A-reh~~ What are you two doing here?”

A cheerful voice rang out, and suddenly a tall man wearing a Yukata barged in.

The man removed the hat which has been lowered until his eyes cannot be seen from his head.

Flashing a cheerful smile, it was Kise Ryota.

“Ah, Takoyaki huh? That sounds nice, I’ll buy from this store too.”

As though he did not see the tattooed man at all, Kise happily approached Momoi and Kuroko and started conversing with them, a smile on his face. The tattooed man who got ignored opened his mouth and rushed towards Kise yelling “You little brat!” and then… “Ne, that guy, isn’t he the model who got featured on magazines recently!”

“Eh, model!? Which one, which one?”

“No way! He’s so handsome!!”

The girls who just realised that Kise Ryota was a model started discussing very passionately. Kise smiled in a very professional manner and said “Hello~” and waved at them, causing a chorus of shrieking “YA~~~”

The tense atmosphere was immediately dissipated. The tattooed man, upon sensing the surrounding atmosphere, started cursing “Damn it, what the hell.” And disappeared into the crowd.

“Thank goodness…”

Momoi who had been holding her breath finally relaxed. “I thought Tetsu-kun was going to get beaten up…”

“My apologies…”

Kuroko scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed.

“So Kurokocchi actually has such a hot blooded side huh~”

After waving to the girls and greeting them, Kise looked at Kuroko with a slightly anxious look on his face.

“If I didn’t show up, wouldn’t the situation be really bad?”

“Ki-chan, you mean it was intentional!?”

Momoi looked at Kise with some surprise. She thought that this guy definitely got too excited and didn’t read the atmosphere and ran up to talk to them. Kise shrugged his shoulders, sighing. “I must say, even if I’m that dense, I definitely can see how tense the atmosphere was just now.”

Whatever it was, whatever happened just now does seem like Kise’s method of quelling a bad situation.

“Thanks to you guys, the hat that I specially borrowed from the stylist is useless now.”

Kise mumbled while spinning the hat on the tip of his finger.

“You specially went to borrow a hat? Why?” “Because I’m too outstanding.” Facing Kise who was smiling and teasing his fringe, Kuroko stated “I was actually very grateful to you, but now I don’t feel like thanking you at all.” Even though there was a little bit of conflict, but the group still managed to buy the takoyaki and they headed towards the end of the street. They walked to a place where there were hardly any people and opened the paper bag. An appetising aroma drifted out.

While deciding who gets to eat which Takoyaki, Momoi realised something.

“Ki-chan, that yukata you’re wearing, I haven’t seen such a design before.”

“Ah, you noticed!?” Kise happily looked down at the Yukata he was wearing.

A light aqua colored yukata that had a disorganised pattern of hand drawn penguins.

“I wore this before during my photoshoot so it was given to me. For a men’s yukata, this design is hardly seen.”

“So, basically men’s Yukatas tend to have simpler designs. Most would choose dark colors. Tetsu-kun’s one is black and Aomine-kun also chose a navy colored one.

“Because for men, dark colors are easier to pull off. White might look rather refreshing, but few people wear it, so wearing white takes quite a bit of courage.”

Kise finished his statements smiling. For a moment, Momoi and Kuroko did not know how to respond to that.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Akashi-kun’s Yukata, it was white.”

“Eh, really!?”

“Un. And there was a dragon motif on it too…”

“A Dragon! It’s way too difficult to pull off this kind of design!” “But it suits him very well.”

“Urm…”

As expected of Akashi-kun…!

Although the three of them didn’t say it out loud, but they all formed the same opinion in their mind.

After finishing the takoyaki, the paper bag was thrown into the bin. Kise looked at Momoi and thought of something. “Speaking of which…”

“Isn’t Aominecchi here with you today?”

“Er…about that…”

Momoi told Kise about the whole incident in which Aomine is waiting for her at the resting area.

“That sounds quite like what Aominecchi would do.”

Kise laughed cheerfully.

“Kise-kun, did you also come here by yourself?”

Kuroko asked. “That’s right.” Kise replied.

“An uncle that I know said that he’ll be carrying one of the carriages for the parade later and told me that I have to watch it. I wanted to come here earlier but the road was too congested. The car couldn’t move at all.”

“….Even if you need to rush here to attend the festival, do you really need to be chauffeured?”

“Wait, what’s with that! Momoicchi, what’s with that look! I, I’m not that famous! It’s because I had a job today, so on the way back, Manager-onee san drove me here.”

“True…The road conditions were horrible today. While I was on the way here, I saw that there was a traffic jam.” While Kuroko was recalling what he saw, he subconsciously covered his mouth with his hand.

“There were a lot of police cars around too, did something happen?” “An accident maybe…maybe a case happened?”

Momoi nodded in agreement.

“But, the situation isn’t that bad. We’re still enjoying the summer festival~”

Kise smiled and ended the topic, Kuroko and Momoi smiled and nodded in agreement.

About going with Kuroko and Momoi to browse the booths, Kise actually wanted to reject that offer at first.

Kise whispered in Momoi’s ear such that only she can hear and asked “If I went with you guys, won’t I just be a light bulb?”

“Eh? Why?” For a moment, Momoi had some confusion but after a while, her face flushed into a bright red.

“It, It’s not like that, that sort of thing, you….you don’t have to mind it that much! We’re just playing together, Un! Like that, I think Tetsu-kun would be happier too!” “…Well, since Momoicchi says it like that, then I don’t have any disagreements.”

Seeing Momoi stuttering due to embarrassment, Kise laughed gleefully (^o^)

“Then, let’s go and walk around the night market! By the way, which shops have you both gone to?”

“Simply put, we played balloon fishing and hoop throwing. And we got these.” Kuroko lifted up the plastic bags full of water balloons and showed them to Kise.

“For hoop throwing, Tetsu-kun got this for me.”

Momoi also lifted up the stuffed bear and showed it to Kise.

“This…don’t tell me Kurokocchi likes these sort of things…”

Kise asked in surprise as he moved closer to look at the bear more closely, Kuroko replied

“No, it’s what Momoi-san likes.” “Eh, it’s quite cute right!?”

Momoi asked. Kise answered “Un…” a bit disturbed.

“Regarding what Momoi likes, I don’t really get it at all…ah, but, if you carry this stuffed bear, maybe you won’t get hit on that often.”

“Really?”

Momoi hugged the bear and stared at it.

“Those who will avoid such a situation would do so. If you carry the bear for other people to see, well, I think most people wouldn’t even want to say hi to you.”

“And given that Kise-kun is so eye-catching, I don’t think anyone would even make an attempt to hit on Momoi.”

“Ah ha ha, I’m not at that level yet…”

“I wasn’t praising you.”

“Eh, it’s that so!?”

“Compared to me, I think Ki-chan is more like to get hit on, right?”

“Ah…but, with Momoicchi around, there shouldn’t be a problem. This is called mutual benefit.”

“…Then, aren’t I a bit extra?”

“No, not at all!!”

Momoi and Kise shouted together.

Because of the unity of the voices, the three of them can’t help but look at each other and they laughed.

So the three of them walked side by side to the lively and crowded fair.

Looking around the open air booths with glass pieces of art work, buying malt candy from the almond sweet shop, taking a shot at the rifle range game…

The place was filled with summer festival enjoyments. But there was something that was a real pain in the neck.

“Momoicchi, you’re really amazing.”

Walking leisurely, Kise said with a serious look on his face.”

“Kurokocchi and I are already next to you and all but there are still so many people trying to hit on you.”

“Uu….”

Momoi blushed and bowed her head somewhat apologetically.

From the time the three of them started browsing the fair till now, Momoi had been hit on three times already. Even though Kise and Kuroko got her out of the mess each time, but she felt tired from the annoying and embarrassing situations.

“Don’t tell me this happens every single year?”

“How is that possible! Last year, I never even got hit on once! Even Aomine-kun can vouch for me!”

“…Which means, Aominecchi is your body guard? If you are with Aominecchi, it’s quite hard to find the courage to flirt with you…”

Seeing that Kise is nodding to himself after coming up with that sort of conclusion, Momoi frantically shook her head.

“But, even if I’m not with Aomine-kun, no one comes up to me. When I went to the pool to play, it was quite quiet.” Going to the pool to play, that was an incident that occurred during last year’s summer holidays.

As there was a long break from club activities, Momoi and Aomine went to the pool. Knowing that she can play at the pool other than the times during swimming lessons, Momoi was very excited about it, however Aomine was a bit strange. It seemed as though something was making him very jumpy. And he kept looking around at the pool.

“Aomine-kun, what’s with you?”

Momoi thought it was strange so she asked. Very quickly, she regretted even asking in the first place.

“Aomine-kun said…that at the pool…there will be big chested woman wearing bikinis!”

For Momoi, these kinds of words are embarrassing to say so she just complained to Kise with a reddened face.

“He’s the worst! That black skinned pervert, he’s black and perverted, A BIG BLACK SKINNED PERVERT!”

Obviously, when Momoi heard Aomine say what he said at the pool, she was very angry “You’re too much, I don’t care anymore!” And left him. Afterwards, she had a great time playing at the pool by herself, and on the way home, no one hit on her at all. But Momoi didn’t say this last part because the unpleasant memories made her mad again.

And the person who knew nothing and is troubled now, is Kise.

Initially, he just wanted to talk about other people flirting with Momoi, but somehow, the topic changed to the pool and for some strange reason, it turned to talking about Aomine’s lecherous tendencies. For someone who tends to believe in being harmonious, he struggled but managed to reply.

“Em…that, how should I say it….Aominecchi is a boy after all, it’s kinda of unavoidable…”

Kise’s forced answer added fuel to the fire.

“Even Ki-chan says that! Then Ki-chan, you’re like that too!?”

“Ugh, me!? Besides, Momoicchi, why are you dragging me into this!?”

“Because…!”

“Even if you don’t like it, but most boys like this sort of thing….right, Kurokocchi!”

Kise quickly turned to Kuroko for help but Kuroko just said an “Ah?” And blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t listening just now.”

“Kurokocchi~~~~!!!”

Kise shouted and somewhere in his heart, he was whining.

“Tetsu-kun is not like that!? Because, I trust him!” Momoi looked at Kuroko in anticipation. Although Kuroko wasn’t very sure of the situation, but he still nodded and said “It’s my honour to receive your trust.”

And thanks to Kuroko’s gentlemanly behaviour (?), Momoi’s fire was extinguished and Kise, who caused the trouble this time, shouted loudly “Kurokocchi, you’re too cunning!”

“Why am I the only one who got scolded…” “I’m sorry, I was thinking about something, so I really didn’t listen…”

Kuroko scratched his cheek apologetically.

“Tetsu-kun, what are you thinking about?”

“There’s just something I noticed…”

Just when Kuroko was deep in thought again, someone covered his mouth.

“Watch out!” Kise yelled in surprise.

And something suddenly entered Momoi’s vision, it was a paper cup flying towards her. And in the cup, was some sticky liquid—

“!” Momoi panicked and at that moment, she was frozen.

Splash!

The paper cup before Momoi was directed away.

Before the liquid spilled onto Momoi, Kuroko reached out and hit the cup away. The trajectory of the paper cup changed and following the pull of the Earth’s gravity, it landed on the ground, spilling its contents all over.

“That was close…”

Kuroko gently sighed in relief. However…

“Oi. What the heck is the meaning of this…”

“Eh?”

Looking in the direction of the cold voice, it was Midorima standing there in an obvious fit of anger.

Next to his feet was where the paper cup landed, and the contents had soaked his leg.

“Hey, Midorimacchi!”

“Kuroko, what were you doing…?”

“It’s a misunderstanding, Midorima-kun. It’s that person’s doing.”

Kuroko calmly pointed at the man standing in front of them, who had stiffened up.

Indeed, that man’s hand, was still in the pose of holding a paper cup.

“I, I, that, I only tripped, that’s all…” The man explained hesitantly, Kuroko stared intently at the man with doubt in his eyes.

“Is that so? If you tripped, your body should be in a more awkward pose…and, on the back of your hand, there’s…”

The man was taken aback and he used his left hand to cover the back of his right hand, “D, Damn you!” The man cursed, and he ran away.

“You could at least apologise….!”

Midorima frowned, took out a Daruma from his bag and threw a three-pointer.

The Daruma flew through the air in a beautiful curve into the crowd of people, and then they heard a man give a pained cry “That hurt—!”

“Good.”

“Good my foot! That was dangerous! What if you hit someone else!”

Facing Kise’s questioning, Midorima answered indifferently.

“Don’t be foolish, my shooting will not miss.”

“Who’s talking about that!?”

“Midorima-kun, I’ll go get the Daruma back.” “Even Kurokocchi! Is that Daruma the only thing all of you are concerned about!?”

Kise clutched his head. And Kuroko wormed his way into the crowd while Midorima said “I’m counting on you”. Looking at Kuroko’s back, Momoi can’t help but feel a bit worried.

“Tetsu-kun! We’ll go to the resting area! So after you get it, go there directly, ‘kay?”

“I understand.”

Kuroko waved his hand to show that he got the message and disappeared into the sea of people quickly.

“What’s wrong with all of you, seriously…”

Kise slumped his shoulders helplessly.

Momoi took a handkerchief out of her pouch and passed it to Midorima, “Midorin, use this first.”

“It’s a bit of distance, but we should go to the resting area together, okay? There is a water fountain there, so you can rinse your foot there. Ne?”

Midorima nodded his head frankly as Momoi planned out the itinerary with the aura of a manager. So together with Kise, the three of them quickly went to the resting area.

After cleaning his foot at the resting area, Midorima sat down on an empty seat at the resting area and started grumbling again.

“Really, it’s a total disaster. The thing is really sticky”

Afterwards, Momoi sat down beside him and placed her mask and pouch on her lap. As she was wringing her handkerchief dry, she said apologetically.

“…I just feel that I should apologise” “Why do you want apologise?”

Seeing a downcast Momoi, Midorima couldn’t help but ask.

“This isn’t you fault, isn’t it?”

“That’s kind of true…but today didn’t go smoothly at all, something troublesome always happens…”

“What happened?”

Momoi talked in detail about what happened just now, about her getting hit on.

After listening, Midorima frowned and said somewhat angrily.

“So, you think that you are giving me, Kuroko and Kise trouble?”

“Yes…”

“Ridiculous. You’re putting your focus on the wrong places.”

Midorima crossed his arms and stared at Momoi

“Those men who flippantly flirt with a girl whom they don’t even know should know that it’s a wasted effort. The kind of trouble you should be feeling is that they are wasting your precious time. What you should be thinking about is how to make up for the time lost due to those kinds of people disturbing you, isn’t that right?”

Momoi’s looked at Midorima in surprise. Midorima just gave a “hmph” and looked away.

“Thank you, Midorin.”

Momoi smiled. Midorima, however, frowned even more and stretched out his hand.

“…then again, pass me your handkerchief. I’ll return it to you after I cleaned it.”

“You don’t have to—, there’s no need to do that kind of thing….strange, speaking of which, where is Kise?”

Momoi looked around. When Midorima went to wash his heel , Kise should be with him, but he seemed to have disappeared. When you were washing the handkerchief, Kise said he wanted to look for Aomine and went off.”

“Is that so? I didn’t notice….Where does he want to search?”

She went around and searched for the two people carefully, and then she noticed that there was a crowd of eye catching people gathering at the resting area.

The men standing there had an air of dignity and they were wearing standard cassocks. White tabi were peeking out from under the cassocks.

They seem to be religious followers who will carry the carriages.

They seemed to be standing in a circle discussing something.

Carrying the carriage and parading it requires some discussion about coordination. Momoi thought and looked somewhere else.

“Like I said, I already told you I don’t want to!”

“Aomine-kun!?”

Just as Momoi looked away, the other boy came back. The voice just now was definitely Aomine. And it sounds as if he is in the centre of that circle. “Midorin, wait here for me!” Momoi instructed, and she ran off to where the religious followers were without waiting for a reply. “Aomine-kun!”

Hearing Momoi’s voice, the religious followers all turned. At the same time, Aomine took the chance and ran away from the circle.

“Aomine-kun, what are you doing!?”

Seeing Momoi’s exasperation, Aomine said irritably,

“Nothing! These uncles suddenly came up and started talking to me!” Aomine said while glancing at the oldest member of the religious followers, a man with a crew cut.

The crew cut man didn’t care about Aomine’s unhappy glare and looked very interested. He laughed cheerfully “Woah, Woah, that’s some excellent look.”

And then, after scrutinising Momoi and Aomine, the corners of his mouth turned upwards “They’re quite a pair.”

“Oi, kid. Since your girlfriend is here, might as well show her how cool you are when you’re with us, right?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

Aomine retorted immediately.

“I already said I don’t want to do such troublesome things!”

“It’s not troublesome at all. It would become a good summer memory. It’s not an experience that you can get every summer festival. Besides, since you have such a good body, why not make use of it?”

“I use it enough when I play basketball!”

“Eh, you play basketball as well? Just like the model kid.”

The crew cut man smiled, squinting.

Listening to the conversation in a daze, Momoi started making the connection in her head.

“That, don’t tell me you’re…”

Momoi was just about to say something when…

“Eh—-? Aominecchi and Momoicchi, what are you both doing?”

And the person who just floated into Momoi’s mind-Kise trotted over.

“Why are you both with Taka-san?”

Kise looked at Momoi and Aomine, surprised.

“I knew it…the person Kise was talking about is…”

Momoi raised her head and looked towards the crew cut man. Kise laughed happily. “Yep. That’s Taka-san who lives near my house.”

“What, so you’re Ryota’s friends?”

Crew cut man, or more accurately, Taka-san, laughed loudly.

“That’s the kind of good body that I want.”

“Taka-san, it there something you want from Aominecchi?”

“Not really, it’s just that when I saw that kid with such a good build, I wanted to ask if he wanted to carry the shrine carriage with us.”

Aomine protested violently “No, I definitely don’t want to do it—!”

Taka-san is already about to give up, but holding onto a small silver of hope, he invited Aomine once more.

“Just treat it as doing a good deed, and help us carry it, ok? We’re kind of short handed and it’s troubling for us. Who knows, you might fall in love with it after you try it?”

“I not doing it, I don’t want to! Who would have interest in something like shrine carriages…!”

Maybe they were upset with Aomine saying “Something like shrine carriages”, the other followers looked at Aomine with a dangerous look in their eyes.

“Oi, you stinking brat….watch your tongue!”

“Our big bro is asking you for help, you should be helping without any complaints.”

The religious followers moved closer to Aomine pressuring him. Surrounded by the scary men, Momoi nervously grabbed onto Aomine’s yukata. Aomine, instead stood his ground and glared at the followers with no fear in his face.

Kise looked at Taka-san with a troubled look on his face. Taka-san just sighed and scratched his head.

“…Oi, all of you, enough already.”

Taka-san spoke to the other followers in a low voice.

“I only invited him to help. If he is unwilling, we can always find other people.”

“But, Big bro…”

Among the followers, there were some who looked at Taka-san, not really understanding.

“And actually, we’re not really that short handed…?”

“If you get help, will you give us sweets?”

Suddenly, someone interrupted the conversation, and everybody turned towards the voice.

“If you can give us sweets as a gift, I could introduce a talent who is energetic and strong.”

Adjusting his glasses, the one who spoke so bluntly—was Midorima.

“If you guys come up with 3 candied apples, you’ll probably get the help you need.”

“Really? If it’s like that, will you help us?” Taka-san looked at Midorima’s build, eyes sparkling. Midorima looked stunned for a while and then looked away.

“…It’s not me. But, if you are interested, I can help you contact that guy anytime.”

“What, so it wasn’t you…never mind, but if you can really introduce a good person, then we are grateful. I’ll be counting on you.”

Taka-san smiling warmiy and said “Oh, right. This, you can use it I suppose.” And passed Kise a few lucky draw tickets.

After departing from Taka-san, the four of them finally made it back to the resting area and occupied the empty seats. Aomine slumped on the table once he sat down.

“I’m so tired…”

“Really, Aomine-kun, where did you go off too and ended up getting yourself into that situation?” Momoi chided Aomine, a bit tired. Aomine remined slumped on the table and tilted his head, looking at Momoi and said

“It’s not my fault—. Technically, Satsuki is partly to blame as well.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Because you didn’t come back after so long. I was thinking of whether I should go to the stores and get something to eat. And then, those guys suddenly came up to me…”

Aomine sighed as though exhaling all the air in his lungs.

“Midorima, you are going to introduce Murasakibara to help?”

“Eh? That means, Murasakibara-kun isn’t with you?”

Momoi remembered that not long ago, Midrorima and Murasakibara were both browsing the food stores together.

“Because I finished buying all the desserts that Murasakibara wanted, we parted ways. Seeing how much that guy was eating, I felt that I completely lost my own appetite.”

“I can kind of understand that.”

Hearing Midorima’s complaint, Kise nodded a little, agreeing.

“Rather than that, Satsuki.” Aomine called Momoi’s name directly. “Where’s my meat?”

“Ah!”

Momoi covered her mouth. She had completely forgotten about it.

Seeing Momoi going “Heh heh” apologetically, Aomine slumped on the table once more.

“Are you kidding me…damn, I’m going to starve to death…”

“Don’t exaggerate…what am I going to do about you…geez…I’ll go and buy something back.”

Momoi got up and Midorima said impatiently.

“Momoi, stop spoiling Aomine, let him buy it himself.”

“It’s alright. I have to look for Tetsu-kun anyway.”

Kuroko has not returned from picking up the Daruma and Momoi was getting worried. She’ll just buy some grilled meat back for Aomine while she is looking for Kuroko.

“Do you want me to accompany you?” Kise got up but Momoi smiled, stopping him.

“I’ll come back soon, it’s okay. Just wait a bit!”

Momoi carefully hugged the stuffed bear and quickly walked off.

From the path near the shrine to the dense forest at the side, the noise from the Summer festival quickly got blocked off.

With their backs facing the bright lights of the temple’s night market, a man quickly weaved their way to the deeper parts of the forest.

Worming his way through the forestry, a voice was heard from the thickets. “Oi, did you buy them?” Waiting for the man, were his companions.

They squatted under the trees, forming a circle. It doesn’t matter where, this sort of formation was the most convenient for them. Rather then standing around scattered, this sort of communal squatting made them look more intimidating and fierce so anyone who sees them will definitely get scared witless and avoid them. Seeing how others freak out was definitely enjoyable. The man who came back quickly joined the formation, squatting down. Even though, he is bothered by the mosquitoes biting him but he had no choice but to endure. He had to try his best to avoid the public eyes and ears.

“I got them back…but do you really want to do this?” The man looked at his circle of friends. Half of them gave him an uneasy look. “We can’t help it, we have to get that thing from that woman no matter what—“ “Speaking of which, if you didn’t put that thing in that sort of weird place, we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place!”

One of the man’s companions used his fist to grind the face of the man who returned. Following the movement of the fist, the lizard on the back of his hand moved as though it was alive.

“I already said I was sorry…but I had no other choice? So many cops showed up suddenly, so I could only hide it.

The man, whose cheek is now in pain, curled up as though hiding. “That hurt…” the hand which he used to place on his cheek also had a lizard tattoo.

“Whatever, just pass out the things you bought.”

Because the other people hurriedly snatched the items, the man who just returned passed the items that he was holding to the ones next to him. “It’s this…”

They were masks from one of the open air booths.

“Won’t we be too attention grabbing if we used these to cover our face—But as long as our faces our not shown, I think we can do this.”

Taking the mask, the man passed the mask to another person. The back of this person’s hand, also had a lizard tattoo.

“Now that I think about it, that woman, is she blind or something—? She wasn’t seduced by my charming looks…”

“I—-diot! I think you are the one who is blind. Look at yourself in the mirror, would you?!”

“It’s not your problem! You should look at yourself, your face is even bigger than the mask!”

“Didn’t you say something like ‘Fruit Juice flirting strategy’. That flopped too didn’t it!”

As the men were exchanging arguments and bickering, the masks also got distributed. Raising the masks and getting up, with a “one, two…” the men all put on the masks together. While the men were still squatting, it was hard to see their faces due to the shadows from the trees but now, as the lights from the Summer festival shone through the trees, the faces slowly got revealed.

Almost immediately, anger and laughter exploded.

“Why did you choose such an image!”

The men, who had no strategy at all, were wearing masks that had large round eyes only seen in anime.

“Because only these masks were left!”

“Ah hahahahahahaha! Damn! You all are big thugs wearing this sort of anime masks, that’s disgusting!”

“Aren’t you the same, it’s really damn disgusting!”

“Idiots, shut up!!”

“!!” The men quickly squatted under the covers of the trees again.

“….hear that?”

They lowered their voices and perked their ears listening. The noise from the summer festival was distant. Not one soul noticed these sneaky people and no one came to check what was going on….there was no one nearby, and they sighed in relief. It seems like no one here noticed anything unusual.

Howver, there was one thing that these men didn’t notice.

Similarly hiding in the forest, there was someone listening very carefully to the men’s conversation.

As though blending with the darkness of the forest, that person’s presence was completely masked and he carefully observed every single action of those men.

Then one of the men spoke up, “If all goes well, we’ll just take the item. If something screws up, we’ll kidnap that woman too, ok?” Hearing that the men have confirmed the order, the shadow quietly left the place. But, he stopped moving after a while.

There was the sound of leaves getting stepped on, someone was heading in this direction.

The men also noticed this. “Oi, look, isn’t that…” there was surprise in their voice.

Appearing in their field of vision, was a young girl wearing a pink yukata and strolling in the forest.

In order to find any traces of Kuroko, Momoi left the activity area and stepped into the small forest. She had looked around the area where the daruma fell but she could not find Kuroko.

Thinking the daruma may have rolled into the forest, he might have went into the forest to find it. With such a thought, Momoi walked while looking around the increasingly darkening forest.

As Momoi was walking, the fallen leaves on the ground make a rustling sound due to being stepped on.

The only sound you could hear was—

shasha, shasha, shasha, shasha!

Suddenly, the sound of messy footsteps came from behind her.

“Tetsu-kun?”

Momoi quickly turned around, suspicion in her eyes.

In the darkness, six man wearing cute anime masks stood behind her.

“…Eh?” Because the turnout of events was too sudden, Momoi could not comprehend the situation in front of her and stood on the spot, confused.

But, that was a bad move. The masked men quickly split up and surround Momoi.

“Eh, Eh!?”

Momoi stared at her surroundings, lost at what’s going on. When she realised that she was surrounded, the man in front of her moved.

“I’m taking this fella back!”

A low voice came from behind the mask, the man grabbed the stuffed bear that Momoi was hugging and snatched it.

“Give that back!”

Momoi panicked and stretched her arms out to snatch the bear back but the man moved first and hid the stuffed toy behind his back.

“Oh dear, that’s too bad—“

From under the mask, the man’s soft laughter was heard.

“…It’s not too bad, I’ll accept it.”

“Huh? What?”

The voice that suddenly interrupted made the man turned around. The stuffed bear had already been snatched from his hands. Almost at the same time, someone pulled Momoi’s wrist and pulled her away from the circle.

The series of actions was completed in a blink of an eye, It was almost as though some invisible force suddenly pulled the stuffed bear and the girl away.

How is that even possible…The men pulled their masks up and rubbed their eyes.

“Are you alright, Momoi-san?” “Tetsu-kun!?”

As per normal, because Kuroko suddenly appeared, Momoi yelped in surprise. With one hand hugging the stuffed bear and the other pulling Momoi’s wrist, Kuroko gave Momoi a comforting smile.

“Momoi-san, we’re going to start escaping.”

“What!?

Kuroko, holding on Momoi’s wrist, started running, just like that.

“Stop right there!!”

The man who only reacted after a beat, started chasing Kuroko and Momoi with all their power.

Kuroko released Momoi’s hand and took something out and threw them at the men. “UWA!?”

Immediately, the pursuers stopped and raised their hands to cover their heads. But what came at them was a very weak assault.

“Eh?” Putting their arms down, they looked at the surroundings, troubled. There were various coloured water balloons bouncing next to them.

“What the hell!”

“You dare to mess with us!”

The men were furious and they continued chasing Kuroko and Momoi.

Even though they started off first, but as of now, Kuroko and Momoi had an overwhelming disadvantage. The wooden clogs that they were not used to wearing were a hindrance. Momoi could not help but tremble when she heard the angry cries behind her. At this moment, unexpected saviors shower up.

“Kurokocchi~! Are you here—?”

“Kuro-chin—?” Kuroko shouted, which he rarely does, their names.

“Kise-kun! Murasakibara-kun!”

“Ah, Kurokocchi!…Eh Eh EHH!?”

Kise saw Kuroko and Momoi as well as the masked group that was chasing them. He backed up subconsciously.

And Murasakibara who saw the exact same scene said what Kise was thinking. “Wah, something strange is coming over!”

“Murasakibara-kun! Catch!”

Kuroko threw the stuffed bear to Murasakibara. Murasakibara caught it and quickly stuffed it into Kise’s hands.

“Ha? Why did you give it to me?”

“Run!”

“Huh!?”

“Ki-chan, you and Mu-kun run now!”

Momoi hurriedly instructed them.

“What the heck, seriously—!!” Kise started running while shouting indignantly at the same time.

“Eh—, we have to run—?”

Murasakibara, as expected, has not grasped the situation but still chased after Kise and ran.

Kise ran out of the forest only the activity area and ran towards the resting area which is on the right. Kuroko on the other hand, intentionally ran towards the left. “Don’t think you can get away—!!” The masked group chased Kise and Murasakibara and they ran crazily on the pathway.

On the road which connects the resting area to the shrine, Midorima was anxiously waiting for Kise to return.

Because Kise said that he wanted to look for Momoi and Kuroko who have not returned yet, it escalated to even Murasakibara insisting that he go look for them to. It seems like it has been a pretty long time.

Behind Midorima, were Taka-san and group. “Hey, it’s almost time to carry the shrine carriage and set off.” They started saying impatiently. At the corner of the activity area, there was a dazzling golden glow. It was the shrine carriage which has been decorated with phoenixes. The religious followers who were guarding it were also starting to warm up, each of them were really serious.

“Ne, if that guy doesn’t show up, then you’ll carry the shrine in his place, that okay?”

Midorima intentionally ignored Taka-san’s suggestion. If Murasakibara doesn’t come back, then he would have to really carry the shrine carriage. Thinking as such, Midorima became more frustrated.

As Taka-san said “Well, let’s set off, guys!”, the bells started tolling and the shrine carriage parade was about to start.

Midorima shuddered a bit and tried to find a chance to get out of this mess.

And it was this moment.

“Midorimacchi—!”

“Kise!”

Hearing the voice that he was waiting for, Midorima looked through the crowd searching for the voice’s owner—and then he was speechless.

Kise was running towards his direction at full speed. Murasakibara was also running right beside him.

However, why were there a bunch of men wearing comical anime masks and running behind them!

The men who were wearing such joyful masks started making faces that were totally opposite from the masks expression and they were roaring “Stop right there—!”

“What the hell are you doing!” “I don’t know either!”

Midorima was so angry that his tongue was tied. But at this moment, an idea surfaced.

“Murasakibara!”

“Hmm—?”

Murasakibara gave an exhausted look towards the direction from where Midorima shouted.

“Throw those guys over here!”

Midorima pointed at Taka-san who was giving orders to the religious followers about carrying the carriage.

“Eh?”

Kise looked shocked. Midorima, on the other hand, nodded his head without any hesitation. “Ok.”

And turned.

Murasakibara pivoted on one leg and faced the masked group who were on their heels. The air and pressure caused to masked group to utter a “Wah—“ and stop in their tracks.

Because they were so focused on chasing, they didn’t really notice Murasakibara. Now he was facing them, that frightening giant figure was now looking straight at them. The men realised that they might be in danger, so they stopped.

But their instinct only made them stop, they were unable to protect themselves.

“Osu—“ Murasakibara stretched his arms towards to frozen man and with using only a little strength, like he was throwing trash, the men were sent flying one by one.

The men screamed and one after another, crashed into Taka-san. “…Oi, that hurt.”

Facing the men who rudely flew in, Taka-san gave them an extreme look of irritation.

“You bastards, you dare to crash into our big bro!”

The big brother that they respected has been hurt and the strong religious believer stared at the masked group furious.

“Eeeep!!”

The masked men huddled together, trembling and Midorima said something to calm the whole situation.

“Taka-san, these people said that they want to carry the shrine carriage!”

Suddenly, Taka-san’s face turned into a warm peaceful smile.

“What, so it was like that! If that is so, then I’ll let you cute fellas off!”

T/N: In case anyone is confused, Taka-san meant the masked guys, not the Kiseki no Seidai.

。

The masked group who were trying to get away all got their wrists grabbed and with some pushing and shoving, they were forced under the rack of the shrine carriage and made to carry it. It seemed as though they were about to start wailing but no one heard them. The men who were carrying the shrine loudly went “Hey, Ho! Hey, Ho!” creating a high atmosphere for the summer festival.

“What the heck is this…really.”

Seeing the shrine carriages being moved into the activity area, Kise mumbled, irritated.

“That should be my line. What the hell were all of you doing!”

Midorima asked, adjusting his glasses.

“I’m not really sure what’s going on either…just that Kurokocchi told me to take this and run.”

Kise stared at the stuffed bear carefully, while Murasakibara, who was beside him, stretched and yawned loudly.

“Midori-chin, I heard you were looking for me?…but who were those people?”

Murasakibara was lost but the person who could answer his question was not here.

“I want to know too…”

Midorima sighed deeply.

“If only Kurokocchi was here, maybe we would understand something.”

“I’m over here.”

“Wah!”

Kise jumped in fright. It wasn’t sure when they were there, but Kuroko and Momoi appeared behind him.

It seemed as though they were hiding somewhere, the two of them were catching their breath.

“Kurokocchi! What was that all about, those people!!”

Kuroko raised his hand stopping Kise who was violently protesting, saying “I’ll explain.”

“If what I deduced is correct, I think we can see something amazing.”

Going towards to resting area and reuniting with Aomine, they sat down at a corner. Even though everyone wanted to hear Kuroko explain, but Aomine who didn’t know anything that happened asked about the sequence of events.

“You seem to have encountered something interesting!” This was what Aomine thought. Even though Aomine was grinning brightly, the people involved could not smile at all.

But, what did we do? What were we involved in?”

“Tetsu-kun, who were those people?” Momoi asked Kuroko. Kuroko answered curtly.

“They were the people who tried to flirt with Momoi-san.”

“Eh?”

Except for Kuroko, everyone gave a shocked look. Momoi asked, not really understanding.

“But, if we’re talking about flirting…We met a lot today, ah-reh?”

“That’s right. More accurately, from the time the person who flirted with you at the Takoyaki store all the way to the person who spilled the juice.” “Juice? The one who splashed juice on Midorimacchi? That’s not flirting, is it?”

Listening to Kise’s doubts, Kuroko nodded. “That’s true. But they are all from the same group. Did you notice? All those people had something in common.”

Kuroko pointed at the back of his hand and continued talking.

“There was a lizard tattoo here. Did you both see that?”

“Now that you mention it…!” Momoi exclaimed loudly.

There was indeed, on the back of the hand of the man who flirted with her at the Takoyaki store, a lizard tattoo.

The time Kuroko noticed this common point was when Momoi was getting hit on for the third time.

She was obviously with Kise but yet there were still people who barged right in and flirted with her in such a strong determined manner. When observing the other party, Kuroko noticed the tattoo on their hands.

“At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but during the fourth time, that person had a lizard tattoo as well. So I thought it was strange.” The one who confirmed his suspicion was, as expected, the one who was holding the fruit juice.

Pretending that he had fallen over and wanting to throw the juice on Momoi, suddenly everything became clear. However, the one who executed that plan seemed to be hiding an important link. Testing him and saying “The back of your hand…” to find a clue, the juice spilling man panicked and ran off. And it was because of this, that Kuroko concluded that this string of flirting incidents was planned. After hypothesizing, he wanted to confirm it so he tried to find out the truth by himself.

Pretending to be looking for the daruma and leaving Momoi, he went to look for the man with the lizard tattoo. Fortunately, he saw the man buying masks from the mask shop. Therefore, he followed him to the forest and heard the man and his group discussing their secret plans.

“So, that’s why you appeared in the forest to help me.”

Momoi’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked at Kuroko.

“Kurokocchi, sometimes, you can be quite bold, you know…”

Kise said, scratching his cheek, half in shock and half in awe.

“So, what was their motive?!”

Midorima impatiently asked.

“Their motive was to get this back from Momoi-san.”

Saying this, Kuroko picked up the stuffed bear from the table.

“Eh, this?”

Momoi stared at the stuffed bear. The other members did not comment about it. To Momoi, this was only a cute stuffed bear.

“They said they hidden something important in this stuffed bear.”

“Hidden…?”

Kuroko picked up the stuffed bear, turning it around.

Then, he opened the tiny backpack on the stuffed bear’s back and turned the stuffed bear upside down. Kuru kuru kuru, the item that was hidden inside the bag rolled into Kuroko’s hand.

“!” Momoi and the rest stared with widened eyes.

“…See, it is something amazing.”

Kuroko smiled, looking at the shining ruby and diamond in his hand.

Afterwards they found out that actually those masked men were a gang of robbers who robbed a jewellery shop. Even though they were a gang of robbers, that was actually the first time they actually committed a crime. What they stole was a low grade item. Although they stole the items without a hitch, but the store owner quickly informed the police. Afraid of being noticed by nearby patrolling police cars, they quickly hid the precious stone. They didn’t realise they it would end up being put in a box labelled ‘defects’ near a booth and that the items in the box would end up being given as a consolation prize…and this is what led to the series of events.

After giving the precious stones to the police, Kuroko and Momoi were told that they needed to get their statements taken. After they finished, it was already around 9pm. Rejecting the police officer’s offer to send them home, Kuroko and Momoi walked out of the police station.

“What a messed up day…” With the wooden clogs on her feet were making a tapping sound, Momoi sighed, tired.

“I agree. The statements really took up a lot of time…”

Kuroko also gave a small sigh.

The two people walked and then someone called them from in front. “Yo, is it done?”

Lifting their heads, the sound came from near some shrubs on the road side. Aomine, Kise, Midorima, Murasakibara and even Akashi were sitting there.

“Everyone, what’s with this?”

Momoi was somewhat surprised and she and Kuroko ran towards them quickly.

“We were waiting for the both of you~”

Kise smiled cheerfully.

“It took such a long time, couldn’t you have explained to the police in a simplified and efficient manner?!”

Midorima complained, with his arms crossed.

“Want some snacks?”

Murasakibara took some snacks from the bunch of snacks he was carrying and handed it out.

“It must have been very troublesome. It was really fortunate that there wasn’t anyone like Haizaki among those culprits.”

Akashi simply consoled them.

So they were waiting for us. For a moment, Momoi felt something warm in her heart.

“Then, let’s go!”

Aomine stood up and stretched. Then the rest of them stood up too.

“Go? Go where?”

“To set off fireworks. It’s the last activity for the summer festival.”

Aomine said and Kise lifted up the bunch of fireworks that he put on the pathway and also said.

“Of course we must happily set off fireworks at the end of the summer festival.”

“Ending the day with a visit to the police station, don’t you think that is pitiful?”

Akashi smiled slightly. Momoi turned towards Kuroko. Kuroko had a peaceful smile on his face.

“Let’s go, Momoi-san.”

“Tetsu-kun…”

Momoi was about to nod and agree but then stopped herself.

“I, kinda need to go home soon…I have curfew…”

The clock was already pointing towards nine. Momoi’s family was surely waiting for her to return.

“Sa-cchin, you’re going home?” Murasakibara’s eyebrows sloped downwards in disappointment.

“Well, this isn’t an appropriate time for girls to be loitering about outside.”

“Eh~~! Midorimacchi, you’re too old fashioned—!” If it’s summer holidays, returning home a bit late is nothing right? And tomorrow, we’re starting club activities again, we’ll be busy!” “But, Momoi-san’s family will get worried…”

The boys exchanged words, discussing and debating. And then finally, Akashi spoke.

“Kise, you brought your mobile phone?”

“Eh? Yeah, of course I did.”

Kise pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket. After looking at the phone, Akashi turned to Aomine.

“Aomine, you know what you should do, I suppose?”

“Ha? What do you mean, what?”

Aomine scratched his head, a bit unhappy. Akashi smiled (^_^) as though knowing everything that was going on.

“We specially waited for them until this point, do you really want to see the plan go to waste?”

“…Geez, guess I have no choice.”

Aomine snatched the mobile phone from Kise’s hands and tossed it to Momoi. “Here.”

“Aomine-kun?”

“Call your house. Then, tell them when you are going home, I will send you straight back to your house.”

“…Is that okay?”

“Don’t think so much about it and just call.”

Because Aomine sounded impatient, Momoi frantically called her home.

Listening to the phone’s connection tone, Momoi lifted her head and looked at the sky.

The night sky was clear with twinkling stars. That was the most beautiful night sky.

She thought about Kuroko’s words.

—-You’ll see something amazing.

Truly, she saw something really beautiful.

But, in her heart, she was sure she would see something even more amazing and beautiful.

Momoi bowed a little, anticipation and closed her eyes waiting for the call to connect.

END