The evening air is thick with summer heat and the smell of grilled squid and candy apples.
The main street is closed off, paper lanterns strung overhead like glowing constellations.
Yukata everywhere: blue, pink, indigo, gold.
Children run past with sparklers that hiss and spit white fire.
I'm wearing the dark-blue yukata Kiyomi picked out.
It fits perfectly, of course.
The obi is tied tight enough that every breath feels deliberate.
Kiyomi walks on my left, bright red yukata patterned with white peonies, hair pinned up with a single silver ornament.
She keeps glancing sideways at me like she's afraid I'll vanish if she blinks.
On my right, one step behind, is Yui.
Pale lavender yukata with tiny embroidered fireflies.
Her hair is half-up, held by a ribbon the exact color of the sky just before the first boom.
She's been quiet since we met at the station, cheeks pink even before the heat could claim credit.
Kiyomi, naturally, has orchestrated everything.
Kiyomi (loud enough for both of us to hear)
Wow, the takoyaki stall has no line!
Yui-chan, you love takoyaki, right?
Kiyoshi, go buy some for us!
Here, money!
She shoves a thousand-yen bill into my hand and physically turns me toward the stall before I can protest.
Yui (panicking, small voice)
I-I can pay for myself—Kiyomi (already walking away, singing)
Nope!
Tradition says the guy buys the first snack!
I'm going to secure us a spot on the bridge!
Don't be too long~!
And just like that she melts into the crowd, leaving Yui and me standing awkwardly beside each other while the vendor flips octopus balls with theatrical flair.
Yui's fingers twist in her sleeve.
Yui (barely audible over the crowd)
You… you don't have to buy mine.
Really.
I look down at her.
The lantern light catches on the tiny fireflies stitched along her hem.
Kiyoshi
Kiyomi will interrogate me if I come back with only two boxes.
Besides… I want to.
The words come out softer than I meant.
Yui's blush deepens to something dangerous.
We stand in line.
The silence isn't uncomfortable, exactly, but it hums.
Yui (suddenly, all in one breath)
I wasn't sure you'd come tonight.
Kiyomi-san said you agreed, but I thought… maybe you'd change your mind.
You never come to these things.
Kiyoshi
I know.
She glances up at me, then away.
Yui
I'm glad you did.
The vendor hands over three steaming boxes.
I pay.
Our fingers brush when I pass her one (hers are trembling).
We weave through the crowd looking for Kiyomi.
She's claimed the perfect spot on the pedestrian bridge over the river: front row, unobstructed view of the launch site.
She waves wildly when she sees us.
Kiyomi (grinning like a cat)
Took you long enough!
The first one is in three minutes!
She immediately scoots over, forcing Yui to sit between us.
Kiyomi (stage whisper)
Yui-chan, make him share his takoyaki.
He always eats the crunchy ones first and pretends he didn't.
Yui makes a tiny, mortified squeak.
The lights along the river dim all at once.
A single whistle arcs into the sky.
BOOM.
The first shell bursts into a perfect sphere of gold that drips like molten metal.
Then another.
And another.
The sky becomes a garden of light: chrysanthemums of emerald and rose, waterfalls of silver, hearts that bloom and fade in heartbeat rhythms.
Every explosion reflects in Yui's eyes.
She forgets to be nervous.
Yui (soft, awed)
They're beautiful…Kiyomi leans past her to catch my gaze.
Kiyomi (mouth only, no sound)
Look at her.
I am.
Yui's face is lit gold, then blue, then crimson.
Her lips are slightly parted.
The ribbon in her hair trembles in the warm updraft from each blast.
Another shell: this one a perfect ring of white that expands until it becomes Saturn, complete with glowing rings.
Yui laughs (a small, delighted sound she probably doesn't realize she made).
Kiyomi nudges me with her shoulder, eyes dancing.
Kiyomi (whisper)
Tell her the next one is your favorite.
I hesitate.
Then lean close enough that only Yui can hear.
Kiyoshi
The next one… watch.
It's always been my favorite.
The countdown is silent, but we all feel it.
A single rocket climbs higher than the rest.
It bursts into a thousand willow branches of green and gold that hang in the air forever, swaying, weeping light.
Yui's breath catches.
Yui (barely a breath)
It's… like it's crying.
She turns to me without thinking, eyes shining brighter than the sky.
Yui
How did you know?
I don't answer.
I just watch the willow fade, and the next shell take its place.
Kiyomi stands up suddenly.
Kiyomi
I'm going to get shaved ice!
Blue Hawaii for me, Yui-chan wants strawberry, right?
Kiyoshi, you hate syrup so you're safe.
Don't move!
She's gone again, swallowed by the crowd in seconds.
Leaving us alone on the bridge while the sky explodes above.
Yui hugs her knees, suddenly shy again.
Yui
She's… very good at disappearing when she wants to.
Kiyoshi
She's obvious.
Yui laughs (soft, surprised).
Yui
Yeah.
She is.
Another firework: this one a perfect cascade of red hearts that dissolve into pink sparks.
Yui's voice is almost lost under the boom.
Yui
Kiyoshi-kun…
Thank you for coming tonight.
I know festivals aren't… your thing.
I look at her instead of the sky.
Kiyoshi
I wanted to be here.
Simple.
True.
Her eyes widen.
The finale begins: shell after shell, faster, louder, until the sky is nothing but light and thunder and color.
We're bathed in it: gold, violet, emerald, white.
When the last echo fades and the smoke drifts slow across the river, the crowd erupts into applause.
Yui is still looking at me.
I'm still looking at her.
Somewhere behind us Kiyomi is probably watching with the biggest grin in the prefecture, shaved-ice cones dripping forgotten in her hands.
The lanterns come back up.
The night settles into gentle noise again.
And for one moment, under the drifting smoke and the echo of light,
I forget about the gun, the badges, the coded diary, the real Kiyoshi who never would have stood here.
There is only the warm summer air, the faint taste of takoyaki still on my tongue,
and the girl beside me whose eyes reflect every color the sky just gave us.
I don't know what tomorrow will demand of me.
But tonight,
I'm exactly where I want to be.