Fireworks Display

Starting from the station square, the flow of people naturally forms a moving river.

Summer, Asuka, and Eri were pushed along by the crowd onto the path leading to the Emperor's Temple. It was a stone-paved road about two hundred meters long, with old shops lining both sides, their wooden signs and tiled roofs gleaming warmly in the setting sun.

The air is filled with the aroma of grilled dumplings, the smoky fragrance of pancakes, and the sweet scent of eel rice. All these aromas intertwine, as if an unseen hand is concocting a secret recipe that belongs only to summer.

"Wow—" Erika exclaimed first, her eyes shining like searchlights. She ran forward a couple of steps in her wooden clogs and stopped in front of a small shop with a row of colorful shaved ice syrups drying in front of it. "This, this, this! Strawberry! Blue! Green! I want a blue one!"

"You've only just arrived, and you're already eating?" Xia Mo walked slowly behind, her tone carrying a sense of helplessness, as if to say, "I knew this would happen."

"What's the point of coming to a fireworks festival if you don't eat anything!" Erika retorted confidently, already taking out some change from her pocket and handing it to the shopkeeper.

Asuka stood beside Natsume, watching Erika's back with a thoughtful expression.

She seemed to be debating whether or not to buy one herself.

"Have you been here before?" Xia Mo asked her.

"I've been here before," Asuka nodded. "I come every year, always with my brothers. There are so many people, they always go in and buy things for me and bring them out."

Summer nodded, and was just about to say, "Then let's have a good time shopping today," when Erika returned with a cup of bright blue shaved ice.

The crushed ice in the plastic cup was piled high, like a small snow mountain. She handed it to Asuka first: "Asuka-chan, eat first! The first bite is the most precious!"

The bird paused for a moment.

Wasn't Ikuta-senpai supposed to be very possessive of her food?

Faced with Erika's anticipated color, Asuka couldn't refuse, so she took the shaved ice, scooped up a mouthful, put it in her mouth, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Is it good?" Erika asked, leaning closer.

Asuka nodded, then handed the shaved ice back. Erika took it and scooped up a huge mouthful, her expression brightening: "Delicious!! Blue is definitely the best!!"

"What does blue have to do with taste?" Xia Mo finally couldn't help but complain.

"Blue is the most delicious color! Do you have a problem with that?" Erika glared at him.

Xia Mo wisely kept quiet.

The three continued walking. Shops lined both sides of the approach, one after another. In the old shop selling wagashi (Japanese sweets), exquisitely crafted yokan (sweet bean jelly) and manju (steamed buns) were displayed in the glass case; at the yakitori (grilled rice ball) stall, strings of white rice balls were grilled over charcoal until slightly golden brown, and after being brushed with sweet soy sauce, they emitted an enticing aroma; in the pancake shop, large, neatly stacked rice cakes were printed with the word "Shibamata" on them, the kind of thing that could be taken home and eaten for a long time.

Erika walked at the front, like a little bird released from its cage, darting to the left and right, constantly exclaiming things like "This is so cute" and "That looks so delicious."

Asuka walks in the middle, sometimes Erika pulls her to look at something, and sometimes she stops to take a second look at a certain stall.

As Xia Mo walked at the very back, her hands in her shorts pockets, she looked at the two figures in yukatas ahead of her—one walking briskly, the other quietly—and suddenly felt that this evening seemed much better than she had imagined.

"Natsu-kun! You're walking too slowly!" Erika called out to him, turning around. "Asuka-chan, pull him along!"

Feibiao's face flushed red instantly: "I...I don't want to pull him!"

"Then I'll pull you!" Erika walked back casually, grabbed Natsume's sleeve, and dragged him forward like a piece of luggage.

Xia Mo stumbled a couple of steps as she was pulled, almost tripping over herself, and quickly adjusted her pace to catch up.

At the end of the approach path lies the mountain gate of Shibamata Teishaten. The massive wooden building appears exceptionally solemn in the twilight, and the exquisite wood carvings on the eaves reveal even deeper contours in the dim light.

Erika stood in front of the mountain gate, looked up for a while, and let out a heartfelt sigh.

"Wow, it's huge!"

"This is Indra," Asuka said softly. "My mother comes to worship here once a year. She says that the Indra enshrined here can bestow wisdom and blessings upon people."

"So what did you pray for this year?" Erika asked curiously.

The bird blinked but didn't answer. It just pursed its lips, squeezed the bag in its hand, and hesitated to speak.

Eri didn't pay any attention and continued to admire the statue, constantly moving through the building, urging Asuka and Natsume to keep up with her pace.

They passed through the mountain gate and walked along a small path on the other side towards the Edogawa River. It was completely dark by then, and lanterns lit up one after another, their orange glow illuminating the entire path like a warm, flowing river.

The crowd grew denser and the voices grew louder, all moving in the same direction—the Edogawa River, flowing quietly in the night breeze.

The banks of the Edogawa River were already packed with people. Blue plastic sheets were laid out one after another on the grass, like a huge, man-made blue ocean.

Young couples in yukatas, parents with children, and groups of students all looked up at the night sky across the river, a sky about to be set ablaze.

The Katsushika Summer Fireworks Festival has a history of more than half a century and is one of the most traditional fireworks festivals in Tokyo.

Unlike other fireworks displays, the audience seats here are very close to the fireworks launch site, and you can almost feel the huge thrust of each firework as it goes up into the sky.

The entire event will feature approximately 15,000 fireworks, illuminating the July night sky of Katsushika Ward for a full hour.

As summer drew to a close, the three of them found a fairly open grassy area near the back of the riverbank. Erika pulled a neatly folded picnic mat from her cloth bag—heaven knows how her little bag could fit such a large mat—and unfolded it with a snap, spreading it out on the grass.

"Sit!" She patted the cushion and sat down first, her two feet, clad in wooden clogs, dangling in front of her.

Asuka sat down on the other side of the mat, carefully gathered the hem of her yukata, placed her hands on her knees, and straightened her back, her posture as graceful as if she were taking a photograph.

Xia Mo looked around and sat down between the two people, keeping a distance of about half a person between them.

The sound of the taiko drum came from the loudspeaker, one beat after another, faster and faster, as if something was accumulating, brewing, and rising from the depths of the earth.

The clamor of the surrounding crowd gradually subsided, and countless eyes simultaneously gazed at the thick, inky night sky on the opposite bank.

Snapped!

The first firework went off.

Without warning, without foreshadowing, a faint hiss came from the opposite bank of the river, like a thin thread rising from the ground to the sky, higher and higher, faster and faster, until it shattered in the deepest part of the night.

It was a golden chrysanthemum.

Golden light exploded in the night sky, like a giant flower completing its entire process from blooming to withering in an instant.

However, before its light had completely faded, the second, third, and fourth fireworks followed, with red, green, purple, and blue fireworks blooming one after another in the night sky, like someone had spilled a giant box of paint in the sky.

"Wow—" Erika's voice rang out clearly in the crowd, "So beautiful!!!"

The surrounding people also exclaimed in surprise, "Ah—oh—wow—" Various exclamations drifted in the night wind, mixed with the sound of fireworks, and wove together a symphony that could only be played in summer.

The bird tilted its head back, watching the fleeting lights in the sky. Her eyes sparkled, and the colors of the fireworks reflected in her pupils, as if someone had set off a small firework display in her eyes.

Xia Mo turned her head and glanced at her.

It was spotted by both Fei Niao and Hua Hua at the same time with just one glance.

Then he quickly turned his head back and continued to admire the flowers blooming in the sky.

The fireworks display grew faster and faster. Large bursts of fireworks bloomed in the sky, some like golden branches drooping from willow trees, some like peonies unfolding their petals layer by layer, and some like tiny stars twinkling and falling one after another high in the sky.

The most unique of these is an ancient type of firework called "Wah-ka," where delicate orange-gold sparks bloom in the air, resembling a giant ear of rice swaying in the wind, appearing exceptionally warm and dazzling against the night sky.

The seventh shot. The fifteenth shot. The twenty-third shot.

Erika was completely excited. Every time a particularly large firework went up into the sky, she would suddenly grab the arm of the person next to her and shake it vigorously.

The bird was swayed by her several times. At first, it was a little uncomfortable, but later it started swaying along with her. The laughter of the two girls and the booming of the fireworks mingled together, sounding surprisingly harmonious to Xia Mo's ears.

"Natsu-kun, why aren't you excited?!" Erika turned to Natsumo after what seemed like the umpteenth time the fireworks had gone off, demanding, "Don't you think it's pretty?!"

"It's beautiful," Xia Mo said.

"Then shout it out!"

"What are you shouting for?"

Shout "Wow!"

Xia Mo paused for a second. He watched as another huge firework burst in the sky, took a deep breath, and then spoke in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for the two people next to him to hear:

"……Wow."

Erika was dissatisfied: "It looks too fake! Let's do it again!"

"I won't shout." Xia Mo wondered if Erika-senpai really had a second personality at night. She was such an elegant person when practicing the piano, but at night she became like a madwoman.

Perhaps influenced by Erika, Asuka also pushed Natsume's arm, strongly urging Natsume to do it again seriously.

Just then—

A giant firework exploded in the sky, its golden light illuminating the entire river surface. The light fell on the bird's face, illuminating her slightly upturned lips and her amber eyes that reflected the starlight.

As Xia Mo looked at the light, he felt as if the firework wasn't blooming in the sky, but rather in the eyes of a girl in a pink yukata, only half a meter away from him.

So he took a deep breath, cupped his hands into a megaphone shape, and shouted with all his might:

"Fireworks festival, best!!!"

"Hahaha, who told you to shout that?!"