𝗛𝗮𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘆𝗼'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩 | 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟱

"Are you sure you're not coming, Senju?" I asked my little sister who was struggling to tie her hair.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm not. I have training with Waka-nii. Oh, and can you help me with my hair, pleeaassee~" She said and I sighed before I took the hair tie from her hand.

"Jeez, you're already this old and you can't still tie your hair by yourself?" I said.

"That can't be helped since you always tied my hair for practice so you could tie Michi's hair when we were younger." She said and my cheeks suddenly heated up.

"You promised not to mention that." I said and pinched her cheek.

"I remember that he also asked me to teach him to crochet for a gift. What a sweet boy." Grandma teased and I completely turned red.

"Grannn!!!" I exclaimed as I finished tying Senju's hair to a high bun. It was easy since she has short hair.

"Shouldn't you be going to the festival now, Haru-nii? You shouldn't keep your date waiting." Senju said.

"I-It's not a date!" I said as I stood up and took what I need before I bid goodbye and headed off to the Musashi Shrine, still feeling hot after being embarrassed.

I looked at the time and noticed that I'm going to be late so I ran as fast as I can, I can't afford to be late since I know how Michi hates it.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"You guys go ahead, I'll wait for Haru." I said to my sister and Hina after we arrived.

"Are you sure? We can wait with you, you know." Emma said.

"It's fine." I said and waved them off.

Takemichi and Ken were already here so I let the two go ahead. I couldn't drag them any longer since we were a bit late because Emma and Hina helped me in changing.

I already told them that I'll just wear casual clothes but insisted on making me wear a yukata. I'm not so used to wearing something like this.

"M-Michi!" I heard someone say and I turned around. It was Haru and he was trying to catch his breath, holding his knees, looking down at the ground.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm sorry for making you wait." He said.

"It's fine, Emma and the others just went ahead but we also just arrived a while ago." I said.

"I see-" He said but stopped his sentence when he finally looked up and meet my gaze.

"Haru, are you really okay? Your face looked flushed, should we buy some water first?" I asked

"N-no it's fine. It's just that..."

"It's just that?"

"Y-You look so pretty, well you always look wonderful but you look different- not in a bad way." He exclaimed as he averts his eyes and I looked down at myself before looking back at him. 

"Really? Thanks, Emma and Hina helped me earlier." I said.

After he finally rested for a while, we went up together and the bright lights and smell of food coming from the stalls greeted us. 

It was lively as ever but after I finally began to relax, I also began to see how peaceful it really was despite the noise.

"Michi, do you want to try that?" Haru asked as he pointed to a stall for goldfish scooping.

"Sure" I replied 

I talked to Keiji just a few days ago and told him about Takemichi. I also asked him about how to find things I'd want to do now that everything seems to be fine as it is and he just told suggested that I go with the flow of life.

We went and Haru tried to scoop a fish but he always failed since the paper breaks quickly.

"You're putting too much pressure on the scoop, Haru. That's not a sword." I said

He practiced too much kendo that he always puts tension in his grip. 

After a while of him failing over and over again, I said that I'll try to catch at least one goldfish.

I rolled up my sleeves for a bit and looked at the fish swimming around. My eyes focused on the fish and swiftly I scooped the fish and put it in a bowl. I thought I only picked one but I got two instead.

"Woah, that nee-chan is awsome." I heard kids say while we wait for the fish to be transferred to plastic by the stall owner.

"You're so cool, Michi. You got it on your first try." Haru said.

"You can do it too if you relax your hand a little bit. Also, you seem like you were distracted." I said

"W-well...Oh, look! How about we try that next?" He asked and pointed at a shooting game.

"But I ask-"

"Look, the prizes look interesting. Which one do you want?" He said, not letting me finish my sentence, and pulled me along to the next stall.

Good grief, I didn't know that he'll be this excited when it comes to festivals.

I didn't ask anymore and watched him aim. He was aiming for the grand prize and he was so focused.

He shot it all perfectly but he couldn't knock it over so he wasn't able to win anything.

"Jeez, that was such a scam. Didn't you see that Michi? I hit it all perfectly but it didn't even move an inch." He complained as we went away from the crowds to find a place to sit down and eat the candied apples that we bought earlier.

"That's a given, how could a cork bullet knock down a rock-solid item? I think it would be impossible to win the grand prize in the first place." I said.

"I know right? Should we go back and get a refund?" He asked and I shook my head.

"It's fine, at least I saw how good your aim was. You really take your practice seriously." I said.

"I promised you that I'll protect you after all." He said and I looked up to him, his face having a light shade of red.

Our height difference is painfully obvious even though the geta made me a few centimeters taller.

"We should take a seat over there." He said and pointed in a direction where there was a park bench.

I sighed in relief when I finally sat down since my feet were beginning to hurt because of the wooden slipper. 

It was a bad idea to wear something like this.

We were silently eating the food in our hands as we look ahead of us. I took a glance and noticed his scars again, the scars that I failed to prevent.

"Ne, Haru..."

"Hmm?"

"I have thought of this for a long time but I wonder why you kept following me after you got hurt because of me." I said and looked at the apple coated with caramel on a stick.

"It's because I want to." He said.

"..."

"Also, how many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't your fault. I was the one who approached him and angered him enough that he attacked me. It was a long time ago and he won't be coming out of jail any time soon, right?" He said.

"Even so, you're always wearing a mask just to hide them and only take it off when we're alone or with the others." I said and looked ahead.

"Michi...did that bother you all this time?" He asked.

"..."

"W-wait, it's not that I'm hiding it because I'm ashamed it's just..." He said and looked away embarrassed.

"It's just?"

He muttered something but I couldn't quite hear.

"What?" I asked and he muttered again but it was still inaudible.

"Haru, I can't understand what you're saying. Why are you turning your back on me anyways." I asked and slowly he turned around.

"Can you repeat what you said, please?" I asked and he sighed and looked at me as if he gathered all courage he had.

"I-I just thought that wearing a mask would make me even cooler!" He exclaimed.

Eh?

"Michi, say something! It's so embarrassing." He said.

"I see"

"That's it?!" He exclaimed and hugged his knees and hid his face. It was a habit of his when he was too overwhelmed with embarrassment.

"If you wanted to look cool then not wearing a mask would be the best way. Didn't you grow your hair out since you wanted to be a samurai, like the ones we watched when we were younger? Did you forget that mostly have scars on their faces?" I said.

"Don't bring those up, it was a long time ago. Ahhh it's so embarrassing, I might die." He said.

"What about the-" I was about to say more but he quickly covered my mouth. I was looking up as his face was really red. I even dropped my candied apple.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to. I-I'll go buy you a new one." He said as he let me go and hurriedly went off to buy a new apple candy.

I guess I went too far. I'll apologize when he gets back.

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