They walked side by side along the illuminated path, following the smooth flow of people. Soon, the distant sound of traditional music, flutes, taikos, and laughter approached, growing like a warm wave around them. The hanging lanterns swayed with the wind, and the mixed aroma of takoyaki, karaage, and freshly baked taiyaki infiltrated the air, making the atmosphere even more lively.
Kaguya observed everything with a gleam in her eyes. Beside her, Isagi walked calmly while enjoying his "break" next to a beautiful girl....
"Want to stop at some stall?" he asked, following her gaze that had lingered a second too long on a yakisoba kiosk.
Kaguya, who would never admit she was hungry so early, averted her gaze as if she were observing something else.
"I was just... analyzing the line. It seems long."
Isagi let out a light laugh.
"That means yes."
She blushed immediately, and before she could argue, he had already approached the stall.
The line was indeed long; families, couples, students laughing among themselves. But, for some reason, beside him, time seemed to pass differently. Kaguya noticed this when she stayed silent for a few seconds, watching the smoke rise from the hot griddle, and Isagi just... waited. Without rushing her, without trying to fill the silence with unnecessary words.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself..." she commented when she noticed her gaze had softened too much.
"I am," he admitted in a simple, almost casual tone. "It's good to go out like this. Lately, I've been so busy that even on my days off, I had work to do. I missed walking a bit. Eating street food. Seeing the lights... and seeing you trying to pretend you're not hungry."
Kaguya straightened her posture so quickly she almost lost her balance.
"I'm not—!"
"Shinomiya-san..." he interrupted with an almost comical calm. "I know you."
She pressed her lips together.
For a few seconds, Isagi watched the way she averted her gaze exactly as she did in elementary school. The same rigid elegance, the same discreet blush when contradicted, but now mixed with something new, soft, emotional, involuntary.
Soon they got two steaming portions of yakisoba.
"Thank you...." she said lightly, holding the plate with both hands.
"You're welcome. Just don't spill it on your dress...."
She frowned, offended.
"I don't spill food!"
Five steps later, a strand of noodle escaped from the box and almost fell onto the river's surface, only it didn't because Isagi, with an impeccable reflex, caught it with his chopstick before completing the tragedy.
He smiled.
She froze in embarrassment.
"...Don't say a word."
"I don't need to..." he replied, chuckling softly.
They continued walking along the deck, now sharing not just the path, but small laughs and random comments, about the taste of the yakisoba, about how festivals always had that same nostalgic smell of fried food, about a group of children running with golden fish lanterns.
Ahead, a game stall caught Kaguya's attention. She stopped subtly, staring at the colorful target with hanging prizes: plushies, keychains, small omamori holders.
Isagi noticed.
"You want to try?"
She blinked, as if about to be caught denying it.
"It's not about wanting. It's just... a game. For children."
He tilted his face a bit, analyzing her.
"Is it? But you've been staring at that plushie for thirty seconds...."
She blushed.
"...I was just... observing the design."
Isagi paid for two attempts without saying anything else.
"If it's just the design, you won't mind if I try to win it for you."
"Isagi-san—!"
But it was too late. He picked up the bow from the ball-throwing game and aimed with absurdly good precision.
The girl at the stall widened her eyes.
"Wow! You hit it on the first try!"
Kaguya also widened her eyes, not out of surprise, but because she realized he had chosen exactly the plushie she was looking at.
He handed the prize to her, holding it by the ribbon.
"Your design...." he said with a provocative smile.
She accepted it with both hands, almost as if receiving a ceremonial gift.
"...Thank you..."
Isagi kept his calm pace, watching as she discreetly hugged the small plushie against her chest, as if protecting something valuable.
"There are more games up ahead," he commented. "How about trying that goldfish scooping one? I bet you'll take it so seriously that the vendor will get scared."
Kaguya narrowed her eyes.
"I don't get competitive over such simple things."
"Of course not..." he replied, keeping a neutral tone as the two approached the stall.
Kaguya narrowed her eyes, ready to refute any accusation about "competitiveness," but Isagi's calm, almost innocent expression only increased her internal suspicion that he was, yes, provoking her on purpose.
And the worst part?
It worked.
"I don't get competitive..." she repeated, raising her chin with calculated elegance.
But as soon as they arrived at the goldfish scooping stall, her impeccable posture cracked discreetly. The row of small golden fish shimmering under the lantern light activated an almost childish gleam in her eyes, a gleam she tried to extinguish right away, like blowing out a candle before anyone noticed.
Isagi observed everything with that same half-smile that betrayed his perfect read of the situation.
"So let's see..." he said, picking up the first paper net.
Kaguya adjusted her posture with all the dignity that a future student council president or, in that reality, an absurdly infatuated Shinomiya heiress could have. She took a deep breath, held her net and... dove into the competition with an almost frightening intensity.
On the first attempt, the fish escaped.
On the second, the net tore.
On the third, the fish simply turned as if laughing at her.
Kaguya narrowed her eyes.
"This is war..." she murmured softly, almost inaudible.
Isagi, on the other hand, captured two fish in an almost casual manner, as if picking candies from a basket.
"Two..." he announced, showing the result with that light smile, without any intention of humiliating her and that's why it was worse.
Kaguya felt a painful stab in her pride.
"That doesn't mean anything..." she replied immediately. "You just got lucky."
"Three..." he said right after, capturing another little fish while not even seeming to pay attention.
The stall vendor let out a surprised "wooow."
Kaguya gripped the edge of the table.
"I... I'm going to beat you..." she declared with the intensity of someone fighting for a student election, not for a festival goldfish.
But when her fourth net also tore, she stood still, staring at the destroyed paper as if it had betrayed her family for generations.
Isagi tried not to laugh.
He tried.
"You really don't get competitive, huh?"
She looked at him with the most adorably indignant blush he had seen that night.
"I was just... calculating strategies."
"Of course you were."
She huffed, but deep down... she was smiling.
When they finally left the stall, Kaguya with no fish, Isagi with a full bag, she was already prepared to defend herself from more provocations. But before he could comment, something changed in the environment.
The sound of the taikos grew stronger. Lanterns began to sway in sync. People around started turning toward the center of the festival.
A "procession" was approaching.
The traditional parade, mikoshis being carried, dancers in colorful clothes, flutes and drums echoing like ceremonial thunder.
And, in a few seconds, the crowd thickened from all sides, compressing the space where they were.
Before Kaguya could even register the movement, she felt something warm envelop her hand.
Isagi pulled her gently closer.
"Kaguya, careful. Come this way."
She froze.
Froze entirely.
Her face, neck, ears, everything in a soft red, perfectly visible under the lantern light.
She tried to let go of his hand, out of pure reflex.
"I-Isagi-san—!?"
But he held it again, with disarming naturalness.
"It's better this way. There are a lot of people."
There was no provocation. No joke. It was practical, simple, and exactly because of that, her heart almost jumped out of her mouth.
He guided her out of the crowd, crossing the multitude calmly, dodging people, keeping her hand firm in his. Kaguya looked at their intertwined fingers as if that were... too dangerous. Too intense. Too good.
When they finally stopped in a quiet corner, with a perfect view of the parade, she tried to regain her composure, and it was in vain.
"W-we're out of the confusion now. You can let go..."
He looked at her hand and then at her, as if the answer were obvious.
"Better if I keep holding. People are still moving a lot."
She blinked once, twice, three times.
"So... you're going to continue?"
"I am."
The simplicity of that word made her stomach do a complete flip.
While the parade passed, colorful lights reflecting on the river, drums beating like a second heart, Kaguya realized that, at that moment, she was lost.
Totally and irretrievably lost in the way Isagi guided her without hesitation, how his hand enveloped hers with calm firmness, how every step they took together seemed... right.
When he started walking through the festival again, still without letting go of her hand, still clearing the way for her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, something inside her simply gave in.
She followed him, with her heart beating faster than any taiko in that festival.
And while he talked about foods they hadn't tried yet, about what they would do next, about the best view for the hanabi later...
Kaguya realized:
Every word of his, every gesture, every touch...
...made her fall in love even more.
A little beyond what she thought possible.
They continued walking until the festival's movement was left behind. Lanterns still illuminated the path, but there, away from the stalls and the noise of the crowds, the air was calmer, almost intimate. The river flowed with a serene glow, reflecting the golden lights that shimmered on the surface. The strong smell of frying gave way to the light perfume of summer flowers surrounding that part of the park.
Isagi only let go of her hand when they stopped near a small bridge, isolated enough that only the distant sound of the taikos reached there. Kaguya still felt as if her hand were enveloped by his, even though the touch had ended seconds before.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she only realized he was observing her when she heard his voice softly cut through the silence:
"Shinomiya-san."
Her heart beat too hard, so hard that she was sure he heard it.
"I... wanted to ask something."
Kaguya's mind immediately exploded like off-season fireworks.
"Is he going to confess? He's going to confess. Is he going to confess!? No, calm down, that would be too direct... but maybe... maybe—"
"It's about something I noticed," Isagi completed.
There. Now it was certain. Something big was about to be said. Kaguya adjusted her posture, trying to seem serene. The soft blush betrayed her completely.
"You can ask..." she replied with an almost perfect voice, if not for the hesitant end.
Isagi scratched the back of his neck lightly, as if choosing his words carefully.
"Why... sometimes do you call me by my first name?"
Kaguya blinked.
Once. Twice. Three times.
"...What?"
"My name," he repeated calmly. "Yoichi. Like... that day we went out with the student council president for dinner. You said 'Yoichi-kun' as if it were the most natural thing in the world."
Kaguya felt her soul leave her body.
"He noticed? But... I can't say it was because of jealousy! I absolutely can't say it was because of the various girls who have their eyes on him..."
She tried to respond, but her mind was a zone of static and internal screams.
"And it's not that I mind..." Isagi continued, sincere. "I just... got curious...."
Kaguya interrupted her own thought before it could collapse.
"A-and I... just..." She tried to invent something, but no lie seemed adequate. "It just... came out. No intention. Nothing big. It happens."
It sounded horrible. Terrible. Unbelievable.
But Isagi believed it.
Or maybe... chose to believe it.
He smiled lightly.
"If you want to call me by my first name, without any suffix, I don't mind. In fact, it wouldn't be a problem at all; I also prefer to call you just by your name, like I did before. I only went back to being more formal because I noticed that seemed important to you...."
She swallowed hard.
"...Yoichi..." she tried, softly, as if the word were forbidden.
It sounded too intimate. Too close. Dangerously comfortable.
Isagi didn't seem to notice her emotional implosion.
Or he noticed... and just found it cute.
To regain emotional ground, Kaguya raised her chin, trying to recover her Shinomiya dignity.
"If that's the case..." she said with renewed confidence, although her heart was trying to escape through her ribs: "Then you should call me by my name too. Just... to be fair."
She expected to see him hesitant, maybe blushing.
But Isagi simply tilted his head and replied:
"All right."
And then, as if it were natural, as if he had been doing it for years, he called her:
"Kaguya."
The world stopped.
"He said it!? No... he didn't get embarrassed!? Not at all!? How!? Ah, Kaguya Shinomiya.... Are you being an idiot? He already called you that way... But because this conversation seemed so important, I didn't notice, but the atmosphere tricked me! It was the fault of... Y-Yoichi..."
The blush that rose to her ears was so immediate it seemed to have a life of its own. Kaguya felt every cell in her body enter a controlled collapse, as if her nervous system had decided to give up on any attempt at rationality.
"Why does this sound so different now? He already called me that! He has called me! But... but... why does it seem so... dangerous now? So... warm? So—"
Isagi furrowed his brow slightly upon noticing the intense red that rose to her ears. He tilted his face, genuinely curious... but with that subtle gleam of provocation that only appeared when he decided to poke her on purpose.
"Kaguya... are you okay?"
Before she could react, he raised his hand and gently placed his palm on her forehead, as if checking for a fever.
That was the end.
Kaguya froze entirely.
She didn't breathe.
She didn't blink.
She didn't exist for three seconds.
Her mind turned into an absolute blur.
"H-he's touching... He's touching my forehead! This is— this is— this is illegal! This is completely— YOICHI, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"
But no sound came out.
Nothing.
Just a suffocated silence and wide eyes of pure emotional implosion.
Isagi tilted his head a bit more, dramatizing a completely false concern.
"You're burning..." he murmured: "Maybe the festival heat got to you like this?"
He was smiling.
He was definitely smiling.
Kaguya snapped out of the raw shock with an internal click. Her pride as the Shinomiya family heiress came rushing back, screaming, demanding that she recompose herself immediately.
She took a step back, adjusted her posture, raised her chin, and forced a neutral expression, although the blush still betrayed her completely.
"I-I'm perfectly fine!" Her voice came out too high-pitched.
She noticed.
Tried to correct it.
Failed.
"Yoichi, don't make jokes like that..." she completed, trying to recover a thread of verbal dignity.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Yoichi, huh?"
His smile grew a bit.
Kaguya swallowed hard.
"...You said you don't mind..." she replied, firm on the outside, dying on the inside.
"And I really don't." He took a soft step closer: "It's good to hear you say it like that."
She turned her face so quickly she almost made the wind swirl around.
"I just... am following the agreement..." she insisted, hugging her own composure as if it were a shield.
Isagi crossed his arms, observing her from head to toe, with that calm look that only made everything worse.
"Right. So, since we're being fair..."
He leaned in a bit, bringing his face closer to hers, not enough to touch, but enough to leave her in internal collapse again.
"Kaguya."
Her name came out low.
Kaguya felt her heart vibrate like a taiko in full performance, and for a moment, she thought her legs really would give way. She tried to recompose herself quickly; he already called her that before, and did it a few times in various moments, there was nothing to it.... But why was it so good? Could it be the magic of a date like Hayasaka had talked about?
She took a deep breath.
Straightened her shoulders.
And replied, with the fragile elegance of someone fighting against her own emotion:
"...Yoichi."
He smiled.
For a few seconds, they stayed there, just looking at each other, with the festival reflected in their eyes and their hearts beating faster than any music in the background.
Kaguya averted her gaze first, pressing the plushie she had won from him against her chest as if it were an emotional shield.
"Let's... keep walking..." she said, still fighting the blush. "The parade will end soon."
"Sure."
Isagi replied.
But before starting to walk, he took her hand, this time calmly, without hurry, without a crowd to justify it.
Just because he wanted to.
"Come, Kaguya."
And she went.
With her heart beating so hard it could very well compete with the sound of the festival's taikos.
__________________
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