Ryohei Tanaka followed Lucoa for about ten minutes. The surrounding noise gradually faded, and the crowd thinned out considerably.

He looked around. By the light of the colorful fireworks in the sky, he saw that the area was divided into sections marked by small wooden signs with numbers. Each section was spaced perfectly, ensuring privacy while sharing the excellent viewing spot.

Ryohei had a thought, and Yurine, who had also spotted the signs, spoke with certainty, "This is a paid viewing area, isn't it?"

"Bingo!" Lucoa, walking ahead, snapped her fingers. She turned back, a smile in her eyes. "It's quieter here, and not as crowded. The free area is way too noisy."

"Definitely," Ryohei Tanaka agreed. The "free area" was the public viewing space. As they had walked past, it was, without exception, packed with people, loud, and cramped.

"..."

"Here we are!"

Soon, they arrived at an open spot. Lucoa took out a picnic blanket, shook it open, and spread it on the grass. She deftly slipped off her geta and stepped onto it barefoot.

Ryohei followed, sitting down on the blanket.

Looking out, he saw countless fireworks blooming against the night curtain, a dazzling and splendid display. The Sumida River's water rippled gently, capturing the entire sky of flowing light in its embrace. The glittering reflections created another, swaying, dreamlike world.

It was so beautiful it was breathtaking. The only slight drawback was the acrid smell of gunpowder.

"..."

There was no need to say much, and it wasn't a good time for conversation anyway.

Ryohei leaned back, lying down on the picnic blanket. He pillowed his arms behind his head and watched the sky full of fireworks.

Seeing this, Yurine and Lucoa followed his example, lying down on either side of him.

Ryohei reached out and took Yurine's hand, lacing their fingers together. Then, he quietly reached out and took Lucoa's hand as well.

Yurine instinctively turned her head to look at Ryohei, feeling a wave of warmth. Watching fireworks with her boyfriend in the summer... it was so youthful and romantic, an essential scene in any rom-com. She temporarily ignored Lucoa—lying down, with Ryohei blocking her view, she couldn't see her anyway.

On the other side, Lucoa's lips curled up, her face full of the sly smile of someone who'd gotten away with something.

Bzz bzz—!

After some time, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. Ryohei took it out and saw a message from Jashin-chan, asking where they were. Instead of replying, Ryohei just sent her a real-time location share.

Before long, Jashin-chan and the others followed the navigation and found them.

"Waaah—!"

"You guys are so sneaky! You found such a good spot and didn't tell us!" Jashin-chan started yelling before she even arrived.

Minos chimed in, "So cunning!"

"What's cunning about it?" Ryohei, who had sat up cross-legged, looked at them and smiled. "You didn't ask before. If you had, I would have told you."

He was basically taking the fall for Lucoa, since he hadn't known Lucoa had reserved such a great spot either.

"..." As Jashin-chan's group approached, Lucoa had shifted her blanket to the side and taken out another one, spreading it out next to the first. There were too many of them for one blanket; they'd be too cramped.

"Tch!" Jashin-chan clicked her tongue, took off her geta, and sat down.

During their time apart, Jashin-chan's group had all acquired some loot. Everyone was carrying something, and Jiru was hugging a teddy bear almost as big as she was.

Seeing Ryohei look over, she smiled and held out the doll. "Minos won it for me. Onii-chan, can you hold it for me?"

"Sure." Ryohei smiled, took the doll, and put it in his storage space. He then snagged some food from Jashin-chan and Minos.

"This takoyaki is decent, but not as good as mine," Ryohei said, pleased with himself as he sampled a piece with a skewer.

Minos was kneeling, her white feet tucked under her. The yukata made it awkward for her to sit cross-legged. She was holding a fragrant piece of roasted corn. "Speaking of which, Ryohei-kun, you haven't made takoyaki in a long time. You should make it again soon." She took a huge bite of corn, eating with gusto.

"Tomorrow... It's on the menu for tomorrow!" Ryohei took a taiyaki from Medusa and took a bite. Whoa, this one was cream-filled! He was surprised but thought it was okay, just a little too sweet. Most Japanese sweets were like this; they had a sweet tooth.

"Onii-chan, have you made takoyaki before?" Jiru asked curiously, licking a candy apple.

"He's made it a few times," Minos answered for him. She smiled at Jiru. "A while back, we went to the beach, and Jashin-chan was attacked by a kraken... and eaten..."

"We defeated the kraken, and Ryohei-kun made a ton of delicious food with it!"

"I was just caught off guard! Otherwise, there's no way that thing would have been a match for me!" Jashin-chan, who was listening, glared, trying to save face.

For some reason, Ryohei loved to shut her down. "Oh yeah, right, of course."

"Damn it! You servant..." Jashin-chan's mouth twitched. She glared at Ryohei, flashing her fangs. "Are you trying to pick a fight?"

"..." Ryohei just smiled and didn't reply.

Minos, beside them, said thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, we're going back to that same area tomorrow. I wonder if we'll get attacked by anything this time?"

Ryohei looked at her in surprise. 'Are you a prophet or something? You just jinxed us!'

"Of course not!" Yurine, holding a red-bean taiyaki, retorted while eating. "We're going to a private beach, not some weird, dangerous place... Besides, how many weird monsters can there be in the human world!"

She already felt the kraken incident was unscientific. It couldn't possibly happen again, right? If it did, she'd start to question reality and wonder which one of them was the unluckiest person alive.

"Mmm... that's true," Minos said, munching on her corn, feeling that Yurine had a point. The human world was relatively safe. They were just going to a private beach, not on some dangerous adventure. They couldn't possibly get attacked every single time... No way.

...

As they chatted, the hour-long fireworks display came to an end.

Feeling satisfied, Ryohei's group packed up their picnic blankets and headed home in high spirits.

~~~

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