Leaving the air gun shooting stall, Akira held the small mask he won in one hand and Sajuna's hand in the other.
The candy coating on the candied apple Sajuna was holding gradually disappeared as they took turns eating it. Sajuna took a small bite of the apple inside, then offered it to Akira's mouth.
"It's not as bad as I thought."
Akira lowered his head, took a bite from where Sajuna had bitten, and nodded in agreement.
The two of them strolled around the fireworks display, and lively music gradually began to fill the scene, as if providing a fitting background for their date.
"We're done with air gun shooting, what should we play next?" Sajuna mused, biting her apple.
"How about we go for goldfish scooping? It's been a while, but I remember I was quite good at it," Akira replied, a nostalgic look on his face.
"Okay."
So, Sajuna pulled Akira along to find a goldfish scooping stall. After arriving at the stall, Sajuna crouched in front of the basin filled with goldfish and murmured, "I really want to take them all home."
"Then Sajuna should use her skills to take them home."
Akira stroked Sajuna's hair. Her hair, styled up, felt different from usual, making Akira pause for a moment. Sajuna, however, looked normal, still gazing at the goldfish in the basin.
Akira called over the stall owner, and after paying him 600 yen, both of them received a scooping net.
"Should I demonstrate for Sajuna?" Akira asked, seeing Sajuna eager to try.
"Yes, Aki-Kun, please demonstrate first."
Akira nodded, brought the bowl for holding goldfish close to the water, then rolled up the sleeve of his yukata. He then slanted the scooping net into the water, explaining the techniques for scooping goldfish as he did so.
"First, remember to place the bowl for the goldfish nearby, ready to catch the fish immediately. Otherwise, after scooping it out, the fish might struggle in the air and tear the net. Then, when putting the net into the water, remember to keep the paper side facing up. When slanting it into the water, make sure the water covers the entire net. Otherwise, the boundary between the wet and dry parts will be very fragile and more likely to break."
"Also, paper nets are usually made of glutinous rice paper, which breaks easily when wet. Besides being careful that the paper net doesn't break from the fish's weight, we also need to avoid leaving the paper net in the water for too long. This requires us to seize the moment and be quick, otherwise, it's very easy to fail."
As Akira spoke, he swiftly scooped a goldfish from the basin and quickly placed it into the bowl.
"Aki-Kun is amazing!" Sajuna clapped her hands, holding her scooping net, then rolled up her own sleeves, ready to try it herself.
"You have to put the whole thing in at an angle, and then be quick..." Sajuna mumbled, then reached out and scooped out a goldfish. But before she could put it into her bowl, the goldfish struggled a few times, tore through the paper net, and returned to the basin.
"What a pity, just a little more..." Sajuna's face was full of regret as she looked at the scooping net in her hand, "If only the net were a bit sturdier..."
"Sajuna's technique was perfectly fine just now, that fish was just too strong," Akira said, comforting her as he stroked her hair, then asked the owner for another scooping net.
"Try again."
Akira handed over the scooping net. Sajuna took it, gathered her courage again, placed the net into the water, then seized the moment and scooped out a goldfish.
Suddenly, there was another red goldfish in the bowl. The two goldfish slowly swam in the narrow bowl, occasionally touching each other.
"Does Sajuna want to continue?" Akira asked.
"No need, there are exactly two fish in the bowl, just like Sajuna and Aki-Kun, it's perfect with just two people."
Sajuna held the bowl with the goldfish, then returned the broken scooping net to the owner. The owner, smiling, put the goldfish Akira and she had caught into a bag and also gave them a small bag of fish food.
Not long after the two walked away with the bag, Sajuna ran to the takoyaki stall and queued with Akira, occasionally teasing the little goldfish in the bag Akira was carrying.
It seemed the little goldfish inside were more interesting than her boyfriend, making Akira almost jealous.
But Sajuna was really enjoying the fireworks display tonight.
It was really great that Sajuna could be so happy...
After queuing for a while, Sajuna successfully bought a box of takoyaki. Opening the lid of the takoyaki box, each takoyaki inside was steaming hot, with toothpicks inserted for easy picking up.
"Aki-Kun, eat."
Sajuna took one from the box and offered it to Akira's mouth, gesturing for him to open it.
Akira opened his mouth and took a bite from the takoyaki, and the juice encased within flowed into his mouth through the opening. He then ate the takoyaki, gently chewing the springy meat and the chewy meat paste inside.
"It's delicious, Sajuna, you should try it too." Akira freed a hand to stroke Sajuna's hair, "Actually, you don't have to let me try it first, Sajuna can eat it whenever she wants."
"But I just wanted Aki-Kun to eat first, you know."
Sajuna said as if it didn't matter, picked up a takoyaki, brought it to her mouth, took a small bite, and slowly savored the taste of the takoyaki.
"Besides, I feel like food that Aki-Kun has tasted is even more delicious."
"That's definitely just psychological..." Akira complained helplessly.
Tonight, Sajuna seemed to have something on her mind; even her interactions with him were much less...
The night sky slowly began to darken, stars twinkled, dotting the night sky, painting a Milky Way across the dark curtain. Akira looked at the scene and noticed the crowd starting to move. He checked his watch and then understood.
The main event of the fireworks display—the fireworks—was about to begin.
Akira took Sajuna's hand, intending to follow the crowd to the beach, but Sajuna stood still, looking down.
"What's wrong, Sajuna?" Akira looked around, then lowered his head and asked.
"It's time to watch the fireworks. Does Sajuna not want to go with me to watch the fireworks?"
"Mom prepared a place for us to watch the fireworks," Sajuna whispered, her voice so soft that Akira didn't hear clearly, only vaguely catching the words "Mom" and "fireworks."
Could she be waiting for Sajuna's mother?
Didn't she say this was their date?
As Akira was thinking this, Sajuna extended her arm, took Akira's hand, and walked against the flow of people.
Akira felt that the girl in front of him was unexpectedly decisive, as if she had made some huge decision, and walked forward with her head down.