A Songbird's love

Chapter 9: Scissors

Remember the danger? Yeah, this is where it comes in.
The festival came in a blink of an eye, and literally everyone was there. All in traditional clothing. We were in ours too. Rin's yukata reached her ankles, while mine reached my knees. It would be easier to run in if needed. I hope I wouldn't be needed to run.
Len looked great too, his yukata was dark blue with orange flowers that matched Rin's. He had tied his hair in a low ponytail, saying he wanted to let loose a little today. His eyes reflected the colourful lights that were all over the school, making them shine rainbows. I realised I was staring and quickly looked away before he noticed, my face flushing. When did I start to notice this much about him?
Rin had gotten a platter of takoyaki and was munching it all down, halfway she asked me with her mouth full, "What do you want to do first, Miku?"
I looked around the game booths, trying to decide on one activity to start. We were supposed to try out every single activity the school had put up around the different levels, and fill up the point score that we were given. There were some booths that didn't add into the point score, like the food booths and the goldfish catching booth. The school even rented a claw machine with plushies inside. There was one I liked in particular, a small round corgi plushie that was just resting on top of the others. A hand gently removed mine from where it was plastered on the glass, Len looked at me with amusement, "Do you want it?" I had apparently wandered over to the claw machine without noticing.
"Uh..." I didn't know how to reply to Len's question. I did want it, but it wasn't necessary.
He gently pushed me a little to the side and slipped a coin into the machine. The claw machine came to life, and awaited instructions. Len maneuvered the joystick with ease, letting it hover over the corgi plush before pressing the red button on the machine. The claw lowered and grabbed the plushie, then slowly inched its way to the hole where it dropped the plush. Len bent down to grab the plush before giving it to me. I took it and gazed at him with wide eyes, mumbling, "You didn't need to."
He just smiled and said, "Of course I needed to. You wanted it. And don't even think about paying me back, it's a gift from me to you."

"Oh, Len! There you are!" A voice we both dreaded broke through that small moment we were having. We all turned to see Neru coming towards us in her (what I assume new. I said I wasn't paying attention to what she was buying, didn't I?) yukata, the end of it dragging on the floor. Her teammates shuffled behind, walking slow so as to not step on her yukata and trip her. Actually, it would be nice of them to do so. What am I doing? Why am I so mean?
The look on Rin and Len's faces when they saw her was priceless. Identical too. I pretended to cough to cover up the laughter that threatened to burst out. That laughter disappeared when Neru flung herself at Len, if it wasn't because Rin was there to hold him up both of them would have fallen to the floor.
Neru didn't seem to notice that. She clung to his left arm and cooed, "You look amazing! We should totally ignore the teams thing and just hang out, you know just the two of us. I heard the school's going to let us play with fireworks too, we can do that together."
Rin pushed (yes, pushed) Neru off her brother's arm, and deadpanned, "Sorry, girl. He ain't yours."
Before Rin and Neru could start getting into a catfight, Len took my hand and called for his sister's attention, "Come on, Rin. Let's go fill out those activities they have on that paper."
He pulled me along to the first booth on the level with Rin skipping along beside him. As we left her behind again, I felt Neru's glare heating up my back.

We had completed most of the activities when Rin said, "Are you guys thirsty? I spy a beverage booth over there." She pointed in the direction of the booth in the corner. Why they would put a beverage booth in the corner? Don't ask me, I don't know. Len was still holding my hand, he hasn't let it go yet. Frankly speaking, I don't want him to. It felt nice. Wait, what's going on with my brain tonight?
I say down at a nearby bench to wait for Rin and Len while they went to get drinks. It was a pretty close distance so that I could go to them in a few steps if needed. I gazed around, not really focusing on anything. It was a long time since I had actually just enjoyed a festival and not be there for a mission. The last time I went to a summer festival was to gather information from different people and played the games just to blend in. It was nice to just sit back and relax for once.
My neck started to tingle, which made me alert. Was there danger nearby? I looked around, searching now. I heard clothes rustling nearby me, but I wasn't moving much to cause my clothes to move. I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to focus on my surroundings near me. Footsteps. There were footsteps behind me. Len and Rin were still at the drink stall, it couldn't be them. Something whoosed down. My eyes snapped open and leaped forward off the bench. The scissors landed right where I was lazing just a few seconds ago. Neru yanked the scissors out of the bench and sneered at me, "Well, aren't you quick?"
What did she want to do? Kill me? Here?
She charged at me, scissors raised up above her head. Well, apparently so.
I turned and squeezed through the crowd, trying not to knock into anyone on the way. I had to lead Neru away from Rin and Len, her swinging that scissors around could hurt them. She took the bait and came after me, attracting attention while doing so by pushing people out of the way. I led her to nearest stairwell, and waited for her to notice me. This school had a rooftop, it's where the twins and I would have our lunch on normal days. I'm going to make sure she follows me up there, so she doesn't harm anyone here. I would have to apologise to the twins later on for leaving them on their own again. I need to stop doing that, jeez.