It was the of day of the festival, and Kiyotaka found himself at the grounds where the festival was to be conducted in a few hours. It was currently half past noon. All around, shopkeepers were setting up food stalls and game(?) stalls.
I need to check out what the deal is with these 'game stalls' along with Kei.
It was pretty loud with people shouting and some were even fighting with their neighboring stalls for space. What made matters worse was that it was an unusually hot day which a lot of people were complaining about but, that just meant it would cooler at night. In the words of his boss Tsugumi Ai,
"Now it might seem like noise but as night approaches, it turns into the background music of a slice-of-life anime."
He understood what she was trying but unfortunately, he hadn't an inkling of knowledge in the accursed form of digital entertainment known as anime. Ishizaki had once tried to get him to watch an anime with him but he had declined the offer saying he was too busy.
I remember that 'Bocu no Pico' was the name of the anime. Well, I can always see it later with Kei.
He was helping Ai with her stall, who he started working part-time under. She bubbly woman who had completed her university and had a degree in culinary arts.
She had recently opened a small Japanese confectionary cafe near his apartment and upon seeing his 'average' cooking skills she was happy to have him onboard. They worked from 7 to half-past-ten p.m everyday catering towards late night corporate officer workers.
Tsugumi Ai was probably in her late twenties and told him that she wanted to open up a restaurant in Chiba in the future. She was building up seed money for it with this gig. Personally, Kiyotaka respected her a lot. She had a clear goal and had drawn up a plan to reach it. He could relate to her. She even looked a lot like him. They had the same height, same brown hair and similar facial features except for the eyes. People often mistook them for siblings.
Her reasoning for letting him call her by her give name was to promote equality in the workplace and she didn't want to be called 'boss' as it made her feel old. He could not for the life of him understand why calling her 'boss', made her feel old.
After bringing all the ingredients they had sat together and prepared last night, they sat down together in the stall and had their lunches. A while later, Ai paid the extra money for helping him set up the stall. They made sure the contents of the tent were safe and bid each other goodbye. Ai-san would come again half an hour before the festival starts with the lanterns they had bought yesterday and set up the stall.
"I'll be making a truckload of money of money tonight, look out for some new decorations in the shop later!", she exclaimed waving her hand as she left.
Kiyotaka just put on a smile and gave her a thumbs-up watching her as she left his sight. He immediately turned around and started walking. After a few minutes, he arrived at the place where he saw number of people working .
Well, my plan lies on the fact that businessmen are scum. Safe to say, this plan won't be failing.
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"Your hair is getting pretty long, you should get a haircut one of these days.", Kei said.
True, he hadn't gotten it cut for three months, and now it was almost as long as Ryuuen's had been before he had cut it at the end of their second year. His bore an eerie resemblance to his father's hairstyle as he had pushed his hair back and let it grow in that fashion making it look like a waterfall to anyone looking him from behind.
He nodded. They were walking back from his apartment to Kei's house. Her face had recently just returned to normal color.
"Wow Kiyo, you live all alone in such a big apartment."
"You can come live with me you know. I'm sure your mom- sorry our mom won't mind."
Critical.
"Pah! W-what!"
He smiled remembering how long she couldn't look at him and how she sat on the sofa fidgeting as if she was afraid to fully immerse herself in its softness before she couldn't come out of it again.
"You're smiling a lot these days Kiyotaka.", Kei said smiling at him as they continued to walk to her house.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about the festival", he said not telling her the truth because he didn't want mom to see a red Kei and start her teasing again. They arrived at the house and Kei rang the doorbell.
"Yeah, while we are on the topic of the festival-", she opened the door and yelled " Surprise!", along with the rest of her family members who were standing at the doorway. Upon seeing his unperturbed face they started laughing.
They were holding a black kimono with a grey sash. They had probably bought it for him.
"It's your first kimono!", Kei said. Damn, she knows how to get information out of me without me even realising her actual intention. Then again she is my girlfriend after all, I can't complain.
"Yo pops."
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His mom was tying his sash for him after he had asked for her help. He couldn't tie it even after seeing the people at the festival this noon wearing them. He had quickly found out once again that Japanese culture was once again not his strong suit.
Once his mom, finished tying the sash he went back upstairs to the guest room to take it off again and retie it. After he successfully tied it, he opened the door and went into the hallway and saw Kei coming out of her room and they both looked at each other.
She was wearing a blue kimono with more intricate design as expected of kimono's for females. Her ponytail was tied up not with her scrunchie but what looked an ornament with an intricate arrangement of acrylic flowers on a ribbon which he recognised as the birthday present he had given her a few weeks ago at school. He smiled at her, and said that she looked cute.
She did not even turn the slightest bit red and he was shocked at this turn in character of his girlfriend. She was still scanning him from top to bottom. She now had a frown on her face.
Ehh? I thought I tied it properly.
She suddenly came forwards, grabbed his hand and pushed him into her room and closed the door behind her.
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By the time she was done with him, he didn't care how he looked. The only thing he thought was,
Her thin fingers moving through my hair felt nice.
He looked at himself in the mirror. Kei had taken all the hair that was on the top, back and sides, tying it neatly into a bun and swept the hair on the front to the side. He had to admit it looked nice.
He stood and kept on his hand on her cheek and said, "Thanks Kei, you look beautiful as always." and kissed her. When he withdrew, he saw that her prideful smile which was admiring her handiwork was now replaced by a blushing smile as she said, "Of course, it's my duty to make sure you look good."
She still hasn't gone completely speechless. Wow, she might be developing some sort of immunity towards my teasing.
"Ah, my wife knows best as always. Thank you darling."
She immediately turned the bright red shade which he was familiar with. Now she can't speak and will start-
"Ow.", he said in a bored voice as it enraged her even more as she hit his arm with her balled fists with a little more force.
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Author's Note:
Yo.
All I'm gonna say is this festival arc is gonna be interesting. The plot wheel gonna start rolling.
Thanks to everyone for the support. Motivates me a lot to write more chapters.
I can't release a chapter tomorrow coz I have an exam. So as a sorry take this.
Oh yeah Manbun Kiyo btw.
Peace.