Mirai stared at the mirror in her room for a while now. She's wearing a dark blue kimono with pink and red floral designs. Her hair was tied up into a bun and a chrysanthemum flower ornament was pinned on the left side of her hair.
She let out a sigh and turned to take her purse to the bed. She made her way out of her room and knocked on her brother's bedroom.
"Kae, we need to go," Mirai called and in just a few seconds, Kaede came out of his room with just a white shirt and his Shohoku pants.
"Why do we even dress up with these kinds of things?"
Mirai thought to herself. Most of the girls like her wore a kimono during the festival but the guys can just wear simple attire and that was it.
"Hisashi in a yukata..."
Kaede looked at his sister in confusion, raising an eyebrow, "Nee-san?"
"What?" the girl snapped back to reality, blushing slightly at her thoughts, "R-Right! Let's go!"
The young male didn't say anything as he just followed his sister downstairs and bid goodbye to their parents.
The two walked to the shrine in silence. They were going to meet the rest of the basketball team there.
Mirai was quite surprised that her brother was going without her forcing him. He doesn't like to go to these kinds of things where there are a lot of people.
"Why did you agree to go, Kae?" she questioned as they were almost approaching the shrine. They can see the lights from afar and can hear the buzzing of people.
The male glanced at his sister and made a gesture as if he was scooping something. Mirai immediately understood and sweatdropped at the fact that he agreed to go just to play a game. It's where you need to catch a fish with a net made of paper that could dissolve easily in the water.
"I see..." Mirai muttered.
The siblings heard Ayako's voice calling for them and they looked at her direction. She was dressed in kimono just like Mirai. She's already with Akagai, Haruko, Kogure, and the second years aside from Miyagi.
Mirai smiled as she and her brother finally reached them. Ayako complimented her kimono and the older girl did the same. Haruko wasn't wearing a kimono and was just sporting casual outdoor clothes.
She already went to the festival with Sakuragi and her friends, based on what she told the girls earlier.
"Where're the others?" Mirai asked. Sakuragi and other first years aren't there yet, as well as Mitsui.
"They still have five minutes," Ayako replied, looking at her wristwatch, "We can wait."
Mirai hummed in agreement as they chatted for a while. One-by-one the others appeared and the last one they waited was Sakuragi and his friends who were arguing along the way.
However, Mitsui was still nowhere to be seen.
"We're going now," Akagi announced, "We can meet later beside the shrine for the fireworks."
"But Hisashi's not here yet," Mirai told them, "You guys can go, I'll wait for him."
"Then we can wait--"
Sakuragi and Rukawa were cut off as Miyagi and Ayako pulled them to leave, waving at their assistant coach.
Mirai blinked in confusion as they kept on hissing at each other and disappeared through the crowded people.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" Mitsui appeared after a minute, breathing heavily as if he ran on the way there.
"It's okay. The guys already went inside, though," Mirai told him.
"Oh, I see. Shall we go?" Mitsui smiled, offering his hand to the girl.
She smiled and nodded, accepting his hand and intertwining it with hers.
"Don't let go. I might lose you in the crowd," he reminded, earning a smile from the girl.
"Noted, sir."
Mitsui rolled his eyes but smiled as they approached a stand where they sell apple candies. He bought two for the both of them as they continued to stroll different booths.
As they walked, they saw Sakuragi and Kaede competitively catching fishes using the paper net. While Haruko and her two friends watched and cheer them on.
The couple stared at the incredelously and shook their heads as they continued on walking.
They stopped at a shooting booth, Mirai smirking at the male beside her, "If I win, buy me takoyaki."
Mitsui turned to her, smirking back, "You're on."
The booth attendee handed them a toy rifle. They each get to shoot their desired prize for three turns. If they shot it, they win.
Mitsui was determined to win a cat stuff toy while Mirai was aiming for a bunny toy.
However, the couple were both terrible at it and they didn't get anything for five rounds.
Mirai let out a disappointing sigh as they walked away from the booth.
"I can't believe we didn't get any," she muttered, linking her arm with Mitsui.
"We both sucked at it," he replied, "Though I was close on shooting down the teddy bear one."
"No, you weren't," the girl scoffed, shaking her head.
"I was! You saw it!"
"No, I shot it before you tried to shoot it that's why it moved a bit!"
"I was still the last one who shot it," Mitsui shrugged, trying to end their small argument.
Mirai narrowed her eyes at him and let out a sigh, "Whatever you say. I'm hungry."
"Let's try the yakisoba there," the male pointed at the stand not far from them.
"Ooh, I'd love that!"
The couple bought the noodles and decided to eat it while they were strolling around. Mitsui held the food since Mirai almost spilled it when some running kids bumped to her.
They went to sit down on a nearby park bench, a little away from the crowd.
Mirai let out a sigh, looking up at the bright stars in the dark sky.
"Does your feet hurt?" She turned to her boyfriend, meeting his concern gaze.
She smiled and looked down at her feet. Truthfully, her feet were aching a bit since they've been walking around for three hours straight.
"Not much," she replied, shaking her head, "And you?"
"I'm good," Mitsui smiled at her, gently holding her hand and placing it on his lap, "I'll go get something to drink."
"Okay," Mirai replied, nodding.
The raven-haired stood up and walked to a nearby booth that sells beverages while Mirai stared up at the sky once again, letting out a peaceful sigh.
It feels like it has been a long time since she had fun. She knew it was the same with Shohoku's team since they've been busy preparing with Inter-High. She was glad that Coach Anzai suggested that they should relax for a bit, at least just this day they would keep their minds off basketball.
"Here 'ya go," Mitsui said as he went back, sitting down beside her. He gave her a ramune soda as their drink.
Mirai gratefully smiled at him and opened the bottle, quickly taking a sip.
"Shouldn't we go meet the others for the fireworks? It's going to start soon," she suggested.
"Yeah, we probably should," Mitsui replied but the male didn't move from his seat as he drank his own drink.
"'Sashi?" Mirai called, tilting her head as she stared at him.
He turned to her and smiled as she waited for what he was about to say. However, the sounds of explosion made her look up in the sky; the fireworks already started.
"It's okay," Mitsui muttered but Mirai could still hear him despite with the loud noise, "They know we wouldn't meet them for the fireworks."
"Why?" she asked then turned to him.
Her eyes widened as she saw his gaze and smile. He was like staring at the most precious being in the world.
He was staring at her and Mirai couldn't utter a word.
"I love you," Mitsui said and held her hand.
"I love you, too," Mirai replied with a gentle smile, grasping his hand in hers.
The two slowly leaned into each other and shared a loving and gentle kiss under the fireworks.