Nate walked down to the festival at Mount Wildwood with Katie, who was wearing a light blue kimono with ligt pink sakura petals on the sleeves, and their Yo-kai friends. They were very excited since Terror Time couldn't activate due to a lot of children being allowed to attend the festival that night and being allowed to head back late. Of course, even before they learned that Terror Time existed, they always enjoyed the festival. In all honesty, they needed a break from the Yo-kai hi-jinx and the festival was the best place to do so.
"It's been years since I've been to a festival! They used to be quite common before I was sealed away and I went to a lot of them."
The group could see Whisper's eyes sparkling as he gushed about how he couldn't wait to attend his first festival in almost two hundred years.
It's quite sad really. I should be happy for him, but it really hurts to knyow that he missed out on a lot during his imprisonment. I want to make this special for him so that he'll nyever forget it, but how?
*****
When they got to the bottom of Mount Wildwood, Nate and Katie gave the Yo-kai some money so that they could enjoy the festival as well. They did have a lot of money from what they have been doing for the past couple days, so they could afford to spare some cash.
"Have fun, you guys, but try not to cause too much trouble. Okay?"
"Don't worry, Nate. It should be a small festival. There's not much we could do to cause any trouble up there."
The minute they entered the festival, Whisper's eyes lit up and he flew to the nearest stall, which was selling goldfish.
Wow, Whisper is acting like a kid in a candy store right now.
Of course, one could hardly blame him. If they had spent almost two centuries in isolation, they would've acted the same way.
"We'll meet near the shrine, okay?"
The Yo-kai nodded and the group went their separate ways, the Koma Brothers going to an ice cream stall, Nate and Katie going to wait for their other friends near the shrine, and Jibanyan going over to Whisper.
"You're very exicited, Whisper."
Whisper nodded as he floated down and looked around.
"It's great to know that festivals haven't lost their touch over the years."
Jibanyan offered his paw and asked,
"Do you want to walk with me?"
Whisper took his paw, not noticing the blush on Jibanyan's face as they walked around from stall to stall, sampling the food, buying a Candy Apple and a Shaved Ice for themselves, and listening to idle chit-chat from the humans and the occasional Yo-kai outside of the ones they've befriended. Something that caught Jibanyan's attention was the mention of a firework display happening later that evening.
I think it's considered romantic if you confess under some fireworks. At least, that's what I heard Amy say or did I hear it somewhere else? Gah! Curse my memory loss!
"Jibanyan? Are you okay?"
Jibanyan looked at Whisper, who was giving him a concerned look and nodded.
"I'm fine, nya."
What if he laughs at me for having a crush on him?
Jibanyan looked at Whisper, who was unaware of the longing gaze Jibanyan was giving him.
"Hey, Whisper?"
"Hmm?"
Jibanyan mentally prepared himself for the worse.
"I...umm..."
Jibanyan blushed as he looked at the ground and mumbled,
"I have a crush on you, Whisper."
"Why?"
Jibanyan hadn't expected Whisper to look confused.
"Why? You're the first Yo-kai that didn't make fun of my goals, you were willing to fight Roughraff for my picture of Amy, and you're helping Nyate and Katie understand us Yo-kai. What I'm saying is, I love you for your kindness, Whisper."
Whisper blushed, clearly not expecting a Yo-kai he had met a few days ago to be crushing on him.
"Well, this is a surprise. I mean...we've only known each other for a few days. Also, I didn't exactly fight Roughraff. I was just so mad at that fact that someone could stoop so low to steal a prized possession that I wasn't exactly thinking straight."
"I kynow...but I love you anyway. Y-you're not going to laugh at me, are you?"
Whisper shook his head.
"No, Jibby. To be honest, I find you very cute and I love your determination. It's just I have trouble telling the difference between romantic feelings and plantonic, or friendship, feelings."
Whisper seemed embarrassed to admit that, but Jibanyan was relieved that Whisper wouldn't make fun of him.
"Sooo...if I were to kiss you, how would you react?"
Before Whisper could answer, he heard something going on near where Nate and Katie were and went to investigate. Jibanyan could only sigh as he followed Whisper, annoyed at his unanswered question that would be most likely answered much later than he hoped for.
*****
"So, did you guys hear about the latest school mystery?"
"Is this a new 'Seven School Mysteries' thing, Bear? I swear, we never have a consistent mystery there, let alone seven of them."
"Maybe it will be...I'm not sure yet, but I heard that a teacher heard a child-like voice when they were working late one night. It supposedly said, "Wanna play?", but the teacher didn't find anyone after searching the school. Rumor has it that the voice is still there and that you can only hear it if you're near or in the school at night."
"Creepy..."
Nate and Katie had been talking to Bear and Eddie about their summer so far, leaving out the Yo-kai related stuff, of course, when Bear brought up a story that had been going around recently.
"Well, to be fair, it was kinda late and when people are tired, they do tend to hear things that could be written up as their imagination."
Nate and Katie were hoping that Eddie's explanation was enough to convince Bear because after being friends for so long with him, they could tell that he wanted to see if the rumors were true and after what they had been through, they really just wanted to relax.
"You guys know that the fireworks will be starting later this evening? I was thinking that we need a better view and what's a better view than the top of the school? I even have some ramune soda for us to drink while we're up there! What do you guys say to that?"
Eddie eagarly agreed as Nate and Katie shared a worried look.
Oh no...not another attempt to sneak into a building ! We just did that last night and I doubt there's a Mirapo active at the school right now!
"Bear, we can't even get into the school this late."
"Ah, that's no problem. The side door is unlocked right now. They've been having trouble with the lock recently, so it's pretty much fair game."
Before Nate or Katie could bring up the possibly of someone else breaking into the school, they watched the dark blue kimono and green kimono of Bear and Eddie leaving as they chuckled about how much of a good time they were going to have.
"Isn't there Yo-kai at the school?"
"Yeah...and?"
"They're going to get inspirited in some way."
"So we should go after them?"
"Just to keep them from getting into too much trouble. Besides, it's kinda hard to resist rooftop fireworks and ramune soda."
Nate just sighed as he knew Katie was right.
"Alright, but we're getting ramune soda for the Yo-kai. I doubt Bear considered the possibly of there being more than just the four of us on the roof tonight."
*****
After getting the Yo-kai rounded up and getting some extra ramune soda, they proceeded to head down to Springdale Elementary.
"Why did you two agree to this?"
"We have to keep our friends that can't see Yo-kai out of trouble with them or at least make sure that they're okay."
"I wonder if Eddie told Bear about our little adventure last night?"
"I hope not...unless Eddie is still looking for proof of the supernatural and he decided that this was the perfect opportunity to investigate a supposed haunting again."
"It just occured to me that Whisper never said that we couldn't tell anyone about the Yo-kai Watch and what it does. Why don't we just show them?"
"Umm...there's actually a reason that you two were chosen."
Nate and Katie turned to Whisper.
"Oh? What's that?"
Whisper rubbed the back of his head and said,
"Firstly, before I was released, I had a dream where someone came to me with the Yo-kai Watches I gave you and told me that I was to give the Yo-kai Watch to whoever released me. I can only assume they gave me both models because they weren't sure who would release me. Secondly...you two didn't scream and run away like a normal person would upon seeing a singing capsule machine and releasing a Yo-kai from a capsule from said singing capsule machine."
"We did try to sneak away though..."
"Yes, but that was after you released me, not before. Plus, as I'll repeat, you two didn't run away screaming, which usually means that you can handle having the knowledge that Yo-kai exist. Of course, I did give you a choice on whether or not you wanted to be able to see other Yo-kai, so it's not like I forced you into it."
Whisper does make a good point. We did accept the Yo-kai Watches, even though we easily could've said 'no' and returned to our regular lives, but we didn't. Plus, despite the fact that it's only been a few days so far, we did get a more exciting summer out of it and we're making connections to a world we didn't even know existed.
"But what does have to do with why we can't show our friends the truth?"
"If word got out that there were a group of kids and possibly adults that could see invisible creatures and that most of the said invisible creatures affected humans in so many ways before the bridge between us can be gapped, there would be chaos. You would be separated from your families and friends for various reasons, there would be ongoing debates in both realms about whether or not humans and Yo-kai can coexist together, flase accusasions will rise, war might happen between the two realms, and many things I don't want to bring up."
"Whisper, have you been doing late-night research on the internet recently?"
"Maybe, but I'm just saying that before you go around revealing that you can see and communicate with Yo-kai, you should see if whoever you want to tell would be willing to keep a massive secret like this until either they die, they find someone else that can keep a secret or is connected to Yo-kai as well, or the gap between humans and Yo-kai is bridged and we can all be friends with no fear."
Once again, Whisper had brought up a good point. A very lengthy one, but still a good point.
Maybe when we're all older and a little more mature to handle things like this, we can tell Bear and Eddie the truth unless they do something that convinces us not to tell them. It's a long road, but we can handle it. And if they don't believe us, even with proof, we'll just ask Wazzat to erase their memories of us telling them.
As they passed a tree near the road to the school, they heard a rustle in the trees and they looked up to see a familiar Kyubi with glasses and a white coat.
"Hey, Mr. Barton. What's up?"
"I overheard your friends saying something about investigating the mysterious voice in the school. I came here to warn you that I have investigated the voice and I believe that's actually a Yo-kai, but sadly, I'm unable to communicate with it. For some reason, it doesn't want to talk to me."
He tossed down a set of keys to the group and they quickly pocketed them.
"These keys will help you get around the school, just don't tell your friends where you got them from."
"Mr. Barton? Is the lock on the side door really broken?"
"Nah, I was going to ask you two if you could help me with the mysterious voice, so I made it look like it was broken. Unfortunately, it appears that I unintentally made an invitation for people to sneak into the school at night for many reasons."
"So, do we just leave the keys or give them back to you when we're done?"
Mr. Barton thought it over and said,
"If you can find the cause of the mysterious voice, I'll give you free range of the school at night, meaning all the doors will be unlocked."
Nate and Katie shrugged. They weren't sure when they would need to ever come back to the school at night, but hey. If they could at least keep their friends out of trouble, it would be worth it.
"Okay."
"Oh, a few more things before I leave. One, your friends are right. The rooftop is an excellent place to watch the fireworks. Two, be careful. There are Yo-kai that hate humans and Yo-kai being together and they have heard of some kids that are connected to Yo-kai, but thankfully, they don't know who you are specifically. Three, Lucas has been following you and I have to go now. Good luck!"
Mr. Barton disappeared, so the group turned around and sure enough, Lucas, dressed in a red kimono with yellow cuffs, had been a few feet away from them. They had no clue want to say or do as Lucas walked closer to them.