The first stall Senpai and I chose to come to was a shateki or popgun shooting stall. Shateki is a popur Japanese festival game where pyers use toy rifles to shoot at prizes, often soft cork bullets, with the goal of knocking down their chosen prize to win it.

  “Yuuki-kun’s being quite confident for choosing shateki first.”

  “Of course, Haruka-senpai has set a precedent on how to properly py shateki, that’s why I don’t intend to lose.” I picked up and loaded a prop gun.

  “Is that a challenge Yuuki-kun?” Haruka-senpai raised an eyebrow.

  Shateki was a game Haruka-senpai was great at. I would say the reason she is so good at using her musket in Kyoryu-Online is due to how well she pys shateki. My goal right now is to win against her in her own game!

  “Yes but I do understand if Haruka-senpai is having cold feet right now”

  I’m definitely overestimating myself, but seeing Haruka-senpai’s competitive side is quite a treat to see.

  “Alright Yuuki-kun, I’ll bite, the first to successfully shoot three targets in a row wins, no distractions allowed!” Haruka-senpai confidently pced her hand on her chest.

  “What does the winner get then?”

  “Let’s see how about a freebie at one of the nearby food stalls?”

  “Deal.”

  Asking the owner of the stall for three rounds each, Haruka-senpai and I positioned ourselves and aimed our respective prop guns at the balloons we needed to shoot. Each of us had 3 rounds and 3 balloons to shoot, meaning we had one round for each balloon to win. As the first shots were fired, both Haruka-senpai and I managed to pop a balloon, I popped the middle balloon while she popped the left balloon. The second shots were fired, and we both popped the east balloon.

  “Not bad Yuuki-kun, we might end up with a tie.”

  I wasn’t pnning to lose to Senpai so I better make this st round count. As the st shots were fired however, I barely missed my west balloon while Haruka-senpai successfully popped her center balloon.

  “Aw that’s a bummer, well a deal’s a deal, shall we get snacks?”

  “Mhm, Let’s get some Caramel apples and Mochi!”

  Before we left, the shateki stall owner handed us our prizes. Haruka-senpai picked a pair of matching earrings, her earring had a sapphire gem while the one she gave me had a ruby gem. while I chose a Red-string hair accessory that I gave to her to use.

  Haruka-senpai and I headed over to a nearby dessert stall and looked through the many sweets pced in front of us including some Yokan, Caramel apples, Mochi, and Taiyaki.

  “What fvor of mochi do you want me to buy, Senpai?”

  “Let’s see, I would like to get the adzuki bean and Milk tea mochi. How about you Yuuki-kun?”

  “I'm probably gonna buy the matcha and kona coffee fvors. Wait right here, I'll go buy the mochi.”

  I ended up buying 2 servings of both our orders because they looked too good to pass up.

  “Eh- isn’t that too much mochi?”

  “Yeah, I couldn’t help myself, they looked too delicious.”

  “That’s understandable, and here I thought Yuuki-kun is trying to fatten me up for winter.”

  “Eh? N-no that’s not what this is about!” I blurted out and apologized quickly.

  “Hahaha, I was just kidding, but seriously, thank you for the Mochi!”

  “R-right…”

  The two of us continued wandering around the festival together when Haruka-senpai spotted someone nearby.

  “Yuuki-kun, look at that.” Haruka-senpai pointed at the choco-banana stall.

  “Hm?”

  Looking at the stall was Senko and Kana. Senko had a depressed look in his eyes, while Kana had a paper bag full of choco bananas.

  “Kana-chan really loves choco bananas huh?”

  “She does. Do you want to go talk to them?”

  “Nah, let’s keep enjoying the festival together for now, we can meet up with them ter!” Haruka-senpai gave a rather “innocent” smile.

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind greeting- woah!” Haruka-senpai quickly held my hand and ran towards the nearby stall.

  Ugh, what the heck just happened!? I feel like my entire body was about to melt into mush! I could also hear the cpping of my heartbeat by the second… Cm down, she just held your hand, that’s perfectly normal right?!

  “You okay Yuuki-kun? You seem… flushed out.”

  “It’s- it’s nothing, don't worry about it.”

  I can’t let her know that briefly holding hands had made my heart race fast. Ugh, this is so embarrassing! I need to calm down.

  “Eh? But Yuuki-kun’s cheeks are bright red.”

  “I’m just a bit winded from suddenly running, no worries alright?”

  “Oh Okay then, do you want to py more games at the nearby stalls then?”

  “Sure I don’t mind.”

  Did she know why I got… “flustered” ? Darn it, I’ll never live this down! I better keep the mood fun and exciting. Haruka-senpai and I continued wandering around the festival until we arrived at a Ring toss stall.

  “Haruka-senpai, do you wanna do the ring toss?”

  “Eh R-ring toss?” Haruka-senpai turned away a bit embarrassed,

  “Is something wrong?”

  “It- it’s just that I’m not that good at ring toss, I… I rather py shateki again to be honest” Haruka-senpai turned back with an awkward ugh.

  “You know if it makes you feel better, we don’t have to compete again, alright then, what prize do you want me to win for you?” I pointed at the stuffed toys hanging by the stall.

  “Prizes? I guess I would like to have the por bear one… It’s quite cute.”

  “Alright, I’ll win it for you then.”

  I paid the stall owner for 6 rings to raise my chances at winning the stuffed por bear. The first ring I threw nded right at the rod, the second missed barely, the third nded on the first ring. The fourth and fifth ring missed completely. And stly the final ring nded on the the two others thus winning me the stuffed por bear.

  “I think I gotta get better at throwing rings, anyway hope you like it.” I handed the stuffed por bear to Haruka-senpai.

  “He’s so cute! I should call him… Yuki-chan! Haruka-senpai happily accepted and hugged the overly sized stuffed toy.

  “Yuki-chan?”

  “Mhm, it’s to honor Yuuki-kun for gifting him to me!”

  Seeing her genuinely happy was relieving to see, it’s like all your troubles just wash away… Sh-should I just ask her out now? W-wait not yet, Damn it, what if she says no!? What now!? Ugh, screw this!!

  “Ah, Yuu-san, Sakura-senpai, You guys are finally here!” a familiar person came by.

  Hikari-san waved as she walked up to us. Hikari-san was wearing a bright pink Yukata and she had a starfish-esque hair accessory.

  “Hikari-chan, how have you been?” Haruka-senpai happily waved back.

  “I’m doing well! Kana-chan and I actually pnned to take many photos and buy many snacks for today, so when the fireworks show start everybody gets to eat a lot! Yuu-san and Sakura-senpai should join us! Kana-chan told me that she and her brother found a good spot to watch the fireworks show!

  “Really? That’s great, Yuuki-kun, let’s group up with Kana-chan and the others ter!” Haruka-senpai excitedly pumped herself up.

  “O–oh sure I don’t mind.”

  “Shall I send the coordinates in the shared group chat for ter just in case?” Hikari-san prepared her phone.

  “Mhm.” Haruka-senpai and I nodded in unison.

  “Okie dokie~ well anyway see ya guys ter, I wouldn’t wanna interrupt your date and all!” Hikari-san waved goodbye and ran pass by.

  “W-wait it’s not a date- she’s already gone.” Haruka-senpai tried to protest but Hikari-san was already far away.

  “I wonder why she keeps assuming that.”

  “I don’t know either.”

  I suddenly received a text on my phone, it was from Hikari-san. The text said she actually pnned a different spot with Senko, Kana, and the spot she sent is quite private, perfect for lovey dovey couples, And that she will send their spot ter on so we could group together since Senko asked Toda to get extra fireworks so everyone could have a private fireworks show!

  Hikari-san is truly such an angel.