After joking and playing around for a while, the group prepared to head to a good viewing spot before the fireworks began.
"Where are we going?" Ryuya asked.
"To the rooftop of a restaurant. Nino already reserved the entire rooftop," Yotsuba explained.
Ryuya fell silent for a moment, thinking that they were really willing to spend quite a bit just to watch fireworks comfortably.
"Wait a second. Since we're already at a festival, are we really going without buying that?" Nino suddenly reminded them.
The girls were all slightly stunned at first, but then immediately showed expressions of sudden realization.
"That's right! We haven't bought that yet!"
"You mean that?"
"Are there stalls selling that here?"
"I want to eat that already!!"
The girls all looked excited.
Watching their synchronized reactions, Ryuya raised an eyebrow slightly.
"So… what exactly is 'that'?"
Nino smiled faintly.
"Ready!"
Meaning they would answer together.
And the next second, the five sisters shouted their answers simultaneously.
"Candy apples!"
"Chocolate bananas!"
"Fried noodles!"
"Ningyo-yaki!"
"Shaved ice!"
Five people, five completely different answers.
Ryuya was left speechless for a moment before he muttered dryly,
"What happened to being perfectly in sync?"
"…"
The girls also looked a bit embarrassed, but quickly gave up worrying about it and turned around decisively.
"Let's just buy all of them!!"
Ryuya had no choice. The girls were clearly in full shopping mode now. Since he had accepted the job of accompanying them to the fireworks festival, he could only obediently follow along.
Today's mission was simply to act as their bodyguard.
"Ryuya, hurry up and keep up," Miku called out as she turned back.
"Coming."
He answered and quickly caught up, walking shoulder to shoulder with Miku.
"You're really enthusiastic about this. Fireworks happen every year, right?"
"Fireworks are connected to memories of our mother," Miku said softly. "Our mother loved watching fireworks, and she would bring us every year. Even though she's no longer here, we still come together every year."
Hearing that, Ryuya understood.
"Fireworks fade quickly, but feelings remain."
"Mm." Miku smiled slightly, a trace of nostalgia in her eyes. "For us, fireworks are that kind of thing."
At that moment, Ichika, who was walking at the front, suddenly took out her phone. After glancing at it, she showed an apologetic expression.
"Sorry, I need to take this call."
She squeezed through the noisy crowd and walked to a quieter corner to answer it.
Ryuya watched her speaking on the phone and pondered slightly.
Recently, Ichika seemed to receive calls quite often. She also seemed busy with something most of the time, though he didn't know exactly what she was doing.
But that was her personal matter, and it wasn't really his place to ask.
Just then, an announcement sounded over the speakers. It seemed the fireworks festival was about to officially begin.
Nino hurried to lead everyone toward the reserved restaurant.
But then she realized something.
In the surging crowd, the sisters had somehow gotten separated.
The moving crowd pushed Nino along, and the five sisters were all scattered apart by the flow of people.
Ryuya noticed this immediately.
However, he still knew where each of them was.
After all, distinguishing people by their aura was a trivial matter for a devil like him.
Ryuya pushed his way through the crowd until he reached Nino. Seeing her stumbling from being shoved around, he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Ryuya, where are the others?"
"They got separated by the crowd. It's too chaotic right now. I'll take you to the hotel first."
"Huh? How did things turn out like this…"
"Stop complaining. I'll go bring them over," Ryuya said softly, pulling Nino along by the wrist as they moved forward.
Held by Ryuya like that, Nino gradually quieted down, lowering her head as if lost in thought.
Soon, Ryuya brought Nino to the rooftop of the reserved hotel. The rooftop was completely empty.
"…Oh no. I just remembered that I'm the only one who knows the hotel's address," Nino said awkwardly. She immediately took out her phone to call the others, only to discover that the rooftop was outside the signal range.
"What the… how does a hotel rooftop not have any signal?" Nino complained in frustration.
"Alright, don't panic. The fireworks will last for an hour. Just wait here. I'll go find them and bring them over."
With that, Ryuya quickly headed downstairs, leaving Nino alone on the rooftop sighing quietly.
Before long, relying on his ability to sense their auras, Ryuya found two of the sisters: Yotsuba Nakano and Itsuki Nakano.
One of them had been distracted by the goldfish scooping stall, while the other had been tempted by food, which was how they accidentally got separated from everyone else.
After telling them the address of the hotel, Ryuya set off again by himself and soon found Miku.
He noticed that Miku's expression looked a little unnatural, and her steps were slightly limping.
"What happened?"
"…Someone accidentally stepped on my foot. It really hurts," Miku said somewhat pitifully.
Ryuya glanced down briefly. Thinking that Nino and the others might already be waiting, he said gently,
"Let me carry you."
"…Huh?"
"Didn't we say all five of you would watch the fireworks together?"
As he spoke, Ryuya crouched down slightly and lifted Miku onto his back.
Resting against Ryuya's back, Miku looked stunned for a moment before her face turned bright red with embarrassment.
It had happened so suddenly.
"A-Are we really going like this?" Miku had already begun worrying about whether she might be too heavy.
But her weight was practically nothing to Ryuya.
After all, Rias and Asia often sat on him while he did push-ups every day.
"I'll take you to the hotel to meet up with the others first. Miku, did you see Ichika anywhere?"
"No…" Miku shook her head. Lying on Ryuya's back, she murmured softly, "She's seemed a little strange lately."
"That's true."
"Ah… I think I once saw Ichika getting out of a car with a bearded older man…" Miku added.
Ryuya suddenly fell silent.
Getting out of a car with a bearded older man?
What kind of development was that supposed to be?
Pressing his lips together, Ryuya carried Miku to the hotel rooftop, where the four sisters were finally reunited.
Now only Ichika was missing.
Perhaps because Ryuya had been running around to find everyone, the girls felt a little apologetic, but they still thanked him earnestly.
"Sorry to trouble you. Please make sure to bring Ichika back."
Ryuya understood their feelings. For the quintuplets, they had always watched the fireworks together in the past. Of course they wouldn't want to miss it this time.
"Leave it to me."
Ryuya went downstairs and immediately headed toward the aura he had memorized earlier.
He couldn't completely distinguish the quintuplets' individual auras, but since he had already located the other three, by process of elimination the remaining one could only belong to Ichika.
Ryuya went straight toward the target location.
Soon he sensed a familiar presence and spotted Ichika's beautiful figure.
He stepped forward and reached out to tap her on the shoulder, but just as his hand was halfway there, someone suddenly rushed out from the side and blocked him.
"Who are you? Why are you approaching Ichika?"
The man asked cautiously.
Ryuya looked closely at his face.
…A bearded older man?
…
(End of Chapter)
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