HALCYON [Minamoto Teru]

49

"YOU'RE WEARING ... A YUKATA?" The sudden question caused the pair to turn around simultaneously. The witch eyed the male beside her up and down and didn't see anything peculiar about it, nor did Teru who blinked a few times. "It's a festival, of course I am. Where's yours?" The blonde pointed at Akane's plain t-shirt and jeans. He did stick out quite a bit.

Nora took off the kitsune mask on the side of her head and put it on Akane instead, nodding in satisfaction. "I didn't think we'd be needing to wear one?"

She had a long hum. "I suppose it is unusual for him to see you in these kinds of clothes. You stopped wearing your yukata during exorcisms." Nora noted as he let out a small 'ah' of realization. Akane didn't know how big of a name the Minamoto family was. Traditionally, it was known that they were exorcists, but that kind of knowledge wasn't passed on to the current generation. It was more of a dead legacy.

"Truthfully, Teru and I have an errand to attend to, so we won't be at the festival for long." Nora sounded a bit bitter, but he must've been imagining it.

"What kind of errand?" The Vice-President pressed on.

They looked at one another and shrugged. "The burdensome kind. Don't worry about it—unless you're really starting to care about me!" Teru beamed as Akane's expression immediately turned sour and he adamantly shook his head. Nora sighed and began to tug on his sleeve. "I promised Nora we would go play shateki." The Vice President didn't get to say much before Teru pulled along the witch, cutting the boy's further questions.

As of late .. they'd been stuck to each other more than ever, going out, leaving school early instead of staying as late as they used to ..

They seemed a bit more at ease.

"You didn't have to lie you know." She shot him a dirty glance as he beamed innocently. Although the fact was that Nora did want to experience a festival, Teru was the one who wanted to go and pleaded with her, leaving bribes in her locker with candy and other sweets that she couldn't help but fall for. The witch wasn't particularly sure why he lied about her wanting to play shateki when it really was him.

"I'm just putting your feelings out there so other people can see it too!"

"Let me try too, ready? Teru Minamoto is a perver—"

His hand was slapped over her mouth as she began to giggle lightly in amusement. "Now now, let's not antagonize my character .." Teru mumbled, looking around to see if anyone had heard, thankfully, no one seemed to be paying attention to them, surprisingly. But then again, this wasn't their school festival, it was the temple festival.

"One way or another .. we'll see if we have character by the end of today." Nora reached for his fingertips. They recognized happiness and it reached out for them in the same way love naturally attached to them. "Do we need something like that?"