"a-are you okay?" the boy asked through his teary yellow eyes. yashiro blinked before standing up. "i'm okay, how about you?" she asked softly, bringing the little boy's face up so she could see him.
there was something familiar about the young boy that yashiro couldn't place. she decided to forget that as she dried the little boy's tears. "can i ask you something?" yashiro asked.
"what's today's date?" she asked, once she noticed all of the booths were different from before. riku sniffled and pointed to a pole with a star festival. '1964?! that's the showa era!' yashiro thought.
"uhm... onee-san... a-are you lost?" the boy asked. "i-i can't find my sister s-so i'm gonna meet her at the bamboo tree. t-there's a lost children's center somewhere near there." he stuttered.
"w-we were gonna hang this up." the boy said, holding up a red tag, the last tag that yashiro had needed in order to make her wish.
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after scaring the poor boy, yashiro had calmed down to comfort him since he was crying. once he had calmed down, he had shyly bought food from a few of the booths to share with yashiro.
they sat down and talked for a little while as the boy began to eat. "are you here by yourself?" yashiro asked, tilting her head curiously. "n-no... i came with my sister and our friends." he said.
"but my sister left me with one of our friends but he left me for three hours." the boy started tearing up but quickly wiped it away with his light blue yukata. "my sister left with a boy she likes." he said.
"maybe those two will finally confess their feelings..." the boy said. this caught yashiro off guard as she remembered something that riku had told her a few days ago on the rooftop.
『 just waiting for those two to finally confess their feelings 』
"by the way, what's your name?" yashiro asked. "m-me?" the little boy stuttered. "i'm ren... mizuno ren..." he said. "r...riku-kun?!" yashiro exclaimed, her red eyes wide.
"n-no...? ren-kun." ren said his big yellow eyes showing confusion. "sorry! uhm... i'm yashiro nene." yashiro said. "can i call you ren-kun?" she asked and ren smiled softly before nodding.
after about fifteen minutes, ren had eaten all of the food he bought. "wow! you must've been hungry!" yashiro said. "a little bit..." ren said with a shy smile. "since i was left alone, i was scared to eat." he said.
"but since nene onee-san found me, i could eat." ren said with a grin. 'oh... he has rice on his cheek.' yashiro thought. she took a handkerchief from her bag and wiped the rice off ren's cheek.
