My Lie in October

Chapter 16

Just as Sakura's younger sister was tying up her kimono, a knock was heard. Her mother went to answer, which Sakura half regretted. She couldn't hear the muffled conversation until her sister finished typing it up and she walked to the door to get her shoes and go on a real date!

Approaching the door, she heard the conversation clearly enough to understand that her mom was saying how if Kousei wasn't her accompanist, Sakura probably would have to quit the competition for several categories. "I know it's a lot to take care of, so you really don't have to accompany her if you don't want to."

"No, ma'am, it's no trouble at all. If anything, it helps me become a better pianist."

Sakura walked into view. "And it helps me to be a better instrumentalist," she said.

Kousei couldn't say anything as her beauty struck him dumb. Her mom smiled gently and said, "You look beautiful, darling." Sakura blushed at the compliment, and the color strengthened even more when Kousei followed with, "Yes, definitely. Uh, very much so."

Sakura put her shoes on quickly then motioned for them to leave quickly. "Sorry mother, but i'm we're kind of running late." She gave her a quick farewell hug. "Bye!"

The two walked down the street a ways before they finally started conversation. "Sorry if my mom was a pain," said Sakura.

Kousei chuckled. "It was fine. It must be hard for her to keep up with all the instruments that you play. But I thought it would be harder on you, you know, since you're the one who plays all of them."

"She takes care of some of the money and the worrying when I come home late, and I take care of the other money and the immense amount of time." After a quick silence, Sakura continued, "But it's fine. She doesn't want anyone to come home late because of my music, which is what you're doing. She's really just complimenting you."

Kousei didn't know how to respond to that so he was just quiet. After a few minutes of walking, they got talking and laughing and conversing over random things on the way to the festival.

When they got there, Watari spotted them before they even started looking for the others. "Hey you two! About time you showed up!"

Kousei looked towards him, surprised that he was spotted so soon. Tsubaki was also wearing a kimono, but in a different color and style than Sakura. Watari, Akari, and Satoshi were all wearing normal clothes with Kousei a little more fancy. It seemed to be the perfect group to have a group date.

Watari quickly took charge. "Ok so I set up our spot over by the light post closest to the keychain booth. Feel free to roam around with your hot dates before the fireworks start in about a half hour."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Any remnant of Kousei and Sakura's conversation was gone with the warm wind. Everyone quickly dispersed, leaving Kousei and Sakura alone with the crowd.

So, uh, want to get something to eat? Or try to win a prize?" asked Kousei.

"Let's do both! But you decide what to do first."

"Um, let me see, let's do a prize booth first. Food will be there afterwards, even if we don't win anything."

"Sounds good!" said Sakura. "Even if I asked you to choose which prize booth, you would probably make me choose." Kousei made a face while Sakura looked around thinking. "There's some nice jewelry in that booth," she said, pointing. "I hope you're good at popping balloons."

"Well, I'll see what I can do."

Five minutes and a lot of tension later, Sakura walked away with a new pair of earrings that were themed like fireworks. Kousei helped her switch out her current ones for these. "They look really nice on you," he said.

Sakura blushed. "I forgot to mention how nice you look, too." There was a silence, then Sakura sighed loudly. "Well, food? Most of it comes on a stick, but that's to be expected."

Kousei was lost in his thoughts for a bit but finally snapped himself out of it. "Oh! Uh, sure. We could make a round about the area to get the food we want then find our place for the fireworks."

They talked the whole time, any romantic tension slightly dissolved. They collected all sorts of snacks and treats then made their way to the rest of the group right as the preshow fireworks began to go off.