Into Another World (The Lost Souls Trilogy)

-Nightingale-

"A-Anyway, I better go." Aoi bowed nervously. "Hajimemashite."

"Riku isn't even here," Akuyaku shrugs, his smile became wider.

"What... how did you-" Aoi stuttered out.

"Ah Aoi, try some of my unagi." Suddenly Japan appeared next to her, interrupting the conversation. Aoi jumped slightly, her fear of him still very much present.

"H-Hai..." Aoi nods, watching Akuyaku's eyes widen in fear. Akuyaku turns and walks away from them. Aoi then turns to Japan. Japan escorted Aoi to his stand, showing off his famous unagi.

"Arigato..." Aoi mumbles.

"Hm?" When Japan turned around to face Aoi, she was already gone. A gentle breeze blew the grass she was just standing on.

Alyona and Romeo were walking around the festival, mainly by the European booths.

"This is all kind of nostalgic to me," Alyona mumbled. She looked around at the different booths, taking in all the sights and cultures. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Romeo staring at her as he ate his cotton candy, courtesy of America who had a machine and started handing it out.

She looked over at him and he looked forward again. You could almost see a blush on his cheeks, or it was the colorful lighting. She smiled at him, giggling quietly. Alyona teasingly tore a piece off of his cotton candy, eating it.

Romeo gasped in surprise. "You know you can buy your own."

"But what's the fun in that? I've never had flavored cotton before!" Alyona laughs at him.

Riku appeared next to them, and said, "you guys sure are cheesy." It caused both Alyona and Romeo to jump in fear.

"Where did you come from? We've been looking for you!" Romeo asks.

"I've been helping Taiwan decorate her booth with flowers. What about you two?" Riku replied in a tired tone.

"Me and Aoi came here not too long ago, she's looking for you by the way. But me and Romeo are just wandering around." Alyona added into the conversation, then started texting Aoi.

Aoi hung around the back of China's booth, talking to him about the events with that Akuyaku kid. "And then he left with fear in the eyes," she told him.

"Interesting, I don't remember a micronation named Akuyaku. The only one I know that is Japanese is your friend Riku." China thought in a puzzled tone.

Aoi shrugged. "He is creepy."

"I'd be creeped out too, Lán sè," China sighed.

"But the not-Kuro scared him off? That I am confused about," Aoi added. Her phone suddenly begined buzzing. It was a text from Alyona, saying their location. "Anyway, xiexie... but now my sister need me."

"Okay, I better get back to doing my booth then, zaijian." China pats Aoi's head with the sleeve of his hanfu. They both turn away from each other and parted their own ways.

Aoi finds the three looking at Japan's booth, Riku talking to Japan, and Romeo and Alyona eating unagi for the first time. She stood next to Alyona, growing tired of only standing.

"There you are Aoi! Have you tried Japan's unagi?" Alyona beams.

Aoi shook her head, suddenly making eye contact with him. She broke the silence. "I'll try some."

Japan smiles, grabbing Aoi a plate of freshly made unagi and serves it to her. Aoi muttered thank you and shyly ate it. It made her mouth water for more. Slowly she ate the unagi, returning the plate to Japan.

For the rest of the day the four spent with each other at the festival, going from one booth to another booth to another booth. Night fell pretty quickly and China already arranged for the fireworks to go off soon.

Everyone was getting tired of walking. Alyona leads the other three to park tables and sat down.

"What do guys wanna do after this?" Romeo asked, fiddling with his sleeve.

"I still have school work to finish, so I got to go back to the orphanage after this," Riku replied.

"So do we," Alyona said, Aoi nods.

"That's too bad," Romeo sighs. "What about tomorrow? You guys coming here again or going back to school?"

Aoi shrugs. "Depends if Oto needs help with his booth or not tomorrow."

"I see," Romeo nods.

Before Riku or anyone else got another chance to speak, a loud boom filled the air, as a burst of beautiful colors spotted the night sky. The fireworks had begun. Aoi flinched with a small gasp, not knowing what was going on.

"I guess the fireworks went off early," Romeo stands up with a big grin wiped across his face. He took Alyona's hand and pulled her into the crowd of people. Soon after, Aoi and Riku stood up and followed them.

They were in an enormous crowd, watching the beautiful bursts of color in the sky. Each boom kept making Aoi jump, until she felt a tug on her sleeve. Riku's hand uncurled, offering itself to her.

She took it.