Novelty November 2020

Day 29: Kiss

It was getting colder with every passing day and standing in line right in front of the river to get on a wooden ship wasn't gonna help, at least that I was Kuro was thinking. He was hugging himself and mumbled some grumpy complaints, since he always hated being out in the cold. But Hibiki was simply laughing it off and tried to cheer him up.
"Come on, Kuro, I promise you won't regret coming here with me! Have I ever let you down with my promises?" 
"No, you haven't. I'm just trying to figure out why your plans always have to be in the cold." Kuro sighed as he rolled his eyes. Hibiki chuckled lightly and patted him on his back a few times.

The security calling out the name of the two grasped their attention and they hurried over to finally get on board. With another couple joining as well, the max amount of people allowed on board was reached and they were ready to get sailing. The pair decided to get inside the big hall first to warm up and get some food. It was the only hall on board and served as a restaurant, so they ordered something and started to get comfortable for a while.

"So, what is this all about actually? It's a festival right?" Kuro asked while rubbing his hands together to warm them up again.
"Well, I guess you can call it that way. It's more of a monthly ritual the people decided to do to keep the hopes of the people up during the hard times."
"A ritual? How so?"
"First of all, it's not something created by the people's hands like the Azure Rose Festival. It's a natural phenomenon that blessed the people, so they decided to make use of it." Their food and hot drinks finally arrived and they started munching on it as long as it's still warm. While the heat of the room finally started to wrap around them with the food and drinks as well, Kuro decided to ask some more, to get to know the story better.

"So there's more story behind this?" Hibiki put his cup down after taking a sip from his hot tea and nodded.
"A really long time ago, an angel from Tenkari was fighting on earth to protect the people from the demons. It was a hard battle and the angel emerged victorious, but he was severely wounded. The people brought him to this river to cleanse his wounds, but his death was inevitable. Thankful for the people's efforts, the angel cast a last protective spell with his blood in this river. As long as the lights keep emerging from the water, we know the blessings are still there, protecting us and giving us hope."
"The lights? What-." Their conversation was cut off by an announcement through the ship's speakers. The people were made aware of the fact that the night was coming closer and that they can step outside any minute now. Hibiki smiled and stood up, reaching a hand towards Kuro to tell him that he should follow.
"Let me show you."

Along with many other people, the two stepped out on the deck and stood in front of the rail. The cold outside was striking again and Kuro looked at Hibiki with a curious face, to which he simply smiled and nodded. The sky and surroundings were darkening with the night closing in and soon everything was covered in a dark blanket. Just seconds after, Kuro spotted some light emerging from the direction of the water and looked down. He saw small spots of light forming in it and starting to float up into the air like small balls of light. Millions of small balls of light started flowing up, some of them merging together to even bigger balls as they collided with each other.

Kuro was blinded by the delightful sight and tried reaching out for them, but Hibiki didn't see any of it, as his gaze was stuck on Kuro, who had the biggest smile on his face that Hibiki had ever seen. A big ball of light started floating in their direction and as it flew in between the pair, Kuro touched it, making it burst like a bubble, but instead of disappearing, it spread into smaller balls of light, covering the two in a light sphere. 

"Among the lights of hope. That's what the people call it." Kuro's attention was caught by Hibiki's sudden words and his eyes lit up with the light floating around them, as he felt a kind of excitement he never felt before.
"Hibiki, this is beautiful! Thank you for bringing me here."
He got closer and struck Hibiki by surprise when he hugged him so suddenly, but Hibiki gladly put his arms around Kuro as well.
"There's no way I wouldn't share my favorite festival with you! And I felt like I should save it for a special day."
Kuro let go of Hibiki and tilted his head as he looked up at him in a confused stare.
"And what makes today special?"
"It's not about the day. It's about you and it seemed like you could use a shimmer of hope again."

Kuro blushed as small tears started rising up in his eyes.
"There you go, being all sweet again."
"I just want us to have a future full of hope and happiness together!"
"And it seems like you made the first successful step." 
The two looked at each other with wide smiles as they were covered in small lights again and sealed their wish for the future with a gentle kiss.