REIKA-SAMA -296

The afternoon lectures finished and we quickly readied to leave to do the fireworks promised in the morning. Now, we have to go buy fireworks.

"Where do we get fireworks?"

"The convenience store won't have many, and they're expensive."
"Won't the home center or a super have some?"

"There's a large super market a short walk from here," I suggested.

"Then, let's try that."

We headed to the supermarket that I drop by on my way home to buy snacks occasionally. Fireworks! Fireworks!

I invited Tagaki-kun to come, but unfortunately, he turned me down saying, "I, I have a curfew!" So even boys have a curfew.

By the way, I don't have a stated curfew. For an ojou-sama, they're hands off with me since I was late with lessons often, and I independently went out often, so my parents had become tolerant. Also, the presence of a car to pick me up gives them some relief, probably. Thanks to that, I've been free to go places secretly from my parents. If I had a strict curfew, I wouldn't be able to have a fulfilling commoner life. Lucky, lucky.

"Over here." We split up to look in the store and found fireworks near the toy section.

"There's a variety here."

"Should we go ahead and buy them here?"

"Yeah."

"Let's start by buying a set and a few singles."

"Agreed."

We have a budget of a thousand yen a person. A reasonable figure for a high school student's allowance. We may be able to buy a fair amount, but it'll probably be over quickly. I might as well buy a lot since my allowance is huge, but they may see things differently as equals if I paid more, and if I did, that may change our relationship, so I can't carelessly offer.

But if we're going to do fireworks, I want to enjoy it to the fullest… Hmm… Hmm… Oh, I know! There's a secret way to use my assets! I pulled out my card from my wallet and showed it to everyone. "I have about 5000 yen in points that I've gained here. Let's use that for this!"

"Ahh!" they shouted.

"Wow. You saved that many!?"

"Not bad, Kisshouin-san.

"Hohoho." When shopping, I always went on 5x or 10x points day to gradually gather so many. Now, let's use these freely! With my points added to the war chest, we bought many fireworks.

We got on the train to the park that Kitazawa-kun led us to, and prepared for the fireworks.

"Somebody go fill the bucket with water."

"Where's the water?"

"I think it's over there."

"Then, go, Kitazawa-kun."

"Hey!"

While Kitazawa-kun went to get water, we opened the packages and readied the fire. There were other groups doing fireworks in the park and we could hear them having fun.

"What should we start with?"

"The sparklers are last."

"Why?"

"They just are," declared Sakaki-san. Her rules stated that. Well, I like them last, too, so I'm fine with that. With the bucket of water arriving, we lit the fireworks we chose.

"OH!" The flames lit the fireworks making a snapping sound. Pretty. Fire is easy to get transfixed on. I like fireworks like these that jets out the flames, but I also like the pretty ones where the sparks form the shape of a star or a flower. When a firework's about to go out, we get a new one, and we shift the flames.


I glance at the ground, and see something black wiggling on the ground. Moriyama-san saw it, too and raised an eyebrow. "Who bought a snake ball?"


"Oh, me." Konno-kun raised his hand. A snake ball is a pill shaped black ball, and it doesn't really light up when you light it on fire, but just stretches out with smoke, so I don't get what's so fun about it. But it doesn't disappear, so some fans must exist, like right here.

Konno-kun squatted down, and silently lit up the snake balls. Seeing that, Moriyama-san tugged on my sleeve and said, "It's dangerous, so let's move away." I'm not sure if she meant the snake balls or Konno-kun…

"Look, look. I lit two! Isn't this great?" Umewaka-kun held two together, and they were sparkling in a dazzling display.

"Then I'm going to try three!"

"Don't, it's dangerous." It's because of fools that get carried away, that more places prohibit fireworks…

"Then, I'll write a word with a firework, so guess what I wrote." A quiz with fireworks. The firework dances in the air. But nobody could tell. To the upper right, to the lower right, dot, dot… Oh, I think that I know… I raise my hand. "Okay, Kisshouin-san."

"…Beatrice."

"Correct!"
"Well done, Kisshouin-san," they praised. Thank you.

"I'm next." Kitazawa-kun wrote a word with new fireworks.

"Huh? What's that dot?"

"The end is a M?"

"E…M""

"E…A…M"

"E….X…A… M. exam?"

"Hey, stop that."

What are you making me remember? As punishment, everyone attacks him with the jet firework. He jumps around screaming hot, hot. Good children, don't copy us.

As we were raising a commotion, some people approached us. "Oh, it's Kitazawa."


"Hey, been a while." 4 or 5 boys saw Kitazawa-kun and came over. They went to junior high with him. It's his local park, after all. "What are you all doing here?"

"We were playing basketball over there. Fireworks for you?"

"Right." Kitazawa-kun explained us coming to this park. He introduced us, and we greeted them simply.

"Oh, so you're all from Kitazawa's high school?"

"No, not all."

One of his friends looked at all of us and asked, "She goes to your high school?" pointing at me.

"Oh, not her."

"Didn't think so! She feels really different." Huh? Huh? While I stood confused, they surrounded me and asked, "What school do you go to?"

"Zuiran…"

"Wow, a real ojou-sama."

"Could you be cloistered?"

In these cases, so I act like an ojou-sama…? At any rate, I smile, and Kitazawa's friends decided that I was a sheltered ojou-sama. I'm not sure about being cloistered, but I am an ojou-sama… But they seem flirty… Or are they normal? Now that I think about it, my first impression of Umewaka-kun was a flirty guy with a pierced ear, so maybe they're normal. And for some reason, they decided to do fireworks with us.

"Fire, gimme."

"Oh, here." I share the flam to Kitazawa-kun's friend.

"So what's Zuiran-chan's name?"

"It's Kisshouin Reika…"

"Oh, Reika-chan."

Reika-chan!? I was heavily disturbed at being called chan by a boy my age. Is he flirty!? To call a girl he just met by her name is not flirty!? And to call me –chan is not flirty!? Or is this normal at a coed high school or is it flirty?! Do they call all the girls like that at coed schools or it flity!?

I attend a coed in name-only Zuiran school for girls, so I don't understand what's normal between boys and girls at a coed school. I desperately try to remember my past life. But I only remember being called by my family name without an honorific… Could it be that coed boys only do that with girls at their school and use –chan on the outside?!

But Umewaka-kun and the others still use –san with me! So these friends of Kitazawa are just flirty!? AHH! I've been stuck in Alone in Love village for too long to know what normal is!

I can only think of Imari-sama who calls me Reika-chan. Could they all be Casanova (commoner) village members?!

I look around. Moriyama-san and Sakaki-san are also being called –chan. And they're acting normal. What!? So I'm the only one flustered by being called –chan by a boy!

And what's dreadful is that my heart fluttered for an instant when being called Reika-chan… Terrifying. I 'm afraid of how deeply I've been stuck in Alone in Love village.

Not realizing how I feel, the boys are swinging the fireworks around shouting "Yay!" Are they kids? Whether it was from the added people or the frivolous guys swinging the fireworks around, the area is full of smoke from the fireworks. Maybe affected by the smoke, someone said, "My throat is parched."

"Should we go buy drinks?" asked Umewaka-kun. He volunteered to get drinks for everyone. And asked "You want to come, Kisshouin-san?" I didn't understand, but maybe I will. I don't mind going to the vending machine, but he said there was a convenience store at the park entrance, so I follow Umewaka-kun. After a while, he asked, "Are you all right?"

"Oh? About what?"

"Well, I just thought you became quiet after Kitazawa's friends came…" He noticed, my shyness?! Could it be that he asked me to get drinks with him, worried for me?

"Not really, but thank you for worrying," I thanked him honestly.

"No, no. If I was just my imagination, it's okay. You see, my Bea-tan is usually full of energy, but when I take her to the dog run occasionally and gets surrounded by dogs she doesn't know, she can be quiet, sometimes."

"Ah." Umewaka-kun sees everything from his love's perspective. During the trip to the convenience store and back, he told me of recent happenings with Beatrice as we returned with drinks. Recently, Beatrice likes barley tea.

"Hey, you two are eating deep fried chicken!"

"Why didn't you get us some!?"

"It's one of the perks of the shopping crew, fool!"

Paying no heed to Umewaka-kun being chased by the group holding fireworks, I offered the fried food to Moriyama-san and Sakaki-san. "Would you like some?"

"Thanks."

"Should we start with the sparklers?"

"Yeah."

"What about them?"

"Forget them."

Because the foolish boys running around, the candle had gone out. Where's the lighter? I looked around and, woah, I stepped on something. I looked down and found a lot of black objects lying around. Ugh, the spent snake balls… Clean it up if you used them.

Despite Kitazawa-kun's friends barging in, the fireworks were fun. His friends were frivolous, but not bad people. "Reika-chan's an ojou-sama, so I'll use the lighter." They were flirty, but switched anything dangerous with me. At the train station, when we split up with Kitazawa-kun, they shouted, "Bye-bye, Reika-chan" "Good night, Reika-chan!" They were flirty, but they waved to see us off.

Another good memory for summer vacation. Tonight, I felt like a part of Rejoicing in Love village's sister village, Rejoicing in my Youth village. Fufufufu...

I returned home happy when I ran into Onii-sama in the hall. "Welcome home."

"I'm home," I answered smiling.

I was about to pass by him when Onii-sama raised an eyebrow. He leaned in next to my head and said, "You smell a little like gunpowder…"

"Huh?! No way!?" I pulled some curls to my nose and sucked in. He's right, it does smell a little. "I went to do fireworks with some friends…" I told my parents that I was studying after cram school, so doing fireworks is a little bad. Oh, no… my face said, when Onii-sama smiled.

"Oh, I see. So you did fireworks with friends. Was it fun?"

"Very!" It seems that Onii-sama won't rebuke me for coming home after doing fireworks, so I nodded happily. Fireworks were fun. I want to do it again.

"It's all right to play with friends, but if you're going to be late, contact me. I'll go pick you up."

"I had a ride, so I was fine." Tonight, I returned to the train station by the cram school, and had the car pick me up.

"As your brother, I'm still worried," he smiled kindly. Maybe I should ask Onii-sama to do fireworks with me in our yard.

Comment