Chapter 7

Wow, the water’s so cool! It feels nice~ ♪

It’s so beautiful. I can see why fireflies would make their home up here.

Huh? Whatcha mean?

Mm well, fireflies like places with clean water. I’m pretty sure the larvae live in the water, right~?

And they wouldn’t be able to live in places where the current is too strong.

Hmmm… That campsite by the river was super pretty too, you think there were fireflies there?¹

Urrghhh, I should’ve looked for some!

Back then, we were too busy preparing dinner to go looking, though.

But it was fun training with everyone in UNDEAD. It’ll be a really nice memory~

Same here! I never ate such yummy curry in my entire life!

But yanno, my mom’s curry is super good too, so I wonder why think that? It’s kiiinda a big mystery to me~?

Maybe it’s because we all worked together to make it? That’s what I think at least. Even just thinking about it now gets me a little teary-eyed.

Don’t cry, Tomo-chan! I don’t have any curry, but I do have curry bread! Want some?

Why do you even have that… I appreciate the thought, but I’m good. I’m still full from the meal I ate at home.

You are? Then I’ll eat it myself! Snarf snarf… ♪

Hey, calm down, you’re getting crumbs everywhere. And don’t go leaving that packaging anywhere either.

Yeah! I know littering is bad ‘cause both you and my mom said so! So I’ll make sure I put it in the trash!

Yeah, that’s very sensible of you.

Whoaaa—?! You freaked me out! Don’t creep up behind me like that!

I didn’t intend to scare you… Sorry.

What I mean is, don’t just group together; let us in on the conversation, too.

We came here to discuss our performance for Summer Night Festival, not to play around.

Sorry, sorry. I’ll keep it in mind. But this riverside really is beautiful, huh? I was just so excited to be here.

Hmph. You’re not a child. …But well, I understand why you’d get excited. You don’t see rivers this pristine nowadays, after all.

……

Kanzaki? Why are you so far away? Here, come closer.

A–alas. I pray I could, but I wish not to come too near the water.

Huh? Are you scared of water? You didn’t tell me about that.

Ah, nay. That is not so. See, if my sword becomes wet, it shall rust. I brought no oil with me, and so I must take care it not get wet.

Kanzaki, why don’t you just… put your sword aside for now until you go to take care of it, or something.

Nay, my sword is my very soul! I cannot be at ease without it by my side at all times.

Fine, you already brought it with you anyway. Everyone, come closer to Kanzaki.

Oh, and just in case, go ahead and wipe yourselves off with a towel.

Fufu. You really look out for your kouhai, huh. What a good senpai ♪

You’re not going to get anything out of praising me.

…Okay. Now that we’re all huddled up, let’s talk about what we’re going to do for the performance.

Oh, me! Pick me!

Oh, well first of all, good on you for raising your hand. Let’s hear what you have to say, Tenma.

I’ve got a question but it’s not exactly about the performance… So if we wanna see the fireflies, why are we here in the middle of the day?

That really does have nothing to do with the performance. But anyway, to answer your question—this place is pretty far away, so if we came here at night, we’d have to sleep over.

There isn’t much time before Summer Night Festival, so we’ll return to school in the afternoon.

We’ll be practicing late into the night, so you’ll need to contact your families about it.

Fufun, don’t worry! Nii~chan already told me all that, so I let my mom and dad know!

Yes. If it gets to be too late, my parents said they’d come pick me up.

I see. I did say we’d be staying late, but don’t worry. We’ll be going home at a reasonable time.

Fireflies… We were only able to meet here in the daytime today, but the actual live will be held at night.

Maybe after the concert, we can stop by the river bank and hunt for fireflies.

Oh! I just had a great idea! Fireflies only light up at night, right? Then since it’ll be nighttime, why don’t we use the fireflies in our live~!

Huh, what do you mean? You wanna release some fireflies inside the venue?

Yeah! We can make the venue all dark and stuff, and let the fireflies sparkle! I think it’d feel super magical~ ♪

Hm, a live among dancing fireflies… It would be very magical, and it’d be a performance that our audience would enjoy.

I’ll have a talk with the client and see if we can use the fireflies during the performance—

We can’t!

We can’t do that. We absolutely can’t treat a living being like some object…!

Ha–Hajime?

I’m sorry for raising my voice… But I don’t agree with this at all!

Yeah, me too. Fireflies already have a short enough lifespan as it is, so it’d be inexcusable if we shorten it even more for our own selfish reasons.

I’m proud of you, Hajime-chin. You’re a good kid who treasures all living things.

……

Hasumi-danna doesn’t treat fireflies like inanimate objects either, do ya danna?

Of course not. It was just a slip of the tongue. Sorry about that, Shino.

N–no, I’m the one who should apologize.

Hasumi-danna. I’mma head over to the venue, see if I can’t get some ideas for the costumes.

Hm? You wanna come too, little miss? Right, ‘cause we’re both in charge of the costumes. Then let’s go.

I still have to meet the client, so I’m going with you. Ra*bits, what will you do?

Right, we’re all gonna be in Summer Night Festival, so we should probably go say hi. We’ll go with you.

You guys, make sure to give ‘em your best smile when you meet them, okay?

Yeah, our best smile! Dash, daaash… ☆

Wait, that doesn’t mean go running off… Good grief, there’s lots of rocks on the river bank, so be careful so you don’t fall down.

Fufu. It’s Mitsuru-kun, so he should be fine…

(Hm… In some way, Shino appears unwell.)

(However, he is smiling along with the other members of Ra*bits. Mayhap ‘tis but my imagination.)

(…Oh me, I’ll be left behind if I am too careless. I must make haste to catch up to them.