The next evening…
The Summer Festival was finally upon us. Everyone was dressed up in a variation of Eastern clothing to match the occasion. And with school out--students and teachers alike could enjoy the festival without worrying about what would happen next.
But first, focusing on those who had no experience with this event before...
“Wooooah…” Sonata gazed at the surrounding booths with sparkles in her eyes as the sun began to set. Her yukata had a floral motif with violet roses on a blue background. “This all looks so cool! I can’t wait to start shooting for fish!”
“I gotta admit, the humans know what they’re doing,” Aria commented with her usual, smug grin, “Back home, we didn’t get to celebrate anything like this underwater. I wonder what all that food tastes like.” Her yukata was a solid black with gold-colored fishes that ran throughout it.
“Remember, girls, we need to stick together so we don’t get lost,” Adagio added as she approached them, wearing her purple yukata with white lily patterns. “And if we see Keiji, we need to make sure to have him join us at least for a little while.”
Aria scoffed at the proposition. “There’s no way he’d join us. He’s probably gonna be wandering on his own to make sure everything is accurate.”
Sonata interjected with her usual perky positivity, “Or--or, maybe he’s found a date to bring along and he’s showing her around! We wouldn’t wanna interrupt our baby brother’s courtship now would we?”
“Him? Involved with literally anyone?” Aria rolled her eyes and laughed, “Ah…no. I don’t see that happening.”
“Aria--try to be supportive,” Adagio commented in response to her sister’s dry witticism. “Today--or, tonight is meant to be a time for positivity. No evil or crazed--MMPH!”
Suddenly, Sonata was clinging to Adagio, cutting her eldest sister off by putting her hand over her mouth. “Shhhuuuushu! Don’t jinx it--don’t jinx it! If you say the bad things, the bad things happen!”
“While I normally don’t say this, she’s right,” Aria added as she opened up a pamphlet detailing all of the facilities and booths that were open at the festival. “Feels like every time we’ve spoken about not wanting someone to come wreck our shit, someone proceeds to try and wreck our shit.”
Adagio pried Sonata’s hand from her mouth, and went on. “Fair enough. Alright girls, what do you want to do first?”
“Food,” said Aria as she made a hard right, “I’m headed this way. C’mon.”
“Yay, food!” Sonata skipped along, following her.
“Hey, wait up you two!” Adagio hurried after them.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fairgrounds…
Diamond Tiara was dressed in rather formal pink robes and was standing next to Silver Spoon--dressed in perfectly pristine silver ones--seemingly waiting for something…
“...Are you seriously waiting on him, Di?” Spoon asked as she started scoping out what booth she wanted to go to first. “You know how much he doesn’t like to hang around others.”
“I know, I know…”
Luckily, it wouldn’t take long for her prayers to be answered.
Keiji would show up a few moments later, wearing his blue and black dragon yukata and approached the rich girls first. “Yo. I’m here. Was just…scanning the area.”
“Finally,” Spoon commented, “Where were you? Hanging upside-down in a tree?”
“...”
About ten minutes earlier…
Yes. That was legit what happened. Keiji was somehow hanging from the bottom of his feet against a tree branch in a tree on a hill that was overlooking the entire festival grounds in the middle of the city’s crossing.
“Hhhhhhh…” he hissed against the air to make use of echolocation, and found…nothing sinister for the moment.
Back to the present…
“Yes,” he answered without missing a beat, “I was actually. It’s a thing we batfolk can do.”
“Woah…” Silver Spoon replied with a genuine sense of wonder in her voice. “That sounds like a neat party trick that I’d love to see at my Halloween parties--”
Keiji rolled his eyes. “I’m not a circus clown. I don’t perform for anyone.”
“What if I paid you in bloody wagyu sausage?” she offered with a smirk.
“Okay I’d consider it--” his tune changed immediately, earning a giggle from Diamond Tiara. “...What’s so funny?” he asked.
Tiara shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just glad to see my two friends getting along with each other. I was scared at first, but I’m happy to see you guys treating each other well.”
“Well, you know how it is,” Silver Spoon pushed her glasses up by the side of the rims, “It’s hard for me to trust people who get close to you, but once I realized he’s harmless, I didn’t have anything against him.”
Keiji placed his arms behind his head and replied with his serrated, toothy smile, “Well that’s good. I’ve had bad experiences with aristocratic bitc--er, losers in the past. But you guys? You’re…worth sticking around to keep safe.”
“Aw, does Keiji love us?” Tiara teased while leaning on his shoulder, “Maybe we should both take him, huh, Spoon?”
“H-hey, get offa me you nutcase!”
Silver Spoon simply reacted with a smile as she shook her head. “Alright--let’s get going. My parents are actually running one of the ramen booths nearby. I think I saw your dad over there, Di.”
Tiara let go of the vampboy, and walked up to Spoon. “Oooh--that sounds good. C’mon, Keiji. Join us…please?” she turned to him and asked with a bashful smile, worried that he’d go off on his own again.
But much to her delight, Keiji responded with an amicable answer. “Yeah, yeah I guess I’ll tag along and watch your asses.”
“I hope you don’t mean that literally,” Spoon chided.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he shot back.
Tiara put an arm around them both and started walking with them. “This is gonna be great! The more you guys get along, the better!”