Tokyo Side Story: Summer Festival (Part 3) After everything was over, I...
"Sorry, sorry! It's been so long since I've worn clothes like this, it feels so strange." Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped, scratching her hair a little embarrassed. "Didn't it take too long?"
“We just arrived too.” Xia Youjie smiled reassuringly. “Lixiang, you look great. It suits you very well.”
Unsurprisingly, Gojo Satoru pulled out his phone and started taking pictures, ostensibly as a memento. Of course, if this were in Chaldea, these photos would definitely sell for a lot of QP.
Seeing that she wasn't late, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately relaxed and looked around. Noticing a certain out-of-place fairy queen, she immediately pulled Artoria up.
"How about Oberon!" She walked up to Oberon and patted the somewhat shy blonde girl beside him. "The yukata I picked out for Artoria suits her well, doesn't it!"
Oberon looked her over for a moment and nodded approvingly, "Pretty good, very summery clothes, it's a good use of her face."
Perhaps out of shyness, or perhaps for something else, Artoria grabbed Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder and said, "Ritsuka! Don't just talk about me!" She forcefully pushed her Master in front of Oberon.
"Ritsuka looks great in this outfit!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka also adjusted the collar of her yukata and twirled around gracefully.
“Well, how should I put it…” Oberon paused suspiciously for a moment, then adopted the cheerful demeanor of the Fairy King, “This outfit is definitely better than the battle suit.”
“Of course!” Artoria said with great pride. “This is a yukata that I carefully selected to match my clothes!”
Oberon: "...Huh?"
He glanced at Artoria, whose face was filled with ulterior motives, then at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was completely oblivious yet indulging her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.
After a long silence, Oberon slowly said, "...Artoria. You're really something."
The three students from the vocational college huddled together, whispering about the strange atmosphere. They felt that anyone who tried to chime in would be superfluous; the three people opposite them seemed glued together.
Do you think the three of them will end up together?
"Wouldn't Oberon be committing bigamy? The other two girls are monogamous."
"...Ha, what kind of weird focus do you guys have? By the way, if we don't go in soon, we won't be able to finish exploring this street. There's a fireworks display coming up later."
Both Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki's gazes fell on Ieiri Shoko. For some reason, they felt that either of them would get beaten up if they went with Shoko.
Shoko Ieiri sighed and waved to Ritsuka, "Let's go, we should go have some fun."
Following the flow of people into the main street of the summer festival, the group was instantly surrounded by the bustling noise. Under the warm yellow light, the dazzling array of stalls was overwhelming.
Before Fujimaru Ritsuka could get a good look, Gojo Satoru had already spotted his target and dashed off. Natsuyu Suguru and Ieiri Shoko seemed used to it, walking leisurely alongside him.
What was once cursed by countless enemies, the one who was invincible on the battlefield, now simply became Gojo Satoru's tool to push through the crowd and rush toward the apricot candy stall with its sweet aroma.
The apricots, coated in amber syrup and wrapped in colorful paper, shimmered like stars under the light. Gojo generously bought a skewer for everyone, while he himself left satisfied with three skewers of apricot candy.
He handed the candy to his two classmates, then looked around curiously. "Hey, where are Ritsuka and the others?"
Xia Youjie pointed to the goldfish scooping stall in front of them. Two dazzling heads leaned together, facing several round wooden basins filled with shimmering goldfish, as they extended bamboo nets to scoop them up—
"Splash."
The red and white koi swayed its tail and leaped out of the water, splashing up tiny droplets, as if mocking the two people who had just been caught out of thin air.
Oberon, who was always at the back, had his hands behind his back, the hem of his black hoodie fluttering in the evening breeze. He stared at the noisy crowd with a displeased expression, but when he caught sight of two dejected heads, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.
"Pfft, are you guys even capable?"
"What, Oberon, want to give it a try?"
The orange-haired girl turned around, her golden eyes brimming with laughter, seemingly more dazzling than a sky full of lanterns. Oberon lowered his head and kicked away a pebble at his feet.
"Well, since you've said so," he raised an eyebrow, took the bamboo net from the stall owner, and deftly scooped up the swimming goldfish.
Artoria watched with a mixture of excitement that fish were about to be caught and anxiety that Oberon would be smug. However, the bamboo net shattered as soon as it touched the water's surface, startling the fish into scattering in a flurry.
"Oh dear, Oberon, you didn't manage to fish it out either," Artoria said mischievously, arms crossed. Oberon, unconvinced, tried a few more times, but again came up empty-handed.
Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to understand the trick, taking a half step forward and bending down. "Press your wrist down, and place the bamboo net at an angle," she said, grasping Oberon's wrist as he held the net, the warmth of her fingertips penetrating the fabric and reaching him without reservation.
Oberon turned his head, and Ritsuka's orange hair brushed against his cheek, so close that he could see the tiny water droplets on the girl's eyelashes. He froze, staring intently at those bright golden eyes.
Suddenly, Artoria's cheers rang out, "Ritsuka is still the best!" Oberon was surprised to realize that the cunning koi was already lying steadily in the bamboo net, its scales reflecting the light.
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the fish in the net with satisfaction, stood up, and gave Artoria a high five. Then she winked playfully at Oberon, as if showing off the koi in front of her.
Oberon: "..."
Looking at the Chaldean specialty wood that seemed completely oblivious to anything, he took a deep breath.
"Ughhhhh, you bastard, you're always like this!" The moth fluttered, and Oberon ruffled his black hair with his hands. "Oh no, sorry, I can't swear."
He didn't even glance at the fish, quickly walked past the two excited girls, and headed towards a deserted spot at the end of the street.
"Huh?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked, nudging Artoria. "What's wrong with her? Do moths go through menopause too?"
"Hmm, I don't know either."
So when the trio from the vocational high school squeezed through the crowd to the goldfish scooping stall, Artoria went to pull Oberon back first, leaving only Ritsuka to pay at the stall.
Gojo Satoru handed a handful of apricot candies to Fujimaru Ritsuka, praising the sweetness of the syrup. Ieiri Shoko, hearing the lethal sugar content, rubbed her goosebumps and decided to catch a goldfish to calm herself down.
Xia Youjie lagged behind them by a step, standing just a step away from the stall, and couldn't help but murmur, "It feels like a dream."
Suddenly, the icy touch of the water droplets startled him. Fujimaru Ritsuka was smiling at him, waving her water-covered hand in front of him. "Do you still think this is a dream?"
Xia Youjie stared quietly at the orange-haired girl, and after a long silence, he sighed softly, "...Yes."
Pulled out of the sweltering summer by the girl before him, he successfully graduates and is about to stay on as a teacher. Family, friends, teachers, and juniors—none of them have left him; this is a future "he" never had.
How could he not worry that this overly beautiful world was just a dream?
Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to sense his hesitation and worry, and couldn't help but chuckle. "Natsuyu, don't worry. This was supposed to be your future, it's just that you were taken advantage of by bad people before, wasn't it?"
She looked up at him, her expression firm and earnest: "You deserve such a wonderful future."
After a long silence, long enough that Fujimaru Ritsuka began to doubt Natsuyuki's own self-doubt, he finally spoke: "I should also thank you. Thank you, Ritsuka."
Thank you for giving me a dreamlike future, and for making me believe that I am a lucky person.
"Hey! Jetsu! Ritsuka!" Gojo Satoru shouted, holding the koi fish that Ieiri Glass had caught. "Stop whispering! The fireworks festival is about to start, or you'll be late!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked. "Then let's go. Don't keep them waiting."
"Okay, let's go."
When the six of them finally made their way through the bustling crowd to the perfect viewing spot that Gojo Satoru had reserved, the first perfectly round fireball was streaking across the night sky with a golden-red tail.
"Bang--!"
Fireworks burst into bloom, and in an instant, thousands of silvery-white lights cascaded down like shooting stars, adorning the night sky like a downward-flowing Milky Way and illuminating people's faces.
"Wow!" Artoria excitedly grabbed Fujimaru Ritsuka's wide sleeve, her eyes reflecting the flickering fireworks.
"Ritsuka, look!" She whispered in Ritsuka's ear, worried that her voice would be drowned out. "It's so beautiful! It's so wonderful to watch the fireworks with you."
As Fujimaru Ritsuka gazed at the fireworks bursting in the sky, she suddenly recalled how, upon first meeting Artoria, she had mistaken her for Mash. Ah, who would have thought that this seemingly ordinary girl with mediocre magical powers would be the child of prophecy?
Together they met many people, parted ways with friends, and fought against enemies... In the end, Fujimaru Ritsuka watched the ordinary girl, who was so similar to her, walk towards the end of her journey.
At that time, she never imagined that she would see these friends again; she never imagined that Artoria and Oberon would be playing and having fun with her in Chaldea.
Another firework bloomed, and Fujimaru Ritsuka's memory blurred back to after junior high school ended. She and her friends were also looking up at the fireworks. What did they say back then?
“Artoria,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said, grasping the blonde girl’s hand in return, “I’ve heard that if you make a wish under fireworks, it will come true! Do you want to make a wish?”
—I've heard that if you make a wish under fireworks, it will come true. So Artoria looked at Ritsuka and said, "I want to make a wish."
The girl's clear voice, mingled with the scent of the evening breeze and fireworks, gently reached Ritsuka's ears, "Ritsuka, let's come together again next time to watch the fireworks!"
She didn't want to part with her friends whom she had finally reunited with, so she and Oberon decided to watch the fireworks together again after accompanying their Masters to the end of their journey.
At that moment, orange, purple, and cyan fireworks burst into bloom, their dazzling light outlining the soft contours of Artoria's profile. Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly felt her eyes burning.
She didn't know what her future held. If they could truly save the world again, would she say goodbye to Chaldea completely? She didn't know.
But at this moment, she made a promise to Artoria and to Oberon, who had been standing quietly behind them listening:
"Let's watch the fireworks together after everything is over!"
Not far away, Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki Suke raised Ieiri Glass together, gave Ritsuka a big V sign, and smiled brightly and happily.
The six people's shadows were stretched long by the fireworks, overlapping on the ground to form a warm silhouette, which, together with the brilliant starry sky of the summer night, became a picture that will never fade.
So happy, so youthful.
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Author's Note: * This is the end of the extra chapter. Gotham Singularity will be updated normally tomorrow!
* Nonsensical short plays:
1. Regarding shooting:
Ritsuka: "Hey, Edmund, are you there? Can you do me a favor?"
King of the Cave: "Kuhahahaha! My accomplice, what do you want this soul-scorching black flame for? To kill and set fires, or..."
Ritsuka: "The gun's here, third from the left in the second row, second from the right in the fourth row!" She clasped her hands together, making a pleading expression, "Please, I'm counting on the dolls and keychains!"
2. Regarding Ashiya Dōman:
Still inside the pot, time was infinitely prolonged by certain jealous followers.
"Why wasn't I the one going to the summer festival with Master?!" Ashiya Doman often heard various languages in the pot, but they all meant the same thing.
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