"Ah, you two must be heading to the Musashi Festival." Isanari commented, smiling at his son and daughter as he approached them. Fuutarou and Raiha were wearing their respective outfits for the festival.
"Hey dad, you're going too?" Fuutarou asked while Raiha went up to hug him. Isanari gently patted his daughter's head while nodding at his son.
"Yeah, I'm arriving a little late though. I'm going with Shinichiro and some old friends. And let me tell you, they get ready like they're girls, if you know what I mean." He grumbled. Fuutarou nodded, chuckling a little.
"Must be a pain waiting for them. I pity you." Fuutarou commented. Isanari shrugged.
"It is what it is." He muttered before a serious expression took over.
"By the way, son. I heard from Shinichiro that you're getting in a fight with Moebius later. Are you going to bring your katana?" Isanari asked. Raiha narrowed her eyes at the mention of gang terms, staring at her brother. Fuutarou sighed.
"Why would I? That's like bringing a nuke to a fist fight. I'm bound to attract attention by swinging Ame no Habakiri around, you know how powerful that sword is, and attention is not what I need right now." Isanari nodded at his son's wise decision, though Raiha was dissatisfied for different reasons.
"Why are you doing this in the middle of the festival, big bro? We're supposed to be having fun, and you're going to ditch us halfway for a silly fight?" Raiha crossed her arms. Fuutarou scratched his head. Raiha had been an avid supporter of his plan to disband Toman from the start, understandably never getting the point of him leading it.
"I won't take long..." He muttered. Raiha frowned upon hearing it.
"And then you have to give an excuse for disappearing. You know it's bad if you keep this up, big bro. Don't you feel bad giving them excuse after excuse?" Raiha questioned, bringing up the Nakano quintuplets, a sore spot for him.
"I... Raiha... Just help me... It won't take long, I'm serious. Once I defeat their top dog, everything will be settled." Fuutarou reasoned. Raiha sighed. Their father watched on silently, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Who says I won't help? I just don't like that you still think that part of the world is still worth your time." She mumbled, putting on her shoes.
"It's not... It never was precious to me..." He whispered back, slipping on a pair of slippers. "I promise you... This year and the next will be the last two years I get myself involved with gangsterism."
"Haih... whatever you say... Though you better keep that promise, or I'll be very disappointed in you."
...
" Before we start going around and enjoying ourselves, have you girls finished your homework? " Fuutarou asked the quints. Nino snorted and crossed her arms.
"We finished it a long time ago! Itsuki wouldn't stop reminding us about that, and you would've forced us to go back home to finish it before we come here." Fuutarou chuckled and gave her a thumbs up.
" Good job, everyone. You guys are on a roll. Keep this up and you'll pass this year's midterm exam with no problems at all!" Fuutarou congratulated them. Nino glared at him.
"Geez Uesugi... Stop giving us all the credit!I'll admit it, if it wasn't for you tutoring us, we would've still be stupid, lazy and would've given up on our education at this point! So stop being humble and be proud of yourself damnit!" Nino scolded him. Fuutarou nodded and smiled.
"Sure Nino, but most of the work was done by you five, I was just the guiding light. " Fuutarou replied, Nino rolled his eyes at his humble reply. Their tutor looked at the festival occurring behind them.
There were a lot of people attending it, it had tons of stalls that had different types of activities like selling fireworks, selling food and even game stalls that let you catch goldfish for a price.
"What are we waiting for?! Let's go and have a good time!!" Yotsuba cheered happily.
" What time do the fireworks start and end at?" Nino asked Miku.
" From 7pm to 8pm." Miku asked. Ichika hugged her, rubbing their cheeks together.
"So there's still an hour and a half away before it starts. Why don't we drop by the food stalls? I'm starving! " Ichika suggested to them.
" Alright, let's go everyone!" Itsuki replied happily. Fuutarou looked at the Quints and smiled.
"Have I ever mentioned that you girls look absolutely stunning in those yukatas? " Fuutarou commented, making the girls blush and smile happily at his compliment.
"Hmph! We already knew that Uesugi!" Nino huffed and pouted before it curled up into a small smile.
"Thank you Uesugi-san! I picked this outfit just for you!" Yotsuba replied before hugging his right arm tightly. Ichika raised an eyebrow at her, amused.
"Yotsuba, if it weren't for me borrowing you one of my spare yukatas. You would be naked right now, though I suppose you would want that even more than wearing the yukata. " Ichika pointed out while taking the opportunity to hug Fuutarou's left arm. Yotsuba pouted at her secret being revealed by Ichika, before they not so secretly gave each other the stink eye.
'Big bro is really popular with girls.' Raiha mused while holding Itsuki's hand, looking at the predicament her brother had got himself into. Fuutarou just smiled, finding himself enjoying the presence of the two girls.
But then, he sensed a familiar presence and paused hus enjoyment. He walked forward, shrugging off the girls' hold on him, causing them to pout. He glanced back at them.
"I need a toilet break." He grinned sheepishly at them, not even waiting for their response before running away. Nino deadpanned at his disappearing figure.
"No one's buying that shitty excuse, Uesugi." She grumbled, crossing her arms.
Ichika giggled. "Relax Nino , maybe he forgot to do something. Why don't we go eat? I'm kinda hungry."
...
"Kennn! How do I look?" Draken blinked as he stared a beautiful blonde wearing a silky yukata. He swore she was literally shining with how stunning she looked.
"You look beautiful Emma..." He muttered, his words causing the blonde to giggle happily. This girl in front of him is Emma Sano, Mikey's little sister and Draken's date for the night.
"Aww! Thank you! You look very handsome too, hehe!" She grinned, wrapping her hands around his arm intimately. Draken cleared his throat, trying to stay nonchalant.
"Hm?" Draken watched as Fuutarou literally appeared right in front of him, startling Emma a little who clutched Draken tighter.
"Is it time already?" Draken mumbled. Fuutarou nodded. He sighed, looking down at Emma.
"Ken? Where are you going?" Emma asked. Draken rubbed the back of his neck, a little ashamed to reveal the truth to her. To put it simply, Emma isn't a big fan of Toman, and wants Draken to live a life without violence.
"Uh, I need to handle something with Fuutarou for a while." Draken sighed as Emma pouted at him in pure dissatisfaction.
"Really Ken? You're ditching me already when we've just met? Am I not good enough for you?" Fuutarou chuckled at Emma's words, stepping aside to let his buddy handle her. Draken sighed as he gently ruffled her hair.
"You're perfect, Emma. And no I'm not ditching you, it's just a small 'toilet break'. I promise I'll spend time with you however long you want me to later." Draken vowed. Emma rolled her eyes at his excuse before tiptoeing, giving Draken a kiss on the cheek.
"Good luck kiss!" She declared, laughing at his stunned expression. Draken sighed before smirking a little, while Fuutarou walked away not wanting to intrude.
"Thanks Emma..."
To be continued...