Natsuiro Matsuri IF - If I Hadn't Chased the Fireworks That Day
Summer of his second year in high school. Yuto gets a sudden call from Matsuri Natsuiro, a classmate he secretly admires. "I want you to chase fireworks with me!" Her words make no sense, but they sparkle. Before he knows it, Yuto is swept up in Matsuri's 'All-Japan Summer Festival Crossing Tour.' Her goal is to find Aoi, her best friend who she was separated from as a child. There's only one clue: Aoi appears for just a moment at a different summer festival every year. Relying on that alone, Yu
Natsuiro Matsuri IF - If I Hadn't Chased the Fireworks That Day - I couldn't bring myself to say, "It's okay to run away."
[[Title: <<Unwavering Companion>> condition — "Just once, refuse without being swept along" — has been fulfilled]]
[[Resolve Level increased: 25% → 31%]]
The morning sun beat down mercilessly on the Kamo River embankment.
The cicadas' cries stabbed at my ears. There was no wind at all, and my T-shirt clung to my back with sweat. Only the river's flow made a cool sound, which somehow made the heat feel even worse.
Matsuri and I were sitting on the same bench as yesterday.
—The same place where Aoi had rejected us.
I'd barely slept the night before. Aoi's cold eyes were burned onto the back of my eyelids. Matsuri probably hadn't slept either. When we'd seen each other in the room this morning, her voice had been hoarse when she said "Morning."
But now, she was back to her usual cheerful face.
—At least, she was making it look that way.
"[serious] Yuuto."
Matsuri spoke, still staring at the river.
"Why don't we end the trip here?"
I was at a loss for words.
Matsuri was trying to smile. Lifting the corners of her mouth, trying to make her usual sun-like face.
But—her eyes weren't smiling.
"Why... all of a sudden?"
That was all I managed to say.
"[gentle] It's not sudden. I've been thinking about it."
Matsuri clasped her hands on her knees. She was gripping them so tight her fingers turned white.
"That man, Kurosaki, said it, right? There won't be a next time. That wasn't a threat. I think he really meant it."
"But—"
"If you get hurt, Yuuto, it'll be my fault."
Her voice trembled, just a little.
"You weren't involved from the start. I dragged you into this on my own. And if, because of that, those people do something to you..."
"Matsuri."
"I would definitely regret it. I'd never be able to forgive myself."
She hung her head.
Her ponytail drooped limply. It was always bouncing and swaying, but now it didn't move at all.
(*Ah, this girl—*)
She's planning to end the trip because of me.
She waited nine years to find Aoi, finally got close enough to reach out and touch her. She's not afraid of getting hurt herself, but she's so scared of me getting hurt that she's trying to give up.
(*That's... not okay.*)
A voice spoke in my head.
(*Don't get swept along. If you say "you're right" here, it's all over.*)
The usual me would've—yeah, I think I would've said "you're right."
*Well, whatever.*
That's how I'd always run away from the important things.
But, now—
"—No."
The word just slipped out of my mouth.
I surprised even myself.
Huh?
What did I just say?
Matsuri looked up. Her eyes were wide, staring at me.
"...Huh?"
"Ah, no, I mean—"
My face went hot. I could feel myself turning bright red all the way to the tips of my ears.
(*Crap, did that just sound like a confession or something!?*)
No, that's not what I meant!
"No... what?"
Matsuri asked back.
Her voice sounded a little bewildered.
I looked at the river.
The surface of the Kamo River sparkled, reflecting the morning sun. The couples sitting at regular intervals were the same as yesterday, but they stung my eyes just a little bit more.
"...I was thinking... I don't want to give up."
I forced the words out.
"I'm always just going with the flow. I've always just let things slide with 'well, whatever.' But—this time is different. I don't want to give up. I don't want to see you cry anymore."
After I said it, I felt like my heart was going to explode.
(*Aaaah, what am I saying! This is way too embarrassing!*)
Matsuri was silent for a while, looking at the river.
Then she looked at my profile, and back at the river again.
"...I see."
She said it quietly.
The proposal stopped there.
We didn't reach an answer. We didn't decide to continue the trip, or to go home.
But, at least—
The option of "quitting" had, for the moment, disappeared.
—That's when it happened.
*Rustle.*
The convenience store bag I'd placed beside the bench tipped over.
The jelly drink we'd just bought spilled out.
*Roll, roll, roll—*
The jelly drink went rolling down the slope.
"...Ah."
Matsuri and I silently watched it roll away.
Down a strangely long slope, little by little, bit by bit—
*Clunk.*
It stopped in front of a vending machine.
"—Pfft."
Matsuri burst out laughing.
"Ahahahaha! What was that, it rolled away so perfectly!"
She started laughing, clutching her stomach. Wiping away tears, cackling.
"Yuuto, you're such a klutz! The bag fell over because you were flustered, right?"
"Wait, that's my fault!?"
"Fine, I'll go pick it up. And you can treat me to a juice while I'm at it."
"Why do I have to!?"
"Because you're the one who dropped it."
She stood up and went down the slope, almost skipping.
The heavy atmosphere from just moments ago had vanished like a lie.
(*That side of her... it's so unfair.*)
I pulled my coin purse out of my pocket.
Walking reluctantly toward the vending machine, I somehow felt like the weight in my chest had lifted just a little.
――――
Afternoon came.
The cicadas got even louder, and heat haze shimmered up from the asphalt.
On the way back to the guesthouse "Tsukinowa," Matsuri was walking while looking at the map on her phone.
"[excited] Is this the right way? It's all these narrow alleys, I feel like I'm gonna get lost!"
"It's probably right. There was a sign at the corner we just turned at."
Around the Gojo area of Kyoto, old machiya townhouses and new buildings mixed together, with alleys stretching out like a maze.
Narrow.
Really narrow.
The path was so narrow you could touch both walls with your hands at the same time.
(*If someone suddenly appeared in a place like this, there'd be no way to dodge.*)
Just as I thought that—
A figure came walking slowly from up ahead.
A black cap.
Sunglasses.
Short-cropped black hair.
An old scar running from the left temple down to the cheek—.
—Kurosaki Tatsuya.
Alarms blared in my head.
This is bad.
We have to run.
But my legs wouldn't move.
"—!"
Matsuri had frozen too.
Kurosaki walked slowly up to us and stopped about three meters away.
He didn't take off his cap. I could tell his cold eyes were sizing us up from behind the sunglasses.
"[cold] It's been a good trip, you two."
His voice was surprisingly calm.
Quiet, composed, completely devoid of emotion, like a TV narration.
And yet—
(*Terrifying.*)
My heart was pounding.
*Thump-thump, thump-thump—.*
It was beating so hard it hurt, like my ribs were being hammered from the inside.
Kurosaki was smiling.
Just the corners of his mouth, lifted slightly.
His eyes weren't smiling at all.
"[cold] Lake Suwa, Gujo Hachiman, and the Gion Festival. I'm sure they've become wonderful memories of your youth."
Matsuri's hands began to tremble faintly.
"[scared] ...What do you want?"
Her voice was on the verge of cracking.
"[cold] I've come to give you a warning. Out of the kindness of my heart."
Kurosaki took one step closer.
On reflex, I stepped half a step in front of Matsuri.
(*Why am I—my body moved on its own...*)
I didn't even understand it myself. Even though I was scared. Even though I was shaking.
"[cold] Oh, brave. That's admirable."
Kurosaki looked at me appraisingly, then smiled again.
"[cold] But let's think about this rationally. You are minors. You've been away from home for nearly two weeks without a guardian. You're subject to being taken into protective custody. You wandering the streets of the Imperial Capital—no, Kyoto—is fundamentally not permitted."
His words stabbed in like needles of ice.
"[cold] Go home. If you do, everything up to today can be treated as if it never happened. We, too, will have no need to be involved any further. However—"
A pause.
A gust of wind blew through the alley.
"[cold] If you continue, I can make no guarantees. Protecting children from danger is also part of our job. And we do have the authority to remove the 'source' of the danger."
—He'll kill us.
It was pure intuition.
This man doesn't yell or threaten.
But if he decides we're in the way, he'll really erase us.
As matter-of-factly as reading from a manual.
"[scared] ...Aoi is—"
Matsuri's voice was hoarse.
"That girl doesn't belong to you people. She has her own life."
"[cold] A life?"
Kurosaki's tone of voice changed for the first time.
—Derision.
"[cold] Don't make me laugh. That girl was taken into protection from a broken home. She is, so to speak, a 'commodity.' A commodity has no life. Being properly utilized under a suitable owner—that is what her happiness looks like."
The color drained from Matsuri's face.
I—
(*What is this nausea...*)
A rage that made the pit of my stomach boil, and a terror that made my legs freeze, hit me at the same time.
But no voice came out.
"[cold] Three days."
Kurosaki turned his back.
"[cold] Return to Tokyo within three days. That is for your own good, and for Aoi's as well. Regrettably, rationally speaking, this is no place for children to be meddling."
The black shadow melted away into the depths of the alley.
—Silence.
Left behind, we just stood there, rooted to the spot.
Matsuri's hands—were shaking.
My hands—were shaking too.
I couldn't speak.
We might be killed.
For the first time, I seriously thought that.
This wasn't a story from an anime or manga.
A living human being, smiling, had called us a "commodity."
"............Yuuto."
Matsuri finally spoke.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Can you stand?"
My voice was just as gone.
She nodded.
The two of us started walking unsteadily toward the guesthouse.
Neither of us could say anything.
――――
When we stepped through the entrance of the guesthouse "Tsukinowa," the manager, Tsujimoto Rei, was right there at the counter.
"[casual] Ah, welcome ba—"
He looked at our faces and stopped mid-sentence.
He seemed about to say something, then stopped himself.
Without a word, he sat back down in the chair behind the counter.
We went up to the second floor in silence.
We entered the room.
Matsuri sat down on the bed by the window.
She hugged her knees and hung her head.
I sat on the bed opposite and looked up at the ceiling.
I could see the wood grain.
Since it was an old building, the ceiling boards had fine cracks in them.
Silence.
Only the ticking of the clock's second hand echoed in the room.
"[sad] ...I'm sorry, Yuuto."
Matsuri forced the words out.
"I'm the one who dragged you into this. I never thought it would turn into something like this—"
Her voice broke off.
I tried to say something.
But I couldn't find the words.
(*Well, whatever—*)
Somewhere in my head, a part of me was trying to say that.
(*Just let it slide. It'll be easier. I hate being scared. I want to run away.*)
—But.
(*If I let it slide here... I'll be finished.*)
I felt like I would disappear.
I'd lived my whole life that way.
And I thought that was fine.
But now—it's different.
"Don't apologize."
I finally said it.
"This is something I decided for myself."
That's a lie.
At first, I really was just going with the flow.
But now it's different.
"I'm here... because I chose to be."
I couldn't continue any further.
Matsuri didn't look up.
――――
The sun set.
Outside the window, the sky turned from orange to purple, and eventually went dark.
For dinner, we each had one rice ball from the convenience store.
Tuna mayo, and salmon.
"[gentle] ...You picked the rice balls properly."
Matsuri murmured.
When buying rice balls at the convenience store, Matsuri always took so long to decide that I'd just grab two at random.
"[gentle] Well, you always spend like ten minutes agonizing at the convenience store."
I smiled a little too.
"[laughing] Oh, shut up."
Matsuri laughed a little too.
We could laugh.
Just that—today, just that was enough.
That's how it felt.
――――
Late at night.
Probably around 2 AM, I think.
I suddenly woke up.
—A voice.
A stifled voice.
In the dim darkness, I strained my ears.
It was coming from the next bed, beyon
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