CH ss - 18

SS 18: The Couple Enjoying Out-of-Season Sparklers

Translated by: chocolalaEdited by: Seiryuu

“Hey, Yamato-kun, let’s play with some sparklers!”

In the literature club room, as usual, Yuzu suddenly made such a proposal.

“Sparklers? Do you know what season it is? It’s autumn.”1

Although we sometimes had calm autumn weather, these days it had been fairly cool.

Yet Yuzu laughed, not at all taking my comment to heart.

“That’s exactly why. Look at these sparklers. They’ve been sold at the local supermarket as a bargain.”

Yuzu took out a set of store-bought sparklers from her bag.

“You’re bringing something baffling thing again… Well, you’ve bought it, there’s no choice. It’s a waste if we don’t use it, let’s play.”

“That’s my boy! If we do it at school we’ll get suspended, let’s go to the park!”

“Roger. We’ll have to buy some buckets and lighters on the way.”

I packed my bags and left the school with Yushu.

It was getting deep into autumn and the sun was setting very early. The sky was still red when we left the school, but by the time we got to the park, it was completely dark.

“Yes. There’s no one around. It’s a nice day to play this.”

“Don’t look so happy, help me get ready.”

While Yuzu was enjoying herself, I filled a bucket with water and lit a candle with a lighter.

“Okay, let’s get on with it.”

“Yes. So Yamato-kun, you take this.”

Yuzu grabbed two sparklers and handed me one of them. We both put the sparklers close to the candle. As soon as the tip of the sparklers caught fire, the powder at the core ignited and spewed out green sparks.

—Only for Yuzu.

“Wow, it’s beautiful. I love sparklers.2“

Next to Yuzu, who was delighted with the beautiful colour of the fire, I frowned.

“Hmm, mine’s damp, here.”

“You have no luck. Well, these are bargain items, so there’s no helping it. There are still more, it doesn’t matter if one of them is damp.” Yuzu said as she passed me another sparkler.

I regained my composure and brought the sparkler close to the candle again. This time, as soon as the gunpowder was ignited, sparks erupted with great force.

“Oh, I’m glad. This time it’s a hit.”

“Well done, Yamato-kun. Oh, I’m done with mine.”

Immediately after my sparkler was lit, Yushu’s sparkler stopped shooting fire as if it was withering away. She immediately grabbed a new sparkler and brought it closer to mine, which was still spurting out sparks.

“Yamato-kun. Share your fire.”

“Sure.”

A mass of sparks showered on Yuzu’s sparkler. Then her sparkler also bloomed into a beautiful display of fire—which extinguished in less than five seconds.

“Uwah, mine’s damp too. Could it be there’s a lot of ‘misses’ in this batch?”

“What a typical example of ‘cheap and shoddy’…”

It was a bit hard to get excited when you’ve got such high odds for useless ones. Inwardly, I felt like I was in a bit of a pickle; Yuzu, on the other hand, clapped her hands as if she had thought of something.

“Hmmm… Okay! Let’s make it a game!”

“Game?”

When I tilted my head in confusion, Yuzu nodded happily.

“Yes. We light five sparklers each, and the one with the most hits wins. The loser gets a penalty!”

“You’ve got some interesting ideas. That’s just the thing I want.”

It was one of Yuzu’s virtues that she could turn a little trouble like this into something fun.

“Okay, if I win, tomorrow I’ll have you level-up in the game for me.”

To add to the tension, I announced the punishment upfront.

“I got it. Then, if I win, you’ll buy me a fancy French dinner on our next date!”

“Isn’t that on a whole different scale from mine?!”

“In things like this, the one who says it out first gets the short end of the stick! Rather, you should be happy that you get to be on a date with me at a fancy French restaurant.”

‘Her eyes are serious… I can’t lose this one!’ My nerves were at an all-time high and the game started.

“Let’s start with the first one.”

“Uh, sure!”

I ignited the lighter with a heart full of prayers.

My sparkler was… not damp, YAY!

“Ah, my sparkler lit up as well. So it’s a draw.”

“Uh… I was hoping for a good start.”

The extinguished sparklers were plunged into a bucket and the next round of the game was on.

“Alright, the second one. I… oh, it lit up!”

“Ugh… Mine was no good.”

In comparison to Yuzu’s beautiful sparklers, mine only burned on the surface and did not react in any way. When I tried to put the dud sparklers into the bucket with bitterness, Yuzu stopped me.

“Oh, wait. Let’s put the dud sparklers next to the bucket so we can see how many were off. Later we can pour water on them altogether.”

“Yes, you’re right. I don’t want you to count wrong when I win.” I replied, placing my sparkler on the right side of the bucket.

“Oh, I see you’re not heartbroken yet. I can’t wait to see the look of pain on your face when you treat me to a French meal.”

“Don’t you have any qualms about the fact that people think it’s painful to go on a date with you…?”

We moved on to the third round with our meaningless banter.

Here, for the first time, Yuzu’s sparkler failed to go off. My sparker, on the other hand, ignited beautifully.

“Good! Yes! Nice one, it’s very pretty! So beautiful! You’re the best sparkler in the world! I love you!”

I unreservedly applauded the sparkler that had brilliantly sparkled to triumph.

“Mmm. Can you please not give the sparkler such compliments that you’ve never even said to me? It makes me jealous.”

Yuzu’s cheeks puffed up as she placed the dud sparkler on the left side of the bucket.

“It’s all right. You’re cute and pretty too, Yuzu. I love you.”

“Your choice of words is too casual! Forget it, I’m definitely going to make you treat me…!”

I was in a good mood, so I just casually brushed it off; this only made Yuzu be all the more worked up.

When we entered the fourth round, both of us had two hits and one miss.

“Oh, it lit up.”

“Mine too.”

Both our sparklers beautifully emitted the same colour of sparks.

“‘Just to be clear, what happens in the event of a draw?”

In response to my question, Yuzu showed a little thoughtful gesture and then answered, “Hm… Isn’t it okay to consider it nothing? If that happens, how about we have dinner at a family restaurant3, just the two of us?”

“Well, that’s okay too… Oh, and just so you know, the bill will be split.”

I pointed that out, in case she still had some other traps; Yuzu wryly smiled in return.

“I know. Don’t worry, I won’t make you treat me.”

Good, then. I had saved up a lot of money to buy an RPG, and I didn’t want to simply throw it away here.

“Yes, yes. Then, here we go to the fifth round. It’s the last, so choose by yourself the sparkler that will decide your destiny.”

Yushu quickly chose one for herself and handed me the pack of sparklers.

“I wonder which one is good…” The fate of my wallet was on the line.

I stared hard at the sparklers and mentally compared them. ‘It’s a good idea to use a sparkler that has as much explosive as possible. That way, even if the outside is a bit damp, there may still be a safe part inside.’

“I’ve decided! I’m going to bet on this one!”

I grabbed the sparkler that looked like it contained the most explosive.

“‘All right, now let’s get close to the candle. Ready?”

We both set our sparklers on the candle at the same time. The tension in the air was intense. Victory, loss, draw; the outcome of this match which had all the possibilities was—

“…It doesn’t light up.”

“…Mine too.”

—In the end, the game was a dull draw, with both sides’ sparklers failing to light up.

“It was a bit of a letdown. It would have been nice if they had both worked out and it had been a draw!”

Perhaps because she was relieved of his tension, Yuzu was smiling happily, although she complained in words.

“Really. Maybe this is the right outcome for us.”

I felt the same sense of liberation and naturally burst into a relaxed laugh. I couldn’t believe just a sparkler could make me this worn out.

“Phew… Then, since it’s a draw, let’s clean up, and then to the family restaurant we go!”

“Yeah. Yuzu, you already prepared the sparklers, so I’ll do the cleanup.” I suggested that and Yuzu nodded.

“Really? Thank you. I’m going to go call my mum and tell her I’ll be home late.”

“Okay, see ya!”

After seeing Yuzu off to make a phone call, I started to clean up. Even if I could throw away the bucket of water, I would still have to take home the trash. I’d just put the wet sparklers in a plastic bag and put them in my bag.

“…Just in case, I guess it’s better to soak the dud sparklers in water as well.”

It would be scary if one of them exploded in my bag. So I looked at both our sparklers that failed to lit.

“…”

—Then I had a hunch, a kind of deduction in my mind. No, it was not so great as a deduction. Just a little intuition that perhaps if it’s Yuzu, she would do something like that. On the left side of the bucket, there were Yuzu’s failed sparklers.

I softly took the one at the most left—the one she had used in our fifth round. Then, I touched the tip.

“…As I thought.”

The sparkler she used for the fifth round was—wet. It wasn’t damp or anything like that. They were so wet that you would think they had been completely immersed in water at least once.

“Yes, yes. Then, here we go to the fifth round. It’s the last, so choose by yourself the sparkler that would decide your destiny.”

“Was it during that time…?”

Did she secretly soak her sparkler in a bucket of water while letting me choose?

…In the end, she probably didn’t intend to win in the first place. She was just trying to find a way to have fun with these damp sparklers.

“…My goodness, she really is—”

This Riaju, she was good at being considerate, or just too good for her own good.

“Hey, Yamato-kun! My mum has given me the OK! So let’s go to a family restaurant!”

Just then, Yuzu, who had finished her call, waved at me excitedly. I finished cleaning up quickly and went to her with my stuff.

“Roger. Well, I lost half the time, so if you don’t mind a family restaurant, let me treat you.”

It was frustrating to be unilaterally treated so considerately, so I offered to do so, which was quite unusual for me.

“Oh, why all of a sudden? What’s going on?”

“…Nothing. It’s normal for a boyfriend to treat you on a date.”

When I replied that, Yuzu smiled somewhat ticklishly.

“Fufu, that’s right. Yeah, Yamato-kun is finally becoming aware of himself as a boyfriend, isn’t he?”

“Well, yes. I owe it all to my very considerate girlfriend.”

“Totally right. You should be thanking me for making you a good man, okay?”

I shrugged my shoulders and replied, and Yuzu grabbed my hand, the one without the bag.

“What is it?”

“Isn’t it normal to hold your girlfriend’s hands on a date?”

“…Um, yeah.”

I felt somewhat embarrassed, but Yuzu looked up at me with her usual smile.

“Hey, Yamato-kun. Let’s properly play the sparklers in summer next year.”

“Yeah. But next time, make sure they aren’t damp.”

As I nodded, I lapsed into thinking how the two of us would be in the following year.

chocolala: Back to a long chapter. But aww, that’s so sweet. Yuzu, you surely are invested in this fake affair.

Footnotes

In Japan, fireworks and sparklers are mainly played during summers, it’s like a seasonal thing to do.I can’t help feeling awkward with this, because in Japanese and my mother tongue, firework and sparkler use the same wordI know this is very Japan-like terms, basically it’s like a diner