As the last rays of sunshine faded from the sky, the activity at Seiran Academy shut down for the night for the first ti in two days.
It wasn’t completely deserted, but the frantic energy that filled the academy with excitent during the festival was gone. The vendors who had sold food and drink at the festival were packing up and closing their stalls.
The clubs had completed their activities. The guests had gathered on the field, as all of the students who had run around all day long were now sitting down sowhere to relax.
In the middle of everything stood Kuro Kurogane, unable to move on his feet anymore because he had moved so much in the past two days.
For the last two days he had been solving problems: finding things that were missing from the festival, fixing the schedule, dealing with ergencies, stopping conflicts from occurring, finding lost children, finding the principal, and then finding the principal again, plus whatever else he might have had to do to keep the festival running smoothly.
After all of these things, he was not even sure he could walk at this point.
"Kuro."
A voice called to him.
He looked around to see who was calling.
It was Minami Asakura, carrying her clipboard, which was thicker than it had been two days prior.
This wasn’t a good thing.
"Sensei."
"You look awful.
"Thanks."
"That wasn’t a complint."
"Thought it was."
Minami sighed.
"You need to get so rest."
"So do you."
"No argunt here."
The two shared one of those rare monts of mutual understanding that were characteristic of two people who had both been through sothing and don’t want to go through it again.
Another voice interrupted them.
"Kuro!"
Akari. Naturally.
Akari raced up to him, waving happily.
"We’re done cleaning up!"
"Congratulations."
"I deserve a dal."
"No."
"I worked really hard."
"You were missing for six different tis."
"Details."
Monts later, Aoi showed up.
"Seven."
Akari pointed to Aoi imdiately.
"Traitor."
Aoi ignored her.
As usual.
Mina and Rika ca up and joined the others.
The group was finally together.
The festival was coming to a close.
And for the first ti in days, no one was running.
It felt weird.
Tranquil.
Comfortable.
The sky was getting darker.
Lights started to illuminate the school.
The evening breeze had beco cooler.
Families were gathering in the main field.
Students found places to sit.
Teachers were beginning to set up for the final event.
The firework display.
The closing event at the festival.
Even the most rambunctious students were now settling down.
The chaos had finally stopped.
For once, no one had a problem to fix.
No missing equipnt.
No broken systems.
No reoccurring ergencies.
People at the festival were having a good ti.
Kuro found a place on the ground behind the main stage to sit down. This would keep him out of sight, but still allow him to see all the action as it unfolded.
This was how he preferred to observe.
However, he still attracted attention.
Kuro heard the principal take the stage.
The microphone screeched.
A few students in the crowd put their hands over their ears.
The principal intentionally cleared his throat.
And began speaking.
"Students," said the principal.
The crowd beca quiet.
"This festival has been an impressive success."
He received applause.
"People ca from out of town and enjoyed this festival," said the principal.
The audience applauded again.
"The clubs who perford at the festival were outstanding."
The students cheered again.
"Our teachers have endured."
There was laughter from the audience.
Minami looked like she’d been stabbed.
After a brief pause, the principal continued.
"I would like to thank everyone who has made this festival successful. "
He then began to list every group that assisted with the festival.
"The Student Council." The audience clapped.
"The Student Committee mbers." The audience clapped.
"Teachers and Faculty." The audience clapped again.
Then there was silence.
Kuro was extrely nervous.
And just like he had anticipated, he was right to be.
"There is one student who needs to be recognized for his contribution."
Kuro was frozen in shock.
No. He couldn’t be serious.
He can’t be referring to .
Please tell I didn’t just hear that.
The principal grinned.
"If it wasn’t for this student, this festival would have collapsed several tis."
The students began looking around.
The principal pointed his finger.
The crowd cheered loudly.
Claps.
Yells.
Whistles.
Laughter.
At that mont, Kuro thought about fleeing to another country.
Right now.
Akari indicated him.
"It’s you."
"I know."
Aoi was faintly smiling at him.
Mina was laughing.
Rika was looking with an expression that was a combination of pride and suspicion.
Minami applauded.
This, sohow, embarrassed him even more than everyone else had.
The principal spoke next.
"Kuro Kurogane."
The response was growing louder; more people were applauding than had before.
Kuro wished the ground would swallow him up, but was not going to get that wish.
That was a tragedy.
After a long few minutes, the speech finally ended, and the field went black.
The first firework launched.
A magnificent streak of light.
Boom.
Color exploded above.
Blue.
Red.
Gold.
Silver.
The audience erupted with applause; the other fireworks followed one after the other and created dozens of large explosions marking the opening of the festival.
Over the course of about seven minutes, no one spoke; the only sounds at the festival were the sounds of fireworks surrounding them.
Everyone stood still; they were srized by the beauty of what was unfolding in the sky.
Soti during this spectacle, Kuro caught himself smiling.
Not because of the fireworks, but because of the people surrounding him, naly: Aoi, Akari, Mina, and Rika and even Minami standing there with the teachers.
Without realizing it at the ti, Kuro had developed friendships with these people that had beco very significant to him.
He felt kind of strange, but not unpleasant.
When the last fireworks ended, hundreds exploded at once, lighting the night sky; the entire area lit up and the audience cheered together, families clapped for one another, and friends laughed with one another.
It was the perfect way to end the night and, for Kuro, he wasn’t running from there.
He was soaking up the experience.
The last firework lit up the sky.
It was an enormous flower of gold over the pitch black sky.
And then, silence.
The festival was done.
Just like that.
All of the craziness from the last two days.
The stress.
The laughter.
The mories.
Gone.
But everyone knew they would rember for a long ti from now.
Students started to leave the field.
Groups of friends walked together to the exit.
Teachers were smiling and relaxing.
mbers of clubs were celebrating because they survived the last two days.
It lightened the mood of the entire place.
As if they all had shared sothing.
Sothing important.
Akari stretched her body into a dramatic pose.
"I’m so tired."
"You’ve said that 20 tis already."
Aoi said back.
"But that’s still true."
Mina laughed.
Rika was talking about the plan for next year.
Everybody stopped and ignored her.
Even Kuro.
Because certain plans were too dangerous to think about.
Slowly, they made their way to the school gate.
Talking.
Laughing.
Teasing one another.
For the first ti since the beginning of the story, everything felt different.
Closer.
Warr.
Like they’re a real group of people.
Like they’re a real family.
Like they’re a real ho.
As the night ti streets were quickly filled, the school continued to empty behind them.
The lights began to go out. Tomorrow, all of the decorations from the festivities would be taken down. The grounds would soon return to a normal state.
If the story had ended there, it would have been a good end.
But fate had another plan.
A girl that appeared to be Kuro’s age was standing at the entrance of the festival.
She was alone.
She had long, dark red hair that blew slightly in the light breeze of the night sky.
At her feet was a bag.
In her hand was an old photo.
A photo of two children.
One of them was easily recognizable.
Kuro, only much younger.
The girl was looking down at the photo.
Then she looked in the direction that Kuro had just gone.
She smiled softly.
With a smile full of nostalgia.
With recognition and determination.
She gently put away the photo.
Then set her bag down properly.
"It took long enough to find you, Kuro."
The wind said the girl’s na softly.
Kuro was walking ho without knowing about the storm that was coming.
The festival was over, but the next Chapter in Kuro’s life was about to begin.
In house , Daichi had completing the cooking and cleaning before dinner began when sothing occurred to him, so he laughed out loud.
" It reminded of that tomorrow will be the last ti that school is in session before the beginning of sumr vacation."
Then Shizuka grinned. "After that, it’s going to be very noisy at ho.
Kuro, Aoi and Akari are going to be at ho every day this whole ti and, even without their usual loudness, we all know it will not be quiet at all there this coming sumr!
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