On Saturday and Sunday, the music store would be closed as it was the weekend of Tsuchiura Kirara Festival, the festival which combined Tanabata and Lake Kasumigaura Festival into one summer festival since 1990.

The whole area on the west side of Tsuchiura Station, starting from Kasumigaura port to Kijo Park north intersection was closed off and turned into one long pedestrian path.

The Tanabata decoration was already put up from the start of the week, and on the weekends was the main event. A lot of people attended each year with various activities classic to the summer festival. Float parade, folk dance, band performances, flea markets and food stalls. There's even a high school showcase event for each school's specialty, but by far the most unusual attraction would be the full-size replica of Mobile Police Patlabor mecha that somehow became a thing.

Neither Ippei nor Mizuho had ever attended the festival, for different reasons. Ippei never attended because most of his friends were nerds who didn't like going outside much, and Ippei thought going alone would be kind of sad. Mizuho, however, never attended because he hated the heat and the crowd.

It was going to be that way again this year, until Sachiko asked if Ippei wanted to go, and he said yes. Finally there was a reason for him to go there, along with a few of his and her friends from school.

The parking was difficult to find, and there was a lot of traffic from all over the city, so Ippei offered Sachiko to leave her bike at his house so they could walk to the festival together. However, there was a dilemma...

On Friday evening, Ippei was chatting with Sachiko.

'So, should I arrive at 3 PM?' Sachiko asked on a messaging app.

'Eh? Why hurry?' Ippei was confused.

'I want to see our friends answering quizzes on the stage! That's at 4 PM.'

'It's too warm and there's probably a lot of people we know there...'

'You say that like it's a bad thing.' Sachiko ended the message with an unsatisfied emoji.

Ippei just knew he was on rocky ground with that, so he conceded.

'Fine, we'll go.' Ippei gave in to the demand.

'Excellent!' Sachiko replied with a lot of happy emoji.

Ippei was kind of hesitant, but realized that it's probably fine at this point. The only issue was the half hour walk, but it's not the end of the world, but then Ippei had an idea. He turned to Mizuho, who was watching Fullmetal Alchemist on a watch along with Oozora Subaru.

"Dad, can you take me to the Kirara festival tomorrow?" Ippei asked, and Mizuho seemed to not want to.

"Ehhh? There'd be a lot of people..." Mizuho started grumbling.

"Sachiko asked if I wanted to go, and I figured there'd be a lot of traffic with little parking there..."

Mizuho turned quickly away from Oozora Subaru once he realized Ippei's motive, and looked at Ippei with suddenly helpful look.

"So you want me to shuttle you and Sachiko-kun from here to the festival?" Mizuho asked for the confirmation.

"If you don't want to, it's fine..."

"No no no, I'd be glad to. It's a 5 minute drive instead of a half an hour walk, and I'm not letting you ride my Gorilla to that festival."

"Eh, why?"

Ippei was very confused, as it was not even on his mind at the moment as an option, so why was Mizuho giving an absolute no-no and offering his service even without his asking?

"Ah, it's just a precaution in case you're thinking about it." Mizuho explained, but not answering the question.

Ippei knew well enough to let it go and not question further, as it'd be pointless.

"I mean, the traffic would be bad, I'm not going across Suigo Bridge. You would be okay with that, right?" Mizuho continued. It was not exactly without conditions, but Ippei was happy enough for it.

"Sure, dad."

Ippei was wondering if the event of the week ago made Mizuho more kind towards Sachiko than he'd have been if she was not the same sort of person as him. A geek. There's no doubt a bit of endearment from her status, but it was mainly the compatibility that made Mizuho accept her so much quicker than he'd imagined.

Like, when Ippei imagined if he brought his ex-girlfriend to his house, he couldn't see Mizuho being this kind. He'd very likely be aloof and perhaps slightly distrustful, as he always was with most people. Despite nothing really wrong with Ippei's ex, but don't tell Sachiko that.

The next day, Ippei was excited for the event, the first time in his life that he'd be visiting an incredible event happening in his hometown of Tsuchiura. He's still asking himself why in the 17 nearly 18 years he's been here, his dad never brought him there.

Sachiko turned up right on the dot, 3 PM, on her blue and white Honda Little Cub. She got off the bike and walked through the front door of the PC Shop, seeing Mizuho sitting there. Once Mizuho noticed, he quickly got up from the chair and was eager to welcome her.

"Hello, Sachiko-kun!" Mizuho greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Good day, Noda-san, how are you?..." Sachiko greeted him back with the same smile, "are you open today?"

"Eh, not really, it's just that I'm not going anywhere so if there's a customer I'd welcome them regardless."

At that moment, Ippei opened the door and peeked out, waving his hand inviting Sachiko to come to the living room. He was slightly embarrassed still about his girlfriend visiting the house with his dad there.

"Has Ippei told you I'll drive you two to the festival?" Mizuho continued, not noticing Ippei's gesture.

"Oh?! Really? That'd help so much, Noda-san!" Sachiko said, pleasantly surprised.

Ippei's face was now red and he was beckoning harder, wanting her to walk pass his dad quicker. Sachiko had notice and already started walking towards the door.

"Did you know Ippei had never been to the festival?" Mizuho was still talking, which infuriated Ippei slightly more.

"Ehhh?! Despite him living this close to the station?" Sachiko was even more surprised by that fact.

"Yeah, no one invited him before, you know?"

"Poor guy... have you not wanted to bring him there, Noda-san?" Sachiko continued the conversation despite Ippei's protest.

"Well, I don't like it. I'm a hermit. I like staying home." Mizuho was being completely honest, and Sachiko understood him.

"I see... I've not gone there often either, Noda-san. Especially with the recent pandemic and such..."

The living room door opened wide, and Ippei quickly rushed towards Sachiko, grabbing her arm and pulled her away into the living room.

"Sorry, the event is at 4 PM, right? We should hurry a bit." Ippei said as he hurriedly brought along Sachiko.

"Ehhh, but isn't your dad shuttling us there anyway, so we don't have to?..."

Mizuho saw the two disappear into the room, and was quite bemused by the imagery. Especially with Ippei blushing hard while Sachiko was completely oblivious to his plight.

"Who's coming to the festival today?" Ippei asked, as he prepared the cushion for Sachiko to sit on.

"Oh, I don't know all of them, a lot I guess." Sachiko replied, still a bit dazed from being quickly pulled into the room.

Considering even a perpetually online guy like Akira expressed an interest in coming as well, Ippei could understand why it was hard to gauge how many would turn up.

"So," Sachiko shook the duffle bag she brought with her, "where do I change?"

"Ah, the upstairs bathroom would be better." Ippei pointed.

"Okay then."

Stolen story; please report.

Ippei then led Sachiko to where the bathroom was, then she disappeared into it for a while. A long while. It took so long Ippei was worried that they might not make it on time, but when Sachiko came back out, she took Ippei's breath away.

The female students who'd decided they'd visit the festival together, have all agreed that they would be either renting or bringing out the yukata they already had to wear. Sachiko had one, an indigo flower patterned yukata her mother forced her to purchase a few years back for events such as this one. It was perfect for her.

"How do I look?" Sachiko asked, but Ippei couldn't think of an answer.

"You..." Ippei paused for a long while, "you look gorgeous."

"Really?! Alright then!"

Sachiko was really happy to hear that, but Ippei was looking at himself and thought, man, he's bringing her down today with his wonky fashion sense. The difference was so bad that Ippei considered changing into something else, despite deciding a while ago that this shirt and jeans was probably enough.

There was not enough time though, the event was about to start.

Mizuho drove the two to Suigo Bridge as promised, then Ippei and Sachiko walked only 10 minutes to the stage where the school showcase was held, quite a lot of their friends indeed turned up, including Akira.

"Here's the lovebirds." Akira quipped as soon as he saw Ippei and Sachiko from the crowd.

"What?" Ippei asked, as he was not within hearing distance when he walked in, the whole group started giggling by then.

"Nothing."

The girls were admiring each other, praising how cute they all looked, while the boys were also observing from not far but kept quietly to themselves their opinion. They didn't have to say anything and yet they understood what they all really thought. They all approved.

This particular event was not actually interesting from the festival itself. It's seeing their friends in the trivia quiz club up on the stage.

Part of the reason why so many turned up was the feeling from the 3rd year students that after this, some of them may not be around Tsuchiura anymore. Hell, some of them even dropped off already. Like Ryoji. Who'd likely have been on the stage as well, answering questions even though he wasn't in the club.

Thinking back about it, Ippei was still imagining how different it could've gone, but it's not like dwelling on it would bring him back the way it was before.

Who knows, maybe one day when everything was better, perhaps they'd meet again. It's not something that any of them would be able to predict, right?

The main reason why they came here was over in less than 20 minutes. There were more people attending the area events now that the temperature had dropped slightly, a lot of the students wanted to visit other events in the area. Most decided all by themselves and at the end, there were 3 people left.

Ippei and Sachiko obviously would be together, but they couldn't help but notice that Akira was still with them instead of going off with his other friends. Ippei was his closest friend after all.

"Am I a third wheel?" Akira asked nonchalantly.

Ippei and Sachiko looked at each other with a knowing glance, before they both turned back and nodded slightly.

"Oh well," Akira sighed, "I'll go find the others."

"Hey," Ippei pulled Akira before he could walk away, "come on, I'm not going to leave you behind like that."

"That's not what you always did in the past..."

"I am considering leaving you behind now."

"I'm just joking!" Akira quickly explained before Ippei was actually pissed off, it made Sachiko chuckle.

The group then walked around the street of Tsuchiura, where people were coming in more and more as the evening went on. There was a lot to absorb in, and the 1 kilometer stretch was not easy to navigate due to the amount of people.

It surprised all of them how many people came to the festival, really. The most surprised was Ippei, who thought it'd be an event for old farts reminiscing how better the past was, but that turned out not to be the case at all. Many younger people are attending, high school and college students from various places as well.

The group bought so much food from the stalls around Kawaguchicho bus stop. All summer festival classics. Usually the area around here was all concrete and bland, with the Tsuchiura New Way cutting through the street above, but with the Tanabata decoration and the amount of people there, the area was much more lively.

Then, Akira wanted to watch the Patlabor mecha at Kijo Park, but by this point there were so many people crowded around that it was difficult to even walk through.

"Well, sorry for bothering you two, but now I must go." Akira shouted to tell Ippei, even then it was in jest.

"Just go, Akira," Ippei did not intend it to sound like he's shooing Akira away, but it sounded that way anyway.

"Ehhhh? Don't you love me no more now that you've found somebody else?"

Ippei raised his eyebrows hard at that joke from Akira, it tickled Sachiko so hard she actually laughed out loud from the interaction.

"I'll see you around." Akira waved with a smirk, "Have a good one."

Ippei sighed from Akira's antics, but deeply, he wouldn't have his friend in any other way.

Afterward, Sachiko pulled Ippei closer and locked his arm in. He was slightly startled from the sudden act.

"There's too many people here, don't you think?" Sachiko said, there's clear weariness in her face.

"I agree," Ippei quickly answered, "I agree so much and I was going to suggest going somewhere else anyway."

"What time is it?" Sachiko asked, as she didn't have a watch, and bringing out the phone from her bag would be a pain.

"7.30 PM."

"How long do you think it'd take to walk to the Ring Ring road?"

Sachiko was talking about the Tsukuba Kasumigaura Ring Ring Road, the 180 kilometer long cycle path that looped around Lake Kasumigaura and even branching off to Mt. Tsukuba. The starting point at Tsuchiura Port was determined by Sachiko to be the best place to watch the fireworks.

"20 minutes?" Ippei answered in an estimate.

"The fireworks are at 8.30, right?" Sachiko replied, "We should find somewhere to rest."

Both Ippei and Sachiko agreed that Kawaguchi Sports Park probably had some seating area with less crowd, and from there it's less than 5 minutes away to the destination, or if they found a nice location, they could definitely just stay there until the fireworks. They eventually did find the place, a public park bench with a couple of other people relaxing there. And to pass the time, they were just having conversations.

"How's work?" Sachiko asked, "Is it any good?"

"It's fantastic." Ippei answered enthusiastically, "Everybody is so nice, Ueno-san is mostly laid back and kind, but serious when it comes to work, and Asada-senpai is extremely knowledgeable about music."

"The same Asada-senpai you told me looked kinda scary?"

"Yeah." Ippei remembered the first day at work he texted Sachiko that.

"Is she still scary?"

"Not really, no. I realized she just... looks like someone who doesn't crack jokes, but she's actually normal."

Sachiko was imagining this 'Asada-senpai' in her head from how Ippei described her.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, huh..." Sachiko mused.

"But I'm grateful and quite glad I took this job, really." Ippei continued, "I've always liked music, you know? I won't admit I'm good at it, but it's something that I feel... I want to learn more, and invest in it in some capacity."

Ippei paused for a bit, Sachiko saw that he had a profound look of realization not long ago. There's a sense of direction, a goal that he finally could move towards finally. It made him radiant like he never could before.

"I'm glad for you." Sachiko said with a slight smile. Happy that Ippei's outlook on life finally was not full of doubt.

Weirdly enough, it was Sachiko who suddenly had doubts about the goal she set quite a while ago. It crept up without her knowing, and she didn't want to tell anyone, not even Ippei. It was mainly from immersing herself in the media. Sachiko read and knew about the effects of modern media on mental health, but she didn't realize that it would affect her, not to this extent.

Sometimes, things that bring you down wouldn't even be a big moment, but rather the slow accumulating stress from things outside your control. It's difficult not to learn about things when information is being spread constantly. An article here and there, a television broadcast that's overhead, and even discussions from those who indirectly talked about it.

Sachiko knew that completely discarding the information intake would be stupid and impossible, but taking in too much also would wear anyone down.

Ippei noticed that Sachiko went quiet and was thinking about something with a troubled look on her face, it was not something usual so he was quite concerned.

"Is there something wrong?" Ippei asked, which made Sachiko realize her expression must've shown.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it. I'm just thinking about things." Sachiko tried to dismiss, but Ippei didn't seem convinced.

"You know, after what happened with my dad, I realized something..."

"What is it?"

"You may think it'd be bothersome, but unless you ask for help, there's nothing the people around you can do to alleviate whatever trouble you'd have. You've helped me before, and I'm grateful for it, and I'd be glad to sort out the things that may trouble you right now."

Ippei offered his help in the most neutral tone possible, he didn't want to be intrusive, but he genuinely felt that way. If there's something that made Sachiko sad, he wanted it to go away, but first Sachiko had to communicate whatever it was first.

"Well, it's just that," Sachiko hesitated, but realized that Ippei's intention was a noble one and she couldn't really decline, "I don't know when it happened, right? But I'm starting to have this thought."

"Thought about what?" Ippei asked, looking concerned.

"What if basing your entire career path on a shrinking industry is a bad idea? Schools are closing everyday, and even the amount of applications to our school seems to be shrinking, even if the admission rate is the same level."

Ippei immediately got what Sachiko meant, and why it concerned her.

"Well, I personally don't think you'll ever be obsolete if you become a teacher, Sachiko." Ippei gave his opinion.

"Yeah, I know. It's a stupid thought, that's why I didn't want to tell anyone..." Sachiko continued, "It's not the only issue I have though. I talked to Yamada-sensei quite a bit, and I don't know... Maybe I'm just thinking things, but I'm sensing that even she couldn't really fully support the idea..."

"It's from the perspective of somebody working that exact profession, right?"

"Yeah. It's pretty recent as well that I'm getting this impression from her, and it's... making me doubt it's a good idea."

Ippei contemplated what Sachiko had to say for a bit, thinking what she needed to hear right now.

"Remember when you first told me? About your goal." Ippei said, and Sachiko averted her eyes.

"I know, I know, it sounded like a middle school idealistic fantasy..." Sachiko was dismissing that idea, but Ippei wasn't having it.

"You were right though, being a teacher is about shaping the future, and that's cool as hell even if in reality there's a lot of drawbacks. If no one wants to do it, the entire nation is in trouble. You yourself know how important that is..."

"It never seemed like anyone actually cared though... The pay's bad, and the stress is unreal."

"So are a lot of other jobs, but would they be as fulfilling?"

"I don't know..."

Ippei grabbed Sachiko by the shoulder, and turned her around to face him directly. It surprised Sachiko quite a bit that he had this look of determination on him, something that she never thought he'd have easily.

"I can't predict the future, Sachiko, what you and I are doing may not result in what we expected when we consider it, but until that time actually comes, there's no point in being scared, right?"

Sachiko understood where Ippei was coming from, but there were still doubts in her mind that would not go away easily. Not with a little encouragement no matter who it was from.

"One thing I know for sure though, and it'll be true for an unforeseeable future, is that I want to be with you, no matter what you decide to do, no matter where you go."

Suddenly, the gloominess was gone, in place there was a sense of care, affection, and adoration. For a moment, the worries were gone, even if it wouldn't go away permanently, but that didn't matter right now.

"I love you, Sachiko."

Those few words fluttered their hearts.

To them, they didn't care anymore if the strangers around the place would be watching. For a short moment, this would be their world.

In the heat of the moment, they moved closer together, and their lips pressed against each other gently, and time seemed to stop for a moment.

Even then, neither one of them wanted it to be over.