A Wish on a Sparkler
This is an entry for Aki Fujiya's "Story Recruitment | Summer Embers Collaboration with Chiyo Ohashi."
A Wish on a Sparkler
“I wish it would never go out...”
We all gathered at the end of summer to set off fireworks, and as is tradition, we ended with sparklers. We lit them all at once, and the last two left were me and Aki-kun.
I remembered a conversation I had with my best friend Haru a week ago.
~・~・~・~・~
“I invited Aki-kun, too.”
I couldn't help but whip my head around to look at Haru. I locked eyes with her as she grinned like a Cheshire cat.
“Wow, you really took the bait, didn't you?”
She kept that grin on her face while saying things like, “It’s a good thing, yeah, yeah.” Whenever she makes that face, I know she’s definitely up to no good...
“Be grateful, okay? I’m creating a chance for you two to be alone. What? What is it? Stop it? Don't be shy, you!”
In the end, the plan went ahead, and here we were today. As for what I did in the meantime, well, I spent my nights praying, “God, please don't let the sparklers Aki-kun and I use go out, let us be alone together. And also...” ...Eek, I was doing things like that, yes.
~・~・~・~・~
“I wish it would never go out...”
At first, that’s what I thought, God. I also thought about wanting to be alone with him. Yes, I admit it. But you know...
“Hey, Natsu, what should we do? This thing...”
For an hour now, we had been staring at the sparkler that wouldn't go out. Haru had left with that Cheshire cat look on her face, telling me to “play it cool.” Since everyone else had gone home, we tried to force the fire out by sticking them in a bucket. But they wouldn't go out. ...It’s scary!
“We can't just go home like this, can we... No, seriously, what do we do? What is going on with this?”
Hey, God. You don't mean to tell me that this sparkler won't go out until we start dating, do you...? That's not it, really, that's not it. You can't turn this situation into a romance!
Please read the room a little better, God. Please.
(800 characters, including title)
It was labeled as a spin-off, but this is also related to the Nekomimi Village Festival, right? I had called my previous Nekomimi Live article my personal finale, but sorry, that was a mistake. Because when bait like this appears, I can't help but bite.
...So, I wrote a short story. At first, since it was based on a “tanka,” I hesitated, wondering if I, who am bad at tanka and haiku, could write one. But when I looked closely, it said it was okay to use “end of summer” or “sparkler” as a theme, and after reading the works already posted, it didn't feel like it had to be as formal as “based on a tanka!” (Sorry, that’s just my image of tanka and haiku. That’s exactly why I’m bad at them). So I thought, I can do this!
At first, I mistook the 800-character limit for “8000 characters,” and thought, well, I can't write something that long, so I'll just write whatever I want without worrying about the count. Then, when I went to post it, I re-read the requirements and realized... I frantically cut and cut... well, maybe not that much, but I cut about 400 characters. It was a good thing the original story was short. I really need to check the requirements properly from the start!
In this story, Natsu (the protagonist), Haru, and Aki appear. The stories I’ve written recently revolve around the four of them: Haru, Natsu, Aki, and Fuyu. But they aren't the same people; it's a parallel world, so to speak. Their personalities are quite different, too. But basically, Natsu is the protagonist, Haru is the best friend, and Aki-kun and Fuyu-kun are friends around them... or maybe not quite friends yet, I suppose?
I kind of like this structure, so I think I’ll keep having them appear in the future.
So, this was, for real this time, my final post for the Nekomimi Village Festival. Actually, today, the 12th, is the final day of the Nekomimi Village Festival. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Thank you very much for reading until the end.
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The thumbnail for this post uses an image by “Sushi Paku” from “Free Material Pakutaso [ https://www.pakutaso.com ]” (I have composited my own illustration). Thank you very much.
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