No honorifics allowed
Back to last summer.
Right after my night with Rin ended.
I received an invitation from Aris.
“You’re here! Mr. Kim Deok-Sung!”
There she was, a slender beauty with silver hair leaning against a Benz S-Class in the bustling district.
It was Aris.
She waved at me.
Today’s Aris was wearing a white yukata.
“Ah, yes. Senpai.”
“…Didn’t I tell you not to call me senpai?”
Aris puffed her cheeks at my words.
Since graduation, Aris has become much softer after shedding the burden of being Student Council President.
Of course, she awakened to EX Rank while doing field missions as an adult and became a member of the New Crowns, but still, her attitude was much lighter than before.
“Understood. Ms. Aris.”
“…Ah, just call me Aris. N-no honorifics, please…”
She stuttered again, turning red at my comment.
She brushed her silver hair aside.
Such a sight was unnecessarily cute.
“Got it. Aris.”
“Ugh…”
Upon hearing me speak informally, Aris’s face turned even redder.
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“W-what are you doing when everyone else is watching? Mr. Kim Deok-Sung!”
She pinched my arm lightly, pouting.
She was adorably innocent in situations like this.
“Ow! Youth, huh?”
“Isn’t it a nice time?”
“Hey, isn’t that the Messiah?”
“Speaking of which, beside him is the Silver Queen, Saionji Aris?”
“Are they on a date or something?!”
While we were bickering, the surrounding extras began to gather and murmur.
Getting famous comes with its problems.
“Ah, anyway! U-um, hurry and get in the car!”
Aris, with a face even redder than before, pushed me into the car.
Click.
The car door closed, and the Benz she was driving took off.
Swish.
The scenery of Tokyo sped by outside the window.
I buckled my seatbelt and turned to look at her, sitting in the driver’s seat.
“So, where are we headed today?”
“…You do know it’s summer festival season, right?”
Aris responded to my question with another question.
Since it was summer, it was indeed summer festival season.
I recalled the time I enjoyed the summer festival in Tokyo around this time as a freshman.
The last fireworks, Olivia’s confession, and the duel with William.
To the duel with my mother.
It was a dynamic summer festival.
I nodded to Aris’s words.
“So today… I want to invite Kim Deok-Sung to the summer festival in my hometown.”
Aris said, stammering and blushing.
So that’s why she wore a yukata.
Festival attire.
“Are you not that fond of summer festivals?”
“No.”
I shook my head at Aris’s words.
I didn’t care where it was as long as I was with her.
“I’m relieved.”
Aris’s expression relaxed at my response.
So we took her car and drove, arriving at her hometown in Wakayama Prefecture, where I had been before in my first year.
Fields and farms, and tangerine orchards mixed together in a plain with a quaint rural village.
Additionally, I saw Aris’s statue near the village, and next to it was my statue.
Wait a minute.
“Why is my statue even standing here?”
When I came before, there was definitely only Aris’s statue.
What the heck? As I was puzzled, Aris awkwardly smiled.
“Uh, that’s… The villagers wanted a husband’s statue next to the wife’s statue, I heard. I swear I didn’t order it, Kim Deok-Sung!”
Aris shook her flushed face in denial as if in desperate protest.
After the park with my statue was established in the middle of Tokyo, I thought I had gotten somewhat used to the damn statue.
I never thought I’d get hit on the back of the head in a place like this.
My head is spinning.
“Uh, let’s get out for now. My parents are waiting.”
Aris grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the car.
We passed the familiar back alley from my first year and arrived at Aris’s family home.
As I opened the door of a house that resembled but was different from a typical Korean countryside home, familiar faces greeted me.
“Aris, you’re back? Oh, Kim, come in.”
“Hahaha. Did you come to join the festival? Have fun. My son has already gone off to the festivities.”
Aris’s mother and father welcomed me.
The combination of her petite mother and her muscular father was always a bit strange.
“…Yes, parents. I’m back.”
Aris blushed as she greeted them in the local dialect.
“This is a gift.”
Aris handed her shopping bag to her parents.
“It’s been a while. Hello, Ma’am, Sir.”
I also bowed to greet Aris’s parents.
“Oh dear. Our Kim is really polite. As expected, Aris brought home an excellent husband.”
“Hahaha. Now that greetings are over, let’s not worry about us and go enjoy the festival.”
With smiling faces, Aris’s parents waved us off.
Do we really not need to care here? Probably not.
This is a ridiculously friendly light novel world.
No need to suspect others.
“Got it. Let’s go, Aris.”
I firmly grabbed Aris’s wrist and led her away.
“Uh, wait. Kim Deok-Sung. Th-that…”
Aris’s face turned red, but I pulled her out while greeting her parents.
“Then I’ll have a great time at the festival with Aris. Ma’am, Sir.”
“Hahaha! Youth is splendid.”
“Have a good time!”
With Aris’s parents seeing us off, I pulled Aris back outside.
I pulled Aris outside again.
Thud.
The gate closed.
“…Ugh…”
Aris, whose wrist I had grabbed, blushed and let out a low moan.
“P-please let go, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
At her words, I released her wrist.
“…Honestly, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung, you really have no shame. But I suppose that’s part of your charm…”
She looked at me and said.
The phrase “that’s part of your charm” was said so quietly that others wouldn’t have heard it, but it was loud and clear to my ears.
If I were a light novel protagonist, I might have missed it, but unfortunately, my hearing is perfectly normal.
“Thanks for the compliment about my charm.”
“…W-why are you even listening to that?! Y-you?! Ugh…!”
Her face turned red as she protested in her dialect at my reply.
I like the usual Aris, but truthfully, the moments when she loses her composure and speaks in dialect are the cutest.
Thinking that, I said to Aris,
“What are you doing? Weren’t you going to participate in the festival? Lead the way.”
“…O-okay. Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
She blushed again, adjusted her clothing, and took the lead.
I walked behind her.
Maybe it’s because it’s summer, but we walked down a path between lush green fields and paddies.
The summer festival in my hometown.
While others might not know, I understood that this festival was not just a simple event for her.
The summer festival held at the shrine in her hometown was one of the few joys of childhood for Aris.
It was a precious memory for her.
The fact that she invited me to such a treasured place needed no further explanation.
“Thank you, Aris.”
“…W-why are you suddenly…?”
Upon hearing my words of gratitude, Aris stammered.
“…You’re being silly, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. We’ve almost arrived.”
She cleared her throat.
As we arrived, a typical Japanese summer festival scene unfolded before us.
Brightly lit stalls selling food and snacks, string lights, and people wandering around in yukata.
Night had fallen before we knew it.
“This is my hometown’s summer festival. It’s much smaller in scale than the festivals you’ve seen in Tokyo, but still…”
“It’s nice.”
“…I’m glad you like it.”
Aris said to me.
It wasn’t just empty words; I genuinely liked it.
After all, who doesn’t enjoy a festival?
“Well then, let’s enjoy the festival.”
I naturally linked arms with Aris.
“…Ugh?! Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. If you’re so forward with the skinship…”
“Well, we’re practically getting married, so what’s the big deal?”
“…That’s… true, but…”
Lost for words, Aris hung her head low.
It’s cute how she seems oddly resistant to skinship.
As I thought that, I wandered around the festival site with Aris.
We bought snacks like candy apples, takoyaki, yakisoba, and ramune.
We also enjoyed game booths like shooting for prizes and goldfish scooping.
Just as we were having fun at the festival…
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. The fireworks will start soon.”
Aris told me.
Fireworks?
Well, fireworks are indeed the highlight of Japanese summer festivals.
I was actually wondering why they hadn’t started yet.
“Why isn’t she coming out?” I wondered.
“······Follow me. I’ll guide you to a place where the fireworks can be seen well.”
She grabbed my wrist tightly.
A place where the fireworks can be seen?
I knew everything related to Aris, but I had no idea what she was planning.
In the original work and setting book, Aris’s past was only mentioned in fragments, and the hometown festival was just a few rare cherished memories.
Swish.
Aris led me through the trees, not to a shrine or the festival grounds, but into the mountain thicket.
In the impressively quiet mountain night, with crickets chirping, Aris, dressed in a yukata, kept climbing.
Is this really hiking?
“Aris. Where are we going right now?”
“We’re almost there.”
Just as I was voicing my confusion, Aris said that and pushed aside branches and bushes.
Beyond that was a tent.
It looked like it had been up for quite some time; a weathered tent that was fairly large.
Inside the tent were mats, blankets, and lanterns.
So this means······.
“······Here it is. A place where the fireworks can be seen······. This is it······.”
“A secret base, right?”
Isn’t that something out of a comic?
The kind kids make in the back mountains.
Aris’s face flushed at my words.
She nodded her head.
“Y-yes. This is my secret base that I made when I was a child. Back then, I would watch the fireworks from here when the festival ended.”
This was the real past of Aris that hadn’t appeared in the setting book or the original work.
A memory of Aris that I had never known.
“······You’re the first person I’ve ever invited here, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Aris said that with a soft smile.
I was speechless.
I didn’t know how to respond.
“Let’s go inside for now. The fireworks will start soon.”
I entered the secret base with Aris.
Click.
Aris turned on a lantern.
The inside of the secret base was surprisingly small yet cozy.
As she had said, from the entrance of the secret base, the brightly lit festival grounds and shrine could be seen clearly.
From this angle, the fireworks should be visible.
Just then, as we sat side by side,
Boom, Bang!
With the sound of fireworks, colorful bursts lit up the dark blue night sky.
The fireworks had begun.
Green, red, blue.
Just as Aris had said, the view of the fireworks from the secret base was magical.
It was the best spot to see them.
As Aris and I watched the fireworks, our eyes met.
Tears glistened in her eyes.
She pushed her hair behind her ear and whispered something.
“······.”
Boom! Bang!
Her words were drowned out by the sounds of the fireworks.
But instinctively, I knew what I had to do.
I pulled her slender waist into my embrace and kissed her on the lips.
She flinched.
Her silver eyes trembled and her body shivered lightly.
Bang!
The sound of fireworks roared like thunder in my ears.
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