Chapter five (segment eleven), twenty four years earlier, June, Ulf

Despite everything it was uncomfortable walking between the stalls like this. The four of them taking up most of the street as they walked side by side like something from a B-western.

Ulf held Christina's hand tightly. It felt good with her fingers between his.

And that was the good part of it.

To his left he had a very cute and lovestruck Noriko clinging to him in a yukata, barely leaving him enough room to be decent, and to her right Christina had an equally charmingly lovestruck Ryu. The twins were overdoing it obviously, but they still played those cards a little bit too well.

The fantastic four with superpowers in kiddie love triangle. Quadrangle? It was all very confusing anyway. And embarrassing.

Fantastic four? Where had Yukio and Kyoko gone?

“Guys, I think we lost two,” Ulf said.

Christina looked at him. “Ulf?”

“Christina, have you seen them?”

She looked around, as if they would suddenly pop back into existence. “They were right behind us. Oh well can't be helped.”

Sometimes she wasn't much of a friend. “Christina, shouldn't we try to...”

“I said: Can't. Be. Helped.”

“Huh? Oh, yes of course.” That was a close one. I wonder if she doesn't know exactly when those two got lost behind us.

Ryu and Noriko just grinned. They had been far faster on the uptake than him.

The four of them sat down by a stall and spent an absurd amount of hundred yen coins failing to catch fish they wouldn't want to take home anyway. It was fun of sorts but all in all the festival reminded Ulf more of a children's fair than anything else. Oh well, when in Rome and all that.

The fireworks in Japan were marvellous though, and he was already looking forward to them.

A few crowded stalls later he had filled up with some surprisingly tasty food and a couple of sticks with candied apples that Christina wanted. She was quickly regressing into childhood.

That was the good part. The bad was that after those stalls he couldn't find the Wakayamas, and the crowd was pushing them forward. There was no going back to search for their friends.