It was hard for a festival not to be a fun event. At least, for Kaname and Naoki, there was always the food. Both of them very rarely cared about the other things. Moreover, for a festival like this, people tended not to expect much, unlike the one during the summer, where people's expectations were high. With this festival, people only hoped for good food while hanging out with friends, and that was just how it turned out. People gathered in groups, standing near the fire scattered around the venue. It was still quite lively, actually.
Additionally, the first snowfall occurred as predicted. Once the soft white thing started falling, people's mood immediately got elevated. Everyone loved the first snow. Many quickly took out their phones to take a picture of short videos and shared it online.
Naoki has his palm open. "It really fell," he said in awe, his pretty eyes almost unblinking, looking at the snow.
Kaname hummed as a response. He took a sip of the warm beer in his hand. "Isn't it cold?" he asked when he noticed that Naoki's hand was now wet from the snow landing on his palm.
Naoki laughed, shaking his head. "Not at all. We've been eating since we arrived, how can I feel cold?"
Kaname chuckled, too. He glanced at a portion of mitarashi dango on Naoki's lap and a half-eaten yakisoba of his. Naoki made a stop at a few of the game stalls earlier while Kaname wandered around the food stalls, then came to find Naoki, handing out food for Naoki to taste: yakitori, grilled octopus, candied apple, chocolate banana, green tea, warm beer, wataame, and many more. Naoki himself managed to catch a small goldfish and won a tiny unicorn plush doll from the ring toss stall. Kaname even took time to help for a while at his sister's mochi stall.
He looked at Naoki, who had forgotten about the falling first snow, and was now munching on his mitarashi dango again. His boyfriend looked a lot better after a nap in the afternoon. Naoki even has enough energy to prepare quite a lot of the snacks they left for the guests who just came back from walking around. Kaname meant to talk to him, so he said, "Let's go home after finishing these."
Naoki pursed his lips, but he nodded. "Okay. I'm full anyway. If we stay, I won't be able to eat more. Ah, but… I want to see the fireworks…"
"So, what is it?" Kaname raised an eyebrow.
Naoki looked at him, pleading. "Can we?"
Kaname reached out to flick Naoki's house affectionately. "If you ask me with that kind of face, do you think I can say no?"
Naoki laughed. "But I think you're the only one who can say no to me, Kaname-san," he said, winking at Kaname. "Anyway, you can't blame me. Ubukata-san has been boasting that it would be so much bigger than the one they released for the summer. Aren't you curious?"
"I am," Kaname admitted. "But let's not stay out too late. It won't be good if the guests come back earlier than us."
"Got it." Naoki nodded, agreeing. He then shifted to sit closer to Kaname, practically leaning against him. "Hmm… It's warmer like this. Kaname-san, doesn't this feel like our first date?" Naoki chuckled.
"Didn't we go to the beach?" Kaname's brows furrowed, as if remembering.
"I mean the first official one," Naoki corrected quickly. "Besides, the one at the beach wasn't really a date, right? I think it will be more appropriate to call it 'Kaname-san's plan to confess but fail'!"
"Oi!" Kaname chided, but he laughed. "You also didn't help, you know. What's with the pretending not knowing anything, huh?" Kaname jokingly bumped their shoulders. "If I had known, I'd push you to the ground right there and then." He discreetly glanced at Naoki to see his reaction.
Naoki shoved Kaname's shoulder in retaliation. His lips curled into a small smile. "Speaking of that…"
Kaname immediately placed a finger in front of his lips. "Shush. Don't tempt me. We're in public."
Naoki leaned in, bringing his face close until it was only a mere centimetre away from Kaname's. His sweet face blushed slightly but his eyes were sparkling with something. "Kaname-san, do you dare?"
One of his brows raised. The corners of Kaname's mouth curled into a mischievous smile as he looked into Naoki's eyes. His thumb and index finger curled around Naoki's chin. He only meant to tease. After all, as he said, they were in public. However, Naoki's face suddenly turned pale. Thinking that Naoki was probably taking him seriously, Kaname quickly changed his face.
"I was just kidding," he said, smiling to calm Naoki. "Naoki-kun?" Kaname called again when Naoki didn't react. Naoki had his face lowered, both hands gripping the front of Kaname's jacket. Kaname quickly wrapped his arms around Naoki's shoulder. "Okay, I was really just joking. I'm sorry."
"Let's… let's just go home," Naoki muttered, his voice slightly shaking.
Realizing something was off, Kaname looked down at Naoki again, but Naoki still had his head lowered. So Kaname asked, "Cold?" Once Naoki nodded, Kaname helped him to stand up. He let Naoki cling to him tightly while he cleaned up after them and led the way home. Naoki kept his head lowered, as if he didn't want anyone to see him. Kaname sighed, then patted Naoki's head gently. He took off the scarf from around his own neck, then wrapped it around Naoki's. At this, he finally got Naoki to raise his head and smiled at him.
The snow hadn't stopped falling. Kaname once again had his arm wrapped around Naoki's shoulder, occasionally rubbing along Naoki's upper arm. He felt a little glad when Naoki started talking again halfway back. Kaname wouldn't say he wasn't curious, but it was in his habit not to push. Naoki had his own arm around Kaname's waist, and this was enough for Kaname. They met barely anyone along the way, so they pressed against each other's body more closely.
They took a shortcut through the trek route Kaname loved to take to go up the hill. The piece of land where Hummingbird was located was always owned by Kaname's family. When Kaname told his family about his plan of opening an inn, Kaname's father immediately gave the land to him. However, Kaname refused. He wanted this to be his own business, together with Naoki, so after so many back and forth with his family, Kaname managed to convince his family to let him pay for the land. Even so, his family (and Naoki's family, came to that) didn't let them refuse other help during the construction of the inn. Kaname was really grateful for them. Right now, even though he still had some loan he needed to repay, Hummingbird was running, and it had been quite profitable so far.
"Will they come to check on Jouji-san's car tomorrow?" Naoki's question pulled Kaname back to his senses. He looked over and realized that their home was already in front of them.
Kaname nodded. "Yamashita-san said he would come tomorrow to check. Hopefully, they won't need to tow it. It won't be too comfortable if Jouji-san has to go around with our pickup. Right, have I told you this? I promised Jouji-san that he can use our pickup while his car is being fixed."
"Not yet," Naoki replied, rolling his eyes at Kaname. "But that's the least we can do for him. It's too bad that there's no car rental in our town. What do you think, Kaname-san? If we have some spare money in future, should we start renting a car for our guests?" Naoki randomly suggested.
"It's not a bad idea," replied Kaname, pulling his arm from around Naoki's shoulder so he could push the gate open.
Naoki craned his neck, and he tugged on Kaname's jacket sleeve. "Kaname-san, I think there's someone at the porch. Is there a guest who will check-in late today?"
Brows furrowed, Kaname shook his head. "Not that I know of." They walked toward the porch at the side of the house. "Maybe it's Sakaki-san and the others who came back early."
Naoki winced. Kaname patted his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. When they came closer, there was indeed someone inside the porch, but they didn't recognize the person as someone staying with them.
"Hello, I'm sorry for making you wait. We were–" Kaname said as he pushed open the door to the porch. However, his words faltered when the person sitting on the porch turned his head and stood up as soon as he saw Kaname and Naoki. It's not due to anything else. It's because Kaname knew that person. To be exact, Kaname knew that face. It was a face which he only ever seen through emails and selfies sent through messages. A face Kaname had thought would never appear in front of him in real life.
The person stood up straight. He was young, definitely still a teenager, but the shape of his face and his features resembled Kaname's, especially the eyes. Those eyes were like a carbon copy of Kaname's.
Kaname almost couldn't come back to his senses. "...Kei?" He stammered.
The teenager was now looking at Kaname awkwardly, but his eyes were glued to Kaname with the same surprise–or maybe shock. His lips then curled into a sheepish smile, bowing his upper body slightly.
"Tou-san."