Today after school, Ayane had to stay behind for her cleaning duties. Shion offered to wait for her, but Ayane had vehemently insisted, “Big sister, hurry home and cook! I want a steaming hot meal waiting for me the moment I get back!” With that, Shion was sent home first.
‘Cooking at this hour… the food will be cold by the time Ayane gets back,’ Shion mused, scratching her head in mild confusion. Still, if that was the case, she might as well head to the stall area first and get acquainted with the setup.
Upon hearing Shion’s intention to visit the stall, Shigure immediately approached her.
“Shion-san, may I accompany you?”
“Iori-san, you’re coming along?” Shion asked, a hint of surprise in her voice. “Don’t you need to look after your grandmother?”
“The caregiver will be there until dinner, so I can go with you today, Shion-san.” Although Shigure’s voice was typically soft, her tone was remarkably firm.
“Alright then~” Shion conceded. While she had initially planned to go alone, Shigure’s earnestness left her with no reason to refuse, so she simply nodded.
And so…
“So, Kujou-san, why are you here?” Shion grumbled good-naturedly, glancing at Sakuya, who had nonchalantly joined them on their way home, forming an unexpected trio.
Sakuya unwrapped a lollipop, handing one to Shigure, one to Shion, and placing the third in her own mouth. “Well, I ran into Iori-san just before school let out today, and she mentioned going to check out the stall location, so I tagged along!”
“Thank you, Kujou-san…” Shigure murmured softly, gently licking her lollipop.
“I think Iori-san’s idea of selling handmade crafts is excellent,” Sakuya declared, enumerating the advantages of such items. “They’re low-cost, easy to make, and we could even create shrine-themed merchandise.”
“If only we didn’t have so many unsold crafts from last year piled up in the warehouse, I’d probably support it…” Shion said, burying her face in her hands. “I just don’t want Iori-san’s efforts to go to waste.”
A hint of disappointment flickered across Shigure’s face. She gently tugged at Shion’s skirt. “Shion-san, I think… I could be helpful too.”
Shion ruffled Shigure’s golden hair. “Iori-san, I’m sure you can be a great help. It’s just that I genuinely don’t think selling handicrafts is the best option.”
“But, if you ask me, Kazama-san’s idea of selling tuna is also a long shot,” Sakuya mumbled, her words slightly slurred around the lollipop in her mouth. “As the old saying goes, ‘Don’t stand under a crumbling wall.’ After seeing the news, I doubt anyone in town would be willing to buy it.”
“That’s true…” Shion sighed, scratching her head in distress. “Does this mean both the shrine’s and Kazama-san’s livelihoods are in jeopardy?”
As they spoke, the three girls arrived at the location for the Autumn Festival.
This year’s Autumn Festival, as always, was being held along the essential path at the foot of the shrine mountain. A verdant forest, bathed in sunlight, embraced the expansive pale grey flagstone path that wound around the mountain’s base. On either side of the path, numerous small tables and portable wooden display racks had been set up. In one corner, a stall’s framework was already partially erected, its skeletal structure visible.
“This is it,” Shion announced, pointing to the stall that already had its basic framework in place. “This spot is specifically reserved for the shrine. I’ve been tidying it up every day when I pass by, just to avoid a last-minute rush.”
Though it was an Autumn Festival dedicated to the gods, the event’s organizers were the town’s cultural institutions, not the shrine itself. Otherwise, as Shion herself often joked, she’d love nothing more than to sit in the shrine like a wealthy young lady, collecting stall fees from the festival and living comfortably.
“Um… Kujou-san, are you alright?” Shigure asked, supporting Sakuya, who had nearly collapsed halfway there. It had almost taken both of them to help Sakuya make it all the way.
“I… I’m fine, just… utterly exhausted…” Sakuya gasped. She almost sank to the ground, but seemed to reconsider, instead leaning against the already set-up stall, breathing heavily.
Shion was about to tell Sakuya not to push herself if her stamina was low, when suddenly, the stall’s framework, which Shion had meticulously set up over several days, warped and collapsed in mere seconds…
“Kujou-san, watch out!” Before Shion’s words had even fully left her lips, Shigure had already reached out to grab Sakuya, who, by all appearances, still hadn’t quite grasped what was happening.
With a resounding crash, the stall…
…the shrine’s stall lay scattered in pieces, much like a tower of freshly built blocks tumbling down.
“Kujou-san, are you alright?” Shion and Nanami rushed forward, asking with concern.
Sakuya clutched her head. “I’m fine, just…” She stared at the pile of ‘blocks’ she had toppled – or rather, what had been a complete stall just seconds before.
“I’m so sorry, Shion-san! I-I’ll help you set up the stall again right away!”
Sakuya fumbled with the scattered modules, attempting to reassemble them from memory. ‘If only I could turn back time right now,’ she thought. ‘Just a snap of my fingers, and everything would be back to how it was seconds ago…’
‘Hah, fantasizing again.’
“I’ll help too!” Shigure quickly stepped forward, assisting Sakuya in the reassembly.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Shion softly reassured Sakuya. “If it weren’t for you, Kujou-san, I probably wouldn’t have realized how unstable I’d built it until the day of the Autumn Festival itself.”
“Come to think of it, I remember these kinds of stalls usually don’t require self-assembly…” Shigure murmured from the side.
“Uh, well, because assembling the stall costs extra…” Shion explained with a wry smile.
****
After a flurry of activity, the three girls finally managed to reassemble the stall for the most part.
“Just one more piece to put up, and then we’re done…” Though Sakuya’s ‘fish-level’ stamina had left her utterly exhausted, as the ‘culprit’ behind the stall’s collapse, she was determined to see it through.
“Shion-san, could you help me steady this…?” Sakuya said, climbing onto a small stool Shion had brought from the shrine. Shigure stood directly in front of her, holding the last wooden board.
Shion crouched down, firmly gripping the stool, then nodded to Sakuya, who was perched upon it.
Just as Sakuya, straining on her tiptoes, settled the wooden board Shigure handed her into place, she suddenly felt the stool beneath her feet give a violent tremor. Had she not desperately maintained her balance, she would have surely fallen.
“Shion-san, I told you to hold it steady, didn’t I, you—”
But as Sakuya, about to unleash a complaint, saw Shion’s face flush crimson, she instantly understood. She quickly clutched her skirt, shooting Shion a fierce glare.
“What’s wrong?” Shigure, standing nearby, was utterly bewildered.
Though both Shion and Sakuya were blushing, a quick exchange of glances forged an unspoken agreement between them. Almost in unison, they shook their heads. “Nothing at all! Nothing!”