Tsudzura: Actually, this is the first time I have ever done fireworks like this.
Kei: Really?
Tsudzura: As for the big ones that spread out in the sky, I’ve seen those from far away countless times, but…
Tsudzura: As they are, their craftsmanship is amazing, but, when you are only watching, it seems so far out of your reach.
Kei: They’re so expensive, too.
Tsudzura: Just one 30 cm ball is fifty, sixty thousand yen, I think. And at sixty, it’s ten times that.
Kei: Wah, even if you won the lottery, it’s like you’d spend it all in one night, huh? That would be kind of a waste.
Tsudzura: Well, it is cheap compared to battle-ready fireworks, and does it not seem like an artful way to spend money?
Tsudzura: But in the end, it is the fireworks you light yourself and hold in your hands that make you feel included in something, isn’t it?
Tsudzura: They are more reserved, and because of that, last longer than a single instant. It is a good feeling.
Kei: Ahaha, living like one of the masses, huh?
Tsudzura: That is the best part! The fireworks in the sky work so hard to make themselves bloom, it feels like they don’t give a care to any of the others, doesn’t it?
Kei: You think so?
Tsudzura: It is so. After all, once the fireworks are done, the sky is full of smoke.
Kei: In that case, I guess the next firework can’t bloom as pretty as the last, can it?
Tsudzura: It might be a strange way to look at it, but it feels to me that, it always holds the others back, to make itself bloom the prettiest.
Tsudzura: Compared to that—— ah, Onee-san, can you help me light this?
Kei: Sure, here you go.
Letting fly from its end a liberal, colorful stream of sparks, my sparkler moves to the one in Tsudzura-chan’s hands.
Tsudzura: This kind of thing… has a sort of warmth to it that I always admired.
Tsudzura: I cannot do things like this on my own.
Kei: That’s true. And passing fire like this, it’s like the Olympic torch relay, almost…… ah.
Just as I think the sparkler in my hands is making an ill-fitting *shuu!* sound, it disappears into a light ember.
Tsudzura: Kei-oneesan, hurry, hurry! If you don’t hurry up, mine is going to go out too—!
Kei: Ah, right, wait just a sec……
I hesitate over which firework to light next. I’m tempted to pick out the one that’s shaped like a gun, but it looks like Tsudzura-chan would go for that, too——
Tsudzura: Onee-san, it does not matter which, just hurry—!!
After that, taking care to keep it so at least one light remains shining——
We share a good time until we run out of sparklers, engrossed in the innumerable colors of light.