I haven't ridden a bike freely in a while.

It sure is very convenient to have a very mobile body, but I might be getting a bit spoiled by that.

I used to bike a lot after I learned to, which was embarrassingly not in my early ages, but latter. At that time, it was my most convenient mode of transportation, and eventually I pedaled with Rin on the back almost every time on our way to school; but life inevitably gets stale.

My usual morning isn't really that different to my past routines, but some parts of them come and go. There is the apparent trend that even if something changes in my status, a routine or a pattern never gets removed from the equation.

Weekdays, I work at Giotto's without skipping on the cleaning, and then either I rest or grind on commissions over the weekends. That's how boring life is right now while my mutuals are gritting their teeth on their colleges of choice. But am I really one to dwell on how lively or boring life is, no. To reiterate, I see the world with vibrance or dullness of colors, so to speak.

Yet I still take care of my bicycles for no reason—because I just don't have the time to use them, or I didn't bother until now. I may not have a road bike, but even a mountain bike can do long distances and uneven terrain. Although there aren't really off-roads in Cotona but the point still counts.

I really shouldn't have done this in a weekday but I suddenly got the urge to chase the sunrise after a long ride on a whim. I may have woken up at 4 but I'm too optimized these days and still got at least seven hours of sleep. Still, I don't know how I suddenly got this commitment.

But nevertheless, at the still completely dark sky of the moon, I set out immediately hearing the nostalgic sound of the chains of my bike on the really, really quiet roads, counting the houses with open lights. By then, my experiences from the past reminded me of the caution on only two wheels. Cycling or even driving a motorbike is greatly different from driving on four wheels, obviously. You can't really look at the GPS, your eyes ought to be looking at the front, and you have to make sure to keep your balance on high speeds like downhills, and you are still part of the traffic even if you are on the very side of the highway. Primarily, it's just more dangerous especially for people or countries which cars are more prominent. But here, either you are a master of the road or just a reckless guy with a loud exhaust pipe. Anyway, you don't have a seat belt.

My target location is one of the tallest hills of Cotona that is not really that popular of a scene or it's just a hidden gem that this province has. It's quite a distance to my sector but it's not as far as the mountains. I know that it could take me only a few minutes to get there at foot, but I was also quite curious at how long it would take me if I was to use my stamina to my advantage and crank up my 8-speed shifter to its highest.

Well, I'm probably at this bike's top speed.

I really shouldn't be zooming when it's this dark, but it can't be helped if I am catching the sun, especially in the midst of a summer day when the sun is an early riser. I'm at least glad that if I ever get into some road trouble, I would be able to land on my feet while the bike goes into shambles. But I would call an ambulance for myself and not for the bike.

Speaking of people that would put their bikes in the emergency room or ICU over themselves, I just went past a series of equipped long distance riders with one of them being G's former classmate, Nico. From the last time I saw in G's POV, he was rather… wide. Poor choice of words, I know. But is he the type that naturally loses weight when it's summer or is this his main exercise?

Anyway, it's humid 24/7 and you don't get to feel a cool breeze right at your face at this kind of season unless you try hard, and this is me trying hard. Just imagine grabbing onto a bullet train. I don't if I'm going to be shredded but you got all the wind, pressure, and gravity on you. It's a bad example but even I wonder how it would feel like as-

Actually, being just a few kilometers away from a literal typhoon was absolutely cold back then, now that I recall.

But finally, this doofus had stopped getting distracted and continued on to pedal, until I got to the uphill. Sure, I could pull through without changing gears but this two-wheels won't, and it's quite a tall hill. By the time I got at least a third on this incline, the sky had started to turn dark blue, which meant that I only have a maximum of several minutes until the sun pops up.

I'm never going to do this again, probably. I would be going to work depressed if I don't get to see a glorious sunrise with me at least having held my brakes and had stopped for five minutes on the highest point of this hill. My monkey committed myself to this, and it will be wasted if I don't at least reward my one remaining brain cell.

But in the end, I emerged victorious against nothing. A win however is still a win, whatever. It was quite a sight to see a sharp gradation of the still rather dark sky transition to a pale light blue over the gray clouds that are starting to receive the light. It was a good opportunity to snap a quick picture on my phone before the sunrise itself which surprisingly did a good job on maintaining a good dynamic range.

"Guess I'll send it to her."

So… why on earth did I do this again?

I almost asked myself aloud while still getting over the satisfaction of seeing the sun coming up, alone in this hill, getting psyched up as though I am the first and only one that has seen today's sunrise.

"…"

You know what they say, sometimes fireworks give off a fleeting excitement while they last. In the same sense, you've seen the sun climb up from the horizon and it's now out and about. Now what? It's probably another day has begun.

On the flip side, there is a hint of escapism in those two examples. It is a dull life, and there is no variation to the things you do; it's all the same everyday apart from the times you spend sitting on the toilet. Notwithstanding, these small things gives at least a bit of diversion. While it may not be enough to saturate your colors, did you feel something different, even if it was for a second?

"I'll surely be telling you that advice, son."

~ ~ ~

"W-Woah, you look like a kid that played all day."

I spotted Rin just as she was about to sit on the couch with a plate of food while Haku is rarely seen chasing his own tail. Needless to say, the lady that had just woken up still does not have the energy to put an exclamation point on her comments.

Anyway, I got dirt all around because of a broken road which puddles had built up and no thin wheel can even avoid it even in very low traffic. But generally, it was really dusty outside.

"Sorry I didn't reserve you a plate."

"Ohhh, thanks. You don't need to wait for me, I'll be done fast."

…

"Any idea where he went to, Haku? Ah-"

"Meow… (Hmmm, no idea but it sounded like he stepped out quite early.)"

"…force of… habit…

…

You know… I never fail on making omelettes anymore… but why does this taste salty…?"

«In an instant, Rin's eyes became full of tears.»

"Meow?! (E-E-Eh?! Ojou?! Did something happen?!)"

«And instinctively, Haku switched, immediately grabbing a box of tissue and handing it to Rin whose lips are trembling with a smile.»

"Can you go back to your form…?"

"Meow… (Really… what's gotten into you, Ojou…)"

"Keep this a secret for the moment, okay…?"

"Meow. (Huh… so humans sometimes find this stuff embarrassing, I see.)"

"Not that, you idiot. Baka! Ahahahahaha…!"

"…!

W-Wha… When did this suddenly happen…?"

"Oh, you switched again. Hahahaha…!"

"Honestly, sometimes this couple is a handful."

"Hahh… I cried a bunch…"

"What's going on~ I was in the bathroom and I can hear you laughing, Rin."

"Ever heard Mio's laugh? Ahahaha…"

"Well, not to the point where I'll be full on crying. Come on, blow your nose. You're not a kid anymore."

"Hahh… okay, dad."

"Speaking of dad, the reaper is playing MK8 on her stream. Want to see if we can race with her for a bit?"

"Ohhhh! Let's give it a shot."

…

"Rin, hop on."

Let's keep the fun while it lasts. It's an unfortunate day for Rin today as she has to come to CCI in the middle of her summer vacation to take care of some business. I know that she will eventually wind up in Chiba and Nami's air conditioned dorm room, but it just feels so wrong making her walk under this heat.

Anyway, I was about to go work so why not. I already have a long day and it will just get longer. In these times, I only end up buying spicy fried chicken for dinner and sleep my butt off after resting. It's quite unfortunate that I used to use my time in the night to brainstorm and think about whatever ideas I get along with my weekly meal plan, but more often I feel myself slowly dozing off on the 22°C of my AC.

I miss sleeping in the Void. If only I can put a tatami mat in there I can sleep peacefully with a futon.

But what the heck, I'm talking like the day has ended already.

Honestly, I would rather just be in the kitchen instead of eating fish outside no matter how good they can be. I can't stop complaining how hot it is even if I wanted to, but nonetheless I'm surveying several fish dealers to find the best ones we can get for the remainder of summer and then the fall. Sushi as a full on meal never sounds bad at all. It's a bit on the pricey side of the menu, but you can't say that you are going to leave the resto still feeling hungry unless you're me.

Seven out of fifteen meat dealers later, and something greatly took my interest from the window of the car as I was driving in the middle of a local bridge in the sector. The road has been widened some years ago which made way for a temporary park without disrupting the traffic, and so I brought out the sunglasses and came out of the vehicle to watch one of my dreams in the making.

I make it sound so special when in reality it's literally gross. If only you know how happy I am that the river in this town is finally being cleaned, which probably has not been done yet since the moment I was born.

You know it already, flooding and also flash-flooding has been a part of our daily life. There was never any method of prevention whatsoever, but only several ways of mitigation. Thinking about it, the concluding scene in a certain movie I have watched had flooded a city permanently but at least tens of cubic meters if not hundreds. Actually, it does not sound too farfetched.

Of course I have a love-hate relationship in this place where I grew up and living at. For one, I love White Street because it's quiet, but it's also a very flood-prone area; a fact that has existed for so long.

The reason why Ginga is known for disgusting reasons is because of our river. Ever heard of suspension in chemistry? Take for example a timely and very applicable one—not so often, the floodwater does not subside for at least three days. The water has all sorts of things in it which boils down to being mud, and that mud after those three days had settled down to the ground leaving clear water above. I'm not going to explain it scientifically but take that principle to our river that is basically a dump of trash.

So many years, all kinds of trash had accumulated in the body of water and settled down. That being the case, it intervenes with the normal volume of the river and contributing to its increase which ultimately raises the water level. That is one reason why it floods so quickly after a downpour.

The second reason is because I probably wouldn't be able to find a water canal that is not clogged. That is why flash floods occur—because even if there is a way for the water, it would be so little so the rainwater stays over the ground for an extended period of time.

Hence why I hate this place.

But it seems that we're getting new developments.

At the back of my head, I'm trying to think that this is something that is satisfying to look at and observe when it's just plain gross… and it smells really bad even from up here. Especially since it's so hot and humid that the stench is coming with the vapor!

But it's nice to see that there are finally heavy equipment that are taking out heaps of wastes from the water. Thus I shall provide some time to research on waste centers all around Cotona and even the Capital to see who would process these metric tons of trash.

Hahh… That's going to be an undertaking.

"Ain't good for my appetite… I have to scram."

~ ~ ~

"I'm back… Hahh… It's so hot…"

"Good job out there. How was it?"

"Let me take a shower and take my maintenance first…"

"U-Uh… sure. Take your time."

…

I love our crew.

The truth behind Giotto's South team in the kitchen is that we do not really add more cooks in our group as the main reason to that is because of our team is very niche, for the lack of better words to say. What I mean is that there is one common denominator that we have for us to stand back to back in the kitchen together. It does not seem so significant but it is the ability to communicate amidst a fast pace.

What Hiro seeks from a Giotto's chef is confidence with competence as second. Confidence; not in the way that is mental but more on the aptness of a person. One does need to be an exceptional cook to fit within.

We have been honed for years to adapt to this kind of environment where we have no choice but to communicate while our hands are occupied. That also includes idle talks, as you may have already observed.

But in this scenario, we rarely ever had to do a sit-down meeting because we basically do that in the middle of work. It indeed has limitations, but all we really do is get straight to the point while taking care of the nitty-gritty later.

On the other hand, it is a big inspiration within our coverage of WT from this point on. We would probably aim to at least make the students be able to keep up with the regular pace of this restaurant, but prefacing them a warning of what specifically occurs in the kitchen.

And thinking about these kinds of things is just a normal day at work. Then come 5pm, I hop out from work.

~ ~ ~

Having better ears than normal does not really translate to also having better and more magnified eyesight, but from the front of my house I could already see things going on from the distance towards Blue Ink's direction. And on top of it, there is no way that I will miss people that are wearing white masks, and a lot of them.

I parked my bike and immediately changed on much lighter clothes and ran towards the Exiles' proximity with a face mask on instead of the usual.

It stinks.

As I can obviously see, the covers of the waterways are opened and being dredged by Exiles and humans together, and a lot of them.

"What's up? What's going on here (Ken)?" I called as he was the first one I recognized.

"Oh, hi there (Eiji). You didn't get the news, I see. Basically this is a joint collaboration with private organizations and we're just third party that volunteered in this project."

"Since when did you start…?"

"Hm, a week ago? White Street is quite a long road so we still have a lot of cleanup to do as you can see. But when I said cleanup, I mean it as totally clean.

Also if you've seen already, the collab is also the one behind the river cleanup."

"Just how much budget do they have…?"

"Apparently this project is limited to our locale, so maybe hundreds of millions? Anyway, we're only doing this around here with White Street as the epicenter, then we Exiles are out."

"What brought this on then?"

"You."

"…

Eh?"

"You heard me. You."

"W-Whaaaaat…?"

"Four years in the making, the others really wanted to thank you for preventing the collapse against, Horach. This is the least they can do, they said.

Down the line, things can get worse and could be threatening, but this doesn't really amount to the lives you've saved. This is me speaking on their behalf but I hope you get the point.

You always say Ringo has done so many things to you without repaying her much. Then take this as you doing so much to your fellow Exiles and this is their way to repay you.

I'm telling you, we are long done on the lingering distress of a five year-old. Things aren't the same anymore. It's time for us to suffer less than what we have gotten. So many things have changed, so maybe it's time to put the program on the back of our minds."

"I guess… thank you…?"

"Amplify that with two hundred people's voices then towards you. That's how much they care about you, alright?"

"Well, shoot… I better wipe my eyes back at my house."

"You're really crying over that? Man…"

"Well, not yet."

"Alright. We have no work today since it's the festival tomorrow night. Go enjoy yourself with Ringo or something!"

"Will do! I hope you'll see them too."

"Oh, and also!"

"Yeah?"

"Wouldn't you like it if this place has less flood so as to not scare children in the future?"

"You cheeky bastard… How about you then? Hahahaha!"

▪ ▪ ▪

Overall, it was with a nice weather for the next day. You've seen me fart all around the day yesterday. Surely you don't want another repeat of that.

Not that I was actually farting all day… Figure of speech, okay?

So 6pm sharp.

Earth tilts so it's a given that days are longer than nights these past months. It's already six, but the sky is just only starting to get dark but the street lights haven't even turned on yet.

Still, I haven't really stayed outside, sitting idly at this time of the day under the glass roof, so seeing things like that are fairly new to me. But as a corner lot house, I'm glad that we have a lot of wind coming through.

"I should do this more often."

Simply put, I am waiting for Rin until I got to hear footsteps from the concrete stairs of this lot.

…

You just can never get tired of a person when you love them.

I really wanted the lights to fire up on queue, but "not this time, my good sir." Rin's tastes in clothing just work. I don't know if my brain has been trained like this, but as usual, I think that casual and simpler clothes suits her the best instead of the ones with frills. Really she has a granny side. It has been overly stressed that she doesn't like skirts and very girly clothes while being contradicted by her huge appreciation to cute things, but I repeat, it just works.

I never actually believed that shirts that have a hood actually exist until today, and Rin just slapped me with that fact. So yes, the set is the aforementioned baby blue shirt, a light blue-green above the knee shorts, and a pair of outdoor slippers. But she really is not one to wear accessories unlike me who can't live without the usual black bracelet on my right wrist when I'm going out, but here she is wearing a braided cord bracelet. I don't know if you can call it kumihimo but I think there's a similarity. On top of that, wearing a ponytail and a hairpin? What could possibly be better than that? (Personal opinion)

On my end, I feel like this always happen to me but my closet is stuffed with plain shirts again with the occasional discreetly printed ones. I thought of using one of the many gray shirts I have, but I found a faded maroon shirt with a print of ":^)" on the left chest. To those who know, don't yametekudastop.

'What…?! Gin of all people is taking about clothes? No way…!!'

Yeah, yeah, I'll stop.

…

Ryoushi chikin soup grass big-

As much as I hope this night would be an exception, it is still warm nonetheless. But there was a weird feeling of tranquility on our surrounding even with the clear busyness of the streets in an anticipation of the display.

Of course, this event is below my expectations coming from someone who has experienced a great one in Tokyo. I'm not really using the fireworks as a benchmark as they honestly don't move things in me, but what I was looking for is the overall atmosphere that I may never feel in this country. Sure, there are a lot of inspirations specifically in this event, it can never be the same, but still, this is a fireworks festival.

It is still within the sector, being held at a popular paved pathway that is much bigger than the one in Zen Park. Yet I don't realize that Ginga actually has a lot of lakes, small or big. Just standing there, it was somewhat humid but the wind was picking up for every three minutes or so. It seems to be something to be taken for granted, but I'm not ready to catch firecrackers in case the wind decides to come.

We really can't reserve a space so we gave up on that thought. Instead, we took a stroll between the stalls that popped up and chose what would be our dinner. They may technically be street food, but this can't be Orio if you can't get full from them. And so we decided to go with fried rice and pork in a takeout box along with a serving of takoyaki each. Away from the crowd, we found a bench that still has the clear view of the sky and the open space.

However, one thing I have observed from Rin after entering college is that she had come to love eating. I mean that as she started to eat quite a lot more, but that being said there's only so much that I can pinch on her sides before I eventually get punched on the face. I'm glad that I got her into exercising a lot more.

"Should I say 'no' again, Gin?"

"Please stop. I haven't even said anything nor was I planning to. You brought it up yourself."

"2018, 19, 20, 21, 22… Hm.

By the way, we talked about going on Payns, right? Seems like we'll be going after all. Chiba-chan apparently has a relative there."

"Ohhh. That'd be nice if it pushes through. You also need some time off for yourself."

"Yes, yes. I get you. I'll only work as much as I can. What do you want for a souvenir?"

"Up to you. I'd like whatever it is anyway."

"Wow, I don't usually hear you say stuff like that. That's so like a line that a human would say."

"Really? Also, phrasing. Someone might hear you."

"Attention, everyone…!!! The display will start in two minutes!"

I wish a have a drone, but I'm sure that it would be illegal to fly one in the midst of a fireworks display, but just imagine how cool it'd be to see them on the same altitude and panning around it with at least 500 frames per second of slow motion. Sounds like a Nagi thing but man, that will blow any CGI out of the water.

But in this case we'll just have to settle with watching them from the ground. Well, I might be neutral on it, but the one beside me has been clapping on every launch. At least the one that looked like a rainfall pulled out a surprised face from me. It really felt like it was falling down, but then it disappeared.

When you realize just how much applicable the concept of fireworks to life is, I don't think I can look at it the same way again. Sad as it is, you expect the fireworks to disappear eventually, just like how we know that our lives are very short and will meet its end.

But still, you know how I feel about light, dark, rain, and rainbow. Fireworks are still a light even if it only momentarily illuminates the night. It is much better than having nothing but only the usual dark night, don't you think?

For me, that's enough to make me appreciate its beauty. They might be fleeting, but once engraved in your memory, has it actually disappeared for good? No.

Thinking about it now, Eijiro is like the absolute best of all the fireworks. It has shone, it disappeared, but he is still clear as a day in my mind.