“Mayu-chan, thank you so much for everything today!”
“It was great to see you, Yo-chan. And I got to see the fireworks, too, so it was really no trouble at all.”
As the mothers chatted amiably while packing up the tent, the rest of us did our best to help. However, I was so disgusted with my own cowardice that I wasn't even sure if I was managing a convincing smile.
The cleanup finished before I knew it, and we finished our goodbyes.
“Thanks for all the help, everyone. Sara-chan, please come back and see me again.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
“Alright then, Yo-chan. See you later.”
With that, the fireworks festival finally came to an end.
“Now then, there’s one place I’d like to stop by before we head home.”
We had just started driving when Mayumi-san suddenly spoke up from the driver's seat.
“It won’t take long, so bear with me, okay?”
The car began to wind its way up a mountain road. After a short climb, we arrived at a scenic hilltop. Mayumi-san pulled into a small parking lot just ahead.
“Alright, everyone out.”
It seemed we had reached her destination.
The hilltop was quite spacious, and despite the hour, a fair number of people were still there. Oddly enough, the crowd consisted almost entirely of couples.
“There sure are a lot of... people like that here,” Natsumi-senpai noted.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Hayato added.
While they didn't explicitly call out the abundance of couples, they clearly felt a bit out of place.
“It’s beautiful...” Sara-senpai’s voice drifted out, sounding genuinely moved.
Standing beside her, I looked out over the railing. A spectacular night view stretched out below the hilltop, the city lights sparkling like jewels.
“...It's incredible.”
“Yes. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
For a long time, both Sara-senpai and I were captivated by the shimmering carpet of light spread out before us. Eventually, Natsumi-senpai and Hayato joined us at the railing, equally entranced by the sight.
Had Mayumi-san brought us here just to see this?
And what kind of place was this, exactly?
“Fufu... do you have any idea why I wanted to come here?” Mayumi-san asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“No...”
“Mother, how could we possibly know that? I’m happy to see the view, but what is this place?”
Perhaps sensing that I was being teased, Sara-senpai spoke to Mayumi-san with a touch of sharp annoyance.
Mayumi-san’s playful expression didn't waver.
“This place... it's the special spot where he confessed to me.”
A heavy silence fell over us at Mayumi-san’s bombshell revelation.
“We came to the fireworks festival together, and then he told me there was somewhere he wanted to stop by. We ended up right here.”
As she spoke, Mayumi-san began walking slowly along the lookout.
We followed her instinctively. Just ahead, we saw a structure that looked like a gateway with a large bell hanging from it.
“People call this place a 'Lover's Sanctuary.' They say that if a couple rings that bell together, they'll find eternal happiness. I didn't know about the legend at the time, but it seems he had researched everything before we ever arrived at the festival...”
She reached out and stroked the frame of the bell, her touch filled with affection.
“It was so sudden that it caught me completely off guard. I was already overwhelmed by the night view, so I never expected him to confess right then and there.”
She turned back to gaze at the night view.
None of us could find the words to speak. Whether it was the nostalgia in Mayumi-san’s voice or the romantic weight of the location, the air felt too sacred to interrupt.
“So, that's why this place is so special to me. Since we were nearby for the first time in ages, I just had to stop by.”
“That's a wonderful story, Mayumi-san,” Natsumi-senpai whispered.
“Yes. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful place with us,” Hayato added.
I agreed—it really was a lovely story.
But what about Sara-senpai?
When I glanced at her, she was staring intently at the bell. I couldn't read her expression, but her eyes never wavered. Being her parents' story, she must have been feeling something profound.
As I watched her, my own heart began to hammer against my ribs.
There were people all around us. Natsumi-senpai was here. Hayato was here. Even Mayumi-san was standing right there.
But I had been pathetic enough for one night. I had let the entire fireworks festival pass by, and I had even forced Sara-senpai to tell me she would wait.
Hearing Mayumi-san's story made my own hesitation feel even more glaring.
What I was about to do wasn't something to be ashamed of. No matter who might hear, I should be able to say it with pride. My surroundings shouldn't matter when it came to telling Sara-senpai how I felt.
That was right. I knew she was waiting. How could I keep her waiting a second longer?
“Sara-senpai! ...No, Sara-san!!”
My shout echoed across the quiet hilltop, sounding almost startlingly out of place.