-00. it might not have come to this

-x-

Obon is about the food, Kamui notes. Obviously.

And yet, here he is, standing on the river bank, watching people float lanterns down the stream. Biting on his dango stick, he crouches next to Takasugi and watches as the latter strikes a match and lights the candle in each lantern. There is slight hesitation before the third and final one, but his expression is stoic when he extends his arm to light the candle and then pulls back to blow out the flame on the match. Katsura is also watching, waiting with two lit lanterns of his own.

Kamui remains on his spot while the two of them step toward the river and push the lanterns one by one onto the water. The floating lights drift away from the bank, joining hundreds of others gliding into the night. He looks up when someone stops beside him, and finds his sister giving him a small smile.

"I got a lantern for Mami," she tells him as she sits down on the grass and places the paper lantern before them. "Do you want to light it?"

He looks toward the river. "You can do it."

A beat. "I think you should do it," Kagura says in a quiet voice.

"I prefer sky lanterns."

"No, you don't," Kagura grumbles. After a pause, she scoots closer, causing Kamui to lean away, and puts on her sweetest devil smile. "I'll buy you two sticks of dango."

"Only two?"

"Okay, five."

Instead of replying, Kamui fixes his gaze on the two people walking toward them, his eyes meeting Takasugi's.

"I'll also do your laundry next week," Kagura adds.

He stares at the river, his heart skipping a beat when Takasugi walks past him and taps the top of his head, swift and light. The night comes back to him, filled no longer with silence but with the soft drumming of rain against the glass, marking the passage of time more so than the motions of the sun, moon, and stars. He doesn't need to turn around to know who is standing behind him, and he finds an odd comfort in that. "Make that two weeks and we have a deal," he says to his sister.

"Done." Kagura hands him a box of matches and mutters, "Asshole."

"Bitch," Kamui responds and glances from the matchbox in his hand to the lantern in front of him. He smiles.

So it has come to this.