Even Today, the Genius High School Programmer Cashes In on Day Trades, Completely Flustered by Beautiful Girls' Growing Affection. - Chapter 31: On the Shrine Steps.

On the Shrine Steps.

I sat on the stone steps with yakisoba in hand, while Yukina enjoyed her okonomiyaki.

After the long walk here, both of us were quite hungry.

I finished my yakisoba and took a sip of tea, gazing down the staircase.

At some point, the crowd had grown. People were sitting in neat, evenly spaced intervals. There were a few families, but the majority were couples.

“It’s about to start,” Yukina said.

The moment the words left her lips, a soft orange light rose into the night sky directly ahead of us, followed by a deep boom as a massive flower burst open.

“Waaah—!” Yukina cheered.

That single bloom became the signal. One after another, fireworks of every color soared upward. Large and small, round and fan-shaped, they bloomed and shifted hues in rapid succession. The sheer power and beauty of it left us both breathless.

Yukina kept exclaiming with excitement, “That one was so pretty!” and “Look, that last one was heart-shaped!”

Since we were quite far from the launch site, the accompanying music barely reached us. But it didn’t matter. We had the perfect front-row view. Sitting on these stairs felt like the best seats in the house, and we savored every moment.

After a long, intense barrage of fireworks, the sky suddenly fell quiet.

“That marks the end of the first half,” Yukina said.

The fireworks show was apparently divided into two parts, with a fifteen-minute break in between. We sipped from our plastic bottles of tea while sharing our impressions—“That was amazing,” and so on.

Just as the second half was about to begin—

“Kousuke-kun… have you ever been confessed to by a girl?”

The question came out of nowhere.

“That came out of left field. No, of course not. How could I?”

“That’s not true~ You’re smart, and you’re secretly really good-looking, you know~”

“You’re starting to sound exactly like Hina.”

“I’m not that busty, though.”

“You don’t have to focus on that part.”

“Geez… But, hypothetically… if a girl you actually liked confessed to you, what would you do?”

Yukina was smiling, yet her voice carried a faint trace of anxiety.

I turned the question over in my mind. No good answer came to me.

“…I’d probably run away.”

“…Run away?”

“Because I’m scared of things I don’t understand.”

“……?”

“I don’t even know what it means to date someone. I don’t know what I’d want from her, or where it would lead. And beyond that… something would have to be sacrificed…”

The words caught in my throat.

“…Kousuke-kun?”

“Sorry. Can we drop this topic?”

“U-um… okay.”

“I just can’t put it into words properly.”

“It’s fine. I’m the one who should apologize. I asked something so blunt…”

Yukina murmured another soft “I’m really sorry” and lowered her gaze. Her expression looked dangerously close to tears.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, the second half should be starting soon, right?”

I tried to change the subject, but—

“Kousuke-kun.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I’ll stay by your side, okay?”

“…Huh?”

“As long as you don’t tell me you hate it… I’ll keep staying right beside you. Always.”

Yukina lifted her face. Her expression was gentle, yet her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

“After all… we’re friends, right?”

She held my gaze steadily as she said it.

Damn it…

The goddess in the yukata was far too perceptive.

At that exact moment, a thunderous boom echoed as the night sky bloomed orange once more.

“Oh!”

“The second half has started.”

The first volley of the second act lit up the darkness. Yukina’s voice sparkled as she said, “It would be even better if we could hear the music too~”

While watching the fireworks, I kept replaying her words in my head.

‘I’ll keep staying right beside you. Always.’

That was such a cheap shot. A killer line.

But no one could possibly understand how much weight those words carried.

After that, we simply focused on the fireworks. Yukina occasionally squealed with delight—“That one’s a new design!” and “I’ve never seen that color before!”

I still didn’t understand her feelings.

And she probably didn’t understand mine either.

Even so…

Yukina was trying to stay close to someone like me.

She was trying to understand someone like me.

Just knowing that was enough to fill my chest with gentle warmth.

The fireworks had entered their final phase.

After a grand finale of continuous explosions, the last enormous shell burst high above us.

Following the deafening crack, delicate orange embers drifted across the entire night sky like glittering snow.

“Waaah… so beautiful…”

I watched her profile as she whispered those words.

Long eyelashes.

The orange light dancing in her eyes.

Her elegant nose.

Those small, adorable ears.

The soft, feminine line of her nape.

Yukina was far more beautiful than any firework.

The words almost slipped from my lips, but right then our eyes met. She tilted her head cutely, looking puzzled.

“Nah, I was about to say something really cliché, so I’ll stop.”

I laughed and brushed it off.

Yukina seemed to think for a moment, then suddenly looked down, her cheeks flushing a deep red.

“You… you don’t have to say it. If I hear it, I won’t be able to look at your face anymore…”

Around us, other couples were standing up and preparing to leave.

We remained seated a little longer, quietly soaking in the lingering afterglow of the fireworks.