There was cheer and song in the air, people playing and chattering as they milled about the streets. The sky was slowly turning darker, which only served to enhance all the flashing lights that complemented the scene.
The five different pamphlets that Han Li managed to pick up detailing the myriad events and exhibitions were no short of overwhelming. There were so many sights and sounds; the blue, emerald, red, and gold banners that weaved through the air. Of all things, Han Li was busy thinking about the orphanage where he grew up.
Back at Saint August’s, the Hunter’s Association flag would hang alongside the New United Merriva one above each major entrance. It had been a mark of home and one of a prison too; a place for Han Li to return to but couldn’t leave either.
His mind was floating above the ravines of song and cheer. Han Li couldn’t help but feel keenly disjointed like he was neither here nor there. He couldn’t make sense of the very place in which he stood.
A tug at his sleeve pulled him out of his thoughts. Han Li blinked, disorientation clouding his head and Kevin was staring at him with a tiny frown on his lips. “Li?”
His chubby cheeks were puffed out. Kevin was wearing another one of his anime t-shirts. Han Li was pretty sure that it was an anime rendition of Merriva’s hero, Penny Smith, with the striking cheekbones and big sparkly anime eyes and long lashes printed on the otherwise plain black t-shirt. He wore a plain blue winter jacket on top, which was much too thick for the weather and was why it remained unzipped. An array of buttons and pins decorated the upper left arm of the jacket and Han Li was only cultured enough to recognize half of them. Kevin’s crow’s nest hair was especially adorable that day, with a curled tuff sticking out awkwardly at the top, giving Han Li the urge to pat it down.
So he did, reaching over and smoothing the wayward strand down with his palm.
Kevin flailed, hands going up to touch the spot that Han Li’s palm patted, his face an endearing shade of rose. “Is it…that bad?”
A chuckle bubbled out of Han Li’s lips and he was thrilled by Kevin’s cute personality and inwardly thanked the other boy for pulling him out of his strange mood. “No, it’s very you.”
“I…don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about that,” Kevin pouted, looking up. The way he held eye contact was telling and Han Li had the impression that his companion was searching for something.
“What is it?” Han Li chirped, his expression easy, head tilted to the side.
There was a pause before Kevin spoke up, “Um…there’s still two hours before the parade so… You were standing there and I don’t know if there’s something you’d like to see…”
Han Li, in all honesty, had given each pamphlet about a 0.3-second read before his attention span faltered. None of the exhibits made any sense to him anyway and he didn’t really give a damn about Union Day in the first place. So he smiled, “I’m game for anything. So you take the lead, yeah?.”
“Oh,” the blush on Kevin’s face deepened as he drew back and looked around. Han Li only then noticed that Simone wasn’t around them and he thought about asking Kevin but knowing the girl, she probably saw something shiny and was promptly lured away with it, like a child taking to lollipop. But Simone was a grown woman and Han Li would just contact her by mobile if need be.
Kevin perked up when something caught his eye. There was a bright halo around him but that might have been just Han Li’s imagination. “How about that?” He pointed excitedly at a nearby booth, bouncing ever so slightly on the balls of his feet.
Of all the activities and special activities available for partaking on this special day and this special day alone, the thing that caught Kevin’s attention was nothing short of a cheap carnival game-type attraction. It was one of those stupid things where you shot darts at balloons to win cheap and overpriced stuffed animals.
Only this was the Penny Smith themed; with the balloons stuck to cartoon renditions of griffins and instead of darts, one had the chance of throwing plastic axes that were meant to mimic the design so recognized on the New United Merriva Sector flag. Even the prizes were Penny-themed, from an ugly ‘moe’ version of Penny’s masculine but pretty face and war-ax plushies that looked more like deformed stuffed ice cream than actual weapons.
And yet there was a small crowd gathered nonetheless; mostly consisting of parents with their children and couples trying their hand at the game.
There were sparkles in Kevin’s eyes so how could Han Li bear to refuse him? With a cheeky grin, he hopped on over, “Alright, let’s see what we got here.”
Kevin nodded eagerly, pushing through the crowd to lean over the counter. Han Li had to dig through all his pockets before procuring the measly bit of cash on his person. It was enough to earn them five small plastic war-axes, that were more hatchets than anything else, to chance their skill with.
“Can…I?” Kevin blinked up at him and Han Li laughed. This guy was seriously cute but also a bit stupid.
“Go nuts,” he said and handed the plastic weapons over. They were too light to do any real damage.
Han Li once knew a guy back in Saint August’s that used silver hatchets; the kid insisted on them over modern firearms because they were the last of his family’s heirloom.
He couldn’t remember the kid’s name though. Han Li also couldn’t remember if the guy was still alive.
A strange drawl crept through his mind, Han Li watched absently as Kevin threw the first hatchet. There was barely enough force to make a dent into the foam wall filled with balloons. He had missed his target by a mile.
Kevin huffed and Han Li patted his back, “Bad luck, must have been the wind or something.” He was smiling but his mind was elsewhere. His sight drifted on over to the wall. If that had been a real griffin’s hide, none of these fools would have been able to penetrate it, not even if these war-axes were real with actual sharpened edges.
Not that Han Li had ever seen a griffin up close and personal before, but synthetic griffin skin was a real thing and Saint August’s would use it to train their top seeds.
A loud squeal pulled Han Li out of his thoughts. Kevin’s hands came down on the counter, he was beaming, “I-I hit it!”
But from Han Li’s perspective, the line of balloons that Kevin had aimed at was still perfectly intact. It took him a moment to realize that his cute companion had managed to hit one of the balloons on the far right, effectively startling a child who had been trying at that particular cluster.
“Oh,” Han Li blinked stupidly, “Congrats!”
Kevin was grinning. He was like the sun and Han Li must have been a night-dwelling specter, blinded and burned. The loud woman behind the kiosk asked if they wanted to pay a few more bucks at a chance for a bigger prize and Kevin was more than willing to fork out some money. Han Li felt a bit bad that he didn’t have any change left but he was happy to just stand back and watch.
But for some reason, it was hard to focus.
Kevin leaned in close and Han Li wondered if it was something the other boy did consciously. He supposed that the right thing to do in this situation would be to ‘smoothly’ slip his arm around Kevin’s waist, even if that’d be a horrible impediment to the other’s aim.
Not that it mattered much, Kevin didn’t really have a concept of aiming in the first place.
So Han Li decided to grow a pair, as Simone would put it, and quietly snaked his arm behind Kevin, mindful of the other’s reaction.
Kevin said nothing, feigning his absolute focus on the task of slaughtering balloons but Han Li caught notice of the red that reached the tip of his ears. Something told Han Li that had nothing to do with the mild autumn chill.
Only one hatchet remained and Han Li closed his hand over Kevin’s before the former could wind up again. At this rate, they weren’t going to win anything.
Han Li winked, “Let me take care of it, okay?” Despite the easy words and the easy expression, Han Li wasn’t particularly excited or enthused. Reality turned out to be a lot more different than expectations. Mild.
He convinced himself it was alright as he pried the plastic weapon from Kevin’s fingers, ignoring the cute pouting. Han Li was hardly a great shot. But he had at least some practice under his belt, the bare minimum, and the balloons weren’t far; they were also static targets that would serve little purpose in actual training.
A loud pop, followed by a thud. The plastic hatched embedded itself into the wooden panel hidden behind the layer of foam.
Kevin squealed in delight, “Wow! Y-you’re…awesome! That was awesome as heck…totally main protagonist-worthy material…”
Han Li tried to mimic his delight, but in truth, he hadn’t heard a thing Kevin said. So he just pulled a random line out of his ass, “Guess I got lucky!”
His ‘luck’ earned them one of those strange war-ax plushies and Han Li couldn’t fathom what idiot out there in the world designed such a thing. But Kevin was grinning, hugging the thing to his chest like it was a precious babe and Han Li supposed that was fine.
He sighed. But followed Kevin anyways.
