On a night that was absent of fireflies, the two of them rested at a park bench after their long investigation. Throughout the day, from dusk until midnight, they looked all around for fireflies, but all they could find were crickets and cicadas.

Akari pouted as she sat with Kazuya. She hung her head low in disappointment while thinking about the day.

"I hate crickets!" She said. "I want to see a firefly!"

Kazuya looked at her and shrugged. "Well, at least the cicadas aren't out tonight."

"I hate cicadas too!"

"Don't think about it too much Akari." Kazuya said. "If there's no fireflies today, then there'll be some tomorrow, so don't worry."

Akari hopped off of the bench and pointed at his face. "Make sure you bring the net!"

"Yeah, of course." He smiled.

"If you forget, I'll be really mad!"

"I know Akari, I know." He said, checking the time on his phone. "Hey, we should go home now. It's pretty late."

"Oh, okay." Akari paused, then smiled. "Oh! Can I get a piggyback ride?"

"No." Kazuya replied quickly.

"H-Huh? Why not?!" Akari ran up to him and slammed her fists into his shoulder.

"Ow!" Kazuya used his arm to cushion the blows. "Ah! Quit it!"

Akari stopped, and then took a few steps back. "Can I?" She asked.

"No." Kazuya walked forward, ignoring her. Then, as he was walking, he suddenly felt a weight on his back. He turned his head around, and saw Akari's hands gripping on his shoulders.

"Akari..."

"Hmm?"

"Nevermind..."

He sighed, and then continued walking forward as Akari rode on his back. Kazuya was used to how dark it was at night, the town didn't have that many street lights, and the few that they did have were widely spread apart. He used his phone to light the way ahead.

Midway during the walk, Akari tugged on Kazuya's ear, and asked him a question.

"Hey Kazuya, why are there so many pictures of pretty women in your house?"

"Huh? Pretty women?"

"Yeah!" Akari pressed her palm against his cheek. "There's so many of them!"

"O-Oh, you're talking about that." Kazuya chuckled.

"Yeah! Tell me why you have them! Tell me, tell me!"

No response came. Kazuya closed his eyes, and smiled for a second.

"Kazuya?"

Kazuya looked down, ignoring her.

"Kazuya?!"

He let out a deep breath.

"KA-ZU-YA!!!"

And then he opened his eyes, and stared at her.

"It's because I really love those pretty women."

"W-WHAT?!" Akari jumped off of his back and ran ahead of him. "That's so weird!" She said. "You're weird Kazuya, you're super duper weird!"

"Ah, yeah. I guess so." Kazuya smiled, and then caught up to her.

The rest of the trip was silent. Akari walked a few paces ahead of him, and didn't look behind her to check if Kazuya was there. When they arrived home, Akari sprinted to the front.

"Good night Kazuya." She said before walking through the wall.

"Good night Akari." Kazuya replied.

He got out his key and went over to the front door. Right as he was about to unlock it, the door swung open, and he saw Aunt Mayuko standing in front of him.

"Kazuya, why are you out at this time of the day?"

"U-Uhh... I... I was..."

She sighed, and shook her head. "You were playing with Akari again, right?"