Their friends were standing right there in shock, gazing at Kojou and Yukina with astonishment. Kojou hadn’t heard their footsteps whatsoever because of all the fireworks going off above them.

“…Y-Yukina…?!” Sayaka demanded, her face pale. “‘Always by your side’…? Don’t tell me you’re propo—”

“Eh?!” replied Yukina in apparent bewilderment. Apparently, Sayaka had been listening starting from the midway point.

Even though Asagi, too, was rocking on her heels, she’d somehow begun to blaze with fighting spirit.

“T-to think you’d launch a frontal assault… Impressive…”

The look she regarded Yukina with was much like that of a sports player encountering an old rival.

Unsurprisingly, Yukina was thrown off quite fiercely when she realized just how her words were being taken.

“Ah, er—wait, please. What you heard was just me—”

However, her feelings being rather complicated to begin with, she had great difficulty explaining herself.

Yaze and Rin gazed at Yukina’s behavior with obvious amusement.

And standing behind the rest of them, Nagisa’s cheeks were red for some reason as she looked straight at Yukina.

“Yukina…that’s so bold.”

“I-it’s not…I mean, as senpai’s watcher… It’s not what you think!!!”

Yukina’s shout echoed through the night sky. Kojou felt detached from it all as he gazed above him.

Fresh explosions showered them all in twinkles of light.

Here, away from other prying eyes, the final curtain fell on the incident that had occurred during the boisterous festival.