Breaking the Scam
Summary: While exploring the local festival, Kyoujurou gets a chance to impress Erika.
Genre: General
Word count: 928
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The ambient glow of lanterns gave the night a romantic glow as Kyoujurou and Erika walked along a path lined with festival stalls. The young duo were dressed in yukatas; Kyoujurou's patterned with flames and Erika's with hydrangeas.
"Are you sure it's okay to take a night off from work?" Erika meekly asked while staring at her footsteps. "I mean, it's not as though demons take days off."
Kyoujurou laughed for a moment before grunting in pain. He paused and Erika stopped beside him, her hands barely not touching his shoulder in concern.
"A-ah..." Kyoujurou mumbled. "See, I would be out working but Kochou didn't approve since my rib is still healing."
Erika hummed before replying, "I see. So you would have preferred to be out with demons than me?" Suddenly feeling brave, she coyly smiled up at Kyoujurou.
"Hm. I prefer your company, Erika." Kyoujurou gave his usual grin but took one of Erika's hands in his own as he spoke. "After all, you don't try to kill me!"
For a moment, Erika couldn't think straight. Kyoujurou's beaming face. The warmth of his hand. And even if it was made in comparison to demons, she liked hearing that Kyoujurou liked being around her. She longed for his words to mean more but she wouldn't delude herself.
"W-w-w-well! Thank you for accompanying me!" Erika squeaked out while pulling her hand away. She started to walk again and Kyoujurou kept up. "I-I-I mean, even though this is my hometown, I felt so unsure about coming on my own!"
Side-by-side, the two walked.
“Hey you, young man!” a voice called out. “Come over here!”
Erika and Kyoujurou stopped and turned their heads. When Erika saw who the hawker was, her neighbor Iemoro, she rolled her eyes. The flame-haired man approached Iemoro and looked at the set up. All there was to the old man’s stall was a stone roughly the size of baby calf propped up on a table and a wooden sword leaned against it.
“Don’t bother with him,” Erika grumbled to Kyoujurou. “Old man Iemoro’s stall is just a scam.”
“It ain’t a scam!” Iemoro snapped at her before grinning at Kyoujurou. “You look like a strapping young man. Want to try your hand at my game?”
“What exactly does it entail?” Kyoujurou inquired, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit.
“All you gotta do is break the stone with this wooden sword and I’ll give you a fabulous prize. Of course, you gotta pay a small fee to play, in case you break the sword.”
“Told you, scam,” Erika said matter-of-factly.
In dead silence, Kyoujurou paid the fee then took up the wooden sword. He positioned himself in front of the boulder. In a matter of seconds, his demeanor had changed. His grip on the sword, his stance, his focus on the target. Everything about what he was doing was practiced.
A few passersby slowed to a stop, seeing a person try Iemoro's scam game.
"Must be new in town."
"Hope he doesn't get mad."
"Just another one of Iemoro-san's victims."
Erika felt her breath stop in her throat seeing Kyoujurou's intensity. She only ever saw that side of him when he was training or on the job but in those situations, she couldn't be distracted by anything much less her friend's good looks. In the peaceful atmosphere of a festival however, she was free to let her heart skip a few beats.
"What exotic hair..."
"If you look closely, you can see the muscles on his arms."
"What I'd give to marry a man like him."
Does he even know handsome he looks like this? Erika wondered.
Kyoujurou raised the sword and then—
THU-CRACK!
The boulder, as well as the table underneath, were split in two with no damage to the wooden sword.
"Wha—? Th—! Ho—!" Iemoro could barely choke out one, complete word.
"Aaah~! Rengoku!" Erika squealed. She turned pink and covered her mouth when she caught herself.
The crowd went wild, screaming in awe and delight. There were shouts of "Way to go!" and "Someone finally did it!" After actual years of Iemoro keeping up the same scam, he had been outdone. It felt quite appropriate for a man dedicated to justice like Kyoujurou to be the one to put an end to it.
"What do you think, Erika?" Kyoujurou turned and grinned at her. "I tried my best so I could win the prize for you!"
Erika's warm face was now burning. Her heartbeat was so strong she heard it in her ears. Kyoujurou, and her crush on him, had too strong of an effect on her. Still, she managed to get her words out.
"U-uh..." She glanced at Iemoro and saw the man's defeated expression. "Rengoku, I don't think there was ever a prize..." Poor guy. He won't get rewarded for that impressive feat.
Kyoujurou blinked owlishly before giving a restrained chuckle. He gave Iemoro the wooden sword back and returned to Erika's side.
"Forgive me. Looks like I'll have to get you a gift some other way."
"Th-that's not necessary..." Erika reached up to tucked her hair back but Kyoujurou did it first. "R-Ren—" She became keenly aware of the eyes of the crowd on her and Kyoujurou. "Maybe we should go somewhere else."
"Yes." Kyoujurou's smile softened. Although his eyes were a burning color, they were incredibly gentle. Kyoujurou put an arm around Erika and started to guide her through the crowd.
All of a sudden, it was like the crowd was no longer there.
It was just Kyoujurou and Erika.