Even after many years had passed, Rin still remembered every single detail of that fireworks festival night with crystal clarity.
It wasn’t just because that night marked the final limit of her breathing as a human.
More than that, the memory was one of the most precious fragments she had ever possessed throughout her life.
“Two rings left! Come on, young man, keep going!”
The night wind blew with a refreshing coolness.
The main market area was brightly illuminated from every direction.
Amid the sea of people crowding the streets, there were elderly couples holding their children’s hands and young couples walking with intertwined fingers.
In the middle of that dense crowd, Shinobu carrying the giant woven basket naturally drew several pairs of eyes.
The girl stood at the front row of spectators.
Both hands held two skewers of sweet dango she had just bought from a street stall.
Her sharp eyes stared straight ahead, completely absorbed in the tension of the crowd around her.
Behind the white boundary line, a young man wearing faded, patched linen clothes stood upright.
His fingers gripped a small bamboo ring, his gaze locked tightly on the pile of prizes arranged several meters ahead.
The stall in front of him displayed various random items: small clay statues, old wakizashi, hairpins, kitchen knives, bracelets, wooden clogs, and several packs of dango.
This was the ring toss stall—one of the new games making its debut at this year’s fireworks festival.
The rules were simple.
Participants only needed to throw bamboo rings from behind the line; anything successfully encircled could be taken home as a prize.
One bamboo ring cost only a single copper coin.
However, the value of the items in the stall varied wildly.
A pair of wooden clogs might be worth more than ten coins, while a wakizashi was worth at least several hundred.
Though it looked easy, the game hid many sly tricks from the stall owner.
The deliberately spaced gaps between prizes, the imprecise weight of each bamboo ring, and the rings’ diameter that was almost—but not quite—perfect for the prizes were all designed to minimize winning chances.
Because of the speculative thrill it created, this stall became the busiest spot that night.
With only cheap bamboo scraps as capital, the owner had already raked in hundreds of coins from visitors’ pockets.
The young man aiming at the white line was one of his victims.
He could only exchange his last five copper coins for five bamboo rings.
That amount was very little compared to other participants who bought dozens at once.
To make matters worse, his target wasn’t an easy nearby item like wooden clogs or a pack of snacks.
He was aiming for a jade bracelet—the second most valuable item in the stall, placed in the back row.
The jade’s quality wasn’t particularly good; its color was somewhat dull and it had many dirty scratches inside.
Rin estimated the bracelet’s market value was only around one hundred copper coins.
A small amount for a ruler, but for a low-income family, it was equivalent to several days of living expenses.
The young man clearly wanted the bracelet as a gift for the girl walking with him.
The girl now stood among the spectators on the right side.
Both hands clenched tightly in front of her chest as she watched the young man’s back with a nervous expression.
Her hair was still loose and unbound—a sign that she was unmarried.
*Unmarried, yet bold enough to go out together at night…*
Rin, curled up inside the basket with the fox mask covering her face, immediately drew her conclusion.
This young couple must have secretly slipped out of their homes to watch the fireworks without their parents’ permission.
Just as Rin was quietly observing them, the young man in front of the white line pulled his arm back and threw his fourth bamboo ring toward the jade bracelet.
Unfortunately, the goddess of luck had not yet sided with him.
The bamboo ring hit the edge of the jade, bounced stiffly, and rolled onto the muddy ground.
A complete miss.
“Ah! So close!”
“Too bad! One last chance, young man! Don’t give up!”
Disappointed groans and mocking murmurs immediately buzzed from the spectators.
The stall owner’s trick had claimed yet another victim that night.
“Four throws and nothing. He should’ve just aimed for the dango from the start so he wouldn’t lose everything…”
“The owner deliberately placed the bracelet in the back. It’s small and far away—there’s no way something as light as bamboo could reach it.”
Shinobu took a small bite of her dango, chewing slowly while watching the young man who was now breaking out in cold sweat in front of the line.
“Rin, do you think his last throw will succeed?” Shinobu whispered without turning her head.
“It won’t,” Rin answered flatly from inside the basket, full of confidence.
“`entertainment
Rin’s spatial analysis and inner vision were still extremely sharp.
She could see that even though the young man had adjusted his throwing angle four times, the axis of his arm was always off by several degrees from the bracelet’s center.
Without a radical directional correction, this fifth throw was guaranteed to kiss the muddy ground again.
“I see…” Shinobu let out a short breath, looking at the young girl in the spectator line who was now biting her lower lip with a disappointed expression.
“What a shame. Looks like that young man’s fireworks celebration will end with a bitter memory tonight.”
*A bitter memory…?*
For some reason, those words struck Rin’s chest.
Her eyelids blinked faster behind the white fox mask.
She, who had originally intended to remain a passive observer inside the basket, suddenly straightened her stiff back.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Rin finally spoke from behind the basket’s covering cloth, directing her words straight at the young man in front of the white line.
“Hey, you in front. Shift your hand position two inches to the left.”
“Eh?”
The young man, who had been fully focused, jumped in surprise.
He reflexively turned toward the source of the voice with eyes full of confusion.
“Don’t change your strength. Just shift the angle a little to the left, then throw with the same rhythm as your third throw. You’ll definitely encircle it.”
“Ah… o-okay…”
Perhaps because of the subtle but absolute authority in Rin’s tone, or perhaps because the young man was already desperate and had no other choice, he finally decided to follow the strange instruction.
“Yes, hold that angle. Lower your shoulder a bit, relax, and remember the weight of your previous arm swing…”
Hearing the periodic guidance from the basket behind him, the young man took a deep breath to calm his racing heart.
He locked his wrist and launched the final bamboo ring with one steady flick.
The slightly uneven bamboo ring flew through the air, tracing a smooth parabola under the lantern light, before finally landing with a perfect *plop*—perfectly encircling the entire surface of the jade bracelet in the back row.
“Oh! It went in! The throw landed!”
“That guy actually got it!”
“With only five copper coins, he’s taking home a bracelet worth a hundred! What kind of luck is this?!”