365 days as a helpless puppet

Chapter 3

I was woken up by a face directly in mine. "WAAAH!!" I jumped up only to realize it was Kazuha. "Oh...it's just you. Don't scare me like that!" I yelled at him embarrassed. "Haha, sorry. You just make such a cute face while sleeping." He said, giving me his usual warm smile. It made me feel strange. "What is that supposed to mean?!" I  said, standing up and looking at Kazuha. "It doesn't matter, I want to introduce you to some more of my friends!" Kazuha changed the topic quickly and stood up as well. He took my hand and draged me into town. His hand was warm and soft like a pillow. Why do I feel so strange around him? I hate it. We walked down the street when we reached almost the end of the city. "There, the firework shop!" He said pointing at the shop to our right. "What are we going to do with fireworks??" I asked him confused when suddenly a loud voice came from behind me. "Oh! Aloooot more than you can think of!" A girl with blond short hair came up to us. "Hi! I'm Yoimiya, current owner of the Naganohara firework shop!" She laughed and gave me a small stick. "Here! Light it up!" The girl said excited and touched the tip of the stick to light it up with the help of her pyro vision. The stick began to sparkle and it almost looked like a beautiful star in the night sky. "Wow..." I was fascinated by it. "Have you never seen a firework before?!" She suddenly gasped at me and took me by the wrist. "We HAVE to change that!" And with that she swiped some fireworks out of a box and ran of with me, leaving Kazuha behind. "That boy sure is strange..." Tomo was suddenly standing behind Kazuha, hugging him tight. "He's not that different from us." The white haired boy responded. As for me and Yoimiya, she told me to wait at the top of a little mountain and ran back down to set up the fireworks. "READY?!?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, making sure I heard her. "Y-YES??" I was still confused at what exactly was going on but then she lit up the fireworks and all my worries went away with just a single 'PEW'. The fireworks went into the air, exploiting one after another. It was so beautiful. I was fascinated at how such little things could make art appear in the air. "Cool huh?" Yoimiya said with a confident smile on her face. When it was over, we went back to the shop to find Kazuha and Tomo waiting for us. "Did you guys have fun?" Tomo asked giving a quick wink to Yoimiya. "Mhm." I hummed, still fascinated. "Haha, well you must be hungry right? Let's go back to the tea house." He said to me and we said goodbye to Yoimiya before going back. At the tea house, we ate something and talked. It was just us three though. "Hey, did you guys ever think about standing up against the Shogun?" Tomo suddenly asked, leaving me and Kazuha in shock. "Are you crazy!!?" Kazuha yelled at him. "I mean, if you have a death wish." I said in response. "But this whole Vision hunt decree can't go on like this! People have already lost their lives." He said, looking down on the table. I was just confused. "Vision hunt decree?" I asked, making both of their heads turn to me. "Wait, you have never heard of it?!" Kazuha asked me as if he seen a ghost or something. "The Vision hunt decree was an order from the Shogun herself a few days ago. Everyone who has or got a vision is ordered to emidiently hand it in. If you refuse, you may encounter a harsher punishment than force." Tomo explained. I. Was. Angry. And not just slightly, but REALLY angry. How could she?! Was torturing me not enough?! That God damn woman. I just stood up and left the room without a word about the situation. I was laying in "bed" when Kazuha suddenly knocked at the door. "Hey, are you okay? You just stormed off back then." He asked me and sat himself besides me. "Yeah, I was just...angry that's all." I said to him. What a poor excuse. "Listen, we all are. But trying to storm off and defeating the Raiden Shogun herself is not a good idea. Neither for Tomo Nor for you." He said to me and patted me on the head. "We'll find a solution, I promise." And with that, Kazuha left the room.