The Boy Loved by the Thunderbird

The Sakura Shinda Festival

Aether gaped at the decorations that littered Inazuma City. The once quiet and tranquil city now bustling with life; and with the lifting of the Sakoku decree there was a lot more diversity strolling down the Inazuman capital.

"Look everything is so pink!" Paimon exclaimed. The little fairy flew up to touch one of the flags that were winding itself overhead, mimicking the foliage of sakura trees. This was Inazuma's annual Sakura Shinda Festival, the time of year when the great Sacred Sakura housed in the Grand Narukami Shrine would shed its petals in a majestic pink storm. As such, the people, in celebration, have decorated the entire city with sakura memorabilia from adorning the Tenryou commission's headquarters with streaks of pink flowers to small pink kitsune shaped trinkets. Even the various food were adorned pink: sakura flavoured dango milk, rice balls with sweetened sakura leaves as a filling, and of course the all too famous sakura mochi among others.

"Oh! Paimon's getting hungry just by looking at them."

"Don't forget we still have tons of sight seeing to do Paimon so don't stuff yourself too much." Aether chuckled. "It is our first Inazuman festival after all.

"Yeah yeah Paimon will be mindful of what she eats." The little fairy agreed somewhat dismissively, munching on a sakura mochi that somehow disappeared as fast as it mysteriously appeared in Paimon's hands.

Aether shook his head in amusement. He still doesn't believe how much of a glutton his travelling companion was despite having a body that small.

"I hope Gorou and Kazuha prepared a nice tour for us today."

"I hope so too. Have you ever been to this festival before Venti?" Aetehr nodded before looking back. The tone-deaf bard has been quiet since they had entered the city which was already suspicious in it of itself but Aether had dismissed it as to maybe the bard was speechless beyond amazement. Now he realized that he was wrong. Comically, a lone sakura petal drifted pass the space where the Anemo Archon was supposed to be.

"What the heck?! Where did he go?!" Paimon exclaimed as she floated above the crowd calling out his nickname.

"Hey Tone-Deaf Bard! Tone-Deaf Bard! Where did you go?!"

The pair didn't know when and where Venti had diverged from their thee-man group but it only took Aether a second to figure out where the Anemo Archon might've drifted off. Considering his love for anything alcoholic in nature, of course he'd dive straight to the closest places where such beverages were being sold: Tsukomomono Groceries.

The duo found it hard to weave their way through the crowd, especially the ones in front of Yae Publishing House. It seems a special issue of That's Life Magazine was published just for the festival, and of course fans of Ms. Hina had flocked to the publishing house to get a copy of their own. The pair swore that they caught a glimpse of a familiar white haired oni in the chaos but was instantly swallowed by the mass of hands that were vying for the said magazine. Making their way up the grand stairs, that were seemingly covered with sakura petals from top to bottom, Aether and Paimon found themselves in front of Tsukomomono Groceries and as expected they had found their missing companion, on the ground, being helped to his feet by strangers, a bottle and cup in his hands.

"Ah Traveler! Finally you're here! I just had to taste this Sakura Sake that they only make for the festival and gee I haven't tasted anything like it!" The bard cheerfully cried out. His green outfit covered with pink sakura petals. It seems he had spent some time being acquainted with the ground.

"Venti..." Aether held his head. "How can you be this drunk already?"

"I'm not drunk! I slipped." The bard answered in a matter-of-fact kind of way which didn't look believable considering he was hugging the bottle to his chest.

Aether sighed, slipping the clerk the Mora to pay for the Sake. He knew Venti didn't have the money to buy it, probably why he couldn't leave the vicinity of Tsukomomono Groceries to begin with.

"Besides I didn't' buy it for myself! I bought it to give to the Raiden Shogun as a gift."

"Uh huh. Then why are you drinking it." Aether cocked an eyebrow as he watched Venti pour himself another cup.

"I need to taste test it first before I give it duh!"

"Right."

Aether and Paimon shared a look of both amusement and disgust as they watched the bard basically down the entire bottle in a matter of seconds.

"There! Now I'm sure its good. Let's go!" The bard commanded, wobbly making his way up the nearby stairs.

"Venti wait you're gonna get yourself hurt!" Paimon called out, quickly pushing the bard forward as he was about to fall back.

Aether was bracing himself to catch him when he felt something struck his side. He could feel arms around his hips in a tight squeeze. He looked down and saw a mottle of black hair. It was a boy. He was dressed differently with his green yukata and purple coat and a green scarf wrapped around his neck. The young boy looked up and smiled at him, a purple feather sticking out of his hair.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Did you forget Big Bro? You promised to show me around outside Tsurumi Island Remember?" The boy cried out.

"Ruu?"