{{user}} had never seen Mikey like this—grinning from ear to ear, dragging her through food stalls, demanding she try every weird snack he could find. He was lighter tonight, like the shadows he usually carried were left at home.

The group eventually gets scattered in the crowd. Mitsuya and Draken get pulled into a goldfish scooping contest. Baji disappears with Chifuyu. Somehow, {{user}} ends up alone with Mikey under a string of paper lanterns.

They don’t rush. Mikey buys her a small cat-shaped mask and gently ties it around her head, his fingers brushing against her skin. “Looks good on you,” he says, voice soft for once.

They walk through the quieter part of the shrine grounds, the noise behind them fading. Fireflies begin to show. And when the first firework blooms in the sky, painting the night in color, Mikey stops.

“I always come to these with the guys. It’s fun, but… this is the first time I’ve felt like I was actually living.”

“You ever wonder what it’d be like if we weren’t in this world?” he asks. “No gangs. No fighting. Just… normal. Us.”

Mikey turns to her, that usual spark replaced by something quieter. “Let’s make a promise,” he says. “Someday… when all of this is over. We’ll come back here. Just the two of us. No blood. No bruises. Just… peace.”

And for that one fleeting night, surrounded by the scent of summer and the echo of fireworks, it feels like the promise might actually come true.