Stealing Spree

Escorting the girls into the festival venue wasn't difficult. However, navigating inside brought me a small headache.

Why?

Even though I understood that the festival here would be different from the ones in our city or neighboring areas, I still ended up underestimating it.

Once we passed the arc which served as its entrance, we immediately found ourselves in an extremely tight situation.

The four girls could only grip onto my clothes and squeeze tightly within my embrace to avoid getting swept away by the uneven waves of people.

I mean even if there's someone regulating the traffic, the amount of people walking in and around the stalls couldn't help but fuse.

We ended up spending five to ten seconds before taking a step.

It took a few minutes before we could even reach the foremost stall.

Miho became extremely uncomfortable that she almost fainted from dizziness. I had to support her as I tried to find us a less crowded area.

As for the other three, their state wasn't any better.

Still, Akane and Yua continued to be optimistic as they cling to me from behind.

Yue, on the other hand turned her discomfort into her chance to snuggle further into my embrace, enjoying every second of it.

Of course, because they're all extremely close to me, our plan to not attract attention already failed.

Men and women stared at us with differing reactions.

Some wondered if I was simply their escort and gopher.

Some thought if I was showing off.

And lastly, a few idiots attempted to bump into us or any of my girls. Before they could do so my feet would already trip them or I would dodge along with my girls. Then Akane and Yua would intentionally step on their feet, making howl in pain. Before they could call us out, we'd already blend further into the crowd, leaving them behind.

Really if not for my priority being my girls' enjoyment, I would've knocked them all down as discreetly as possible. Well, I stopped minding them and just focused on bringing my girls to a less crowded area.

A while later, we did find a relatively breathable space. However, the stalls around us offered the less popular products or games.

Still, this is better than none? I already figured out a path to where we could watch the fireworks display later so all we needed to do was to rest here and then explore again before finding a great spot to witness it.

"Sorry. I should've researched more before deliberately bringing you all here." I said as I checked on Miho's condition.

I sat her down on a bench while I squat down in front of her.

As I checked her complexion after taking her mask off, my girl's face was really pale. Her lips even dried up.

I immediately wiped the cold sweat that accumulated on her forehead before gently caressing her face.

Slowly but surely, a little color returned to her skin.

Miho weakly opened her eyes and smiled. But when her gaze focused on me, she bit her dried lips and pouted, "Wipe that frown on you, idiot Ruki. I'm fine. I can adapt to this."

As always, this girl didn't want me to worry. She thought she could withstand the crowd as long as she's next to me. However, she also didn't expect that it would exceed her expectations.

"Say that when you get better. We'll stay here for a while so... Take a proper rest." I pressed my thumb on her pouted lips, stretching them to the side.

But the girl suddenly opened her mouth and bit me.

With a stubborn gaze, she shook her head, "No. I can do this."

She then looked at the other three with us, maybe trying to get their agreement.

Unfortunately for her, they're also worried about her condition.

"Miho, it's fine. It's not like we can explore right now. Look. We'll just get squeezed again." Yua in a fox mask said as she pointed behind her, showing the festival goers that looked like canned sardines as they continued to navigate through it.

"And this place isn't bad. Here, eat this. That old lady said it's delicious."

Yue in a pig mask, who had just returned from buying a few oddly-colored dango sticks, said as she handed one to the girl.

Delicious, huh? Why do I smell spices from it? Was that wasabi?

Miho, who was still a little listless, grabbed the stick unconsciously and took a bite.

But as soon as she did so, she started coughing, "Blergh! What is this flavor? It's too strong!"

Ah. At least that cleared her head.

Yue, who probably already had a taste of it, started snickering.

"Hehe. It's a special wasabi mix. I don't know what they're thinking when making that. No wonder it's unpopular."

Miho furrowed her brows, thinking she got pranked but instead of getting back at Yue, her gaze landed on me.

"Eat this for me, Ruki..." This time, a playful smile formed from her lips as she put the stick of odd dango in front of me.

This girl... I guess I can entertain her mischievous thoughts once in a while. Besides, it looks like tasting this odd dango brought back some of her energy. I don't mind sharing their suffering.

I grit my teeth and took a bite.

And sure enough, even though I already expected it, I couldn't help but wince at the odd flavor that started to fill my mouth.

Miho, Yua and Yue started laughing at me. But as though they realized how mean they were, the three of them also got another bite.

With that, four of us sported an unpleasant expression as we tried to chew on it.

"You guys... What are you all doing? Husband? Does that taste so good that you're about to cry? Let me have a taste too!"

Just in time, my silly wife, Akane who also went to one of the stalls brought over two plastic cups filled with murky water.

No. It should be some type of refreshment, right? Hopefully, it didn't have another odd taste.

With her eyes flashing in excitement, Akane went and popped one piece of the dango from my stick as she handed the drinks to Yue and Yua.

"Cough! Cough! This is... wild." Akane said as she forcefully gulped down the dango without trying to chew on it more.

Following that, Yue and Yua who drank from the cup Akane brought also started coughing.

"... Is this bittermelon?"

With their eyes already on the verge of tears, the two girls asked Akane.

Because of the dango still blocking her airways, Akane forced a smile as a response before taking one of the cups and downing it right away.

Beside me, Miho who had just finished eating her dango tugged at my sleeve as she fearfully said, "Ruki... Let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's find some normal food and drink to cleanse our pallet."

As she said that, Akane who's already frowning from the taste of the drink twisted her head to us before taking the remaining cup and handing it to us.

"... Before that, shouldn't you suffer with us, husband? Miho?"

With a sinister smile despite her angelic appearance, Akane pressured us to chug it down.

Behind her, Yue and Yua appeared to have turned into some kind of demon with their masks backing Akane up.

Under their malicious gazes who seemed to say no one's going to leave until we drink it, Miho and I shared the remaining bittermelon juice.

But to their surprise, instead of directly gulping it, I stored it first in my mouth and shared it with Miho through a long, passionate kiss.

Forced to watch as we savored that moment, the three girls soon ran back to the stall and bought three more cups.

As soon as Miho and I finished consuming the remaining bitterness from our mouth, those three lined up from behind me.

"Husband, you should be fair, right? Do that with us too. Here. We bought more juice."

This... can I even refuse them?

And here I thought we'd have a normal festival visit... In any case, this isn't that bad… My girls’ passion is enough for me to numb my tongue from the bittermelon flavor.