A Silent Voice: My First Kiss Was with Nishimiya Shouko

"That's right. Handmade by the Miko herself," the shrine maiden replied, her expression unchanging.

"Future Miko?" Akira asked, a little skeptical.

"Hmm..." The Miko nodded lightly.

"Hmm?" Akira frowned, unsure what she meant.

"Mm!" She nodded again, more firmly this time.

Akira narrowed his eyes. "You're not just someone who made a few of these and is trying to sell them to tourists by pretending you're the Miko, are you?"

He took the omamori from Shouko's hand and examined it with mild suspicion.

"Nope. I am the Miko of this shrine," she said plainly, but neither Akira nor Shouko took her seriously, assuming she was joking.

"So, how much for one?" Shouko asked politely.

Though she thought the design was a bit... unrefined, she figured buying one wouldn't hurt. After all, it was kind of fate that they ran into this.

That said, her willingness was conditional: if it turned out to be expensive, she'd pull Akira away without hesitation.

"Hehe... One hundred yen each," the Miko said with a playful laugh, holding up her index finger and giving it a small wiggle.

"Really?" Shouko blinked in disbelief and looked again at the charm in her hand.

From what she'd seen at other shrines, omamori usually went for around five hundred yen, sometimes more at famous shrines. Even at the fireworks stalls below, the cheaper ones were at least three hundred yen.

"It's true, okay? They're limited. One sold, one less," the Miko said seriously, reaching into her sleeve to pull out another one and handing it to Akira. "These are the last two. The rest are already sold out."

Akira accepted the charm and examined it. He then looked up at her with a completely deadpan expression and muttered, "You didn't just make only two of these, did you?"

Before she could answer, he glanced down again—and suddenly recoiled. For a brief moment, he looked like he might throw it in her face, but he held back and sighed instead.

"Are you sure this is appropriate to give us?"

The omamori in question had four embroidered kanji: 安産祈願 — "Prayer for Safe Childbirth."

Shouko peeked at it and said awkwardly, "Yeah… that's... not really relevant for us."

"Don't you have something else, Sister?" she asked gently.

The Miko just waved a hand dismissively. "Oh come on, it's still a charm for peace and safety. It counts."

"..."

"We'll just take the first one," Akira said, and handed the charm back toward her. But instead of accepting it, the Miko smirked and said:

"Two for two hundred yen. But if you buy only one... it's five thousand yen."

Akira stared at her flatly. The little smile playing at her lips looked less like a shrine maiden's serenity and more like the grin of a practiced con artist.

Without hesitation, he chucked the charm at her—hard.

"Just kidding, kid. Don't be so impulsive. That kind of temper's gonna get you in trouble someday," the Miko said cheerfully, catching the omamori mid-air without even flinching.

Shouko's eyes widened. "Wow... you caught that so easily…"

"The childbirth one is a gift," the Miko explained calmly. "Just give me two hundred yen for the regular one."

She checked the stitching—no loose threads—then handed it back to Akira.

"Isn't that still two hundred yen for two?" he muttered.

The Miko turned and offered the charm to Shouko instead, who accepted it politely.

"It's different. One's a discount for buying two. The other is a gift from me. See? Not the same meaning at all."

Akira sighed. "Okay, random question—do you have a relative named Huang Huifeng who sells Chinese herbal bruise liniment?"

Shouko ignored his sarcasm and pulled out two 100-yen coins from her coin purse.

"Hehe… Thanks for the support!" the Miko laughed and pocketed the coins. "This charm's very effective—handmade by yours truly, remember?"

She reached out and gently ruffled Shouko's hair.

Akira muttered, "Yeah, yeah… we're so blessed to have stumbled upon a handmade Miko-certified omamori."

It wasn't a big deal. Just 200 yen. If it made Shouko happy and offered her a little peace of mind, then it was worth it. As for the childbirth one... they'd just pretend it didn't exist.

Shouko gently tugged at Akira's wristwatch and checked the time.

"Then, Sister, we'll head down now. The fireworks are probably starting soon."

She carefully tucked both charms into her little purse.

"Be careful on the steps! Bye-bye!" the Miko called, raising a hand and waving at them.

"Bye-bye!" x2

Once they returned to the festival grounds at the foot of the mountain, they quickly found Miyamura Shizuka and the others using the location printed on their ticket stubs. The seating area was already almost completely full.

"What took you two so long?" Miyamura Shizuka asked as they sat down.

"We went up to the shrine halfway up the mountain," Akira replied, pointing toward it.

Shouko reached into her purse and proudly pulled out the safety charm. "We bought this up there! The Miko sister said she made it herself!"

She didn't mention the childbirth charm… for obvious reasons.

"Pfft—haha!" Miyamura Shizuka burst into laughter when she saw the charm's crude stitching.

But to her credit, she didn't say anything about them getting scammed or duped.

"So, how much was that?" Nishimiya Yaeko asked with a smile.

"Two hundred yen," Shouko replied, holding up two fingers.

Yaeko nodded. It wasn't much. And besides, she trusted Akira to step in if something really shady had happened.

"Alright, it's starting!" Daiki Miyamura shouted from the edge of their seating area.

The countdown began.

Everyone looked up at the sky, a vast sheet of black silk stretching above them.

As the final count reached zero, the first firework launched—trailing a bright tail like a shooting star—and exploded high above in a booming bloom of gold.

It unfurled like a golden chrysanthemum, petals made of pure light radiating outward from a dazzling core. The glow reflected off the faces of the crowd below, illuminating the wonder in their eyes.

Children squealed with joy. Adults gasped. More fireworks followed, one after another, a spectacular display of color, rhythm, and sound.

In that moment, Akira and Shouko looked at each other—and in their eyes, they saw nothing else but the reflection of the other.

And far off to the side, Miyamura Akira stood still.

He looked up at the brilliant sky, fireflowers blooming across the heavens—and saw something he knew he'd remember for the rest of his life.

It was as if, in that instant, the world had gone completely silent.

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POWER STONE!!!

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