To attend a friend's wedding, I returned to my hometown during the Obon holiday. There, I reunited with Ai, an old childhood friend whom I had always admired, after several years apart. Although we were both married and had grown up, Ai's smile still made my heart race. As kids, we had our own secret sign... sneaking into Ai's house to set off fireworks in the middle of the night... Now, as adults, as we gazed at the fireworks under the night sky, it was no longer enough just to watch them...
