FIREWORKS ARE FOOD… AREN’T THEY?

Leith walked, looking at the buns with their fireworks and searching for the place where they got them. It was an emergency, he had to get some! Master Atma was in danger of getting his mochi feast interrupted!

While he walked, Leith couldn’t stop looking at the sparklers. They looked so shiny, so mystical, so… magical. A wand that could conjure powerful magic with a spark… yes… he knew that’s what he needed…! Ahem, not for him, of course. It was to protect his master from the dangers of the underworld, buns that dared to steal his master’s food, or his current emergency… Buns that wanted to STOP his master from eating!

He walked purposedly to where they were selling the sparklers, and browsed other fireworks while he was there.

“Hello, fellow bun! Looking for some fiery action~? We have firecrackers, sparklers, rockets, ground spinners, and some REALLY noisy ones!!”, said the firework seller, showing some of his wares to Leith. “We even have some special roman candles~”
“There are so many cool fireworks to…!”, replied Leith while watching all the fireworks with a gleam in his eyes that he tried really hard to cover. “S-so many, ahem, awesome wares you have here, sir. May I have some sparklers, for starters?”
“Sure thing, here!”

The shopkeeper handed Leith five sparklers, and he squealed a little, forgetting for a moment to hide his excitement. He then composed himself as best as he could and lit one of the sparklers. The small lightshow began in the hands of Leith, who couldn’t stop looking at it with wonder.

“So cool…“, whispered to himself and, taking out another sparkler, lit it with the sparks of the first.

Now he had TWO sparklers lit at the same time, and he began to wave them and jump from side to side.

“Haha… So awesome… I fell so… so… SO POWERFUL!!”

He yelled that last part, and the bun from the fireworks stand looked at him oddly. I mean, it’s so nice that he’s having so much fun, but… it’s just a sparkler, you know?

Leith continued to shake the sparklers and began to make shapes with them in the air. The first one snuffed out, so he lit another one with the fire of the second and wrote “Leith” with the light of the sparklers in the air.

“Hahaha, I can conjure temporal characters and shapes with these! I see lots of possibilities with this kind of power…!”

He finally had run out of sparklers, and was now debating what else to try, when he remembered the reason for wanting to get some fireworks in the first place.

“Oh, how foolish of me! I got so caught up in my own fantasies, that I forgot my true mission: Saving master! But… These sparklers…”, mused while looking at the spent sticks. “Their powers are illusory, and not much can be done with them outside of distractions.”

He needed something stronger, something more powerful…!

So, he returned to the stand and carefully browsed through the fireworks there. The rockets may be useful, but kinda hard to aim. The explosive ones? Much noise, but could they DO any damage…? He wasn’t sure, so he decided to ask the store owner.

“What is your most powerful weapon, sir?”
“Excuse me? Weapon? No, these aren’t weapons, these are fireworks it’s just for fun~!”, answered the shopkeeper, trying to hide an amused expression.
“Oh, I see what you mean… Sooo… What is your most… effective firework, mh?”

The shopkeeper watched him for a moment and then, getting closer to Leith, whispered, “Well, a bun lost an eye once in a roman candle accident, so…”

The shopkeeper shrugged and looked at Leith.

“So, what’s it gonna be?”
“Give me one of those roman candles, please, as a test.”
“All right! Be careful where you point it, though.”

The shopkeeper explained how it works, and Leith, nodding, took the candle. He lit it up and pointed to the sky as instructed. He waited for a little while, and then….

FWOOOOSH!!!

A fireball shot out of it, filling the sky with a streak of color.

Leith fought HARD to not explode from excitement, but it was impossible. He started to jump in merriment, pointing the roman candle to the sky, then to the horizon, dangerously lowering it with each fireball.

“THIS IS WHAT I NEED, AN EVEN MORE POWERFUL WAND! YES!! With this I can protect my master, and no one will be able to oppose me, or his will! NO ONE!!”

With these last words, he pointed the candle to a bun he saw walking away from the fireworks stand… and saw the face of his master approaching him, with his mouth open, chewing something!

“Look, Leith, I won! Also, these fireworks are del…”

He couldn’t finish that last word as the fireball hit his mouth, and…

BOOOOM!!

They were some of the loud ones, and they exploded in Atma’s mouth.

The explosion in his mouth was loud, but not so strong as to blow his head up. It gave him a strong shock, though, and he stumbled backwards, dazed and bordering unconsciousness. He could hear the distant screams of Leith calling out to him, “Master! MAAASTEEEER!!”… but, more clearly, he could see a figure looking down on him from the moon, and heard these distinct words:

“Don’t eat explosives if you can help it.”

Then he woke up.

“MASTER!! ARE YOU OK??”
“Oh, Leith, hey… Yeah, I’m fine… I… I think I had my moon vision…”
“Really?! What did it say?! —asked Leith, now excited about the vision.”
“’Don’t eat explosives’… Meh, what does the voice know, those tasted fiery!!”

Leith sighed while helping Atma up.

“I think you need to rest, master.”
“Yeah, maybe… Hey, look, I won a trophy! This mochi is for… oh, it got dirty, sorry…”
“Don’t worry, master, you can have it. —answered Leith, relieved.”
“OK!”

Atma ate the mochi at once and walked alongside Leith to their home. It had been an eventful day, and so fun!!

Certainly, all the buns gathered in the area won’t forget that explosion anytime soon.