章節 93: Midsummer's eve, 2040, heating up

Yukio felt Kyoko's arms around him. It was something he never got tired of. So much love and so much trust in that simple hug. He wanted to hug her back, but looking down at his hands he saw how dirty they had become from handling the briquettes.

The evening had cooled a little with the sun taking on an orange hue, just like any other dusk. Still, this was not Japan. Where the shift from white to yellow to red should have taken at most half an hour, here it dragged on for hours. Yukio shook his head in wonder. Reading about the endless northern daylight was nothing like experiencing it.

Beside him Urufu had thrust what looked like an oversized hair-dryer into his grill and the briquettes were already spitting sparks as they heated up. Within seconds sparks on black became first sparks on white and then a brilliant red. The hissing of the fan turned into a rumbling roar, and Urufu quickly pointed the nozzle at another section of briquettes. A minute or so later he seemed satisfied and with a naughty grin he handed the devise over to Yukio.

'How hard can it be?' Yukio thought. It took him less than half a minute to regret that thought.

He got some help from Urufu, and together they brought the second grill to the temperature where it would take care of itself. All the while Kyoko never let go of her embrace, and Yukio could feel her face buried in his back. It made fixing the grill harder, but he didn't mind at all.

"No games?" he asked?

"No games," Urufu said. "We're a bit too old for that anyway. The kids can play around by themselves for all I care."

"Kids," Yukio laughed. "Some of them are older than we were." He felt Kyoko tighten her grip on him. 'Sorry my love. It'll be just fine, I promise.'

"Well, we're not putting them to work or anything."

Yukio threw his friend a look wondering what that last comment was about. Then he recalled their first summer break. 'No we won't. Not like they did back then. But even so it was kinda fun,' Yukio remembered.