Midsummer's eve, potatoes first

Ryu woke first. The sound of the kids turning up the music drove him from a drunken sleep to awareness in the evening cool. Half past nine and the sun had yet to set.

Amazing place. Would have visited Sweden long ago if I only knew about the summer light. He stretched and woke his sister. “Sis, seems dinner's over.”

She protested, but in the end she only wrapped her blanket tighter around herself and joined him in search for the others.

Down the slope, on the eastern side of the islet the kids, ranging from thirteen to over twenty had set up both music and link to Japan. Ryu idly wondered what friends they had there awake at this time in the morning, but maybe those linked just hadn't gone to sleep yet.

He saw how quite a few local youth had joined the event. For them it was probably just another opportunity for a party.

“Noriko, I doubt we're joining the link-up. If I recall Kuri said something about a barbecue on the backside.” He looked at his sister watching how another triplet of locals joined the dancing. “Let's see if we can find them.”

It only took them a couple of minutes. They climbed a few wooden stairs and ended up on a terrace where Urufu poured tin foil wrapped somethings onto a grill.

“What's burning?” Ryu joked.

Urufu turned and laughed. “Making baked potatoes. Potatoes first. The meat comes later.”

Noriko burst out laughing as well. “Potatoes. That's how you viewed them, isn't it?”

Urufu stopped laughing and looked serious for a moment. “I'm not that arrogant any longer.” He smirked. “But I guess I was. Yeah, back then the meat came later.”