Prologue: When I Returned Home, It Was Like a Foreign Land

The class trip that had felt both long and short ended without any huge hiccups. Prior to all this, I hadn’t been sure if I’d be able to enjoy going on such a long trip. But after it had ended I felt like it had gone by in the blink of an eye.

In fact, six days and four nights even seemed a bit short. As a class trip it was perfectly fine, but we all felt as if we had left things undone. There were places we wanted to go but couldn’t, foods we wanted to eat but couldn’t, and things we wanted to do but couldn’t. Hawaii was like a meal we’d eaten only an eighth of, full of a charm that made us want to stay there for just a little while longer. I could completely understand, now, why it was such a popular travel spot.

At the same time, I was also starting to feel an undeniable desire to head back home. I admit the first thing I did when our plane landed safely back in Japan was sigh in relief.

I wanted to stay in Hawaii for longer, but I also wanted to go home. Maybe those contradictory feelings were a part of what made traveling so enjoyable.

At least I’d promised Nanami that we’d return to Hawaii, so I was sure that I would go back at some point. To do that, though, I would have to prepare. I needed to look into learning how to drive and getting my license. The trip would come sooner than I knew it—just like this first visit had.

And just like that, we finished our class trip and returned home...but the first thing we all said when we landed ended up being the same. Despite the fact that we’d each experienced and enjoyed the trip in a different way, our hearts became one in this final moment.

The first words out of our mouths were...

“It’s cold!”

Those two words were something all of us said.

Seriously, the moment we got off the plane, we all started saying how cold it was, like we were all part of one giant chorus. I was so shocked by the chill that I couldn’t help saying it too. I mean, what was going on with the temperature? We’d all heard ahead of time that it was cold, so none of us were lightly dressed, but we all still felt it.

It was true that, when it was cold, that was all you could think about. We thus tried desperately to hold on to the last bit of Hawaiian warmth in our minds as we stood there battling the Japanese cold. Even though I was attuned to the scent and the difference in the air when we landed in Hawaii, this time, landing back in Japan, all I could think about was the temperature change.

“Seriously, why is it so cold?” I murmured.

I didn’t think I usually felt this cold. What was going on? Was it because I’d just spent the past few days basking in the Hawaiian sun?

Even though it had just been six days, four nights, the trip had been nearly a week long. It seemed entirely possible that our bodies had gotten used to the temperature there and so found the weather in Japan to be colder than usual.

Nanami was hugging herself as she walked. Even though we’d got back home, it felt like we’d arrived in a foreign land. But that also could have been because we were walking through the jet bridge connecting the plane to the terminal, which meant we were practically outside.

“Nanami, are you okay? It’s cold, huh?” I asked.

“What in the world, it’s cold...super cold. I wanna eat something warm,” she returned.

“Seriously. Ramen would be so good right now,” I muttered.

“Oh, that’s a great idea. Should we get some before we head home?”

Nanami’s agreement made me want ramen for real. We hadn’t encountered any in Hawaii...though I guess we did see some cup noodles. Despite Nanami’s very appealing suggestion, though, we weren’t actually going to disperse as a class at the airport, so the odds of us actually being able to act on it was low.

I should have thought better than to mention this at all. Now I totally had ramen on the brain.

People around us were also naming warm comfort foods—oden, pork and veggie soup, udon, soba...just a variety of Japanese foods. Maybe we were just rebounding from our time abroad.

But as we continued walking through the jet bridge, our heads filled with the thought of warm foods like The Little Match Girl, we finally understood why it felt so cold.

“Wow, it’s snowing.”

That’s right: snow.

I guess someone had mentioned it while we were on the plane, but I’d never expected to see my first snow of the year like this.

Outside the window, white snow fell slowly from the sky. It wasn’t piling up on the ground, and there definitely wasn’t a snowstorm or anything, but at least I finally understood why it felt so dang cold.

“You wanna wear my jacket, Nanami?” I asked.

Even though we were almost out of the jet bridge, if Nanami was cold, then...

“Hmm. I think I’d rather do this than have your jacket,” she replied.

“This?” I asked, then added in confusion, “What?”

“This!” Nanami said, taking my hand and dexterously entwining her arm with mine. We had our arms linked, in other words, but it seemed like we were much closer to each other than what arm-linking would allow. We also had to walk more slowly, which made us stick even closer together.

“Tee hee, it’s so warm,” Nanami whispered.

“Dude, we just got back,” I thought I heard someone mumble, but I decided to pretend like I didn’t hear it.

Nanami smiled happily as she attached herself to me. Being this close really did feel a lot warmer than before. I was also pretty sure that this was the first time ever in my life that I had kept myself warm in such a way.

This seemed obvious, but humans have pretty high body temperatures. Common wisdom even said that in the event you ever got stranded on a snowy mountain with someone it was best to warm each other naked. That was how hot the human body was.

Though, apparently there were various conditions under which you really actually should warm yourselves naked. It was said to be kind of dangerous to do, and there were rather detailed instructions...but I’ll just skip all the details. Because right now we weren’t actually stranded on a snowy mountain. It was just that it was kind of cold.

What was most important here was the fact that I was experiencing something that I only knew in theory—Nanami getting warmer from my body heat—and that I was also getting pretty warmed up myself.

That was what was important. To learn by doing. It might as well have been a part of our class trip.

I hadn’t been expecting to continue my education even after the trip ended. Was this what people meant when they said a field trip only ended once you stepped through your front door? I was probably wrong about that, though.

Yeah, instead of thinking something weird, we should probably focus on getting inside while it’s still kind of warm. But if it’s this warm, it must mean that both our bodies are burning through enough calories to produce heat, right? If we’re trying to warm each other, don’t we need a certain amount of energy...or fat? Wait, fat warms us not because it burns, but because it doesn’t let out heat, right? So if my body is warm, then it means I have a certain amount of fat...and if Nanami is warm, then she, too, must have a certain amount of...

Wait, self. I think you’re thinking something very rude right now. I mean, she’s saying that I’m warm too, so it must mean that we’re both fa—

In that moment, a chill ran up my spine.

“I feel like something rather rude just crossed your mind,” Nanami said, looking up at me with all the light having disappeared from her eyes. Despite the fact that I felt warm, my body immediately began to shiver, having been taken over by a sudden freezing sensation.

More importantly, how did Nanami know what I was thinking? Apparently she could read minds now; her beautifully faint smile was paired with a deep darkness dwelling in her eyes that was honestly frightening. So frightening I decided to cease all thought right then and there.

Yeah, I’m probably just imagining that she’s psychic. My face must be telling her everything. Yeah, that must be it.

“It’s warm, huh?” I said, genuinely expressing how I felt—though it wasn’t a lie to say that I was trying to change the subject too. Still, Nanami’s expression brightened immediately when I said that. The light seemed to have returned to her eyes as well.

To be honest, even though her expression from earlier did send a chill up my spine, I didn’t actually dislike it. But Nanami looked her most beautiful when she was smiling with joy. It definitely wasn’t because I was scared. If anything, it was my fault for having thought such offensive thoughts just now.

“It is, isn’t it?” Nanami agreed, her arm still entangled with mine. “The cold’s not too bad now, though.”

When we were walking so close to each other, it was possible to forget how cold it was...almost. Either way, it really was pretty warm. Though the parts where we weren’t touching each other still felt quite chilly.

Once we got out of this jet bridge, though, we’d be inside the airport terminal, so it was probably going to feel pretty hot. But that wasn’t a strong enough reason for us to separate just yet.

I didn’t think there’d ever been a time when I deliberately moved apart from Nanami after being so closely attached to her like this. If I just detached myself without saying anything, she would probably be devastated.

When I imagined it the other way around, I felt pretty devastated myself: If Nanami drew away from me when we were this close to each other, I would probably start crying.

For now, maybe I should just stay like this.

“A...choo!”

Suddenly, though, an adorable sound erupted next to me. I turned to my side, seeing Nanami blinking and covering her mouth as though she’d surprised even herself. I guess her own sneeze had been unexpected.

“Nanami, you okay?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine. Though maybe I got kind of cold,” she said.

The temperature really had dropped all of a sudden, so it was very likely that her body temperature had dropped as well. Since it would be bad for her to catch cold, maybe I should offer her my jacket? We were pretty close to stepping inside the airport building, but still.

Just as I thought that, though...

“If that’s the case, then warm me up some more, okay?” Nanami declared, squeezing my arm so tightly that I thought she was trying to will our two limbs to become one through force alone. It seemed she was using the cold as an excuse to keep our arms linked even when we got inside.

When I told her as such she was shocked, immediately wondering how I managed to figure out what she was thinking.

I see, this whole thing about knowing what the other person was thinking... I guess this was how Nanami must have read my mind too. Well, no, maybe it wasn’t.

Either way, Nanami and I, our bodies still closely linked, walked onto Japanese soil for the first time in nearly a week.

I should mention, though, that the teacher caught us walking with our arms like that and scolded us full force. Dammit.

♢♢♢

There is a phrase that says, “I feel like I’m going to catch cold from the change in temperature.”

I’m not sure if it’s a saying or just a line people say, but it’s basically an online thing: People say it when a story unfolds in such a way that makes it difficult to follow, or when they are confused and don’t know how to react to something. Like when gag comedy suddenly turns to serious drama—or vice versa—or horror turns to comedy, or a sad moment is interrupted by a dirty joke.

The bigger the shift in the mood, the more likely people are to say the phrase. I’ve actually said it before myself too.

But it’s a metaphor, though; you aren’t actually saying you’re going to catch a cold. You aren’t, but...

“I didn’t think I’d actually get sick,” I muttered right before letting out a cough.

It was a weekday, but I was lying alone on my bed. That’s right, just as I said, I’d caught a cold.

I wasn’t expecting to be the one to get sick, especially when Nanami had been the one sneezing at the airport.

It’s probably lunchtime right about now.

I glanced at my desk, at the tea and other things splayed on top. My mom had probably put them there before heading off to work.

When I’d gotten up this morning, my body had felt hot and sluggish. My parents told me that I looked sick, so I took my temp—only to find that it was a feverish thirty-eight degrees.

Given that I hadn’t been sick in years, my mom said that we should go to the hospital just to have me checked up, and so she drove me there before she went to work. It was embarrassing, and I told her that I wasn’t a child anymore, but honestly it was difficult for me to get around, and I was grateful for her help.

The doctor checked me out and told me that I at least didn’t have the flu. With that news, we returned home, and I got back into bed to get some more sleep.

My mom had offered to take the day off from work to take care of me, but I’d refused. Though it embarrassed me to be babied, having her miss work because of me would make me genuinely feel bad. She’d already driven me to the hospital, after all.

When I saw her off, my mom told me that she would lock the front door so that I wouldn’t need to get up, even if someone came by. Oh, come on. I’m not actually a child, you know...

It must have been so long since the last time I’d been sick that my mom had defaulted to treating me like I was still in elementary school. Staying home sick from school was a rare occasion for me. When was the last time I’d caught a cold, anyway?

In any case, that was how I’d ended up at home by myself.

I knew it had been a while since I’d last been sick, but it also felt like I was alone for the first time in a long time. The fact that I had come off of a lively class trip probably amplified that feeling even more. I couldn’t believe I’d caught a cold so soon after returning from Hawaii. I must have let my guard down—it’d been ages since I was last sick. The doctor had said that my body was probably exhausted from having been in an unfamiliar environment. I didn’t think that I lacked stamina, but maybe I did lack the energy to have fun. But just what in the world was energy specifically for having fun?

Nanami and my other classmates seemed to be doing just fine. The fact that I was the only one missing school did feel pretty lame.

The feeling of being in bed when the sun was still out—something one did only when one was sick—was hard to describe, though. I didn’t know what it was; it wasn’t quite guilt or exhilaration. Before, if I was stuck at home I would’ve just played games. It probably didn’t help with my recovery, but I didn’t much care. I would just spend time making the rounds in my game.

“I wonder what Nanami’s up to right now,” I couldn’t help murmuring.

I must have surprised her when I messaged her to let her know that I was missing school today. Though I was surprised myself soon after that—because immediately after I’d texted her, Nanami messaged me right back.

Nanami: I’ll skip school and go take care of you!

She wasn’t asking about coming over; she was declaring that she was.

I’d never heard someone missing school for a reason like that. I mean, that wasn’t normal, was it? What kind of a high schooler missed school because she was going to go take care of her sick boyfriend? Anyway, that was what Nanami had tried to do, but...

Nanami: My mom said I couldn’t...

As expected, she wasn’t allowed to do so.

Well, obviously. That was the normal decision. Sure, I felt mildly bummed out about it, but if you thought about it seriously, there was no way one could say yes to such a request.

After that, Nanami sent me messages pretty regularly, clearly worried. We were texting even while I was waiting at the hospital.

In the end, I’d gotten worried about her. I mean, my messages to her were getting marked as read even when it was clearly during class time. And she was even responding!

And sure enough, Nanami soon got scolded by the teacher, which was pretty rare for her. They didn’t take away her phone, but she did seem to get quite the talking-to.

Her messages became less frequent after that, and with less to distract me I got sleepy and took a nap.

“There can’t possibly be a ton more messages, right?” I said softly to myself after I awoke.

Feeling nervous, I picked up the phone from where I left it on my nightstand. Tapping the screen revealed an impressive number of unread messages that had come in while I was asleep. When I looked at the times they were sent, though, they seemed to have been sent between classes. That was a relief.

Nanami: Yoshin, are you okay? I’ll come visit you after school. Don’t worry about replying right away, just get some rest.

Seeing Nanami’s message made me feel a bit lighter inside, though my reaction surprised me a little bit.

When I read through the other messages, I saw that they were from the others in the class.

Otofuke: Heard you caught a cold. You doing all right? Nanami’s having withdrawals because you’re not here, so when you’re feeling better, be sure to send her a message.

Kamoenai: Are you okay?? Did being too naughty with Nanami get you sick? She’s sitting in your seat and talking about absorbing all your chemical compounds, so things are not looking good.

Hitoshi: You alive, man? We got a lot of fun stuff coming up this winter so don’t push it, all right? Also, Barato is being real scary, like, super scary, so please try to calm her down.

Shirishizu: Misumai-kun, Nanami-chan gets sad when you’re not here, and when Nanami-chan is sad I can’t make out with Taku-chan. So please take your time and get well real soon. Don’t overexert yourself.

Reading through all these thoughtful messages filled me with gratitude, but all the mentions of Nanami had me concerned.

Seriously, what are you doing, Nanami?!

Nanami seemed to be behaving more bizarrely than I thought. I figured she might be kind of lonely, but everyone was making her sound pretty unpredictable. What should I do?

Well, I guess I just had to let it be. Seeing everyone’s messages, though, helped me understand why my chest felt lighter earlier.

“Maybe I’m not okay being alone anymore,” I murmured.

In the past, when I’d been sick, I’d been left by myself. My parents would have work, and just like this time, I’d insist that they didn’t need to stay with me and that they should go to work instead. Of course, I wouldn’t have friends to check up on me. I would just sleep and keep sleeping, all by myself. I didn’t remember clearly, but even after I got better, I just went to school and didn’t talk to anybody anyway. I didn’t feel one way or the other about it, and if anything, while sick I would play games and think that it wouldn’t be so bad to stay sick for a bit longer.

I was alone no matter where I was, so what I did wouldn’t change anyway.

But seeing the messages from Nanami and everyone else, I found myself thinking something very uncharacteristic of me: that I wanted to get better soon so that I could go back to school.

I wasn’t sure if not being able to be alone meant that I had gotten stronger or weaker, but either way, I knew what I was feeling now wasn’t a bad thing.

Maybe because I’d gotten some sleep, I had managed to recover somewhat. I sat up a bit in bed, phone in hand.

“I’ll eat something and reply, and then maybe sleep some more.”

My mom had probably prepped food for me, so I should eat and then rest some more after. I should probably also refrain from playing games today.

All so that I could get better as soon as possible.

With those thoughts in mind, I slowly made my way out of my room.

♢♢♢

Dreams you had when you were sick were almost impossible to describe in words.

They were a mix of nightmares and memories and sometimes neither of those things, but always chaotic. In other words, they had no consistency whatsoever.

The dream I was currently having was pretty chaotic indeed. I was there, as myself from around elementary school. And there was also Nanami, as her normal high schooler self. I wasn’t crying, but I looked kind of sad.

A dream where you knew you were dreaming...a lucid dream, was it called? The present me seemed to have a bird’s-eye view of the me from the past, looking on from above. This was an impossible scenario, but I was overcome by the feeling that this scene had actually taken place in real life.

Nanami said something to me, and I said something in return. Nanami then reached out toward me, and I took her hand. I couldn’t see the expression on her face, but with our hands in each other’s, the two of us began walking. Even though I couldn’t see her, I felt like Nanami was smiling.

What about my expression, then?

And that was when I woke up.

What was that dream just now? Did I just really, really want to see Nanami? Even then, why was I a kid?

I guess there was no use questioning dreams. If anything, that dream was probably easier to interpret than others. It was true that I wanted to see her.

“Nanami,” I mumbled without thinking. But I was alone even if I coughed, and I was still alone even if I called her name out loud. There was no way anyone was going to respond.

“What is it, Yoshin?”

There was no way, and yet...

Huh? Did someone just reply? Am I still dreaming? I feel like I just heard the voice I’ve been wanting to hear, and from super close to me, to boot.

I moved while still lying on the bed and turned my head toward the direction of the voice.

And there...was the person I most wanted to see.

Chapter 1: On the Bed...

Being able to see the person you wanted to see, whenever you wanted to see them, was a very joyful thing indeed.

Unfortunately, though, being able to do so whenever somehow lessened that happiness. You started taking it for granted and feeling less grateful. You started assuming—mistakenly—that that was your everyday life.

Maybe calling it a mistaken assumption was a bit much, but I did think something like that in the past—that I shouldn’t take things like that for granted. But when did I think that?

Oh, I remember: It was when Nanami and I first started going out, and I thought to myself that I shouldn’t think that my time with her was going to be the norm. That it was definitely out of the ordinary.

I still felt that way, but even then, I could no longer imagine being separated from Nanami. We did all that stuff in Hawaii too, after all.

To suddenly be unable to see the person you were always with came with a strong sense of loss. That was how I was feeling now—because when I woke up from my nap, all I wanted was to see Nanami.

I did wonder whether it was okay that I felt this way, seeing as how we’d only been apart for half...maybe one day at most. Was I actually becoming too dependent on her?

Maybe I was just feeling lonesome right now because it was my first time in a long time that I was sick. Still, I didn’t expect to start having auditory hallucinations and conjuring up Nanami in my head.

“Hey, Yoshin? You seem spaced out. Are you okay?”

I saw Nanami, sitting next to me, waving her hand in front of my face. Wow, auditory hallucinations these days are pretty impressive. It’s like Nanami is actually here with me, like it’s VR. Modern times, huh? Though I’ve never used VR before.

Okay, let’s face it: Nanami is actually, really here. I’m overjoyed, but...

“Um, why...are you here, Nanami?” I managed to ask.

“Hee hee! I came to take care of you!” she declared.

“Wow, thanks,” I muttered, before breaking out in a cough.

“Oh, don’t force yourself to talk. Just keep resting. You want tea? Or a sports drink?” she asked.

“Um...a sports drink, please.”

Nanami flashed me a peace sign and then immediately rushed to stop me as I tried to get up. She seemed a little too excited, somehow, like something was making her giddy.

Is she worked up because I’m so weak right now? I didn’t want to believe that. This was bad—being ill was making me think weird thoughts.

Nanami poured a sports drink into a cup, put a straw in it, and brought the tip of the straw to my mouth. I sucked on it while still lying down, feeling the drink flow into my mouth. It was weird to drink something without holding the cup myself.

The cold and faintly sweet liquid traveled down my throat, its coolness spreading throughout my body all the way down to my stomach. I had eaten lunch, but maybe my stomach was still basically empty.

The drink had perhaps done too good of a job for my feverish body; I started to shiver. At once Nanami asked me if I was cold and pulled the covers up toward my chin. Maybe my fever was worse than I realized. My head was feeling cooler after a few more sips, though. Okay, let’s try this again...

“Why are you here, Nanami?” I asked.

Maybe it was because of the fever, but I could only speak in short sentences. My voice also sounded lower than usual, so a part of me worried that I might come off as sounding annoyed. I quickly tried to explain that that wasn’t the case, but Nanami just laughed softly, as if she already understood.

“I mean, I’m grateful you’re here,” I murmured.

“No worries, it’s rough having a fever, right? Here, just lie down. I bought a bunch of things. You want some jelly or something?” she asked, still smiling and tapping me softly on my chest. She was acting like she was putting a baby to bed, and a heat that wasn’t from the fever spread across my cheeks.

Nanami must have seen that I was growing calmer, though, because she kept patting my chest. It was embarrassing, but I also felt more at ease.

“I rushed over after school. I figured you would be feeling lonely being at home by yourself, especially with Shinobu-san out and stuff. Everyone else wanted to come too, but—”

“Everyone?” I asked softly.

“Hatsumi and Ayumi and Kenbuchi-kun and stuff. Kotoha-chan and Teshikaga-kun wanted to come too, and all the other kids were worried. But we figured it wasn’t good for all of us to show up, so I came by myself,” she explained.

Wow, everyone’s worried about me? I never thought they’d be concerned about me like that. Or maybe Nanami was super worried and it just spread to other people. I have got to be more careful with my health... Wait, huh? Something seems off.

I was so grateful Nanami had rushed over after school to see me. She even bought a bunch of food, which I was thankful for too. And the fact that others worried about me... I felt bad about that, but it also made me super happy. Yeah, there wasn’t anything weird about that either.

Plus I was by myself, and even though I was fine being alone before, right now I felt pretty lonesome, so the fact that Nanami came...

Ah, that’s what it is—how did Nanami know that my mom was out and that I was alone at home? Did my mom ask Nanami to look after me? Even though Nanami’s my girlfriend, I’m not sure why my mom would ask her to do something like that. I feel like there’s something...wrong about that. Though I can’t really say why.

“Did my mom get in touch with you?” I asked.

“No, I was the one that got in touch with Shinobu-san. I asked her if you were home alone,” Nanami explained.

“And that’s why you came?”

“Yeah, I told her that you were probably lonely being by yourself and asked if it was okay for me to take care of you. She said at first that that would be too much trouble for me, but I managed to convince her.”

Nanami then told me that my mom had asked her to take care of me because I probably was feeling lonesome, and to make up for the fact that she couldn’t be here for me herself. Nanami stuck her tongue out shyly as she said that.

Oh, I see. Rather than my mom contacting her, Nanami had contacted my mom instead. I guess that’s normal. It’s not that weird...right? But really, isn’t my mom treating me a bit too much like a kid? I mean, I guess I am a kid. But as a high schooler I can’t help but be a little embarrassed. But is this kind of situation normal? Not that I’m not grateful, but still.

“Am I bothering you?” Nanami asked, furrowing her brows and looking into my eyes with concern. Her expression seemed conflicted, torn between being glad that she had come and wondering if it was okay for her to have shown up like this.

On my end, I wanted to applaud my mother for giving Nanami permission to visit me. I missed Nanami desperately. A job well-done, indeed—though that made me sound like a pompous jerk.

“Not at all,” I answered. “Besides, my mom would’ve said no if she really thought it was a bad idea.”

That was why there was no problem with the fact that Nanami was here. Right. Nothing felt odd; it must have just been the fever preventing my brain from working properly.

“Huh? Nanami is here?” I said again suddenly.

Wait, my mom locked the front door before she left. I didn’t get up during the day, so I didn’t unlock it. So...how? Did my mom stop by before Nanami came over and unlock the door?

“Nanami, wasn’t the front door locked?” I finally asked.

“Oh, yeah. I had a spare key,” Nanami mumbled.

A spare key?! Wait, how come I’ve never heard of this before? Wait, Nanami has a spare key to my house?

As I lay there confused by this new piece of information, Nanami saw me and began thinking...and then waved her hands in a panic.

“D-Don’t worry! It’s not like I went and made a copy of your house key without asking!” she stammered.

“Oh, I wasn’t worried about that. Where did you get an idea like that one...?”

“Well, lately I think you suspect me of being a yandere.”

Ah, yeah, that would be my fault. I did mention it offhandedly once. But I had faith that Nanami wouldn’t do anything illegal or immoral like that. A yandere who followed the law seemed like a pretty innovative idea, but maybe in this situation I was just biased.

Let’s get back on topic. The spare key.

“I didn’t know you had a spare key to my house,” I muttered.

“Oh, um, yeah. I said that wrong. It’s not a key that I had,” she began.

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help asking.

“It’s your dad’s spare key.”

Um...my dad’s?

Because I remained mildly confused, Nanami explained to me what transpired.

Once she’d gotten permission from my mom, the problem of the key arose. As my mom and Nanami were debating what to do, it was decided that my dad—who happened to be nearby—would deliver a key to Nanami to resolve the issue.

I see, I see. That makes perfect sense. I should thank my dad later...

“Except...he gave me the spare key in front of everyone, so...”

My brain froze at Nanami’s new reveal. Wait, what did you just say? You got the spare key...in front of everyone? And by everyone, you mean...everyone?

I felt the blood leaving my face, despite the fact that I had a fever. My parents had come to the school festival, so my classmates probably recognized them. And precisely because they recognized them, the fact that my dad gave Nanami the spare key...

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I groaned.

Dad, why couldn’t you have been a little more discreet? But hold on, sneaking it to her would probably have been even more questionable. Yeah, if that’s the case, it’s better to do it out in the open. People might tease me about it later, but that’s better than my dad’s social rep getting tarnished in some way.

“Couldn’t you have just called me to tell me to unlock the door?” I asked.

“We wanted you to rest while you’re sick,” Nanami said softly.

Everyone was so kind, they were damn near overprotective. Was it just because I was sick? Nanami had even helped me drink through a straw earlier.

“Thank you,” I finally said.

I was about to apologize at first, but I corrected myself. This was a moment for gratitude instead of apologies. Nanami seemed really happy, though, and told me not to worry about it at all.

“So you want some jelly? Oh, I bought some flan too,” she said, extolling their benefits for a sick person as she took them out of a convenience store bag. She’s right that I don’t usually eat this stuff when I’m not sick...

“Maybe I will have some,” I said.

With Nanami’s support, I slowly sat up in bed, with her watching me in concern all the while. Since I wasn’t feeling as bad as I was earlier, I smiled at her and told her that I was okay. Maybe because I had been curled up under my blankets, though, the air in my room did feel pretty cool. I must have been sweating in my sleep, too, because my pajamas were damp.

Nanami placed a blanket over my shoulders once I’d sat up. Even as I thanked her, a part of me worried that I might smell bad because of how sweaty I was.

I thought of mentioning it, but Nanami sat on my bed with me and, holding the jelly cup in her hand, brought a spoonful up to my mouth with the words, “Here, say ‘aah.’”

She had come to see me still in her school uniform. The room must have felt warm to her, because she had unbuttoned the top buttons of her shirt underneath her jacket.

Nanami. With her shirt unbuttoned. Was sitting on my bed. Just that fact alone seemed enough to raise my temperature again.

“No, I can eat it myself,” I protested.

“Oooh, no. If you’re sick, you should be taken care of. Should I have worn a nurse outfit? I didn’t bring it today,” she said, paying no heed to my protests as she continued holding the spoon up to my mouth. Nothing she said helped to allay my embarrassment about being looked after—quite the opposite.

“A nurse outfit?” I repeated.

“Yeah. A nurse’s costume. And it’s a miniskirt, of course. It’s the kind where it looks like you can see my underwear, but you really can’t—but when I wear it I’ll be sure to wear a cute pair anyway,” she explained.

Why is she talking like that’s something I’m concerned about? No, that’s not what I’m wondering; I wanna know why she has such a thing...

“Is it from Yu-senpai?” I guessed.

“Oh, you totally guessed right! Yup, Nao-chan gave it to me.”

Nanami continued explaining that Yu-senpai had given it to her because apparently the chest area had gotten too tight. It seemed, though, that the hand-me-down from Yu-senpai was the perfect size for Nanami.

That’s not it either. Just how many different costumes does that lady have? That bunny costume from before was from her, I’m pretty sure. I have to ask her the next time I’m at work. How dare she give Nanami such sexy clothes... Wait, I feel like I wanna thank her instead of get mad at her. Maybe I should think about this later. I’m too jumbled right now.

“Nanami, have you been getting more into cosplaying lately?” I asked.

“Hmm, it’s not really cosplay, but more like I like getting to wear different kinds of clothes. If I said I liked cosplay, I’d feel bad toward the other girls who really do do it as a hobby. I’m really not that serious about it,” she explained.

Oh, I see. I guess I sort of get it, and I sort of don’t. As I was half-grasping the situation, Nanami said “say ‘aah’” again, so I ate the next spoonful of jelly that was offered to me.

Oh, that’s tasty. It’s a fruity, peach-flavored jelly. The texture is so smooth it’s practically gliding down my throat.

I had eaten lunch, but not a whole lot of it, so for my mostly empty stomach the jelly was really hitting the spot.

“There are girls in our class who like cosplaying too. They’ve asked me if I’d like to cosplay with them sometime,” Nanami continued.

Nanami got invited to cosplay, huh? I wondered if that was an anime cosplay, or more like the nurse cosplay that she mentioned earlier.

I accidentally pictured Nanami wearing a nurse’s outfit and was forced to quickly turn away from her. When my eyes focused on my phone instead, I saw that there were a number of notifications that I hadn’t checked.

With Nanami still feeding me jelly, I picked up my phone. Unlocking it revealed that I did, in fact, have several new unread messages.

Aside from the ads, the rest were all messages from my classmates. Actually, there were also messages from my parents, even though I hadn’t noticed them before.

Mom: Nanami-san said that she wanted to drop by to take care of you, so I gladly accepted. I’ll try to be home early.

Dad: I gave Nanami-san the spare key. Don’t be too shocked when you wake up.

Otofuke: Nanami said she’s gonna visit you. You all right? Let her take good care of you, okay?

Kamoenai: You have a cold, so let Nanami spoil you more than usual!

Hitoshi: Just because you’re alone with Barato, don’t do anything that’s gonna get your temperature up lol

I felt like a soldier arriving too late for the battle. Rather, of course I wasn’t going to do anything weird, especially when I was so sweaty and dirty.

Sweaty...right. Jeez, I wonder if this is even okay.

“What’s wrong?” Nanami asked, tilting her head as she held another spoonful of jelly up to my lips.

I laughed awkwardly and took the jelly in my mouth. I chewed on the jelly blob a few times before swallowing it, as if trying to delay my response. Then, somewhat hesitantly, I opened my mouth and said, “It’s just, I’m kind of sweaty...so I wondered if maybe I smell bad or something.”

“Mm...no, you’re fine,” Nanami said, bringing her nose closer to me without missing a beat and sniffing me.

“Nanami?!” I yelled. Getting sniffed like that gave me a very strange feeling that caught me off guard.

Nanami must have gotten her fill of my scent, because she finally shifted away from me and flashed me a peace sign. I was relieved for a moment that apparently I didn’t smell bad, but then...

As if she’d suddenly thought of something, Nanami placed the peace sign she was making on her chin. I didn’t even realize that she had placed the cup of jelly on top of the desk.

Um...?

Nanami then moved both her hands in a suspicious manner and, smiling bewitchingly, said, “Or, should I have said instead...‘It smells so bad’?”

“Nanami-san?!”

Shoot, that was really loud. Still, what the hell is she saying? What is this weird atmosphere? More importantly, where does she learn this kind of stuff?! Haven’t there been too many examples lately of the kinds of terrible lessons that Nanami has been getting?!

I felt like my fever completely went away in that single moment. I was in so much shock that I completely recovered from my cold...er, no, I still felt bad.

But no, there’s no way Nanami would say something like that. This must be one of those dreams that you have when you have a high fever. It must be a dream—it’s gotta be.

“Where did you learn about a phrase...or, a situation like that?” I managed to ask.

“Huh? Oh, from Kotoha-chan...”

Shirishizu-san, again?! What the hell is that stink eye class rep doing?! Ever since she started going out with Teshikaga-kun, she’s been totally out of hand!

“And from the girl I mentioned earlier that likes to cosplay,” Nanami added.

Another one?!

Wait, it’s gone up. You’ve gotta be kidding me. The number of people who teach Nanami weird things increased without me even knowing it. What the hell was wrong with our class?

With me absent because of my cold, that meant an entire day passed by where Nanami was with the rest of our classmates without me. That meant that things had happened in class that I wasn’t privy to.

It wasn’t uncommon to be put on a random committee while you were absent, or to be given some kind of an important task because you weren’t there to refuse it. I had heard about those things, but how could I have imagined that what would really happen was that people would plant seeds of indecent knowledge in my girlfriend’s brain while I was absent from school?

At least, I couldn’t imagine that at all.

Yu-senpai, Shirishizu-san, and the nameless cosplayer. At present, these three seemed to be the only persons of interest. But even knowing that still didn’t give me the means to prevent questionable things from reaching Nanami’s ears.

This is no good.

“I think that kind of stuff is a pass for me,” I finally muttered.

“Yoshin’s not into that kinda stuff. I shall not forget this,” Nanami replied.

Why does Nanami sound like some kind of supervillain learning from her mistakes? Though I guess it’s good for my preferences to be clearly stated no matter what. And I’m pretty sure Nanami would never do something that would make me uncomfortable. I mean, I’m honestly not into stuff like that...though if Nanami was the one who said it, maybe I’d kind of like it? Or maybe... No, wait—what am I feeling conflicted over, exactly?

While I kept going back and forth in my head, Nanami must have noticed the subtle change in my emotions, because she closed in on me and asked, “Are you...maybe actually kind of into that sort of thing?”

“No, um, uh...”

I felt cornered and didn’t know what to say. Nanami would never do anything that I disliked; that also meant that if I didn’t dislike it, she would. In fact, if it was something that I was the slightest bit interested in, she would definitely try it on me. After all, we would never truly know if we liked something until we tried it.

Yeah, no. This fever is probably making me delirious. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start something we can’t finish.

“Tee hee, I’m kidding. No need to look so serious,” Nanami said, smiling with satisfaction because she got to see me so flustered. Her smile was so innocent, that one would never guess she had been talking about something so inappropriate just a moment ago.

But hearing that she was just teasing genuinely made me sigh in relief.

“Besides, it’s not good to get your temp up when you’re sick. So we should only do pervy stuff like this when you’re feeling a hundred percent better,” Nanami added, shifting away from me—though what she was implying was enough to get me thinking of the future, getting my heart rate up anyway.

Okay, Yoshin, if Nanami ever seems like she’s about to get carried away, you’ve gotta be the strong one and stop her. That’s the right thing to do. Most definitely.

“So, back to the smell thing,” Nanami said.

That’s right, that’s what we were talking about. We got way off topic, though didn’t she say that I smelled okay? Maybe she still has something to say about it, though.

“If you’re worried about it, do you want me to wipe you down? It looks like you’ve been sweating,” Nanami asked, getting up off the bed and picking up a towel that was sitting on my desk. When did that get there? I wondered.

When I looked more closely, I saw that there was also a change of clothes sitting on my desk. Nanami didn’t seem at all surprised to see it there, so my mom must have probably told her about it.

“Wipe my body, huh?” I murmured.

Although how damp both my body and clothes currently were hadn’t bothered me all that much when I was so sluggish, now that I was feeling better they were definitely starting to bug me.

Given that my pajamas were actually wet in some places, it was probably time for a change of clothes. Wiping myself down was also an option. But after checking myself over for a bit and looking at Nanami to respond to her, I saw a twinkle in her eye—the kind that you get when you’re looking forward to something, or when you’re about to pull a prank. Her smile was even particularly catlike. I swore I could even see cat ears and a tail on her, though I knew that was impossible. Though the idea of Nanami with cat ears certainly was cute.

“No, I think I can get it myself,” I replied finally.

“Huh...?”

Oh no, now she looks all deflated. Even her imaginary tail looks all droopy. Does she want to wipe me down that much? I felt embarrassed by the idea, but I also began to feel grateful.

Is it really okay for her to do this for me? Maybe I should just go for it.

“Actually, if you could do it for me, that would be great,” I said in the end.

“Sure thing!” she replied enthusiastically.

And now she looks a lot more cheery. Her imaginary ears are perked up, and her tail is wagging from side to side too. She looks super happy. Wait, I’m imagining all this, right? Do I actually just have a super high fever or something?

Nanami giddily approached my bed and sat down once again. I didn’t know what to do next, but it turned out Nanami wasn’t so sure either.

Um, in a situation like this...

“So, should I turn my back toward you?” I asked.

“Um, I’m not sure. Or...maybe you take your top off and lie down?” she suggested.

“Take my shirt off... You mean off off?”

“Not just your top, but your bottom too?”

“You want me to get naked?!” I exclaimed. “Wait, is getting wiped supposed to be that high stakes?!”

I mean, I would still have my underwear on, so I wouldn’t technically be naked. But lying down in my underwear seemed basically like the same thing.

It took us two newbies a ton of back-and-forth, while sitting on the bed, just to figure out how to clean the sweat off of my body. In the end, we decided that I would take just my shirt off and turn my back toward Nanami.

That’s what we had decided, but then...

“Then...I’ll take it off,” I murmured.

“Y-Yeah, okay!”

All I was getting was a wipe down—and yet my heart was pounding. Was it because Nanami was sitting on the bed with me?

Taking my clothes off on the bed seems so...you know. Yikes, am I really just realizing this now? How could I have been so dense? Nanami must have realized it on her own too, because now she was blushing, and an awkward silence swallowed the both of us.

I probably shouldn’t have declared that I was going to take my clothes off. Nanami’s looking super uncomfortable now too. Maybe I should just undress before I say something else dumb and really put my foot in my mouth.

Resolute, I moved to take my shirt off, hearing Nanami draw in a gasp. I pretended I didn’t notice it and instead turned my back to her.

Maybe because I was no longer wearing a shirt damp and a little sticky with sweat, but I was feeling just the slightest bit more liberated. But now that I was totally exposed to the cold air in the room, I started to shiver without even realizing it.

Nanami must have mistaken that to mean that I was feeling unwell, because at that moment she seemed to collect herself and draw closer to me. Even though I couldn’t see her, I had a good sense of what she was doing.

I stayed still as Nanami slowly approached me. She must have been motivated by her desire to prevent any more sweat from cooling and making me shiver, because she may have been slow in her movements, but she wasn’t hesitating at all.

My heart was well and truly pounding in my chest when I felt something soft touch my back. It was that fluffy softness unique to a nice towel, and already the part of me that it touched began to feel warm.

“Okay, here I go,” Nanami said.

“Yes, please,” I replied.

Nanami moved her hand slowly as she held the towel against me. She slid the soft cloth over my skin, taking care not to exert too much pressure against my back.

I sat quietly, letting her do as she wished. It kind of felt like I was getting a massage. I didn’t anticipate anything more, nor did I resist the soft, steady movements of her hand. Well, of course: All we were doing was wiping the sweat off of me. There was no ulterior motive involved here.

Nanami ran the towel not just over my back but also my neck, shoulders, arms, and also sides. It tickled when she touched my neck and sides, and I couldn’t help squirming a bit.

“Ticklish?” Nanami asked with a chuckle.

“Just a little,” I admitted, feeling no need to claim otherwise. Nanami must have been focused on wiping me down, because she didn’t approach that spot again to try to get me to laugh. I felt just a tad bit bummed about that, but that sort of thing probably had to wait until I was fully recovered.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no need for me to take all my clothes off. I could’ve just pulled up my shirt, even, though continuing to wear a damp shirt would probably be pretty unpleasant.

Though the parts of my body that were sweaty felt gross, the places Nanami had cleaned seemed almost purified. It was refreshing, and even though I hadn’t taken a shower, I was feeling cleaner than I had moments ago.

“Ah!” I suddenly let out.

“Jeez, why do you have to sound so sexy?” Nanami asked.

“Huh? That was sexy?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Almost like you wanted me to attack you or something,” she mumbled in answer.

What in the world? That’s super scary. I didn’t think I was doing anything particularly sexy; if anything, I thought I groaned like my dad did whenever he got a massage. To Nanami, though, I seemed to have sounded like I was panting or something. But when I tried to stay quiet and keep from making any more noise, my body compensated by quivering more instead. Nanami seemed to enjoy my struggle; she kept changing the motions of her hand as if testing things out.

The only thing was that, the entire time, neither one of us said anything.

After minutes of the only sound in the room being the nearly silent glide of towel over skin, Nanami finally opened her mouth to speak.

“You know,” she murmured, “when I was unlocking your door earlier, I was super nervous.”

“Really? But you’ve been here so many times before,” I said. “Is it because it’d be just the two of us?”

“Oh, um, yeah. I guess there is that,” she replied noncommittally. As if hesitant to say more, Nanami gradually came to a stop.

For a while, she moved her hand slowly, then became still. Then she moved her hand again, then stopped again. Her moves were a reflection of her inner conflict—though why it was occurring on my back, I wasn’t sure.

Since I had no intention of rushing her, though; I just waited for her to continue.

After a while, Nanami finished wiping my back. I thought that that was the end of things, but then Nanami grabbed hold of my waist.

Like, with both hands. As soon as she did—and as though it were no big deal—Nanami said, “Okay, now it’s time for the front.”

“F-Front?” I repeated.

For a brief moment, I couldn’t understand what Nanami was trying to say. The words entered my brain, and yet they didn’t sink in at all.

Still holding on to my waist, Nanami sensed that I wasn’t moving—so she put some force into her grip.

The move was that of a potter turning her wheel in order to mold a new vase. The strength in her hands genuinely had me thinking I was about to start turning.

I didn’t, of course. Even if I was sick, it probably wasn’t possible for Nanami to turn me like that.

“Yo-shin, come on! Turn, turn!” Nanami insisted regardless, not giving up, her hands still at my waist. Even though I didn’t really need her to clean my front, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to hear the rest of her story unless I relented.

I still had my pajama pants on, so even if she was going to see me without my shirt on it was probably okay. If we were in a bath, though, there was no way I would’ve turned around.

As if she could tell I was about to give in, Nanami let go of my waist. I guess if I’m the one turning, her hands would only get in the way. Okay, well...here we go.

When I turned—slowly and still hesitantly—and sat down on the bed again, I locked eyes with Nanami. She was all smiles, ready with the towel in hand.

Yeah, this is pretty embarrassing.

I looked away from her, but Nanami didn’t seem to mind; she just resumed wiping, starting with my stomach. Why was it okay for her to wipe my back, but my front suddenly wasn’t?

“So, back to the thing about unlocking your door,” Nanami began, continuing her story from earlier as though nothing was out of the ordinary—despite the fact that sitting face-to-face with her and having her towel off my body was anything but.

I did relax upon realizing that I would be able to hear what she had to say, and yet at the same time it seemed strange to listen to her while we were in this position. It felt more ticklish, even itchy, compared to when she had dried off my back. I couldn’t resist twisting my body a bit in response.

“You said you felt nervous, even though you were just unlocking the door,” I said in order to take my mind off of the sensations I felt.

“I know, but coming to my boyfriend’s house with a spare key...”

Nanami paused mid-sentence, but then she slouched and looked up at me shyly.

I looked down at her, and we looked into each other’s eyes.

“It was like we were living together,” she said finally.

“L—?!”

I only managed to get the first sound out, albeit very loudly. My exclamation gave Nanami pause, and I also ended up freezing at the same time.

My body stopped moving like some glitched computer, but on the inside, my thoughts were churning fast enough to break the sound barrier.

L...l...? I couldn’t finish the thought, and my head filled itself with just that single letter. If I’d been in a manga, the background of my panel would’ve been filled with a bunch of Ls.

L-Living together?

Finally, my mind could conjure up the phrase, but my body was still unwilling to move.

The phrase suggested at least two people occupying the same address. In this case, it would be a guy and a girl, unmarried, sharing the same domicile. Wait, even if they were married, would they still be considered living together? Or would that just be how they lived, since, through marriage, their lives were already implied to be intertwined and making a distinction was redundant? Were these just different ways of pointing to the same thing?

This is not the time to get into semantics.

“L-living together, huh?” I muttered.

“Yeah, I just thought of that when I unlocked the door. Like, ‘Oh, is this what it’s like?’ kind of thing. And then I got all excited,” Nanami continued, then added, “And that’s why I came straight to your room.”

Nanami seemed to be excusing herself as she blushed and resumed wiping my body again. The sensation of the towel against my skin helped me unfreeze my body as well.

But, I see—living together, huh? Hmmm.

“Nanami, do you remember when I talked about the possibility of living by myself?” I asked.

“Yup. It was before summer break, right?” Nanami answered.

“Right. And back then, we talked about maybe living together in the future, and you said you would be willing to do that.”

“Yeah, I did. You remembered, huh?”

The last time we talked about it, it had just been an idea—mere chitchat about something that would be nice to do one day. And yet, I remembered that conversation so clearly.

Well, either I had remembered it, or I recalled it now.

“But when you live by yourself, getting sick and stuff is pretty tough, isn’t it? When you think about that, it’s probably nicer to be living with someone else,” Nanami remarked, drying my stomach area, her mood lifting to such an extent that I almost thought she would begin humming any minute. I thought that she would finish soon, but I felt embarrassed by the situation nonetheless.

“You’re totally right. I never thought it would take getting sick for me to realize how nice it would be to live with someone else. I mean, it feels weird and unlike me to say, but I was getting pretty lonely here on my own,” I commented.

I had said that it wasn’t like me, but it was all thanks to Nanami that I even became able to say, honestly, that I felt lonely. Before, I would’ve put up a front and claimed that I was fine being by myself.

“I see, you felt lonesome, huh? Aren’t you glad I came, then?” Nanami asked.

“Of course I am. In fact, you even showed up in my dream—”

That was when, even though it was too late, I covered my mouth with both hands to try to stop myself.

For a moment, Nanami looked taken aback—but then her expression immediately changed, the smile of a naughty child coming over her face. Her lips even formed a shapely crescent.

She seemed so delighted that I could almost hear her smiling.

“Well, well, well. You dreamed about me, huh? Were you feeling that lonely? What were we doing? Where were we?” she fired off.

“Uh, well, um... You know.”

I really didn’t want to tell her that in my dream I had reverted to an elementary school student, and that I was holding hands with a normal, high school version of Nanami. I couldn’t begin to explain what kind of desire such a dream suggested.

As I glanced away and remained silent, Nanami tilted her head...and then turned slightly pink.

“Was it a pervy dream?” she eventually whispered.

“N-Not at all!”

That wasn’t a pervy dream...I was pretty certain. Yeah, it was a combination of an elementary school version of me and a high school version of Nanami, but even though it was quite age gappy, it definitely wasn’t pervy.

It wasn’t, and yet explaining it in full still felt pretty awkward. If I didn’t, though, Nanami would continue to assume that I got sick and then had a naughty dream about her. Maybe it was better for me just to tell her the whole thing.

So when I finally gave up and told her about the dream...

“You can call me onee-chan if you want,” Nanami said to me.

See, I knew this would happen. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. I just knew Nanami would say something like that.

After that, once all the sweat had been wiped off my body, I changed into a fresh set of pajamas and lay in bed as Nanami-onee-chan continued to take very good care of me.

Interlude: To Be Nursed and Scolded

I see. So Yoshin felt so lonely that he had even dreamed of me. And the high school version of me, to boot.

Jeez, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. This grin was just refusing to be wiped off of my face. I mean, I knew Yoshin was feeling weaker than usual because of the cold, but was there a girl anywhere who wouldn’t be smiling if her boyfriend had said that to her? I didn’t think there was.

I realized I was making a claim about a fairly large population, but regardless, I wasn’t willing to change my statement.

Well, then. I cleaned Yoshin’s body, and I helped him put on a clean set of pajamas. Though to be more accurate, Yoshin managed to put them on himself.

“Onee-chan can spoil you more, you know?” I said.

“Y-You’re not my onee-chan, though,” Yoshin muttered.

Yoshin clearly wasn’t feeling very good, but at least he had enough energy to point out details like that. Though he certainly didn’t have his usual pep. Even now, he was lying in bed with only his head turned toward me.

“Still, I wonder why it was a kid version of you,” I remarked.

“I wonder too. Maybe it was a representation of my loneliness because I was sick and feeling helpless?” he suggested.

“I would much prefer it if it was a representation of your desire to be babied by me.”

Yoshin puffed out his cheeks slightly at my comment, as if in protest. Maybe because I had just heard about his dream, but his face made him appear just like an adorable elementary school kid.

Hmm. I didn’t think I felt any particular way about little kids.

Just as I was thinking that, Yoshin slid his hand out from under the covers.

Are all the layers making him hot? I thought. But then he turned away from me and mumbled, “Then...can you hold my hand until I fall asleep?”

Y-Yoshin is actually asking me to baby him?! That’s what’s happening, right?! He wants me to baby him, doesn’t he?! He wants me to hold his hand until he falls asleep... I know I’ve said that to my mom after I watched a scary movie, but no one’s ever said it to me! Oh my gosh, he is so adorable.

Yoshin was so cute that I thought I might faint, but he interpreted my lack of a response differently.

“I-I guess not, huh? Was that too creepy?” he asked.

Honestly, my heart was doing somersaults in my chest. Who is this adorable creature? It’s my boyfriend, duh. Is he always this cute and precious when he’s sick? Wait, seriously? I mean, I guess he let me feed him earlier too. But he lets me do that from time to time anyway, so I didn’t think anything of it. This, though, must be because he’s feeling weak. That’s gotta be why he’s letting me spoil him like this.

A long time ago, Hatsumi and Ayumi were going on and on about the specific cuteness that only comes out when a guy shows an unexpected side of himself. Now I felt like I finally understood what they meant.

Nanami—a woman who understands. I’m totally gonna go for it.

“It’s not creepy at all!” I declared. “It just surprised me, that’s all.”

“But, asking you to do that until I fall asleep is—”

“It’s no problem! I’m happy to do it,” I insisted.

It was only when I finally took the hand that Yoshin poked out of the blanket that he looked relieved.

Such a small gesture. But being touched by someone who cared about you was comforting. Wasn’t touch an important aspect of healing? I felt like I had read that somewhere before.

“Thank you again for coming,” Yoshin said softly.

“Oh, no problem. I got to see so many lovely things,” I replied.

“I feel all I’ve shown you are my bad sides,” he sighed.

“No! Not at all!” I protested.

Yeah, Yoshin was weak and vulnerable, but that wasn’t something weird or bad. If anything, I felt relieved that even Yoshin became fainthearted when he got sick.

All I heard at school was how weird it was for people to see me by myself. After so long together, I guess everyone thought that Yoshin and I now came as a set.

But wouldn’t that, in a way, be somehow burdensome for Yoshin?

I had wondered if maybe my feelings for him were getting to be too much, or that maybe I should try to be more independent from my boyfriend. But hearing that Yoshin felt lonesome when he couldn’t see me actually made me happy.

What did that even mean, being independent from my boyfriend? It’s not like he was my dad.

Yoshin’s cold must have made him tired, because he was beginning to doze off while still holding my hand. His grip was loosening too. A little bit of naughtiness had me squeeze his hand a little, and at once Yoshin started, opening his eyes slightly. When our eyes met, we smiled at each other like it was the most natural thing.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had ever watched someone fall asleep next to me. In Hawaii, or even on the video calls, Yoshin and I would be talking, and then we would fall asleep before we realized it. To be completely silent while waiting for someone to fall asleep... It made me feel funny.

I never knew that this was how people fell asleep. They would say a word or two, and then they would fall silent. That would go on for some time, until the silence began to outweigh the spare word or two exchanged.

Yoshin slowly began to mumble nonsensical things too. It was kind of amusing.

Actually, weren’t you not supposed to respond when someone talked in their sleep? Wait, but he wasn’t asleep yet, was he? And why exactly weren’t we supposed to respond in the first place?

Maybe I should look it up next time. Right now, though, all I wanted was to watch Yoshin fall asleep.

Not long after, I began to hear Yoshin’s steady breathing. He didn’t sound like he was having trouble, so maybe he was feeling a little better now.

I wanted us to go to school together soon, but I also didn’t want him to push himself.

“Are you asleep?” I whispered.

No response came. Yoshin’s hold on my hand had loosened, so I slid my hand out of his soft grip. I didn’t want any part of him to feel cold, so I slipped his hand back under the covers.

The expression on Yoshin’s face as he slept was so cute, but given that he wasn’t feeling well, I refrained from taking any pictures. If he had been feeling perfectly healthy, I probably would’ve gotten into bed next to him.

That was what I was thinking, but a part of me also knew that I would be too chicken for that, even with the opportunity to do so. I had learned my lesson in Hawaii, but I turned out to be more of a wuss than I realized. I should probably fix that, though I wasn’t entirely sure if it was something that could even be fixed.

I couldn’t say either way, but since the time for this kind of thing was most likely going to come, I should at least be prepared for it. Though I couldn’t do it now, because that would be morally wrong.

And just as Yoshin fell asleep, I heard the front door open.

Is that Shinobu-san? Must be.

“Nanami-san, I’m sorry to make you take care of Yoshin,” I heard her say.

Oh, it is Shinobu-san. Hearing her voice on the other side of the door made me relieved. Now Yoshin wouldn’t be alone even if I went home.

I stood up, looked at the door—then turned back around.

After a moment’s hesitation, I sat back down and drew closer to Yoshin. Didn’t they say that you recovered from a cold faster if you gave it to someone else?

So I kissed Yoshin on the cheek as he slept and whispered, “Good night, Yoshin. Sleep tight.”

And then I quietly left his room.

♢♢♢

Yeah, doing stuff like that really did get me sick. And there wasn’t even a hint of mucosal contact!

Realizing the error of my ways, I looked up at the ceiling and flailed my arms.

“Yo-shin...feed me...arg,” I moaned.

“There, there. I have some porridge for you. Say ‘aah,’” Yoshin said in return.

“Aah... Mmm, porridge tastes so good when you feed it to me.”

“It was Tomoko-san who made it, though,” he muttered.

Whatever, it tastes better just because you’re the one feeding it to me. Plus, why is it that porridge tastes so good when you’re sick? I never want to eat it when I’m well. Weird.

“Anyway—thank you, Yoshin. For coming to visit me like this,” I said.

“Of course I would. I didn’t think you’d get sick as soon as I got better, though.”

“Tee hee... I know, right?”

“If anything, I’m sorry. You probably got it from me. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay with me until I fell asleep,” Yoshin said, sighing.

Hearing the worry in his voice made my heart skip a beat. Truth be told, I hadn’t told him that I’d kissed him on the cheek that day. That was why Yoshin thought that I had gotten sick just because I had been taking care of him—and was feeling guilty and remorseful as a result.

No, that’s not it, Yoshin. I didn’t get sick just because I was taking care of you. It’s because of something else... Still, I only kissed you on the cheek, so that doesn’t really seem to be it either. That’s right, that kiss might not even be the actual cause. It can’t be. Yeah, something else probably got me sick. Though I’m not sure what. But better not say anything about it now. He’ll probably get mad at me.

Of course, in this moment, I didn’t realize how my own thoughts foreshadowed what was soon to come.

“You said you’re not feeling too bad, though?” Yoshin asked.

“Oh, yeah. It was pretty bad yesterday, but I should be able to go back to school tomorrow. I don’t know if I can make us bento, though,” I murmured.

“Don’t worry about that,” he replied. “If anything, I can make them.”

“No way, you just got over your cold. You shouldn’t push yourself too hard either.”

I didn’t want Yoshin to overexert himself and get sick again, but he seemed unwilling to back down. We ended up nearly arguing over it, which was pretty rare for us. Eventually we both agreed that we didn’t want the other person to push themselves too much, so I guess our sort-of argument didn’t even last all that long anyway.

To be honest, I kind of wanted us to have kept disagreeing for a little bit longer, since we rarely ever disagreed on anything. Though I wouldn’t really do that, of course, since we might actually start fighting if things got out of hand. And Yoshin was such an understanding guy that things never got that far anyway.

“I mean, we can go to the cafeteria for a bit, or even stop by a convenience store on the way to school. Would the cafeteria be cheaper, though? Man, I should save up,” Yoshin muttered.

Oh, my. It’s rare to hear Yoshin talk about saving money. He’s not the splurging type, but he doesn’t talk about having to save either. I guess I should be thinking the same too, though. I spent so much in Hawaii I should think about saving when I can. Maybe another part-time job?

“Oh, Yoshin—have you visited your work yet?” I asked.

“Not yet, since I got sick and all right after we got back,” he replied. “I wanna give them their souvenirs, but I haven’t had a chance to do that either.”

“I see. Same here, kinda. My mom was able to give some souvenirs for me, but I wanna be able to give Nao-chan and Toru-san their gifts myself,” I added.

I thought I was only thinking that I wanted to get better soon, but it turned out I was actually saying it out loud—because Yoshin heard me, and he suddenly seemed slightly embarrassed.

“Well,” he began, “I’ve heard that you get over colds faster if you give it to someone else. So...do you wanna try giving it to me?” He then mumbled a soft, “Just kidding...”

Yoshin was only joking, but when I heard him, I blurted out, “Wait, you were thinking that too?”

Yup. I totally did myself in.

The smiling expression on Yoshin’s face gradually turned more serious, until finally he was furrowing his brows with his head tilted slightly. Then, he asked pointedly, “What do you mean, ‘too’?”

Of course Yoshin would catch that. I just knew he would. Ugh, I totally just flubbed that. And now he’s looking at me all suspicious!

As I lay in bed feeling sheepish, I attempted to slip back under the covers...but failed. I couldn’t get away from Yoshin. It wasn’t like he peeled off my blankets or anything, though. He wasn’t the type to do stuff like that.

Though if he did act a little more assertively, I wouldn’t mind that at all... Wait, that’s not what we’re talking about now.

Even while hiding under the covers, I still felt Yoshin looking at me—so I poked half my head out just to survey the situation. And sure enough, he was still looking at me like he suspected me of a misdeed.

In the face of his piercing gaze, I tilted my head too and smiled coyly, but...

“What did you do, Nanami?”

Isn’t that a bit harsh? Like, he just assumes that I did something? I mean, he’s not wrong, but still. Yoshin, how could you suspect your super cute adorable girlfriend? Oh, I guess you do. Uh, right. I guess I did do a little something-something. Dang, Yoshin really is getting better at reading my mind.

But I still tried to resist, however futile my efforts would come to be. “How can you just assume that I did something?”

“Well, lately you’ve been getting out of control unless there’s someone there to stop you. So I can’t help but think that you’ve done something questionable,” Yoshin replied.

Wow, Yoshin is so right that I can’t even respond. He literally has me speechless.

Even as I lay there, unable to accept reality, I refused to give up.

“You don’t trust me, Yoshin? That’s so wrong. Remember that church? We swore our love to each other and everything,” I muttered.

“No, I trust everything you do, for the most part. But this is a separate issue,” he insisted.

Hmmm, hearing out loud that he trusts everything I do actually does make me feel pretty good. Jeez, I guess I should just give up.

“Promise you won’t get mad?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t think I will,” he muttered. “Did you do something that’ll make me mad?”

“Tee hee hee... Actually...”

Putting up a safety net even at the very end, I took a leap and divulged to Yoshin what I had done. He looked completely bewildered at first, but then his expression shifted into total shock, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. And that was when my embarrassment hit.

“Why would you do something like that?” he moaned.

“Huh? Because, you know... I thought you would feel better if you gave me your cold.”

“And you actually got sick?”

“Well, I also just wanted to kiss you,” I confessed.

Oh, look at him now. He’s a little angry. He’s so quiet it’s kind of scary. Have I ever seen Yoshin angry like this before?

“You shouldn’t kiss me when it might make you sick,” Yoshin said with a sigh. “Plus I hadn’t showered, so I was dirty too. Even though you wiped me down—”

“You could never be dirty!” I exclaimed. “For you, I’d do any—”

“Girls shouldn’t say stuff like that.”

Arg, he scolded me. It’s like he’s trying to reason with a little kid. Kind of like a dad, now that I think about it. Is this how he’ll sound like scolding his kids when he’s a dad? He doesn’t sound that angry at all. More like he’s teaching a lesson.

“I can’t believe you got sick because of me,” Yoshin mumbled.

And now he’s sad! Everything’s gotten all jumbled into a misunderstanding. Oh, wait, maybe it’s not completely so...

“But Yoshin, think of it this way. If I got the cold from you, that means...”

“What does it mean?” he asked, after I failed to complete my statement.

“It sounds, you know...like you and I are becoming one—”

“Girls shouldn’t say stuff like that.”

He scolded me again with the same exact phrase, and at that point I realized myself that I’d said something kind of questionable. I must still be so fuzzy from being sick that I wasn’t thinking straight.

I was just trying to make him feel better, though. Oh, he must realize it too, because now he’s looking like he forgives me, sort of. Wait, but why does his smile look kind of evil, then? Huh? Why are you smiling like that, Yoshin? And why are you coming closer?

“Then I’ll kiss you too,” he declared.

“Wait, Yoshin! I haven’t showered! I may have wiped myself down, but as a girl I just can’t handle that!” I protested.

“You could never be dirty,” he said flatly.

“Now you’re getting back at me?! You’re so mean...!”

My reaction must have satisfied Yoshin, because he chuckled as he stroked my hair—even though my hair was a mess from lying down all day.

“We’ll hold off on the kiss until you get better,” he said.

“Okay,” I sighed.

If you say that with such a paternal smile on your face, there’s no way I can argue. No fair. Though I guess that’s mostly my fault.

“I mean, of course I’m happy you kissed me,” he said. “But of course I’d also get worried if you’re sick from it. So please don’t be too reckless with yourself, okay?”

“Why are you saying that all of a sudden?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.

“I’m not good at being upset with people, so I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”

Hearing such an adorable response made me want to give Yoshin a big hug, but I had to hold myself back. When I get better, I’ll give him the biggest hug imaginable.

“No worries at all! Besides, there are lots of fun things coming up in December, so if I get sick now, I’ll be able to get through the month completely healthy,” I reasoned.

“How can you be so positive right now?” he asked with some amount of disbelief.

“I mean, you know—it’s December. Your birthday’s coming up.”

“Huh?”

Oh shoot, I wasn’t thinking straight and blabbed again. But wasn’t I going to bring this up at some point anyway? No time like now I guess. Hm? Why does Yoshin look so weird right now? Like it hasn’t really clicked with him. He’s acting like it’s got nothing to do with him.

“Your birthday, Yoshin,” I pressed. “You told me before that it was in December, but I asked Shinobu-san for the exact date and I’ve been prepping for it...”

Huh? Yoshin’s got his arms crossed and he’s swaying, for some reason? What’s with the response?

After giving my remark some thought, Yoshin uncrossed his arms with an odd expression—a smile, but an awkward one. Or maybe exasperated?

“My birthday’s next month? Huh,” he finally said.

“You didn’t remember?!” I shouted.

How is that even possible?!

Chapter 2: The Forgotten Birthday

A birthday is the day when someone is born. It’s a day that comes to everyone, once a year. That’s what a birthday is. Obviously.

Some people don’t know when their birthday is, but that’s a case when they simply don’t know the exact date; they still have a birthday regardless.

Birthdays of famous people often become a day of remembrance, a holiday, or even a festival. That’s how special a birthday can be. That was why I did my best to celebrate Nanami’s birthday to the utmost.

Except—until Nanami mentioned it, I had completely forgotten about my own birthday. I mean, really. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“How can you forget about it?” Nanami asked, clearly exasperated. Honestly, I had no good response to give her.

“Oh, is there something in this omelet today?” I asked instead.

“Yeah, I tried putting in some spinach. Feels a little fancy, right?” she replied.

“Yeah, the green and yellow together look really pretty.”

“Hey...don’t you dare think that you can change the subject so easily.”

Darn, it didn’t work. Still, I did my best to ignore Nanami’s glare and instead put a piece of omelet into my mouth. The egg was fluffy, while the spinach added a nice snappy texture. The mild, sweet seasoning in the egg softened the spinach’s slight bitterness. It was a truly delicious omelet. Should I try making something like this too?

“Does it taste okay?” Nanami asked.

“It’s super tasty. Maybe it’s ’cause I was just sick, but I’m feeling super grateful just to eat stuff like this again,” I replied.

“True that. I’m glad we’re both better now.”

Nanami and I smiled at each other and both gave thanks to the fact that we were healthy again.

We were on our lunch break, but today we were in the cafeteria rather than up on the rooftop. It was getting cold enough to snow, so eating on the roof just wasn’t an option anymore. Eating lunch in the cold, open air was a bit much.

The cold was also the reason we were eating in the cafeteria rather than in the classroom: The heating in our classroom came from a space heater, whereas the cafeteria had an actual air-conditioning system that heated the space throughout.

It was for those reasons Nanami and I were eating in the cafeteria—though of course everyone else had thought the same thing too, making it pretty crowded. Luckily, we were able to find seats. Depending on how crowded it was, there were days we would sometimes give up on the cafeteria and eat in our classroom instead.

Today’s bento consisted of an omelet, wiener sausages, fried shrimp, fried chicken, and stir-fried burdock. It was our first bento in a while, and in order to celebrate the fact that we’d both gotten over being sick, we put fried shrimp on today’s menu.

Fried shrimp was a classic celebration food in Nanami’s household. And adding fried chicken, my personal favorite, to the bento as well made today’s lunch especially extravagant. When Nanami had brought out the bento earlier, she had stuck her tongue out and scratched her head—bashfully but happily—and said that she’d gone a little overboard because she was so excited about our recovery.

We even had dessert today. And by dessert, I meant...

Having finished our bento, we picked up the oranges in our hands, two for each person—and rather large ones, at that.

“Oranges for bento feels pretty new,” I muttered.

“Really? I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s easy to carry and doesn’t need a container,” Nanami said.

With an orange in each hand, she also stressed that we were getting our vitamins and boosting our immunity. She then adorably raised both oranges up to her cheeks, like some kind of fruit-flavored double peace sign, shattering the serious air of her explanation with giddy excitement.

Wasn’t there a gravure magazine like this? Gyaru and Oranges... Yeah, a title makes Nanami’s pose feel even more like something out of gravure print. Dang, it’d be great if she did this pose while in a bathing suit.

Huh. Now that I’m feeling better, I guess all my desires are back in full force too. In any case, I should probably get a photo of Nanami holding those oranges.

When I pointed my phone at her, Nanami flashed me a real peace sign with one of her hands. Nice, I got a good one.

“I did the peace sign without thinking, but why did you take a photo of me?” Nanami asked.

“I just thought you looked cute,” I answered simply.

Her long sleeves even partially covered her hands, making her look even cuter holding the oranges. With the class trip over, we’d changed our school uniforms to the winter version, making for less revealing outfits—but it turned out this style wasn’t too bad either. Though I guess Nanami still kept her skirt pretty short.

Nanami blushed at my sudden remark about how cute she was, but she smiled, happy, and said, “Don’t think flattery will get you anything from me, mister.”

She then began cheerily peeling one of her oranges. When the bright fruit revealed itself, she took apart one of the segments and...

“Here you go,” she said, bringing it toward me.

Wait, huh? I was taken aback by the fact that she was actually feeding me an orange—so much so that I froze.

“Oh, do you usually take the pith off?” she asked.

“Oh, no, that’s not it,” I said quickly.

The reason I froze was because we were in the cafeteria. There were students of all different grades around us; there were even teachers sitting in our midst. Cheap cafeteria food was a godsend not just for students, but for teachers too.

No, that wasn’t the issue here. The problem was that getting fed in front of such a huge crowd was more than slightly embarrassing.

Maybe it would have been easier if I just went with it; now that I’d stopped, I couldn’t stop thinking about where we were.

Plus, the nature of an orange segment meant that I couldn’t use chopsticks or anything to eat what Nanami was offering. I had to eat it directly from her fingers.

And I knew, in these kinds of situations, Nanami would never back down. So I had no other choice but to buck up and eat the dang orange.

Fortunately, even though there were people around us, they were all busy enjoying their respective lunches. Scanning the room out of precaution revealed very few people even looking at us.

I felt like we kind of stood out when we were on the rooftop, but since there were probably more people here, maybe it made us more inconspicuous?

Okay, self-rationalization complete.

“Aah,” I even said, pushing myself to take the orange piece in my mouth. I also did my best not to let my mouth make contact with Nanami’s fingers.

When I bit down on the orange segment, its sweet and sour juices gushed onto my tongue, instantly refreshing me. It was undeniable at this point, but oranges really did make for a great dessert.

I thought that the entire room fell silent the moment I ate the orange from Nanami’s fingertips, but I was going to pretend that I just imagined that. Our surroundings were now back to being lively, and there was no way people would stop to watch us eat.

Nanami nodded, satisfied by the fact that I ate the orange she peeled and offered to me. She then picked off another piece and threw it into her own mouth, talking about how perfect it was to eat oranges in winter while being curled up in warm blankets. The piece she ate must have been tart, because she pursed her lips even as she moaned over its deliciousness.

I looked down at my own orange too and started to peel it. Then, when I had taken apart a piece to put into my mouth...

“Aah!”

Nanami was waiting for me with her mouth open. She even had her eyes closed and her chin lifted just the slightest bit. Because she had the top button of her shirt undone, I could see clearly into the deep chasm of her chest that peeked out of her shirt.

Oh, shoot. No, Yoshin, no dirty thoughts!

I did my best to take my gaze off of that cleavage—deep like an ocean trench and ready to suck me in—and looked at Nanami’s face instead.

Maybe because she had her eyes closed, but something about her look reminded me of a baby chick waiting to be fed. I could almost imagine her chirping. Wait, is it only chicks that chirp? Nanami doesn’t seem like a chick, though.

If anything, Nanami seemed more like a cat, but I was pretty certain that cats didn’t wait for food with their mouths open like this.

Anyway, that was neither here nor there. Nanami, without speaking, was probably asking for me to return the favor she’d done me earlier. Even I could understand that.

No matter what, I couldn’t poke my finger into the chasm that I was desperately trying not to think about. We were in the school cafeteria, after all, and doing that would get me in serious trouble.

Ever since we got back from Hawaii, I felt that all my mischievous impulses had become exclusively sexual in nature. It was like the devil was camped out in my ear or something, constantly whispering that I should do all kinds of naughty things. For now, though, I did my best to resist the temptation and brought an orange segment up to Nanami’s mouth instead.

I thought she might try to pull a fast one on me, but I managed to place the orange slice in her mouth without any obstacles. It was a little disappointing, to be honest. Almost anticlimactic. A part of me had believed she might bite my finger or something.

I guess even Nanami isn’t gonna do something like that in a public cafeteria. Just as I let my guard down out of relief, though, it happened.

Perhaps because Nanami’s inaction had made me withdraw my hand more slowly than usual, I suddenly felt...a wetness on my fingertips.

A soft, moist sensation. She had done it to me once before, but I certainly hadn’t been expecting her to do it here.

The shock of it made me unable to pull my hand back, and while still frozen, Nanami winked at me, as if to say, Mission accomplished! or something. I thought I heard someone whistle nearby.

“They’re so close, they even feed each other,” someone remarked.

“Now I really feel like I’ve returned to Japan,” someone else said.

“Were those two like that even in Hawaii?” another asked.

“I’m surprised the locals didn’t shoot them,” someone else muttered.

What a flurry of comments. It seemed the people around us totally saw us feeding each other, though they seemed not to have caught Nanami, um...licking my fingers. Maybe she did it just for a moment, precisely so that others wouldn’t see. She had such a smug expression on her face that I had to believe that was precisely her intention.

She really got me.

Both my cheeks were hot. For a moment, I toyed with the idea of sucking on the fingers she had just licked, but given that we were in public, I couldn’t even do that.

“Dammit, I’m so gonna get you back for this,” I murmured bitterly—though that only made Nanami grin more broadly, her eyes filled with glee.

It was almost as though she was asking, without uttering a single word, Gosh, I sure do wonder what pervy things you’ll do to me. At least, that was what I heard her saying in my mind.

“Anyway, getting back on topic: Is there a reason you forgot your birthday? Like, you have a bad memory of it or something?” Nanami asked.

That’s right, we were talking about birthdays just now.

Contrary to her demeanor from just a moment ago, Nanami was now looking at me with concern in her eyes. To forget something because we had bad associations with it was an idea that Nanami and I could both relate to.

I had forgotten an unfortunate incident that happened in elementary school, while Nanami couldn’t recall the incident that made her feel uncomfortable around men.

While I had managed to remember what happened to me, it wasn’t really a memory I wanted to revisit. It was a minor incident in my life as an elementary school student, but it was traumatic nonetheless.

And since I had such an experience, it wasn’t unreasonable for Nanami to think I had a similarly negative association with my birthday as well.

Except this time, I didn’t have any particularly bad or unhappy memory that I could remember. Though I didn’t actually remember much from my elementary school days anyway.

This was probably just a case of me not remembering my birthday, just like the way I might be sensitive toward things having to do with other people, but not toward things related to myself. There were no emotional underlayers to reveal, or some key formative recollection to unearth. I had just forgotten it, simple as that.

“Did you usually celebrate your birthday and Christmas together, since they’re both in December?” Nanami asked.

“No, fortunately my parents celebrated my birthday and Christmas separately. I’m sure it was a pricey decision, since the dates are so close together, so I’m really grateful to them for that,” I replied.

“Yeah, your parents kind of do seem the type to do something like that,” Nanami remarked. “But if that’s the case, then wouldn’t you remember your birthday even more?”

“I told them once that we could celebrate my birthday and Christmas together since I felt bad, but then they scolded me and told me that kids shouldn’t worry about such things,” I shared.

“Then that’s more reason you should remember...”

Whoops, Nanami’s getting even more exasperated.

Still, that was easier said than done. I really couldn’t help that I had forgotten about it. After all, we had tests, and then we went to Hawaii for our class trip, and then I got sick as soon as I got back to Japan. So I just didn’t have time to think about my birthday. Honestly, my brain’s capacity for what it could handle at any given time was relatively small, so Nanami even managing to remember my birthday at all seemed astonishing to me.

For Nanami, birthdays were probably exciting occasions. I had a feeling she was the type to plan for them days in advance to make them extra special. One more way in which we were so different. But was that really the case here?

“I mean, the last time I think I celebrated my birthday with friends was before middle school,” I explained. “And it never became much of a topic at school to begin with.”

In other words, a birthday wasn’t a terribly big deal for a loner like me. Yeah, this theory makes the most sense.

But now Nanami looks like she’s going to cry any minute. Wait, why is she so sad all of a sudden?

“Yoshin, let’s go all out to celebrate your birthday this year, okay?!” Nanami said, powerfully, her hands gripped into fists.

Uh, you don’t have to get all worked up about it. It’s just my birthday. And since Christmas and New Year’s are coming up soon after, wouldn’t it be too crazy to have so many events in a row? Let’s not push ourselves so much.

Oh, but maybe that’s the reason my parents never combined my birthday with Christmas: Since I couldn’t spend it with my friends, at least they would be around to celebrate it with me. I’ve really made them worry, haven’t I. I should’ve thought about it long before this. Maybe I should spend my birthday with Nanami, so that my parents can see they don’t have to worry about me as much anymore.

“Speaking of, what did you talk about with my parents? You asked them when my birthday was?” I asked Nanami.

“Yeah, your parents came home after you fell asleep, so when they came back I asked about your birthday. We chatted about a bunch of different stuff too,” she replied.

I guess it’s the “bunch of different stuff” part that scares me...

It was precisely because I didn’t really remember things myself that hearing Nanami ask about my past birthdays was a little embarrassing. But given that it was Nanami, I didn’t much mind her finding out about that kind of thing. Since my parents didn’t mention anything to me, though, I wanted to believe that they didn’t tell her anything weird.

“What did you hear, exactly?” I inquired, with some hesitation.

“Hm? Oh, I asked them what kinds of gifts you liked, or what kinds of food they cooked for you. And how old you were when you stopped believing in Santa Claus.”

I see, research about my birthday...wait, that last bit has nothing to do with my birthday?

“It was so cute of you to believe in Santa Claus all the way through elementary school,” Nanami commented.

Now that, I remembered—which made me feel even more embarrassed. In fact, I remembered thinking even in seventh grade that maybe, just maybe, Santa was real.

“But yeah, I get it too. I mean, there’s a part of me that still believes that maybe Santa really is real,” Nanami remarked, unexpectedly, when she saw how my brows furrowed in embarrassment. Her shy laugh in response made it seem like she was unsure how I would take her statement.

That was why I decided to speak honestly about what was on my mind.

“I think a part of me still believes that Santa is real,” I said.

People might think that it was silly for a high schooler to feel that way, but when it came to Santa Claus, I wanted to be able to dream—and believe that somewhere, somehow, he actually existed. I didn’t necessarily need him to pass out presents to all the different households in the world; I just wanted him to exist as Santa Claus. That was what I wanted to believe.

Maybe it seemed too much like a fairy tale, but thinking that seemed like more fun.

“Hee hee, then I guess we feel the same way,” Nanami said.

And with that simple remark, I felt glad that I had shared my thoughts with her, even if I felt embarrassed. Seeing Nanami’s smile made me feel almost shy, but more than anything I wanted to be able to protect her smile somehow.

“So, what kind of things did you do for your birthdays?” Nanami asked.

“Huh? I thought you heard about it from my parents,” I replied, confused.

“I mean, they told me how they remembered you on your birthdays, but we didn’t talk specifics about what you did.”

“I guess I mostly just played games. And then at night my mom would make us a nice dinner, and then we’d have cake and stuff,” I answered.

I felt bad giving such a boring response, but since most birthdays fell on weekdays and weren’t days off, without anything special happening at school, they were no different from regular weekdays.

That was why I mostly just played games on those days. The only special things that happened were birthday events and special greetings from characters in my games.

I supposed in that sense, aside from my family, the only people who wished me happy birthday were game characters and my online teammates. Now that I thought about it, maybe I would’ve eventually realized that it was my birthday at some point because of the notifications from my game.

“I guess Baron-san and everyone wished me happy birthday,” I finally said.

“Does that include Peach-chan too?” Nanami asked.

“Yeah. We weren’t doing voice chats back then, so it was only text, but I guess they did celebrate it with me.”

As I sat there, nostalgic over past birthday greetings, Nanami’s face suddenly folded into a dissatisfied pout. Huh? Now she’s pouting? Why?

I was slightly shocked by how quickly her smile had disappeared, but Nanami continued expressing her displeasure by saying, “So you’ve gotten birthday wishes from other girls before, huh.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What is with that adorable jealousy?

Through her pout Nanami was casting small glances at me, her lips still pursed, and something about that sight made me smile, my heart brimming with inexplicable warmth. I was about ready to get up and start asking people if they could see just how cute my girlfriend was, but then I saw that Nanami’s pout was getting pretty serious, so I decided it was better to try to placate her.

Lately I had started to think that if I didn’t stop things like this from getting worse, Nanami’s yandere-ness would just keep growing. And that was something even Nanami was worried about. So it was important for me to prevent her from going in that direction.

“It’s my first time having my girlfriend send me birthday wishes. If anything, it’s also my first time having a girl actually wish me happy birthday. So there’s nothing for you to worry about at all,” I stated.

I knew back then that Peach-san was a girl, but since it was all done over text, I didn’t really classify it as having a girl celebrate my birthday with me. In fact, there were even male players using female characters who wished me happy birthday as a kind of role-play, so I didn’t really take stock in anyone’s gender anyway.

“Then I’ll forgive you,” Nanami muttered.

It seemed I was forgiven. Though Nanami still remained somewhat unhappy, so I should probably address that once we got home.

That was what I was thinking, but Nanami closed her eyes and, groaning, exhaled very loudly. She seemed to be expelling every last bit of breath that was in her lungs. That exhale seemed to be letting all the air out of her body, and then she breathed out additional puffs of air, as if she were wringing them out of her. It wasn’t so much that she was sighing—more like she was performing some sort of ritual.

“Jeez, seriously! I’m sorry, Yoshin. I said something totally uncalled-for,” Nanami suddenly apologized, her expression shifting yet again—though I didn’t think it was anything she needed to apologize for.

“I’d decided that I wasn’t gonna get jealous about silly things, but I just couldn’t help myself. Oh, jeez. I’m such a failure,” she continued.

“Uh, when did you decide something like that?” I managed to ask.

“Remember...that thing we did at that Hawaiian church? That was why, on the flight home, I decided not to let you see that I was jealous about weird stuff like that.”

I felt some kind of stir from our surroundings. But this I completely understood. After all, Nanami had totally glossed over the most important part: Because she couldn’t share what we had done at the church in Hawaii, everyone around us was left wondering what exactly we’d done. Okay, not everyone, but still.

Nanami seemed not to notice the people staring at us, as she was too busy being horrified by her own jealousy. Wait, what exactly are you horrified about, Nanami?

“You mean when we exchanged gifts at the church, right?” I pressed. “I guess being in a church really did make us feel all spiritual, huh? I think it’s normal for you to feel that way.”

What we had actually done was an exchange of rings, but I told no lie. If I said that we exchanged rings, though, I was pretty certain that even more weird rumors would start going around. Some people already saw us wearing matching rings during our class trip, but that only yielded a vague rumor of a smaller scale. At the very least, there was no need to spark anything new into circulation.

“Oh, yeah...that’s true. You’re right. I guess that was why I was careful not to get jealous about things,” Nanami muttered. She seemed to have understood what I was trying to do—or maybe she realized how misleading her earlier statement had been—because she quickly shifted her tone to go with my story.

Nanami nonetheless seemed remorseful about how deep her jealousy ran. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel it was anything to really worry about.

But just thinking that wouldn’t reach her. I had to say so directly.

“I don’t really mind that part of you, though. I think it’s cute,” I said.

“Huh?” Nanami said, startled. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, you react that way even with small stuff because you like me that much, right? I don’t like pain, and I don’t like being tied down either, but if it’s just jealousy, then...”

Huh? Why does Nanami suddenly look so agonized...no, conflicted? I thought saying that would make her happy, not whatever this is. Did I just creep her out? Or does she think it’s weird for me to find something like that cute?

Just as I sat there, starting to regret the fact that I had maybe said something unnecessary...

“I’m really happy you say that, but...I’ll make sure not to take it for granted!” Nanami announced, her tightened fists quivering in front of her chest.

But honestly, I had no problem if she became spoiled by something like that.

“If I start thinking that your response is normal, I feel like it would be over for me!” she added.

Didn’t I think something similar myself not too long ago? It surprised me, though, to hear Nanami say something like that, enough that I gaped at her in shock.

Maybe this meant that Nanami and I were slowly beginning to think the same. People often said married couples grew similar over time. Though Nanami and I weren’t married yet.

But it seemed Nanami’s resolve came with no small amount of anguish; it looked like it took a lot out of her to declare what she did.

“Oh, come on. Just let me spoil you,” I finally said.

After a slight pause, Nanami said, “Okay, maybe sometimes. But still! I’ll try my best to hold back.”

That sounded reasonable. I guess it was a compromise, or we were meeting each other halfway. Even Nanami’s faults...or, her jealousies were part of her charms.

“Gosh, we’re all over the place right now. Though that’s mostly my fault. Anyway, we were talking about your birthday!” Nanami exclaimed. “It’s next week, just before Christmas, right?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that’s right. At least I’m pretty sure it is,” I replied.

I ended up sounding like I was talking about someone else again. Nanami must have thought it too, because her smile turned a little awkward. Yeah, it still didn’t click with me that my birthday was coming up.

Maybe if Nanami celebrates it with me, it’ll sink in more.

“Well, you’ll definitely have to have cake for your birthday. What kind of cake do you like, Yoshin?” Nanami asked.

“I guess for my birthday, I like a simple strawberry shortcake,” I murmured.

I didn’t ordinarily eat cake, and even when I did, I tended to choose chocolate cake or Mont Blanc. And yet, every time I thought of birthday cakes, I always imagined a simple sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries. I didn’t really care what cake we had for Christmas, but I wasn’t willing to budge on my own personal idea of a birthday cake.

I knew it was weird for me to be so adamant about this, especially when I couldn’t even remember my own birthday. It was just that, for me, birthdays went hand in hand with strawberry shortcake.

“I see, I see. Yeah, strawberry cake is great,” Nanami said in agreement.

Seeing Nanami get excited started to make me feel giddy as well. She almost seemed more excited about my birthday than I was. Was it okay for me to think about things like that: that it wasn’t just my birthday, but that it was a special day that I would get to spend with Nanami too?

Because if so, I would look forward to that more than just my birthday.

“Look forward to it, okay? This year, your birthday’s gonna be big. Though it’s a weekday, so we’ll have to wait for a day off to go on a real date,” she said.

Wow, she said that with perfect timing. Yeah, I really am looking forward to it.

Nanami extended her fist toward me, a rare gesture from her. So I also made a fist and bumped it against hers.

Unlike a guy’s fist, Nanami’s was smooth, so it felt like my fist touched something incredibly light. Like, if I was too forceful, I might even break it.

She then brought her fist up to her side and grinned toothily. Seeing her smile made me relieved. Her agonized expression from earlier didn’t suit her. Of course she still looked cute, but I didn’t want her to feel that way at all. I could understand that some people wanted to pick on cute girls or pull pranks on them, but there was no need to do that unnecessarily.

Still, jealousy, huh? Recalling her expression from earlier, I thought more deeply about that specific emotion.

I had felt jealous about things related to Nanami before, but it was never because of a guy. That, of course, was because Nanami felt uncomfortable around guys.

Nanami seemed to be overcoming that fear bit by bit, and though I knew it was impossible for me to judge this objectively, I also thought she was also becoming more and more attractive. So, if I were to feel jealous about Nanami, it would probably be sometime in the future.

Just thinking about it hypothetically filled me with foreboding. When it happened, what would I do? What would Nanami do? I knew there was no use thinking about it, but when it did happen...

Yeah, I should just tell her honestly that I was jealous, without trying to put up a front. That seemed like the way to cause the least damage.

Envy. I was pretty certain that it was one of the seven deadly sins. It was a pretty common element in art and literature. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in a variety of contexts. Weren’t there eight or nine sins in the past, actually?

If I were to fit Nanami’s jealousy into that framework, what would my sin be?

I asked myself—and immediately came up with a response.

Greed, probably. Even though I felt like I had so much more compared to what I had before, still, with Nanami, I just wanted more.

They say that greed can kill a man, so I should probably be more restrained. While I sat there, mouth citrus-fresh from oranges and mind filled with philosophy, our lunch hour passed by like it always did.

♢♢♢

Birthdays were special, but not special enough to take off from school or work when they fell on a weekday. Sure, there were times when they coincidentally fell on a day off. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could just take a day off on your birthday regardless?

I thought that working people could do such a thing, since they had vacation time they could use whenever they wanted, but turns out that wasn’t really the case.

Thing is, I tried mentioning this idea at Nanami’s birthday, and at once all the adults in the room told me how wrong I was—and that, while they did have vacation days, they never thought of spending them on their birthdays.

They said that I would understand when I became older, but both Nanami and I still felt that we wanted to take vacation days on each other’s birthdays.

Everyone in the room agreed: There really should be a policy that turned a birthday into a day off, automatically, for whoever’s birthday it was. It seemed adults, more than kids, had things to say about vacations.

And just like that, a whole year passed, and it was my birthday again.

“Happy birthday, Yoshin,” Nanami said.

“Thanks. Wow, you’re super early,” I replied.

Nanami was the first to wish me happy birthday. To be more specific, she wished me happy birthday while on the phone with me, nearly asleep.

We were both dozing off, but then a piercing noise suddenly rang on Nanami’s end, making us both jolt back into full consciousness. I thought it was some kind of an emergency alert, but it seemed Nanami had actually set an alarm on her phone to notify her when it became my birthday.

“No wonder you kept telling me you wanted to stay awake,” I mumbled.

“Hee hee, I’m so glad I got to say it first,” she murmured before breaking into a yawn.

Poor Nanami, she must be so sleepy. Today must have been tiring too. And while I felt bad that she had forced herself to stay awake to wish me a happy birthday, it also made me so, so happy.

I figured that it was probably time for us to go to sleep now, though. But right as I was feeling overjoyed that I was able to ring in my birthday with Nanami...

“Actually, I was thinking that I’d like to spend your birthday with just the two of us,” Nanami remarked.

“Oh, that sounds nice. We went on a date for your birthday too, so maybe next weekend—”

“And spend the night too.”

“Wha—?!”

S-Spend the night?! Night, as in...the night? When I looked at her, my eyes bulging in disbelief, Nanami nodded demurely. Well this...is certainly a shocking proposal.

“I was thinking about how we could take our relationship to the next level...and the only option was to spend the night together,” she murmured.

Look at her, she’s super embarrassed. She’s on her bed sitting on her heels, hugging her blanket close to her. But I guess what she said was pretty mortifying. Even my cheeks are burning up.

“But that’s not possible, is it?” I said.

“It’s not, huh,” Nanami sighed.

We weren’t even allowed to do it for Nanami’s birthday, so it was extremely unlikely that our parents would give us the permission just because it was my birthday. If anything, Nanami and I spending the night together was probably not going to happen until she and I left home.

Just in that moment, though, the faces of several of my friends popped into my head—those who, while we were in Hawaii, had offered to be our alibis when we needed them to be. And boy, did all of them have pretty mischievous smiles on their faces.

But to be honest, I hesitated to take them up on that offer.

Asking them to do that would be putting them in potential trouble, but more than that, asking them to be my alibi was essentially like announcing to them that Nanami and I were going to do stuff like that.

It was probably different for girls, but asking my guy friends to be my alibi would be the same as creating an opportunity for those guys to imagine Nanami doing such an act.

Maybe that was perfectly healthy among teenage guys, but I still didn’t like the idea. It was less about jealousy than just me wanting to keep anything about Nanami and that kind of thing to myself. Well, I guess I, too, was the pretty jealous type.

Actually, isn’t this pretty normal? How do other guys handle sharing stuff like this?

In any case, it was thus unlikely that I would ask others for an alibi like that. Which meant that, in order for me and Nanami to take a step forward...

“I guess my onee-chan days are over now,” Nanami mumbled.

“Wait, what?” I blurted.

With the reveal of the kind of days I had never even heard of before, all my thoughts went out the window—even though I felt like I was this close to coming up with a good idea.

Onee-chan days? Is she talking about what she requested on her birthday? I mean, I guess she did ask me to call her onee-chan back then. Wait, is that still going on?

“You’re turning seventeen too...the same age...and next year, we’ll be eighteen...then we’ll be of age...”

Without explaining anything about this mysterious set of days, Nanami began swaying back and forth, as if she were slowly rowing a boat. She also mumbled things from time to time. I admit, seeing her like that woke me up even more.

Her eyes were almost...rather, they were basically closed already. Maybe her excitement at being the first to wish me happy birthday had given way to somnolence once her mission had been accomplished; she seemed to be falling asleep faster than usual.

“Eighteen...you can get married...and be an adult,” Nanami muttered.

“Oh, right. I guess eighteen is the age of majority in Japan now,” I said.

“Coming of Age Ceremony...wanna wear furisode kimono...but that’s unmarried girls...can’t get married till then...”

“Oh, I didn’t know that a furisode was for unmarried people. I bet you’d look real pretty in that, Nanami,” I commented.

Nanami laughed softly, her eyes still closed. I, too, pictured her wearing a furisode kimono and broke into a smile.

I see, so next year is our Coming of Age Ceremony, huh? Normally we wouldn’t have done that until we were twenty—but then the law changed. We still can’t drink, though, can we? Though given what happened last time, Nanami probably shouldn’t drink too much no matter how old she is. We should also consider how we drink alcohol, too, otherwise I’ll never stop worrying about that. And getting married as well? I guess there are lots of things that become open to us when we turn eighteen. You can get your driver’s license too, right? Or can you get that earlier?

“Marriage... I wonder what married life with Yoshin is like...and ceremony... What do we do... Even without it, I wanna go on our trip...”

Nanami’s sleepy mutterings revealed rather concrete plans in her mind. I hadn’t realized that she was okay with not having a wedding ceremony, though.

Slow, steady breathing was coming from Nanami’s end of the line, so she seemed to be pretty much asleep already. I should probably refrain from responding to her, so that she could fall asleep for real.

Still, Nanami was so excited when she saw the wedding ceremony while we were in Hawaii that I assumed she wanted to have one herself. But would she rather spend money on a trip than a ceremony?

I wonder how much a wedding costs. I remember seeing in a manga once that an engagement ring is supposed to be worth three months of your salary. Wait. Hold on, Yoshin. You’re getting carried away just because Nanami said the word “marriage” so naturally. Why are you thinking this is already a sure thing?

But that wasn’t the important part. But how was I supposed to describe this feeling? It was hard to put into words. On the one hand, I was impressed that Nanami was already thinking so far ahead. And at the same time, I couldn’t help but think: Do I really deserve to be the one?

No, I shouldn’t be so pessimistic. I need to be strong instead, so Nanami can feel marrying me was the right choice. I can’t be fainthearted. But...am I actually fit for married life? As in, what is that even supposed to be like? Is it any different from what we’re like now? Maybe I’m just too sleepy and it’s making me all loopy. Am I even thinking straight at this point?

As I sat there, continuing to wonder...

“Shall we get married...?”

Nanami said something that she would never say if she were fully awake. If she remembered it tomorrow, she would probably turn bright scarlet.

Even so, I looked at her sleeping face and answered her.

“Yeah, let’s. Shall we try living together first?”

There was no response to my question. Instead, I heard Nanami’s steady breathing...and then I drifted off into sleep myself.

♢♢♢

“Hey, is today your birthday, man?” Hitoshi asked.

“Oh, yeah. Something like that,” I replied.

“Shucks, happy birthday, then. You should’ve said something! If you had, I would’ve gotten you a present and all,” he said.

“No need to trouble yourself,” I murmured.

Hitoshi’s question came as soon as I entered the classroom and sat down in my seat. Actually, I didn’t remember telling anyone about my birthday; how did he know?

Maybe Nanami said something? I looked at her—only to find her surrounded by several girls. They were all forming a crowd around her. I didn’t think I’d ever seen them gather like that before. Even in Hawaii, the crowd hadn’t been this big. There even seemed to be girls from other classes there too.

Does Nanami have something special going on today? She looks kind of troubled, though. But even if I wanna go and help her, it seems like a terrible idea for a guy like me to go barging into a group of girls like that. Maybe I’ll text her first.

I messaged her with a short “Need help?” to which she replied, “I’m okay, better you stay over there.” Yeah, seems like my presence is not called for. I’ll leave things to Nanami.

“Who did you hear about my birthday from?” I asked, turning to Hitoshi. “Did Nanami tell you?”

“Hm? No, dude. There’s a bunch of rumors going around that an idiot couple were making out in the cafeteria, and that the boyfriend’s birthday is today,” Hitoshi explained.

I thought that the idiot couple bit was rather rude and uncalled-for. Though it was true in a way, so I couldn’t quite argue against it.

“Huh? Wait, no one mentioned our names, though?” I asked.

“We figured the only idiot couple around that would make out in the cafeteria would be you two,” Hitoshi replied.

“Oh. Ah. I see.”

“And? Were you making out?”

“In a manner of speaking,” I said with a sigh.

Dammit Hitoshi, how dare you grin like you’re having the time of your life right now? Sure, maybe we could have been a bit too flirty, but we weren’t causing problems for anyone. Or were we...?

“I didn’t think we were doing anything weird, though,” I muttered.

“I mean, if you guys were just flirting and stuff I think it’s fine. At least people are enjoying it enough to talk about it,” Hitoshi offered.

“Personally, I’d prefer it if people didn’t gossip in general,” I groaned.

“No can do. Rumors are entertaining, you know? They spread because everyone likes that stuff,” Hitoshi said, only emphasizing how impossible it was not to talk about the fact that Nanami and I were making out.

With Hitoshi spelling things out so plainly, I couldn’t help but agree. We wouldn’t have been the subject of any rumor if we hadn’t done anything extra; this had been our own doing. I just had to tell myself that. Plus, unlike last time, these rumors didn’t seem terribly malicious.

Wait, was it malicious last time? I can’t even remember now.

“Oh, before I forget,” Hitoshi said, “they’re saying the boyfriend wants to sleep with the girlfriend on his birthday.”

Yup, this rumor is totally malicious. Wait, we didn’t talk about anything like that at all, though. Where did people... Oh, is it the part that Nanami glossed over before? Is that it? That part must have mixed up with the bit about my birthday, evolved, and then circulated like this.

I knew this from my previous experience, but rumors sure were frightening. I should be glad that at least this time our names weren’t explicitly attached to them. But I still couldn’t keep myself from sighing.

“And with that, I shall give you your present,” Hitoshi said, placing a convenience store bag on my desk. There was something square, so it was probably some kind of snack. Did he go out of his way to buy this for me?

“Oh, thanks. But didn’t you say earlier that you didn’t have anything prepared?” I asked.

“I didn’t get you anything proper. This is just a gag gift, on the off chance that the rumors are true,” he explained.

What in the world is a gag gift? I didn’t quite understand, but I felt touched that he had gotten me a present at all. Let me just accept this gratefully.

“I see, thanks for going to all that trouble. I really appreciate... Wait, what is this?” I asked.

When I looked inside the bag, I saw...a small, square box. It was black and almost looked like a box of cigarettes. But that wasn’t possible. Was it chocolate or something? There was a number written on the box. The cocoa percentage, perhaps?

“I’ve never seen this before. What is it?” I asked.

“Rubber. Like, that kind of rubber,” Hitoshi replied.

“Excuse me?”

The moment I heard that, I shoved the box back into the bag. I took it out in the classroom because I had no idea, dammit. No one saw, right?

I glanced at the box inside the bag again. So this is the... Wait, is this guy serious right now? Seriously? Of all things he could give me, he gives me this? Though actually it’s the second time someone’s given this to me. But last time it was from a teacher, and it was only one...and not an entire box, like this.

For the record, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the one I received last time just out in my room, so I had put it in my wallet instead. Though since I put it away it hasn’t seen the light of day.

More importantly, I had no idea high schoolers could buy stuff like this. I had thought that the nurse had given it to me precisely because I couldn’t buy it. We’d even talked about something like this, if I remembered things correctly. Or could you just buy it like you could buy anything else, as long as you could stomach the awkwardness? I had thought that they checked how old you were at the convenience store or something. But I guess stuff like this didn’t require carding. Either way, sitting here contemplating the purchasing conditions of this particular item was just not a good use of my time.

I therefore took one deep breath and...

“Dude, are you trying to get smacked?!” I shouted.

“I’m joking! It’s just a little joke. Like, come on, man, guys gift stuff like this to each other all the time,” Hitoshi protested.

“Are you kidding me?” I moaned. “Really?”

“Yeah, basically. That’s just how guys get when they kid around. And this isn’t even all that bad! At least it’s practical,” Hitoshi said. “When it gets bad, it gets really bad.”

Seriously? Guys my age are scary. There’s a world of difference between this and what I imagined a gift exchange between friends was like.

I supposed this was why it was a gag gift, but since it was my first time receiving such a thing, I was still in mild shock.

“You’re not imagining anything weird about Nanami, are you?” I finally asked.

“Dude, even I wouldn’t do something like that with a friend’s girlfriend,” he said simply.

I see, in that case...I guess there’s nothing to worry about.

“But to think that this is the first gift I’ve ever received from a friend... I feel like I’m gonna cry,” I said.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Hitoshi said. “You got gifts in middle school and stuff, right?”

Huh? Do you get birthday presents from your friends in middle school? What world is he talking about? I don’t remember anything like that happening.

As I sat there in silence, unable to respond, Hitoshi grew quiet as well. Wait, this is making me feel...

“Wait. Never?” he asked.

“Not ever.”

“Damn. I’m sorry, dude.”

Please don’t apologize so earnestly; it makes me feel even worse. No no, please don’t bow your head to me either. Really, don’t worry about it so much! Please stop apologizing.

“But in all seriousness, is this actually practical? I don’t know anything about stuff like that,” I said.

“I don’t have a girlfriend either, so I heard it from someone who heard it from someone...but apparently one of the senpai said that one box wasn’t enough for one night. Especially when he was just learning,” Hitoshi replied.

Wow, that was way more information than I was prepared for. But this was all new to me, so it was actually quite helpful. Would I end up just like that senpai?

“And anyway, it doesn’t hurt to have it, you know? I’ll get you a real present next time,” Hitoshi continued.

“No, don’t worry about that,” I said. “This is more than enough.”

“Seriously, dude, I thought you’d see this as a joke and laugh, but I guess I missed the mark...”

That seemed more my problem than his, though, and therefore nothing Hitoshi had to worry about. I wanted to be someone who could laugh about things like this too.

I began to idly think about checking on Nanami again when the door to the classroom opened with a huge bang.

“Yoshin-kun! Is it true that it’s your birthday today?! The news was so sudden that I couldn’t prepare anything fancy, but I’ve brought you a gift!”

“Shoichi-senpai,” I said, slightly taken aback. “Uh, thank you for that.”

“Here, take this! As a man, practicing such etiquette is key!” senpai declared.

“Wait, you too?!”

The smile on Shoichi-senpai’s face as I, his kohai, shouted back at him with zero hesitation would forever remain with me, a birthday gift all on its own.

♢♢♢

Hitoshi and Shoichi-senpai both ended up giving me the exact same present, but apparently they had made their choice after having heard the new rumors. If they had tied that rumor to me, then obviously there was nothing I could do about that. What was amusing at this point was that all the condoms I now had in my possession had been given to me by someone else.

Shoot, what should I do? Should I hide them in my room somewhere? I never thought I’d have to even think about such a problem.

“You look kind of tired, Yoshin,” Nanami said.

“You too. You look drained,” I observed.

“Yeah, there was some stuff going on this morning,” she muttered.

“Yeah, me too. Stuff in the morning,” I returned.

We then looked at each other and heaved a heavy sigh.

We were currently in Nanami’s room, and I was visiting because she had told me she wanted to celebrate my birthday today. Tomoko-san and Saya-chan had also wished me happy birthday a little while ago.

Tomoko-san had asked if I wanted to join them for dinner to celebrate, but I declined; my parents were leaving work early today. Apparently Nanami’s family was going to celebrate my birthday with me on a different occasion, though, which made me feel undeniably grateful.

Today, Nanami was bundled up in several layers, given how cold it was outside. She was wearing fuzzy, pajama-like loungewear on top...and yet she was wearing super short shorts on the bottom, displaying a generous amount of thigh.

I thought about this every time, but I was always impressed by girls’ determination to wear short skirts and similar fashion items even in winter. Even when the weather was super cold, they still chose to forgo coverage on their legs.

When I asked Nanami if she ever got cold wearing those kinds of outfits, she told me she managed through sheer force of will. She then asked me to touch her thighs because they were cold—and when I did, I was genuinely shocked by how icy her skin felt. And it shocked me, too, that Nanami asked me to touch her thighs without any hesitation.

Ever since Hawaii, Nanami seemed to be less and less reticent about physical contact. That, of course, meant that I had to be more wary about it myself.

Though I couldn’t touch her breasts, in Hawaii or Japan.

Anyway, back to Nanami today. She was still looking pretty tired. Apparently she had been ambushed by other girls in the morning, interrogated by girls from the other classes at lunchtime, and then peppered with questions from girls in the year below on the way home.

She seemed even more burnt out than I was. I’d only been questioned by Hitoshi, Shoichi-senpai, Teshikaga-kun, and just a handful of other people.

If anything, Teshikaga-kun seemed like he’d already had his first experience. His reaction seemed to suggest as much. That was a delicate topic, though, so I shouldn’t be the one to bring it up.

“Rumors are really something, huh?” I let out.

“Yeah. I guess we just have to deal with it. Everyone loves this kind of relationship stuff,” Nanami said. She then added, self-deprecatingly, that before she and I started going out she loved talking about relationships too. Maybe all of this was reminding her of her past behavior.

I myself had never been interested in rumors, so this occasion simply reminded me of how scary they could be—and how important it was for me not to be irresponsibly swayed by them.

I also pretended I couldn’t hear the occasional comment that suggested I refrain from actions that would lead to such rumors getting started in the first place.

Though Nanami wanted to spend one-on-one time with me for my birthday, we didn’t expect to be so tired out, so she and I were just sitting in her room without doing much. After a while, though, Nanami approached me, sidling up to me as though she wanted me to pay more attention to her.

The fuzziness of her loungewear, combined with the touch of her leg on my hand...felt indescribably pleasant. How was Nanami’s skin so smooth, anyway?

It feels so different from mine. Oh man, this is so comforting. I must be super tired or something.

“Should we try the snacks we got?” I suggested.

“Snacks? You got that much?” Nanami asked. She tucked herself into my side, tilting her head to rest on my shoulder, her soft hair brushing against my cheek.

Though it broke my heart for us to separate, I had to pull myself away from Nanami in order to grab my school bag. I opened it...and felt, once again, slightly overwhelmed.

My bag was filled not just with textbooks, but with an astonishing number of little snacks as well. I had thought my bag still had some space to spare, but now it was filled to the brim. If the teacher had seen these snacks, they would probably have been confiscated.

I guess I should start by taking them all out.

“Wow, there are so many,” Nanami murmured in awe.

All lined up, the snacks really did look impressive.

There was everything, from slightly high-end chocolates and Japanese-style sweets to an assortment of cheapie items. All told it was a mountain of snacks I would never think to buy for myself. I had gradually accumulated them as gifts from multiple people, so I hadn’t realized until now just how many I had gotten. I’d have to return the favor on everyone else’s birthdays too. I should also learn my classmates’ names and faces already. I was still a bit iffy on some of them.

While I felt grateful, I also felt slightly apologetic about the whole affair. Nanami, on the other hand, was looking at the snacks on the table with eyes all aglow, which made me feel slightly less guilty. And honestly, I also felt kind of excited about all the treats before us. It was a new feeling.

This didn’t happen last year, so I was still kind of surprised by this turn of events. Okay, I can admit it: I was super happy.

“You got these, though, right? Is it okay for me to have some too?” Nanami asked.

“Oh, definitely. Everyone who gave it to me told me to share it with you,” I replied.

Quite literally, every single person who gifted me a snack today did so while telling me to share it with Nanami. I almost thought that they had planned it all in advance.

The only ones who didn’t say that were Hitoshi, Shoichi-senpai, and Teshikaga-kun.

Neither Hitoshi nor Shoichi-senpai could say such a thing, obviously, and Teshikaga-kun...had given me a protein bar. It was a brand I’d never seen before.

Apparently Teshikaga-kun had also started working out in order to be able to protect Shirishizu-san. It’d be cool if we could go work out together some day.

“Then, before I partake,” Nanami said, then got in a good stretch before reaching for the snacks that lay on the table. She quivered as she stretched, and as they always did, her breasts announced themselves, undeniable in their presence even underneath her plush loungewear.

I knew this sounded crass, but I had to wonder: Has Nanami developed even more than before? Her breasts were honestly kind of awe-inspiring. But it was best not to stare. I tried my hardest to avert my gaze and focus anywhere but there.

Nanami then straightened her back and sat on the floor on her heels. Embarrassment over my dirty thoughts had me sit up straight as well.

In the next moment, Nanami inhaled, steadied her breathing, and smiled. The clear tenderness on her face captured me, and my breath stuck in my throat.

“Happy birthday, Yoshin.”

She placed her hand upon her chest, as if to steady her heartbeat. Nanami then closed her eyes and continued, her next words spoken carefully and slowly.

“Thank you for meeting me. Thank you for being with me. Being able to spend this time with you is my greatest happiness.”

Each word touched my heart, sinking right into my core. I didn’t know how to describe it, but they made me realize one thing: Today was the day I was born.

“Next year, and the year after that,” she said, “I hope that you’ll let me celebrate your birthday with you. I love you.”

Her last words almost made me cry.

And it was then that this nebulous thing called “birthday” suddenly became real for me.

“Wait, Yoshin, don’t cry,” Nanami said, flustered.

“Huh?”

It seemed that her words didn’t almost make me cry; they did make me cry.

I had no intention of crying, obviously, but when I realized it, more and more tears welled up in my eyes. Nanami drew me in for a gentle embrace at once.

“Thank you,” I managed to say. “I’ve never had someone celebrate my birthday for me like this, so I’m feeling a little emotional right now. Wow, this is super embarrassing.”

“Jeez, you don’t need to cry! Here, get some of my boob sandwich and stop crying!” she joked.

There she goes again, saying stuff like that. Though I guess it kind of worked, since I’m so shocked I can’t even cry anymore. But boy, her boobs feel so soft today. It’s kind of amazing.

Having been reduced to tears, I remained in Nanami’s arms, enjoying the feel of her breasts. Meanwhile, Nanami continued whispering birthday wishes in my ear.

Is she trying to make me cry even more?

In Nanami’s arms, it finally sank in that I had grown one year older. I was seventeen now. Next year, I would be eighteen, and a full-fledged adult at that. I would be old enough to decide so many things for myself.

The fact I would be a legal adult next year didn’t really hit me, though. It just seemed weird to think that I would be an adult when people always said that all high schoolers were still kids.

Up until today, that ambivalence seemed okay. Going forward, though, it probably wasn’t going to cut it—especially when I thought about wanting to be with Nanami forever.

When I glanced at Nanami, she happened to be looking at me as well, asking without words for what was on my mind.

So I told her, honestly, what I was thinking. I had said it casually before, but this time, I said it with conviction.

“Maybe, when I’m eighteen, I’ll try living by myself.”

Nanami, cradling me in her arms, became still, saying not a word. I kept going.

“I know it’ll cost money, and it’ll probably be hard to convince my parents to let me do it. They’ll probably set a lot of conditions for me. It might not even be hard, but straight up impossible,” I said.

I didn’t have a clue how to live on my own, and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to do all the different things that until now my parents had always done for me.

What was more, it wasn’t just my parents I had to convince; this also involved Nanami. There would be so many problems and challenges to have to overcome in order to make this work.

Even then, I couldn’t keep myself from asking Nanami one more time.

“If you’re not averse to the idea...do you want to try living together for real?” I asked.

Immediately, Nanami lit up. Overcome by emotion, she let out an enthusiastic “Yes!” and kissed me—as if that was the signal that she had been waiting for this whole time.

Interlude: Our First Tako Party

I didn’t think I was the only one who thought celebrations were exciting, no matter who or what was being celebrated. You know, like Christmas and New Year’s and stuff.

And when it came to birthdays, I felt even more excited about it than Christmas. Of course I loved my own birthday celebrations, but I really liked celebrating other people’s birthdays too.

Celebrating the birthday of someone I loved—my boyfriend’s—meant that my excitement was at an all-time high. I couldn’t help but wonder if my birthday wishes would make him smile, or if he would like my present, or if he would think that my cooking tasted good.

I knew that it was the thought that counted. Words, gifts, even food—they were all the same, in the sense that they were things we gave to others. No matter how expensive something was, if there was no love given with it, it would fail to move anyone. The most important thing, therefore, was a heartfelt gift.

Especially for me, this was my first time giving a birthday present to a guy. My dad was a separate thing, of course. I meant a guy that wasn’t a family member. It was my first time giving such a gift, so I thought desperately hard about what to get him. I racked my brain, trying to come up with ideas. I even asked Hatsumi and everyone what they thought.

I hope that Yoshin will like what I chose.

Today was our date to celebrate my boyfriend Yoshin’s birthday.

“Yoshin, one more time, with feeling: Happy birthday!” I said.

“Wow, thanks,” he returned, smiling bashfully.

His actual birthday was a few days ago, but in order to make this a more legitimate celebration, I clapped and wished him happy birthday once again.

We were at Yoshin’s house, in his room. Today’s date was a stay-at-home one.

“Yoshin, are you sure it’s okay to stay home like this?” I asked.

Since for my birthday Yoshin had gone out of his way to take me to so many places, I seriously wasn’t sure if it was okay for us to do this for his birthday. Yoshin, though, said that he wanted to relax and spend time together at home. We’d had many occasions to hang out with other people lately, and with more people in Yoshin’s friend circle now, he and I didn’t have that many opportunities to be alone...

Uh, no, we still do.

But even so, I didn’t think we’d been able to be alone from the beginning of a hangout for a while. So it honestly did make me happy to hear he wanted to stay at home, but I still wasn’t sure if that was actually Yoshin’s preference. When I asked him again, though, he got in a good stretch, as though he felt relieved. He actually seemed more laid-back than usual.

“Well, we just got back from our class trip, and we’re both getting over a cold too. Plus we have Christmas coming up, so I thought it’d be nice for us to just chill out for my birthday,” Yoshin replied.

When he added that having a string of events could be tiring, I had to admit that I agreed with him. There were so many fun things we did and had coming up, but having them back-to-back could wear us out. I still worried that Yoshin was putting himself last, but then he let me know that he was a homebody and genuinely preferred this arrangement.

That was why, though, I made sure to ask Yoshin in advance for all of his birthday requests, so that we could have loads of fun even while staying at home. Besides, just because we were at home didn’t mean that I couldn’t prepare a birthday surprise for him.

“Well, then! Let us begin Yoshin’s birthday tako party!” I declared.

“Yay, tako party,” Yoshin said as he clapped, surprising even me with his response.

With his applause as my accompaniment, I placed the takoyaki maker on the table, a hot plate-type that I brought from home. Yoshin’s room was fairly large, so it was nice that we could have a takoyaki party right here without any issues.

“So this is a takoyaki maker, huh?” Yoshin asked. “I’ve only seen photos, but I can’t believe you can actually make takoyaki at home.”

“You really love gadgets, don’t you,” I remarked.

“I really do. Like, thinking about machines I’ve never seen before gets me all excited,” he confessed.

Watching Yoshin intently studying the takoyaki maker made me glad I’d brought it with me. Though my dad was the one who’d actually helped me bring it here in his car.

“Have you ever done a tako party before?” Yoshin asked.

“Yeah, I do it with my parents, or sometimes with Hatsumi and the others. I feel like we used to do it a lot a little while ago,” I replied.

I didn’t think my family and I had done a tako party recently. Last year was probably the last time I had done it with Hatsumi and everyone. And even then, we all somehow had a takoyaki maker.

“If that’s the case, Genichiro-san and everyone should’ve joined us too,” Yoshin muttered.

“Well, you know. They were probably trying to give us space,” I said.

“Oh, yeah. Maybe next time we can have a bigger tako party and invite everyone.”

Yoshin was right both in that a takoyaki party was more fun with a lot of people, and that my family also wanted to celebrate his birthday too. If my family was going to join, then I wanted Yoshin’s parents to join as well...

But actually, Yoshin’s parents had gone out a little while ago too.

“We’re also going on a date—it’s been a while.”

That was what Shinobu-san had said coolly as she and her husband left the house upon my arrival.

The fact that they were letting me and Yoshin be alone was proof of just how much they trusted us. Plus, it was still the middle of the day. If it were nighttime...yeah, they probably wouldn’t have gone out on that date. At least the timing made it so that my surprise was even easier to execute. And though I wasn’t sure myself, Yoshin’s parents were probably okay with giving us this much freedom and alone time.

“My parents aren’t here either, so I feel like we can enjoy being alone for the first time in a while,” I said.

“Yeah, it has been a while, huh?” Yoshin said.

As the mood became even more laid-back, we started to feel awfully relaxed... No, wait. The tako party. I’ve gotta get it ready.

“Okay, then let’s get this party started! I’ll go get the batter and stuff,” I said, standing up and putting on the apron that I’d brought from home. I had all the ingredients—including the batter and the stuffing—in the kitchen, so I had to bring them to Yoshin’s room.

“Oh, let me help,” Yoshin said, getting up.

I shook my head and held my hands out, as if prepared to physically stop him. Yoshin was the birthday boy, so he didn’t need to do anything at all. He was looking at me apologetically, but making the star of the day do any kind of work was just plain wrong! Therefore, I had to pull a dirty trick.

“If you don’t stay put, I’m going to go off and take off all my clothes except this apron,” I stated.

“What kind of a threat is that?!” Yoshin exclaimed.

My supposed threat must have worked, though, because Yoshin sat back down begrudgingly. Wow, that worked a lot better than I thought.

Though it really was a questionable trick. Except this wasn’t the result of any bad advice I had gotten. It was just that...

Yoshin doesn’t stand a chance against pervy threats.

I guess calling it a threat wasn’t exactly right, but most times I inserted some sexiness in a conversation where I wanted Yoshin to back down, he usually did. The whole being-naked-except-for-an-apron thing was a scenario that Yoshin probably wanted to see too, but he most likely understood that I was also saying it because I wanted him to relax.

Of course, this was all a guess based on his eye movements, his speech, and the subtle changes in his expression—but I probably wasn’t too far off.

On the other hand, if I returned to the room actually wearing nothing but my apron, I’d probably get the lecture of a lifetime for my antics. Well, not probably; definitely. He would go on and on, telling me that I shouldn’t do stuff like that so lightheartedly when we were alone. He would scold me, voice calm and not at all agitated, and speak with such sound logic that I would have no room to attempt a rebuttal.

But I didn’t really mind Yoshin lecturing me like that. Not that I was a masochist or anything. I just felt grateful that someone cared about me enough to scold me like that.

That was even more the case now that I was in high school. I even felt relieved by the fact that Yoshin didn’t just unconditionally accept everything I did. If he did just go along with whatever I did without comment, I felt like I would start to become dependent on him and no longer care about anything else. If things got that far...it would be pretty scary.

Come to think of it, though, I didn’t think I’d ever seen Yoshin yell at someone before. He sometimes raised his voice with Kenbuchi-kun, but that was just him being exasperated by Kenbuchi-kun’s sense of humor. I’d never seen Yoshin yell at someone out of true anger.

Would I ever see him act like that?

Turning that question over in my head, I headed back to Yoshin’s room—but upon entering, he nearly leaped into the air with a start. Huh? Was there something scary just now?

“Oh, hey, Nanami. Uh, welcome back. I didn’t have anything to do, so I tried setting things up,” he said.

The takoyaki maker was plugged in and already greased. It seemed Yoshin had prepped it for us. The machine already seemed ready for the batter.

“Thanks! But why were you so startled?” I asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Nothing, it’s totally fine,” he answered.

“Huuuh? Tell me!” I pressed.

I sat down and shook him gently, but Yoshin didn’t reply right away, just swaying along without resisting me. It was kind of fun, so I shook him just a little more. It would be bad for him if I overdid it, though, so I made sure to do it in moderation.

“Well, uh,” Yoshin began.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I was just thinking about what to do if you really did come back with nothing but your apron on.”

That’s what you were thinking?!

It astonished me to know that Yoshin could be so pervy, but what really took me by surprise was the fact that he had taken what I said somewhat seriously.

“Wearing nothing but an apron while cooking would be so unsanitary,” I stated. “And what if there’s hot oil? And I’d have to tie back—”

Yeah, okay. It might look sexy to be wearing nothing but an apron, but it’d be super dangerous to be so undressed while actually cooking. Chefs even wear hats to prevent their hair from getting in food; being naked is probably the most inappropriate thing you could be while cooking. Even if we’re only making takoyaki, it’s probably better not to... Wait, why is Yoshin being so quiet?

“Um, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“No, it’s just that...how do you know so much about cooking in just an apron?” Yoshin muttered.

Whoops. No, this isn’t... It’s not like I know a lot... It’s just not!

“Look, it’s not like I looked up what it would be like if I actually did do it or anything! I mean, I did look it up, but...it’s not like I was really thinking about doing it!” I protested.

One of the poorest excuses ever uttered came out of my mouth, and yet Yoshin’s loving gaze never wavered.

That’s not it! I’m not a perv, I swear!

But this was one of those situations where trying to explain myself would only make it worse. I had to force quit this conversation. Dammit, Yoshin’s got the biggest grin on his face.

“Jeez! Let’s just make takoyaki now, okay?!” I shouted.

“Yes, ma’am,” Yoshin said, picking up the ingredients with a pleased expression on his face.

We really had prepped quite a spread for just the two of us: We had cut-up octopus, of course, but we also had cheese and sausages, along with shrimp, kimchi, and tuna. For veggies, we had lotus root and cabbage, among other things. All in all we had a bunch of options. Basically, we had way too much for two people to even try to finish.

“We sure have a lot of stuff,” Yoshin murmured. His eyes were twinkling, perhaps over excitement about his very first tako party.

Honestly, it was my first time seeing this many ingredients assembled all together.

“My parents bought a lot of it. As a birthday present,” I shared.

“Got it. I’ll thank them next time I see them,” he replied.

It was true: When I told my parents that we were going to do a tako party for Yoshin’s birthday, they both got really stoked and ended up buying a lot of things for us.

To start, we first poured the batter into the takoyaki maker, and then we added some of the ingredients.

“Yoshin, are you okay with red pickled ginger?” I asked.

“Not normally, but with takoyaki I’m good for it,” he said. “Can I try making some too?”

“Course you can.”

Yoshin picked up the toppings and placed them on the batter in the takoyaki maker, adding the red ginger on top. He watched the batter cook with the sparkly eyes of a little kid.

You were supposed to flip the takoyaki when it started bubbling, but maybe since it was his first time Yoshin instead poked them very gingerly with his bamboo skewer.

“I kind of suck at this,” he muttered.

Ah, yeah. It’s hard to get it right the first time. Yoshin was giving the slightly flattened takoyaki a mildly dismayed look. But I found it so cute. All I wanted was to see him make that face even more. It was a confusing mix; he seemed so pitiful, but at the same time, pretty adorable too.

“It’s okay, we have lots!” I told him. “You’ll be a pro in no time.”

“You’re so good at it, though,” he mumbled.

“But as a beginner, you’re pretty good too, you know? Come on, let’s try flipping the other ones.”

Yoshin nodded obediently. Who is this precious creature before me? Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before meeting Yoshin. On praising him, his sadness immediately turned to joy. Witnessing his shifting moods was amazing—almost like getting a present.

Commenting that takoyaki was takoyaki regardless of its appearance, Yoshin placed one of the balls that he’d made on his plate, topping it with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and bonito flakes...and brought it to his mouth before I could warn him of how hot it was. But he must have been worked up still; he went ahead and ate it, huffing and puffing the whole time.

I rushed to give him a cold drink, and when he said the takoyaki was so hot he thought he was gonna die, it made us both laugh.

“This one’s good too. Here, say... Oh, maybe we shouldn’t, since it’s so hot,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, you’re right. We probably shouldn’t,” Yoshin agreed, though he looked crestfallen. Even that expression was cute, but his mouth would be burned if I fed him another piping hot piece. But it was so perfectly shaped, I still kind of wanted to feed it to him anyway.

Oh, maybe I can do this? I thought to myself, as I pierced one of the balls with a skewer and blew on it gently to try to cool it down. If I do this, it should be fine, right? I blew on it several times, then pointed the skewer toward Yoshin and said, “Say ‘aah.’”

“Aah,” Yoshin let out as he put the entire takoyaki ball in his mouth...and immediately began writhing from how hot it was. Oh, shoot...I guess I cooled the outside, but not the inside— Wait a minute, this is no time for narration! Quick, drink something cold! Cool your mouth!

Yoshin quickly took a swig of his drink, sighed, then looked at me...at which point we both burst out laughing again.

And in that way we enjoyed our two-person tako party.

Yoshin seemed to be the type to get sucked into things; he practiced making takoyaki over and over again until he formed one in a perfect sphere. His goal, he told me, was for me to eat his perfectly formed takoyaki, so of course I opened my mouth for him to feed that piece to me. He tried cooling it down for me, but it was still scorching hot when I ate it.

Even as we laughed at ourselves for making the same mistake again, time passed peacefully, with joy.

Takoyaki balls were small, but eating a number of them really did fill our stomachs, and when the both of us were pretty full, I decided that it was time for the first surprise. I left the room, asking Yoshin to give me a second before I did. I took something out of the fridge that Shinobu-san had let me store there beforehand, and with my heart fluttering in my chest, I headed back to Yoshin.

“And here comes dessert!” I announced.

“Huh? Oh, wow! What is that?!” Yoshin exclaimed.

He was super surprised by what I brought: strawberry shortcake. All right, now I’ve got him hooked.

“It’s my first time making it, so it’s not that pretty,” I confessed.

“What?! You made it? It looks amazing. Like from a bakery,” he answered.

“Yup! It’s homemade shortcake, baked by yours truly,” I declared. “Happy birthday, Yoshin.”

Yes! Yoshin likes it. Tee hee. I placed the cake on the table, and though we didn’t have candles because we couldn’t have open flames, we still sang happy birthday.

It was like we were kids again. I hadn’t been sure if this would be enough of a celebration, but Yoshin seemed really happy.

I cut and served Yoshin a slice of cake, which he studied closely before slowly scooping a forkful and bringing it to his mouth. I watched him chew and swallow, heart in my throat as I awaited his assessment. Did it come out okay? I thought it was pretty okay, even though it was my first time making it...

Yoshin sighed. “It’s super tasty,” he murmured, hushed voice heavy with emotion.

Yoshin scooped more pieces of cake, eating quickly as I clenched my fists in triumph. Oh my gosh, I am so glad it went well.

I should try it myself now. I cut a small piece of my slice and placed a strawberry bit in my mouth. At once I experienced layers of sensation: The tartness of the strawberry, the sweetness of the whipped cream, and the light airiness of the sponge cake spread all throughout my mouth. Hey, this isn’t half bad. With the leftover saltiness from the takoyaki in my mouth, it tastes extra good.

By the time we realized it, we had both completely cleaned off our plates.

“Now that I think about it, I should’ve fed you this instead,” I muttered.

My realization was so late, so delayed, that Yoshin and I just looked at each other and laughed again. How could I have only thought of it after we’d finished eating? Since we were a bit too full to go for seconds, we promised that we would feed the cake to each other the next time we had it.

Our fun-filled celebration passed in the blink of an eye, eating takoyaki, and even dessert. Outside Yoshin’s window it had already gotten dark. I can’t believe it’s so late already. I should clean up now.

“Oh, I’ll help too,” Yoshin said when I started stacking some plates.

“Oh no, you just sit back and relax. I can do it,” I replied.

“No way, I can’t make you do that. I’ll help wash.”

“Really?” I said hesitantly. “Then...that would be a huge help.”

Continuing to refuse his offers didn’t seem right, so it was probably better just to accept. We’d finish faster if we cleaned together—and that meant we’d have more time together.

Yoshin quickly walked to the kitchen with some dirty dishes. We had placed the things that didn’t fit on Yoshin’s table on the floor, so I started picking those up to take them to the kitchen as well.

And then I spotted something unfamiliar. Hm? What’s this? Some kind of chocolate? I picked it up. It was some rectangular box I’d never seen before. Wait, isn’t this...?!

“Nanami, that’s—!”

Yoshin snatched the box out of my hands, tucking it behind his back. But I already knew what was inside; the other girls had told me about it the other day.

Was that why Yoshin was so startled earlier? ’Cause he had this box?

I looked up at him slightly and murmured, “Are we gonna do something sexy today?”

“N-No. I want to, but we won’t,” he replied, shaking his head. Even though I just couldn’t talk about it directly, what I asked was enough for him to understand that I knew exactly what that box was.

“Then why do you have it?” I asked.

“I got it from Hitoshi and some of the others as a birthday gift, and I was hiding it,” he confessed, then added, “I didn’t think you’d find it.”

Ah, he must have gotten it when the girls had cornered me and he was with Kenbuchi-kun and senpai. To tell the truth, the girls had actually given me the same thing.

When they gave them to me, they said, “If he doesn’t have some already, use this!” At that time, I couldn’t say no either and so had simply accepted them.

Which meant...what he was holding now was the exact same thing I had sitting in my room.

Yoshin and I both fell silent, turning red and sitting on our heels. We both had our backs straight, with perfect posture.

Wh-What should I do? I should give him his second present now, right? But I’m not sure if that’s the safest thing to do...?! No, I already decided that I would do it. Make up your mind, Nanami!

“Yoshin, um... I’m going to prep your second present,” I began. “So, can you wait outside for a little bit?”

“Oh, um, yeah, got it. Of course!” he exclaimed, dashing out of the room.

I then slowly prepared his second gift. I mean, this one was meant as a joke present, so I wasn’t expecting things to turn out this way.

I was torn, asking myself whether I was actually going through with the idea while also pushing myself to do it since I already said that I was going to. Though the part that was egging myself on was clearly winning.

I finally made up my mind...and finished preparing the second present.

“You can come in now,” I called out, my heart pounding. Should I have taken more time to get ready? Is this okay? Is he going to be weirded out? A million thoughts raced through my mind.

Yoshin came back—and opened his eyes as wide as they would go.

For today’s second surprise...

“H-Here...you go. I-I’m...your present.”

I invited Yoshin in...with a ribbon wrapped around myself.

With his eyes still wide open, Yoshin’s jaw dropped so far I thought it might fall off altogether. The sight of me must have been truly astonishing.

Quivering, he raised a shaky index finger to point at me and asked in a hoarse whisper, “Wh-What is that?”

“Um. According to Kotoha-chan boys love this kind of stuff,” I tried to explain. “Wh-What do you think?”

As I lay on the bed in my clothes, the ribbon wrapped around me, Yoshin—as though conflicted—shook his head, his fists opening and closing almost compulsively.

For the record, Kotoha-chan said that I should, at the very least, be in my bathing suit like this. Naked, if possible. Of course, that was decidedly not possible, which was why I was still wearing my clothes.

And yet...I was still super mortified!

Yoshin had his head in his hands now, but seemed to have overcome his initial shock; when he finally looked up, he just helped me sit up on the bed.

“Nanami, from now on, don’t believe a word of what that narrow-eyed, pervy little class rep tells you!” he growled, placing one hand on my shoulder and clenching his other hand into a fist.

As a sidenote, Yoshin got his fill of seeing me dressed up as a birthday present...and then his parents came home soon after, throwing us into a complete panic.

And in all the chaos I ended up completely forgetting to give Yoshin his actual birthday present. I shouldn’t have messed around with that stupid ribbon so much...

Chapter 3: What Do You Enjoy at Christmas?

With my birthday having passed, I was finally seventeen years old.

Though that didn’t mean anything dramatic was gonna happen. But next year I would turn eighteen, and that meant soon I would have to start behaving and thinking more like an adult.

The vague anxiety of that haunted me, as well as the resolution I’d made the other day—but I also recognized that I shouldn’t get too worked up about all this. Getting excited for the future wasn’t a bad thing, but too much of it would tire me out.

Maybe I was like this because I had told my parents about my birthday resolution.

“Living on your own, huh?” my dad had let out then.

“Yeah. Since I’ll be eighteen next year, I thought it’d be a good time to try,” I’d explained. “What do you think?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” my mom had said.

And just like that, my parents disapproved. I had wondered why, but when I asked, I had to admit that I agreed with them.

“First of all, you want this mainly because of Nanami-san, right? If so, I’m against the idea,” my dad declared.

I had no counterargument to that. My dad was right: Being with Nanami was the reason I decided to try living on my own in the first place.

But just that one reason wasn’t enough to change my mind, so my mom and dad were happy to explain all the other reasons for their disapproval. And, together, all these reasons ultimately brought me to my defeat.

Money problems, school problems, life problems... Once my parents had gotten started, there seemed to be no limit to the problems they had in mind.

Either way, at this point, they were completely against the idea of my living by myself as a high school student. They were open to me doing it once I was in college, but that was under the condition that I was able to keep up with school.

By that point, I would no longer receive an allowance; the idea was that I would cover all my living expenses on my own. They would, however, pay for my tuition. That alone was something I was grateful for.

Regardless, my parents told me that whether I was planning to attend university or a trade school, I needed to decide my path and work hard toward my goal, whatever that was.

At that point, I really had no way of arguing back.

“If you figure things out while you’re at college, that’s fine too. But at the very least, living on your own any sooner will only end badly,” my mom had concluded.

Hearing that was like getting dunked in ice water. But I had to admit, I felt much more levelheaded after that conversation.

I mean, they were absolutely right. Nanami was working hard to become a schoolteacher, and Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san both had clear dreams that they were pursuing.

I, on the other hand...didn’t have anything.

I didn’t have anything I wanted to do, nor any specific job I wanted to get. Could I even claim, with the way I was now, that I was even going to be an adult next year? True, I had only seriously started considering my adulthood a few days ago, but still.

And just like that, dark clouds had overshadowed the plan I had to live on my own.

But seventeen-year-old me still had to go to school every day. Obviously.

Except everyone else seemed kind of excited, buoyed by fluffy white clouds while I was getting rained on. It made sense, though; winter break was coming up. Christmas was coming up. And this year our break would be fairly long, lasting until the middle of January. People probably couldn’t help feeling distracted. Even I didn’t quite feel grounded with all the festivities coming up.

At lunch break on one such day, as we were eating our bento in the classroom, Nanami and I traded info on our respective families.

“I mean, when you really think about it, your parents are totally right,” Nanami said.

“You too?” I said, sighing. “Though in my head I know you’re right.”

“Even my dad said no when I told him I wanted to live with you next year.”

“Oh, you told Genichiro-san?” I murmured. “Though it’s not like his answer surprises me all that much.”

Parents with daughters had different concerns than parents with sons. In Genichiro-san’s case, his opinion was perfectly reasonable.

Was that what Genichiro-san’s message was about? All it said was, “Yoshin-kun, I trust you, but I think it’s still too early...” I had asked him what he was talking about, but Genichiro-san just skirted the issue. But I understood what he had meant now.

I still wasn’t someone he felt comfortable entrusting his daughter to. And from now on I needed to work hard to become that person.

“What did Tomoko-san say?” I asked.

“She said no because if we did move in together she’d turn into a grandma within a year,” Nanami replied.

“I feel like she’s made that joke before.”

“She was serious, though. She wasn’t even smiling.”

Even Saya-chan, Nanami told me, was against the idea, earnestly saying she didn’t feel ready to be an aunt. And while their reaction disappointed Nanami, I took their comments to mean that I had much to reflect on.

Though what exactly I was supposed to be reflecting on, I wasn’t quite sure.

In a sense, what the Barato family communicated was that they had faith in us—faith that if they let me and Nanami be alone, it would only spell trouble.

If I were in their shoes, I guess I would have the same concerns as well.

“I guess the first step is to show everyone that I can make it, even if I live by myself,” I stated.

“True. Though once we’re in college, things should be better,” Nanami agreed.

Although I hadn’t quite given up, it was looking like it was too early for me to make any big moves. Not to mention that I still had to figure out my dreams for the future too.

“My dreams, huh?” I muttered.

“You don’t have something you want to do?” Nanami asked. “You know, like when you were in elementary school, wasn’t there something you wanted to be when you grew up? Even that’s a good place to start.”

“From when I was little? Hmmm... I can’t remember, honestly.”

I thought I did, but then maybe I also didn’t. Should I go home and flip through some photo albums, try to jog my memory? There had to be something in there. Maybe I could use that as a clue of some sort.

As I groaned and moaned, struggling to come up with something clear to do, Nanami brought her index finger up to her lips and gave an alluring smile, almost as if to seduce me.

“Why not a stay-at-home husband?” she suggested. And like a truly devilish temptation, she added that she was perfectly willing to take care of me.

I wondered what a stay-at-home husband was really like. I might be able to take care of everything around the house once I got used to it, but I had a feeling it was going to be really difficult at first. If I were seriously going to make that my goal, then my housekeeping skills would need dramatic improvement.

“Just greet me when I come home,” Nanami began, “and let me admire your lovely figure, and eat my cooking, and when we sleep, be my body pillow—”

“Wait wait wait, then what in the world am I staying at home to do?” I protested.

What Nanami was describing was a total deadbeat. I would become a no-good loser, with Nanami taking care of every aspect of my life. I just couldn’t let that happen.

But while just the thought of that horrible suggestion made me shiver, Nanami didn’t seem terribly perturbed by it.

“I mean, I don’t think a relationship like that can really last anyway,” she said. “Plus, unless we both work, even if it starts out okay, it’ll probably get super hard later.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I guess you’re just joking,” I replied.

“Yeah, of course. I’m only half joking,” Nanami returned.

“So you’re half serious...”

This is actually scary. She really didn’t sound like she was joking earlier. But she’s right: Unless we both work, it’ll become financially hard in the future. And if we have kids there’ll be a lot of things we’ll need and can’t do without.

With that in mind I turned to Nanami, but it seemed as if she had been thinking the same thing—and we both chuckled.

At least for now, I wasn’t so foolish as to say what was on my mind.

“Thank you for the meal,” I said instead, bringing my palms together. “Today’s bento was delicious, as always.”

“You’re very welcome,” Nanami said, responding with the same gesture.

“The croquettes you make are really different from store-bought ones. The inside is so creamy. It’s almost like a cream croquette, even though it’s potatoes,” I said.

“It’s probably because we mash out all the big pieces. Plus we use a ton of butter. Like, a ton of it.”

“You use that much?” I asked fearfully.

“Yeah, if you actually saw how much we used, you’d be shocked. I use the same amount my mom does because it just tastes so good, but if I stop and think about it, I start asking myself if this much butter for a single dish is really okay...”

Maybe it was similar to when people were surprised by the amount of sugar that was used in cookies and cake. I just never thought I would feel that way about butter, of all things.

But, I see, this was just how Nanami’s family liked to cook. My mom probably had her own special recipes for my family as well. Should I ask her about it sometime?

After eating, we would normally chat about everything and nothing, or we would talk aimlessly about possible weekend plans. Depending on the day, we might move to an empty classroom, or the other girls might whisk Nanami away, leaving me by myself.

Today, though, we had a very specific objective.

“What should we do for Christmas next week?” Nanami asked.

That’s right—we had to decide what to do about Christmas.

Christmas. It was a day for lovers, and one that I used to think had nothing to do with me. Though it was actually a religious holiday that had nothing to do with couples in the first place. And as a kid, I just thought it was a day I got presents.

How to spend Christmas, though—that was the question at hand. After all, this year’s was the first Christmas that Nanami and I would be spending together.

But given that we were still in high school there weren’t actually a lot of things we could do. Really expensive dinners and stuff were just not possible.

“Well, a date would be nice—either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,” Nanami murmured.

“I agree. And actually, what do other couples do? Can it be that they go out on both days...?”

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” Nanami remarked. “Since New Year’s is so close you’d get too tired. Wouldn’t you?”

Nanami was right: December included my birthday, Christmas, and then New Year’s soon after. So many special events really used up a lot of my stamina. I mean, I did okay with sports and things, but if there were too many social events my energy would be completely drained. I just wasn’t used to it, I guess.

My parents had end-of-the-year parties with their coworkers, so they would often end up being exhausted around this time of the year too. There might have even been a year when they got the flu because of it.

“How did you spend Christmas and stuff last year?” I asked.

“I’d usually have a fancy dinner at home with my family on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas Day, I’d go to the Christmas party with my classmates,” she explained.

A Christmas party with classmates... I had no idea that was a thing. It was so outside the realm of my social sphere that I never even took note of it.

The previous year, I spent time with my parents...and then participated in my online game’s Christmas event. Yeah, that was probably all I did.

But that had been pretty fun, actually. I’d worked together with Baron-san and everyone to defeat the special Christmas boss...

Come to think of it, there was a barrage of “Normies can go die in a ditch!” getting typed up in the chat. Though I guess I had gotten carried away and typed that too.

It didn’t seem likely that I would be able to participate in the Christmas campaign this year. Yikes, I couldn’t help wondering what my teammates were going to say to me about that. The thought did scare me a little, honestly.

Regardless, what Nanami and I had in common was that neither of us had ever spent Christmas with someone that we were going out with. Aside from that, the only difference was whether we went to the class Christmas party or not.

“Hey, Yoshin and Barato. Are you guys coming to the Christmas party? Actually, Yoshin, since we’re friends and all, you’d better come this year.”

Oh, an invitation to the Christmas party. What perfect timing.

Hitoshi was approaching, along with a few female classmates. His girlfriend isn’t one of them, right? Are they the ones organizing the party? Wait, didn’t Hitoshi just say something kind of weird?

“What do you mean, ‘this year’?” I asked. “Was there a Christmas party last year too?”

“Wow, dude, you forgot? I invited you last year, but you said no because you said there was a game campaign,” Hitoshi replied.

Wait, seriously? I don’t remember that at all. Isn’t he confusing me with someone else?

“Was that really my reason for saying no?” I pressed.

“Yeah, man. I was all friendly and stuff too, but you totally iced me out and just said that you were busy with your dang event!”

Plus it had been Hitoshi that I rejected. Yeah, I probably...no, definitely said no. Hitoshi wasn’t misremembering. He had a pretty good memory, after all.

Still, my Christmas plans with Nanami...

“What day is the party?” I finally asked.

“Probably Christmas Eve. Couples mostly have their dates on the 25th,” Hitoshi explained.

“Oh, okay. Is that just because the 24th would be too crowded everywhere if we actually try to go out?”

“Yeah, that too. Plus it’s the first day of winter break.”

I see. That makes sense, since here people tend to have their Christmas festivities on the 24th. Restaurants and things are probably gonna be crowded. And we get our presents on the night of the 24th too.

“What do you wanna do, Nanami? If we do the party, our date will be on the 25th,” I said.

“Fine with me. What about you? Won’t you get tired if you go out two days in a row?” Nanami asked.

Ever since I got sick Nanami seemed more protective of me. Or maybe just plain worried. But she was right that going out two days in a row seemed kind of tiring.

But on the other hand, next year we’d have our university entrance exams, and I wouldn’t be able to hang out with people like this at that point. So if I were to participate, now was the time. It wasn’t a thought I was used to having, but it made sense to me.

“I think I should try to experience a lot of different things,” I remarked.

“I see. Then yeah, if you’re okay with it, then I am too,” Nanami replied, making an okay sign with her hand. She then whispered, in a voice only loud enough for me to hear, “If you get sick again, I’ll just take care of you.”

But the thought of that only made me feel bad and pretty guilty, so I told myself that I would have to be extra careful about my health and try not to catch any more colds.

“In that case, Nanami and I will be there,” I replied to Hitoshi. “Where’s it gonna be?”

“All right, two more yeses,” Hitoshi murmured, jotting our names down, then said, “We’re gonna rent a party venue, so the more people we have, the cheaper it’ll be for everyone.”

With a fist in the air, Hitoshi declared he was aiming for thirty attendees in total, receiving a smattering of applause from the girls around him. Never thought I’d see Hitoshi get praised by this many girls. But a Christmas party in a rented venue, huh? Definitely a first for me.

“Is it just our class coming?” I asked.

“I was thinking of getting other classes in on it. Takumi for sure. I doubt everyone in our class can make it,” Hitoshi explained.

Takumi...as in Teshikaga-kun? Then Shirishizu-san is gonna be there too.

That narrow-eyed class rep... When I cornered her about teaching Nanami totally inappropriate stuff, all she had to say to me was, “But you liked it, didn’t you?”

And damn it, when she put it that way, all I could do was thank her.

I noticed the hungry look she gave Teshikaga-kun after we talked, so I had a good guess as to what might have happened to him later.

Wait, since when did Hitoshi start calling Teshikaga-kun by his first name? Was he already doing that when we went on the class trip? Incredible. I can’t bring myself to do something like that yet. Hitoshi’s so good at making friends. I could learn a thing or two from him—though I would never tell him that myself. Anyway, something like this might be a first for me since the school festival. Or maybe since the sports festival? I feel like the school festival is more similar, though.

“Once we figure out how many people are actually going and get a better sense of things I’ll let you know,” Hitoshi said. “Oh, and there’s also a gift exchange, so keep that in mind, okay?”

“Got it. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help,” I replied.

“Thanks. Maybe on the day of, you guys can help decorate and pick up some stuff. You can make a date of it if you want,” he said.

“Ooh, I love doing prep work like that,” Nanami replied, giving Hitoshi a thumbs-up. The other girls returned the gesture, and I joined in without even thinking.

Since Nanami liked doing prep, joining in on it seemed like a good idea. She was always great about stuff like this. I guess she was really, truly into it—that is, organizing festivals and other events.

Our Christmas plans now seemed pretty set. All we had left to do was think about our date on the 25th. Oh, and the present too...

This sounded weird, but a part of me wished New Year’s came before Christmas. If it did I could’ve gotten New Year’s money first, and then used it to buy Christmas presents.

Oh, well, it can’t be helped. Should I ask for more hours at the restaurant instead? No, wait. What’s even going on with my job anyway?

I was technically continuing with my part-time job, but given the class trip, I hadn’t put in any hours recently. And I had just been sick too. I had gone in just a few times, partially to give everyone the souvenirs I had picked up in Hawaii. But after that I hadn’t been in to work much at all. I really should work during winter break. I needed to start saving money so that I could move out. And I had a bunch of things I wanted to ask Yu-senpai.

“I need to work more,” I muttered.

“It’d be nice to spend Christmas together, but...are you planning to work during the day?” Nanami asked.

“Not sure, honestly. I’ll talk to the owner about it. After New Year’s, though, I feel like I should pick up more...”

Wait, speaking of New Year’s...

“Do you usually go anywhere for New Year’s?” I asked, turning toward Nanami.

It wasn’t even Christmas, but my mind was already on New Year’s. Did Nanami usually go to visit her mom or dad’s side of the family for the holidays?

We had spent the entirety of summer break together, so that had never come up, but that was a very real possibility.

The thing was that my family did that kind of thing; every New Year’s we went to visit my maternal grandparents. So I thought Nanami might be in the same situation.

“Oh, yeah. About that,” Nanami began, her brows furrowed as though something was bothering her. It wasn’t a happy expression. The topic seemed to bring up complex emotions, to say the least. She crossed her arms around her waist and began swaying from side to side, clear distaste creeping onto her face. “Actually, we’re visiting my mom’s family for New Year’s.”

“Oh, you too, huh?” I replied.

“Wait, you mean...your family too?”

“Yeah, we’re visiting my mom’s side of the family too.”

So we’d both be away for these trips. The realization had both of our shoulders slumping in disappointment.

It looked like this winter break was one where we’d be apart for longer than we ever had been before.

♢♢♢

Although Nanami and I found out that we’d have to be separated for a little while, we couldn’t stay low-spirited forever.

I was going to my grandparents’ house for three or four days, but it seemed Nanami was going to be gone for about a week—around five or six days, she’d said. She’d be away longer than me and I could already sense the loneliness that difference would make me feel.

“When you and your partner were apart from each other...what did you do?” I asked.

“Huh? What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Baron-san returned.

“Are the two of you planning to be away from each other for a while?” Peach-san inquired.

“So, actually,” I began.

I was home playing my game, talking through questions with Baron-san and Peach-san for the first time in what felt like a long while. When you don’t know something, ask. This practice, I felt, was very important. But the question I had just said wasn’t the one I actually wanted to ask.

“And exactly how long are we talking here?” Baron-san asked.

“About a week,” I said.

“That’s super short!” Peach-san exclaimed.

Oh, no, Peach-san... To us, a week is the very opposite of super short. Even during summer break, we didn’t go a full week without seeing each other.

But when I said as much I swore I could almost hear them shaking their heads. In fact, they both asked, “Don’t you two ever get sick of each other?”

My first thought was that we were okay so far...but I also realized that, in fact, we really were together all the time.

I’m okay, but...is Nanami okay?

“Canyon-kun, maybe you’re trying to make up for all the times you spent by yourself,” Baron-san remarked.

“Oh, I get that,” Peach-san chimed in. “Ever since I met my new friend, I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, like I’m trying to get back all the moments I was by myself.”

“So this is a pretty common feeling, huh?” I muttered.

“Yeah, well...for now, I don’t think there’s a problem with it. But just keep in mind that your partner needs privacy and her alone time too, so be sure you talk through stuff like that together,” Baron-san expressed.

He then added, in a rather worn-out voice—as if being reminded of some unpleasant memory—that he once had a terrible experience because of this very issue. I didn’t know the details, but apparently, something happened.

“Plus, with today’s phones, you can see each other so easily,” he continued. “In my day, the best you could do was call each other. And you couldn’t even see each other’s faces.”

Ah, he totally has a point. Unless we go somewhere with no signal, we can at least stay in touch. It’ll be just like when we go places where we can’t talk on the phone until we fall asleep.

“Just be careful, okay? When you talk after being apart, there’s a chance of getting a little carried away, if you know what I mean,” Baron-san warned.

“That’s true. You really do end up doing strange things when you’re on your phone, because it somehow doesn’t feel like it has any real-life consequences,” Peach-san added. “Sometimes I pick up calls when I’m only in my underwear—”

“Peach-san?!”

The chat box on the screen suddenly became filled with messages from the other party members. They were mostly scolding Peach-san about what she thought she was doing, or telling her that they were worried about her.

I couldn’t help but join in expressing my shock.

Apparently what she meant, though, was that sometimes when she chatted with her female friend on the phone, she would pick up the call in her underwear because it was too much of a bother to get fully dressed. In other words, nothing truly concerning was happening. Thank goodness; I felt relieved.

This, though, wasn’t really what I wanted to get their advice on.

“So, I’ve been thinking of moving out and living on my own, but my parents are against it,” I shared. “I was hoping to hear what other adults might think about this.”

“Ah...moving out, huh?” Baron-san said with a sigh. “Yeah, at your age, the idea seems really appealing, doesn’t it?” He then fell silent, inhaled...and slowly exhaled. I heard him groan, as though suddenly agonizing over something. When he finished...

“Honestly, if you can, it’s so much easier to live at home,” he declared.

“Well, when you put it that way,” I muttered.

I mean, of course. Obviously living at home is more convenient. I do know that, but...you know. Stuff.

“What makes you say that?” I asked. “Just curious.”

“Gosh, just...everything, I guess,” came his response.

Then, as though speaking from the very depths of his soul, Baron-san listed all the things that he believed were easier when still living at home. From cooking and doing the laundry, to cleaning and general household management...

He finished by saying he only realized all this after he started living alone, after coming home one day and realizing just how nice it would be to have someone else take care of those tasks, instead of having to do it all himself.

“So, yeah. As an adult, I can totally understand why your parents are against the idea. If living by yourself is only going to cost you more time and money, you should spend as much time as possible saving up at home instead,” he concluded.

“You think so?” I asked, still unsure. “I mean, I’m turning eighteen next year. I’ll be an adult and everything...”

“Is that what’s worrying you? That stuff is arbitrary and depends on where you live, and even then it changes depending on how the adults around you feel,” Baron-san replied.

“Really...?” I let out.

I supposed other countries had different ages for when they considered someone an adult. Same for the legal drinking age. Thinking about it that way, my sudden obsession over age seemed to miss the point entirely.

Baron-san then told me that I didn’t need to force myself to become an adult, but instead start thinking like one. But what did that mean, exactly?

He just told me to keep the thought in the back of my mind. I guess it really wasn’t easy being an adult.

“To be honest, I was much like you. I wanted to move out as soon as I possibly could. Plus it was for a totally inappropriate reason,” Baron-san confessed. “But I’m glad I didn’t.”

“Really? Why is that?” I asked.

“Oh, simple: because if you move out while you’re still a high schooler, your place gets turned into the hangout for all the bad apples around you. High school is the worst time for stuff like that. Honestly, if you really want to live by yourself, you should absolutely wait until you’re in college,” he explained.

I didn’t even think about that. But then, wouldn’t the same thing happen in college too? Then again, by college age there were way more people who had moved out, making it less likely for any one person’s place to be a designated hangout spot.

Living by yourself in high school, on the other hand, was rare—which meant that people would always want to be at your house. They might even complain if you refused.

In other words, there weren’t many upsides to the situation. Baron-san’s insight made it all the more unfeasible.

I guess if I’m gonna live on my own, it’ll have to be in college.

“But it’s not a bad thing to want to live on your own. How about you try practicing for it while you’re still living at home?” Baron-san suggested.

“Practice?” I repeated, uncertainly.

“Yup. You start by helping your mom with the housework, doing the laundry, and vacuuming and stuff. You know, things you don’t usually do.”

He has a good point.

I had to learn how to maintain a household first. It was like any other game: Start where you can. I should start by doing chores and things, a little bit at a time. Then, my parents might give me permission to live on my own sooner rather than later.

I finally felt like I could see what my next steps would be.

“You mentioned earlier that you wanted to live by yourself as soon as possible too,” I said, suddenly remembering. “Why was that?”

Hmm? Why isn’t he saying anything?

Baron-san’s lack of reply seemed to be confusing everyone, in fact. Is he still on the line? Uh, yeah, looks like it.

For several moments, we didn’t even hear him breathe. Eventually he spoke, though with such little inflection he sounded like a robot. It sounds almost like some computer software. Is this really Baron-san?

“Because...I wanted to make out with my girlfriend at my own place.”

Wait, that’s the exact same reason I have.

If that were the case, I could probably come to Baron-san again the next time I ran into problems about moving out.

On the other end of the line, amid the relentless teasing of everyone in the party, Baron-san continued to make excuses for his younger self.

♢♢♢

When you think of Christmas, what immediately comes to mind?

Santa Claus, Christmas tree, maybe even KFC. Or perhaps people first think of presents, or maybe their girlfriends or partners.

For me, the first thought that comes to mind is Santa Claus.

Though maybe it was less Santa Claus and more the Santa Claus outfit...or other things associated with the character.

“How do I look, Yoshin?”

Right now, Nanami was standing before me in a Santa costume.

To be more precise, this was not so much a traditional Santa Claus as...a Santa gyaru? A gyaru Santa? No, wait, was this even a Santa outfit in the first place? I felt like I’d only ever seen something like this in games.

I hesitated to say this, but the real-life version of the kind of limited-time Santa outfits I had only ever seen in games was quite easily about to overthrow whatever image of Santa costumes I had before.

To be blunt, it was super revealing. It was cute. And I mean, super cute. And it offered so little protection against the elements that I was pretty sure it was not an outfit fit to be worn in the middle of winter.

On top, wrapped around her chest, Nanami had on something similar to a tube top bra. And of course, it was the perfect choice in highlighting Nanami’s large and shapely chest while also showing off the cleavage that seemed ready to swallow me whole.

Except that top alone was apparently not enough to keep Nanami warm, as she also had on what seemed like a cape of some sort. That only covered her shoulders, though, with her chest receiving no additional coverage.

Nanami’s midriff was completely exposed, her beautiful navel revealed for all the world to see. Honestly, even I was creeped out by how much time I spent considering Nanami’s costume.

But I just couldn’t stop myself.

The other half of her costume was a miniskirt, one that was so short that it most definitely wasn’t enough to keep her underwear covered. Apparently she was wearing the kind of underwear that was meant for people to see, but that couldn’t possibly be the issue here.

She also wore a small Santa hat as if to prove that this was, in fact, a Santa costume. To be honest, though, without the hat, there was no way I would have associated what she was currently wearing with Santa Claus at all.

Or could I tell by the colors? The costume was all red and white with the various accents and pom-poms also white. The belt might have been the only thing that was black.

Excessively cheery in her new costume, Nanami twirled around in front of the mirror, occasionally spreading her arms wide and examining her look from top to bottom.

Overall the outfit created a very cute silhouette. And everything about its design was adorable too. As a whole, the look was the perfect balance between sexy and charming.

It certainly was a sight for sore eyes, but...

“Y-You look great, but...you look super cold too,” I answered.

“Yeah, I’m actually kind of freezing. Can you warm me up?” Nanami requested, uncrossing her arms from around her middle. She then walked toward me, her arms open and her hands held out while she tilted her head in her usual adorable way. She moved as though sliding over to me and fell into my chest, everything about her movements appearing rather calculated. She probably knew it too.

Meanwhile, here I was, a part of me hoping that I would get to hug her—at least until I felt a chill against my skin.

Whoa, she is super cold! Wait, isn’t the heater on?!

I held Nanami, trying to warm her nearly frozen body. While I stood there thinking that this was less a hug and more me trying to protect her against the cold, I began to feel Nanami pushing me, until...

“How are you so strong?!” I exclaimed. “Wait, Nanami, the bed is right behind me—I’m gonna fall!”

“Hmmm...so warm... It’s so warm that I can’t hear anything,” Nanami murmured in response.

You so can hear me, I thought, though even then Nanami didn’t cease her attack. We went from embrace to cold protection to practically sumo wrestling.

I would never call her “Nanami the Sumo Wrestler” to her face because it would genuinely upset her, but I was impressed that she was able to force me to retreat. Even as I used all my strength to push back I still couldn’t stop her.

She forced me to the edge of the ring...I mean the bed, and although I tried to stand my ground, my awkward posture didn’t do me any favors. Had I been standing upright, I may have had a chance; I had already lost my balance by the time I realized it, though, so there was no chance I could keep my feet planted on the floor.

And just like that, my efforts went to nought; I fell backward onto the bed.

“I win!” Nanami shouted, giggling as she made a peace sign with her hand. I pulled my legs up on the bed to ease the strain on my body, and as I adjusted myself Nanami moved to straddle me.

Looking up at her like this really brought home the awe-inspiring nature of her outfit.

“How about you wear something else for the class party,” I suggested.

“What?” Nanami let out. “Is it too revealing?”

“That, and we have to shop that day too, so you should probably wear something a bit warmer.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s true. In that case, I’ll save this for when we’re alone on Christmas.”

While still on top, Nanami removed the cape from her shoulders. Wait, wait! Why are you undressing now?! I shouted in my head. Nanami was about to remove her top too...when she suddenly paused.

“Whoops, my bad. I shouldn’t do that, should I?” she said.

“Jeez, you seriously scared me,” I muttered.

“Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking. I was about to let the girls out,” Nanami said, scratching her head out of embarrassment. Still, given that she was only wearing a tube top, the outlines of her shoulders and the sides of her chest were completely visible. The lines of her side boobs really got me, and though I didn’t think I was into that, now I felt like a door had opened up that I never even knew was there before.

With both her hands braced on my stomach, Nanami mumbled on about which outfit she should wear instead.

Today, we hosted a two-person fashion show to decide what Nanami was gonna wear...as in, what Santa outfit to wear to the upcoming Christmas party.

The costumes were all supplied to us by Yu-senpai, who let us borrow multiple outfits when I came into work the other day and mentioned the party to her.

Yu-senpai seemed to be looking forward to Christmas as well; she was planning a party with her army of gyaru friends. I had no idea what an army of gyaru was like, but I decided not to ask.

As a sidenote, when I shared this with Hitoshi, he had said, “Dude, invite them! What could be better than Christmas with an army of gyaru girls?!”

I mean, is it even okay to invite university students to a high school get-together? I didn’t invite them because I didn’t even think of it, but maybe I’ll mention it to Yu-senpai the next time I see her at work.

Getting back to the original topic, the whole Santa outfit thing was something that the girls in the class were doing among themselves. They had told all the guys that they were going to wear cute outfits to show off and ordered us to do our very best in praising them.

The guys, though, were only going to wear Santa costumes if they felt like it. After all, there was really only one type of Santa outfit designed for guys. Guys didn’t have nearly as many options as girls did. The most we could hope for was a gag outfit of some sort.

“Which one do you like, Yoshin?” Nanami asked. “Must be the sexy one, right?”

“Well, if I had to be honest, my favorite one is the one you’re wearing now. It’s the sexiest and cutest of them all,” I confessed.

“I bet. The character you like from your game was wearing something like this too. Though she was wearing a thong and had her butt hanging out,” Nanami quipped.

Shoot, Nanami knows everything. I mean, it is true that I like that outfit, but still.

Nanami seemed to have chosen this particular outfit with that knowledge in mind. Yu-senpai had lent us three different Santa outfits, though, so we still had two more to go. The other two were more tame; overall they were less revealing, with Nanami’s midriff covered in both. Though the skirt on one of the outfits was still short.

“Man, I really should’ve borrowed the Santa bikini too,” Nanami murmured.

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a Santa-style bikini, and it’s really sexy. I didn’t bring it because I knew I couldn’t wear it this time, but—”

“No, that’s not what I was asking,” I said.

I definitely wanted to see it, but it was also most certainly not the kind of thing she could wear to a class Christmas party. It might be a bit much even with just us two, since what Nanami was wearing was already cutting it pretty close.

“Of the two left for me to try, one has pants and the other has a skirt. Maybe I should try the one with the skirt? It’s so cute. I might be colder in it than the one with the pants, but it should be warmer than what I have on now,” Nanami said, hopping off of me and picking up the two remaining outfits to compare them. I personally wanted her to choose the pants outfit, but if Nanami wanted the one with the skirt, then I should keep my mouth shut. The skirt one wasn’t as revealing as the one she had on now, though, so it should probably be okay.

“Are all the other girls wearing Santa outfits too?” I thought to ask.

“It was just for the girls who wanted to, but everyone ended up getting super into the idea,” Nanami explained, “especially Ayumi and Kotoha-chan.”

“Oh...oh? Those two? I’m starting to get kind of worried.”

“Ayumi said she’d do it as a present for the guys,” Nanami said. “And Kotoha-chan said something about a battle with Teshikaga-kun?”

What are those two doing? I just hope it’s not something illegal.

Nanami must have felt chilly after having moved away from me, because as she changed she put the Santa pants on under her current outfit. Pants under a skirt... It looked a little weird, but seeing Nanami put on pants did something to my gut anyway. “So, uh, what do you think we should bring for the gift exchange?” I asked, switching topics in an attempt to hide how I was watching Nanami change—and that I was feeling questionably excited because of it.

“Oh, right, the present. Yeah, I wonder,” Nanami began.

Nanami was teaching me the ins and outs of attending a class Christmas party. One of the things I was learning was about the gift exchange.

Given that we had just gotten back from an overseas class trip, apparently we weren’t supposed to buy anything too expensive. We were also going to pitch in on buying snacks and drinks, so that expenses wouldn’t be too huge for anyone overall. The more people came, the cheaper renting the venue would be too. And if anyone was able to bring food, then they were welcome to do so. According to Hitoshi, this was to be a Christmas party that was full of heart, even if its finances were noticeably more constrained.

“Snacks are probably safest. Like, expensive cookies and stuff,” Nanami remarked.

“I see. And I should probably keep in mind that there’s a chance my gift might not end up with you,” I added.

The gift exchange was going to be completely random. Someone had mentioned that it would be done via bingo, and that Hitoshi would be running the whole thing.

That was fine, of course. The problem was...

“Christmas present, huh...?”

I was trying to come up with good ideas for Nanami’s Christmas present. We had bought matching rings on our class trip, and then we’d spent my birthday together, where she made cake for us and even gave me a separate birthday present. And now, it was Christmas.

I couldn’t figure out what to give her. More specifically, I couldn’t figure out what kind of a gift would make her happy. I mean, I knew she would be happy no matter what I gave her, but that just made it even more important that I give her something that I’d put a lot of thought into. It was our first Christmas together, after all—I wanted to give her something special.

What was I saying? I was just a high school student. But still, I wanted to get her something that would make her think I had good taste.

“Yoshin, are you having a tough time figuring out what to give me?” Nanami asked.

“Huh?!”

Nanami must have read my mind again, because the moment she finished putting her pants on she leaped back on top of me. Her leap was maybe a little too strong, though; she knocked the wind out of me. I hadn’t thought that she would come back, so I had let my guard down completely.

“I’m still thinking too. You know, ’cause I just got you a birthday present, so I’m not sure what to get you for Christmas,” Nanami confessed. “What do your parents usually give you?”

“Hmmm, lately they’ve been giving me digital cash for in-game currency,” I said.

“How practical,” Nanami muttered.

In the past my parents used to buy me a lot of game-related gifts. More recently they’d taken to gifting me digital currency that I could spend in games. Though at the end of the day, I guess the gifts were still all game-related.

“But they got me some really nice shoes for my birthday this year. Were they trying to match what you got me?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. I should’ve told you sooner, but your parents and I coordinated what to give you this year,” she shared.

It was true; Nanami had pulled her “I’m your present” trick for my birthday, but she also gave me her actual present later on: a really stylish set of gloves, scarf, hat, and even socks. My parents, meanwhile, had given me a really nice pair of winter shoes.

To be honest, I had never worn scarves or hats before in my life. Come winter, I always wore a coat, but that was pretty much it.

“Thank you again. You got me so many nice things, but I had no idea you even planned it with my parents,” I told her. I had a feeling that maybe they had gifted me things according to a theme, but I was glad that I now knew for certain.

“I actually wanted to knit a scarf for you myself, but it was too hard for me. And with the class trip and everything, I just didn’t have enough time,” Nanami mumbled.

“You can knit scarves?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, my mom does that for my dad. And my dad knits stuff for my mom too.”

I thought that stuff only happened in fiction. I did not expect Nanami’s parents to gift hand-knitted items to each other.

“Could I do something like that?” I muttered.

“I think as long as you work at it you totally could. Apparently my dad wasn’t that good at first either,” Nanami revealed.

It was so amazing that Genichiro-san was both muscular and crafty. Yeah, I also worked out, but I had zero confidence that I would be able to knit anything at all. But now I wanted Nanami to wear something I had made myself. Maybe this was how Genichiro-san felt about Nanami’s mom?

“Next year I’ll try knitting something for you. Maybe,” I declared.

“In that case, next year I want to knit a scarf for you too,” Nanami joined in.

We knew we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves, but we couldn’t help talking about everything we could get up to next year. At the very least, neither one of us doubted that we would still be together like this next year as well. So maybe it was okay for us to get ahead of ourselves, just a little bit—it’s not as if there was anything wrong with a little bit of prep.

“Then how about we do a scarf exchange next year? I’ll teach you,” Nanami suggested.

It seemed another opportunity had arrived for Nanami to play teacher. Was this the first nonacademic subject that Nanami-sensei was going to teach me?

We had completely skipped over this year’s presents and decided on next year’s instead. Nanami seemed excited about the idea, though, so regardless it was probably best I started preparing soon.

In all seriousness, though...what should I do about my first Christmas present for Nanami?

♢♢♢

Before us spread a world of white. Snow, which was the quintessential feature of winter, had washed everything in the color of purity, transforming our everyday scenery into something more special. Fortunately it wasn’t snowing today, though, and the sky was blue with very few clouds. Maybe because the winter air was always so chilly, but the almost-clear blue sky made the air feel more taut than usual—tense like a string pulled to its limits. When a chilly breeze grazed past my skin, it felt like something had dug its claw in and tried to tug me with it. Winter chill was its own distinct thing, different from even the fall cold that had preceded it.

“Cold, Nanami?” I asked.

“Yup. Could I stick close to you?” she returned.

I was not expecting that response. I assumed most people would answer that no, they weren’t cold, so I couldn’t help widening my eyes in surprise at Nanami’s reply. Since I very well couldn’t refuse, though, I offered Nanami my arm without a word and watched as she took it. We were both wearing winter coats, so it shouldn’t have been that cold, but sticking to each other meant that our body temperature was sure to go up.

“You two flirt day and night, all year long, 24-7,” Hitoshi said, thoroughly exasperated.

“I don’t think we’re really flirting, but since it’s cold right now, I think we’re okay,” I replied.

“You should at least take New Year’s and summers off, dude. Doesn’t it tire you out to work so hard?” he suggested.

“Can you please not talk about my relationship like it’s a job?”

Hitoshi shrugged, though, and said that if it were work, then we could get paid for it—and why not start a couple’s channel online, then?

That seemed rather unlikely. Nanami also seemed to dislike the idea, shaking her head vigorously. Yeah, thought so...

We hadn’t yet reached the point of wanting to tell the whole internet that we were together. I was impressed by the people who could do it, but I didn’t have the courage to publicize ourselves to the whole world that way. Though a lot of my reluctance was due to my wanting to keep Nanami to myself.

Right now Nanami and I, as well as several classmates of ours, were walking around town together. It was our usual group, plus a few additional people. This kind of group outing was a rare thing for me; the last time was probably when we had gone on our class trip.

We were out together because we wanted to divvy up and buy the various items we needed for our Christmas party.

And the destination for our shopping excursion...was a park.

It wasn’t just any old park, though; it was one that organized a limited-time Christmas market every holiday season.

Nanami and I often went to this park when we went on dates, but...

“Even though I’ve been here so many times, it doesn’t even look like we’re in Japan right now,” I muttered. Around me were buildings I had never seen in my life. I didn’t think I had ever been around scenery like this before.

“I didn’t know they did something like this either,” Nanami confessed.

“Really? Odd that even you didn’t know about this,” I commented. “I assumed you came here when you were a kid or something.”

“I’m not sure if they did this back then...”

Had the park started doing this only recently? It was lined with rows of buildings that seemed straight from another country—wooden structures with walls made from logs. But maybe they weren’t actually wood and were instead prefabricated ones. Each triangular roof had string lights hanging across them. Perhaps they turned on once the sun went down.

All the decorations seemed to be in Christmas colors as well, with a mix of brown, white, and green. There were also stores lined up next to each other, all selling unfamiliar foods and holiday decorations. Only red seemed to be missing from the mix, but maybe that was made up for by all the Santa hats and other Santa-themed items that the vendors in each building were wearing.

Seeing the shop attendants made the scene feel even more like we had been transported to a different country.

“Since it’s Christmas, is that why everything is sort of European style?” I said.

There were many non-Japanese people working the stands as well. But they were different from the people we had seen in Hawaii. Seeing all the different people of the world in one place was fascinating, and I was struck by how good-looking the non-Japanese people were.

“Let’s go this way, guys!” Hitoshi called.

“Right on,” I responded.

We followed Hitoshi and entered the park through an archway. On the arch were written the words “Munich Christmas Market.” So this really is a Christmas market.

“I wonder what country this is supposed to be,” I asked.

“It’s Munich, so maybe Germany?” Nanami offered.

Germany... Germany, huh? I guess they must have fancy markets like these over there. I’ve never even been to a market in Japan. It’s kind of funny that I’m coming to a foreign one first.

“Have you ever been to Germany before, Nanami?”

“Uh-uh. But I think my dad went there for work once,” she replied.

“I didn’t know Genichiro-san went to different countries for work. That’s really cool.”

“The chocolates he brought back for us as souvenirs were really tasty,” Nanami murmured.

Is Germany famous for its chocolate? I really know so little about other countries.

Deciding that it was best to scope out the market first, we went around looking at all the stores for inspiration. The vendor stalls seemed to be concentrated in one part of the park, with stalls selling food items and decorations...ornaments, I guess they were called. Other booths were offering drawings for prizes.

Aside from the vendors, the park was filled with holiday decorations made out of Christmas lights. It was still light out, though, so none of the lights were turned on. I was sure that they looked amazing at night.

“Wow, they’ve got a lot of different foods here. Should we get something to eat?” Hitoshi suggested, looking like he was already ready to jump in line to buy something.

“But we’re going to a party after this,” Otofuke-san said, mildly exasperated. Hitoshi was right, though: There sure were a lot of tasty-looking foods here.

As I observed the various things on sale I noticed a lot of different kinds of sausages. I guess I did kind of associate Germany with sausages. They also had bread-based items like hot dogs, as well as what appeared to be roast beef. All in all, there was a lot of meat for sale. Maybe fish was a rare thing to sell in this kind of setting?

Other than that, there were drinks and snacks, including very colorful almonds I’d never seen before. Seeing as how it was a non-Japanese person selling them, maybe they were from overseas.

“Oh, they have mulled wine. Man, I want some,” Hitoshi murmured.

“Dude, we’re underage, though,” I said.

“Huh? Wouldn’t all the alcohol be burned off?”

“I don’t think so. It’s still wine, isn’t it?”

“But it’s hot.”

I mean, yeah, but... I wonder, actually. I still don’t think it’s a good idea to drink it, though. It’s wine, after all.

I could understand, however, how inviting alcoholic drinks would look in a place like this. Mulled wine seemed especially chic and suitable for the occasion.

I had initially thought that mulled wine was just wine that was heated up, but it seemed to contain various spices as well. I didn’t feel as strongly as Hitoshi did about drinking it, but I did at least find it somewhat appealing.

Even the container that the wine came in looked cool; it was a ceramic mug in the shape of a tall boot. If minors could drink it, then I might actually want to...

Ah, nah. Their sign says no underage customers allowed. Darn.

One day, when Nanami and I were adults, maybe we could buy mulled wine at a place like this and enjoy it together. As the thought crossed my mind, though, I recalled what happened the last time Nanami had eaten whiskey bonbons.

Maybe we should try drinking wine somewhere safe first, like at our own house. And then we can try having some while we’re out. We’ll have to practice drinking alcohol too.

Apparently, at eighteen, we were still too young to drink alcohol, so we still had a few more years to go. Well, I guess that’s just one more thing we get to look forward to.

“Should we try to sneak in a cup?” Hitoshi whispered.

“Sneak it at your own house, man. What are we gonna do if we run into a teacher or something? And don’t you dare post it to social media,” I pressed.

“You’re right, I’ll give up,” Hitoshi said, dropping the topic begrud...or, rather quickly. Maybe he actually did tend to sneak small sips of alcohol when he was at home. I had never done that before, but I had heard about high school students who did. At least if they were doing that secretly then no one could say anything about it. If they weren’t bothering others with their actions then I felt no need to call them out on it.

If we all stayed together in a group like this, though, there was a very real possibility of us starting to snack on things. We decided, therefore, that it was better for us to focus on picking up what we needed to buy and then head straight to the party venue.

“What should we do? We were talking about getting...ornaments, was it? What’s our budget again?” I asked.

“Well, let’s see. How about we just split up and buy things that catch our eye? Say, a thousand yen per person?” Hitoshi suggested.

He was right to point out that we should split up and shop for efficiency’s sake, given that there were more stores—and ornaments—than we were expecting. It seemed more likely that cheap ornaments would be easy to come by here.

“Wait, what are we gonna do with the ornaments after the party?” I thought suddenly.

“Maybe folks who want them can take them home, or we could use them as prizes for games and things,” Hitoshi suggested.

Hm, true. I wouldn’t want any Christmas items for myself, but maybe other people who like that kind of cute stuff would? Just now Nanami is saying how cute all the stuff around us is. If Nanami wants something, maybe I can do my best to get one for her.

Having thus decided on a game plan, our group split up to explore in different directions. Hitoshi...seemed to be going around the shops with the girls from our class. Otofuke-san was going with Kamoenai-san, while Shirishizu-san was paired up with Teshikaga-kun.

I, of course, was going to walk around with Nanami.

“Well, then,” I said, turning to her. “Shall we look around?”

“Yeah!” Nanami replied enthusiastically.

We linked arms and walked into the vendor area of the Christmas market. As far as the eye could see, the park was stuffed with stores, creating a vibe totally different from what this place was usually like.

As we looked around window shopping, we saw that the number of stores was matched only by the variety of items on sale—from Christmas ornaments to hang on trees to snow globes one could set down and enjoy. The prices ran a gamut too; there were snow globes that were just a few hundred yen to super expensive fancy ones.

“These snow globes are cute, huh?” Nanami remarked.

“Yeah, they are. Do you want to go with this?” I asked.

“Well, I guess they won’t really stand out at the party...”

She was right about that. If we were to buy something, maybe it was better to choose a tree ornament. There seemed to be a ton of different kinds, with funny ones shaped like people and more cute options in the shape of stars and such.

Maybe we could buy a few different ones and hang them...

“Oh, it is onii-chan and onee-chan!”

As Nanami and I were picking up different ornaments and studying them more closely, we suddenly heard someone call out behind us. The voice sounded like one we’d heard before, yet at the same time unfamiliar.

We turned around and saw a little girl standing there.

She seemed too young to even be in elementary school, wearing a fluffy white coat that made her look like a snow fairy. The coat had a hood with a fur trim, with pom-poms hanging from the ends of it. And, as if to match the adornments, her hair was tied in long pigtails that swayed down out of her hood.

The girl looked at me and Nanami with a happy smile and sparkling eyes. Nanami and I looked at each other and then back at her; we recognized her as well. Her name, I was fairly certain, was...

“Yuki-...chan?” I managed to recall, despite the fact that I was well-known for having a terrible memory. I actually managed to remember her name pretty quickly. After all, this was the girl we had met when Nanami and I went to the aquarium on our first date.

Obviously, unlike the last time we met, the girl was now wearing very warm-looking clothes. She really did look like a snow fairy.

We didn’t see anyone who looked like her mother around her, so for a moment we thought that maybe she had gotten lost again; given that she was all smiles, though, it was probably safe to assume that wasn’t the case now. If she were lost, then it would be the aquarium all over again. On that day, Nanami and I looked for Yuki-chan’s parents, and in the end spoke with them for some time.

I then remembered that back then Nanami and Yuki-chan had taken a photo together, and that the other girls in the class had seen the photo at a later date and asked, “Is this your daughter?!”

Wow, I’m impressed that I even remembered that.

Yuki-chan waved her little hands as she adorably trotted over to us. I knelt down, worried that she might fall over, but Yuki-chan seemed to take that as a signal...to leap into my arms.

“Whee!” she shouted as she did so.

“Whoa! Are you okay?!” I shouted.

Yuki-chan moved so quickly, as though she had intended all along to jump on me. What the, how do kids move so fast? I feel like she walks faster than I do.

She came at me as fast as a line drive, possibly even a charging boar. I somehow managed, though, to catch her despite her aggressive speed. I worried that she might get hurt if I put too much force in my arms, so I tried to dampen the impact of my catching her while also doing my best not to let her fall.

Once I managed to safely receive Yuki-chan in my arms, I stood quickly, in the exact way I might’ve done if I had planned to gently lift her into the air.

“Aha ha ha ha! I’m flying! Higher, higher!” she shouted with glee.

I had only stood up to absorb some of Yuki-chan’s momentum and had ended up lifting her high in the air unintentionally—but that seemed actually to delight her.

After getting the thrill out of her system, though, Yuki-chan, while still in my arms, raised her hand and exclaimed, “Hello!”

“Uh, yes. Hello,” I replied.

“Hello, Yuki-chan!” Nanami joined in.

Yuki-chan’s excitement was pure and genuine in the way only a child’s could be, and experiencing it was giving me warm and fuzzy feelings inside. Maybe I felt so strongly now because the first time we had met she had been the complete opposite, distraught and in tears? Regardless, her expression today was astounding.

Judging from her response, she must not be lost today, so there was no need to worry about that. I guess we wouldn’t need to look for her mother this time.

“Onii-chan, onee-chan, I haven’t seen you in a long time! It’s me, Yuki!” she exclaimed.

“Yuki-chan, I’m so glad you remembered us,” Nanami replied.

Yuki-chan opened up her palms in front of her face and shouted again in glee. She then squeezed me tight in a hug, but then immediately reached for Nanami as if embarrassed by her impulsiveness. Her gestures were a clear request for Nanami to hug her, and on Nanami’s part, she seemed all for it, immediately taking Yuki-chan into her arms. The two celebrated their reunion by putting their cheeks together and shouting giddily. Nanami seemed overcome with joy at being able to see Yuki-chan again after all these months.

“Yuki-chan, are you here for some Christmas shopping?” Nanami asked.

“Yeah, I’m here with my mommy! Mommy was shopping, and then I saw onii-chan, so I ran here!”

Huh? She ran here? Isn’t that dangerous?

She didn’t get separated from her mother; rather, she saw me and came toward us intentionally. But didn’t that mean...

“Did you come here without telling your mother?” I asked.

“I told her I’m going to see you!” she declared.

I could tell from her expression that she said that to reassure me. And while I thought she looked absolutely adorable...

Isn’t this bad? I feel like I’ve heard of situations like this before: a parent takes their eyes off of their kid for just a moment, the kid then says they’re going somewhere, but the parent doesn’t hear it... It’s bound to not end well.

“I see. And where is your mommy?” I asked.

“Over there!” Yuki-chan replied.

I did my best not to panic, instead remaining calm...but I very quickly asked Yuki-chan where her mother was. There was a possibility that Yuki-chan had forgotten her mother’s whereabouts, but she seemed at least to know that much.

In the direction Yuki-chan indicated, I saw a woman that resembled Yuki-chan’s mother completing a purchase at one of the stalls. As expected, a missing child situation seemed to be slowly brewing. Actually, Yuki-chan’s mother was much closer to us than I expected. She really was just a few feet away—though for a young child, it must have been quite an adventure to go even that far from her mother.

Nanami must have thought the same thing I did, because while still holding Yuki-chan she was gently scolding her not to run off by herself.

Yuki-chan seemed to be enjoying the situation, though, even as she apologized to Nanami. It was good that she could say that she was sorry, but for now, it seemed imperative that we make our way toward Yuki-chan’s mother before panic set in.

“And where is your daddy today?” I asked.

“Daddy’s at work! But since I’m an understanding woman, I told him to have a great day at the office!” Yuki-chan said, puffing out her chest proudly. Wait, where did you learn to describe yourself that way? Just who even taught you that?

From the moment we met I had thought Yuki-chan was quite precocious for her age. Maybe she was in that phase when she wanted to use grown-up phrases like those.

In any case, we should return Yuki-chan to her mother before anyone started to panic.

“Be careful because it’s hot, Yuki-chan...wait, Yuki?!” Yuki-chan’s mother exclaimed. “Where have you gone this time?!”

“Mommy!”

Thank goodness we were able to bring Yuki-chan back the moment her mother finished shopping and realized her daughter had disappeared.

Yuki-chan’s mother turned toward her daughter’s voice and sighed in relief as she spotted all three of us. I mean, anyone would be surprised if their child vanished out of nowhere.

“Oh, hello there!” Yuki-chan’s mother called out. “It’s been so long since we last saw each other. Thank you so much for your help back then.”

Maybe because she was holding drinks in both her hands, but Yuki-chan’s mother quickly bowed to us. Yuki-chan followed suit and bowed to us from within Nanami’s embrace.

“Yuki, didn’t I tell you not to go off like that by yourself? You’re causing trouble for onii-san and onee-san too,” Yuki-chan’s mother admonished.

“But I told you that I was gonna go see onii-chan!” Yuki-chan protested.

“And what was I doing when you said that? Was I looking at you when you were talking to me?”

“No... But you said it was okay.”

Oh, Yuki-chan was deflating with her mother’s scolding. I felt bad, but I also knew this was an important lesson Yuki-chan needed to learn.

Yuki-chan seemed to understand that she had done something she shouldn’t, though, so maybe it would be okay to help her out a bit.

“W-Well, Yuki-chan probably didn’t mean to do anything wrong,” I said to the mother, then turned to Yuki-chan and continued. “Yuki-chan, I’m glad you came to see us, but it would be sad if you got lost again, right?”

“Yes,” she muttered after a slight pause.

“Next time, it would make me so happy if you came to see me with your mommy, not just by yourself. That way, your mommy won’t have to worry,” I added.

“Okay. Mommy, I’m sorry. Onii-chan and onee-chan too, I’m sorry.”

Wow, she apologized instantly. She’s awesome. Yuki-chan crawled down from Nanami’s arms and bowed to us in apology, nearly folding her body in half.

Both Nanami and I praised Yuki-chan—a lot—for being able to say “I’m sorry.” We praised her so much that we both suspected this was how we might treat our own child one day too.

Though Yuki-chan had seemed pretty sad just a moment ago, when Nanami and I patted her on the head she instantly let out a gleeful cheer.

“I’m so sorry that we’re bothering you,” Yuki-chan’s mother said.

“Oh, no, we’re sorry too. But please don’t be too hard on her,” I replied.

And though I said that, I still thought this was an important lesson Yuki-chan needed to learn. I could totally understand how her mother was feeling.

That aside, though, seeing a small child being scolded made me want to spoil them a bit too. But on the other hand, whenever I saw a kid doing something bad but wasn’t being lectured, then it made me want to scold the kid myself. I didn’t actually encounter that situation too often, though.

In any case, even as Yuki-chan seemed to recognize what she had done wrong, she still gave us a big smile. Soon after we all decided to move ourselves somewhere where we could sit down comfortably with food and drink. Once they sat down Yuki-chan’s mother handed her a drink.

Yuki-chan looked so adorable as she blew on her hot drink to cool it down. Watching her I was overcome by the desire to buy her anything she wanted—I wanted to spoil her rotten.

Hmmm. Is this how I’ll be if I have a daughter? I didn’t think this way before, but now that I’m with Nanami, I can’t help feeling this way.

I glanced at Nanami and realized she was already looking at me. We were probably thinking the same thing. I mean, her cheeks were slightly red—and I knew mine were too. We each felt slightly embarrassed, and we quickly looked away from each other.

It was hard not to think about the possibility when there was such an adorable example right in front of us.

“Okay, Yuki. We don’t want to bother onii-chan and onee-chan on their date, so we should go now,” Yuki-chan’s mother said, gently taking Yuki-chan’s hand. She must have noticed the wordless exchange between me and Nanami. Yuki-chan looked back and forth between me and Nanami, her head tilted curiously.

“Are you on a date too?” she finally asked us.

“Yeah, we are too... Wait, ‘too’?” I returned.

“Christmas is the day that mommy and daddy go on a date, right? Are you gonna be mommy and daddy too?!” Yuki-chan exclaimed.

At the sudden question both my and Nanami’s minds were wiped blank. All sound disappeared from the world around us, as if time had stopped.

Wow, I guess hearing such an unexpected comment from the most unlikely child really does make our minds freeze. I feel like I can’t even breathe.

Yuki-chan’s mother, too, seemed dumbfounded, but Yuki-chan paid no mind to our mild panic, putting her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest.

Seeing little kids look so proud of themselves could be cute, but in that moment, it elicited nothing but fear in me.

“I’m an understanding woman! So I’m not gonna get in the way of your date!” Yuki-chan exclaimed.

“I see. Wow, you’re such a big girl, Yuki-chan,” Nanami said, crouching so as to be at eye level with Yuki-chan and stroking her hair gently. Yuki-chan looked even more delighted by the doting treatment.

“Yuki-chan, you said that earlier, but...where did you learn such a phrase?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Actually, my husband just said it one day to praise Yuki when she was being particularly agreeable. She seems to have taken a liking to it,” the mother explained.

Ah, it must be that kid thing when they become attached to phrases they like. Even if you tell them not to say it, they will—and like it the more they say it. Well, it’s probably good that she’s so agreeable and understanding.

Probably.

“Also, um...”

Yuki-chan’s mother seemed hesitant, perhaps thinking of something she preferred not to say. It was probably good manners for me not to press her on it.

When I tried to tell her through gestures and glances that she needed to say no more, Yuki-chan’s mother seemed to understand; her expression seemed a bit troubled, but she was smiling a little too.

Except little kids paid no heed to the discretion of adults.

“I’m gonna be an onee-chan next year too! So I’m going to be a super good girl!” Yuki-chan announced, attaching herself to her mother and patting her mother’s stomach happily, as if to fully explain the situation to Nanami that way.

Time seemed to stop yet again, but Yuki-chan certainly didn’t. Very happily, as though wanting and eager to share some of her own happiness with us, she continued unerringly and without hesitation down the path of no return.

“When I said that I wanted a baby sister for Christmas, my daddy said to leave it to him!”

“Yuki?! Let’s put a zipper on it, shall we?!” Yuki-chan’s mother said in a panic, covering her daughter’s mouth—but it was too late. Yuki-chan had disclosed everything, and we had heard it all.

There was a moment of awkwardness, but Yuki-chan seemed not to understand what was happening, looking between us and her mother and tilting her head in wonder.

And then, she gave the final blow.

“When you make your baby too, come and show me, okay?!”

Poor timing somehow always brought together the worst combination of things. Just like catching a cold, misfortune and awkwardness always came at the worst possible moment.

Because just in that moment...our classmate walked over to join me and Nanami. Though, to be precise, I meant specifically Hitoshi.

“Wait, you guys have a kid now?” he uttered.

“Can it, dude,” I replied.

His question, though, got Yuki-chan excited all over again, and we struggled to explain the situation to undo the misunderstanding.

Yeah, people are definitely going to tease us about this at the Christmas party.

♢♢♢

“Well then, everyone—Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!”

Throughout our gorgeously decorated party venue, holiday cheers and clinking glasses could be heard, one after the other.

We weren’t drinking alcohol, of course, but all the soda bubbles floating around in our glasses made it seem like we each had a glass of champagne.

This isn’t gonna taste like alcohol if I drink it, is it? The thought crossed my mind as I took a sip of the drink, but then the fizziness and sweetness of the soda quickly spread throughout my mouth.

Yup, it’s just regular old cola.

“Cheers, Yoshin!”

“Cheers, Nanami.”

Nanami walked over to me with her glass raised, so I likewise raised my glass and touched it to hers. That distinct clink sounded between us.

I took another sip of my drink and, looking around, muttered, “Wow. Chaotic much?”

“Seriously,” Nanami let out, glancing in the same direction I was and looking a bit overwhelmed herself.

We were observing all the classmates who had assembled at the party today.

I thought I heard that girls specifically were invited to the party with the option of wearing a cute Santa outfit. In reality, though, the party looked like a huge Santa meeting, with everyone wearing all kinds of different clothes. Even the guys were dressed like Santa Claus.

“It looks like we’re in Finland,” I muttered.

“Is this what Finland looks like?” Nanami wondered aloud.

I had heard on some trivia show that Finland was where Santa Claus was from, but who knows really.

The girls were wearing Santa outfits with skirts, pants, frills, general sexiness... It was just a parade of cute Santa costumes. They weren’t just red, but also included black versions as well as green ones that looked like just Christmas trees.

The guys, on the other hand, all wore pants for their costumes. Plus, they all had fake beards on, though they seemed to take them off when they were eating.

“What do you think? Do I look cute?” Nanami asked.

“Yeah, absolutely. You look great,” I replied.

Nanami stood next to me in her own Santa outfit. Of the three that she tried on the previous day, this one was the one that probably best balanced cute and sexy the most. I would’ve felt more at ease had she worn the pants costume, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t my call to make.

The Santa costume she had on now was basically a dress, a miniskirt on the bottom with a top attached to it. Maybe it was a pretty standard affair, as far as Santa outfits went. Nanami’s shoulders were bare, though, and the dress also left her collar area open. In other words, the dress may have been normal in design, but it was still pretty revealing.

“I mean, you really look great in red. The contrast between the red and the white really pops, and even though the white gives off a sense of purity, the red really amps up the sexiness,” I said.

“Tee hee, gosh, it’s kind of embarrassing when you compliment me so much,” Nanami said.

“Seriously, I know I say this every time, but you really have such beautiful skin. It’s like a brand-new, white dress with zero blemishes. Or, maybe it’s not so much a dress as it’s...”

“Wait, Yoshin...you’re overdoing it with the compliments now. Plus you’re staring too much.”

Shoot, maybe I got a little too creepy there. But Nanami really does have beautiful skin. It’s plump, and super smooth... Is this what you call porcelain skin? I know it’s not transparent, but it almost seems that way. When we took that bath together, her entire body... Wait, this sounds really misleading. Oh no, Nanami’s turning all red. Shoot, did I say all that out loud?

I thought I might have creeped her out, but fortunately, Nanami seemed kind of pleased instead. She was pinching the hem of her skirt and twirling a little in place. She then took a few steps and turned again, as if to hide her embarrassment. For a moment I worried that her skirt would flutter and reveal too much.

“Thanks,” Nanami finally said. “You look good too.”

“Thanks...I guess?” I murmured.

“Of course! Why not?”

I knew Nanami meant her compliment, but I looked down at my costume and had to question if it was really worth the praise.

A pair of red pants with a white fur trim. A slightly oversized long-sleeved red jacket. A red and white hat with a round pom-pom on the tip. And a white beard to top it all off.

In other words, it was a Santa costume.

There wasn’t a terribly complicated reason I was wearing a Santa costume. Not at all. I just ended up giving in to peer pressure.

Actually, when I was helping to decorate the venue, the girls already had the costumes ready to go. They said that guys could wear them if they wanted to. Or rather, they wanted us to wear them, so that they could see us in them.

And because of that pressure I ended up putting it on. Though I guess it worked out okay, since Nanami seemed to enjoy it.

In any case, everyone seemed to be having a great time. The excitement in the air was more charged than usual. Everyone was doing as they pleased, eating and drinking as they chatted among themselves. Except...

“Nanami, can I ask you something?” I said.

“Sure. What’s up?” she said as she turned to me.

“What are you supposed to do at a Christmas party?”

“You’re asking me that now?!”

I seemed to have shocked her. I mean, it was all well and good that I was here, but...having already toasted to this glorious holiday, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. Or what one actually did at events like this.

At a school festival, we did festival activities. At the sports festival, we played sports. And on the class trip, we went on the trip itself.

I knew that was how I’d enjoyed all the other events, but when I thought about Christmas, I couldn’t help wondering what thing I was supposed to be enjoying, exactly.

And once the question had settled in my mind, it was game over: Just what am I supposed to be doing right now?

“Oh, you know—you eat food, drink drinks, and chat with people,” Nanami suggested.

“Yeah, but...don’t you think you can do that any day? Like, what makes a Christmas event a Christmas event?” I asked.

“You know, I’ve never actually thought about it before,” Nanami agreed with a wry smile. I knew that I was being annoying, but once you started thinking about a question like that, didn’t it occupy your mind and not leave until it was answered?

“Now that you mention it, Christmas is kind of interesting, isn’t it? It’s not native to Japan at all, but at least for something like Halloween, there’s trick-or-treating and stuff,” Nanami remarked.

“Exactly. Christmas is about Santa and fried chicken and cake here, right? I can’t help but wonder, though...what’s the actual ritual associated with it?”

“Are you not having fun right now, Yoshin?” Nanami asked, concerned.

“Oh, no, I am. Really! It’s my first time getting together with people for Christmas, so I’m definitely having a good time. I guess I just can’t help thinking about it...but I probably shouldn’t have said anything so suddenly.”

Yeah, I should probably just keep my mouth shut.

“Though it’s actually the first Christmas I’ve gotten together with so many people too,” Nanami remarked.

“Wait, really? I had no idea,” I returned.

“Well, you know, ’cause Hatsumi and them all go on their own dates on Christmas, and the other girls in the class end up hanging out with the guys too. So I didn’t really spend time with people on Christmas either.”

The unexpected reveal surprised me, but considering Nanami’s social circles, what she said made perfect sense.

“That’s why I usually spent Christmas with my family or went somewhere with Saya,” she continued. “All of Saya’s friends seemed to go out on dates too.”

“So is Saya-chan also not the type to go out on dates?”

“She thinks guys her age are too immature and bratty. Though that’s probably because she had Oto-nii and other older guys around her all the time,” Nanami explained.

I feel like Saya-chan would be pretty popular, though. Besides, isn’t comparing middle school guys to Soichiro-san kind of cruel? He’s a professional wrestler who’s also super handsome. Compared to him, middle schoolers are barely more than just little kids. And at that age games are probably more interesting than anything else. At least for me.

“So what’s Saya-chan up to today?” I asked. “Is she with your parents?”

“She’s got a date,” Nanami replied.

A date?! Saya-chan is going on a date?! Wait, so what was that whole thing about middle school guys just now? Why is she going on a date with a middle school guy when she thinks they’re all too immature?

“She said she was going on a date with a girl that she became friends with pretty recently. I’ve met her too. She’s super different from Saya, but really cute,” Nanami explained.

“Oh, I see. I thought you meant something else, but I feel a lot better now.”

“Better? You mean you feel relieved as her brother-in-law?” Nanami teased.

Not really. It’s just that Saya-chan seems like the type to get carried away, so the idea of her going on a date with a guy for Christmas worries me.

“Though she said she wanted to stay over with her new friend and come home the next morning, and she got into a huge fight with our dad over it,” Nanami went on. “Guess where she was trying to go.”

“Huh? Was it somewhere questionable?” I asked.

“She wanted to have a girls’ night in at a love hotel! How does that even make sense?!” she hollered.

I nearly spit out my drink. The idea concerned me as much as the idea of her going on a date with a guy. Actually, thinking about it that way, didn’t Saya-chan seem more like the shady guy in this situation?

“Uh, yeah, I can totally see why Genichiro-san would be upset. I mean, I probably would’ve stopped her too,” I said.

“Right? I have no idea what she was thinking. I haven’t even gone with you to one of those yet...”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Uh...”

Nanami’s use of the word “yet” had me speechless. Neither one of us seemed able to go on after that; we just looked at each other and then returned to sipping our drinks without saying anything.

The silence turned somewhat awkward, though, so I had to find a way to restart the conversation. Gosh, what can we possibly talk about after that...?

“W-Well, I guess here, Christmas is all about going on dates and spending time with your partner, right? So if you’re just trying to spend time with someone, that might not actually be a bad spot to choose,” I declared.

Just what in the world was I trying to say? I shouldn’t have said anything about Christmas when I actually had no idea about it myself. But even though I really didn’t know much about it, I still thought of Christmas as a time when couples seemed more giddy than usual, so my observation probably wasn’t too far off.

Is it the same overseas? The conversation seemed to have returned to its starting point: Was it up to each and every person how to spend and enjoy Christmas, then?

“Th-That’s true. Right, yeah. I guess a place like that is fine, if you want to be alone...”

Nanami paused mid-sentence. Then she glanced at me, her eyes filled with the tiniest bit of expectation and bewilderment.

Did I say something funny? Actually, I’ve probably only said something funny.

“Do you...wanna go someplace like that too?” Nanami finally asked.

“Huh? Huh...?!”

Nanami was being vague, but she was probably talking about love hotels. Why could she say it so clearly earlier but not now? Maybe it was just the usual—you only get embarrassed by something after realizing how embarrassing it actually is. I guess I couldn’t bring myself to say “love hotel” out loud either.

“Um, what...made you think that?” I squeaked.

“Well, because...our date’s tomorrow, right? And it’ll be just the two of us,” Nanami began. “And since we’ll be together into the night, I just wondered...if you wanted to go somewhere like that too.”

I see. I mean, yeah, we were going on a date tomorrow, and yeah, we’d even promised each other we would stay out at night to enjoy the cityscape and all the holiday decorations. Apparently the park we went to earlier today would be lit up in the evening, so we made plans to stay out until fairly late.

Also, according to the map, there was a neighborhood a little ways away from the park with places like that. Okay, fine, maybe it was quite a ways away from the park, but still.

To be honest, I couldn’t stop myself from doing research about it—even though we probably couldn’t go there anyway.

No, wait. Right now, Nanami was asking me whether I wanted to go to a place like that. It wasn’t about ability; it was just about desire.

In that case, there was only one answer.

“Well, yeah, I do think...that I want to go,” I murmured.

I sounded pathetic, speaking so quietly I was barely above a whisper by the end. But what was even the correct response to a question like that? If I said no, Nanami would definitely get mad.

In fact, was there any guy who would say that he didn’t want to go to a place like that with his girlfriend? That itself seemed unlikely. But actually saying out loud that I did want to go seemed like harassment to me.

“Good,” Nanami finally whispered.

“Is it...?”

“Well, because, if I could...I’d like to go with you too. And...I guess I wonder if it’s different from our hotel in Hawaii and stuff...”

“Um...do you mean that as just a genuine sleepover? Or are you talking about all the other stuff too?”

Oh, shoot. I just said something I totally didn’t need to. I was just curious, but...I definitely harassed her with that last comment, didn’t I? But wait, is that what’s really going on? Isn’t this a case where I’m being sexually harassed by Nanami...?

After a very long pause, Nanami murmured, “All the other stuff too.”

Thank goodness no one was around us in that moment. Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san were on the other side of the room talking to some people, while Teshikaga-kun and Shirishizu-san were making their way around the room to check that the party was progressing smoothly.

Maybe the other people in class were giving us space, too, because no one had come near us. I mentally said a word of thanks for our party venue being so large.

Nanami had worked up her courage. The only way for me to respond now was...

“I want...”

“Hey! Bingo’s gonna start soon! Come get your cards!”

My response was drowned out by the completely inopportune announcement.

Dammit, why do I always have such terrible timing?!

♢♢♢

Bingo was the classic method of facilitating gift exchanges at a Christmas party...supposedly. I’d only just heard of it, since I had zero familiarity with this kind of thing.

If you were exchanging gifts with a particular friend, then you could give each other what the other person actually liked. The fun part of a gift exchange with a large number of people, on the other hand, was getting to interact with people you wouldn’t otherwise give a gift to...and seeing who ended up with the gag gift.

“Wait, what in the world is a gag gift?” I asked, putting a stop to Hitoshi’s explanation of the practice. According to him, a gag gift was a present that didn’t have any practical use—in other words, something that seemed like something you’d need, when it really wasn’t.

For example, a gag gift could be a rather expensive decorative statue in the shape of Santa Claus. Or perhaps a flashy-looking mini Christmas tree that came already decorated. They might look nice, but if you were to actually receive them, you would be at a loss for what to actually do with them.

Apparently there were also gag gifts in the form of ugly sweaters with strange designs, or cookies with people’s faces on them. It seemed the fun was in seeing how people reacted to the gift. The best kinds of gag gifts were ones that expanded the general definition of what a present could even be.

“Shucks, I bought a pricey tin of cookies instead,” I confessed.

“Me too. I bought a set of cute socks,” Nanami also muttered.

She and I had chosen rather normal presents, and at that moment, we regretted that we hadn’t chosen more interesting items. It was too late for that, though.

“Oh, no way. Normal presents are perfectly fine. That guy’s just saying weird stuff,” Otofuke-san said to us.

“Yeah, we brought regular presents too. Mine is a hand cream from a brand that I like,” Kamoenai-san said as well.

“Oh, hey guys,” Nanami said as she turned toward her two friends. “Don’t you need to help out with the bingo game?”

“It’s fine. The class reps are totally stoked about it. They told us to leave it to them,” Otofuke-san said, looking over in Hitoshi’s direction with her bingo card already in hand.

As expected, Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san were both wearing Santa costumes.

Otofuke-san was wearing a pair of shorts à la Santa. She had on a separate top, with her six-pack peeking out from between the two pieces of her outfit. She was also wearing knee-high socks. All in all her entire outfit seemed to prioritize ease of movement.

Kamoenai-san, on the other hand, was wearing a Santa outfit that looked almost like a bikini. I thought I spotted her wearing a giant Christmas tree costume earlier, but apparently this was what she was wearing underneath. It wasn’t as revealing as an actual bikini, but this was arguably her act of charity for the guys in the class—though she didn’t fail to mention she was going on a date with her boyfriend tomorrow, thus throwing them into a pit of despair.

“Shirishizu-san really is into it, huh?” I muttered.

“Ah, yeah. Apparently Teshikaga-kun complimented her on her outfit,” Nanami replied.

No wonder, I thought, glancing at Shirishizu-san as she served as Hitoshi’s assistant for the game. She, too, was wearing a Santa costume.

Her outfit, though, was probably the sexiest of all the outfits tonight. Its silhouette was similar to the one Nanami had on, but the skirt was attached to what looked like bondage rope. The outfit was completely open in the back too. And to top it all off, she was wearing bunny ears on her head.

“An assistant should always wear bunny ears, don’t you think?” she had apparently said as she put them on. Teshikaga-kun seemed very concerned, though; currently he stood right next to her like a sort of paranoid bodyguard.

The game was being run, therefore, by three people: Hitoshi as emcee, Shirishizu-san as his assistant, and Teshikaga-kun as her bodyguard.

Ever since Shirishizu-san and Teshikaga-kun started going out, no guy was dumb enough to approach her with even a little bit of questionable intent. But despite that, Teshikaga-kun still seemed pretty worried some guy would do it anyway.

In any case that was our big bingo game. All the presents were numbered, and every time someone completed a bingo on part of their card, they could draw a number and get a present.

I never knew people regularly went to such lengths for a gift exchange, with the bingo cards and everything. I, on the other hand, was pretty certain this was the first time I’d held a bingo card in my hands, ever. Saying as much to Nanami, though, just got me a gentle pat on my head. Wait, what’s going on? Everyone else is giving me pitiful looks too...

“All right, let’s get this thing started!” Hitoshi yelled then, signaling the beginning of our game.

“I hope we win something nice,” Nanami whispered.

“Same. Looks like everyone’s strategizing too,” I responded.

Our bingo game-cum-gift exchange proceeded smoothly. Teshikaga-kun selected the numbers with Shirishizu-san announcing them. Hitoshi poked fun at everyone throughout, while everyone teased Hitoshi back. I see, so this is what a Christmas party is like.

“I can’t get a single bingo... Why can’t you guys pick better numbers?” Nanami wailed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Barato,” Hitoshi replied. “What about your hubby? How’s he doing?”

“He’s not getting anything either,” she said.

“I’m pretty much a deadbeat,” I said.

I knew I was the one who said it, but I couldn’t believe we were having such an exchange. Still, neither Nanami nor I was getting any of our numbers called, while others seemed to have punched open several spots on their bingo cards already.

In the end, she and I didn’t get our presents until late in the second half of the game.

“What’d you get?” I asked her.

“Let’s see, I got...oh, hand cream. I don’t think I’ve used this one before,” she said.

“Oh, you got mine!” Kamoenai-san exclaimed. “It’s really good. I totally recommend it.”

Nanami seemed to have drawn the number for Kamoenai-san’s present. Hand cream, huh? Nanami seemed excited by it, so I made a mental note about a potential present for her.

I wonder what I got, I thought as I opened the rectangular bag in my hands. Inside was...a book. A novel? I asked myself. I’d been mostly reading manga ebooks lately, so it had been a while since I last held a physical book like this. And outside of book reports, I almost never read books that didn’t have illustrations. I looked at the cover and the spine, trying to figure out who had brought the present—but of course, the book itself gave no such indication.

“That one’s mine,” Teshikaga-kun suddenly said.

“Huh? From you?” I asked, mildly surprised.

Though I hadn’t noticed, he and Shirishizu-san had made their way over to me. Wearing a Santa costume just like everyone else, Teshikaga-kun was looking at the book in my hands with undeniable joy sparkling in his eyes.

Unable to help myself, I looked back and forth between the book and Teshikaga-kun’s face. I mean...I know I’m being rude, but...I really wasn’t expecting this.

“Yes, it is. For the novel I chose to make its way to you makes me really, really happy. Please do read it. I tried to choose one that was relatively easy to understand,” he explained.

So this was a book geared toward beginners. But it still seemed rather...or, quite difficult to get through. There were no illustrations, and the cover only had letters and a few design elements. Still, if he was recommending it to me, then maybe I should read it.

“Thank you,” I said to him. “I’ll check it out.”

Teshikaga-kun seemed delighted by my response. Wow, this really is unexpected...

“So, you like reading, huh?” I asked.

“Yes, books are wonderful. Please let me know if you like it; I have others I can also recommend. I read basically anything—light novels, manga, what have you,” he replied.

Wow, what he looks like and what he’s actually like are almost night and day. But maybe this makes perfect sense, given that he’s going out with Shirishizu-san.

Shirishizu-san herself was looking at Teshikaga-kun, who seemed rather bashful about our current exchange, with gentle warmth in her eyes. Er, actually, it wasn’t so much warmth as it was a kind of ravenous heat...

Let me just pretend like I didn’t see that.

Just as I was starting to think we might be at the end of the gift exchange, Hitoshi began passing out another round of bingo cards, all by himself. Everyone else, who also assumed that the gift exchange had ended, seemed to be wondering what Hitoshi was doing...until someone noticed something.

“Wait, is there still one present left?” that person asked.

There was one lonesome present left on the table, where we all thought there was none. It was a small envelope, with no particular markings or wrapping on it.

Even with the question in the air, Hitoshi didn’t explain what the envelope was and just continued passing out the bingo cards, so a few of us decided to help him out. Once we’d finished passing out cards to everyone, Hitoshi stood before the crowd and cleared his throat a single time.

“Well, then—about this single envelope we have here,” he began. “Turns out, we were fortunate enough to get ourselves one truly unbelievable gift for this party.”

Unbelievable? What does that even mean gift-wise? I mean, we all probably bought stuff that only cost us a thousand or two thousand yen at most. Did someone decide on their own to cough up extra cash and buy an additional present? But if that’s the case, why?

Everyone else stood around, visibly confused, and generally seeming to be thinking the same thing I was. Hitoshi seemed to be enjoying our reaction; he turned his back to us, as though he were stalling.

And now he’s getting booed. Even Teshikaga-kun’s chuckling. Hitoshi’s crying out for support, but Teshikaga-kun’s totally ignoring him. People are even laughing at their exchange.

Those two sure do get along. They seem to be fast friends, way faster than me. Not that I’m jealous; I’m just genuinely impressed. I simply can’t grow friendships that fast.

“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you what it is! Today’s grand prize is...this!” Hitoshi exclaimed, raising his phone high above his head. There seemed to be an image displayed on his screen, but he was too far and the screen was too small, so none of us had any idea what he was showing us.

There was another onslaught of boos, but Hitoshi just grinned, not bothered at all by our reaction. If anything, he had the look of a little kid who knew something fun was about to happen and couldn’t wait for it to start.

And just as he seemed to have expected, all the booing subsided at his next remark.

“While we were shopping earlier we entered an opportunity drawing and won these: a pair of tickets for a trip to the hot springs!”

Hitoshi held his phone up high like it was a championship trophy. Maybe he had taken a photo of the tickets with it or something.

Hey, wait a minute...when did we win something like that?!

The booing ceased, and the party venue quickly fell silent, total stillness spreading through the room the way a stone dropped in a pond spreads ripples across the water.

No one said anything even as we all looked at each other. When we looked back at Hitoshi in disbelief, he just looked at us with the biggest smirk on his face, happy that he’d managed to completely shock us.

Oh dang, now everyone’s getting mad. I mean, I get that Hitoshi looks super annoying and all. Funny, I always think that Nanami’s cute when she looks smug, so why does Hitoshi’s smug look irritate me instead?

But at the look on his face everyone was convinced: This guy was dead serious.

The tense silence was shattered by cheers of excitement. Those who were most worked up were probably the people with boyfriends and girlfriends.

Actually, pretty much everyone seemed to be shouting excitedly.

“Weren’t you the one who won the tickets, though? Don’t you want them?” someone asked Hitoshi.

“Well, I used everyone’s tokens to do the opportunity drawing, not just mine. Plus if I kept quiet about it, it would seem like I stole them or something. And it’s a pair of tickets, not just one,” he replied.

“But if it’s a pair, couldn’t you have just found someone to go with?” another remarked.

“Who am I supposed to go with when I don’t even have a girlfriend, dammit?!”

Oh no, that question totally broke him. You really are a good guy, Hitoshi. You’re doing your best to keep things fair for everyone. I mean, it’s a pair of tickets to the hot springs, for crying out loud. It’d be the perfect winter break activity. I haven’t been to the hot springs in a while. It’s only gonna get colder, too, so getting to take a nice, long soak in a hot spring would be awesome.

“Anyway, we’re gonna do another round of bingo right now! Whoever gets bingo first gets to take home this grand prize!” Hitoshi shouted.

I see, that’s why Hitoshi passed out those bingo cards again. And with this kind of prize at stake, it’s like our class has been replaced with a pack of starving animals. Things are heating up already...

“Wouldn’t it be crazy if we won this and got to go together?” Nanami whispered.

“Yeah, really. Though I have a feeling we won’t,” I replied.

Our odds weren’t that great. Not only that, everyone seemed to want those tickets. I could almost see the flames of battle flaring and erupting throughout the room.

Amid all that killer intent, Nanami and I remained rather chill about the whole affair.

Why, you ask? Because neither Nanami nor I had managed to get anywhere with the previous round of bingo. We figured it was going to be the same again this time around.

With our luck, we decided to play just for fun, without any real need to compete against other people for the prize.

At least, that was what I was thinking...until I found myself in the dead center of the heat of battle.

“All righty, then! Let’s have Yoshin and the class rep play rock-paper-scissors to settle their tie of getting bingo first!” Hitoshi exclaimed.

“I’m definitely gonna win...!” Shirishizu-san growled.

I was in complete disbelief as I stood in front of everyone, facing off with Shirishizu-san. Of all the things that could’ve happened, I ended up calling out bingo in the exact same moment that Shirishizu-san did. The final showdown, therefore, became a rock-paper-scissors match between the two of us.

“Before we begin, let’s hear from our two contestants about how they’re feeling as they go into this historical match. We’ll start with you, class rep,” Hitoshi said, clearly enjoying the situation as he pretended to interview Shirishizu-san with a makeshift mike made out of a rolled-up spare bingo sheet. Shirishizu-san’s eyes were in their usual narrow glare, but she seemed as though she were on fire. And given her current outfit, she looked downright surreal.

“I’m gonna get me those tickets and soak in the hot springs with Taku-chan!” she shouted.

“Kotoha?!” Teshikaga-kun blurted, panicking at Shirishizu-san’s absurd declaration to the crowd. Said crowd, though, was going wild. Completely forgetting the fact that Teshikaga-kun was a delinquent—though I guess I’d forgotten too—everyone was cheering the couple on.

As though to tell me that at least mentally, she had already won, Shirishizu-san flashed me a peace sign. Is that her way of looking smug? How am I supposed to respond to this, exactly?

“And what’s on your mind as you go into this match, Yoshin?” Hitoshi asked, turning to me.

Dang it, this guy’s really enjoying this. I mean, it’s fine, since it’s a Christmas party and all. But still, what am I supposed to say? I thought to myself, glancing at Nanami.

As nearly everyone in the room cheered for Shirishizu-san, though, Nanami was cheering for me. When I heard that, I knew I had to step up my game.

“I’m...gonna go in the hot springs with Nanami too!” I declared, making a fist and thrusting it out toward Shirishizu-san. This was serious; I had to give it everything I had. Thinking that it would be rude of me not to, I sincerely and earnestly tightened my fist into a proper grip.

The excitement in the room was reaching a climax. My skin was vibrating so much that I could have sworn the room was shaking—my body was tingling from top to bottom in a way I’d never felt before. I wasn’t sure if all this was because everyone was screaming so loudly, or because my body was actually trembling in the face of the intense battle I was about to plunge into.

I had had people cheer me on before, when Nanami and I had participated in the couples contest, for example, and even when we ran our butts off at the sports festival. And yet—somehow, this felt different.

Was this what it felt like to go up against something on your own?

“All right, here we go,” I said.

“Bring it on!” Shirishizu-san let out.

She and I stood and looked at each other head-on. I felt like the ground and the air were quaking. I would have bet good money that, if we were in a manga, there would have been fiery sound effects in the background of our panel.

I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and brought my fists up around my waist. This almost felt like a martial arts competition. Shirishizu-san, on the other hand, had her hands dangling by her sides as she stood in a completely natural, relaxed manner.

The bizarre nervousness I felt manifested as literal sweat beading on my forehead, even though I had barely exerted myself. My ears shut out any noise in the room, focusing solely on Hitoshi’s pending words to call the beginning of the match.

I swore I heard him gulp, and then...

“Rock-...paper-...!”

As if to match Hitoshi’s words, both Shirishizu-san and I swung our arms back. Our movements drew symmetrical crescent-shaped arcs, and then we revealed our hands to each other.

I had never taken rock-paper-scissors so seriously before.

“Scissors!”

With that final call from Hitoshi, we both stilled our arms. My hand was gripped in a tight fist...a rock, in other words. My solid will expressed in physical form.

Meanwhile, Shirishizu-san’s hand was pointing two fingers...a pair of scissors.

And in that moment, victory was determined.

Without saying a word, I raised my fist high above my head. It wasn’t so much to show off that I had won; it was as if something deep in me realized what had occurred before my brain did and my body just moved on its own.

After a brief moment of silence, cheers erupted around the room.

Shirishizu-san looked down at the pair of scissors formed by her own hand—and collapsed, only to be comforted by Teshikaga-kun, who rushed over to her at once. I couldn’t help but feel bad when I saw that, but after a moment Shirishizu-san stood up and offered her hand to me. I clasped my hand in hers, and we exchanged a genuine handshake.

There was no need to harp upon who won or lost once a match was done. Still, despite the fact that all I’d done was play a single round of rock-paper-scissors, I couldn’t believe how exhausted I was. But in a way, my fatigue was also kind of refreshing.

And just like that, without thinking about the implications, I had acquired a pair of tickets for a trip to the hot springs.

Chapter 4: My First...

On the morning after the supremely exciting class Christmas party, I woke up much later than usual.

The day before, we had gotten together around noon to start our hangout in the party venue. We went out around the middle of the party when we ran out of snacks, and ended up bringing back beef bowls despite the fact that they were not at all on theme.

We obviously didn’t serve any alcohol, but we were all acting so giddy that you could’ve sworn we were drunk anyway.

When I got home and told Baron-san that while going around our game’s Christmas campaign, he said to me, “The power of youth allows you to act drunk when you haven’t even had a single drink...”

Apparently adults needed to have alcohol in their system in order to get so worked up. Would I get so excited when I started drinking as an adult?

We had fried chicken and cake, but I felt like all we did for our Christmas party was just hang out and get rowdy.

The big thing to me, though, was that even though that was all we did, it was...really a lot of fun. Though if I had acted so wildly that I carried it all over to the next day, it would all have been for naught. At least I didn’t seem to have any lingering tiredness.

Well, then. On this new day, which was supposed to be the real deal...

“Are you going on a Christmas date with Nanami-san?” my mom asked.

“I am, but...what makes you ask that all of a sudden?” I returned.

As if she had read my mind, first thing in the morning, my mom correctly guessed my plans for the day.

More importantly: Why is she even here? It’s a weekday, and even if we don’t have school, my mom... Oh, I see, she’s not going into work until the afternoon. Gotcha.

“Won’t you have breakfast? We still have some stew left over from last night,” she said.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks. I’d love some,” I replied, grateful for the offer after having assumed I’d have to make my own breakfast this morning.

Still, it was kind of embarrassing to have my mom remind me about my date; I had a feeling that this was something I would never get used to. Denying it brusquely would feel even more embarrassing, though, because if I did it would seem like I was getting all sensitive and self-conscious. The only thing I could do was probably to admit it without making too much of a fuss.

I knew I should have been over it by now, but because of everything that had happened in the past, I still felt weird when people pointed out stuff to do with me and girls. I guess this was something I would have to deal with for the rest of my life.

Actually, it would have been more tolerable had my mom been grinning or smirking, or doing something to more obviously poke me about this. Right now, though, she was her usual, casual self, speaking as if she were just stating a simple truth...which then made it impossible for me to talk back to her. I would’ve felt more at ease had she laughed or teased me, which seemed...ironic, if anything.

“Here you go,” my mom said, setting the stew in front of me. “Would you like bread to go with it? I can toast one up for you.”

“Oh...I think I’m good,” I replied.

Maybe because I ate too much yesterday, or because I got up late this morning, but I didn’t quite have my appetite yet. I at least wanted to eat some stew, though. I hadn’t had it in a while, and it was something my mom always made when the weather turned cold. As usual, it had potatoes, carrots, onions, chicken...plus the rogue shiitake mushrooms.

Having shiitake in stew seemed like an uncommon addition; I asked Nanami about it before and she told me that that seemed kind of rare.

It was actually really tasty, though. Maybe I should make some for Nanami next time so that she could try it.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Bon appétit,” my mom replied.

I spooned up some of the stew, picking up a piece of shiitake because I’d already been thinking about it. Steaming white liquid along with some black shiitake... When I put the combination in my mouth, the warm, gentle taste spread across my tongue, followed by the aroma of the shiitake. Its unique texture also pushed back against my teeth.

“Mmm, good as usual. What a comforting taste,” I murmured.

Warm food on a cold day was a true delicacy. Letting the stew rest overnight resulted in a richer flavor, too, making my stomach more happily active than usual.

Personally, I had to admit that I also really enjoyed having stew with white rice.

“Do you know where you’re going with Nanami-san today?” my mom asked.

“I have work today, so we were thinking of going to see the Christmas lights at night. We also have coupons we got a while back, so we were thinking of having dinner somewhere we could use those,” I explained.

The coupons were ones we’d gotten when we won the couple contest at the school festival. Actually, maybe they weren’t coupons, but rather actual gift certificates. I had thought that maybe they were coupons for a particular establishment, but it seemed we could use them at a few different places. And the gift certificates were worth several thousand yen, which, for us, was huge.

Nanami and I were going to see some holiday lights, have dinner, and exchange gifts. We had a rowdy party last night, so we wanted to spend a quiet evening together, just the two of us.

It was rare, though, for my mom to ask me what plans I had for our date.

“I see, so you’re going out at night. That sounds perfect,” my mom said.

“Perfect for what?” I asked.

“Your father and I, for the first time in a number of years, are going out on a Christmas date tonight too.”

Excuse me? My brain froze upon hearing my mom’s sudden declaration of a Christmas date. Uh, what am I supposed to do with that information, exactly?

My mom seemed nonplussed, though, as though she hadn’t said anything particularly shocking. I actually couldn’t tell from her expression what she was thinking at all.

“You aren’t gonna suggest we do a double date, are you?” I asked. I was worried enough to feel the need to confirm, though I was also prepared to reject the idea with everything I had, had my mom actually suggested it. I didn’t even want to imagine the possibility.

I wasn’t so pathetic that I would want to go on a double date with my parents. Though something told me Nanami might enjoy the idea.

It turned out, though, that my worries had been completely unfounded.

“Oh my, you talk like you’ve been on a double date before,” my mom began. “But don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of going on one with my son, of all people. You wouldn’t like it either, would you?”

“Well, that’s good, but... Wait, what do you mean, ‘of all people’?”

“We’re planning on a double date with Tomoko-san and her husband.”

What in the world?! No, seriously, what in the actual world? I’m so lost and confused that I feel like Space Cat. She’s saying this as if it’s the most normal thing ever. But is it really normal to spend time with your kid’s girlfriend’s parents like that...?

“Saya-chan’s going to a Christmas party and sleepover with her friend, and Nanami-san’s going on a date with you, right? So they thought it might be nice if us parents all went out too,” my mom explained.

“Ah, well...when you put it that way, I guess it makes sense.”

Language sure was strange. Saying that the parents of two families were going on a double date somehow sounded unbearably awkward, yet once it was packaged as just two pairs of parents getting to know each other better made everything seem totally normal indeed.

I guess it does matter how you say things. I should keep that in mind as well.

“So, since we’ll be spending the night at their house,” my mom went on.

“Oh, I see. In that case, I—”

“You can spend tonight at our house with Nanami-san.”

“Huh?”

“You two can spend the night here, as long as you don’t do anything questionable.”

Space Cat, round two. I didn’t know how to react to my mom suddenly giving permission for me and Nanami to spend the night together, so I was stuck just opening and closing my mouth without uttering a single sound. They’re letting us spend the night together, at this point in the relationship? Are they out of their minds?! I mean, even though I genuinely can’t process what she’s saying, I also can’t fathom what might happen if we actually take her up on the offer!

My mind couldn’t keep up with this unexpected turn of events, just couldn’t wrap itself around getting permission for something that even Nanami didn’t think she could get from her own parents. They didn’t even let us do this for our birthdays, so why now?

“Except, once you two come home, make sure you video call us periodically to let us know how you’re doing. Even though we’re in different houses, we can still feel like we’re spending Christmas together,” she concluded.

Isn’t that what’s called a virtual drinking party nowadays? Though I guess we’re underage, so we won’t be drinking. I only know about it because I’ve seen it in manga and stuff. More importantly, though...

“Why would you have us do something so annoying?” I couldn’t help asking.

“What else are we supposed to do? If we leave you two be, you’ll most definitely do something you shouldn’t. It’s better for you both to be in a place where we can still keep an eye on you,” my mom explained, an awkward and troubled smile spreading across her face.

Wow, how rude... Though I probably can’t say that. Still, I should put up some kind of a fight.

“Have some faith in your son,” I muttered.

“It’s precisely because you’re our son that we worry!” she shot back.

What in the world did you two do when you were young? Actually, I think I’m too afraid to know the answer to that.

“And for the record, Tomoko-san was saying basically the same thing,” she added.

That, I could understand, given what Genichiro-san had told me before. But to think that my own parents had done similar things...

In any case, I guess I should be grateful for this unexpected opportunity for me and Nanami to be alone.

I had this vague feeling that this was, in a way, the Christmas present that our parents had come up with for us.

♢♢♢

Christmas was all about Western-style food. Maybe it was more accurate to say that the holiday season was a busy time for the restaurant industry in general, with this day in particular seeing a lot of customers—though that also depended on the location of the restaurants, of course.

The Western-style restaurant where I worked had more customers than usual, but it wasn’t crazy busy. For the time being, at least, things seemed to have settled into a steady groove.

“I’m sorry to make you come in today, Misumai-kun. I’m sure you wanted to be on a date with your girlfriend right about now,” the owner said.

“Oh, no. She and I went to a party with our classmates just yesterday, and we’re also going on a date later tonight,” I explained.

“Is that right? Then are you two having dinner somewhere as well?” he asked.

“Well, we have some gift certificates, so we were originally thinking of eating somewhere where we could use those, but...”

After we got permission to spend the night together in a house by ourselves—albeit with certain conditions—Nanami and I were reconsidering what we wanted to do. Nanami must have heard it from Tomoko-san around the same time, because she had contacted me before I went to work.

We weren’t necessarily trying to copy the Christmas party from the previous night, but we wondered if it might be better to do takeout and just relax at home over dinner instead.

To be honest, I kind of preferred that idea, and since she’d been pretty out and about lately, Nanami also seemed to appreciate the thought of doing something simpler.

Though if we hadn’t had the recent class trip, the two of us probably would have had a normal Christmas outing.

I shared all this with the owner, after which he asked me what kind of gift certificates we had. On seeing them he let out an appreciative whistle, saying, “So this is the grand prize for a couple contest, huh? School events these days sure are fancy.”

“How did you know they were the prize?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, because Shoichi told me about it.”

Oh, right. I forget that these four have been friends since they were kids. I guess he would know, then. While I was thinking that, the owner seemed to be studying the gift certificates closely, until he finally said, “You can actually use these here. If you’re just gonna stay home, do you want to take some of our dishes back with you? Cooking would be kind of a bother so late, wouldn’t it?”

“Really? Is that okay?” I asked. Wouldn’t something like this need more advance notice?

“Sure, as long as your girlfriend is okay with the idea. With an employee discount and these gift certificates, I feel like I can give you a pretty good deal.”

The owner said that I wouldn’t really get to choose what I’d get, but the price he quoted was so inexpensive that I, as a high school student who didn’t have much in his coffers, couldn’t be more grateful. Actually, it was so cheap that I half-feared I was getting away with something, though I couldn’t say what, exactly. But when he told me that it would be the restaurant’s birthday and Christmas presents to me, I couldn’t refuse the offer.

“Hee hee, Mai-chan, just accept the owner’s offer and stop fretting over it so much. The truth is, onii just likes feeding good food to young, growing kids,” Yu-senpai said.

“You’re not wrong, but when someone who’s not even much younger than me says it like that, it’s kind of annoying,” the owner grumbled.

“Excuse me? You have such an adorable gyaru childhood friend working for you, and yet you’re annoyed? I’m quite well-known for never annoying anyone, you know,” Yu-senpai joked.

“No need for all that,” he said. “Come on, go get ready.”

“Yessir!”

Yu-senpai teased the owner, while the owner’s wife watched the two of them with a warm smile on her face. It may have been Christmas, but this was a common scene at my workplace.

The only thing that was different today...was Yu-senpai’s outfit.

“You like cosplaying, don’t you, Yu-senpai?” I asked.

“Hm? Sure do, but why do you say that all of a sudden?”

“No, just... I guess I can’t not think that when I see what you’re wearing today.”

Yu-senpai was wearing a Santa outfit. It wasn’t completely a Santa outfit, though, since she was simply wearing a long skirt and an apron that looked Santa-ish, along with a Santa hat.

Since this was a restaurant, of course she wasn’t wearing anything too revealing; still, I felt like she was sort of pushing the limits even still.

“I actually wanted to wear a bikini today, but onii said no,” she shared.

“Of course not. We’re not that kind of restaurant. Save it for when we do the cabana,” he muttered.

I didn’t know they did business at a cabana. I’ve only seen that in manga and stuff, but is she really allowed to wear something like that there? Though I guess wearing a bunch of layers in the summer would be pretty tough.

“I’ll put one on you too,” I heard Yu-senpai say.

By the time I realized it, I was wearing a Santa hat as well. “When did that happen?!” I exclaimed. Seriously, it all seemed to have happened while I was momentarily lost in thought.

“If Shibe-chan were here too, the three of us could’ve dressed up like Santa Claus and done little skits and stuff. But no, he had to go to his meet and all,” Yu-senpai let out.

What kind of a skit would three Santas do? Is it some viral thing? I don’t watch TV, so I have no idea. Or maybe it’s a social media thing. Best not ask, I think.

“He went to nationals, right? Our basketball team is really amazing,” I commented.

“Right, right! Shibe-chan’s probably gonna go to college on a basketball scholarship. He wants to go pro and do sports-related stuff even after he retires, so he said college will be useful for studying all kinds of things,” Yu-senpai explained.

Even though she had sort of poked at him for being so committed to basketball, Yu-senpai somehow seemed happy about the whole idea. I, on the other hand, was surprised about something entirely different.

He’s already got his sights on what he’ll be doing after he retires? He hasn’t even gone pro yet. Is he just that determined to make it, or just that confident that he will? I feel like with Shoichi-senpai, it’s both. And if it’s senpai, he’ll definitely make it.

“But everyone ended up booing me just because Shibe-chan didn’t make it to our Christmas party,” Yu-senpai confessed. “What was I supposed to do, though? He’s working so hard.”

“That’s right, you had your Christmas party yesterday too, didn’t you? What do university students do at a party like that?” I asked.

“It’s not much different from a high school party. Except that there’s alcohol,” she said.

“Ah, so there is alcohol involved...”

“Yup! There were so many girls, and it was so much fun! A total eye candy harem. Man, everyone was so sexy...and when they all got drunk and let their guard down...”

“You sound like some middle-aged man,” I muttered.

“Butts, definitely... Boobs are good too, but I prefer butts...”

What the hell is this gyaru saying? Is she actually some old perv in disguise? But I guess university students really do drink when they party. I should be careful when I’m drinking with Nanami.

“You had your Christmas party too, right?” Yu-senpai asked, interrupting my thoughts. “We totally should’ve just combined our parties.”

“I dunno, having a bunch of university students there might’ve been too intimidating. We would’ve gotten overwhelmed,” I confessed.

“You think so? We’re all nice girls, so we probably would’ve had a lot of fun. A lot of the girls are single and don’t mind younger guys too. They might even take one home if they can.”

I had a feeling that Hitoshi would seethe if I told him that, so I knew I had to keep that to myself. If I told him what an opportunity he had missed, he would probably cry tears of blood. After all, he’d wanted me to invite them in the first place.

Maybe I could set up something in the future?

“How about we plan something next time there’s an opportunity? One of my friends is looking for a girlfriend too,” I suggested.

“Ooh, sounds great! Will I finally get a high schooler boyfriend? My first boyfriend and a younger guy...how juicy,” she said excitedly. She sounded like a total player, but at the same time she just revealed she’d never had a boyfriend before. That, too, was completely unexpected. I mean, she was so pretty and seemed so popular. Though Nanami was the same way too, so maybe Yu-senpai also had her reasons.

Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t she and Shoichi-senpai childhood friends, though? If that’s the case...

“I feel like Shoichi-senpai is pretty good-looking,” I began. “You don’t see him as potential dating material?”

“Ah, nah. Not gonna happen. He and I can only think of each other as brother and sister. We even sat down once and seriously talked about us maybe dating, but we concluded that that wasn’t gonna work,” she explained.

“You discussed it...?”

A part of me wanted to hear what kind of a discussion they had, while another part of me most definitely did not. But hearing an anecdote like that really brought it home to me that they were childhood friends.

I guess it didn’t always work out like in romance manga, though, where childhood friends could be with each other unconditionally.

“Besides, Shibe-chan seems to be hitting it off with the manager lately,” Yu-senpai added.

“Really?!” I exclaimed.

“Yup. The whole team stops by here sometimes, and I usually see him sitting with the manager. Except, well...”

“Except...?”

“He’s a popular guy, so I bet you he has a hard time figuring out actual like from something like friend like, or idol like. He probably doesn’t even know the manager likes him.”

Ah, yeah, I think I can see that. They had been like that when we all went to the summer festival as well. But I couldn’t help wondering about how those two had progressed.

If there was something I could do to help, then I wanted to support senpai. I bet he and his teammates were doing their best at the competition right about now too.

As I thought about senpai, who was far away from us in that moment, I raised my hand slightly to touch my Santa hat. I was wearing this yesterday too. I guess I just have to get with the program.

“Today is Christmas, after all... I guess this is pretty appropriate,” I murmured.

“Now that’s the spirit! Then let’s bring on the holiday cheer with our special uniforms!” Yu-senpai said.

“Let’s do it,” I said, pumping myself up for the work ahead. And since Nanami would be away for some time, I also considered whether I should pick up some more shifts over the break. I’d probably still have free time in the evenings, and besides, I could never have too much money for what was coming up ahead. Working more would be exactly what I needed. Though I knew that in years prior, I probably would have spent all my time playing games instead.

People can really change, I was thinking—at least until more and more customers kept coming. I guess even this small restaurant could get busy on Christmas Day.

Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever been this busy in my entire life. I don’t think I have the bandwidth to think about anything at all.

In the midst of the commotion, Yu-senpai really impressed me; she worked just as hard without letting on at all just how busy she must have been. From chatting it up with the regulars to gently declining people hitting on her, she handled everything seamlessly.

I worked hard, too, hoping that I was contributing more than I once was able to—and by the time I realized it, quite a number of hours had passed.

“Wow, it really is pretty busy today, huh? I feel like we’re just getting a break now,” Yu-senpai said.

“It’s not even dinnertime, is it?” I remarked. “Do you think it’s so busy because it’s Christmas today?”

“Yeah, that’s probably it...”

There were fewer customers in the restaurant, so we finally had a moment to catch our breaths and chat. I was pretty tired already—would I be okay for my date with Nanami later? I didn’t think I lacked stamina, but maybe working used up a different kind of energy.

“Oh, another customer’s here. I’ll go greet them,” Yu-senpai said.

“I’ll go clear some tables,” I replied.

My shift is over soon, so maybe I can go home once and then meet up with Nanami. Just as I was thinking that, though...

“Oh, hey, Nanami-chan! Here for a visit?” I heard Yu-senpai say.

“Tee hee, I thought maybe Yoshin’s shift would be over soon, so I came to pick him up.”

“I see, I see. Right this way, please!”

I turned toward the entrance slightly while wiping down a table and saw that Nanami had arrived, wearing her winter coat.

This is maybe the second time she’s come to visit me at work? Are Otofuke-san and the others here too? It seemed, though, that Nanami had come by herself.

She must have spotted me, because she broke out in a smile and gave me a demure wave.

And even though I was still on the clock, I couldn’t stop myself from waving back.

♢♢♢

It was too light out to call it nighttime, but too dark to call it twilight. That was the kind of liminal temporality that Nanami and I were walking in.

Pale blue clouds floated through an almost navy sky. Seeing the clouds made me realize they could be far more colorful than the plain white we assumed them to always be.

Was this what people typically called dusk? Everything seemed to be dipped in an eerie color, but that eerie color also seemed to blend perfectly with the lights coming from the surrounding buildings. Red, green, white, yellow, orange, blue... Myriad lights illuminated the sky above us.

“I know these aren’t holiday decorations, but they’re still really pretty,” Nanami said, walking ahead a few steps before twirling to turn toward me. Her coat fluttered with the movement, showing me a glimpse of the shirt she wore underneath.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I last walked at night, so they’re extra pretty to me now,” I replied.

Her outfit today felt a little different from her usual fashion. On top, she wore a white down coat...or was it a down jacket? Regardless, it was quite long, covering not just her upper body but also a part of her legs. I couldn’t shake the impression that it seemed as long as a dress.

On the bottom she probably had on a miniskirt, since she was showing off a generous amount of her thighs. But since her whole outfit was pretty well concealed by her jacket I wasn’t quite sure. Just how short of a skirt was she wearing, anyway? Maybe it was a pair of very tight—and very short—shorts instead. Either way, Nanami had her thighs on full display.

The reason my eyes were so drawn to them was because she was wearing a pair of very long black boots, with the gap between her boots and her coat none other than her bare thighs. So logically, there was no way not to look there.

I mean, come on, now.

“What’s wrong, Yoshin?”

“Um, uh... Aren’t you cold? Are you okay?” I asked, unable to help myself.

Nanami looked down at herself, her gaze stopping at her thighs. She could probably figure out what I was trying to say. When she looked up, she looked at me and narrowed her eyes, much like the way the class rep often did. Nanami wasn’t glaring at me; in her eyes was simply mild criticism. But her gaze was unwavering.

Why is she picking up such weird habits?! Her stare was so forceful it felt like her eyes were burning sizzling holes through my skin, and I flinched involuntarily.

Nanami then broke into a grin, but her eyes were still narrowed. Her smile looks so creepy...!

“You’re such a perv,” she murmured.

I had nothing to say in response, but in my defense, I felt the situation was beyond my control. My reaction must have satisfied Nanami, though, because she trotted to my side and linked our arms together. Instantly, my arm was enveloped by her soft down coat and the warmth of her body.

I had finally gotten used to walking with Nanami with our arms linked this way, but I never expected that I would be walking around town at night like this.

“Hee hee hee... After boobs and butts, I’ve finally managed to drag Yoshin into the swamp of thighs...”

“This was premeditated?!” I exclaimed.

Did I just hear something mildly terrifying? And what in the world was a swamp of thighs? It sounded like a place I never wanted to leave.

“I learned it from Nao-chan. She said that guys who like boobs and butts will definitely be into thighs too. It’s why today’s outfit is all about the thighs,” Nanami explained.

What is that gyaru senpai teaching Nanami?! Though there’s really no part of Nanami that I don’t like, come to think of it.

“Why are there so many bad influences around you,” I bemoaned.

“Huh? Really? You don’t like this? I’m pretty sure you do,” Nanami declared, leaving me no room for debate. Yes, you are correct. Of course I love outfits like this.

Actually, looking at Nanami again really hammered home what a top-notch outfit this was. Overall, it wasn’t too revealing—just that single area revealed, and all the more titillating for it. Without sacrificing elegance, it managed to minimize the amount of exposed skin while still combining sexiness and cuteness. As an outfit, it was truly well thought-out.

I didn’t know much about fashion, so I knew the way I was thinking of things was pretty basic, but still.

“And? What do you actually think of it?” Nanami asked.

“You look both stylish and pretty. It looks great on you,” I said, then finished with, “To be honest, I love it.”

“Very well,” she said happily.

Maybe because it was our first date in a long while—a date with just the two of us—but Nanami was being very touchy-feely with me. She seemed very happy to press her whole body against mine. Because she squeezed me, though, I also had to brace myself to be able to support her properly.

“If it was snowing we would’ve had a white Christmas, but... I hope it snows after we go home at least,” I remarked.

“True. If it’s gentle that’s fine, but too much and it gets hard to see,” Nanami agreed. “But there’s already some snow on the ground, so maybe we can consider it a white Christmas anyway.”

She was right. Snow was pretty to look at, and people who came from regions where it didn’t snow much especially enjoyed it. When there was too much of it, though, it really became a bother. Today wasn’t so bad, but if it melted partway and then froze over, the ground would be covered with ice.

“Let’s be careful not to slip and get hurt,” I told her.

“If I fall, make sure to catch me. Otherwise, everyone will see my underwear,” Nanami whispered with trepidation.

From her comment I was pretty confident that she was indeed wearing a miniskirt under her coat. Don’t picture it, Yoshin... When wicked thoughts permeated my brain, though, Nanami immediately pinched my cheek.

“How ha high hin hohit,” I let out.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” Nanami said, releasing me.

“Now that I think of it, was it really okay to order dinner from my workplace?” I asked.

“Oh, that? Yeah, if anything, I’m super looking forward to it. The food there is so good.”

When I was on break at work, I had the chance to talk with Nanami while she was visiting. That was when I told her about the owner’s proposal. Nanami had gotten very excited and agreed that it was a great idea. We were therefore going back to my workplace after our outing, and then heading to my house from there to have dinner.

There was also another reason for me to make that decision, though.

“Bringing home takeout makes it feel like we’re living together,” Nanami had murmured.

After hearing that, I absolutely had to ask the owner to prepare food for us. I agreed—taking food home together really did seem like we were living together, even more than if we had just eaten together at the restaurant.

The owner seemed really happy when I made the request to him; he told me that he would do his best not to disappoint. I was already looking forward to the meal.

As Nanami and I kept walking and talking, we arrived at our destination so fast that I could have sworn some magic had made the distance shorter than usual.

Just yesterday, we had come here during the day, but at night, the place had an entirely different feel to it.

The sky, which had been that particular mix of light and dark seen only at dusk, had dimmed with the coming of night. The sky was so close to black that the clouds were only barely visible. No stars seemed to be shining either. After the starry sky that we had seen in Hawaii, the astonishing contrast with what was above us now was genuinely shocking to me. I honestly couldn’t even see a single twinkling star in the sky.

In its stead, though, we were greeted by a light that nearly dazzled us. A light so intense it was almost as bright as the stars we saw in Hawaii.

“Wow, everything’s super shiny,” I let out.

“Super, super bright. Almost like it’s daytime,” Nanami returned.

We sounded overly dramatic, but every single one of the lights that had been off during the day was now lit up, making the place so bright that it was hard to believe it was actually nighttime. It almost looked brighter than it was during the day. Though I probably only thought that because our surroundings were still dark.

“It’s pretty, huh?” I whispered.

“It really is. But it’s pretty crowded now, so let’s stick together and not get separated,” Nanami insisted.

“I don’t think we can get any closer than this, though?”

“Not true!” Nanami replied, sticking herself to me like glue. With practically no space between us, though, it actually became a little bit difficult for us to walk. In the end, we decided that it was probably better to hold hands than to link arms. With too many people around, sticking together too closely would probably make us feel pretty cramped.

The things that were on sale at the stalls weren’t any different from what we saw last time, but the simple fact that all the holiday lights were on gave the place an entirely different feel.

We walked slowly, going along with the flow of the crowd so as not to get squished by the waves of visitors. As we studied the crowd, we discovered that there were as many different ways to enjoy the event as there were people around us.

People buying items from the shops, people chatting with the vendors, people talking while holding up their cameras and possibly livestreaming their visit, people taking selfies with their friends with the illumination in the background...

I see, so these are all the different ways that you can enjoy something like this. Given that I was still thinking about how one was to make the most of Christmas, the various examples all around us were a helpful resource for me.

As Nanami and I continued walking, we reached the spot where we had reunited with Yuki-chan the previous day. I guess Hitoshi had also been talking about mulled wine here too.

Mulled wine, huh...?

“Do you want something warm to drink, to fight off the cold?” I suggested.

“Oooh, sounds good. What should we have? Shall we go for some wine?” Nanami asked, grinning.

“No, we shall not. Let’s try the hot chocolate instead.”

“Darn. Here I was, thinking I was gonna be served alcohol and have you take me home...”

Like I would ever do that...though I guess I am going to take her home with me, in a sense. Though I feel like that’s not quite what Nanami means.

There were stalls here that sold a variety of hot chocolate, from simple ones to ones with gorgeous decorations. The decorated ones cost quite a bit more, but their visual appeal seemed to be a hit for those wanting to take photos for their socials.

“Should we go for the cute one, since we’re here?” I suggested.

“Oh, I dunno... It’s kinda pricey. We can just get a normal one,” Nanami said, giving a very practical response. I certainly didn’t mind the normal one, but I assumed girls favored cute things. Nanami’s decision was kind of unexpected.

Actually, no. Nanami doesn’t really take photos for social media anyway.

“You don’t really do stuff like that, do you? You know, like, take pics for sharing and stuff,” I remarked.

“Ah, I mean, they’re totally cute, but I don’t really do social media. So I guess I don’t really see the need to buy things just because they look pretty,” she explained.

“So that’s why it’s fine even if we don’t get the cute one,” I guessed.

“Right. I’m sure we’ll have different expenses that’ll come up in the future, so I should try to save money where I can. Though if it’s something I really want I won’t think twice about getting it.”

Wow, she sounds just like my mom. I’m kind of floored. We sounded less like high school students dating and more like adults who were already married, but her logic made perfect sense. I certainly didn’t have preferences either way, so I decided to go for the simpler version and bought two servings, handing one to Nanami. I wanted to be the one to buy these, so I politely declined Nanami’s offer to pay her share.

This was one of those things that was really debatable, but in this case, I wanted to pay because it was kind of like my gift to her. It wasn’t as though I was paying for things all the time, after all. That was probably why, when I gave her the drink, Nanami offered to get the next one. We probably felt the same way about this issue.

The drink we got looked like what it was: chocolate in liquid form. It was in a paper cup, and the contrast between the white container and the brown drink was striking. Under a winter sky that managed to chill me to the core, I could practically feel the radiating heat of the drink through the cup. Steam wafted endlessly from the hot chocolate, like smoke from a campfire.

Since it seemed dangerous to try to drink this in the middle of a crowd, we moved toward the large illuminated structure in the center of the venue. It was a triangular object that lit up its surroundings with yellow light. In front of it was a stage, where groups of girls and various couples stood to take selfies one by one with the object in the background.

We watched the people taking pictures as we sipped our drinks.

“It’s my first time trying this. It’s pretty sweet,” I commented.

“Yeah, I thought it’d be just like hot cocoa, but it’s kind of different. Maybe a little more bitter?” Nanami suggested.

I blew on the drink a few times before bringing my lips to the hot liquid. A nearly searing heat spread throughout my mouth, the scent of chocolate wafting into my nose. When I swallowed, I could feel the heat of the drink travel through my throat down to my stomach.

I truly felt like my body was warming up from the inside. If I drank too quickly I might burn my mouth, but the heat of it was really doing wonders in sheltering my body from the winter chill.

“Shoot, I should’ve blown on the drink and then given it to you,” Nanami muttered, pouting a bit.

“I guess it’s a bit too late for that, huh?” I said. I wondered, though, if it wasn’t difficult for us to do that with a drink. Given that it was liquid, it wasn’t really possible to feed it to each other either.

Nanami then held her cup in both hands and started blowing on it with more determination, her lips still in a pout. She looked as though she was trying to make up for not having done it for my drink earlier.

I followed suit, cooling down my drink before taking another sip. This time, I managed to get a bit more of the scent and flavor of the chocolate, along with its slight bitterness. Maybe because I had gotten used to the temperature, but I was able to actually taste the drink more. The smooth texture of the hot chocolate itself did a lot to bring out its rich sweetness.

I couldn’t help letting out a sigh. It was so funny how eating hot foods could make you do that—though maybe it wasn’t really a sigh, so to speak.

Precisely in that moment, though, Nanami also let out a sigh. She and I looked at each other...and laughed.

“Speaking of chocolate,” Nanami began, looking down at her hot chocolate and then bringing the cup back up to her lips. Did she recall a memory of her and something about chocolate, maybe?

It turned out, though, that she wasn’t thinking about her past, but the future.

“Valentine’s Day is coming up, isn’t it,” she observed.

“Valentine’s?” I repeated robotically, after a slight pause.

“Why are you reacting like you’ve never heard that term before?”

No, I know. Of course I know. I definitely know about Valentine’s; it’s the perfect opportunity to collect in-game items.

As with most other things, I experienced real-life stuff purely through game events, so I honestly had no idea what Valentine’s Day was actually like.

“I see, I’ll be with you next year, so Valentine’s Day will finally have something to do with me,” I let out.

“Um, I’m pretty sure we already talked about how we’ll get to do Valentine’s Day together...”

“Nanami, I need to tell you something: To be honest, anything that had nothing to do with me before I met you will mean nothing to me even if I hear the name,” I said.

“Why do you sound so oddly proud of that?” Nanami asked, looking at me with pity in her eyes for some reason. What was I supposed to do? The phrase “Valentine’s Day” really, truly didn’t ring a bell with me.

“But it must have had something to do with you. I mean, didn’t you get chocolates from your classmates and stuff?” Nanami asked.

“Nanami, I’ll tell you something else: There are people in this world who can’t even get chocolates from their classmates.”

Like me, for example. Besides, I had zero interest in real-life Valentine’s Day. I guess my mom gave me chocolate, but she gave some to my dad too, so that doesn’t really count.

“You didn’t even get chocolates from your classmates?” Nanami mumbled.

“Well, I don’t really recall stuff from elementary school, but...no, not as far as I can remember. My classmates never really noticed me anyway.”

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten chocolate from anyone, ever. At least I don’t think so. I can’t even remember if my own mom actually gave me chocolate. Is Nanami gonna think that I’m pathetic, yet again? When I looked over at Nanami, though, I found her drinking her hot chocolate with a smile on her face. Even her eyes seemed to be twinkling with joy.

“I see. You’ve never gotten chocolate before,” she murmured once more, as if to confirm it out loud. She glanced at me from the side, her lips still attached to her cup.

At first I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but when I saw her looking at me, I realized—belatedly—what she was trying to say.

Does the fact I’ve never gotten chocolate from anyone before actually make Nanami happy? Is she excited that she’ll be the first?

I thought she might say it herself, but because she didn’t seem to be speaking up...