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.