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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.