“Cheers!”
Five glasses clinked. It was New Year’s Eve, the coldest night of the year, and the Yuukis and Yoroizukas were gathered at the Yuuki family home for their annual celebration.
“Wow, the crab is amazing!” Keigo’s father said, holding up a crab leg and sounding very impressed.
“Nagi, Nae, please have as much as you like!” added his mother.
“Thanks!” they answered, smiling.
“Mom, this is seriously delicious!” Nagi said excitedly.
“Oh my, the meat is very plump and juicy,” Nae answered mildly.
Nagi’s and her mother’s personalities were as different as their looks, but as Keigo knew well, they sounded nearly identical over the phone.
“Ahh, that was so good…,” Nagi said with a sigh when the crab was finally picked clean, a satisfied smile on her face.
In contrast to the way she dressed at work, that night she was wearing a casual hooded dress with her hair half up. Keigo hadn’t had many opportunities to see her in loungewear since they’d grown up, so there was something intriguingly fresh about her outfit.
“Hey, Nagi, didn’t you want to try heating sake in the crab shell?” he asked, fully in relaxation mode, holding out a bottle of sake to her. Her smile instantly vanished.
“…I’ll use my own, thanks,” she said.
Their parents fell silent at her cold tone. In the midst of that strange quiet, she picked up the bottle in front of her.
“K-Keigo, I’ll have some of yours,” his father said, rescuing the orphaned bottle from his hands. Sorry, Dad, Keigo thought as he felt his mood plunge into depression. The truth was, he hadn’t yet mended his relationship with Nagi. After the ransomware episode, Saotome had fulfilled her promise and told the truth to Nagi and the company president. Keigo had hoped that would fix everything, but reality wasn’t so kind. Maybe that was to be expected. Clearing up the misunderstandings with Saotome didn’t undo the fact that Keigo had confessed his love to Nagi and been totally shot down.
“Hey, Mom!” Nagi said as the group was starting to feel buzzed and the party was finally livening up. “The beer we brought is all gone.”
She turned from the refrigerator to face Nae as she spoke.
“It is? I thought I bought plenty. Would you mind going to get some more?” her mother asked apologetically.
“Sure!” Nagi said with a pleasant nod as she wrapped a scarf around her neck.
“Keigo, you go along with Nagi and keep her safe,” his father said. Needless to say, Keigo had been planning to do that anyway.
“Gotcha,” he answered, standing up.
“I’ll be fine by myself,” Nagi said firmly. Keigo froze, half standing from his chair. “Be back in a minute.”
She walked out the door without a glance in his direction. Only when he heard the entryway door shut did time start to move forward again.
“Did something happen with you and Nagi?” his mother asked suspiciously as he slowly sat back down. His father and Nae were also peering worriedly at him.
“No, nothing in particular…”
“Hmph. I thought you must have told her you liked her and gotten rejected.”
Why were mothers so bizarrely perceptive?
Keigo silently sipped his drink.
“Oh dear, did I guess right?” she asked, wide-eyed.
Please, Mom, don’t pour salt in my wounds!
“Well, if she turned you down, that’s that. Anyway, go catch up with her.”
“Mom, she just told me she didn’t want me to come.”
“Not my problem. What are you going to do if something happens to her?”
Prodded on by her words, despite not completely understanding them, Keigo stood up reluctantly, stuffed his phone and wallet in his pocket, and opened the entryway door.
“…Whoa!”
His exclamation came out in a puff of white air and vanished. Not only was it freezing, but it was snowing, too. A white film had already accumulated on the sidewalk, and he could see what looked like Nagi’s sneaker footprints leading toward the road. He began following them cautiously forward.
“Nagi!”
Turning the first corner, he caught sight of her. She looked back in surprise, then immediately turned away again.
“I told you I’m going alone,” she said curtly, before hurriedly walking off. He followed, irritated.
“Come on, it’s not safe.”
“I’m fine. Just go back.”
He stubbornly kept pace with her as she accelerated, but her patience must have finally run out, because she abruptly whipped around to face him.
“I’m asking you politely. Please do not follow me— Ack!”
Suddenly, she slipped on the snow. As Keigo saw her begin to fall backward, a chill ran down his spine.
“Nagi!”
There was a wet slapping noise, a feeling of heaviness, and then silence.
“Damn…!” he gasped.
He let out a breath of mixed relief and surprise, his arms still clasping Nagi against his stomach. With a quick slide, he had succeeded in inserting himself between her and the ground when she fell.
“Are you hurt?”
He peered at her as she lay unmoving in his arms. Slowly, she turned toward him and nodded, a stunned look on her face. She seemed to be unharmed.
“Good. Don’t scare me like that. I thought my heart was gonna stop.”
He smiled wryly and stroked her hair. Just then, a large tear spilled from her eye.
“…Huh?”
For a second, he thought it was a snowflake falling from the sky. But as he watched, another clear drop of water, and then another, ran down her cheek.
“…U-ungh…”
Before he could figure out what was happening, Nagi started sobbing convulsively. As he listened in a daze, he felt like his body was sinking into the earth.
He could only think of one reason she would be crying like this. She must feel horrible that he had to rescue her after she’d rejected him.