Prologue
I’LL NEVER FORGET THAT DAY.
I had a girlfriend, and the next day would mark our one-year anniversary.
Her name? Aisaka Reina.
We went to different universities, but being the same age gave us a lot to talk about. And jeez, she was way out of my league. She was sweet too. You could tell people were jealous of us.
Dating in university is different than in middle or high school, of course. We naturally had an adult relationship and enjoyed everything that came with it. In a way, maybe it was natural for people to be jealous.
I was proud too, to be dating a girl like her. I was so passionate that I was planning a big surprise—something I’d normally never do.
“What’s a good idea for a first anniversary, I wonder?”
I was holding an expensive bottle of champagne I’d bought for our anniversary date. Drinking champagne together—a champagne made for commemorating anniversaries, at that—seemed like a perfect plan for today, but it never would’ve occurred to the old me.
I’d made a reservation at her favorite Italian restaurant tomorrow too. I was sure she’d be elated.
As I approached her house, two emotions were battling it out inside me: excitement over how she’d react and the anxiety that I hadn’t done enough.
But what awaited at her house was an incomprehensible sight—my girlfriend was holding hands with another man. So I said the natural thing. “Let’s break up.”
How could I expect a year-long relationship to end like this? That was one month before I’d meet Santa, a beautiful woman whose arrival would change my life forever.
✦ ✦ ✦
The smoke from my cigarette swirled around under the cold winter sky. Yeah, I’d started smoking this year, by the way.
“Be nice all you want, but Santa still never comes…” I—Hasegawa Yuuta—complained to myself in a park near the train station.
“Depending on what he’s offering, even I could be tempted to be good,” the woman next to me, a friend named Mino Ayaka, replied with a smile as she waited for me to finish smoking. The look on her face spoke volumes.
“Such as?”
“A boyfriend!”
“Figures,” I responded bluntly to the expected answer.
Ayaka pursed her lips unhappily. “What? That’s normal, isn’t it? Everyone wants a partner around this time of year.” As I lit my third cigarette, she demanded, “What do you want?” She knew my answer, just like I knew hers, and she was already smirking about it.
“Money.”
“Pfft, ha! Called it!” She burst into laughter right on cue.
“Shut up.” It was my turn to purse my lips unhappily. Of course, that only made her laugh harder.
“Still hung up over your ex, huh?”
“Hell no.”
“Ha ha! Aww, man! You’re a riot!”
“I said no!” I raised my voice in irritation, prompting her to finally calm down.
“Sorry, sorry. It was just so funny.”
“You’re awful.”
“Aww, don’t pout.” She patted my shoulder, her mouth still twitching in an effort to stifle her laughter. I just sighed.
Ayaka and I had known each other for a long time—we’d been friends from our second year in high school to our second year of university now. We were in the same department, so we spent a lot of time together.
She had a conventionally pretty face, so she was popular, but anyone who got to know her would quickly realize she had a, uh, unique personality. As a result, she was terminally single.
Personally, I didn’t mind how she laughed off people’s troubles. When she’d made light of my breakup, it genuinely made things a little easier.
Reina and I naturally called things off a month ago after she’d cheated on me. Most of my friends were shocked and tried to console me. I didn’t like being pitied that way, though, so I was grateful for how Ayaka could just laugh it off.
Some people disliked her for that, but she was a good person overall. Even now, she patiently waited for me to finish smoking despite not being a smoker herself.
“So, what’s the deal there? You keep in contact at all?”
“Don’t be stupid. No way I can handle that.”
“Yeah, I get it. So does that mean you’ll be coming to a mixer or two soon?” Ayaka’s eyes sparkled with excitement. She interacted with all kinds of people, and she occasionally held mixers that she’d invite me to.
“Meeeh.”