On Christmas Eve, ex-Santa Shinohara Mayu arrived right on time, greeting me with a “Sorry to make you wait.”
“Heya. You’re perfectly on time. I just got here too.”
“I was planning to catch the train before this one, but there were so many people that I was later than I wanted to be.”
I nodded emphatically with her. I’d also noticed there were a whole lot more couples on the trains than usual.
“Shall we?” She offered to lead the way, so I followed.
The men among passing couples shot occasional glances at Shinohara. She’d put more effort into her makeup today than yesterday, so she no longer had the vibe of a younger girl. Her breathtaking cuteness made my heart flutter, I was loath to admit.
We went under an overpass and emerged onto a road separated from the couple-filled main street. It wasn’t quite deserted, but there were far fewer people here.
Unlike the main street’s ten-story giants, this one was lined by a bunch of two-story buildings. All of them were decorated in Christmas colors, and I could tell right away that they were favored by couples.
“Here we are.” Shinohara pointed not at a two-story building, but a staircase leading underground.
As I watched her walk in without hesitation, I remembered what Ayaka had said yesterday.
“Hm? What’s wrong?” Shinohara stopped along the way and looked at me, confused.
“Uh, nothing.” I shook off Ayaka’s warnings and followed her down the stairs. My date reached for the doorknob of the thick door at the end of the staircase.
The door was clearly heavy, so I reached out from behind and pulled it open for her.
Jingle jingle. The moment I opened the door, the telltale sound of Christmas bells greeted us.
A waiter politely introduced himself to us in a way that you didn’t really see at chain restaurants anymore. I instinctively corrected my posture.
“I have a 6:30 reservation under the name Shinohara,” she introduced us.
The waiter bowed again and guided us into the restaurant. It was dim inside, and I couldn’t see any seats from the hallway. Every table was in a private room closed behind a door.
He took us to a booth that fit two people sitting side-by-side. The table already had glasses on it.
Wait, this is…
“It’s a couple’s table, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Well, yes. It’s a full-course Christmas meal,” Shinohara said casually, taking the seat further in before gesturing with her eyes for me to sit as well.
“Umm…”
“This is supposed to be your apology, right?”
“Yeah. My bad.”
Her words reminded me this was a mess of my own making. I’d hyper-focused on how we’d come to a romantic place like this after meeting literally yesterday, but I needed to calm down.
“We can order drinks with each course. Get some booze, if you want.” Shinohara handed me the drink menu. The alcoholic options cost three times what they would at your average izakaya, so if I really wanted to order anything I’d have to consult my wallet first.
“So a full-course meal here is really just 8,000 yen?”
“Yep. This place is one of those hidden gems,” she said proudly.
“That’s good. On that note… Why exactly did you bring me here, again?”
“I’m glad you asked!” Her eyes lit up at my question. It seemed like she had a reason that wasn’t a badger game. “Get this! My boyfriend cheated on me last week! Me!” she huffed angrily. Then, despite there being nothing in her glass yet, she tried to drink from it. “Huh? It’s empty.”
“You should’ve noticed when you picked it up,” I said in exasperation. “By the way, aren’t you underage? If they give you alcohol, don’t drink it.”
Shinohara put down her glass and pouted. “Don’t be so serious. I bet you drank at the new student welcome party.”
The legal drinking age in Japan was twenty, and it was almost always ignored at new student welcome parties. That wasn’t even a new rule brought forth by the modern generation. Just a long-standing, maybe-not-so-good tradition.
“Nope. I politely declined.”
“Reeeally?” Shinohara narrowed her eyes and grinned at me. It was a devilish look, one that could easily manipulate more than a few unwitting men.
After that, we talked about a lot of things—the flow of conversation was helped along by the fact that we went to the same school—until our main dish arrived. Suddenly, Shinohara realized something.
“Now that I’m thinking about it, we stopped talking about me awfully fast. I figured I’d said something shocking enough to warrant some special attention.”
“You forgot too, didn’t you?”
“N-nuh-uh. I was just having fun talking.”
“Same. You wouldn’t think we just met yesterday.”
“Y-yeah. Umm, that aside…” Shinohara cleared her throat and paused for dramatic effect. “I was cheated on.”
“Okay…?” It was her second time telling me, so it lacked impact.
I was more focused on how to respond. When it happened to me, had I put my friends through this mental struggle? While I racked my brain, I sipped on the cocktail I’d ordered as an attempt to disguise my feelings.
She continued, “I put so much research into picking this spot for my romantic Christmas dinner. I just didn’t think I’d be coming with a stranger.”
“You’re the one who asked me out…”
“I reserved this date so I could have this delicious meat and tasty drinks with my boyfriend, and here I am now!”
“You don’t sound all that sad about it.” I had to call her poor acting out.
“Oh. Seen through me, huh?” Shinohara stuck her tongue out. “He was my first boyfriend. I’ve been turning down guys left and right since middle school.”
“Wow. You get a lot of confessions, huh?”
“Yep. I’m plenty popular,” she said casually. It was as if she didn’t even care.
I just nodded along. With those looks, how could she not be?
“I see. Why’d you choose to go out with him, then?”
She thought to herself intently for a minute and snapped her fingers in realization. “Well, y’know. I just wanted to do, like, couple stuff.”
“Oh?”
“I see people’s social media posts, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I wish I could do that.’ I wanted to get a boyfriend and go places.”
“Ah, I see.”
Honestly, it’s not an uncommon reason for people to start going out. Plus, this time of year, you see a lot more posts showing off people’s dates.
Couples who typically only posted after their dates would start posting pre-date selfies as well. Thanks to that, I’d recently been holding off on scrolling social media.
“So yeah, I found my first guy to date. It totally sucks that it ends with him cheating, right? I mean, I don’t even hate that it ended like that. I just hate that I can’t get him back.”
“Yeah. I think that’s normal.”
On the other hand, when the same thing happened to me, I was so shocked that I couldn’t leave my bed for a week. Ayaka got so worried that she took notes in class for me.
“He cheated on me, but he says he still loves me,” Shinohara ranted. “I wanna get revenge, and then we can call it quits.”
“How will you do that?”
“I’m thinking about it right now. I guess the safest thing to do would be to show him that I found someone else, or something. But that means I’ll need someone’s help…”
“Yeah? Good luck with that.” With that, I turned my attention to the filet mignon that had just been brought to us.
“So about that, Senpai…”
“No.”
“I didn’t even say anything!”
Pretending to be someone’s partner… It was a classic trope in manga. I had a feeling she’d ask me. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, so I’d flatly refused just in case. Based on her reaction, I’d hit a bull’s-eye.
“Please! Just for a little while! All we have to do is show him how close we are!”
“No way. I know I offered to take you here, but your relationship drama has nothing to do with me. Ask someone else.”
“It’s too embarrassing to ask my friends!”
That may be true, but it didn’t make me any more willing to do it. There had to be someone better for the job out there. Shinohara was cute. If she asked, tons of men would come out of the woodwork to offer themselves.
“Look, I’ll pay for the meal,” she insisted. “How’s that sound?”
“As if I’d let a first-year do that for me. Let’s just split it.”
If I’d asked her out myself, I would have put the whole thing on my card without hesitation. I had no intention of treating her, but I also didn’t want to be treated.
“No, I made good money doing the Santa thing. If this is the price to hire you, it’s more than worth it. I’m paying no matter what you say, so give up and let me hire you, okay?”
“N-now you’re just being insane…”
“Read my lips: I’m paying. Stop thinking and eat your beef.”
“Filet mignon,” I corrected her. The pamphlet called it “Rossini style.”
“Senpai, what does ‘Rossini style’ mean?”
“Hmm… I think it means they top it with truffles and foie gras?”
“Wow! You know so much!”
I couldn’t bear to tell her I only knew that because I’d eaten it with my ex. I remembered that filet mignon tasted good, but the price had made me take pause.
While I reminisced, I took a bite.
“Damn, that’s good…” I couldn’t help but smack my tongue.
Meat like this typically paired well with red wine, but unfortunately, I did not know the joys of that particular refreshment at the time. Instead, I opened the menu and looked over the other cocktails.
Shinohara watched me and smirked proudly. “Heh heh, so my lengthy investigation of the menu was worthwhile. It’s decided then. I look forward to your help from tomorrow onward.”
I almost spat out my drink. “H-hold on. I’ve got plans tomorrow.”
“Huh? Why do you have plans for Christmas?”
“Hey, it’s a little early to start being that mean.”
“No, it isn’t. Tell me what you’ve got going on.”
“I’ve got a mixer. I don’t plan to stay long, though.”
“A mixer…” She had a ridiculous look on her face.
“Sorry for being the kind of guy to go to a mixer on Christmas Day, I guess.”
“No, that’s fine. If you finish early, then we can meet up after. If not, the next day is fine. Just keep me posted, okay?”
With that decision made, Shinohara started eating her own filet mignon. While she squealed about how delicious the meat was—so excitedly that I could practically imagine heart marks around her—I sighed and wondered how similar she was to Ayaka.
This was shaping up to be one hell of a Christmas.