Chapter 59: Volume 3 - CH 1.3

“All right. Then we’ll both go to the game shop.”

“You don’t understand, do you?! Clearly, you haven’t got that Christmas sale out of your head!”

My answer that contained my lingering feeling for games only made Yuzu seriously pissed off and she glared at me with icy eyes.

“Yamato-kun, no matter how much time passes, you will just never gain the awareness of being a boyfriend, will you?”

“Well, I’m fake anyway…”

I tried to knock down a straight argument, but perhaps that displeased Yuzu, and her expression became even grimmer.

“But the feelings of love for Yuzu-chan are real, aren’t they? Okay, I’ve made up my mind. I’ve decided to ban games in the clubroom after all,” Yuzu cut me off.

“WAIT A MINUTE!” I hurriedly put a stop to Yuzu as she was about to carry out the final ultimatum.

“I won’t. You better reflect on the Christmas matter.”

“No, I already reflected a lot, as deep as the Mariana Trench1.”

“I can’t trust you.”

It seemed that in the past few minutes I had completely lost Yuzu’s trust in me and her mood was not picking up.

Darn it… I must do something.

“Then at least give me a chance. I’ll think about it properly this time.”

“…Really?”

Perhaps my desperate pleas reached her, Yuzu’s attitude softened a little. I nodded repeatedly as if to pry open the slightest possible gap.

“Really. Please, give me a chance to prove my love for Yuzu-chan.”

“Mmm… I don’t feel bad when you say so. Okay, I’ll give you one chance.”

“Thank you for your blessing.”

I was relieved that the sanction had been successfully withdrawn.

“Well, go and plan a nice Christmas date by next week. If I like it, we’ll let bygones be bygones for now.”

“’…By the way, what if you don’t like it…?”

“I’ll confiscate all the memory cards in the clubroom.”

“You’re a devil!” I almost screamed at this extreme punishment.

Unlike modern game consoles, which were capable of storing save data on their own, the retro game console we were using in the clubroom could only store saved data on an artefact from the ancient relic called a memory card.

“Fufufu. Go ahead and taste the hell of not being able to save no matter how far you go in the game,” Yuzu smiled wickedly, perhaps satisfied with the look of fear and horror on my face.

“What a pointless system… Holy cow!”

Did my indifference to Christmas create a demon?

“Now I’m really looking forward to next week. Right, Yamato-kun?”

I glared back at Yuzu, who sent me an amused look, setting my teeth on edge.

“Damn… I’ll never be defeated. I’m going to make a perfect Christmas date plan and shut you up.”

The declaration of war, very much unlike an exchange between a couple, echoed through the night streets.

==

It was a weekday, the day after that night of my declaration of war.

Even though it was lunchtime, I didn’t eat with Yuzu, but sat at the root of a tree in the backyard, chewing on a piece of bread and staring at my phone.

“I need to think up a suitable plan for Christmas…”

With a sense of urgency, I searched for information, but nothing seemed to feel right.

“Christmas at a famous theme park… That will surely be crowded to death, and I doubt I can get a ticket in the first place. Exclusive Christmas meal plan… That is too expensive. I’m a high school student, you know!”

The internet had always been a place where old information from years ago lingered on, and where business people would write stealth articles to promote their products. And when it involved a big event like Christmas, the amount of information was already overwhelming.

It was difficult to find the information I wanted.

“In the first place, there are just too many events that cost money. Again, I’m telling you, I’m just a high school student!”

Many of the articles by corporations were aimed at working people with strong financial resources or were date plans that required people to spend a lot of money. Couldn’t there be an event just right for me? Affordable, with a good mood and easy to enjoy.

“Sigh… Isn’t there anything nice? An event that is affordable, with a good mood and easy to enjoy?” A voice of a girl suddenly entered my ears.

I looked around in surprise since the content was so identical to what I had in mind. Then, just on the other side of the tree that I was leaning against, I saw flaxen hair fluttering in the air.

“…Kotani?” When I called her name, the girl on the other side of the tree turned around warily.

She had flaxen hair and a well-defined face. It turned out to be Kotani Aki as I had guessed. She was also holding a smartphone in her hand as if she was doing some research.

“Isn’t this Izumi? I didn’t recognise you at all, aren’t you a little too blended in the background?” Kotani widened her eyes in surprise upon discovering me.

“Leave that be. That’s my strength,” I somewhat defiantly countered and received a bemused look from Kotani.

“What kind of strength is that… Rather than that, what are you doing here?”

“Nothing much, I’m just having my lunch.”

“Heh… Alone without Yuzu?”

I shrugged my shoulders at her curious words.

“I also have a time like this. But isn’t it rare for you to be by yourself there?”

It didn’t look like she was waiting for Sakuraba, she must’ve been here to think alone.

“…I also have times where I’m alone like this.”

“I see.” I nodded and our conversation ended.

Although we were connected through Yuzu, Kotani and I had very little contact with each other. If we were complete strangers, we could just ignore each other, but the fact that we weren’t was extremely troublesome.

Thanks to that, my introverted trait of being comfortable talking about business but being incapable of making small talk, reared its head.

“…May I ask, what are you planning on Christmas with Yuzu?”

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chocolala: Yay, the date is on (while still in conception)!