The kids weren’t particularly surprised by the gifts.
They had received presents like this last year too.
I knew that the person who left the gifts was Kagami, since I had accidentally broken the surprise, but the kids who woke up from a deep sleep had no clue.
Especially Koko was like that.
“……”
Ah, never mind. It seems Yuuki had some idea. After all, last year’s Santa was Yamashita-kai’s Yakuza uncle.
So, Yuuki must have known why Kagami had followed us. There was no reason to disclose who Santa was, so it was just a topic he didn’t mention.
Looking at his expression, it seemed like he was worried about something. With Yuuki’s usual blank expression, emotions aren’t usually laid bare, but the way he kept staring at the kids’ boxes made it seem that way.
I wasn’t too worried. As long as it wasn’t a game console for Christmas, I thought I could just let it slide.
Isn’t the important thing that there was the intent to give gifts?
Seeing the kids excitedly opening their boxes made me pull mine closer.
Gift exchanges at this age will have already happened yesterday anyway.
The box wasn’t particularly heavy.
When I gave it a slight shake, I heard something soft moving inside, which means it wasn’t hard stuff either.
While I was tilting my head in confusion,
“Whoa!”
I heard Koko’s excited voice from the side.
In Koko’s hands was… a red sweater. It looked hand-knit from wool.
Embroidered on the left chest was ‘KOKO.’
When I tore off the wrapping, I found a matching red sweater.
It had ‘KOTONE’ stitched on the left chest.
All the other kids had the same gifts, but only Koko and I had our names on them. It seems like the kids around me didn’t have that much affection to carve out names.
Well, if you had to point it out, Kagami’s daughter is the two of us.
Koko immediately put on the sweater over her clothes, and I followed suit.
Seeing us do that, the kids laughed and copied us.
To be honest, it looks a little out there to wear outside. If asked whether it’s to the extent that I can’t wear it outside, I’d say it’s not quite that bad, but somehow it feels like finding matching clothes won’t be easy.
But seeing a group wearing them together makes it feel a bit better.
The atmosphere felt strangely off, but thinking of it as a group outfit made it look a bit better.
If it was hand-knitted, it must’ve taken quite some time. Did they make it while we were at school?
Pfft.
Finally, Harumi burst into laughter seeing the weird situation. It spread to Mako and Yuuki beside her, and soon the whole room was filled with laughter.
Well, that’s good.
So, shall we spend the day in these?
*
I couldn’t live in pajamas all day, so first, I took off the sweater and had a wash.
After drying my hair, I put the sweater back on over my clothes.
It was a bit big, but it wasn’t going to fall off, so I thought I’d just wear it.
After tidying up the room a bit and enjoying breakfast with meals brought by the people helping at the house, I chatted briefly before stepping outside.
“Oh, Koto Ne, Koko. Merry Christmas—”
Just as Kagami came towards our room, she waved at me and Koko, and then was startled.
She probably didn’t expect us all to come out wearing the sweaters she knitted.
Seeing everyone in the sweaters she made made her a bit embarrassed it seemed.
No, perhaps it wasn’t just embarrassing but a little scary. I could see a drop of sweat bead on her forehead.
“Merry Christmas.”
I greeted Kagami with an indifferent expression.
“Are you heading out…?”
Why? You’re the one who gifted them.
You weren’t expecting us to only wear them at home, were you?
Ah, maybe she hadn’t thought we’d wear them like a group uniform.
Though, it might feel bad to just give gifts to us alone and then give them to other kids too.
“Not right now, but shortly.”
“Oh, okay.”
Her expression seemed to hold something she wanted to say but couldn’t, which was a bit amusing.
After hesitating for a moment, I hugged Kagami lightly.
“Ah.”
“Thanks.”
I quickly said that in a small voice and backed off with a smile.
“That is…”
Kagami seemed to have forgotten her earlier embarrassment and was now blushing for a different reason.
It seemed her earlier embarrassment had faded away while a new one took its place.
Back in the day, Kagami would have been really shy if I had told her to hug me.
But after being hugged by her so often, I’ve completely gotten used to it.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
“Ah, yeah. Take care. Have a good day.”
I wasn’t sure if it was right to have such a conversation in someone else’s house.
But seeing how she hesitated to follow along after saying she came over to play with Koko and me, it seemed she was only here to deliver the gifts.
After teasing Kagami like that, we made our way outside.
Christmas in Japan isn’t particularly a day off, but students have winter break around then. We are no exception.
We hadn’t decided on where to go.
Anywhere would do, right?
Seeing high school girls all dressed in bright red sweaters roaming about, people turned to look our way. Although they all had coats on, it stood out with the open fronts from the front.
Some even laughed. But it didn’t seem like mockery. After all, we were just kids full of energy, looking lively must’ve been heartwarming.
“It’s Christmas! Let’s go eat cake!”
Harumi said, leading the way.
“Whoa!”
“Sounds good!”
At Harumi’s words, we all shouted in unison and marched forward.
*
A few days after Christmas had passed,
On New Year’s Eve.
“…You really like that sweater?”
Seeing me wearing it every time I went out, Kagami asked with genuine confusion.
“If I didn’t like it, would I wear it?”
To be honest, my fashion sense isn’t that great. Usually, I think just wearing something decent is enough.
And this sweater did stick out a bit with its bright red color. To tell the truth, I don’t have many clothes that match well with it.
But.
“I think it’s okay to wear it. Santa gave it to me after all.”
“Whoa!”
“……”
Going from the position of the teased to that of the teaser, I began to understand why Kagami wanted to take that position.
This is fun, really.
Besides, what I said wasn’t even a lie. The color might seem a bit out there, and while I don’t have many matching outfits, it’s not bad if worn for longer.
There are weirder clothes in the world than this one, so I don’t think I need to worry.
Also, since Koko is wearing the same color, it’ll look like we’re dressed alike as sisters.
“Is that so?”
When I grinned a little, Kagami spoke with a slightly confused expression.
Why, you made it.
Are you perhaps lacking in confidence in your skills?
“It’s fine. When I wore it around Christmas, people didn’t look at me strangely, and they were wearing red coats, so this sweater is nothing.”
Only after I said that did Kagami seem a little reassured.
So she realized I wasn’t just teasing her.
“If you’re worried I’ll wear it tomorrow, that’s fine, right? We’ll all be in traditional outfits anyway.”
“True.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought too.
I assumed Kagami would’ve made reservations to spend New Year’s with us months ago.
Where to spend New Year’s had me thinking, but this year I’m likely going to Kurosawa’s family home. I’ve been keeping up with it for that.
I told my friends about it, and since most of my friends have already attended my funeral… they shouldn’t have any trouble finding the place.
But Koko and I won’t be working in shrine maiden attire.
After gathering with the shrine maidens in the morning for a brief New Year’s event, the three of us would go to Yukane separately. Since there aren’t many shrine maidens, there’s no need to have us all come to our family home, so we decided to keep it brief.
Well, it would be strange if some politicians frequented suspicious places from the start of the year.
In a way, it’s a relief. It might get busy in a few years, but it hasn’t come to that yet.
“Then, it’s okay to wear this when we go out?”
When I asked, Kagami chuckled.
“I’ve never said it was not okay.”
“I hope Mom gets presents next year too. So the three of us can wear the same thing.”
“Is that so?”
Kagami laughed at my words.
“That sounds good. It would be nice if the three of us could wear the same clothes together.”
Looking at her expression, it seemed like something similar would happen soon enough without waiting till next year.
I shrugged my shoulders and headed to the entrance.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.