The night deepened gradually.
Nearly midnight, the once-bustling shop street finally showed signs of quieting down.
Restaurants began to tidy up tables and chairs and clean up, and the food festival stalls outside were starting to pack up and leave, more or less.
A sudden gust of wind ca in the dead of night, and as the weather forecast had warned of a sharp drop in temperature this evening, Sen Tian Makoto, who was standing at the entrance of the Sen Tian Pastry Shop, shivered in the chill. It was only then that she fully realized how severe the temperature drop had been.
With no custors left, she finally had the chance to go upstairs and find a scarf to fend off the cold, but just as she was about to step away, the clear conversation of two n passing by the shop made her subconsciously pause in her tracks.
Two n with the appearance of photographers with caras slung around their necks discussed excitedly.
"Chef Xia’s Christmas food festival stall was really popular tonight, all the red wine sold out in just half an hour before!"
"Not just Chef Xia’s stall, the whole street has been terrifyingly busy tonight. When this gets reported tomorrow, it’s going to turn heads throughout the Japanese Food Industry."
"If you ask , Chef Xia set the prices too low for the snacks, 500 yen for a cup of hot red wine, a bag of roasted chestnuts, even elentary students could afford it. That’s why the queue was so terrifying. Really, I’d prefer higher prices, to scare away other custors so that we could freely enjoy the tastings over and over again. That would be just perfect!"
"Hey, stop dreaming, this is a holiday giveaway, who knows when we’ll get another chance like this!"
Only when their voices faded into the distance did Sen Tian Makoto resu her steps.
Thud, thud, thud!
Her footsteps in her little boots unexpectedly picked up a lightness, and feeling pleased, she went to her room. As she stood in front of the dressing mirror tying a scarf around her neck, she couldn’t help but glance over at a gift box on the vanity.
The gift box was tied with a bow, and inside was nothing out of the ordinary, just a knitted scarf. To talk about its significance, it was the scarf that a girl from the Polar Star Dormitory had stayed up late to knit stitch by stitch. The band-aid still wrapped around her finger was from a careless mont when she dozed off and pricked herself with the knitting needle.
"Ding-ding, ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding..."
Suddenly, an alarm rang out in the room, and with an "ah!" Sen Tian Makoto, who had set the reminder alarm herself, of course rembered. She slapped her forehead, "It’s only 10 minutes until midnight!"
"Don’t be scared, Makki!"
Clasping her cellphone tightly, the girl talked to herself, psyching herself up with a resolute expression.
She opened the Line app.
"Are you there?"
"..."
Just after she sent this ssage, Sen Tian Makoto looked at the history of ssages she had sent without a response from the night before till late tonight. There were about seven or eight "Are you there?" ssages, she guessed. She stuck out her tongue and a pair of adorable pink blushes appeared on her cheeks. She murmured shyly and annoyed, stomping her foot, "Yu really, hasn’t replied to since yesterday, what’s he up to?"
The girl faintly realized that if she continued to send similar "Are you there?" pointless ssages, she might not get the response she was hoping for.
Once again mustering her courage, her fingertips slightly trembling, she struggled to type out a ssage:
"If you see this, please co to that place, you know it. I have a Christmas gift for you!"
"You must co! I’ll wait for you!"
Click!
She locked the phone screen, unable to see the chat box anymore. Her racing heart finally began to settle back to a normal pace. The girl clutched the phone, closed her eyes then opened them, inhaled and then exhaled, repeating these actions for a couple of minutes until she finally cald down.
She found the gift bag, put the gift box in it, and naturally, in addition to the scarf, there were two boxes of Christmas snacks marked with her own imprint, Sen Tian Makoto. One was a box of chocolate candies, and the other, a Christmas Day cake.
Grabbing the bag, she thudded down the stairs, and the sound of her steps alerted Mrs. Sen Tian in the kitchen, who peeked out and called out to the girl as she bolted past the pastry shop, "Makki, where are you off to?!"
The girl didn’t answer and on her way, she picked up a small cardboard box from the corner of the shop entrance. Now with her hands full, she disappeared into the blustery winds of the shop street.
...
The Xia Family’s Christmas Food Festival stall had closed.
Dealing with the empty wine bottles was headache-inducing enough. The cooking pots and frying pans had to be moved back to the courtyard, and it was worth ntioning that the snacks from the Yuchuan Sisters and Zhu Qing sold out tonight and received glowing reviews as well.
As the clientele of the storefront left, the street outside grew emptier; however, a car idled in the darkness.
The driver was a professionally-suited chauffeur, quiet and reserved.
In the back seat, Alice in a Western dress bit her lip and sat restlessly, occasionally lighting up her phone screen to check the silent chat box, and then cursed through clenched teeth, "Playing dead, playing dead, I dare you to keep playing dead! Not even replying to my ssages!"
Frustrated, she kicked the seat in front, while the driver in the front seat kept his gaze straight ahead, not looking anywhere else.
With fingers trembling in anger, she typed out another ssage:
"My dearest, dearest, dearest lecturer, do you want my Christmas gift or not? I’m right outside your doorstep, co out now!"
"Within arm’s reach!"
It was a bold statent, perfectly in line with the previous successful night raid.
After sending the ssage, Alice turned to glance at the perfectly intact gift bag beside her, and after confirming nothing was amiss, she exhaled, her eyes revealing a mix of anxiety and anticipation, "The lecturer will co out, right? I’m right at his door. If he doesn’t show up..."
anwhile, in the suburbs of Tokyo, Hakone.
Between the mountains, at Chiyoda Shrine, Tiqie Helinai leaned on a vermillion railing, overlooking the twinkle of lights in the small town below, eyes carrying a tinge of stubborn irritation.
Rembering how she had waited at the door for him all afternoon only to be disappointed, bang!
She kicked the railing with force and after a while, her modest chest cald down, Eriina looked emotionless as she unlocked her phone screen to see the familiar chat interface.
The chat partner’s avatar was the victorious toast on the stage from the Sapporo competition, stars shining bright.
Just like Sen Tian Makoto, a history of conversations that felt all too familiar.
Are you there?
Are you really there or not?
Don’t play dead, at least make a peep.
The most recent ssage, sent by Eriina as she gave up waiting and took a private car to the Hakone Chiyoda Shrine for the winter workshop, was cold yet furious: "I tossed your Christmas present in the bin. Forget about it!"
Now in a different place and mood, Eriina looked at the ssage again, a wave of emotion appearing in her eyes. Her finger hovered over the "Unsend" button, but the text stayed put, and she finally let her shoulders slump in surrender.
What to do now?
Frowning and biting her lip, Eriina kept hitting the railing, filled with regret. Acting on impulse in anger was truly deadly. How should she tell that annoying guy that she had left the Christmas present at a certain place and had soone else pass it on?
...
"Phew!"
Hearing the midnight chi from within the restaurant, Xia Yu finally finished with the stove and had a mont to wipe the sweat from his forehead, displaying what he believed to be an innocent smile, "Christmas Eve is over, did I successfully evade calamity?"
It was an unexpectedly quiet day, unbelievably so.
Tch!
He had to silently comnd his own brilliance and courage. These young girls, with their tender faces, were too shy to give gifts in person, so the mobile phone beca their channel to pass ssages. That’s why Xia Yu had preemptively predicted this situation yesterday and left his phone charging by the bed, turned off, not carrying it with him.
What exactly was going on yesterday?
Honestly, he was quite curious.
After midnight had passed and it was officially Christmas Day, Xia Yu finally casually went upstairs to find his phone by the bed.
The boot-up animation flashed by.
Ding! Ding!
Notification bar ssages popped up, indeed from the chat app.
But opening the app, a bunch of top-ranked avatars with red unread ssage notifications made Xia Yu hiss, "Holy shit, this amount... gives a bad feeling!"
Right then, Xia Yu shivered, sensing an overwhelming grudge rushing toward him.
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