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“Wow, this is amazing! It looks like a restaurant! Can I take a picture?”

Before I could even answer, Inazuki started snapping photos of the food. I didn’t think it was anything worth photographing, but Inazuki seemed to be having fun.

“If you want to eat it, go ahead. I wasn’t sure what to do with it anyway.”
“…Oh, okay. Then I’ll eat some.”

She picked up a few pieces of finger food.

Even though I couldn’t get my parents to eat it, if Inazuki was willing to, that was good enough for me. Eating food you made for someone else all by yourself was a bit, well, lonely.

“It’s as delicious as ever. You could open a restaurant.”
“I think you’re exaggerating. But I’m glad you like it.”
“…Alright! Today, let’s finish all of this ourselves!”

Inazuki sat down and beckoned me over.

Even though I made a smaller portion, it was still enough for three people. Inazuki couldn’t possibly eat that much, but she looked proud.

Holding a glass filled with cocktail salad, she flashed me a peace sign. After a moment of hesitation, I took a picture of her.

Her smile was dazzling—almost out of place in this house.

“Iroha, you smile too! Say cheese!”

I tried to smile.

But as always, Inazuki gave me a strained smile, as if my attempt hadn’t quite landed.

“You’re still bad at smiling, huh?”
“I actually enjoy being with you, Inazuki. But… maybe my facial muscles are out of practice.”

I might have become too slow at changing my expression because I’ve spent so much time taking it easy.

But since words could convey emotions more easily than expressions, I didn’t mind too much.

Inazuki was smiling plenty on my behalf, after all.

We continued eating. After a while, Inazuki began to look uncomfortable, but she still didn’t stop.

“Let’s call it a meal. You’ll get a stomach ache if you keep going.”
“…But…”
“It’s okay. I understand. You’re really kind, Inazuki.”

Inazuki was probably trying to ease my loneliness. But it was already enough. Just the fact that she ate some of my cooking here in this house had already saved me. I didn’t want to see her force herself any further and suffer because of it.

“I really like that about you, Inazuki.”

I smiled. This smile wasn’t a lie.

“Yeah… Well then, um… Thank you for the meal. It was delicious.”
“It was nothing special. Thank you for eating it.”

I covered the remaining food with plastic wrap and decided to make some tea for Inazuki, who still looked uncomfortable. Since black tea might keep her up at night, I brewed chamomile tea and placed it in front of her.

She drank the tea for a while, but eventually, she slapped her cheeks with her hands and stood up.

There was a serious look in her eyes, as if she was about to start something.

It was a look different from mine—serious and beautiful. I liked that about her. I had come to appreciate everything about Inazuki, finding and cherishing both our similarities and differences until I genuinely grew fond of her as a person.

Inazuki walked to the entrance and returned with her suitcase.

Inside the opened suitcase, besides clothes and a toothbrush, there were a lot of green things packed in it.

I tilted my head in confusion. They looked like pieces of folded wood, something odd. As I wondered what they were, she handed me one of them.

“…? What’s this? Did you find it somewhere?”
“Bringing in some random wood I picked up? I wouldn’t do something that silly… It’s a Christmas tree.”
“A tree? So this is what it looks like.”

When I thought of a Christmas tree, I imagined something much bigger. But for a home, this size might be just right.

I gently placed the tree she handed me on the floor. It flopped over with a soft thud.

“No, no… That’s not how it works. You stick it into this base. Watch.”

With practiced ease, she inserted the scruffy-looking stick into the base and spread out the folded branches. In no time, it took on the familiar shape of a Christmas tree.

But it looked a little lonely without any decorations on it.

“And now, let’s decorate it together.”

She pulled out a box from the suitcase and opened the lid.

Inside were gold and silver baubles, along with colorful tinsel. I picked up one of the ornaments.

“Decorating the Christmas tree is one of the best parts. At my house, we’d do this about a week before Christmas, then wait for the day to come.”
“Is that how it’s done?”

Inazuki also grabbed an ornament and began hanging it on the branches.

She was a bit haphazard in her approach, attaching decorations wherever she felt like it without considering the overall balance. Some branches ended up overloaded with ornaments, while others were left bare and looked rather forlorn.

I added ornaments to those neglected branches, evening things out.

It was fun, but at the same time, it felt a little off. The colorful tree in the middle of the living room didn’t quite match the atmosphere of my house—it felt out of place.

“Iroha, Iroha. Look this way.”
“What is it?”
“Here, a scarf.”

She wrapped a length of gold tinsel, meant for the tree, around my neck.

It was scratchy.

“I’ll wrap it around you too.”

I took the other end of the long tinsel and draped it around Inazuki’s neck.

Connected by the gold tinsel, we naturally ended up looking into each other’s eyes. It was a fragile connection, but as we decorated the tree together and played around like this, I felt my heart gradually filling up.

Inazuki really was a mystery. She was always doing sudden things or things I’d never even think of, making it hard to keep up with her.

Inazuki’s eyes were fixed solely on me. And in my eyes, it was likely that only Inazuki was reflected as well. What that meant, I wasn’t sure, and if someone asked, I wouldn’t know how to answer.

“Inazuki, gold really suits you.”
“For you, Iroha… it’s not quite right. Maybe a cuter color would be better.”
“…I see.”

The image of Inazuki with golden hair flashed in my mind.

Come to think of it…

The vision of Inazuki I saw in the classroom before had golden hair. Her earrings were silver, exactly the same colors as the tinsel she brought today.

I felt a strange emotion stirring within me. It was a mix of discomfort, nostalgia, and sadness. What was this feeling?

It felt like my emotion, but at the same time, it didn’t.

“Iroha.”

She gently narrowed her eyes and reached out to me. Her hand softly touched my shoulder, making my body shiver.

The distance between us, linked by the tinsel, was close.

Just when I thought it might happen, her hand slid from my shoulder down my arm, finally reaching my side. The moment I realized what she was doing, she tickled me under my arm with all her might.

“…Huh?”
“Sorry, I’m not really ticklish under my arms.”

As I said that, I reached under her arm. Just that slight touch made her body jolt, and her lips quivered.

We shouldn’t do to others what we wouldn’t want done to ourselves.

That saying came to mind. Inazuki must have tried to tickle me because she was not fond of being tickled under her arms.

With a bit of mischief, I lightly tickled her underarm. Her reaction was immediate and exaggerated—her body jerked in surprise, her face froze in a smile, and her waist instinctively tried to escape.

But, bound by the golden tinsel, we couldn’t separate.

I gently wrapped my arm around her retreating waist.

“Ahaha! Hooh… Pfff, s-stop…”

Her smile was different this time, strained and desperate.

That expression… it might be nice to see it more often.

It’s not that I got bored of the same smile, but seeing a different one felt refreshing and fun. And above all, Inazuki’s face was adorable. It wasn’t just her attractive features, but the way she moved and the expressions she formed—they were simply endearing.

That’s why I loved her smile.

Her laughter echoed through the quiet house. Startled by the sound, I stopped. Inazuki was panting, looking completely exhausted. I might have made her laugh a bit too much.

As I removed the tinsel from around our necks, she collapsed onto the floor.

“I-I thought I was going to die.”
“Sorry, I got carried away.”
“I almost got killed because of that.”
“I just couldn’t resist—I wanted to see more of your smile.”
“…That’s so unfair. When you say things like that, I can’t even argue.”

After wrapping the tinsel around the tree, I gently rubbed Inazuki’s back.

“Why did you suddenly try to tickle me?”

I asked Inazuki.

“I’m the same, Iroha. I wanted to see you smile.”
“I see. Sorry that I couldn’t smile well.”
“It’s okay. Someday, I’ll make you burst out laughing.”

Bursting out laughing seemed a bit different from what I had in mind. Was she planning to perform a comedy routine?

“Could you give me a hand? My legs gave out.”
“Sure, here you go.”

She took the hand I offered.

I squeezed her hand tightly, supporting her weight. Her hand was warm, as if the coldness from earlier had been a lie.

Everything was as it always was. When I was with Inazuki, no matter where we were, it felt like she kept me grounded.

“…Is there nowhere on your body where you’re ticklish, Iroha?”
“Didn’t you say you’d make me laugh with your own power?”
“That’s true, but… I’m curious. Tell me.”
“…Well.”

While I had been playfully tickled under my arms before, I’ve never been touched anywhere else. I tried to think of places that might be ticklish, but I couldn’t really tell.

I grabbed a cushion from the sofa, placed it under my head, and lay down on the floor.

“Iroha?”
“Go ahead and search, Inazuki. If tickling can make me laugh, I’d like to give it a try.”
“Eh… Oh, um, okay. If you excuse me…”

Despite having just stood up, Inazuki sat back down and reached out to me.

Her fingers were slender and beautiful.

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