“Besides, I had just found the perfect event.” 

Keigo took out a magazine from his bag and showed it to her.

“What’s this… ‘Christmas Fulfilment’?”

The name of the event was listed along with a picture of the beautiful winter light display. Apparently, it was an event to be held on Christmas Eve at a neighbouring station.

Yuzu inquired further, “So this is the perfect event you said?” 

It was indeed a beautiful view, but there were plenty of other options for something as good as this. Yuzu found it nice that the venue was close by, but she didn’t get any other impression that appealed to her.

“Yeah, actually this event is special in that you invite your crush there and hold your confession. A lot of people come here for that, so it’s perfect, isn’t it?”

“I see…”

If the event had such an objective, it might be just the right one. However, there remained one major problem.

“…But isn’t that the same as confessing to someone when you invite them to this event?” When Yuzu pointed out this fatal flaw, for some reason Keigo chuckled.

“Yeah. So, without telling Aki anything, I recommended her to invite Sota to this event. That way, she won’t have to be brave and her confession will already be realised without her knowing about it.”

“You’re so crafty…” 

Yuzu was exasperated, but Keigo only shrugged like he had said nothing wrong.

“It’s for my important friends’ sake, so I don’t mind playing dirty. In truth, don’t you also think this is just perfect?”

With a smile, Yuzu nodded at his words, , “Yes, I suppose so. Except for one mistake.”

“Mistake? What mistake?”

 Yuzu quietly pointed at the perplexed Keigo’s back, “Look behind you.”

“What an interesting plan you have there, Keigo.”

There was Aki, who had heard everything. At once, blood drained from Keigo’s face.

“N-no, this is…”

“What? I’ll listen to any excuse you have.”

“Nothing! I’m sorry!” Keigo was instantly defeated by Aki’s tremendous pressure.

With these two friends absorbed, Yuzu stared at the photos of the ‘Christmas Fulfilment’. A fantastic landscape of vivid winter light displays and fountains; the perfect situation for a confession.

“…I don’t think he would invite me to this kind of thing, though.” Without thinking, a sigh was spilled from Yuzu’s mouth concerning a different matter. 

He said he would think of a date plan, but she wondered to what extent he would actually commit to it. Her boyfriend had always been an ever-elusive one.

“He did work hard during the cultural festival, but this time…”

Would it be too extravagant for me to demand that once again?

Perhaps Yuzu’s worries were shown on her face, Aki’s attention was drawn this way while she was intimidating Keigo.

“What’s wrong, Yuzu?”

""

“Nuh-uh, it’s nothing.”

To her bewildered friend, Yuzu concealed her real thoughts with a smile.

==

T/N

Exactly one week had passed since Yuzu assigned me to plan a Christmas date.

“Well, today is the deadline for telling me the date plan, have you thought it through properly without running away?”

In the literature club room after school. Today, when the promised date arrived, Yuzu and I were confronting each other face-to-face.

“Of course. I’m a guy who’s good at levelling up. I’ve raised my level as a boyfriend exactly this past week,” I smiled smugly back at her as I already had the plan all prepared.

Having decided on the main event, I spent a week planning the day’s activities and assessing all possible problems. 

I would present her with a date plan that was perfect and flawless.

“Wow, that’s something to look forward to,” Yuzu also smiled like a demon king and toyed with the multiple memory cards in the palm of her hand.

If my date plan was not well received, I would have to say goodbye to those memory cards forever. Little devices filled with irreplaceable memories and saved data that held the key to unlocking the future. Without fail, I’d protect it.

“Well then, Yamato! Announce your date plan!”

In answer to Yuzu’s command, I nodded my head.

“Here… it is!” I took out of my bag a magazine I bought a few days ago. “We’re going to take part in this ‘Christmas Fulfilment’ event! This is my plan!” 

With determination, I unleashed my best move. So now, what would be Yuzu’s ruling?

There was a long pause before she exclaimed, “…Huh?”

In front of me, who watched with bated breath, Yuzu stiffened with a blank look on her face. The memory cards fell out of her hand.

“Whoa!” I caught the memory cards on pure reflex, just before they hit the floor.

“Th-that was close… I almost lost my saved data.”

After letting out a sigh of relief, I glanced up at Yuzu.

“Hey, Yuzu! What are you doing all of a sudden? Ah, could it be that you didn’t like my plan, so you tried to destroy the memory cards…?” 

When I timidly asked her about it, Yuzu behaved oddly before suddenly returning to her senses.

“N-nothing. I didn’t think Yamato would invite me to such an event, so I was so surprised.”

Apparently, she had thought I would come up with the lamest plan of them all. That was quite a shock. 

​​Yuzu then for some reason looked at me with a flabbergasted expression on her face.

“Um, for the record, did anyone instigate you to choose that event or anything like that?” She asked curiously.

For a moment, the faces of Kotani and Hina flickered in my mind, but it wasn’t like they were instigating me.

“No, I chose it myself. This is hundred percent my choice.”

I wouldn’t want her to invoke her woman’s intuition again like she did when we had the talk about the scarf, so I assured her of that. 

Yuzu then turned her head downwards in embarrassment. “Re-really…so you chose it yourself.”

How should I take this reaction of Yuzu’s?

“I chose this one after some serious thought too. I want you to understand that.”

I concluded that I had no choice but to push with sincerity and decided to try to persuade her using the psychology of demonstrating my seriousness.

“Yo-you’re serious? Ehh, oohh… Hmm.”

Yuzu was looking very fidgety as she hemmed and hawed. Although she seemed restless, her mouth was slightly slackened. What kind of mental state was she in?

…No, wait. How could Yuzu, who always had a clear attitude, be so vague? If this wasn’t fidgeting, it might have been frustration? Maybe she didn’t like it at all!

“I-if you don’t like this, I can think of other plans too…?”

I suddenly became weak-kneed because I was so desperate for the memory cards. Under pressure, I was a pathetic man.

“N-no, you don’t have to! Not at all!”

However, Yuzu was surprisingly flustered and rushed to reject the idea.

“Really? But you don’t look like you’re so into it.”

“No, nothing like that… I’m okay with this…” Yuzu was somehow red up to her neck.

Huh, why? Was there any reason for her to flush red? By any chance, was that anger? Was she suppressing her anger?

“No, you don’t have to force yourself. I want to hear your true feelings.”

It would be no good if she complained about it later on. Or even worse, if she destroyed the memory card at that time. Thinking about it this way, I asked her to confirm her feelings aloud, but in addition to flushing red, her eyes also started to dart in every direction.

“Fe-feelings…? I do feel, happy…”

“Seriously?” 

Yuzu’s somewhat faltering way of saying that further increased my suspicions.

“I-I’m serious. I really am happy…! Isn’t that enough already!”

I didn’t know why, but Yuzu was on the verge of getting KO’ed. Something about this made me feel uncomfortable like I was bullying her further; anyway, if she was happy with it, then I didn’t need to bother complaining.

In other words, it seemed my memory cards were safe.

“Okay, so that’s settled then. No punishment for me.”

When I reminded her, Yuzu fidgeted like a small animal, but took one deep breath and nodded her head.

“AHH… I got it! I’ll prepare myself too…!”

chocolala: Aww, Yuzu’s blushing hard!! While Yamato is totally clueless