kuriyama-san was full of mysteries, he'd decided. she was quiet and thoughtful and quite the enigma, and even after all of their endeavors, kanbara akihito had yet to figure her out. the bespectacled beauty was currently laid across his apartment floor, painting her fingernails in a pattern of red and green. akihito himself was supposedly flipping through a magazine, but now, sitting beside her content form, he was far more captivated by her than the printed megane in his hands.

"senpai, i think we should go buy the ornaments soon," kuriyama-san said to him joyfully, her eyes averting to the pine tree in akihito's living room. akihito chuckled, closing his magazine and leaning close to her. "and by we, you mean me, right?"

that got her attention.

kuriyama-san's eyes whipped from the tree to the boy, her lips pursed, her cheeks lightly dusted with pink. "senpai! it's holiday season and we're celebrating, so you need to not be so unpleasant," she scolded, eyes closed, wagging her finger at him. her hands were rather shaky, an affect of her anemia, so in the process of painting her fingernails, the polish also ended up on her fingertips. and her palm. and akihito's carpet. the damage was evident— he would be finding red and green stains for the next month. even so, with kuriyama-san being so festive, he couldn't bring himself to be upset about it. he smiled.

"grab your coat, then," he advised, rising to his feet and pulling her winter jacket from the rack. "w-wait!" she cried, a distressed look contorting her features, "i haven't finished painting my nails!"

"but you said we should go to buy the ornaments soon."

"i didn't mean right now, dummy!"

"then you should have been more precise, kuriyama-san."

the boy laughed, and the girl pursed her lips the way she did when she was feigning anger. she wanted to be mad, but a smile was pulling at her features and a pink dust touched her cheeks and they both knew she was merely teasing him— akihito felt butterflies in his stomach. she was beautiful like that. as beautiful as she was, though, kuriyama-san was still very mysterious. or, perhaps bizarre was the better word? he was considering the two as the girl in question was clearing away her "nail polish station", even though only her first hand was complete and she was just complaining for him to wait. (let it be known that "complete" was a stretch, however— there was stray nail polish dried on her skin that she claimed she would clean up later.)

kuriyama-san had decided sometime ago that she and akihito should spend christmas together. he wasn't sure what had gotten her so interested in the western holidays, or why so abruptly and definitively she decided to declare that they should spend the day in question together, but he definitely wasn't going to deny her.

"thank you," the bespectacled beauty said as she stood and took her jacket from him. akihito gulped and nodded, taking his own coat from the rack and putting it on. with that, he grabbed his keys. the half-youmu boy and the spirit world warrior were out buying ornaments for a christmas tree perched tall in a lonely living room.

"senpai, come look at these! aren't they beautiful?"

needless to say, kuriyama-san ended up picking some of the more extravagant decorations. they were beautiful, he had to agree, and after seeing the excitement that had settled on her face, akihito had no problem paying for the ornaments. they remembered to pick out an angel for the top— akihito remarked offhandedly that it should be wearing glasses, and kuriyama-san laughed. they left the store each holding two bags, although, he admits, he would rather be holding her hand.

when the two of them arrived back at akihito's apartment, they set out straight away to decorate the tree in his living room. kuriyama-san dotted the green of the pine with silver, gold and red ornaments while akihito struggled to stop the little white lights from flickering. cinnamon was heavy in the air, the heavy scent erupting from the oven whenever akihito ("chef kanbara-senpai", as kuriyama-san had both teasingly and affectionately dubbed him) pulled out a new tray of cookies. kuriyama-san attempted to eat one before they had cooled and had accidentally burnt her fingers, but every time akihito offers to get her some ice or a pain reliever, she denies them with pursed lips and another ornament in her other hand.

the day passes in a complete blur; it took the two of them almost three hours to deem their christmas tree perfect. at seven o'clock in the evening, kuriyama-san approaches him— "senpai? we still need to put the angel on the top."

akihito looks from the angel in his hands to the bespectacled beauty in front of him and smiles. "oh yeah," he says, "i almost forgot."

"don't just sit there, then," kuriyama-san mockingly chastises him, "i can't reach the top, so you should let me hold that and pull a chair." she smiles brightly at him— the lights of the tree are turned on, finally, and they illuminate her figure from behind, giving her a gentle silhouette. her pale hair is rather disheveled and her glasses are askew and she looks so, so happy.

but akihito doesn't pull a chair for her. he rises and stands there for a moment, a little awkwardly, doubting just for a moment what he thinks he might want to do, and he decides that, after losing her once, there's no telling when their last moment together will be.

"senpai?" kuriyama-san asks, concern in her voice. akihito discovered a while ago that he likes the way his title rolls off her tongue. (he does wish that she would use his name, though. he likes to think that they've become close through their endeavors.)

"you'll have to be quick about it," he starts with a chuckle, "because i'm not strong enough to hold you up there forever." the bespectacled beauty opens her mouth to speak, but before she can get a word in, the angel is in her hands and akihito has his hands tight on her waist, lifting her to the top of the tree.

"s-senpai!" she cries, laughing in both excitement and nervousness. he laughs too, reminding her to hurry, he can't hold her like that all day!—

and her heart skips a beat when she sees that the angel's hair has been colored pink, and a pair of red glasses have been carefully drawn on the bridge of its nose. when she doesn't say a word, akihito offers his to the bizarre, mysterious girl he's holding.

"merry christmas, kuriyama-san."