Introduction (5 dec 2020)

With the holiday season approaching, the idea for a chapter with a little seasonal touch came to mind. As Ruka once mentioned in the beginning of the manga/anime, winter is the season where lovers get closer. Would this also apply here?

I hope you will enjoy reading this, and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing what you think of this chapter, as well as the other chapters in this story.

Note: If you want to comment on this story, or any of my other stories, you're welcome to leave a review, preferably as registered member, as this allows much more interaction between writer and reviewer. If there are parts you felt lacking, or disliked, please let me know this as well. Things can appear amazing in my perception, while others might think very differently. I'm eager to hear such feedback as well, since praise is always nice, and can confirm being on the right track, criticism is often what helps more to improve.

Chapter Prologue:

After having been together for a few months now, today Kazuya and Ruka visited his grandma, to celebrate the start of another New Year.

The New Year Present

"May you have a prosperous and healthy New Year, grandma!" Ruka wished, as she bowed down her head in respect for the eldest member of the Kinoshita family.

"Thank you, my dear…" grandma Nagomi said, with a friendly smile on her face, "… and that you two may have a loving and also fruitful New Year together," she added, with a clear wink.

"Ehhh…" Kazuya hesitated to say something, and a slight blush started to appear on his face as he slowly began to realize what grandma Nagomi was probably hinting at…

It had been a while since Mami had come over to his place to talk to Kazuya about the family store. After this, he had not heard anything from the blond haired girl, nor from his grandma, about taking over the business in the future. 'Maybe now would be a good time to ask about this? Grandma might be impressed if I bring this up myself, and thus show that I have started taking responsibility,' Kazuya thought, with a slight smirk forming on his face. 'Plus it would be a nice way to change the subject…'

"Kazuya?" grandmother suddenly asked, interrupting her grandson's train of thought.

"Yes grandma?" Kazuya said, while now again wondering if his grandmother was going to say some more things that could be potentially embarrassing for him.

"What are you doing here?" Kazuya's grandmother asked.

"Huh?" Kazuya wondered; "Don't you remember, we came here to visit you…"

'Is grandma starting to lose it?' Kazuya thought. 'She isn't the youngest anymore, and perhaps this whole situation with Mizuhara and Ruka has also been stressful for her…'

"Of course I remember what you came here to do! I know what you must be thinking! Don't you start treating me like I'm some senile old woman!" grandma strongly objected; "Now, what I meant to say is, why are you sitting here, wasting your time visiting your old grandmother, when you have such a cute girlfriend, to celebrate the beginning of this New Year with? Are you crazy!?" grandma Nagomi reprimanded her grandson; "Just how many times have I told you already to start using that brain of yours!? You're only young once in your life, remember? So, don't make me have to hit you with my backscratcher again!"

'Geez! Where is all of this suddenly coming from? Don't scare me like that, gran!' Kazuya thought.

"Ok, ok… I just thought you would be happy to see us…" Kazuya said, after he had regained himself.

"Naturally it fills me with joy to see you together, and come pay me a visit from time to time, but I am the past, and you two are our future," grandmother explained, as she briefly closed her eyes.

After opening her eyes again, the elderly woman signaled Kazuya with her right hand, without using words, telling him to come closer. Kazuya had no idea what his grandmother had in mind. 'Maybe she is going to whack my head again!?' he thought for a brief moment, as he frantically looked around to see where Nagomi had been keeping her backscratcher.

"Here, take this, and go treat that cute girlfriend of yours to something nice," Nagomi whispered in Kazuya's ear, as she handed over some money to him; "Just remember how incredibly lucky you are to have her…"

"Thanks, grandma. I promise I will do that," Kazuya reassured her, meanwhile himself feeling very relieved he wasn't going to get whacked.

"Is everything ok with you, grandma?" Ruka asked, puzzled by Nagomi's seemingly odd behavior.

"Oh yes, dear. Nothing for you to worry about," Nagomi replied, with a smile and a somewhat strange twinkle in her eye; "I'm just having a friendly chat with my favorite grandson."

'I'm also your only grandson, so that makes be both your favorite and least favorite one…' Kazuya considered. But he refrained from bringing that up, as he knew that while his grandma sometimes could come down on Kazuya like a ton of bricks, she was also very fond of him. So instead, Kazuya walked to the hallway and returned with Ruka's winter coat.

"Huh? Are we leaving already?" Ruka wondered; "But we basically just got here…"

"Well, I was thinking about having dinner together, then maybe later rent a movie or so…" Kazuya explained, "… unless you don't want to, that is…"

"Really!?" Ruka said, as she jumped up and grabbed her coat from Kazuya's hand; "But what about grandma? I don't want her to be lonely on New Year's Day."

"I'll be fine, Ms. Ruka. My son and daughter in law will probably return soon, so I won't be alone for long," Nagomi explained; "Besides, I also have a few tweets to respond to. I think I won't even have the time to start feeling lonely," the elderly woman added, with a friendly smile on her face.

"Ok, thanks for your hospitality, grandma!" Ruka said, as she picked up her handbag.

"You're always welcome here, Ms. Ruka," Nagomi responded; "Now off you go, you two, and have some fun! Oh, wait! First let me get a picture of you both, you just look so cute together!"

"Aww, come on, grandma…" Kazuya objected, as he always felt embarrassed when his grandma tried to show off her grandson.

But despite feeling somewhat uncomfortable about it, Kazuya gave in, and posed with Ruka for a moment, while his grandma was rapidly taking some pictures with her smartphone.

"So, that goes straight to my Twitter account!" grandma Nagomi said, while gloating; "And all my followers had better like these shots, or else I will pay them a personal New Year visit!"

"Sure you will, grandma," Kazuya said, while laughing.

The two youngsters put on their coats, said goodbye to Kazuya's grandmother, and went off to pick a restaurant. After enjoying a really nice dinner there together, they took the subway back to Kazuya's apartment, and settled down there in front of Kazuya's laptop, to watch a movie they had rented.

"Kazuya?" Ruka suddenly asked, after they had been watching for a few minutes.

"What is it?" Kazuya replied.

"Are you… eh… sometimes… well, you know… having second thoughts about us?" Ruka wondered.

"Huh? Why this all of a sudden?" was Kazuya's first reaction, before he realized that he had not yet answered Ruka's question and quickly paused the movie; "No way! Not at all! Wait, did I perhaps do anything recently to give you that impression? If so, I'm really sorry about it, please forgive me!"

"No, that's not it, you've been really sweet the past months," Ruka quickly reassured him with a cheerful smile. Then her face turned more serious again; "It's just that, when you opened up your laptop to select a movie to rent, I saw a notification popping up that you had a few new messages from Chizuru-san…"

"Ah, now I understand…" Kazuya laughed, "… so, you're jealous."

"No, that's not it!" Ruka immediately denied; "… well, maybe just a little bit…" she reluctantly admitted, as she looked at the ground.

"Hey, look at me!" Kazuya said, as he grabbed Ruka by the shoulders; "Right now, there is no one in the world that I'd rather be with, than you, do you understand!?"

"Oh, o-ok…" Ruka stuttered, a bit taken aback by the passionate way that Kazuya explained himself.

"You shouldn't worry too much, you look way prettier when you're smiling," Kazuya added, bringing back a smile on Ruka's face; "When Mizuhara left Tokyo to attend that acting workshop she had been invited to, I asked her to stay in touch…" Kazuya continued, "… since she doesn't have any relatives left, I didn't want her to feel alone. Do you think that's wrong?"

"No, that's not wrong, that's just how you are, and it's one of the many things I like about you," Ruka replied, as she briefly closed her eyes, making the look on her face even more dreamy.

"Ah, that's a relief. I was afraid you might still feel uncomfortable about this," Kazuya said, as his face became more relaxed; "I probably should have told you about it though…"

"So, how is Chizuru-san doing? Is she… ok?" Ruka asked.

"Well, I think she is," Kazuya further recounted; "She told me about discovering there is still a lot she didn't know about acting, and having met some great people in that class. Now that I think of it, she kept bringing up one name in particular a few times. That might be interesting…"

"Well, if you're ever going to make another movie, you can count me in," Ruka said, with a broad smile on her face.

"What, so you can be my chaperone and bodyguard again?" Kazuya said, teasingly.

"Why, you!" Ruka said, as she gave him a slap on the upper arm; "Did you already forget that I told you I had a great time when making that movie for Chizuru-san's grandma? I wouldn't mind doing something like that again!"

"Ok, ok. But don't hold your breath. It's not like I'm really expecting a project like that to cross our paths anytime soon, if ever…" Kazuya continued, "… and meanwhile we have to be content with watching stuff that others made. So, shall I unpause the movie again?"

Ruka nodded, and they continued watching. As the movie progressed, Ruka gradually started leaning more against Kazuya, and soon her head was resting on his shoulder. 'She's so warm and cute…' he said inside his mind, and without thinking over his actions, gave Ruka a gentle kiss on the top of her head. But then almost instantly faced the consequences of this impulsive action, as Kazuya felt his nose starting to itch and he had to sneeze!

"Kazuya, you're not coming down with a cold, now are you?" Ruka asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Eh, no, it's just your ribbon that was tickling my nose, that's all," Kazuya explained; "I should have been more careful…"

"Oh, that's an easy fix. Let me just take it off then," Ruka suggested.

The young girl stood up and quickly untied the ribbon she had been wearing all day. After this, Ruka shook her head a few times, to loosen up her hair a bit, so it could fall down more naturally.

'Well, it's not like I usually have anything to complain about how Ruka looks, but this casual side of her, damn, that's seriously next level!' Kazuya thought, as he looked her over, his heart overflowing with admiration.

"How about this? Better?" Ruka asked, as she made a pirouette.

"Eh, s-sure…" Kazuya stuttered, with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Ok, now where were we?" Ruka continued, as she sat down again, next to Kazuya, and soon had snuggled back up against him.

They continued watching the movie, although after a while, both weren't really paying that much attention to what was happening on the laptop screen, but more thinking about each other. Ruka's head was again resting on Kazuya's shoulder, and he had his arm around her back. Ruka eventually just had her eyes fully shut, simply enjoying this moment of being close to Kazuya.

"I may have New Year present for you," Ruka suddenly said, after opening her eyes again.

The young girl quickly stood up, and took Kazuya's hand, trying to pull him up too.

"Huh?" Kazuya was puzzled, not sure what to think of this, but slowly he got up as well.

'What is she up to now?' Kazuya thought, as he looked Ruka in the eyes and tried to get some clues. But she didn't say a word, and instead started to lead him to the bedroom.

'Wait, what is this!? You mean… we… ehh? Are you really fine with this, Ruka!?' Kazuya wondered in his thoughts, as he hesitated somewhat to follow her.

"It's ok…" Ruka whispered, as if she had been reading his mind and feeling his anxiety, while she briefly closed her eyes and a friendly smile formed on her face.

Kazuya felt all his worries fade away, and walked along with her, then closed the bedroom door behind them. Meanwhile the laptop continued the playback of the rented movie, but now for an audience of zero viewers…

(To be continued…)

Epilogue (28 dec 2020)

I did once more take some time with this chapter, again partially due to being busy at work, and also having multiple stories to update. Initially I intended this chapter to be released around New Year, but then felt it wouldn't right to keep you waiting that long and wanted to publish it as soon a possible. Then again changed my mind, wrote another chapter to become the 14th one, so this would become chapter 15, and again getting published closer to New Year. Then I suddenly fell ill, and proofreading of this chapter once again got postponed even further down the road...

But enough about me, this is for you, the people who read my stories:

Happy New Year to all of my readers! And I hope you will keep enjoying this story and other stuff I may release in the future, for a long time to come, in the best possible health, and surrounded by your loved ones!

Please let me know what you think of this story and leave some feedback in the form of a review. If you are logged in on this fanfiction website, and post a review as registered member, I can even reply to your comments. I'd be happy to have some more interaction with the people who read my stories!

Btw, since I am not a native speaker, there will likely be some silly mistakes in this story. And in punctuation, maybe I made the same mistakes as in previous stories, or even made new mistakes. Hope you can bear with me and see through that. Helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

Stay safe, and maybe until soon!