'You've grown so big now!' was the repeated phrase of nearly every relative Nishikata encountered that night. It was nothing grand, just a humble Christmas gathering of about 20 people, and each uncle, aunt and estranged grandmother never failed to comment on his remarkable growth.
He wondered just what about him grew so much. He supposed he had jumped a few inches in the last few years, and his rigorous routine of daily pushups had developed his body really well. It has been a while since he last saw all of them, the most recent of their previous meetings had happened back when he was still in middle school, and that felt like ages ago.
"You sure you don't want a little taste of this, yer mother don't need t'know." One of his uncles said patting a hand on Nishikata's shoulder whilst dangling a half-finished glass of whiskey in front of his face.
"That's alright Uncle, I'm still 16." Nishikata replied, helping to steady his uncle while he stumbled about, intoxication clearly expressed through his breath.
"Last I saw you, you was just a wee little boy." He laughed with a belch.
"So I've been told." Nishikata said with a slight smirk.
"Tell me lad, has a girl caught your fancy yet?"
Nishikata wondered how to deflect the question, when his mother suddenly called him from the far back of the room.
"We're out of ice!"
"I'll get some more!" He called back. He set his drunken uncle down on a chair, grabbed a few bills, and waded his way through the crowd.
The night was cold. A fine layer of snow had settled onto the asphalt of the street, giving his footsteps a slight crunch. Nishikata was thankful for the moment of silence. Oh he was definitely glad to be able to see familiar faces again, but it was exhausting to be stuck in the middle of political arguments and unresolved family quarrels, which was probably why they rarely ever had these gatherings. He knew he still loved them though despite their ramblings, and he was happy for that night.
He thought back to the question his uncle had asked him. He did in fact have an answer, and that answer was currently out of town with her family, probably sipping on hot chocolate after a long day of skiing.
He pulled out his phone for the first time that day. He smiled to himself as he saw her picture on his social media feed. She was bundled up in thick winter wear, sitting at the top of a snowy mountain overlooking the entire area. The sunlight traced a golden white outline around her figure. He tapped on the heart react, quickly felt the heat rise to his cheeks, and settled on the good ol' like instead. He might've accepted his feelings within himself, but was nowhere near confident enough to act on them. He proceeded to open up his text messages.
"New profile pic?"
Nishikata looked up and saw the convenience store at the end of the road. He was about to put his phone back to his pocket when it suddenly vibrated.
"I took it this morning," Takagi replied. "how's the party going?"
He could hear her voice through the words on the screen, soft and delicate.
"The same as last time, mostly, you'll be back the day after tomorrow right?"
He watched the ellipses dancing on the corner of his phone, signifying her upcoming response.
"Yeah, can't stay away for too long, you'd miss me too much."
Nishikata's face flushed at her words which were very very true. A few years ago he'd have denied such a statement with the passion of a thousand demon pitch time slips. After he realized his growing crush on her near the end of their third year of middle school, he stopped refuting those teases and preferred to just quickly change the subject. It was also around that time when he dropped her honorific.
"Hey, why don't we play a game?"
"Hmmm, alright."
"Guess my exact location right now and you win." Nishikata flared his trademark mischievous grin, there was no way she'd be able to answer that, his victory was assured.
"At the convenience store, probably buying more refreshments, or ice perhaps?"
Why am I not surprised, Nishikata thought.
"How did you know?"
She didn't reply immediately, instead she had him waiting an agonizing thirty seconds before sending:
"Turn around"
HUUUUUUH!
Nishikata wheeled around with great force to find himself suddenly staring at- nothing. Just the quiet empty street. His phone buzzed again, but this time with a voice memo containing Takagi's adorably evil laugh.
"Did I getcha?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said. If only she could have seen the embarrassment on his face at that moment, she'd have been laughing for hours.
"Your family has a strict rule about not using phones during family time, so you were probably asked to do an errand that involved going outside."
As usual her train of thought is spot on, with her genius as is she'd be a perfect protagonist in a heist film. He rolled his eyes and began walking again.
"Well I gotta get that ice now."
"So it was ice."
"See you in a few days I guess."
"Wait."
She sent him a video clip of her. She was smiling at the camera, the fireplace behind her casting a glow on her cinnamon colored hair.
"Merry Christmas Nishikata."
The boy smiled and sent his own video back.
"Merry Christmas, Takagi."