Epilogue

After finishing his bath with Kurumi, Shido had changed into pajamas and was now drying his hair. The moment he hung his towel, he plopped himself onto his bed, now lying on his back.

Kurumi was using the room that Tohka had stayed in before she moved into the mansion that was now housing the other spirits, Kurumi and Kotori being the exceptions.

The events that transpired today were replaying in Shido's mind, causing him to form a wide grin.

Today was really fun.

Suddenly Shido's phone began to vibrate. He answered the call.

"Hello?"

"You sound tired."

"Kotori?"

Shido was surprised that Kotori was calling him at this time of the day a second time.

"Are you still at your friend's house?"

"You actually believed that?"

"Not really. I came back home to check up on you."

"I see. Well, I lied."

"…"

"Don't worry, I'm alright."

"Are you coming home?"

"Yeah, I'll be back later today."

Shido heaved a sigh of relief.

"You had me worried."

"You should be worried about the person you're with instead."

"Why's that?"

"Today just might be your lucky day."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just make sure you aren't too rough with her."

"Wait, what?"

"Kotori, Yoshino says that she's done."

Shido heard what he thought was Tohka's voice on the other end of the call.

"Is that Tohka?"

"Yeah, we're sort of having a party right now."

"Since when were you planning on having a party?"

"Since you two decided to go on a date. We can't let you two have all the fun."

"We could have joined you."

"Sorry, single people only."

"That's harsh."

"Don't complain, you have someone."

"Right…"

Shido could only agree with what Kotori was saying.

"Anyway, I've got to get going, so see you later."

"Be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, you too. Bye."

Shido moved his phone away from his ear and looked outside his window.

It had stopped snowing and the dark sky was now clear of any clouds.

The moon was shining brightly above Tenguu City.

Shido turned off the lights so that he could enjoy more of the moonlight that was passing through the window.

Eventually he decided that it was time for bed. He pulled his covers over him after lying himself on his side.

The moment Shido closed his eyes, he paid attention to the silence that enveloped the whole neighborhood.

There was virtually no noise inside or outside of the house.

Everything was quiet, which was why Shido lifted his eyelids and resharpened his focus when he suddenly heard light footsteps approaching his door.

Eventually the footsteps stopped directly behind the door, and a light knock followed afterwards.

"Shido, are you awake?"

Pulling himself upright, he called out to the person behind the door.

"Yeah, I'm awake. What's wrong?"

After Shido confirmed that he was still awake, his door had begun to open. What he saw was something that he had witnessed before, and yet, his heartbeat quickened once again.

Kurumi was in a dark nightgown, holding a pillow in her arms as if she were a child who wanted to sleep with their parents. Her pale skin that was visible nearly glowed in the moonlight.

Shido continued to stare at Kurumi in awe, but the moment was shortly lived, as she began to advance towards Shido's bed.

"W-Wait a second, you didn't answer my question. What's wrong?"

Kurumi continued to ignore Shido and was now at the side of his bed. She lifted the corner of his covers and crawled over to where Shido was lying underneath.

Shido's immediate reaction was backing over to the wall that was on the other side of his bed.

"You promised."

"I promised?"

"You promised to stay with me forever."

"Ah."

Shido remembered the promise that he made with Kurumi not too long ago.

"Wait, that applies to being in bed together too?"

Kurumi nodded as she set her pillow next to Shido's. She rested her head, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Um…Kurumi…"

"Yes?"

"I don't really mind if you sleep next to me…"

"Really?"

Kurumi suddenly started to become eager. She leaned closer, causing Shido to press his back against the wall.

"Y-Yeah. But that's all we're going to do, right?"

Understanding began to show in Kurumi's eyes. Her face was now a light pink, but a mischievous smile formed on it shortly after.

"I wonder."

"Uh…"

Shido was now panicking.

Kurumi moved even closer.

Shido had no way of escaping.

"My, it'll be difficult to do anything naughty if you lean against the wall like that."

"It's because we might do something naughty that I'm backing away like this."

Kurumi gave a chuckle as she moved her face inches closer to Shido's.

"We did just join each other in the bath."

"No, you joined me in the bath."

"So we've already done naughty things together."

Shido moaned in defeat, admitting that what Kurumi said was true. Kurumi began to trace her finger along his stomach up to his chest, causing him to freeze. Suddenly, she buried her face against his chest. Meanwhile his left arm was also grabbed and placed around Kurumi's waist by her right hand.

"Shido…"

"W-What is it?"

Shido asked his question nervously as the situation intensified.

"Merry Christmas…"

"Eh?"

Shido tried to look at Kurumi's face which was still buried into his chest. The image he was looking at surprised him.

Kurumi's eyes were closed, and her head was leaning more heavily onto his pillow than into his chest. He also noticed that she was breathing slowly and softly. A smile that looked as if it would never fade had formed across her face.

Shido was amazed at how quickly Kurumi had fallen asleep. He assumed it was because they had stayed up late and spent most of their time with the others. He smiled at being able to see her sleeping face.

"Yeah, Merry Christmas."

Shido brought the arm that he was holding Kurumi with up to the back of her head and began to stroke her hair. He immediately yawned, realizing that sleep was now overtaking him.

Shido leaned his head onto the same pillow that Kurumi was lying her head on and closed his eyes, his arm still wrapped around her side. Soon, his consciousness faded. How fast his heart was beating didn't matter anymore. The fact that he would be seen with a girl in his bed if anyone looked into his room didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that she was here, with him, and together the two of them would be together like this forever.

"Great work today, everyone."

Kotori was walking home with Tohka and the others. It was now almost half past three in the morning. Yoshino had fallen asleep from working all day and was being carried on Tohka's back.

"Yoshino and Yoshinon worked really hard today."

Miku couldn't help but stare at the girl who was sleeping.

"Yeah, don't thank us or anything."

Kaguya was complaining over Yoshino getting all of the credit.

"Now, now, Kotori was thanking everyone."

Tohka tried to cheer Kaguya up.

Kotori smiled at the scene occurring behind her. They had finished cleaning up after the "party" and were all heading home.

"Is that the mistletoe?"

Natsumi pointed at a small ornament that was attached to a string and hanging from an arch that was getting closer to them.

"Yeah."

"Revelation. In other words, Shido and Kurumi…"

Despite reaching a surprising conclusion, Yuzuru didn't change her facial expression nor her tone.

Kotori nodded.

"Under that…"

Miku was imagining Shido and Kurumi kissing underneath the arch. She immediately turned to Tohka.

"Hey, Tohka-san."

"I refuse."

Tohka replied almost instantaneously.

"Ehh, but you didn't even know what I was going to ask."

"You were going to ask if we could kiss underneath the mistletoe."

"Ah, Tohka-san, are you psychic?"

"No, you're just easy to read."

For some reason, being told that she was easy to read by someone as oblivious as Tohka made Miku a little depressed.

Regardless, everyone laughed together. Miku eventually joined in with the laughter.

"Still, I didn't think it would actually work."

Kaguya began to voice her worries.

"Using Yoshino and Yoshinon to make it snow, I mean."

"Well, fortunately we had some help with the wind."

Kaguya snickered at Kotori's praise. Yuzuru gave a very thin smile.

"And in the end everyone got to spend time with the man of their dreams."

"I-I don't dream of Shido!"

Kaguya tried to deny Kotori's bold claim.

"I never mentioned Shido."

"Ugh…"

Kaguya groaned, realizing her mistake.

More laughter.

"In the end everyone's happy."

Kotori couldn't help but grin.

"But Kotori, you didn't get to spend Christmas Eve with Shido at all, did you?"

It seemed Tohka had grown sharper than she used to be, however Kotori wasn't bothered by that.

"Well, I live with him, so I get to spend time with him whenever I want."

"I guess that's true…but…"

Tohka couldn't feel satisfied of the fact that Kotori was the only person who was left out in spending time with Shido.

"Besides, he spent time with me all morning."

"Eh!?"

Everyone except Yoshino and Kotori exclaimed in surprise. They had already past the arch.

"Why's everyone acting so surprised?"

Kotori had another grin on her face.

"You didn't think you'd have him all to yourselves, did you?"

Everyone stood in disbelief for a moment, but they quickly changed their gaping mouths into amused smiles.

"Come on, it's getting late. We should head home."

Miku yawned as she followed Kotori along with Tohka and the others, knowing that everyone would be having the same dream tonight the moment they fell into their beds.

End