"And then what happened?"
Kazuya grinned as he replied,
"Well , the snowball I threw slammed right into the bottle of tea Kibe had just bought and somehow the bottle did a three sixty degree flip and covered Kibe in green tea "
Chizuru ,laughing, urged Kazuya to go on .
" So , Kibe's standing in the school yard , drenched and remember it's December so he's now freezing and he's obviously furious.
So he makes the biggest snowball he possibly could and I do the same ready to fire back but Kibe managed to throw his first and of course it sailed over my head and slammed into the back of the Principal's head " .
Chizuru stopped walking as her laughter became uncontrollable as Kazuya finished his story.
"Let's just say that Kibe and I spent most of that Christmas break , shoveling snow at the school".
He then watched Chizuru giggling away, completely satisfied with the effect of his story or rather the combined effect of four high school stories .
He couldn't take his eyes off her , the sheer happiness on her face in that moment, he couldn't remember the last time she had been so open around him .
After she recovered, she finally managed to say ,
"No more please . I can't take a fifth story " .
They continued on their way heading to where Kazuya had planned and Chizuru tried to sneak in that question ,
"So we must be close now , huh ? "
"We're about halfway there " , he replied
"Did you make a reservation or buy the tickets ?"
"No, there's no need.. " , Kazuya began before realizing what she was up to .
He stopped and smiled before replying,
"Nice try " .
"I nearly got you ", she replied unperturbed.
They both laughed a bit after that and was about to continue on their way when Chizuru's phone suddenly rang. She pulled it and looked back at Kazuya, telling him ,
"It's Yoko " .
Kazuya nodded back, knowing that she wanted him to be silent .
She answered the phone ,
" Yes , Yoko what's up ? "
Kazuya could only hear one half of the conversation of course but he pretty much understand both sides with Chizuru's responses
" No I'm not with anyone
No , Yoko . I told you I'm busy over Christmas
Why ?
Chizuru stopped her rapid fire answering for a second and Kazuya glanced at her only for their eyes to meet for a second.
She then answered,
"I have a commitment" .
"No I don't have a boyfriend" .
"Yes I'm sure , go ahead and book the room" .
"Yes I'm fine , don't worry about me , have a great time "
"No! I already told you don't have one " .
Finally after a few more failed attempts, Yoko seemed to give up and Chizuru hung up .
Kazuya glanced at her inquisitively and she explained,
"Yoko wanted me to join their Christmas plans . They've planned a couple of nights at a nearby hot springs resort before going home for Christmas night and then having a pajama party after that " .
"That sounds nice " , Kazuya answered, figuring that was the best response .
Chizuru continued,
"She's been after me for a while and I've said no every time but she is tenacious"
"Huh" , Kazuya relied again, uncertainly before a thread of Chizuru's conversation tickled his curiosity
"You have plans for Christmas?" , he asked nonchalantly , trying desperately to ignore the fears growing in his mind , however irrational they may be .
"Who is she going to spend it with? " , the thought blossomed in mind despite his best efforts
"Eh ? Not really " , she replied.
"Then why did you turn them down ?" , he asked relieved but still curious.
"Oh ,I just figured Grandma would have some plans for the two of us " , she replied matter-of-factly.
Kazuya stopped in his tracks with confusion on his face
" What plans ?
Now Chizuru was the one who was confused and asked him,
"Isn't Grandma planning something for Christmas, because that's what she hinted after we said no to the trip ? " .
"She did? " , Kazuya asked incredulously.
Chizuru shifted slightly before replying ,
"Well .. she said something like
"next time I plan something" .
So I... assumed it was Christmas".
Kazuya stood in place for a while , gaping with his mouth open before he pulled out his phone.
Twenty minutes and a lot of yelling from both sides later, Kazuya ended the call and began ,
"Well turns out Grandma was planning on having you over but then some of my relatives on my Grandpa's side, decided to visit and then take Grandma back with them for a week or so . And apparently Mom convinced Grandma that she shouldn't pull you into a whole get-together with extended family . So they gave up on that but they want us to spend Christmas together so they want me to only turn up at home around afternoon on Christmas and then come back the next morning because in Grandma's words
"Useless Grandson , don't abandon my princess for any longer than that" .
Despite all the information, the two laughed a bit at the line that was vintage Nagomi.
"So I've been a bit dumb about the whole thing huh ? " , Chizuru admitted .
"No it was my fault " , Kazuya insisted.
"I should've known that Grandma would be plan something " .
Suddenly something occurred to Kazuya and he immediately blurted out ,
"Mizuhara, call Shinbo " .
"Yoko ? Why ? "
"Tell her you'll be free for Christmas " .
Chizuru sighed and apologized again before Yoko waved it off and Chizuru thanked her before ending the call
She glanced at Kazuya who asked,
"So ? "
"It's too late for the resort apparently but she said I'm more than welcome to join the pajama party on the 25th " .
She watched surprised as relief burst through his face before he exclaimed,
"That's great " .
They resumed walking but Chizuru was still puzzled,
"Why is he so relieved about this ?" , she wondered
Almost like he heard her, Kazuya turned back and added ,
"I'm glad you have something to do for Christmas after all " .
Those words brought immediate understanding to Chizuru and she nearly gasped out loud in response.
"So , that's it " , she realized.
Chizuru kept looking at him through the corner of her eyes as they sat next to each other on the subway , him a little distance away from her as she thought to herself,
"He didn't want me to be alone this Christmas. After all this is the first one since Grandma...
So he made sure "
She sighed internally before she remembered
"He's always looking out for me isn't he ?
She glanced at him again and thought,
"You idiot . I turned down all the other invitations because I wanted to spend it with you . And I was sure Grandma would invite me , so I thought things would work out. But ... I guess Harumi-san was looking out for me too . After what I told her , she didn't want to overwhelm me with a bunch of people I didn't know ".
Stopping and glaring at him again, she continued to herself,
"But if you hadn't made me make plans with the girls , we could still have planned something. I could have said something like ,
"I don't have anything else to do . Hey what are you up to ? "
And it would have worked out , for sure " .
Chizuru sighed again this time out of disappointment and a little irritation with herself,
"I can't be passive like this and hope something falls into my lap " .
She glanced at the cover in her hand through which she could see the immaculate Mount Fuji box which had their personal KitKat.
She then smiled and spoke up ,
"Hey ? "
"Yeah " , he responded immediately.
"You're going to your home only on Christmas afternoon right ? "
"Yeah "
She smiled again and gestured to the cover and then spoke,
"Let's open this on Christmas morning then. Together. "
"Eh ? " , he reacted .
"You're sure ? "
"Yes I am . It'll be fun . And this is special chocolate so we should open it for a special occasion ".
"Okay" , he agreed a little nervously but much more happily .
They got off the subway at Sumida District and onto a bus soon after that but Chizuru was still smiling to herself, as she relished the little success that made her look forward to Christmas a lot more than she was half an hour ago.
"Now all I have to do is find him a gift " , she thought to herself and was just about to begin pondering that very conundrum before they stopped momentarily near a bookstore and Chizuru's eyes were drawn to the window where the latest novel from Japan's premier crime fiction writer was advertised .
Chizuru visibly sighed when she saw the advertised and the books themselves in the store . Of course she wanted it but she knew that it would be a bad idea right now .
She had been saving even more money than usual the last month , that little outing being the exception, because she was quitting her job next month and she had no idea where her next paycheck would come from after that.
"After I find a new job " , she told herself.
She had been staring at it too long, because Kazuya had noticed too and asked,
"Eh , Mizuhara ? You like reading?"
She snapped back to him, slightly embarrassed but admitted,
"Yeah I do "
She smiled a bit and continued,
"I didn't pick literature as my major on a whim , you know " .
Kazuya smiled and replied,
"Huh ? , I never knew that" .
He then continued,
"You want to buy that book? I don't mind getting off and catching another bus "
She turned back towards him , saying,
"No , I'll just buy it a bit later, once the price has gone down a bit . Since it's just been released, it's kinda expensive now " .
She regretted her words as soon as she said them because a guilty expression came over his face and he immediately replied,
"It's fine Mizuhara, you buy it. I'll pay for where we're going. And..."
"No ,not a chance " , she cut him off .
"I'm fine moneywise . And I'm fine because I've learnt tricks like knowing when stuff becomes cheaper . So don't say another word about it
I'll buy it later. "
Kazuya backed off and soon the bus came to a stop and again and he declared
"We're here " .
Chizuru glanced around only too see the magnificent Tokyo Skytree and the various tall skyscrapers that surrounded it .
"Um .. what exactly are we doing here? " , she asked as they got off
Kazuya didn't answer but Chizuru continued pressing him ,
" Are we going up the Skytree "
"No" , was his response as led her around the tower and into the Tokyo Skytree Town
Note : Tokyo Skytree Town is a commercial building ,opposite the Skytree itself .
They walked in , Chizuru glancing around nervously but Kazuya led her straight to the elevator and punched for the fourth floor .
He grinned at her as they shot upwards and just before the doors opened , he finally spoke,
"We're going to the ice rink here " .
"Ice rink ? For what? " , she asked nervously.
"Eh ? Ice skating , of course " , Kazuya replied just before the doors opened and they were greeted with a gush of cold wind and the sound of laughter as a joyous crowd glided through the ice with the Skytree as a timeless backdrop .
They both stared at everything for a while before they got off the elevator and then Chizuru spoke up, feeling the heat of embarrassment,
"Um ... I don't know to ice-skate " .
"Huh ? " .
Kazuya stared incredulously at Chizuru who was visibly flustered as she admitted that she couldn't ice-skate
"You can't? " , he asked
"No , I can't " , she answered before adding with a little bit of her usual bite,
"It's not like it's some necessary life skill or something is it ? "
Kazuya stared at her as he mentally kicked himself for picking maybe the one thing that she couldn't do
"Damn it , this would have been perfect " , he thought to himself, regretfully before saying out loud , trying to hide the disappointment in his voice
"Oh , it's fine then Mizuhara. Let's go then . We'll find something else to do "
He realized he hadn't done a good job of it when she glanced up at him before replying
"No its fine, we'll manage somehow "
She then walked straight to the counter, before Kazuya could argue .
He watched her walking away , her hair and her dress swaying in the wind and he thought to himself,
"She's not one to back down from a challenge ".
He then smiled and joined her as she paid 1600 yen which covered the fee for the skates as well which they carried to a bench nearby and slowly put on .
As they were doing just that , Chizuru sudden asked him ,
"Hey , do you know how to skate ? "
"Yeah " , he replied.
"Huh" , she commented as she finished putting on one skate before continuing,
"You seem to be really good at this kind of stuff . Picking places to go and all the stuff we do there, Sumi-chan told me that you're really good at bowling as well" .
Kazuya laughed a little nervously before admitting,
"Well there's an embarrassing reason behind it "
"Well , what are you waiting for? " , she asked him ,smiling .
He sighed before elaborating ,
"After my first year in high school, we , I mean Kibe and me and a couple of our friends were really down because we tried our best but couldn't find a girlfriend. So everyone was like ,
"Let's forget about it . Guys like us can't get girlfriends anyway " .
And I didn't like that, so I came up with a plan , we spent the entire summer researching about good date spots and we went bowling and to the Karaoke and basically built up our skills so that if we got a chance we'll be able to impress a girl.
That didn't work either but it helped us feel a bit upbeat and soon it was winter and we went ice-skating too and we eventually did all that again and again for two years " .
He looked up at her and found her smiling as she remarked ,
"It does seem like the hopelessly optimistic thing you would come up with " .
She then got up and turned back to him, saying ,
"And you manged to take a girl all over Tokyo in the end "
He laughed too and got up , agreeing,
"That's true " .
They walked to the entrance of the ice rink and Kazuya stepped confidently but turned back to see all the smiles gone from her face and her full of apprehension instead .
"It's that bad ? ", he asked in what he hoped was a gentle tone .
"It's fine ", she snapped back after a few seconds and gingerly stepped onto the ice .
She manged to stay still and on her feet for a few seconds before losing her balance and grabbing onto the railing at the side .
She then steadied herself and with one hand still on the railing, she pushed herself forward and moved slowly .
Once she manged to do that for a minute or so ,she let go of the railing and continued moving slowly, albeit still close enough to grab the railing if necessary .
Kazuya skated next to her , almost dumbfounded,
"How are you doing this?", he asked.
"It took me five hours of skating to let go of the railing " .
She responded with a smug smile and a
"Well , what did you expect?"
Things were fine for the next five minutes until a couple of kids who were chasing each other , suddenly took a sharp turn towards Chizuru and would have crashed into her but she pushed herself away from the railing.
Her balance was disturbed , however , and she flayed around for a few seconds till Kazuya skated closer trying to guide her back to the railing but she , out of desperation , lunged for himself and managed to wrap both her arms around Kazuya's right arm , regaining her balance .
Both of them stood like that completely in shock for a couple of minutes before they regained their senses.
Kazuya immediately opened his mouth to apologize instinctively but Chizuru manged to speak first.
Turning away from him , she said in a soft voice ,
"This is probably a better idea than holding onto the railing and hoping nobody else gets in the way" .
Kazuya stared at her, even more dumbfounded than before as he thought,
"What's up with her? Her agreeing to this was incredible enough, now she's going to hold onto me the whole time ?" .
He continued staring at her wordlessly till she noticed and glared back ,
"Any problem?"
"No " , he replied hurriedly.
He swallowed nervously a couple of times before steadying himself and slowly pushing foward away from the crowds of people.
He felt her grip around his arm tighten and saw her tuning herself slightly towards him so that it would be easier to balance both of them.
He looked down at his arm in disbelief but he could feel the softness of her touch, the tightness of her hold and the warmth that emanated from her.
He felt his heart pulsating but he continued, carefully making sure that she was comfortable and untroubled throughout.
They moved together like that on the ice for a good thirty minutes before they started to get tired .
Kazuya glanced at his watch before suddenly pulling her along , a little too quickly for her taste .
"Wait , slow down " , she managed to get out while holding him as tight as possible.
He didn't reply and skated towards the side of the rink that faced the Skytree instead and stopped right in front of it , but away from the crowd that was forming on the same side .
"What's happening?", she asked only for him to cryptically respond ,
"The grand finale " .
Chizuru opened her mouth to say something but was suddenly silenced by an avalanche of colors that burst into life all around them. She turned towards the Skytree and watched it light up magnificently , spreading the warmth and shine for miles .
Chizuru glanced up at Kazuya just for a second before smiling and returning to the lights which they were both enraptured by .
Neither of them noticed it ,but Chizuru slowly let go off Kazuya's arm but they didn't rest like that .
Their hands slowly inched towards each other , without their master's awareness or permission but with an instinct that had been building for nearly two years , fully intending to hold each other.
But as Fate would have it , that turned out to be the exact moment when Chizuru finally lost her balance .
Still smiling at the lights , only half realizing that she was falling, she instinctively lunged at Kazuya's arms once again but instead of him steadying both of them , he fell too as both of them landed on the ice .
They looked at each other embarrassed for a second before bursting out in laughter and helping each other up.
After about fifteen minutes they realized that it was time they left and so they did , Chizuru holding onto Kazuya's arm again as they made their way off, before removing and returning the skates
The man at the counter had a proposition for them however.
He told them ,
"See , I know young couples like yourselves like to spend a romantic moment here but it's a shame you don't have something to commemorate it " .
"What are you saying?" , Kazuya asked curiously .
The man smiled and answered,
"We have a professional photographer who takes photos of the crowd during the tower lighting .If you would like a photograph of yourselves while still enjoying the moment , you can have it . For a fee of course. But you can't check the photo beforehand ".
Kazuya figuring that the guy would probably sell them a blurry shot or something was about to say no when Chizuru negotiated the price, handed the man some money and received the photograph.
"Why did you do that? ", Kazuya asked unbelievingly as they got into the elevator.
She smiled a bit before replying,
"It was a great day and I wanted to remember it ".
She then glared at him almost daring him to argue and added ,
"And I didn't complain when you got a photo of us in our uniforms " .
Kazuya accepted his defeat and soon they were in the bus .
Chizuru opened the cover and pulled out the photo and stared at it for a good few minutes. Kazuya watched as some color flooded into her cheeks before she handed him the photo.
The photo was only of the two of them but more incredibly it was just a few minutes before she dragged them both to the ground . Chizuru was still holding onto him and you couldn't see the entirety of their faces but you could see enough for it to be obviously clear that they were happy .
"It really looks like we're a couple , in the photo", Kazuya couldn't stop himself from thinking .
Chizuru suddenly pulled out a pen and wrote on the back
"Moments before the disaster" .
She chuckled before looking back at Kazuya and remarking,
"That's a secret for just the two of us ".
Soon they were walking the last minutes to their apartments . They had continued talking about this and that and recalling moments from the day
Eventually a sad smile grew on Chizuru's face just before she spoke ,
"Hey can I say something?"
Kazuya was a little surprised but nodded to indicate yes.
She continued with that sad smile , slightly hesitatingly,
"Actually... I have a skating rink story myself
When I was about eight, me and... Grandma were going back home from Christmas shopping and I saw an ice rink for the first time .
Seeing people gliding on the ice , it felt like a fairy tale to me, you know ? Something so magical, it was almost unimaginable.
So I wanted to try it but Grandma was already at the age where if she slipped and fell , she could really hurt herself. But I was too young to understand .So when she said no I threw the biggest tantrum before Grandpa calmed me down and made me apologize.
Maybe because of that or because I was embarrassed I didn't know how, I never went ice skating , even when my friends invited me .
So I'm really glad I got to do this with you " .
"Mizuhara... " , Kazuya manged to say , sobered by her openess .
"And ... " , she continued, turning her face away from him .
"It's been a pretty rough year for me . You know that better than anyone else .
That's why today felt so special to me
Today was the greatest I've felt in a long time.
It was definitely the best and happiest day I've had this entire year" .
She turned back to him and Kazuya saw on her face a softness , a vulnerability he had only seen a couple of times before , and a quality he wasn't used to seeing in her.
"So , thank you " , she said quietly.
Kazuya muttered that it wasn't a problem and they continued on their way back to their apartments.
A feeling of inevitability crept up in their hearts ,almost simultaneously, whispering softly , that what their hearts craved for the most was finally, just maybe , possible.
A/N : As amazing as a date could be , a little bit of everything as Kazuya and Chizuru take another massive step towards each other .
A little gem from this chapter (that I only realized I had written when I was proofreading it) was Chizuru admitting to not going ice-skating with her friends because she was embarrassed about not knowing how to but freely admitted it and the story behind it to Kazuya.
Chizuru slowly allowing Kazuya to see her mistakes and her shortcomings.
Sometimes I surprise myself.
Next time: Both ponder over what could only be called a date and Christmas is soon upon them.