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Since I finished buying what I needed for the present exchange and, well, a couple of other things, I decided to go to the cake shop that was designated as the meeting spot.. I readjusted the paper bag with the present inside in my hands and checked the clock.
"Phew… For now, I managed to buy the presents… No problem with the meeting place around here either. It's almost about time too…"
I fiddled on my smart phone. Recently there was this proof about the Landau-Siegel zeros which got published. It essentially stated there were no Siegal zeros close to one. And this had all kinds of applications for number theory. For example: either the twin prime conjecture was true or there were no Siegel zeros.
It had to do with the most generalized form of the Riemann Hypothesis, one where cyclic weights were ascribed to each of the parts of the nested sum: \Sum_{n=1}^{\infinity} d(n) n^{-s} where d(n) were the weights. This shifted the zeros of the Riemann Zeta function. But it was shown that there were no zeros close to one. Or at least that's what this most recent proof said. But I truly couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. It was beyond me. For now.
I truly didn't have anything to add, unlike my fundamental theorem of infinite abelian groups I was working on for hyperreality. And unlike the sofa couch problem which I felt I was close to cracking. The prime numbers seemed unintuitive to me. I wasn't Ramanujan.
I shifted my focus. I was still trying to use volterra integrals to magnify the gradient in the vanishing gradient problem.
Yukinoshita came up to me, her own present in hand.
"Oh Yukinoshita, I found something I thought you'd like." It was an article titled 'the Rheology of Cats.' It was essentially the old cats are liquid joke but made into a scientific article. It featured about a dozen cats in jars or boxes or whatever all flattened and turned into the shape of the container. Look it up! It's a real article.
I showed her my phone. She took it from me and began scrolling along with her hand covering her mouth and her smile. It was a small real smile. It was a good look on her. She eventually handed my phone back to me. I'd stumbled across the article in my hunt for Navier-Stokes existence and uniqueness. Or rather, now that Terrance Tao had tackled existence, I suppose I was hunting just uniqueness. He showed lack of existence through an Einsteinian thought experiment. Essentially liquids could fold in on themselves until they exploded. It was a statistical process. A poisson process like most well mixed mixtures.
Yukinoshita smiled. "Thank you. I enjoyed that."
"No problem. I saw it and thought of you is all." I grinned at her. "So what'd you get?"
"Mind your business." She shot back. She was still smiling though. Cats had that effect on her.
"Come now, I'll never tell."
"Not even if somebody directly asks you?" She pressed.
"I'm good at telling half truths. I am the master of spin."
"Only you could be so arrogant. You aren't a member of the press."
"I also meant literal spin. Like an electron or one of the neutrinos."
"And what do you do with this mastery?"
"Sit around confused mostly."
"How do point particles spin?" She demanded.
"The fact you're confused about spin means you're paying attention," I sighed heavily. I didn't really get it either. Spin was a mystery. Not an inner mystery like the nature of thought. Still it was one of those symmetries which were conserved. Like momentum or mass or energy.
Yui and Komachi came up to us.
"How did your shopping go?"Yui asked.
"Just fine," I answered.
"It went well thank you," Yukinoshita responded.
"So what we're just waiting for Saika?" I asked.
"Looks like it," Komachi agreed. She had her own bag full of all kinds of goody goodies. "Well, him and Hiratsuka-sensei I suppose."
They eventually turned up and we left the mall. Hiratsuka gave a long look at the christmas cakes. For the love of god somebody take this woman!
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After leaving the shopping mall, with Yui guiding us, we found ourselves in a karaoke box at the front of the station. Once we entered the room we booked, everyone held crackers in their hands. Once everyone was ready, we naturally made eye contact.
"And go," said Yui in a small voice and all at once, voices and sounds overlapped. "Merry Christmas!" Following the noise of crackers were the sounds of opening chanmeries and toast. Everyone was celebrating Christmas.
On the other hand, I found myself looking throughout the room. "So, why karaoke again…?" I asked.
Yui set the plates and answered, "If we went to Yukinon's place, we'd get noise complaints. Also, this karaoke place lets us bring cake too."
"Uh, well, it's not like there's anything wrong, but…" As I tried to speak, Yukinoshita spoke up.
"I finished cutting the cakes. Still, I wasn't expecting to get three whole cakes from the mall." Yukinoshita said, distributing the cakes. Komachi nodded.
"Here, Hachiman. There's chicken too."
"Ooh, thanks." I said, taking the chicken.
"C'mon, drink up, drink up, though it's just chanmery."
Everyone was enjoying this Christmas party in their own way. We ate chicken, cake, got engrossed in conversation, and toasting with our glasses… But wait. Just a moment. Is this really Christmas…? That doubt wouldn't leave my head. I slowly placed my glass on the table to confirm that. The ice in the cup bounced off of each other.
"Hey, do you mind real quick…?"
"What is it?" Yui looked at me as she chewed her cake.
I looked at Yui's eyes and slowly asked, "So how is this any different from a birthday party?"
"Eh?" The moment I asked, Yui stopped.
"I mean, we're at karaoke again, eating food, cake, and doing toasts… Is this really the right way to spend Christmas? This doesn't feel any different from going 'wey, wey' and now I'm starting to fear for my own identity…"
"T-That's, um…" Yui stuttered, looking away.
Ahead, Komachi had an unpleasant face. "Uwaah, you're such a pain, Big Brother. You're such a pain." Komachi said.
I wasn't the only one who had thought that because Yukinoshita stopped eating her cake and she narrowed her eyes. "…Certainly. How exactly is this any different…?"
"Ha! Not good. The pains in the butts are spreading!" Komachi said apprehensively (Komachi only) and Hiratsuka-sensei laughed.
"Hikigaya, you're like a Cheetah… Just when I thought you took a step forward, you immediately take two steps back…" She made a smug smile. But listening to her, Yui whispered into Yukinoshita's ear.
"Hey, Yukinon, are cheetahs really like that?"
"I-I wonder? I've never heard of that before…" The cat professor Yukipedia-san tilted her head. Hiratsuka-sensei groaned out in pain.
"I-It didn't get across, huh… I guess that's how it is… Our generations are completely different after all… Haa." With the generation gap before her eyes, Shiratsuka-sensei sank. No, I'm sure our ages were pretty different too…
"Aaah! I don't know what's going on, but the pains in the butts increased!" screamed Komachi.
Totsuka looked like he realized something. "Ah, but look, Hachiman. We still have the present exchange so that should be Christmas-like!"
"Ooh, you're right about that!" I see, present exchanges were very Christmas-like. Unlike birthdays where it was just one side giving, Christmas had both sides exchanging presents.
When I was convinced, Komachi squeezed her fist. "Nice! Nice Totsuka-san! With that being said, present exchaaaaange! Okay, okaaay! Everyone, please take out your preseeents! Please put them in the middle of the table!" Komachi began giving orders in an effort to get rid of the bothersome atmosphere. "Here, this is okay, right?"
Starting with Totsuka, everyone obediently followed Komachi's instructions. Komachi checked that the presents were all gathered. "Okay! Then we'll get to mixing them!"
Komachi shuffled the presents at random and began to explain the rules of the present exchange. "So, we'll shuffle the presents around and you'll get whatever present when the music stops. Well, as for the rest, just read the mood as we go along."
"This girl, she tries to be considerate, but sometimes her explanations can be very crude…" Just like Yukinoshita said, I didn't understand how things worked from Komachi's crude explanation. If you weren't nice to the beginners, they'd just quit, in things like beat 'em games.
"Well, it'll be faster if we just get to it. Now then, the music's starting!" Hiratsuka-sensei said and she operated the karaoke remote controller with beeps. It looked like it functioned for these kinds of parties too. What a convenient world. When the music started to play, everyone quietly passed the presents right to left.
Everyone was quiet in the meantime. Noticing that the atmosphere was oddly rigid, Yukinoshita spoke reluctantly. "What exactly is this bizarre silence…?"
"This is, like, a lot more normal than I was expecting… Hey, Yui, is this how it's supposed to go?"
"U-Ummm… Well, for the most, it's something like this, I think. Surprisingly, the Christmas parts tend to be less exciting…"
"I think I was subjected to a really regrettable story just now… Oh, the music stopped."
"Okaaaay. Then let's start off with Big Brother's present!" Called out by Komachi, I took the present in front of me and proceeded to unwrap it.
"Bath salt? This is nice, who did this?"
"I did!" Yui exclaimed. "I hope you like it. Actually you can use this as a scrub too."
"Oh? Really?" I wondered.
"Yep yep," she went on.
"Now Hiratsuka-sensei!" Komachi decided.
Hiratsuka-sensei nodded and placed her hand on her present.
"Umu, this is wrapped very cutely… Mmm, oh, hand cream, huh?"
When we looked around wondering whose present it was, Totsuka reacted. "Ah, yes. This season will get you really dry so that's why. There's also shea butter in there too, so it really moistens you up. I use it a lot myself during club."
"S-Sai-chan, you're amazing…"
"Overwhelming girl power…"
Yui and Komachi were taken aback. Of course I was too. Hiratsuka-sensei, though, wasn't anywhere close to that. "I see, so this is girl power… So if I use this, I wonder if it'll increase mine… Haa, I could, use some moisture… Since I'm so dried up…" Hiratsuka-sensei kept going "dry, dry" repeatedly like curses.
Somehow, the atmosphere was getting dried too. Sensitive to that, Komachi barged in frantically. "Ha! Shoot! The atmosphere's becoming a pain again! Okaaay, Komachi's next! Oh, this is a wrapped rather fancily… The inside is, ah, tea leaves. So that means this is from Yukino-san!"
Inside the wrapping was a rectangular can. It looked like something I've seen before in the club. When Komachi guessed right, Yukinoshita returned a smile.
"Yes. I tried looking for something that isn't too strong…" Yukinoshita then made an uneasy expression. "It's just…"
"Just?" Komachi asked further.
Yukinoshita sent a glancing look at me. "I thought maybe Komachi-san might be more oriented towards coffee instead."
Aah, I see. Now that she mentioned it, there were a lot of occasions where I drank coffee. Even in club, I was drinking MAX COFFEE. So that's why, she thought Komachi, who I lived with every day, might be drinking it normally just as well. The reason for Yukinoshita's concern was something I could understand. But that was a needless worry.. Komachi happily held the can of leaves close to her.
"Not at all, that's not it in the least. Well, I do drink it quite a lot to match with my brother though. But, but, with this, maybe my brother just might be enlightened to the joys of tea!"
"Umu, receiving a present that'll expand your interests is something to look forward to." Hiratsuka-sensei said as she fiddled with her hand cream.
Komachi nodded her head. "That's right! Okay, okay, Yukino-san, why don't you open your present next?"
"Sure."
Yukinoshita reached out to the present in front of her. I grinned apprehensively it was mine.
"Oh this cushion?" Yukinoshita realized.
"That's right," I chimed in.
"Thank you. It's very soft."
"No problem."
Sensing the atmosphere was dropping Komachi cut back across. "Ah Yui next!"
"So that means it's a present from me!"
"From Komachi-chan? Huh, that makes me super curious. Can I open it?"
"Please, please!" Komachi urged her on and Yui undid the wrapping.
"Ah, it's soap! Thank you! This is actually one of the popular ones right now too!"
"That's right! I'm using it right now and it has a really good smell!"
Hoh. So this is how presents between girls were… It's like, THA GIRLS, ah, no, THE GIRLS, huh? I then felt a feeling of discomfort.
"…Huh? You've been using that soap? I've never seen it before though…"
"Ah, yup. I only bring it out when I take a bath. I mean, I wouldn't want Big Brother and dad using it, right? That'd be kind of gross too."
"Eeeh…? I-Isn't that a little mean? Big Brother received a huge shock just now…"
"Gross", huh…? C-C'mon, what's so bad about me using the soap…? I couldn't help, but be depressed.
Yui clapped her hands in realization of something. "Oh, I know. Yukinon, let's use this together today."
"I don't mind, but… Eh? You don't mean to go in together, right?"
"Eh? But if we don't, then we can't use it together…"
Yukinoshita and Yui went, "Eh? Eh?", as they looked at each other. I couldn't help but go "Eh?" myself, trying to confirm various things. G-Go in the bath together, you say? Then again, don't go saying stuff like that in a place like this! You're making me think about a lot of things because of that!
"Hey, Yuri, I mean, Yui. Talk about that stuff after you get home, after… Because, you know… Just because."
Though I tried to get the point across with vague words, Yui apparently didn't understand at first, but gradually grew bright red.
"…Ah, y-yeah."
"Yui-san, you dummy…" said Yukinoshita with a disappearing voice. Um, if you're going say that with a flush red face like that, even I was getting embarrassed… It was even more so with Komachi staring at us with a grin.
"Gefun, gefun, morusu…. Fuumu… Upon opening my eyes, the atmosphere has become very odd at some point, it seems…? Last but not Least Sai-chan!"
"Oh I'm last?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked.
"Then this is mine," Saika realized.
When he undid the plain wrapping, what appeared was an enshrined box. Looking at that going "hoeeh" in confusion was Yui. "An assortment of hot spring items…"
"That does certainly resemble bath salts… But there's something decisively different about it…" said Yukinoshita as she pressed against her temple.
Komachi also had trouble commenting. "Mmm, it's less like a girl, but… like an o-, old— an adult!"
"Uu, I can't help but feel the consideration…"
Hiratsuka-sensei wiped her eyes, looking close to breaking down. Totsuka quickly displayed a smile like the blossoming of a flower. "But I do like hot springs, so I'm really happy."
I-I see… Well if Totsuka's happy, then whatever. My image of it was different from everyone else's, but I agreed with Totsuka. "Y-Yeah… Well, for us guys, it'd be something to happy about."
"R-Right? It's a little too early for you guys, but a beer after a long bath is the greatest, you know!" Hiratsuka bounced right back thanks to that and said something manly.
"I think I understand why sensei can't get married. She's a lot manlier than those boys over there." Komachi said with sadness.
Okay, well, it's true that Hiratsuka-sensei was rather cool for a woman, us boys actually being a lot timid in comparison…
"So the present exchange's over… I don't see anything else Christmas related…" Yui and Komachi thought while groaning. Komachi suddenly lifted her face.
"Ha! Speaking of Christmas, then that means Christmas carols!"
"T-That's it!" Yui agreed and Komachi nodded.
"In fact, there's nothing else I can think of!" Really? Apparently I wasn't the only one with the same thought. Yukinoshita frowned.
"Is singing enough to make it feel like Christmas, I wonder…?" Yukinoshita said with skepticism, and
Totsuka started to think of something. "Christmas carols do have a lot of imagery with it and just listening gets you in the mood too."
On the other hand, the sitting Hiratsuka-sensei felt like she was already out there. Her eyes were flying all over the place, going "Gahaha!"
"Oh, going to sing, are we? Sounds good, sing, sing! If you guys aren't going to sing, then I'll sing Single Bell instead!"
"Hiratsuka-sensei, is she drunk…? There shouldn't be any alcohol." Yukinoshita said. Of course, there weren't any alcoholic drinks. She was probably just drunk from the atmosphere. Influenced by the energy, Yui gripped the microphone and stood up.
"Okay! Yuigahama Yui will sing…! Here, Yukinon too."
"Eh, wait, why me too…?" Yukinoshita tried to refuse the microphone presented by Yui, but cornered by Yui's immovable smile, she reluctantly took it.
"Weeeey!" Komachi shook the tambourines to heat up the moment for the two. …Well, if it wasn't for this opportunity, we wouldn't have been able to hear these two singing. That's why, well, we could consider this an event special to Christmas parties. If so, then, I suppose we could consider this as our very own way of spending Christmas.
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The cold wintry wind was blowing along the street that continued from the station Once the party was over and we left the karaoke box, the sun had long set.
Compared to the afternoon, the number of pedestrians had dropped considerably. Christmas, too, was just about to end. We were walking down the night lane, a slight feeling of loneliness hanging in the air.
Yui stretched. "Mmm, we sure sang our hearts out…"
"In the end, it just turned into karaoke, huh…?" I said. What exactly was that party about, anyway…?
Yui faltered with her voice. "W-What's the big deal? It was fun."
"But I wonder if this was enough as a thank you to Komachi-san and the others…" Yukinoshita murmured, looking worried. That's true, at first, I had the feeling that the entire premise was to thank Komachi and the others.
But, still, judging by their behavior, worrying wasn't necessary. "Well, it looked like they had a good time, so it should be fine."
"Uh huh, I hope so. Ah, but Hikki, was it okay for you to come with us? I know Komachi-chan told you, but you didn't really have to walk us back."
"That's true. My house is just right over there as well." Yukinoshita said and looked further up the path. Up there was the apartment Yukinoshita was living in. The distance between the station and her place wasn't exactly that significant, so there wasn't a need to walk them back, but with Komachi's insistence, I was here now.
"…Well, there's the cake and other baggage. This much isn't a big deal."
"I see. That's a big help then. There's quite a bit of leftover cake too."
"But, but, it's kind of nice having an entire cake left! It's one of my dreams! Eating it whole!" said Yui with an ecstatic expression, and Yukinoshita sent her a cold stare.
"If you can really eat all of it, then that's fine… It's actually quite painful."
"So you tried it before…" While delving in that kind of conversation, once we walked through the street in the park, we made it into the main street. Now that we had made it this far, Yukinoshita's house was just over there.
"Ah, we can see Yukinon's place now."
"Yes. Hikigaya-kun, up to here is fine." We stopped before the crosswalk that passed over the main street.
"Is that so? Alright, here, the cake."
"Okaaay." I handed over the cake I've been holding the entire time to Yui.
"…Also, can you take these back with you too?" I said, and took out two more bags from the pouch. Although Yui and Yukinoshita accepted them, they stared at it wonder exactly what it was. Upon realizing, they asked timidly to check.
"Eh? Are these… Christmas presents?"
"For me, and for Yui-san… There's one for each of us." Yukinoshita let out a small breath in surprise. How they earnestly looked at them with really unexpected faces was somehow embarrassing.
"…Well, it's like a thank you for the tea cup." Unable to directly look at them, I shifted my eyes away in a completely different direction.
"…Is it okay, if we open them?"
"Mm, sure." I ambiguously replied to the question asked in confusion. When I thought about what kind of reaction they'd give after opening the bag, my hands started to sweat despite being in the middle of winter.
I could hear blowing winds along with the sound of the ribbon being undone. I then heard small gasps. "Waa…"
"They're scrunchies…"
The breaths that the two girls let out were somehow warm and unconsciously, I felt relieved. "Yukinon and I are matching!" Yui said as she looked at hers and then Yukinoshita's. Her voice sounded like it was full of joy.
"Yui's blue while mine's, pink…? I feel like this should've been the opposite."
"No, that's good, or at least I think…" Just why I decided to do it that way, I wouldn't have been able to explain it properly at all. I was at a loss even if I was asked. However, I felt that it was surely the right, because it was something I considered in my own way; a conclusion that only I arrived at. It's fine even if I didn't understand it. I think gifts were just those kinds of things.
"I see…" said Yukinoshita, just quietly and not asking any further. She lifted her face from the scrunchie in her palm and smiled. "If this is a form of gratitude, then I'll gratefully accept it."
"Yeah, Hikki… Thank you. I'll take care of it." Yui gazed directly at me and gently embraced the scrunchy in her hands at her bosom. I couldn't look directly at her out of embarrassment.
"Yeah. Well, I'll leave it to you to take care of it…" I mumbled my words, and ahead where my averted gaze was the lights of the crosswalk turning red to green.
"O-Okay, I'll see you later." Using that as a signal, I sent them off.
"Yeah, see you later…! Good night." After Yukinoshita and Yui nodded to each other, they quietly began walking away.
I watched their backs as they grew further and I turned my back as well. "Alright…" I let out a quiet breath and looked up at the sky.
The night sky of winter was clear, and I could see Orion very well. There were probably other constellations, but unfortunately, Orion was the only one I knew.
I think there were a lot of things that you wouldn't be able to recognize just because you could see them. Would there ever be a day I'd be able to notice the things I once overlooked? With the guidance of the starlight and street lights, I smoothly took a step.
"Hikigaya-kun."
"Hm?" I turned around after being called to a stop, and standing directly in the middle of the crosswalk was Yukinoshita. Yui had already finished crossing over and was looking at Yukinoshita with a slightly curious face. She stood there idly, tying her hair together, but when our eyes met, she gently combed through that hair with her fingertips. The pink scrunchie, highlighted against her glossy black hair, radiated even in the dead of night.
Yukinoshita stopped her hand that caressed her hair, looking hesitant, but after seeing the start of the countdown of the lights, she quietly breathed in. She then opened her palm halfway and waved slightly back and forth. "…Merry Christmas."
"…Y-Yeah… Merry Christmas." I was taken back due to her suddenly speaking up, but I somehow managed to reply back.
Yukinoshita chuckled, expressing a small smile and briskly ran after Yui who was waiting ahead. The two lined up and exchanged several words. Yui then made a big wave with her hand. On the cuff of her hand was the blue scrunchie swaying back and forth. After seeing that, I turned my back once again.
"Guess I'll go home…" Despite having walked around the entire day, oddly enough, my steps were light, and I found myself starting to hum as well. The curtains of night silently descended, with the cold winds massaging your cheeks. Even so, the lights of the city were faintly warm like candles, tenderly illuminating the Christmas that was soon to end. Prayers that didn't reach and wishes that weren't granted surely existed.
But, peacefully, those, along with the clear exhaled breath, would surely be allowed, at least for today. That breath that also shook someone's light surely existed.
Whether you were alone or with someone, Christmas would visit this year as well.
That's why, to everyone out there, Merry Christmas…
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-WG
