— — — — — —
December in Chiba was probably the coldest time of the year.
But at this moment, Kawasaki felt as though a fire was burning inside her chest, warming her entire body.
And love... love was the endless fuel feeding those flames.
"Oikawa..."
Kawasaki looked at him, a smile blooming across her face.
Perhaps it was the happiest smile she had worn in years.
"This winter feels unusually warm."
"Does it?" Oikawa glanced at her, "...I guess it really does."
Rarely did he avoid Kawasaki's gaze, but this time he did, reaching out to ruffle her hair instead.
The look she'd just given him had been dangerous.
Like a beam of light capable of piercing straight through to the deepest corner of his heart.
"Your hands are freezing." Taking his hand, Kawasaki wrapped both of hers around it and slipped it into her coat pocket.
They sat side by side on a wooden bench near the park.
The tree above them, however, completely ruined the atmosphere. Its bare winter branches looked lifeless and ugly.
"Want to come back here in April?" Oikawa smiled. "By then, all these trees should be covered in cherry blossoms. I bet it'll be beautiful."
Kawasaki leaned her head against his shoulder. "We'll be like Kousei Arima and Kaori Miyazono, right?"
She paused, then added quietly, "But Oikawa, I don't want to be Kaori."
Her voice softened. "I want to stay by your side forever."
Because of their height difference, resting against him wasn't very comfortable. Seeing that, Oikawa leaned forward slightly while Kawasaki scooted back. Now she could finally settle against his shoulder without straining herself.
"Be honest." Oikawa eyed her suspiciously. "Have you been reading a lot of romance novels lately?"
Kawasaki ignored the question completely. Instead, she began humming softly.
Oikawa listened for a while before finally recognizing the tune.
Spring Snow...
A somewhat obscure song.
And Kawasaki's singing was... objectively speaking, pretty terrible.
She knew it herself, which was why she almost never sang in front of other people.
Aside from that one karaoke trip, this was the first time Oikawa had ever heard her sing.
He couldn't honestly call it beautiful. But somehow, it wasn't unpleasant either.
Maybe this was what people meant by beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
"Woof! Woof!"
The forgotten puppy suddenly jumped onto the bench.
After carefully wiping its paws against the wood a few times, it leaped into Kawasaki's lap.
"Huh." Oikawa looked amused. "It actually didn't want to dirty your clothes."
He grabbed the puppy by the scruff and lifted it into the air.
A quick inspection followed, "Hmm... female."
"Awoooo..." The puppy let out a pitiful whine and looked at Kawasaki with watery eyes.
"She's upset. Put her down." Kawasaki quickly rescued the puppy.
The little dog immediately perked up.
"Woof! Woof!"
Her tail wagged furiously.
"Oikawa." Kawasaki stroked the puppy's head. "Do you think she's a stray?"
"Probably." Oikawa nodded. "She's pretty dirty."
Kawasaki suddenly turned toward him, "Do you think the kindergarten would adopt her?"
"No idea." Oikawa shrugged. "Want to go ask?"
The two stood and headed back toward the kindergarten.
Kawasaki never suggested adopting the puppy herself. Nor did she ask Oikawa to take her in.
The truth was, Oikawa liked the little dog quite a bit. But during spring break, he would be interning at the printing company that Shizuka had introduced him to. There was no way he'd have time to care for a dog.
As for why Kawasaki hadn't suggested it, Oikawa could guess. She was busy too.
When spring break arrived, she'd be working part-time jobs to save money for university expenses.
Everyone had their own battles to fight.
...
..
After discussing it with the principal, they received good news. The kindergarten agreed to adopt the puppy.
Later, Oikawa and Kawasaki took her to a veterinary clinic for a health checkup. She received two vaccinations.
Afterward, they bought all kinds of dog supplies before finally heading back.
On the walk home, the two of them spent the entire time arguing over what to name her.
After all, the principal had entrusted the decision to them.
"How about Kiiro?" Oikawa suggested. "Her head is really yellow, so let her name be her color."
Kawasaki rejected it immediately, "No. Kiiro sounds awful."
"Then what do you suggest, Kawasaki?" Oikawa asked.
"Yuki," Kawasaki said, as if she had already made up her mind. "We found her in this cold weather, after all."
"Hmm…" Oikawa thought about it. "Doesn't feel right. How about Kiiroyuki?"
Then he nodded confidently. "Yeah, I think that's pretty good. It has a nice ring to it."
Kawasaki shot him a deadpan look.
Even the puppy in her arms let out an unhappy little whine.
"No, we'll stick with Yuki." Kawasaki looked down at the puppy with overflowing affection.
"Woof!"
Yuki seemed extremely satisfied with her new name.
Oikawa accepted it, but he still felt "Kiiroyuki" was better. Still, seeing Kawasaki happy, he let it go.
...
..
After dropping Kawasaki off at her home, Oikawa headed to the civic center, where he had arranged to meet Isshiki Iroha.
As expected, another long meeting awaited him.
The good news was that today's atmosphere was much better than yesterday's. At the very least, the students from Sobu High seemed noticeably more motivated.
Especially after Oikawa entered the meeting room. Almost everyone's eyes immediately turned toward him.
The students from Kaihin High mostly looked intimidated. The student council members from Sobu High, on the other hand, looked at him with outright admiration.
Today, however, Oikawa hardly spoke.
But armed with the proposal he had prepared for her, Isshiki performed remarkably well in her role as student council president.
And it was obvious she wasn't merely reading from a script. She had begun adding her own ideas and interpretations.
'She's starting to look like a real student council president.' Sitting quietly below the podium, Oikawa nodded in satisfaction.
It felt strangely similar to raising a child.
..
Time slowly passed.
One proposal after another was rejected.
The biggest problem with students was that their imaginations often ran wild, yet they rarely considered how difficult their ideas would be to execute.
Oikawa had no intention of obsessing over it.
Most wouldn't turn back until they hit a wall. Some even dreamed of knocking the wall down.
Only after they smashed their heads against reality and felt the pain would they understand they were on the wrong path.
And only then would they truly remember the lesson.
So Oikawa continued slacking off.
While everyone else argued over proposals, he quietly played Pokémon, waiting for them to stumble upon something workable.
Once a plan was finalized, the next step would be practical calculations.
Budget estimates. Manpower requirements. Scheduling. And countless other tedious details.
Take a musical performance, for example.
They would need to contact the performers in advance and negotiate terms.
The ideal outcome was getting them to perform for free. If that failed, then came paid arrangements.
And determining how much to pay was an entire challenge in itself.
Finally, after two exhausting hours, the meeting came to an end.
Just thinking about having to sit through another meeting like this made Oikawa feel despair creeping in.
December 26th was the Christmas party. If everything were left entirely to this group, the event would probably become a complete disaster.
Tomorrow, he'd need to have a serious discussion with Yukino at the Service Club about how to keep things under control.
"Senpai, let's go downstairs and assemble the Christmas tree."
"A Christmas tree?" Oikawa asked, surprised.
Isshiki nodded. "Yep. I ordered it a few days ago. The delivery people called earlier and said all the parts have been left downstairs."
"Did you clear it with the venue first?" Oikawa asked again.
Christmas was still four days away. Dumping a giant Christmas tree in front of someone else's building without permission was a great way to annoy the owner.
"Of course." Isshiki nodded confidently. "They said we could keep it on the first floor as long as it doesn't block traffic. They're actually very supportive of the Christmas event."
Oikawa blinked.
Then blinked again.
Wow. Her growth rate was honestly impressive.
Just a few days ago she had still been fumbling around, and now she was already starting to look like a proper student council president.
Not bad.
Very not bad.
The more competent Isshiki became, the lighter Oikawa's workload would be.
"Alright, got it. Let's go put it together while we still have time."
Oikawa had originally planned to hit the gym afterward. But since Isshiki had personally asked for help, it wasn't exactly easy to walk away.
After heading downstairs, Oikawa finally saw the Christmas tree she had been talking about.
His first reaction was a sharp intake of breath.
One word. HUGE.
"Do we really need one this big?" He laughed helplessly.
"Of course we do!" Isshiki sounded completely certain. "This is a joint Christmas party between the best high school in Chiba and the second-best high school in Chiba. It has to look impressive."
Oikawa sighed.
Another side effect of new leadership... People always wanted to leave behind some visible achievement.
"Let's move everything inside first," he added. "Then we'll put it in a corner of the first floor and start assembling."
Without further comment, he hoisted the tree's main trunk onto his shoulder and carried it inside.
It was fairly heavy. But manageable.
Isshiki followed behind, carrying the decorations and other components.
After several trips back and forth, everything had finally been moved inside.
Then came the assembly.
Halfway through the process, the other student council members finished cleaning up upstairs and came down to help.
About thirty minutes later, the giant Christmas tree was complete.
And honestly... it looked fantastic.
Many students immediately pulled out their phones and started taking pictures.
Just then, a girl approached Oikawa.
Smiling politely, she extended her hand, "Hello, Oikawa-kun. I'm Kaori Orimoto, a second-year student from Kaihin Sougou High School. Would you like to be friends?"
Oikawa was in the middle of drinking the can of cola Isshiki had handed him.
Hearing her voice, he lowered his gaze toward the girl standing before him.
A little over 160 centimeters tall. Brown hair. A fairly pure and innocent-looking face.
Hmm. Not even seventy points.
"Sorry," Oikawa replied without the slightest hesitation. "I'm not in the habit of becoming friends with strangers."
After saying that, he picked up his coat from the side and walked out.
Kaori stood frozen where she was. For a moment, nobody said anything.
The first floor of the building fell into a silence so complete it almost felt eerie.
"Then I'll be heading out too. See you all later!" Isshiki gave everyone a quick bow before hurrying after him. "Senpai, wait for me! Wait! Nobody's chasing you. Why are you running so hard?"
Breathing heavily, Isshiki finally caught up and grabbed the back of Oikawa's jacket to stop him from walking away.
She bent over, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
Oikawa rolled his eyes. "What do you mean nobody's chasing me? Aren't you chasing me right now?"
Isshiki immediately denied it, "Who's chasing you? Sure, Senpai is handsome, but you're totally not my type!"
After another moment, her breathing finally returned to normal. "Senpai, let me treat you to dinner."
"Hm?" Oikawa looked at her suspiciously. "What scheme are you plotting this time?"
"Is that really how you see me?" Isshiki puffed out her cheeks. "I'm genuinely grateful for everything you've done recently, so I wanted to thank you with a meal. Senpai, you really know how to break a girl's heart."
She put on a pitiful expression.
Unfortunately, Oikawa was completely immune to that tactic.
"Fine then." He shrugged. "I want yakiniku."
"Huh?!" Isshiki immediately protested. "Senpai, even if I'm treating you, you can't just shamelessly go for the expensive option!"
"Then I'll leave." Oikawa shrugged again.
"...Okay." She bared her teeth in frustration. "Even if you're shamelessly taking advantage of me, I can still afford one yakiniku dinner."
With the menu settled, the two used a restaurant-review app called Tabelog and picked the highest-rated yakiniku restaurant nearby.
On the way there, Isshiki finally asked the question she'd been holding back.
"Senpai, why did you reject that girl like that? And why didn't you leave her any face at all?"
Oikawa answered honestly. "Because she's not attractive. Why should I care about saving her face? Her name isn't Shanks."
"Not attractive?" Isshiki blinked. "I thought she looked pretty pure and cute."
"Pure and cute doesn't put food on the table." Oikawa shrugged. "I like girls with good figures."
After a brief pause, he added, "Besides, she gave me a bad feeling. She seemed kind of calculating."
"Hmm... sort of like you, Isshiki."
"WHAT?!" Isshiki pouted immediately. "I am not calculating! I'm obviously a very sincere person!"
"Yeah, yeah." Oikawa waved dismissively.
He had no interest in arguing with Isshiki any further.
The rest of the walk passed in silence. The moment they sat down in the yakiniku restaurant, Oikawa finally realized why Isshiki had insisted on treating him to dinner.
The meal lasted a full hour.
For most of the time, he was answering her endless stream of questions. Every single one was related to the Christmas event.
It was obvious. She genuinely wanted to become a capable student council president.
Around six o'clock, Oikawa finally left the restaurant.
By then, the sky had already gone dark.
After seeing Isshiki onto her train, he headed straight for the gym.
For the next two hours, he threw himself into weight training with almost reckless enthusiasm.
At eight in the evening, Oikawa finally returned home, exhausted.
...
Christmas was considered a fairly important holiday in Japan.
Even this late, the streets were still packed with people.
Part of that was probably because the end of the year was approaching. Normally, this was the season when people began preparing for New Year's.
Clothes. Food. Various household necessities.
Everything had to be purchased ahead of time.
Oikawa, however, didn't have any special plans. For him, the New Year felt more like a minor holiday. When the time came, he'd probably just buy a bag of frozen dumplings, boil them, and call it a celebration.
After returning home, he collapsed onto his usual spot on the sofa. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, his phone chimed.
A new message from Utaha Kasumigaoka... "Senpai, finished being busy yet?"
Oikawa had already told her that he'd be occupied with Christmas event preparations for the next few days.
He sat up and replied while walking toward the refrigerator. "Yeah. After I finished work, I went and lifted weights for another two hours before coming home."
A reply came almost immediately, "Oh? Not bad, Senpai. I thought you'd quit after a few days. Didn't expect you to actually stick with the gym. But why did you suddenly decide to start working out?"
Reading the message, Oikawa opened the refrigerator door.
Then he typed back with a grin, "Improving the endurance of my spear charge. As the saying goes: only the one working gets tired, not what they're building."
Chuckling to himself, Oikawa set down his phone and grabbed a can of cola from the fridge.
.
.
.