"Mou! Why do I have to go shopping with you?!"

    "Because Christmas will be coming in just two days! You don't expect me to give nothing, right?"

    "Why do I always have to do things like this..." Kirihara muttered under his breath as he ran to catch the girl in front of him.

Mistletoe

    " desu! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

That was the first sentence Kirihara had heard from her when she was introducing herself in front of class. She was a transfer student from somewhere in South East Asia (Kirihara could not recall the name of the place—"Indiasenia" or something like that?). To his surprise, she was also his new neighbor. And so, the two of them became close as they always hung out together.

    "Uwah! This is so cute!" 's eyes became starry as she took a Santa-Rabbit-Clause doll from the 'Discount 25%!' box. "Ah! This cat, too! Kawaii jan! Ah! And just look how adorable this doll is!! Which one do you think is the best, Akaya-kun?"

    "Ano ne..." responded the sophomore as he started to get irritated. "Why are you so excited? It's just Christmas."

    "Because..." pouted. "We didn't celebrate Christmas in Indonesia."

    "Ah! That's it!" Kirihara suddenly chuckled. "Indonesia!"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

    "I was just thinking about the name of your country. I thought it was 'Indianesa' or 'Indasenia' or something like that."

sweat dropped. "Oi, oi, don't make weird names like that..."

    "Well, at least I got the I-N-D part right!"

She rolled her eyes. "Hai, hai, I—" her words stopped as something interesting caught her eyes. "Ah, LOOK! Akaya-kun, isn't this shirt awesome?" said—half exclaiming—as she ran to the shirt she mentioned and showed it to Kirihara. "And it's a buy-one-get-one-free item! Uwah!!"

Kirihara frowned. "Ano sa..."

    "Stop complaining will ya?" she uttered, her lips formed a perfect frown as well. "If you don't want to accompany me, just wait at the lobby then. I'll be there in—" she took a quick look at her watch. "—Half an hour."

He shook his head. "Six times half an hour, you mean. But I'll wait anyway," he said before his classmate could say anything else. He waved a goodbye as he walked away from her.

---

    'Three... Two... One.' Kirihara sighed as he finished his countdown. 'It's already half an hour. Maa, I'd say she's already forgotten about me.'

    "Akaya-kun!!"

The boy blinked as he turned his head to the voice.

The view from his eyes startled him for a second.

's hair was flowing in the same rhythm as her steps. Her eyes gazed at him straightly and softly at him. A small yet sweet smile was curved on her fine lips. Some drop of sweats that were slipping down through her neck just made her looked even more perfect.

    "Akaya-kun?" she waved in front of Kirihara's face, causing him to blink a few times before flushing a shade of scarlet.

    "Y—you're done?"

    "I promised I'd be here in half an hour, didn't I?"

Kirihara looked aside, trying to hide a very faint blush on his cheeks. "You're late twelve seconds."

    "Oh please, Akaya-kun. You sound like that boy with his eyes closed in your team."

He let out a soft chuckle.

    "Anyway," she said with an emphasis. "Help me will ya? For your information, your present is in here too." She looked at both of her hands which were carrying about ten shopping bags.

    "You bought this much in just thirty minutes? Really, I adore you so much," Kirihara rolled his eyes.

That was when his eyes caught something over them.

    "Akaya-kun, will you help or will you not?"

    "Oi ," he called, ignoring her words. "Do you know what that is?" He pointed to a green thing over them.

    "Hm?" she looked up. "Hmm... No, I don't."

    "It's called a 'mistletoe'."

    "...Sou ka...?" she raised an eyebrow. "Akaya-kun, I don't get—"

    "And do you know what you do when you are under it?"

She shot him a puzzled look. "No—"

    "This." Her words were cut as Kirihara placed his right hand on her chin, closed his eyes, and leaned forward to her.

---

    "Ta, tadaima..."

    "Ara, -chan, okaeri," a cheerful voice of 's mother greeted back. "Finished the shopping with Akaya-kun?"

suddenly felt her cheeks heat up a bit. She nodded sheepishly. "A, anyway, 'Kaa-san, have you finished the decoration?"

    "Almost. I just have to hang this somewhere," her mom said as she showed a small green leaves with red ribbon tied at it.

    "...Mistletoe?"

    "Ah, you know?" she asked in surprise. "Ne, -chan, mistletoes are so romantic! Did you know that when a boy and a girl stand under one, they have to—"

    "I—I'm going to my room!!" she exclaimed embarrassedly as she ran upstairs to where her room was. Her mom blinked confusedly, but then smiled.

    "Something happened, eh..."
 

[ owari ]
// ichigo akira 2005.12.24