Dumped by One, Chased by Another? My Ex's Sister Is a Gal and She's Coming for Me - Chapter 94

When it comes to Christmas—no, to what the world at large considers Christmas—there are two key events, in my opinion.

The first is cake.

For many families, cake is something they only have on birthdays and Christmas.

And the second is presents.

You wake up in the morning, look by your pillow, and there it is—left by your parents, or rather, by “Santa Claus.”

I’m sure many children eagerly looked forward to discovering what was waiting for them.

Sorry for the long preamble, but what I’m really trying to say is this:

“Here. Your Christmas present.”

“Wow! Thank you!”

After the cake comes the gift exchange. That’s just how it goes.

I handed Haruki the neatly wrapped package I had bought in advance.

For the record, Marco and I had gone shopping together for this. He was looking for a present for Honoka, and I was searching for one for Haruki. We spent the whole day hunting down the perfect gifts—but that’s not really important now.

What matters is Haruki’s reaction.

“Hehehe.”

Without even unwrapping it, Haruki gently stroked the gift wrap.

What an adorable creature.

Honestly, I’m overjoyed by the reaction, but at the same time, I do kind of want them to look at what’s inside. So, it’s a bit of a complex feeling.

“Ah! Wait right here, Kengorou! I’ve got something for you too!”

“Huh?”

Clutching the gift, Haruki dashed out of the room in a flurry.

What could it be?

The answer came in just ten seconds.

“Thanks for waiting!”

Haruki came back, holding two packages.

One, obviously, was the one I had just given.

The other—wrapped in unfamiliar paper—must have been a gift from Haruki.

A gift for me.

“Haruki, this is for me?”

“Yep! Open it!”

I did as I was told and carefully unwrapped the package.

Inside was.

“A scarf?”

A scarf in Christmas colors—green with red stripes.

Amazingly, the green wasn’t garish at all. It had a refined, calming tone that would definitely suit me.

“I looked around at a lot of options, but I thought this one would be the best. It’s been getting really cold lately, you know?”

That was true. It had been freezing lately. So much so that every time we met, we somehow ended up talking about the weather.

Not because we had nothing else to talk about—it was just that cold.

In fact, the shared suffering kind of brought us closer together.

“Yeah, this makes me really happy. I’ll wear it every day.”

“I’m glad you like it!”

“Haruki, you should open yours too.”

“Oh, right!”

Haruki quickly began unwrapping the present I gave.

“This is.”

“Yeah, um.”

Haruki slowly took it out and held it up.

It was made of yarn.

It was shaped like a sash.

It was solid red.

It was meant to be worn around the neck.

It was—

“A scarf?”

“I can’t believe we picked the same thing.”

I put my head in my hands.

Maybe it was inevitable.

I mean, it is cold this time of year.

And a scarf is kind of the go-to gift between couples.

So, I guess it’s no surprise.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d done something wrong even though I hadn’t.

“Fufufu.”

Haruki giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m just happy we were thinking the same thing.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess that’s true.”

It really was.

We both thought about each other, tried to find the perfect gift and ended up getting the exact same thing.

“Let’s wear our scarves together and go out all over the place!”

“Yeah, like New Year’s shrine visits?”

“Totally!”

Looking at it now, I’m glad I chose a scarf.

It’s something we can use every time we go out together.

Haruki wrapped the red scarf around their neck and spun around once in front of me.

“How does it look?”

“You look amazing—cutest in the world.”

“Hehe.”

Suddenly, something sparkled in the corner of my vision.

It was the glint of a smartphone camera lens.

Holding it, perfectly still, was Setsuko-san.

“Stop recording us!”

Even the two of us together couldn’t wrestle the footage away.