Ch.243Epilogue. Hello (4)

The children weren’t particularly surprised by the gifts.

That’s because they had received presents in the same way last year.

I knew the gift-giver was Kagami since I woke up in the middle of it, but the children who slept soundly had no way of knowing.

Especially Koko.

“……”

Ah, no.

It seemed Yuu somehow knew. Well, last year’s Santa was a yakuza uncle from the Yamashita family.

So, Yuu must have known why Kagami followed us here. He just didn’t mention it separately since there was no reason to reveal who Santa was.

Judging by his expression, he seemed somewhat worried. Though his emotions weren’t openly displayed due to Yuu’s characteristic expressionlessness, I could tell by the way he was staring intently at the children’s boxes.

I’m not too concerned. Unless we’re getting something like a gaming console as a Christmas gift, I plan to just let it go.

Isn’t the thought of following us just to give presents what matters?

Watching the excited children opening their boxes, I pulled my box toward me.

Christmas presents for kids about to enter their senior year of high school. Well, we already did the gift exchange appropriate for our age yesterday.

The box wasn’t particularly heavy.

When I shook it slightly, I heard something soft moving inside. So it wasn’t something hard.

As I was tilting my head in curiosity,

“Wow!”

I heard Koko cheering from the seat next to me.

What Koko was holding was… a red sweater. It looked hand-knitted.

On the left chest area, it had ‘KOKO’ written in small letters.

When I unwrapped mine, I found the same red sweater.

On the left chest was written ‘KOTONE’.

The other kids had identical gifts, but only Koko and I had our names written on them. It seemed there wasn’t enough affection to engrave everyone’s names.

Well, strictly speaking, Koko and I are Kagami’s daughters.

Koko immediately put the sweater on over her clothes, so I followed suit.

Seeing us do this, the other kids did the same and laughed.

To be honest, it stands out too much to wear outside. If you ask if it’s to the point where I absolutely couldn’t wear it, well, it’s not that bad, but it might be difficult to find clothes that match it.

However, it seems a bit better when we’re all wearing it together.

The atmosphere felt strange, but thinking of it as a group outfit made it look a bit better.

If she knitted it by hand, it must have taken quite a while. I wonder if she made them while we were at school.

“Pfft.”

Eventually, Harumi burst into laughter at the strange atmosphere. It spread to Mako and Yuu beside her, and eventually the whole room was laughing.

Well, that’s fine.

Then, let’s spend today wearing this.

*

Since we couldn’t spend the whole day in pajamas, we first took off our clothes and washed up.

After drying my hair, I put the sweater back on over my clothes.

The size was a bit large, but not to the point of slipping off, so I planned to just wear it.

After tidying up the room a bit, having breakfast with the meals brought by the people who help with housework, and chatting for a while, we went out of the room.

“Ah, Kotone, Koko. Merry Christmas—”

Kagami, who was coming toward our room, waved her hand and spoke to Koko and me at the front, then startled.

Perhaps she hadn’t expected us all to come out wearing the sweaters she knitted?

It seemed she was a bit embarrassed seeing us all wearing the sweaters she had knitted herself.

No, it might not just be embarrassment but a bit of fear. I could tell by the drop of sweat forming on her forehead.

“Merry Christmas.”

I greeted Kagami with a nonchalant expression.

“Are you… going somewhere?”

Why? You’re the one who gave us these gifts.

Surely she didn’t expect us to only wear them at home.

Ah, perhaps she hadn’t thought we would wear them as group outfits like this.

Well, she probably gave them to the other kids too because it would have been awkward to give gifts only to us two.

“Not right now, but a little later.”

“Ah, I see.”

It was a bit amusing to see her expression, like she had something she wanted to say but couldn’t.

After thinking for a moment, I gave Kagami a light hug.

“Ah.”

“Thank you.”

I quickly said that in a small voice, then stepped back and smiled.

“Well…”

Kagami forgot her earlier embarrassment and blushed for a slightly different reason this time.

It seemed one kind of embarrassment had faded, only to be replaced by another.

At the beginning of this year, I would have been incredibly embarrassed if Kagami had asked for a hug.

But she hugged me so often that I’ve completely adapted to it.

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

“Ah, yes. Take care.”

I’m not sure if this kind of conversation is appropriate in someone else’s house, but anyway.

Seeing that she didn’t offer to come along despite having followed me and Koko here, it seems she really just came to deliver this gift.

After teasing Kagami thoroughly like that, we all went outside together.

Christmas in Japan isn’t particularly a holiday, but students are on winter break around that time. The same was true for us.

We hadn’t specifically decided where to go.

Anywhere would do.

People turned to look at us as a bunch of high school girls in bright red sweaters walked around together. We were all wearing coats over them, but the vivid color was clearly visible through the open fronts.

Some people smiled. It didn’t seem like they were mocking us. They were probably just pleased to see the energetic appearance of young people.

“It’s Christmas. Let’s go eat cake!”

Harumi said, leading the way.

“Wow!”

“Great!”

At Harumi’s words, we all shouted in agreement and marched forward.

*

After Christmas passed, a few days later.

The last day of the year.

“…Do you like that sweater that much?”

Kagami asked with genuine curiosity, seeing me wear it every time I went out.

“Would I wear it if I didn’t like it?”

To be honest, I don’t have particularly great fashion sense. I usually think it’s enough to wear something that looks decent.

This sweater is a bit flashy with its bright red color. To be frank, I don’t have many clothes that go well with it.

But.

“I wear it because I think it’s fine. It’s from Santa, after all.”

“Wow!”

“……”

Having switched from being the one who gets teased to the one doing the teasing, I now understand why Kagami wanted to occupy that position.

This is fun.

Besides, what I said wasn’t exactly a lie. The color might stand out a bit, and I might not have many clothes that match it well, but it doesn’t look all that bad when I’m wearing it.

There are much stranger clothes in the world, so I don’t think there’s any need to worry about it.

Plus, Koko walking beside me is wearing the same colored clothes, so we’ll look like sisters wearing matching outfits.

“Is that so?”

When I grinned at her, Kagami responded with a somewhat confused expression.

Why, when you’re the one who made it?

Perhaps she’s a bit unsure of her skills?

“It’s fine. Even when I wore it during Christmas, people didn’t look at me strangely. People wear red coats too, so a sweater is no big deal.”

Only after I said that did Kagami seem a bit relieved.

So, she realized I wasn’t just teasing her.

“If you’re worried I’ll wear it tomorrow too, it’s fine, right? The three of us will be in traditional clothes anyway.”

“That’s true.”

Yes, I thought so.

I figured Kagami would have made reservations months ago to spend New Year’s with us.

I had been wondering where to spend New Year’s, but this year we’ll probably go to the Kurosawa main house. That’s what it’s being consistently maintained for.

I’ve already told my friends, and most of my friends have already attended my funeral… so they shouldn’t have trouble finding their way.

However, Koko and I won’t be working in shrine maiden outfits.

After a brief New Year’s ceremony with the worshippers in the morning, the three of us will meet separately and go to Yuka’s place. Since there aren’t many worshippers anyway, and they don’t necessarily need to come to our main house, we decided to keep it short.

Well, it would be a bit strange if people like members of parliament were frequenting suspicious places from the beginning of the year.

In a way, it’s fortunate. It might get a bit busy in a few years, but that time hasn’t come yet.

“So, it’s okay for me to go out wearing this?”

When I asked, Kagami smiled slightly.

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“Next year, I hope Mom gets a gift too. So the three of us can wear the same thing.”

“Should we?”

Kagami smiled at my words.

“That would be nice, three mothers and daughters wearing the same clothes together.”

Judging by her expression, she might not wait until next year to do something similar.

I shrugged my shoulders and headed toward the entrance.