One day around the end of December.
“Yuzuru-san, Yuzuru-san. Could you say that one more time?”
“…that? What’s that?”
A couple was flirting with each other.
“The same thing you told me about on our school trip.”
It was the girl with flaxen hair and green eyes who spoke so.
It was hard to tell because she was wearing heavy clothes due to the season, but it was clear that she had a well-defined figure.
“Eh…? Ah… no, sorry. What did I say?”
The one who replied to the girl was a boy with black hair and blue eyes.
Compared to their peers, his face appeared more mature and calm.
“Look… you told me that on the very first night.”
The girl – Yukishiro Arisa – grabbed the sleeve of the boy – Takasegawa Yuzuru and tugged lightly.
The gesture resembled a child begging a parent for a toy.
On the other hand, as Yuzuru blushed slightly in embarrassment, he turned his face away.
“N, no… I guess I don’t remember it very well.”
“… did you really forget it?”
“W-who knows…”
“Sniff~…”
Arisa looked terribly sad and turned her face down.
Yuzuru hurriedly shook his head frantically from side to side at such an expression and gesture from his fiancée.
“No, I’m sorry. I lied. I remember.”
“Then tell me.”
“Well, um, do I have to tell you…?”
“…did you forget after all?”
Arisa asked Yuzuru with upturned eyes.
Yuzuru sighed in resignation.
“I’m lucky to have you as my fiancée. I am lucky to have met you, someone I can say I love from the bottom of my heart. I am happy to be in a position to marry you.”
Yuzuru replied, scratching his cheeks in embarrassment.
Then Arisa’s cheeks relaxed happily.
“Ehehe.”
“…satisfied?”
“Yes, I am. But… I feel like it was longer and more heartfelt then.”
“Indeed, I don’t remember the whole sentence…”
Not exactly the same.
Yuzuru looked troubled by such a claim.
“But the degree of care put into it is totally different, isn’t it? The one just now was a bit, well, hollow.”
“How many times do you think I’ve done this?”
“This is only the fifth time.”
“It’s not ‘only’. It’s already the fifth time.”
Apparently, Yuzuru’s heartfelt confession made Arisa very happy and tugged at her heartstrings.
Even after the school trip was over, she repeatedly asked him to do the same thing.
As for Yuzuru, he did not want to say the words too many times because they were embarrassing for him…
But, when asked so cutely by his precious fiancée and with a sad expression on her face, he couldn’t resist.
So over and over again, he made the same confession of love to Arisa, and with each repetition, it became shorter and more hollow.
“Was it something that would fade after a few times?”
“Yes, well, not a little in the first place.”
“Even if it wasn’t a little …would it fade?”
“No, not really, my feelings for you don’t fade, though, do they? It’s just that I’m not sure that I can put in the same amount of words every time I say it…”
There was no lie in his words.
The feelings towards Arisa did not change.
However, it was difficult to repeat the same thing over and over again with the same tension as the first time.
Arisa laughed at Yuzuru as he defended himself.
“You’re just embarrassed to say it… aren’t you?”
“…If you know that, can you not make me say it again and again?”
Having hit the bull’s-eye, Yuzuru frowned and turned away, saying in a grumpy voice.
Arisa shook his shoulder.
“Please don’t sulk. …okay?”
“I’m not sulking.”
“Then, please turn around.”
“…”
Yuzuru turned around slowly and reluctantly.
Then Arisa’s finger poked Yuzuru’s cheek.
Yuzuru’s eyes widened, perhaps a little startled.
Perhaps amused by his reaction, Arisa laughed happily.
“The prank was a success.”
“…”
Naturally, Yuzuru was not small minded enough to be offended by a prank of this magnitude.
However, he was not the type of person who would do nothing and leave it at that.
Yuzuru tried to think of something sarcastic to say.
“…It’s a grade-school prank.”
“What’s that? Are you trying to say I’m on a grade-school level?”
“The level of pranks, yes. Oh…no, it’s also grade-school level to repeat the same story over and over again?”
At Yuzuru’s words, Arisa’s expression, which had been in a good mood earlier, turned grim.
It certainly seems to have angered her to be ridiculed as ‘grade-school level’ even though she was a high school student.
Yuzuru continued to address Arisa.
“Not being able to give an injection is kindergarten level.”
“I can take a shot. I took it. I went with you, didn’t I?”
The injections have already been conquered.
Yuzuru shook his head dramatically at Arisa’s insistence.
“It’s normal, that’s all. Making a big deal out of a single injection is on a lower elementary school level.”
“Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”
Arisa frowned and raised her eyes.
Yuzuru cowered his shoulders against Arisa.
“If that’s what you think, shouldn’t you stop acting like a grade-schooler?”
“…Are you saying that I should play adult-like pranks?”
“No, in the first place, pranks themselves are…”
Yuzuru was unable to speak until the end.
This was because Arisa’s lips were blocking Yuzuru’s.
“Is this also at the grade-school level?”
Arisa asked Yuzuru this with a slightly reddened expression.
Yuzuru also shook his reddened face.
“No, that was …mature.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Arisa smiled happily.
Yuzuru scratched his cheek.
“You really look like you’re having a good time today.”
“Of course I am.”
Arisa nodded, spun around in place, and then spread her hands.
“Christmas, with someone I love, a sleepover, and an amusement park visit. Who wouldn’t have fun….?”
At Arisa’s question, Yuzuru simply shook his head.
“No, you’re absolutely right.”
Yes, it was Christmas day.
And they were at the most famous amusement park in Japan.
AN: Needless to say, it’s Disneyland.
