X-Day — Third Part

TL: Daemon

ED: PuffyPyjamas

Hiiragi-chan said.

“It’s already late, you know?”

However, her voice was tinged with a bit of happiness. The first time I went to her house was around this time, so I think it’s a bit too late to be giving warnings.

“Can I head over?”

When I repeated myself, she immediately replied with a yes.

“Seiji-kun, you’re such a rebellious child.”

She spoke teasingly, but after saying see you later, she hung up the call. I prepared myself and left my room. There, I was found by Sana who had called for me to come.

“Ah, Nii-san, where are you going?”

“Just going to play around at night.”

“Just because tomorrow is Saturday? Such a delinquent! W-who are you going to be hanging out with…?”

“It doesn’t matter, right?”

“…What about the DVD watch part with Sana——”

“Let’s do it some other time.”

I waved my hand as I descended down the stairs and left the house. Biking during this season means you’re met with a cold wind. It’s super cold…

When I made it to Hiiragi-chan’s apartment, it was just in time for Hiiragi-chan to arrive as well.

“Good work.”

Once she saw me, she ran over and hugged me. Hmm? She’s already using the scarf that we gave her.

“Fuwaan, Seiji-kun… I got past the bulk of it… I think I can finally relax for a bit.”

“I see. That’s nice. Thanks for the hard work.”

Maybe since it’s been a while since we’ve hugged like this, Hiiragi-chan didn’t let go at all.

“Wait, we’re outside you know?”

“Ah. T-that’s right…”

There isn’t anyone else, and since it was dark in the parking lot, even if there was anyone they probably won’t recognize us.

I helped her carry her belongings and we entered her room together. Even though she’s busy with work, her room was still clean.

“Amazing… If I was busy with work, I’m sure I would have had some laundry or dirty dishes left over. However, there’s none of that…”

“Ehen. But Seiji-kun, rather than that, aren’t you currently living at home?”

Ah, whoops.

“Aah… Umm, I’m just imagining myself living alone.”

Hiiragi-chan didn’t seem to be too curious about it.

After sitting on the sofa, and randomly browsing through some channels on the television,

“Haruka-san, thanks for the scarf. I’m going to use it a lot.”

“Well, after Rei-chan talked to me, I panicked a bit… I just ended up too excited… and then I hand knitted the scarf…”

I told Hiiragi-chan that Rei-chan knows about our relationship.

“Yeah… It’s certainly worth confiding in her… she seems precocious and her suggestions are really mature.”

Well, she is twenty on the inside.

“Natsumi had also tried to stop me… telling me that hand knitting something would be too heavy or something.”

I don’t understand… that’s what the difficult expression Hiiragi-chan had seemed to say.

It’s probably that the intent would be heavy, not in some physical sense.

“Eh? Hand knitted, heavy…?”

Wouldn’t it be fine if you were giving it to your lover…? Huh? Is there something Hiiragi-chan and I aren’t getting?

“I-I know right! It’s not heavy! I’ll tell Natsumi next time.”

“Ah— Umm, Sensei!”

“Y-yes!? … Rather, it’s not Sensei but Haruka-san, right!?”

She poked my cheek with her finger.

“Umm… Here! I forgot to give you this…”

I pulled out the present from my pocket. It was a luxurious black box, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

Hiiragi-chan widened her eyes.

“Eeeh? But, I already got the scarf today…?”

“Yeah. That was from the three of us. That is that. This is, just from me…”

With that, Hiiragi-chan finally looked at the box that I brought out. When I opened the small box, the brand name silver ring that I bought earlier appeared.

If I think about it being the birthday of someone precious to me, I really don’t feel this is too expensive. Coming from a more mature side of me that is. However, if it is from a high schooler, this would probably be pretty expensive.

“This is…”

Hiiragi-chan got stuck with her words. I was scared of her reaction, so I couldn’t look at her face directly. It’s pretty serious, so you have to buy something at least this expensive! It isn’t out of the question for her to say something like that. For a woman… even someone like Hiiragi-chan who doesn’t pay attention to brands that much, would 100% know of this brand. I also don’t know very much about designs a woman might like, so there’s still the possibility of her not liking it… I spoke with the employee a lot, but… apparently there are a lot of different personal preferences…

“This is amazing…”

I looked at Hiiragi-chan, who was speaking with a teary voice, and found tears in her eyes.

“… Which finger?”

I picked up the ring and took Hiiragi-chan’s left hand. I then put it over her ring finger. It was perfect fit.

“Happy birthday, Haruka-san.”

Buwaah, Hiiragi-chan started to cry.

“This is so surprising…”

She held me and patted me on the head. Hiiragi-chan was still crying tears of happiness by my ears.

“That’s a relief, for you to like it this much.”

“Of course, I’d be happy… even with the scarf, I was super happy…”

I wiped her tear away with a finger and gave her a gentle kiss.

As if to express her feelings, Hiiragi-chan jumped at the first kiss. The room should still be pretty cold, and yet my face was on fire, and strangely hot.

After having a kiss that felt like it might make our lips go swollen, Hiiragi-chan embarrassingly whispered into my ear.

“I want to make today… even more special… Seiji-kun, I want…”

When I tried to look her in the eye, she quickly averted her gaze.

“… Yeah. I get it.”

We didn’t need to keep talking to each other. I carried Hiiragi-chan in a princess carry and brought her to the bedroom.

“I-I’m heavy. Let me down, Seiji-kun…”

“It’s okay.”

I gently set her down on the bed and we kissed again.

“I’ll take them off, okay?”

“~”

I could hear Hiiragi-chan gulp.

It was dimly lit, but I could tell her face was completely red. I could also easily tell that she nodded in affirmation.