Chapter 40 : Christmas Chaos

“Airi Fujimoto,” our class idol, stood on stage under the bright spotlight.
Her voice was shaking a little, but she was smiling at the crowd.

And then she said it.

“...Tanaka Yuuji.”

Yep. That’s my name.
Which meant that every single head in the gym turned in my direction.

“Ehhh?!”
“Wait, is she—?”
“Is this a confession?!”
“Oi oi, Yuuji, stand up or something!”

The gossip factory started immediately, running at maximum power. I could practically see Kenta’s eyes glowing like a reporter who just found his front-page scoop.

Meanwhile, I wanted to melt into my chair and never exist again.

“Hey, Yuuji!” Daiki nudged me from the side, grinning like an idiot. “Your heroine just called you out in front of the whole school! What’s your move, man?!”

“My move is to die quietly before anything happens,” I muttered.

But before I could even try to process what Airi was about to say—

BZZZT.

The gym went completely dark.

“...Eh?”
“Power outage?”
“WHO KICKED THE BREAKER?!”
“I can’t see! Someone’s stepping on my foot!”

Chaos.

Instant chaos. Students screamed, teachers tried to calm everyone down, and someone (probably Kenta) yelled, “IT’S A CURSED LOVE STORY, THE LIGHTS REJECT IT!”

I looked into the darkness, trying to find Airi’s voice again.

But when the emergency lights switched on a few seconds later.

She was gone.

Vanished.

The stage was empty.

“Wha—where’d she go?!”
“Did she fall?!”
“No, no, she definitely walked off—right?!”

“Yuuji!” Daiki grabbed my arm. “This is your cue, man! Go after her!”

“Wh—why me?!”

“Because she called YOUR name, duh!”

“Yeah! The heroine disappears, the hero chases! That’s the rule!” Kenta added.

Even Hina gave me a calm look and said, “If you don’t go, you’ll regret it.”

...Great.

Even the quiet oracle joined the push.

So before I knew it, I was sprinting toward the stage like the most reluctant protagonist ever.

The backstage area was filled with students running around, trying to figure out the blackout situation.

“Oi, Tanaka, looking for someone?” one of the stage crew asked.

I tried to act casual. “Uh... no, I just... dropped my dignity somewhere here.”

“Yeah, well, we dropped the lights. Go find yours later.”

Okay, no help there.

I peeked around curtains, checked behind props, even crouched down to look under the stage like an idiot. No Airi.

Storage room? empty.

Dressing room? empty. Hallways? Also empty.

It was like she just evaporated.

My chest tightened. I didn’t even know why, but my legs kept moving on their own. Past the gym, up the dark stairwell, toward the one place that just… made sense.

The rooftop door was slightly cracked open.

I pushed it, and cold winter air hit me instantly. And there she was.

Airi sat near the fence, hugging her knees, back facing me. Her shoulders were trembling.

She was... sobbing?

My brain short-circuited.
This wasn’t the smug, teasing Airi. This wasn’t even the cheerful, sparkling Airi.

This was just... a girl trying not to fall apart.

I swallowed hard and slowly walked over.

“...Airi??” I said quietly.

No answer.

I crouched a little closer. “Oi. You planning on making me freeze to death just standing here?”

Still no answer, except for a soft sniff.

And then, in a shaky voice, she said, “...I finally... got the courage to say it properly this time.”

I froze.

Her words were broken between hiccups, but I understood.

“I was ready... to confess... for real... and then the stupid lights—!” Her voice cracked, and she buried her face into her arms. “Why does everything always go wrong?!”

I panicked. Crying girls were basically my kryptonite.

“Uh... hey, don’t cry. It’s not like anyone thinks less of you. I mean, unless Kenta tells the entire school newspaper tomorrow, but we can ...okay, bad joke, sorry, ignore me—”

She let out a watery laugh between sobs. “...You’re so bad at this.”

“Yeah, I’m aware.”

I sat down beside her, leaning my back against the fence.

For a while, we just sat there, listening to the faint Christmas songs from the gym far below.

Finally, I took a deep breath. “Look. Since the lights decided to be dramatic, I’ll just say it here instead.”

She looked up at me, eyes red and puffy.

“I... don’t know when it started. Maybe back in middle school, maybe during one of those ridiculous festivals, maybe when you were bullying me and I realized, wow, even my life’s antagonist is kind of cute—”

She smacked my arm weakly. “Don’t confess like that, you idiot.”

I grinned. “Fine, fine. Let me try again.”

I looked straight at her.
“I like you, Fujimoto Airi. Not just the cheerful you. Not just the scary you. Not just... Usagi either. I like all of you. And I want to be the guy who takes care of you, No matter which version I get in the morning.”

Her face turned red instantly.

“...You really shouldn’t talk about other women when you’re confessing, you silly goose,” she mumbled, half hiding her face.

“Other women? That’s literally you.”

“Still counts!”

I laughed. “Fine. Then I like just you. Happy now?”

She pouted, then slowly leaned over, Hugging me tight.

This time, I didn’t hesitate. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her just as tightly. Her hair tickled my chin, and her whole body trembled, but little by little, I felt her relax against me.

She whispered into my chest. “...Don’t let go yet.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

Her grip tightened. Mine did too. For a moment, the world below didn’t exist. Just me and her, in the freezing winter air, clinging like idiots who didn’t want the night to end.

We finally left the school, walking side by side through the cold night air. The snow had started falling again, Slow, Fluffy flakes that stuck to Airi’s hair and shoulders.

She sneezed once, then puffed her cheeks. “You better not laugh.”

“I wasn’t laughing,” I said. (I was)

Without saying much more, she grabbed my sleeve and clung to it as we walked. Our footprints trailed behind us, two lines in the fresh snow, side by side.

The houses were glowing with Christmas lights, and even the convenience store near the station had a cheesy Santa balloon tied to the entrance. Normally I’d find it ridiculous, but right now it just felt… right.

Airi’s voice was soft. “Hey… it feels like Christmas came early this year.”

“Yeah.” I squeezed her hand tighter. “Best present I’ve ever gotten.”

She turned away quickly, probably blushing like crazy, and muttered, “Idiot.”

But she didn’t let go of my hand.

Not once.