Chapter 272: Christmas Eve at the Fujiwara House Overflowing with Strange Atmosphere
December 24, Christmas Eve.
Tomorrow is Christmas, a holiday reeking of money, which has become synonymous with the consumerist trap of capitalism.
In name, it is to commemorate the birth of Jesus, but in truth, the Bible never recorded a specific date. The first group to celebrate Christmas on December 25 was the Roman Church.
Sakurai Saki only knew that now Heaven had a god called Yahweh, but whether the savior Christ truly existed or not was unclear—otherwise, he could just ask directly for his birthday.
…Wait, Sakurai, just what exactly are you thinking?
'Oh, turns out the scene in front of me is too chaotic, that's why my mind is malfunctioning.'
Tch, just what kind of demonic chaos is this scene?!
The living room of the Fujiwara house was fully decorated.
Sakurai Saki stared at the kadomatsu in front of him, showing a horrified expression as though facing an Outer God.
Aren't we celebrating Christmas today? Why is there a kadomatsu at the door that only shows up for New Year's? Does this even make sense?
How exactly does the Fujiwara family celebrate Christmas every year?
"What is this?"
"Christmas kadomatsu." Fujiwara Chika, wearing a Santa hat, explained.
Christmas ~ super fun!
✧｡◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜✧*｡
And she could even celebrate it with the one she liked! Only, the current girlfriend—and future ex-girlfriend—of Saki-kun, Hayasaka Ai, was a bit of an eyesore. Chika thought so.
"The kadomatsu is covered with Christmas ornaments..." Shirogane Miyuki stared at the Christmas kadomatsu in front of him, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"And what about that one?" Shirogane Miyuki pointed at the outfit Fujiwara Moeha was wearing.
"Lion dance reindeer head! Gaooo~" Fujiwara Moeha let out a cute cry. She was wearing a red lion dance costume, and on her head were a pair of reindeer antlers.
"Lion dance... you only see that during New Year's, right?"
Fujiwara Chika explained: "Because a few years ago, the Christmas tree in our house wasn't cleaned up for too long, so my older sister turned it into a kadomatsu."
Shirogane Miyuki began to feel a little fearful of the Fujiwara eldest sister whom he had never met.
Just what kind of person could mix up New Year's traditions and Christmas like this?
"Secretary Fujiwara, that mask you're wearing right now is?"
"Christmas oni. There are beans on the table." Chika touched the oni mask on her face, smiling as she spoke.
Chika: ⎛⎝( ` ᢍ ´ )⎠⎞
"You only throw beans to drive out oni during New Year's!!!" Shirogane Miyuki collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.
"Come on now~ don't make that face. At first, we also found it strange, but after a few years..."
"After a few years then what?" Sakurai Saki asked.
"Then it felt like Christmas had to be celebrated this way." Fujiwara Chika showed a face like she wanted to die.
Chika: (👁 ͜ʖ👁)
"Don't let this bizarre tradition spread in your family, for heaven's sake!!!!" Shirogane Miyuki screamed loudly.
He couldn't stand it anymore, he really couldn't accept it!
The Fujiwara family was truly a bunch of weirdos.
"Aniki, don't make such a fuss." Shirogane Kei hid in the kotatsu, "Today is Christmas Eve, celebrating the New Year like this isn't bad either."
Kei: (─ ‿ ─✿)
Shirogane: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
"Kei-chan's already mentally broken!! New Year's is still a week away! A whole week!!" Shirogane Miyuki's attitude was still fierce.
Even after a year of training, the chaos level of Fujiwara Chika was still something he couldn't endure.
"Shirogane, hurry up and sit here, it's still cold outside."
Sakurai Saki smiled from inside the kotatsu.
Ah, whatever, just spend Christmas in this strange way. Too much fun. Watching Shirogane Miyuki's expression of doubting life, hearing his screams, Sakurai Saki could eat three bowls of rice in a row.
Beside him, Hayasaka Ai revealed the exact same smile.
Both were the type who enjoyed watching a spectacle—the more chaotic, the better.
In short: drama-watchers.
"There's no Christmas atmosphere left at all."
Shinomiya Kaguya rolled her eyes, "Christmas is not important for its atmosphere. What's important is who you spend it with, isn't it?"
Very reasonable, Shirogane Miyuki nodded.
He ignored the pile of out-of-place decorations no different from the scene of a heretical ritual, and sat down in the kotatsu.
"Shirogane, you kicked my leg." Sakurai Saki reminded.
"Then pull your leg back." Shirogane Miyuki glared.
Who the hell stretches their legs straight inside a kotatsu?
"Don't mind it."
"I do mind! You're taking up all my space. In the kotatsu, with my legs touching a guy's legs, how am I supposed to enjoy that?!" Shirogane Miyuki complained.
"Aniki, you're too noisy." Kei-chan spoke up.
"..." Shirogane Miyuki opened his mouth, then had no choice but to shut it again, face full of grievance.
Shirogane: ( ͠ಥ_ಥ)
Fujiwara Chika didn't crawl into the kotatsu. It was already late, and everyone was hungry.
A few minutes later.
She put on heatproof gloves and carried over a big pot.
"Tonight we're having sukiyaki."
"This is also a New Year's dish, right?"
"No, Shirogane, I've liked eating sukiyaki since autumn, it's really warm." Sakurai Saki, lying in his girlfriend's arms, looked very relaxed.
"You guys are the abnormal ones." Shirogane Miyuki felt he was the only normal person in this bunch.
"Aniki, too noisy." Kei-chan lay sprawled on the table, only sitting up when the pot of sukiyaki was set down near her.
Everyone gathered together, eating sukiyaki hotpot.
"Guys, have you ever heard of another way to eat hotpot?"
"Secretary Fujiwara, if you say something like dark hotpot, I'll go home immediately."
Fujiwara Chika blinked.
Then shouted loudly: "Everyone, let's have dark hotpot later!!"
Chika: ✧｡.o(≧∀≦)o✧*｡
"Dark hotpot, if I'm not mistaken," Shirogane Miyuki thought aloud, "is when everyone brings a bit of ingredients into a pitch-dark room, then cook together, right?"
"That's right! After it's cooked, in that same pitch-dark room you grab food—whatever you grab, you eat." Fujiwara Moeha said excitedly: "Sounds so thrilling! Senpai!"
"..." Shinomiya Kaguya kind of wanted to run away.
But unfortunately, she didn't escape.
Ten minutes later, the whole living room was shrouded in a strange green glow.
Christmas, probably no one would spend it like this, but at the Fujiwara house, everything somehow felt normal.
"Secretary-chan… what are you planning to put in?" Hayasaka Ai stared at the handful of small red chilies in Fujiwara Chika's hand, swallowing hard.
Oh no, that many chilies…
"Eh? This is normal, when it comes to dark hotpot this only counts as [normal] level." Chika smiled radiantly.
Her whole being overflowed with joy.
"Then I'll put this in." Shinomiya Kaguya, expressionless, took out some chocolate bars and dropped them into the pot of broth that had already turned green under the lamp light.
"Sweets?" Inside, alarm bells rang for Shirogane Miyuki, warning him that if this kept up they'd all end up in the hospital!
"Kaguya-senpai, yours is the [hard] level." Fujiwara Moeha evaluated.
The hell, there's even a ranking system?
Chocolate is only [hard]?
Then what the hell counts as higher level?
"Hey! Sakurai! You seriously want to put that in?"
"Hmph, if we're gonna play, we play all the way." Sakurai Saki calmly opened a can of pickled herring.
"Why the hell does the Fujiwara household even have this kind of biochemical weapon?!" Shirogane Miyuki pinched his nose.
"Didn't expect it to be [fatal] level…" Even Chika pinched her nose.
Hayasaka Ai watched everyone enthusiastically toss more ingredients into the pot, and for a while she didn't know what to do.
'Today… is it really Christmas Eve?'
"(ノ _ <,, )