Facing Karuizawa Kei who was clearly shivering from the cold but still trying to keep up his face, Kazehara Tetsu couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"You really dare to say that."
Kazehara Tetsu looked condescendingly at the girl in front of her who was about to shrink into a ball Snowfield.
"Obviously you were hiding in that place like a peeping tom, and you almost ruined the date atmosphere that I carefully prepared."
Kazehara Tetsu put his hands in his coat pockets, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Karuizawa Kei.
"Who bothered whom? Huh?"
"Cut..."
Being directly exposed to the truth, Karuizawa Kei's chin, which was originally raised for momentum, froze slightly, and then turned away with a guilty conscience.
"Who, who cares about your boring walks like old men and old ladies... Really."
She muttered and stamped her feet vigorously.
"Since it's not a surprise, why did you come with me if you have nothing to do?"
"If I remember correctly, during this festival, as Class D is recognized as the 'perfect couple', shouldn't you stay with your gentle and considerate boyfriend...Hirata Yosuke?"
"Still..."
Kazehara Tetsu glanced around and asked in an exaggerated manner.
"That good old man Hirata is also hiding behind some snowdrift, planning to surprise me?"
"How is that possible! You are thinking too much!"
Karuizawa Kei raised his head sharply and retorted as if he had been stepped on.
"We did stay together in the beginning... We originally made an appointment to sit in a coffee shop."
At this point, her voice lowered and her eyes wandered a little.
"But... on the way, I saw someone's condition... and I was separated from Hirata."
She didn't say who "someone" was, but her eyes were pointed directly at Kazehara Tetsu.
"But then again..."
Karuizawa Kei crossed his arms again and looked Kazehara Tetsu up and down, his tone full of sour sarcasm.
"That person is really good. I didn't see anyone last night. It turned out that he was busy with other women."
"If you were asked to be a cowherd, you would probably become the number one, right? It's true... there are so many women surrounding you, and you're not afraid of dying from exhaustion."
Faced with this jealous accusation, Kazehara Tetsu just shrugged indifferently.
"What a boring feeling."
He said calmly, his attitude was like listening to some irrelevant gossip.
"How I allocate my energy is my business. Instead of worrying about my private life..."
"By the way, now that I have sent Hiyori away. What about you? Don't you plan to go back and continue celebrating the festival with Hirata Yosuke? I think with that good man's character, even if you run away in the middle, as long as you go back and act like a baby now, he will still smile and forgive you, right?"
"Huh?"
Karuizawa Kei was stunned for a moment, and then an extremely complicated expression appeared on his face.
"Go back? Continue to play that loving couple?"
"There's nothing good about it. I'm tired of playing that kind of house-playing game."
"That's right."
Kazehara Tetsu nodded, understanding this.
"After all, the current situation of Class D and Points is very miserable. With the meager subsistence allowance every month, it is already difficult to maintain the consumption level of a lady like you Karuizawa Kei."
"That kind of poor class can't provide any good high-end entertainment. It's really torture for a woman with such a strong vanity to spend Christmas with Hirata..."
"What's more... you are Class D's richest Karuizawa Kei. Without expensive gifts or dinners at high-end restaurants... this kind of boyfriend is really not attractive to you."
These words are extremely mean and directly define Karuizawa Kei as a woman who worships money.
If it were in the past, Karuizawa Kei, who was still immersed in false personas, would definitely be furious when he heard these words.
But now.
There was no hysterical anger.
Karuizawa Kei was silent for two seconds, then raised his head, and there was no such superficial anger in his eyes.
"Yes, I am material and I am vanity. You are right."
She admitted it openly.
"But... although I am materialistic, I am not in a position to judge things based on this little money."
"If it was just for Points, I wouldn't wait for you in this freezing cold place."
She looked at Kazehara Tetsu, her eyes becoming particularly serious, which was her oath after making a certain decision.
"I've already planned it."
"School starts at Third Semester... No, maybe a little earlier. No matter what reason I find, or it's a direct showdown... I want to announce that Hirata Yosuke has broken up."
"Huh?"
This actually made Kazehara Tetsu feel a little surprised.
"So fast? I thought you would keep that useful 'shield' for a while longer until you squeeze out the last bit of use value."
"It's better to be early."
Karuizawa Kei sighed, and the white mist she exhaled blurred her face.
"After all... you know it. It was just for safety, and in order not to be entangled in things like the past again, that I shamelessly begged Hirata to let him act and become my boyfriend."
"He is my host, and I am the Parasite that is parasitic on him. This is a relationship of use."
"But now..."
Karuizawa Kei took a step forward, shortened the distance between him and Kazehara Tetsu, and raised his head.
"I already have another person."
"That kind of 'host' far surpasses Hirata in terms of strength, means, and... the feeling it gives me."
There was an almost pathological dependence and trust in her eyes.
"Now that we have found a stronger shelter, it is unfair for him to continue to rely on Hirata Yosuke. That guy is a good person, and there is no need to let him Waste of Time for a troublesome woman like me."
"Pah, pah, pah."
Kazehara Tetsu took his hands out of his pockets and clapped his hands a few times in the cold wind.
"It's so sensible, Karizawa."
"This kind of 'evil girl' with self-awareness is much cuter than those fools who pretend to be innocent."
"Stop... stop teasing me!"
Feeling a little embarrassed by being praised, or being hit by the phrase "evil girl", Karuizawa Kei's cheeks turned even redder.
She glared at Kazehara Tetsu with some annoyance, and then hurriedly unzipped Down Jacket as if to hide something.
"Really... talking to someone like you makes me feel like my personality is getting distorted."
While complaining, she took out a small box from her inner pocket.
"Here."
She thrust the box into Kazehara Tetsu's hand with a rough voice, her movements not gentle at all.
"It's really... it's so cold that I still want to give things to a guy like you..."
Kazehara Tetsu looked at the box in his hand.
Unlike gifts like Shiina Hiyori, this box is worth a lot just by looking at the brand on the outer packaging.
"What?"
Kazehara Tetsu weighed the box and looked at her with a half-smile.
"Use the Points I gave you before to buy me a gift? Is this what is called 'wool comes from the sheep'?"
Although Kazehara Tetsu did give Karuizawa Kei a lot of "Activity Expenses" from Points, but if you use that kind of money to buy gifts and send them back, the meaning will be greatly reduced.
"Who would do such a shameless thing!"
Karuizawa Kei seemed to have been greatly insulted, and his voice instantly rose an octave.
"Stop looking down on others!"
"Although Class D is very poor, although I am very short of money... but!"
"I bought this with my own Points!"
"I save it through frugality every month, and... no matter how it comes from, I have never used a penny from you!"
She is extremely persistent on this issue.
This is an equal gift.
It's a girl named Karuizawa Kei. In this Christmas, I send my pure heart to Kazehara Tetsu.
"Really?"
Kazehara Tetsu took back that frivolous attitude.
"Since it is the precious thought saved by the eldest lady through frugality..."
Kazehara Tetsu solemnly put the black box into his coat pocket.
"Then I accept it with gratitude."
"Huh, that's pretty much it."
Seeing that he accepted it, the expression on Karuizawa Kei's face softened a little.
Just when she was about to put her hands back into her sleeves to keep warm.
"Don't take your hand back in a hurry."
Kazehara Tetsu said suddenly.
Immediately afterwards, the satchel containing the gift was opened again.
"Here."
He just handed over a box.
"What... is this?"
Karuizawa Kei took those things in a daze.
He didn't say it clearly, but started talking nonsense about things that didn't exist.
"It's a coupon for Scarf... I just thought that the color around Hiyori is quite suitable for you. I will take you to buy it next time."
"Huh? Why should I use the same style as that woman..."
Karuizawa Kei subconsciously wanted to refute.
"Shut up and keep it."
Kazehara Tetsu directly interrupted her Tsundere speech.
He stretched out his hand and directly held Karuizawa Kei's hand that was as cold as ice.
"My hands are so cold and my words are so harsh."
"Merry Christmas, Megumi."
"..."
Karuizawa Kei felt the heat coming from her palms, the kind of heat that was enough to melt ice and snow, and also enough to melt her heart Defense Line.
"... Idiot."
She lowered her head and looked at the hands held by the two of them, and the corners of her mouth could no longer be suppressed and raised.
"Merry Christmas... Toru."