On the third Friday of December, Advanced Nurturing High School's annual Christmas Ball was held in the gymnasium. For the day, the gym had been transformed until it was nearly unrecognizable—hundreds of warm yellow star lights hung from the dome, the basketball court's wooden floor was covered with a deep crimson carpet, the surrounding bleachers were draped in white curtains adorned with artificial snowflakes and silver bells. A huge Christmas tree stood in one corner, laden with wish cards handwritten by the students. The Shopping Center provided the buffet, the Student Council handled the music and lighting, and Shiina Hiyori had even borrowed the solar desk lamp from the Old School Building rooftop and placed it at the entrance as a symbolic decoration. A small index card was posted beside it, titled with a single line: This lamp once illuminated the folding table in the Uninhabited Island tin shack. Now on display at the Christmas Ball entrance. Exhibit No. XMS-001.
Kanzaki Toru stood at the gym entrance, holding a cup of unsweetened hot cocoa. He was in his school uniform today, with no special effort made to dress up, except that he had replaced his tie with the deep red knitted one Karuizawa had stuffed into his hands last week. She had said it suited the Christmas theme. At the time, he had not asked why she had bought a Christmas tie several weeks in advance, but now, seeing Sakura Airi standing beside Karuizawa in a knitted cardigan of the same color scheme, he realized the two had planned it all along.
Sakura was not wearing a hat today, and her red thick-rimmed glasses sat securely on the bridge of her nose. Her camera hung from her chest, but she did not raise it to take pictures as often as