Daiki was thinking about it as he entered the room and turned his head down, but inside him he was mixed up between feeling that he had to support Wakaba and feeling that he did not want to support Wakaba.

However, the scene he saw today kept flowing in his mind.

The feeling that he had to support her became strengthened.

Gradually, his feelings calmed down and he began to think about forcing himself to support Wakaba.

From then on, he kept thinking..

“Since they had a date, I had no choice but to support her, right?”

He decided on his own.

If he had asked Wakaba from the beginning, they would not have crossed paths.

He doesn’t want her to hate him.

He doesn’t want to get hurt.

He doesn’t want to make a mistake.

When he thinks about it, he can’t ask her.

It’s a defensive instinct.

It is probably much more difficult to talk to the person in question than other people think.

After forcing himself to change his mind, Daiki decided to take a shower and clear his head.

His mother was worried about him.

“Don’t worry!”

he answered cheerfully as usual.

By forcing himself to switch, he was able to calm down and control his emotions.

When he returned to his room and checked his cell phone, he found a message from Wakaba.

Looking at the message, he could still stay calm.

After replying to the message, he decided to go to sleep.

Tomorrow, he was going to spend the day with his mother and Togo-san, so he would not see Wakaba again at the end of this year.

Maybe it was just right for Daiki.

Somehow he wanted a milestone.

To fake his own feelings in time for New Year’s Eve.

“I’ll be sure to support you when the year is over!”

Wakaba remembered only Daiki’s words after entering the house.

She wanted to send a message right away, but she didn’t know what to say.

She pondered for a while.

The more she thought about it, the more she did not know what to say.

While she was thinking about it, she received a message from Ren.

“I had fun today!

Thanks for taking me out on a date!

Let’s go out together again!”

It came.

After all, Ren thought it was a date.

Wakaba thought it was just a casual outing with a friend, but to someone other than Wakaba, it might have been a date.

It was here that she noticed it.

She noticed it was a date.

She wanted to tell Daiki right away that it was not a date, but Ren had already admitted it.

She felt she had to contact him as soon as possible, but in the end, she decided to contact him only about the Christmas present.

Wakaba was the only one who thought it was not a date.

She felt it was wrong of her to deny it.

And besides, there was no reason for her to deny that it was not a date to Daiki, whom she considers like a younger brother.

She was trying to force herself not to care about it.

“I want to give you a Christmas present, can we meet?”

was the only message she sent.

By the time she received a reply, she took a bath, ate dinner quickly, and went back to her room.

“I can still give it to him today!”

Wakaba thought.

But it was late when the reply came.

“Tomorrow, Togo-san will be here, so it will be after the new year! Good night!”

That was the only message.

She was told that her Christmas present could wait until after the New Year.

Wakaba impatiently replied back.

“Can I come over tomorrow for a bit?

Just to give it to you?”

but she never received a reply after that.

Wakaba replied

” I shouldn’t disturb them when they are about to become a family..”

So she thought to herself

“I’ll give it to him after the new year after all!

Enjoy tomorrow with the three of you!”

She sent the message.

Hugging the stuffed animal Daiki had given her.

“I can’t give it to Daiki anymore this year..”

Feeling almost crushed by loneliness as she looked at the Christmas present she was going to give to Daiki.

Over the past year, the distance between them had gradually increased.