Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu - Chapter 179

Chapter 179

I was attending a special winter holiday course at my cram school .

My marks had fallen in the most recent exam so I had to get it together!

A student’s main concern was studying, so naturally Christmas wasn’t a priority .

Christmas had nothing to do with students .

Naturally .

With that in mind I strode into cram school only to be invited by Umewaka-kun and the others to a 1000 yen random present exchange .

Present exchange?!

Count me in!

This kind of thing really brought back memories .

In my old life my friends and I had gathered together to do a 500 yen random present exchange .

It was extra hard getting presents without knowing who would get it .

If I knew that then I could at least try to get something they’d like .

It was even worse this time because we had both sexes in the pool .

If it was all girls then I could get some cute lip gloss or a nail set, but I didn’t think the boys would appreciate that .

Oh, well maybe Iwamuro-kun might, but…

After agonising over it for a while, in the end I decided on a famous onsen bath salt set .

It wasn’t something you’d have to keep around after using, and if you didn’t like it then your family could .

I wondered if this was the right choice .

It was better than some cute bath bombs at least, since the scent of those might be too sweet for a boy .

During our lunch break on Christmas Eve, we had lunch together in the classroom before singing some songs and exchanging presents .

It was a little embarrassing because there were other people in the classroom, but it was best to be festive for these things, wasn’t it!

I wondered who would get my present .

We sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as we passed the presents along in a circle .

When the song was done I ended up with a green-ribboned present, just about large enough to fit in both hands .

I wonder whose this was .

My present ended up in Sasaki-san’s hands . Ahh, had I known it’d end up with a girl I would have just gone for the bath bombs!

How was she going to react!

“Wah, bath salts . There’s actually quite a bit here . Whose was this?”

“It was mine,” I raised my hand to looks of surprise .

“This is yours!? Wouldn’t have really expected this from you . ”

“Yeah . I thought Kisshouin-san would have picked something more, rich person? High roller?”

“Uu… Sorry for failing to meet expectations…”

I see . So they weren’t expecting a young lady of Suiran to have chosen something so plebeian . Sorry . I messed up .

“No, no! Sorry! That’s not what I meant! I was just surprised, that’s all! I love bath salts, so I’m really glad to get this .  Onsen bath salts though . You’ve got some pretty mature taste, huh . ”

I knew I should have just gone with some la bath salts français! Who cares if they had salts from Beppu and Arima…

After that I opened up the present I got myself . Inside was a single heart-shaped plant of some sort in a little pot…?

“Oh, I got that one . Isn’t it cute? It’s a hoya kerii . Sometimes people call it the love-heart plant . ”

“The hoya kerii,” I read, and began looking at the attach instructions for raising it .

Bad with the cold, less water needed in winter… Huh, and you didn’t need to water it every day . Maybe it would be easy to keep it .

“Thank you, Kitazawa-kun . I will try my best to take care of it!”

“Yeah!”

A plant shaped like a heart though . Guy or not, I had to admit it was a pretty stylish choice .

Everyone else excitedly opened their own presents too .

Hand creams, sweets, Christmas mugs and citrus-scented soaps…

My onsen bath salts were the least cute thing here…

Still, the Christmas mood was great! I handed out the sweets I had left over from the Petit salon, and we had that instead of Christmas cake . Yummy .

*

*

When I got home my parents were about to head out for a party .

Naturally they invited me, but I declined . Have fun .

When I got back to my room I put in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ . I ended up watching it while I had dried squid from the convenience store, with soy sauce and mayonnaise .

Somehow or other I ended up watching this every year, didn’t I~

Munch munch .

I gulped down some green tea .

Oniichan was going to be out late with work and then the party, but that was fine .

I was fine just watching DVDs all by my lonesome and then falling asleep .

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to watch after this one yet .

Wakaba-chan was probably quite busy at her family store right now .

Sakura-chan was going to be ringing bells at the church before heading to a party at Akizawa-kun’s place as I recalled .

And Aoi-chan was… on a date? Maybe I’d email her .

Ah wait, no, then she’d realise that I had nothing better to do right now .

I had to control myself…

Umewaka-kun sent me a photo of Beatrice in a red nose and antlers .

I was expecting a photo like this, but I had expected a Santa costume instead .

But with those antlers on, considering the Cerberus incident Kaburagi would probably call her a baphomet or something .

‘I had Christmas cake with A-tan!

He got me a flower collar as a present .

Isn’t it cute?

Merry Christmas, Reika-tan!’

Merry Christmas, Bea-tan .

*

*

Late at night I sensed a presence and shot to my feet .

There was a suspicious figure in the dark!

“Ghooooost!!”

I leapt onto my bed so that I wouldn’t be possessed .

Spirit begone! Spirit begone!

Why!? I thought ghosts were meant to appear on Halloween, not Christmas!

“Reika, Reika! It’s your Otousama! I’m not a ghost!”

“…Otousama?”

I turned on my bed lamp .

In its dim lighting stood a tanuki .

“What are you doing, Otousama!”

My heart almost goddamn stopped you know! You stupid tanuki!

I’m all dizzy from standing up too fast now!

“Ah, I mean, you were at home all by yourself, so your Otousama thought he’d leave you a present by your side . ”

“Present?”

I looked around and found something left by my bedside .

A present whose wrapping paper was a little ruffled . I must have stepped on it in the confusion .

Still trying to play Santa at this age, huh . You’re wasting your life on dreams, Tanuki .

“Well thank you . At any rate I am going back to sleep, so please return to your room . ”

“Okay…”

Otousama left my room dejectedly .

I heard Okaasama talking to him from just outside .

“Didn’t I tell you this would happen?”

Okaasama, if you’re going to dissuade him then do it properly please .

*

When I woke up the next morning I opened Santa Tanuki’s present .

It turned out to be a ladies watch with diamonds that tumbled above the dial .

Cute .

I had no doubt that it was Okaasama who chose this…

When I arrived at breakfast two Christmas cakes from Otousama and Oniisama sat there, staring at me .

Just who was supposed to eat these .

Maybe if I brought them with me to cram school everyone would finish them for me…

*

I received a message from Sakura-chan .

For Christmas, Akizawa-kun had given her a ring .

What the heeeeeell!?

I gave a prayer to my love-heart plant as I watered it .