The new year was approaching,

The girl unexpectedly did not receive a few New Year's cards.

This was probably related to the fact that she did not have any friends of the same sex in the Ice Emperor, and the careless boys did not have the consciousness to write New Year's cards at all.

Two lonely letters were taken out of the mailbox,

They were from Momoi Gotsuki and Kuroko Tetsuya respectively.

These two people had been entangled since middle school. Although it seemed to be a one-sided initiative and strength at first, after a long time..,

Even the dullest and most confused person could smell something unusual between them.

But after all, they were not involved,

The specific details and reasons could not be known.

'In some ways, they're quite compatible. 'When she opened the New Year's cards,

The girl thought in her heart.

Apart from the New Year's cards..,

She received quite a number of New Year's gifts,

They were from the attentive Kawase Ryota, Jijiro, who postponed his Christmas gift to the New Year's gift because he was drunk, Fengchang Taro, Ikebukuro's Suminami,

And Akaji's Seishirō.

In fact, there was no custom of giving gifts during the New Year,

Lilo Tsurumi naturally did not expect this.

But of course, everyone had their own reasons for giving her gifts,

If the first few could be understood,

The last person was, no matter how the girl thought about it..,

It was difficult to understand his actions.

The man handed her the package with the express receipt and the signature pen. He walked into the room with a familiar attitude and closed the door,

"But if the person who sent you this Christmas gift finds out,

He might complain to me angrily? "

Hazaname thought that it was a Christmas gift that was "late" because of a courier's mistake,

Because the time was just after Christmas, Tsurukami Lilu also took it for granted.

But when she opened the package and tore open the neat and exquisite wrapping paper, she found that it was completely different.

The sender's name was vague,

Only "A.S." was written briefly.

At first, she didn't have any idea who would deliver things to her through express delivery.

Until she was in a good mood and sang a messy tune without lyrics,

She slowly cut open the package with a paper cutter,

From it, he took out a rectangular box that was beautifully wrapped in red colored paper.

The box felt very light in her hand,

The girl violently tore it open and found that it was the most luxurious oil colored lead from a certain authoritative brand.

There weren't many people who knew that she liked painting, so the list of people who had given her the gift was very narrow. However, before Lilo Tsurumi could figure out who the person was, her attention was attracted by a card that fell out of the package and slowly landed on the ground.

Below the short New Year greeting, there was a name at the corner of the card.

Akaji Seishiro.

A few simple characters were reflected on the red greeting card, and it looked like a dragon flying and a phoenix dancing. At first glance, people would be slightly surprised, but then they would have a feeling that this was the character of that person.

If it was any other day, Lilo Tsurumi would've jumped up in excitement after receiving this New Year's gift. She would've jumped for joy like she always did when she received the favor of her 'idol'.

But now that she had just broken up with him, her vitality seemed to have dissipated along with her broken relationship. No matter what kind of surprise or shock she encountered, her mood was only calm.

It seemed that she was a little indifferent, but in fact, it didn't rise to such a high level. She was just numb.

She calmly put away the colored lead box and turned back to call Akira Tsurumi, "We have to go to the shrine tomorrow morning. You should go to bed early tonight."

"I know, I know." The boy replied lazily, "You want to wear a bathrobe, right? No need to repeat it."

The next day was New Year's Day.

The siblings got up early as planned, and after breakfast, they set off for the shrine.

Because it was New Year's Day, there were fewer people waiting at the tram station than usual. The journey was smooth and there were no twists and turns. After getting off the tram and walking for a while, they arrived at their destination.

Auspicious snow meant a bumper year. Recently, it just happened to be the season of snow. Since Christmas Eve, the ground was covered with a layer of snow, and it hadn't melted until today. Instead, it seemed to be accumulating deeper.

Although there was no snow when they went out in the morning, Lilo Tsurumi still brought a tung oil paper umbrella. Now that snowflakes were falling from the sky, it came in handy.

The aqua red umbrella was bright and lustrous. When it opened, it looked like a flower petal slowly blooming. Aside from the bright color, it was surprisingly simple, without any pattern or outline.

Akira Tsurumi had originally laughed at her for buying an oil paper umbrella that looked good but was useless because she had watched too many idol dramas. Now that she was holding it above their heads, there was no nonsense.

The boy and girl, who both had black hair and black eyes, respectively, were wearing dark blue or light yellow bathrobes. On their feet, they wore snow boots that didn't match their bathrobes. Although their figures were a little round because of their thick clothing, the scene of them holding the same beautiful oil paper umbrella together was very pleasing to the eye.

At least, that was how Midori felt when he saw this scene.

'Is it a new boyfriend?

He's not as good-looking as Kawase. 'He simply speculated in his heart, and then threw this matter to the back of his mind.

On the other side, the girl, who didn't know that she had been misunderstood as looking for a new lover (actually, she wasn't wrong), also saw a green head that was taller than the crowd.

"Ah!"

Lilo Tsurumi exclaimed in a small voice, "It's a senior from my former school … Forget it, I'm not familiar with him anyway."

She decisively threw this matter aside and pulled Akira Tsurumi's arm forward, "Go line up, line up. Fortunately, we came early. While there aren't many people now, let's quickly finish worshipping the gods and go shopping."

"Is worshipping the gods something that can be done 'quickly' …" the boy said quietly.

Lilo Tsurumi pulled him to stand at the end of the line, and raised her hand to hit him neither lightly nor heavily. She said with a smile, "Don't argue. Anyway, throwing money for incense oil is something that needs to be done 'quickly'."

She threw the coin into the cauldron, put her hands together, closed her eyes, and sincerely made a wish. Originally, the matter was already over, but under the persuasion of the abbot, she couldn't resist the temptation to spend money and draw lots.

Although it might not be effective, it was always a refreshing thing to draw a good lot.

The girl, who was full of beautiful expectations, drew a … great misfortune from the lot pot.

Lilo Tsurumi was speechless.

She reached out to grab Akira Tsurumi's sleeve and pulled him over. "You too," she said.

Akira Tsurumi's expression was blank. After seeing the lot in her hand, he hurriedly shook his head, "Ah?

I don't want it. "

Lilo Tsurumi's tone was patient, "You can draw a great luck to neutralize my bad luck."

Akira Tsurumi still shook his head, "Even if I draw a great luck, it has nothing to do with you. Also, this isn't accurate. It's a scam, I'm not playing."

Lilo Tsurumi: "I don't care. Even if it's a scam, you have to draw.

If you don't draw, I'll suck away all your good luck, since you have the same blood as me. "

Akira Tsurumi: "Then why should I draw when you can directly suck away my good luck?

Why should I take the initiative to be scammed? "

The expression of the old abbot, who was standing at the side, was already a little stiff. The onlookers and the people behind them were burning with curiosity.

Lilo Tsurumi clenched her fists and looked at the boy with a solemn expression. She asked word by word, "Are you going to draw?"

The boy met her gaze and was silent for a second. Then, without saying a word, he threw money on the table and quickly picked up a lot from the lot pot and stuffed it into her hand.

Although this was completely different from the orthodox way of drawing lots, since Lilo Tsurumi had shaken the lot pot for a long time and had shaken out a great misfortune from it, Akira Tsurumi directly took one from the lot pot she had drawn, which could be considered as giving her good luck.

The girl turned over the lot expectantly and looked at the words written on it.

Little Misfortune.

Lilo Tsurumi: …

"Let's go." She handed the lot and the lot pot to the abbot and motioned for Akira Tsurumi to leave with her. "Just play. It's not allowed." It seemed that she had completely forgotten her previous attitude.

Although it was said to be shopping, it was actually just around the shrine.

The originally quiet and solemn building showed an extraordinary charm in the midst of the lively and festive festival. It was a charm that could only be possessed by the accumulation of historical charm and the condensation of human beliefs. Just by being in it, one could have a beautiful wish from the bottom of their heart.

Lilo Tsurumi had a special fondness for the trinkets that were sold under the banner of 'God's Blessing' and 'Consecration'. She had been going back and forth between the two stalls next to each other. After comparing the price and quality, she was hesitant and wanted Akira Tsurumi's opinion.

Akira Tsurumi was not interested in these trinkets and was completely unable to provide her with any help.

After being dragged around by her for a few rounds, he finally couldn't help but say, "What worship of eight hundred gods? It sounds very unreliable. These trinkets don't look good either. Why buy them?"

After staying in the shrine for so long, the number of people who came to worship gradually increased as Lilo Tsurumi said before. Some of the narrow roads and stairs had already reached the point where they rubbed shoulders.

When he said this, the girl was about to squeeze into a stall. She stopped and turned to look at him. "I'd rather believe in things like fate."

She raised her eyebrows. "It's like tarot cards. There's no scientific principle behind it, but it's inexplicably true."

"Since it's claimed to be efficacious, you should at least show the facts to prove it.

I've been in Japan for so long, but I've never seen you play with your cards.

It's the 21st century. You grew up with me in an environment that implemented scientific values. Why are you … "

He stopped abruptly in the middle of his words because the girl in front of him had a devilish look on her face.

Lilo Tsurumi gritted her teeth and threatened him. "At least on the first day of the new year, we have to get along well."

Akira Tsurumi answered her obediently, "Okay, sister."

Since her brother showed his reluctance, even if the girl didn't want to walk through the crowd of relatives and friends alone, she had no choice.

After making an appointment with the youth to meet up at the same place later, she once again immersed herself in the activity of looking for small items.

Akira Tsurumi sincerely promised her that he wouldn't walk around so that she wouldn't be able to find him when she came back later.

Lilo Tsurumi originally wanted to persuade him to walk around, but thinking that this otaku was so uninterested in the three-dimensional world, she gave up.

In fact, Akira Tsurumi just said that she didn't usually play tarot cards at all, but that wasn't entirely true.

At least ten days ago, she secretly divined in her room.

The question was whether her mother would rush back to Japan to accompany her and her brother during the New Year. But now that she thought about it, the card she drew was more like the [Tower] that predicted the outcome of her relationship with Keigo Atobe.

…

Fate was wonderful beyond words.

Of course, the result now proved that the answer used to explain the original question wasn't incorrect. Her mother really didn't come home during the New Year.

After all, in Western countries, this date wasn't a holiday that symbolized family reunion. It wasn't even a holiday in China.

Her noble and beautiful mother, at this moment in Paris or Buenos Aires, was probably still absorbed in the beauty of art.

Tsurugi saw that Ryu had almost walked around the entire shrine by herself, and she suddenly felt very bored.

So she went back the way she came to find Akira Tsurumi, who had promised to wait in the same place and never leave.

He didn't leave, but there was another person standing next to him.