Chapter 252: The Christmas "Date Invitation"

Ever since winter set in, Miyahito and Utaha had unconsciously grown accustomed to returning every day to that small apartment, which was narrow but filled everywhere with the traces of their daily life.

After a simple dinner and a bath, the two in the apartment were quietly enjoying their own respective times.

Sitting cross-legged on the fluffy carpet, wearing thick blue pajamas and draped in a down jacket, Miyahito quietly worked on the extra chemistry problems Utaha had assigned him at the coffee table.

On the bed behind him, Utaha, wearing thick red pajamas, leaned her back against the headboard. Holding her phone playing a drama and wrapped in a thick, undeniably warm quilt, she was currently curled up in the blankets like a lazy cat, her eyes curved as she occasionally let out amused giggles.

“Hehe… hehe… hehe….”

Accompanied by the occasional light laughter from beside him, the corners of Miyahito’s mouth involuntarily rose with the chuckles. He put down his pen, and while his gaze remained on the problems in front of him, he slowly raised his slightly frozen hands to cover his mouth.

“Hoo…” So warm…..

Having just turned over in the covers, Utaha’s peripheral vision caught her boyfriend warming his own hands. She blinked, her cherry-pink lips parting slightly as she softly called out to her boyfriend, who was about to pick up his pen to continue the problems.

“Miyahito.”

“Hmm?” Without looking up, Miyahito, who had picked up his pen and was ready to write down the solution, gave a soft hum through his nose.

“If you’re cold, don’t force yourself.”

Watching her boyfriend wear a down jacket on a winter night just to do the extra problems she had assigned, Utaha suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

Sigh, forget it. It wasn’t like the hot weather before. Besides, Miyahito’s grades had improved significantly recently; he was practically guaranteed third place in the entire grade for this semester’s final exams. Relaxing a little… shouldn’t be a problem, right?

“Yeah.” Nodding absentmindedly, Miyahito, who was buried in wrestling with a major chemistry problem, didn’t pay attention to what his girlfriend said, only responding subconsciously.

Naturally, Utaha could tell her Mr. Miyahito hadn’t heard a word she said. But, oh well. As Mr. Miyahito’s girlfriend, she, Kasumigaoka Utaha, couldn’t possibly act like those shallow girls who only care about having fun and distract her man from his proper duties just to keep her company.

Pausing the program playing on her phone, Utaha reached out to grab the down vest casually left on the pillow and draped it over herself, while slightly pushing back the covers. Putting on the fluffy cotton slippers by the bed, she walked lightly to the small kitchen in the hallway, trying her best not to disturb her studying boyfriend.

Holding the down vest draped over her with one hand, Utaha stood slightly on her tiptoes and reached up to take a can of coffee beans from the overhead cabinet.

Accompanied by the bubbling sound from the electric kettle, Utaha, with a faint, peaceful curve on her lips, gently ground the coffee beans. Carefully pouring the ground coffee into the filter paper, she slowly tilted the pour-over coffee pot in her hand.

Watching the clear, slightly steaming water slowly wet the filter paper, a hint of coffee aroma spread and filled this winter apartment, which contained only her and him, like a silent spring rain nourishing all things.

At this moment, the tip of Miyahito’s pen, who was doing problems, suddenly trembled. Then, a familiar coffee aroma lingered, occasionally peeking into his nostrils curiously like a mischievous toddler.

Looking up slightly, a mug filled with fragrant coffee inadvertently entered Miyahito’s line of sight. Glancing at the half-heart print on the cup, Miyahito inadvertently curled the corners of his mouth and teased without looking up, continuing to do his problems.

“Who serves hand-poured coffee in such a huge mug?”

“Hmph, hmph~” Holding a mug exactly like the one in front of Miyahito, Utaha leaned lightly against him, sitting sideways on the carpet. With a slightly smug look on her pretty face, she chuckled and spoke in a tone hiding a hint of tsundere.

“It’s Miss Kasumigaoka’s love-filled coffee~”

Catching the slight tsundere in Utaha’s tone, the corners of Miyahito’s eyes gradually curved. He put down his pen and picked up the mug in front of him. Blowing away a little of the rising steam, he took a careful sip.

Hmm… Even though it’s an exquisite hand-poured coffee, not only is the portion huge, but she also added sugar and milk.

As expected, only his Utaha would mix it this way.

“It’s delicious, right~”

“Yeah.” Feeling the slight sweetness and the rich, milky bitterness intertwining in his mouth, Miyahito nodded without a second thought. “It’s very delicious.”

“Hehe, that’s good.” Utaha, who didn’t feel anything wrong with adding sugar and milk to her hand-poured coffee, took small, proud sips from her own cup.

Swallowing the coffee that tasted exclusively of lovers, Miyahito’s peripheral vision caught the date displayed on the digital clock nearby. Lowering the rim of the cup from his lips slightly, he suddenly spoke.

“It’s already December, huh.”

Hearing her boyfriend suddenly mention the date, Utaha couldn’t help but pause. Then, remembering a certain holiday in December, she turned her head and looked at her man with a bright, smiling face.

“Yeah, it’s already December.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, December has Christ…” Before he could finish the sentence, Miyahito turned his head and met his girlfriend’s seemingly amused gaze. Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable wave of nervousness.

“Hmm?”

Sensing Miyahito’s slight tension, Utaha couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

But then, Miyahito reconsidered.

Wait, why am I nervous? I’ve been incredibly well-behaved lately and studying hard.

He had even rejected the arcade invitations from Tooru—who was still carefree and completely unfazed by the upcoming finals—and Yu, who had escaped Kaguya-senpai’s grueling tutoring sessions just to play games.

So.

Everything should be fine, right? It should be…..

“Ahem.” Calming his nerves slightly and suppressing the discomfort caused by Utaha’s faintly smiling eyes, Miyahito shifted his gaze away a little.

“It’s just, you know, that… um….”

Watching Miyahito hesitate and stammer, the amusement in Utaha’s eyes deepened, and the corners of her lips slowly curled upward.

“So, which one is it?”

“….”

Caught off guard by Utaha’s counter-question, Miyahito paused. Then, with an awkward smile, he reached up to scratch the back of his head and muttered softly.

“It’s just… for Christmas, is there anywhere you want to go, Utaha?”

“Oh my?”

Hearing this, Utaha playfully sized up her man, who had inexplicably started getting nervous. Casually setting her mug down on the table, she slowly crossed her arms, her eyes curving into crescents as she spoke.

“Is this~ a ‘date invitation’ from Miyahito-kun?”

“Then I might have to check with my editor to see what my schedule looks like on Christmas~ After all, your girlfriend is a grand author whose new book just broke 200,000 copies in first-day sales.”

“If you don’t plan it properly, I won’t be easily convinced, you know~”

Early Chapter and Support Me