New Year's SS "Wishes on Ema" (Rin's POV)

--New Year's Day.

After a peaceful New Year's visit to the shrine, Towa-kun and I are walking towards home amidst a crowd of people.

It is so cold outside that I can clearly see the white air escaping from my mouth.

But I don't feel the cold.

In fact, I feel warm and fuzzy as if it were a sunny spring day. When I go out with Towa-kun, I feel the temperature rise.

I glanced at him as he walked beside me, and he let out a big sigh as he rubbed his eyes.

He said "Sleeping on New Year's is the best and greatest thing." so I guess he really wanted to sleep.

But Towa, despite his reluctance, had done his homework beforehand.

"There's good food here.”

"I heard you can get sweet sake."

And it was only about food and drink.

I laughed a little, because that was just like Towa-kun.

He didn't share any information regarding his trivia with me, so I guess he decided that I didn't need it.

I was suddenly curious about Towa's behavior earlier, so I decided to ask him a question.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes? What?"

He tilted his head and seemed a little defensive.

...... Is he really that afraid of my questions?

I feel a little depressed when I think about it.

It's true that I've done some rash things in the past, though.......　

I can't argue with that.

"What did you write on the ema tablet?”

"Well, you know. Well, I wrote, "Safety first”.”

"Fufu. That's typical of you, Towa-kun."

"I was thinking about it, but I figured it was for the best.”

"It's important to be safe, that's for sure. But didn't it take you a long time to write it?”

“...... Oh, is that so?"

His face twitched and he looked away from me.

"And you wrote it while hiding it............. It's kind of suspicious, isn't it?"

"I don't know if I'd call it suspicious.”

Towa-kun looks annoyed at the fact that I pointed it out.

However, his cheeks are slightly red and he looks somewhat embarrassed.

Mmmm.

I'm even more curious about this.

"Ah, that's right. You know, it's embarrassing to be seen making a wish like that, right? It's kind of a strange, embarrassing feeling, isn't it? That's why I ended up stuttering."

"I see......"

The way he said it, I thought he wrote something else than what he said earlier......

From the looks of it, I don't think he's going to tell me.

"Hey, Rin, what did you write on your ema?"

"I wrote 'good health'."

"Oh, you're so blunt, Rin. You're just like me, aren't you ......?”
"It's also important.”

..... This was a lie.

I wish I could say it as usual, but I was so embarrassed that I lied about it.

Yes, what I really wrote on the ema was...

"May I continue to be with the person I love."

It's the first time I've written that, but ...... yeah.

Well ...... I may not be able to tell him this.

Ugh, my face is so hot.

I take a small deep breath so that Towa-kun doesn't notice.

Then I turned to him and held out my hand.

"Well, it's cold, so it can't be helped......"

Towa-kun replied bluntly and grabbed my hand.

I held back my expression that was about to loosen up, and said "Thank you" in my usual tone.

Under the cold weather, I felt the heat from his hand.

The warmth of his hand was so lovely that I thought to myself, "I'd like it to stay like this forever," as we walked back home, shoulder to shoulder.

Somehow, though, we seem to be able to feel each other's thoughts through our hands.

I'm sure it's the same for Towa-kun.

Fufu. His face is a little red, isn't it?

I chuckled as I watched his embarrassed cheek scratching gesture with a sideways glance.