Ichin had never been that into the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. He'd watched a bit last year with Utaha, but he barely recognized any of the singers or idols who performed, so to be honest, he wasn't very interested—just watched for the atmosphere.

But since Utaha's parents seemed to be enjoying it, he didn't mind. Watching it was fine.

Dinner stretched from 6:30 to nearly 9:00 PM. Ichin ended up drinking quite a bit with Utaha's dad—together with Umiko, the three of them polished off a large bottle of sake, then followed it up with a smaller one.

It wasn't until Kōhaku ended around midnight that Ichin, Utaha, and Umiko finally left her parents' place.

Thankfully, the sake was within Ichin's tolerance level, so he wasn't drunk by the time they got back home.

After sipping some warm water, Ichin glanced at Umiko, who had followed them in and was now slumped on the sofa with a hazy look in her eyes.

He chuckled, "Umiko, I told you to drink less, didn't I? And you still had that much. You'll never outdrink Uncle—he's a seasoned booze veteran."

Umiko didn't say anything at first, just waved her hand dismissively. Nearly a minute passed before she finally squeezed out a single word:

"Miscalculated."

Utaha came out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of honey water and handed them over.

"Here, drink this. It'll help a little."

"Thanks, Utaha," Umiko said, taking a sip. After exhaling softly, she added, "Haven't drunk like that in a while... I really shouldn't overdo it. I was supposed to join everyone for New Year's shrine visit tomorrow too."

"Well, we're still going—but it's not like we have to go first thing in the morning," Ichin said with a smile. "If we go to Asakusa early, it'll be packed with people. No need to get shoved around—we can just go later. It's more about soaking in the atmosphere anyway, not the rituals."

"Exactly. No need to rush," Utaha agreed. "Let's sleep in tomorrow, have lunch, then head out. Even in the afternoon it'll still be crowded over there."

It was the first day of the new year, after all. Morning or afternoon—there was no escaping the crowds.

Checking the time—it was already 12:30 a.m.—Utaha suggested, "Umiko, it's already late, and you're staying downstairs alone. Why don't you just stay here for the night? The bedding in the guest room is all ready to go."

Umiko didn't argue. She stood up shakily and said, "Sure, I'll just head downstairs and grab a change of clothes."

"You'd better not push yourself right now," Ichin said, gently pressing her shoulder and making her sit back down. Then he looked at Utaha. "Utaha, can you go get Umiko's stuff for her?"

"Got it. I'll go now."

Grabbing the dorm room key, Utaha headed out. In just five minutes, she was back upstairs with a bag of clothes.

"Here you go, Umiko. I brought you a full set, top to bottom. You should go take a bath first."

Umiko nodded, took the bag, and walked toward the bathroom.

Utaha, meanwhile, stood there silently watching her back.

"What are you staring at?" Ichin asked.

Snapping out of it, Utaha leaned in close to Ichin's ear and whispered, "When I was getting her clothes... I peeked in Umiko's closet. She had so many… spicy outfits. I seriously didn't expect it—Umiko always gives off such a cool, no-nonsense vibe. But she has all these lacy, sheer, cut-out kinds of clothes."

That was… quite the revelation.

However, Ichin's expression didn't change much. He simply smiled at Utaha and said, "Speaking of which, don't you have quite the collection yourself?"

Utaha immediately rolled her eyes at him.

"A lot of those outfits were things you wanted to see, weren't they? If anything, you're the culprit here, Ichin."

"Alright, alright, I'm the guilty one. Happy now?"

Saying that, Ichin pulled Utaha into his arms, and the two of them sat quietly in the living room together.

As for their cat, Peppa—it had long since retreated to its little cat bed, yawning and ready for sleep.

Nestled in Ichin's embrace, Utaha finally quieted down.

Smelling the faint scent of alcohol on him, she whispered, "Ichin, try not to drink so much in the future, okay? Just because Dad offers you a drink doesn't mean you have to accept every time. Drinking too much isn't good for you."

"Don't worry. I know my limits," Ichin said as he gently stroked her long hair with a smile. "See? I didn't get drunk tonight. If I thought I would, I wouldn't have drunk at all."

"That's good, then. I won't nag you about it—as long as you know what you're doing."

As she spoke, Utaha shifted her position in his arms and closed her eyes contentedly.

"Ichin, this is our second New Year together, right?"

"Yeah, our second one," Ichin replied, a bit nostalgic. "Time really flies. It's almost been two years since I got here. In just a few months, we'll graduate high school and head off to college."

"Do you regret it at all? Going to the same university as me means you won't get to meet any other cute girls."

"Other cute girls?" Ichin lowered his head with a smile and looked into Utaha's bright eyes. "Are you lacking confidence in your looks? Because I don't think there's many who can compare to you."

"Hmph. I am confident. But we won't be in the same major at college, so I won't be able to keep tabs on you all the time. What if... you know?"

"There's no 'what if,'" Ichin said with a laugh as he lightly swatted her butt. "Don't forget—I'm majoring in computer science. How many girls do you think are even in that field?"

"Oh, right."

Utaha suddenly realized, then grinned playfully. "Then when your classmates see me, won't they just die of jealousy?"

"Emmm~~~"

Ichin didn't know what kind of classmates he'd have yet, but he was sure the male-to-female ratio would be heavily skewed. That's just how STEM majors worked.

Sigh. Hopefully he wouldn't end up being too hated.

---

The First Morning of the New Year

Ichin lazily got up around 9 a.m.

Stretching after sitting up, he glanced at Utaha, still fast asleep under the covers. Not wanting to wake her, he quietly got dressed and left the bedroom.

Umiko, who had drunk quite a bit last night, was also still out cold. So Ichin went to the living room alone, warmed up a bit with some stretches, and then got on the treadmill—with their cat Peppa watching from the side.

As he ran, Peppa sat calmly beside the machine, staring at him with gleaming eyes.

Ichin glanced down and chuckled, "What? You want to run too?"

So he slowed down the treadmill, picked Peppa up, and placed the cat on it.

Peppa ran two steps before realizing what was happening—then leapt off in a flash and bolted up the cat tree.

Trying to make him exercise, huh? Not a chance.

*

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