Christmas Eve

Madoka's POV

"Merry Christmas Eve!" excitedly cheered my parents

"Here I got you some new basketball shoes, the ones you wanted from Kobe." said my dad

"Oh wow, thanks dad." I said

I opened the box to a brand new Kobe 11 elite low white and red. Kobe Bryant was my favorite basketball player of all time, I even got to meet him once and I got my Kobe jersey signed by him but my number 24 kobe jersey was bought. But when I heard about his death it was too heartbreaking, even though I didn't know him he was still someone I looked up to.

A/N: Yes I know, the time setting is 2020 they're supposed to be quarantined but just think that there's no covid 19. It doesn't exist in this book. Thank you!

"I got you two something as well." I said

I took out a scarf for my mom, the one she wanted a lot and gave it to her.

"Here." I said

My mom squeaked in happiness and I handed my dad a watch since his broke a while ago.

"Here I know you wanted this for a long time." I said

"Oh wow, this is so cool." said my dad, "Thanks a lot."

"Are you going to meet Kenji again today?" asked my mom

"Yea I'm going around the city with him." I replied

"Is Kikotei coming?" asked my mom

"He's going somewhere with his family." I replied

"Okay, did you buy him something?" asked my mom

"I did." I replied

I held a bag with a box with some new basketball shoes inside but then both of my parents started squealing like little children.

"I'm going to leave now." I said

"Be safe, it's cold outside." said my dad

I nodded and left the apartment and headed onto the streets and began walking towards our meetup point. When I got there I saw Kenji already there standing and looking up at the sky.

"Oi Kenji."

"Oh Merry Christmas Eve." said Kenji

"Merry Christmas Eve, here." I said

I held the bag out to him and he seemed confused.

"What's this?" he asked

"Your present." I replied

Kenji's eyes widened and he didn't seem to know what to do.

"Come on take it." I said

"Oh thanks, I just, never had someone who's not my relative give me a present." he replied

He looked inside and his eyes widened.

"I can't accept this." he said, "I feel guilty, I didn't buy you anything."

"It's fine don't worry, just treat me to a really nice restaurant one day." I replied

Kenji looked at his bag and smiled.

"I don't know, how to react." he said

I chuckled at his statement.

"Just keep it that's all." I said

Kenji looked at me and just smiled brightly.

"Thanks, a lot. I'll buy you food today." he said

"Great let's go." I said

"Can you just wait 5 minutes, I'm going to drop this off at my place." he said

I nodded so he took off and I took a deep breath and watched the gray clouds cover up the sky.

'It looks like it's going to snow.'

After about 5 minutes of waiting Kenji came back.

"Let's go." said Kenji

We began going through the city streets visiting stores and other places, Kenji even bumped into a man dressed in a Santa Claus and he was forced to take a pic.

"Haha, this is funny." I said

"Stop that, it's embarrassing." sighed Kenji

We began walking through the streets until we got to a movie theater.

"Want to watch something?" I asked

"If you want." he replied

"Yea let's watch." I said, "Let's watch horror."

"H-horror?" stuttered Kenji

"Why are you scared?" I asked while smirking

"No, no I'm not." he replied

"Let's watch Empty Man." I suggested

"Fine with me." replied Kenji

I was just about to order two tickets but Kenji stopped me.

"I'm paying." he said

I nodded so he ordered it and luckily the next movie starts in 30 minutes.

"Let's head over to the park." I said

He nodded and we began walking through the park, the cold wind gently breezing against my face, breath vapor thick as it ascended into the air.

"Can you believe it?" I asked

"Believe what?" questioned Kenji

"That we're this close as friends." I replied

"You said that last time while we were eating ramen." said Kenji

"I know but it progressed a lot." I implied

Kenji looked at his watch and nodded.

"Time sure does go by really fast." he said, "And I'm glad, I can't thank you enough."

"You don't have to thank me, I want to thank you for helping me get to know you better." I said

We took a seat on a bench and just sat there in silence until both of our phones rang. I took out my phone and it was an instagram notification, I looked at Kenji's notification and it was also the same. I opened it and it went straight to a picture of me and Kenji together just a few minutes ago in front of the movie theater.

"Damn." sighed Kenji

I looked over and he was looking at the same picture. I looked at the picture and then the bio and it was posted 4 minutes ago and there was already 1,000 comments saying how we look cute and asking if we're dating.

"This sucks." I sighed, "But it's whatever."

I put my phone away but Kenji looked worried.

"Don't worry about it, once they know I'm with Homura senpai it'll be fine." I said

'Even though I'm going to break up with him.'

But then I caught something white falling at the corner of my eye. At first I thought I was seeing things but then I felt something cold hit my hand. I looked up into the sky and it slowly started to snow.

"Oh, it's snowing." I said

Kenji looked up and slowly got up.

"The first snow of the year." he said

It slowly began to snow a bit heavily but it was nice to stand there.

"Nice." both Kenji and I said at the same time

We looked at each other and made eye contact.

"We should head over to the movie." I said

"Right it's almost time." he said

We began to rush through the park as snow fell on us and towards the movie theater. We got in and shook off the snow on our clothes and hair.

"Oh look it's Madoka and Kenji from the University of Tokyo."

I turned and saw a group of boys who looked like they were in high school.

"Oh shit it really is." said one of the boys

"Excuse me is it okay if we take a group photo?" asked another boy

'I hate photos.'

I looked over to Kenji and he just shrugged.

"Why not." I replied

'Let's get this over with.'

The boys all huddled around us as one of the boys handed their phone to a random person.

'They're too fucking close.'

We took the photo and everyone in the group thanked us and left.

"I hate photos." I sighed

"Oh, well did you smile?" asked Kenji

"No, you?" I asked

"I can't seem to forcefully smile." said Kenji

"Let's just watch the movie." I said

"Wait do you want popcorn or drinks?" asked Kenji

"I'll just take some nachos." I replied

Kenji quickly stood in line while I waited but I got another notification but this time it was specifically from someone on instagram. I checked it and it was the photo we just took and someone tagged me and Kenji in it.

"Great..." I groaned

Kenji came back with some nachos and a drink. We headed into the theater and took our seats, there were a lot of people and I had to sit next to this older boy who looked at me and smirked but then Kenji signaled me to switch seats.

The movie started and already Kenji looked like he was going to jump any moment. He was covering his lower part of his face with his jacket as the movie went on. To me, the movie wasn't scary but it had some good story to it but there was this one jump scare where most of the audience including Kenji. I didn't get scared but Kenji just suddenly jumped in his seat and it looked like he was having a heart attack.

"I thought you said you weren't scared of horror movies." I chuckled at the end of the movie.

Kenji was breathing in the cold air as if he held in his breath for a long time.

"I lied, I don't do well with horror, I like them but I don't do well." he replied

"It was fun watching it." I said

"Yea it was." he replied

We left and got some sushi at this really expensive place Kenji knows and the food there was amazing. It was like the best sushi I've ever tasted and I lived in this city for my entire life and I didn't know about this place.

"How did I not know about this place?" I questioned

Kenji smiled as we walked through the snow, the dark late night was light with the city's light, snow falling on us.

"Hey Kenji, for New Years want to watch the fireworks at the coast?" I asked

"They're holding a firework show?" questioned Kenji

"Yea, I go there with my family." I replied

"Well, I do have a kimono so sure why not." he replied

He then looked at me.

"Do you wear a men's kimino as well?" he asked

I laughed.

"No for this, I just don't want to frustrate my parents so I wear a female kimono." I replied

"I see." replied Kenji while smiling

We got to my apartment and we looked at each other.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." I said

"Yea, yea we will." replied Kenji

I smiled and hugged him catching Kenji off guard.

"Goodnight." I whispered

I didn't feel Kenji wrap his arm around me kind of tilting me but then he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me pretty tightly.

"Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow." he whispered

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One day later

Madoka's POV

3 days have gone by in a blink of an eye. Kikotei and Kenji get along just fine and our bond together seemed to grow stronger. I was able to help Kenji get his mind off of the girl for a while since I kept pushing him to play basketball. We even went on a trip together through town and to be honest, I don't remember the last time I had fun with someone other than Kikotei.

Now we were busy packing up our things and heading over to this campsite at the foot of Mount Kita, the second tallest mountain in Japan. We were going to meet up with the others back at school and drive our way to Mount Kita which I found stupid since we could just head straight over to Mount Kita and meet the team over there. But no Coach Yamoto wanted us all to go on the trip together.

It's 1 am right now and I just finished packing my belongings for the trip. I was supposed to meet Kenji in 15 minutes so I took that time to go on my laptop and find out who that girl with red hair was. I was able to kind of narrow it down starting from which school she goes to. Since she was coming on the train we got on I narrowed it down to somewhere in the east side of Japan. I searched schools but I only had a few where they showed pictures of all of their students but some had red hair but none of them was the red hair girl.

After 10 minutes of searching I gave up and just got up and grabbed my bags and left the house. I wrote a letter to my parents telling them that I'll be back on New Years eve. I left and waited outside my apartment waiting for Kenji to come. But then I got a text message from Homura saying that he got me a Christmas present. I groaned completely forgetting to buy him a Christmas present. I looked at the time and tried to do math with the time.

'If I stopped by somewhere would I have time to get him a gift?'

That's when Kenji came with all of his stuff.

"Hey what are you doing?" he asked

"I forgot to buy Homura a present." I said

"Oh, that's, tough." replied Kenji, "We can stop by somewhere to buy him something."

"Will we have time?" I asked

"I thought you didn't care about the trip." said Kenji

I smiled and nodded.

"You're right, I don't." I replied