CH 23

Christmas was approaching, and the city was in full festive mood.

Lights, cake signs, and people dressed as Santa Claus handing out flyers.

And the festive mood was also at my workplace, which was also decorated for Christmas.

Although there was only a Christmas tree on the outside, the staff were not dressed in their usual attire, with the women wearing Santa hats and clothes.

Men wore only reindeer antler headbands. The reason why there was such a difference between men and women was because, according to the manager, there was not much demand for men in reindeer outfits.

I was relieved that I did not have to dress up as Santa Claus.

But Kaede was a girl, so she was working hard today, dressed as Santa Claus.

“Just now, a customer told me I looked cute. It’s embarrassing to be dressed like this, but am I really cute?”

Kaede asked me, tilting her head.

“I think you do look cute?”

“I see….”

“Is something wrong?”

“N-No! It is just…… I just thought this stands out quite a lot.”

Well that was obviously the case here. To say it upfront, this shop’s mascot girl was cos-playing as a Santa costume and doing her tasked job. The amount of customers coming in just to get a closer glimpse of her were quite plenty as well.

“Well, it can’t be helped because you’re really cute, more than that, it’s time to take a break, right? Take a good rest.”

“Ah, yes, I understand. …”

Kaede said, her cheeks reddening, trudging toward the break room.

I thought about why her face was red, and was worried that she might have a fever.

“Ren-chan, take a break.”

Kaede took a break, and about five minutes later, I also took a break.

It always seemed to be a coincidence that Mine and Kaede’s break times were so close together.

“Ah, Hayasaka-kun, are you also taking a break?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Then how about we have a chat?”

Kaede asked, sounding a little happy, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

I thought it was just plain cute. Even though Kaede didn’t have to say such a thing, I knew that I would talk to her even before her break.

“W-What are you laughing at!”

“No, I just thought it was cute, because you don’t have to tell me that, We talk all the time.”

Kaede blushed when I said this and looked at me with a pout.

Even though I understood her gaze, I pretended not to notice it and took a sip of coffee.

“I made these pancakes myself.”

“Please,” she said, as she placed the pancakes out on the table.

Are you sure? I looked at Kaede and appealed to her, and she smiled at me, indicating that there would be no problem with eating it.

I took a bite and the fluffy texture, honey, and buttery richness of the pancake spread in my mouth altogether at once.

These were Christmas-only pancakes, but they were better than the pancakes made by others.

If anything, it was better than the Manager’s.

“Yumm, it’s so good.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah really. They’re better than the manager’s.”

Kaede was happy to hear this and showed me a kind of shy smile, “ehehe~”, while her cheeks were blushing.

Seeing her smile like this would of course draw attention.

“Hey, Kaede, don’t smile like that too much outside, okay?”

“Huh?”

“When you smile like that, the guys generally focus on you, so you’re going to get unwanted stares, okay?”

When I said this and said something like advice to her, her face turned even more crimson than before.

” Nope… I won’t show it to anyone other than Hayasaka-kun.”

She blurted out. However, since there were only two people in the break room now, Me and Kaede, even our muffled voices, which normally would not be heard, were clearly heard this time.

Hearing it, my face immediately heated up.

“Ah, the break is almost over, let’s go!”

She also mumbled that we should go home together today, but that didn’t bother me because that’s what we always do.

However, I still remembered the smile she showed only to me earlier, and every time I remembered it, my mouth relaxed and my face heated up.

(It’s almost Christmas. …)

It was December and the temperature was getting colder, but my face was getting hotter and hotter with the heating system in the break room.