When Hashimoto and Shiraishi arrived at Fukawa's house with ingredients, most of the dishes were already placed on the dining table. Cookies that had just been passed, baked cakes, fruit salad, mashed potatoes, bacon pizza, etc.

"Awesome! Are these all made by Meicai and Maimai?"

After Shiraishi put his coat on the hanger, he couldn't wait to pick up a cookie from the plate and put it in his mouth to taste it.

"It's super delicious!" She widened her eyes, "It's not inferior to anything sold in the store!"

"Thank you~" Wei Teng came over with a plate of roasted chicken legs, "Don't eat too much of the Mai clothes, there will be more later."

"Nanamin, Nanamin, try it." Shiraishi brought another cookie to Hashimoto's mouth, ignoring Eto's advice.

Hashimoto and Eto looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled bitterly. Looking into Shiraishi's shining eyes, she couldn't refuse, so she had to open her mouth and bite a small piece.

"how is it going?"

"……delicious."

"Right, right!"

It's not like Mai, so why are you so happy? Hashimoto sighed inwardly.

"We may not be able to finish all of these. There is no need for us to buy more ingredients." Shiraishi came to the kitchen and handed the bag in his hand to Fukawa.

The other party took out the ingredients from the bag and took them to the sink to wash them skillfully. He smiled softly.

"Christmas is once a year, and it's also the memorable first gathering of our senior group. It has to be more sumptuous... It's a pity that Sayuri didn't stay."

Fukagawa was dressed very homely today.

The upper body is a milky white slim-fitting sweater with a round high collar that covers most of her neck. The lower body is wearing casual jeans, shrinking the slender and elegant leg curves. On her feet are the white cotton slippers that Hashimoto gave her for her birthday this year, with the words

The image of a rabbit with one ear raised alertly. The apron tied around the waist is a simple light yellow color, dotted with white flowers and green vines.

However, her hair was tied up for cooking reasons and fixed with rubber bands. A strand of hair at the temples was bent into a big crescent moon hanging on both sides of her face.

This was the first time Shiraishi had seen Fukawa dressed up so casually and comfortably at home. Matching her gentle and unsuspecting aura, he couldn't help but take a second look.

Fukawa raised her hand to tuck the hair from her temples behind her ears. She pushed the cuffs of her sweater to near her elbows. The water stains on her hands gathered into water droplets by raising her hands and flowed to the area below her wrists.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Shiraishi staring at her side face, and Fukawa looked away shyly, "What's wrong? You keep staring at me."

Shiraishi frowned, hugged her, and rubbed his face against her shoulder, which shocked Fukawa.

"Maimai should just marry into my family. Watching you cook every day will make me die of happiness."

Fukawa was amused by Shiraishi's words, so he could only answer "yes, yes, yes", and then pushed her out of the kitchen on the charge of "obstructing work".

Weito and Hashimoto in the living room saw this scene and smiled helplessly.

——

"Cheers!" x4

The four of them sat around the small square dining table and clinked glasses crisply.

"Ah, Nanamin, get me a piece of pizza."

"It seems that the fruit salad hasn't been mixed yet. Mai, you like mayonnaise, right?"

“Maimai’s chicken wings are so spicy.”

"Sorry, Meicai, I think I put more chili pepper."

"Ma Yiyan, please drink your juice slowly."

"So... so spicy."

"So I told you to eat slowly."

The atmosphere became lively. Looking out the window, the night in Tokyo was brighter with the arrival of Christmas.

While eating, the four of them talked about some interesting things that happened when they first joined the group.

"During the initial selection, Mai's appearance really scared me," Hashimoto said with a smile, holding up a cup. "She had a dark face and no smile at all in the audience. No one dared to talk to her.

"

"I'm just too nervous," Shiraishi hurriedly defended. "I didn't know who to talk to, so I kept going through the process of getting on stage in my head. Didn't Nanamin say nothing at that time?"

"I have communicated with other members." Hashimoto carefully peeled off the paper coating of the small cake.

"seriously."

"Nanamin was chosen in front of me in the final selection, right? I almost tripped over a wire while walking and was helped a bit," Fukawa said.

"It's a shame you can still remember."

"Because I don't have much communication with other people, everyone is already very nervous just thinking about their own affairs... Ah, Nanamin, do you want condensed milk? On my side."

Hashimoto broke off a small piece of cake and put it in her mouth, waving her hands to indicate that she was not going to eat sweets. She didn't really like sweets, she just wanted to change her taste.

"Everyone is not familiar with it," Weito said. "Who will be eliminated and who will stay. There is no time to communicate with other people. During the second review, I was so nervous that I didn't notice when my badge fell to the ground. Fortunately,

There were members at the back who helped pick it up, but because it was my turn soon, I was so panicked that I didn’t even have time to say thank you, and the child was no longer in sight during the final selection.”

"At that time, I felt that Minoru, Ikoma-chan, and Kogoya were so amazing," Shiraishi said with a smile. "I was standing in front of them at that time, and they could become friends so easily. It felt like it was only in comic novels.

That’s what will happen.”

"Eh? Didn't they know each other before?" Fukawa asked in surprise, "The relationship seemed very unusual when we were staying together. Xiaomi and Ikoma-chan even went to the airport to pick up Shiya-chan. It didn't look like they had just met each other.

It’s a relationship between heaven and earth.”

During the stay together, no one was familiar with each other, and they maintained a harmonious relationship with a slight sense of distance. Only Wu Geng and the three of them, the atmosphere of communication was relaxed and comfortable, and there were not too many worries. Nishino joined later.

"So, children's friendship is really simple. Nanamin and I have known each other for a long time before we gradually became able to chat. In the beginning, Nanamin was very indifferent to me, right?"

"If you, Mai, can stop doing weird things to harass me when I'm sleeping, I guess we can become good friends in the early stages of our stay together." Hashimoto sighed.

"Nanamin, aren't you smiling happily?"

"...I was smiling bitterly." In fact, I did find it quite funny at the time, but here, Hashimoto would definitely not admit it.

In the early days of the dormitory, Hashimoto and Fukawa had a good relationship because they had been in contact with each other during the final selection, and they were also in the same dormitory. As they stayed together for a longer time, their relationship naturally became closer.

At that time, Shiraishi was in the same dormitory with Nagashima Seira.

It has to be said that some consideration was given to dividing the dormitory personnel for operations. Members with good relationships were grouped together, and others were assigned according to their complementary personalities. Therefore, the confused Sakurai and the serious Wakazuki were assigned together to recognize students and watch.

Shiraishi, who seems to be unsociable, and Nagashima, who is familiar with nature, are together.

You can roughly know Nagashima's character from daily contact. He is an optimistic person who appears to be carefree but is actually very good at detecting the minor emotions and worries of the members around him. Shiraishi may not be very used to it when he first entered Nogizaka, and he is often stiff.

He keeps a straight face, doesn't take the initiative to talk to anyone, and is in a state of alert.

Nagashima easily resolved Shiraishi's indifference, and the two talked and laughed together, but after Nagashima was no longer around, Shiraishi returned to his original state.

Shiraishi is not like Hashimoto. When Hashimoto is alone, he either listens to music or reads a book. But Shiraishi sits alone, and the members next to him can feel the stiffness and tension even from a distance.

Hashimoto does not take the initiative to talk to others. Instead of deliberately maintaining a conversation, she prefers to be alone. She is not good at deliberately managing interpersonal relationships, and her interactions with Fukagawa are also in a natural state.

However, Shakawa is different. She is enthusiastic and active. When she sees Baishi plays, she often pulls Hashimoto to make it. Most of them are said, Shiraishi said, "Hmm, ah," at the beginning.

, the number of times has increased, Shiraishi can also reply a few words, and the chat can be regarded as regular.

The trio formed naturally. Later, Eto and Matsumura, who were both close in age, joined in. The term "senior group" gradually formed in the group. Of course, there were more than just the five of them.

Hashimoto would often lament the fate between people... and so on.

A person with a gentle personality like Fukawa can make true friends no matter where he is.

As for a person like Hashimoto Shiraishi, who likes to be alone and has a twisted heart, it would be difficult to become friends without someone with a personality like Fukawa to connect him. Having been with Shiraishi for a long time, Hashimoto also knows more or less about Shiraishi.

Something about her.

She's a stranger, but she's quite funny when you get to know her. She wants to have a good relationship with her, but she's often clumsy and doesn't know how to act. She has a straight face not because she's in a bad mood, but because of stress.

expression.

The Christmas party ended quickly. However, looking at the time, the four of them had been eating and chatting for nearly two hours.

Fukawa changed his clothes and planned to take Eto to a nearby station. Shiraishi and Hashimoto separated from them at the intersection because their routes were different.

The two of them were strolling through the streets of Tokyo at half past ten.

In the center of the shopping street, a huge Christmas tree is illuminated with neon lights, and the lights turn on and off like flowing light points, spiraling up around the Christmas tree, and finally lighting up the crystal star at the top.

The two of them stayed under the tree, looking up at the stars only two or three meters away from them.

Couples shyly exchange Christmas gifts.

"It's so beautiful."

"yes."

"Why haven't I discovered it before," Shiraishi smiled, "Christmas can actually make people so happy and excited."

In my memory, the girl sitting alone in the seat finally had a partner with whom she could have a lunch break.

Hashimoto glanced at Shiraishi's side face, which was stained pink and red due to the reflection of the lanterns, and took out the carefully wrapped paper bag from his bag with a smile.

"Ma Yiyan, Merry Christmas."

"Ah..." Bai Shi hurriedly rummaged through his small bag with a frown on his face.
To be continued...