This Feeling

With the weather being a harsh blizzard, a sign of the season they were in. Though, even if outside was frightful, there was warmth and joy within the Kashimura household.

"Hey, you better not sneak your way out of working young man." Arata's mother scolded him for missing so much time out of the day. Even though it mostly wasn't his fault. "I've been working all day to make this just right, so you better do your part."

"Of course I will mom." He replied, cutting up some veggies. The kitchen was filled with an aroma thanks to all the cooking going on. There were going to be plenty of food for the family, along with their one guest. "Sorry for making everyone worry."

"Oh nonsense, we worry because we love you." She gave him a nudge on the head with her nose, since her hands were doing dishes. "Besides, you brought over such a cute girl."

Mom, she's just a friend." He countered, feeling rather bashful. "How many times do I have to say that?"

"She's someone that you spend so much time with. And it's not like she's someone you grew up with, so why can't a mother tease a bit?" His mom was relentless in the fun. "It's a pretty big step to invite a girl to dinner with the family, isn't it?" Meanwhile, Erina was sitting alone in the living room as she waited for them to begin. That was when Ayami made her presence known.

"Are you feeling comfortable?" She asked as she say down. The girl was referencing to the fact that Erina had to borrow some of her clothes to be proper.

"It's fine. The top is a little tight." It wasn't that she weighed more, instead it was more about rather well endowed. "But thanks for lending me your clothes."

"It's no problem." She replied, with an envious look towards the other girl's chest. "Anyway, I'm glad that you're joining us for dinner. It makes me really happy to see Arata invited you."

"Oh, but don't take it the wrong way." Erina tried to deny what wasn't accused. "We're just friends."

"I didn't imply anything." Ayami giggled. "And there's nothing wrong with liking him."

"It's… Complicated." It was hard to argue against this girl. After all, she was there during the festival when she made the hardest decision of her life. "The two of us are just friends, nothing more." She felt herself getting hot under the collar. It was like she was being interrogated, even if it was just a normal conversation.

"I know that you also have feelings for Yogi." That was something clear to hear from the private conversations with the boy. Even if he never mentioned a name, it was obvious who he'd be referring to. "And I'm sure you know how I feel about that boy, but I'm not going to take advantage you. So don't think that I'm trying to force you into anything." Ayami placed a hand over the other girl's to show how genuine she was.

"Thank you."

"Hey you two." Arata called over to them. "Dinner's ready, so come up and let's get to eating."

Everyone gathered around the dinner table. The parents on one side of the table, and Arata sitting between the girls on the other side. It was filled with the food that Mrs. Kashimura had worked hard on, with the help of her children. Rice freshly steamed, slices of kobe beef lined up on a plate, stir-fried veggies with that sweet aroma. For a Christmas dinner, she really went all out on the different meals for everyone's tastes.

"Wow, you even made chicken yakisoba. That's my favorite." Erina looked with famished eyes, as she gingerly started to move her chopsticks towards it.

"Don't be modest, have as much as you want." His mother had no qualms about being fair and ensuring everyone had some of everything. As the one that worked on all of it, she made sure to get all the sushi she made.

"Yep, all the hard work for this went to everything here." His father informed her. He worked extra hours so that they'd be able to afford this extravagant dinner.

"What he means is that we'll be tight on cash until the new year." Arata whispered over a snide remark.

"But you'll still enjoy it~" Ayami teased her brother with how much food he was taking onto his plate.

"I'll enjoy this too." Erina took some noodles for herself. Normally, she'd be eating without a care, but most of these weren't people she was familiar with. On the other hand, all of them minus Arata was just wolfing down the food without a concern about manners. "Everyone in your family really knows how to act natural." She quietly told Arata.

"He's acting natural too." Arata's mother overheard the comment and had something to say about it. Unlike all of them, Arata was politely taking each bite at a proper portion. He chewed with mouth closed and rather quietly at that. "He's always so stiff."

"It's called having manners." He defended his style. "Plus, we have a guest over."

"When you can act normal with guest." His father laughed, mouth full of food. "It means that you're true friends."

"She's supposed to be my friend!" While Arata was bantering with his family, Erina was sitting on the sideline. The girl was paying attention to everything they were saying. How they were acting during this dinner. There was an energy that she had never seen before.

"Oho, or perhaps you're trying to impress her?" His mother said. Christmas for Erina had never been like this. A dinner during this time never felt different from a normal day.

"Yeah, inviting such a cute girl over on Christmas day?"

"What? It's nothing like that." Her parents were nothing compared to Arata's parents. They never smiled in that way before.

"Should you really be surprised that they think that way?" Ayami joined in on the fun. They never teased her like they were doing with their own son. They never…

"I have no idea how I'm the youngest one here." Arata spoke up, cutting her train of thought. "You guys are so immature sometimes." The boy sighed as he scooped up another bite to eat. As they were talking, Erina was curious about something relating to the two adults.

"Um, could I ask a personal question?" She said, directing it towards Arata's mother.

"Go ahead and ask, I'm sure it's no big deal."

"Um…" It wasn't to bring it out to words. She didn't want to turn this dinner to something sad. "Is it… Is it hard with how much your husband works?" That question caught Arata's attention. His ears piqued in response to her words.

"It can be." His mother didn't take too much stock in it, so she didn't change her tone all that much. "But I love him…" She turned to look lovingly into the man's eye, which he did in return. "And he loves me."

"Is it really that simple?" Erina couldn't just take that for an answer. That didn't seem like how things really worked.

"The two of us have been through a lot." His father continued to explain. "But we both work hard to make it work." Now that he was thinking of it. There's no easy way to express it to words.

It's funny how taking the time to think things over, makes someone realize just why.

"You remember the story about how we got married, right?" While dense and naive, he could understand the feelings they had for each other. "I think about how I felt when we nearly were torn apart. We know what could go wrong in our lives, so we always try to make everything right."

"Yeah, just like when Arata was born." His mom spoke up.

"Mom, I don't know if it's really something she cares about." Arata tried to stop it, but failed.

"It was a difficult birth with him…" She continued on without caring for his protests. Indeed, it was quite touch-and-go with him. While his sister was no trouble at all, aside from the financial issues that arose. Arata had a sizable chance of not making it. Along with her as well.

It was a serious discussion with the doctors, but she wasn't going to give up. While on the bed, her husband never left her side. There was never a moment in time, that he considered things would go wrong. A lot of bad things really could've happened that day, but they never gave up hope.

And their hope wasn't misplaced when he was born. His crying in the room was the best sound either of them had heard in their lives.

"So you could say that he's was out little Christmas gift for that year." She glowed as she finished the story.

"That sounds so wonderful." Erina was moved to tears at hearing it.

"They tell it every year." Arata responded with leaning on his arm in boredom. Their reactions were on the opposite sides of the spectrum to this tale.

"Oh my, it's getting late." Erina checked the clock and realized that it was almost time to head to bed. Sure, there's no school to worry about tomorrow, but it had also been a long day for them. "I should be getting home soon."

"I'll let you out the door." Arata said as they got up from their seats.

"Thanks. And Thanks for lending me your clothes, I'll make sure to return them as soon as I can." She said, then turned to the entire family and bowed. "And thank you all for letting me eat dinner."

"Thank you for joining us." They all said their farewells and they went to the front door.

"It was a lot of fun eating with you." Arata said, as she was getting her shoes on.

"I had a great time too." She responded with a big smile. "I guess I'll see you during new year's." That was what they both believed, but nature would have different plans.

"Huh?" He tried to open the door for her, but it wouldn't budge. That was odd to him, since the door shouldn't be broken. "Why. Won't. This. Open!" He tried his best, which worked unlike the last time a door gave him a challenge. Unfortunately for him, what came was an avalanche of snow burying the young boy.

���Arata, are you okay?" She had her mouth agape at the whole sight of the thing.

"Oh man." Arata's father came up when he heard the commotion. "It looks like we're really snowed in."

And so, Erina would be unable to go home for the night.