A New Year's Countdown Party, huh...?

At least it won't be cold in SEKAI and I won't have to see anyone I don't want to. It's not a bad idea, actually.

But there's still so much time to kill before evening...

(Also... Mizuki volunteered to take care of everything, but it wouldn't feel right for me just to turn up empty-handed...)

Oh, I know. I'll bring some of the sweets we got as year-end gifts. Hehe. I can sample a few first too.

He's... Not here? Mom's not here either.

Maybe they went shopping?

Well, whatever....

The gifts should all be in the living room...

Oh...

Hm? Oh, it's you.

What are you doing with the gifts, Akito?

And what are you munching on...?

Huh? Mom asked me to divvy them up while she was out shopping. And this is what I was eating...

Oh, those look yummy! Cute colors too! Where are they from? Hmm... This logo looks familiar, but what was it from...?

I could be wrong, but I think it's that new place run by that famous patisserie chain and specializes in madeleines. They're pretty good.

But mom asked you to go through them, right? Not to eat them all.

She didn't say anything about not eating them, so why not? Hmm... I guess the vanilla ones were the best after all.

Are you trying to turn me into your accomplice...?

I don't care either way, but didn't you come out of your room to pinch some of the sweets anyway?

Well, so what if I did...?

Also, I need some to take with me tonight.

You going somewhere?

Yeah. My group's meeting up for a New Year's Countdown Party. What flavor are the green ones?

Green tea. They're decent.

Hmm. I bet they'd go well with black tea. I'll put on a kettle.

Cool, make me some too.

Excuse me?

Come on, it's no effort. Just put more water in the kettle so there's enough for me too.

I'll make you tea if you bring the gifts over to my room.

Alright, fine.

There. That's all of them.

Whoa, we got a lot this year.

Opening them one by one's gonna be a pain.

Right? But picking out a few to eat in the meantime makes it less tedious.

Hey, can't you open them a little nicer?

You wanna spend the whole day carefully opening each gift? Oh, bummer... This one's just seaweed.

Ugh... You're so uncultured. Pass me that blue box.

Here.

Thanks. I bet there's some sort of fruit in this one... Hah, I was right! It's compote!

Hey, yokan jelly...

W-Will you stop ripping them open like that? You're just adding to the trash pile!

Like there'd be any less if you folded them neatly. And this one's... Ham.

That needs to be refrigerated. The other box at the bottom looks to be meat too. Can you put them both in the fridge?

Sure.

What's in here... Black tea. And judging from its wrapper, it's yokan jelly again.

I got Castella cake.

Are they pre-cut?

No, it's a whole one. It's mom's favorite too, so we probably shouldn't touch it.

Yeah...

What's in that long box?

This one? Let's see...

Juice. Apple and grape.

Oh, it's from that famous fruit parlor.

(Mizuki's bringing some snacks so...

I could take this juice.)

Can you put those two bottles aside for me? I'll need a bag for them too...

You're taking both?

They're glass, and pretty heavy...

I'll be fine. I'm not going very far.

Oh, and can you tell Mom that I won't need any New Year's soba too.

Yeah, sure...

Okay, I'm going back to my room.

What? We're not done checking the gifts.

Mom asked you to take care of that, not me. Have fun.

H-Hey!

Fine... But don't count on me leaving you any of the best stuff!

Phew... There. Two bottles of juice should be more than enough for the four of us.

But we're really spending New Year's Eve together...

So much has happened this year...

The thing with Mafuyu, and us discovering SEKAI...

You know, it was a surprisingly good year...