“Achoo!”
“You okay?”
Mel wiped her nose with her bright red mitten. “Nothing.”
“Alright.” Kai tilted his head back up towards the gentle snowfall.
She had flung herself forward with her sneeze. Her bag swung around as a result, weighing down and bumping against her abdomen as she walked. She rolled her shoulder backwards to whip her bag back behind her side and readjusted her scarf. “And besides… Our school is too small to have a good baseball team.”
“I wouldn’t call it small.”
She loudly sniffed, wiping her nose again. “But it’s not prestigious either.”
“Yeah.”
“All the other good players are in the better schools. I don’t think anyone else in our club besides me has ever gotten a home run.”
“Then why don’t you try and get into those schools?”
“No way!” she staunchly declined. “That means much more studying. It’s not worth it!”
Kai shrugged. “It can’t be helped.”
“We don’t win, but we have fun.”
“Well, good for you guys.”
There was a loud ruckus in front of them as a young couple passed them. They were joking about something, with the woman profusely clinging onto the man’s arm. Mel looked away with second-hand embarrassment.
“What a convenient day for it to snow,” Kai spoke some time after.
Mel glanced over in surprise. “Wh-What is that supposed to mean?”
“Snow on Christmas Eve, right?”
“Oh…” She quickly returned her gaze forward. “I suppose.”
He didn’t seem to notice. “Are you and your mom doing anything special tomorrow?”
“We… don’t really do anything special for Christmas.”
“Ah.”
“Only New Years.”
“Makes sense.” Then, abruptly, he tilted his head down and leaned a bit towards her. “Hey, I see it now.”
Poking above one of the mall’s wings, a dark pointed silhouette could be seen with a glowing light on top. Once they turned the corner, on the other side of a skybridge, they found a giant Christmas tree placed directly in the center of the mall courtyard. There were many other people here. Some families with their loud children. Some groups of friends with shopping bags latched to their arms. But, mostly other pairs of people.
“Amazing, right?” Kai looked up and down the tree. “This court looked nothing like this the last time we came here.”
Mel simply nodded with a subtle murmur.
Eventually, his eyes left the center and wandered around the courtyard. “They did a pretty good job with these other trees as well. The lights run all the way to the top of the trees and out throughout the branches. Even on the inside. You know, usually they just skimp out and wrap around the tips of the branches.”
She seemingly was not listening. As he carried on, she kept her eyes locked on the Christmas tree in the center, idly following the red and gold globes speckled brilliantly around the tree. Her mind somehow formed a snaking path out of the red ornaments, drawing her eyes higher and higher into the sky, until they stopped on the dazzling star at the top.
“That’s one big Christmas tree, right?” said Kai.
There was no response. Mel was preoccupied.
He glanced at her for a second, then said nothing else, smiling. Unfamiliar with how to handle this uncharacteristic unresponsiveness, he grew silent alongside her, turning his attention back towards the trees. He admired the small details the decorators put in place around the court. Putting his mind in their place, he picked out one or two aspects he would have done differently. Nevertheless, it was a sufficient display.
Eventually, Mel became aware of her silence and abruptly uttered something to fill the gap. “Wh-why are there only red and gold? I thought Christmas trees were supposed to be many colors.”
“Hm? Well… That’s up to the decorators, isn’t it?”
“… Uh… I don’t know. You would know better.”
“I think red and gold makes sense for here. I like how much cleaner it looks, in my opinion.”
Kai stepped forward a few steps. Mel followed, quickly realising he did so because there was now a group of people standing at the entryway, staring around the court just as they were and blocking the way for others.
“Do you think there is anything under the tree?” Mel wondered.
“Why don’t we go and see?”
As they walked closer, the huge size of the tree became more apparent. Up at the foot of the tree, there was a polygonal fence that encircled it. No higher than their knees, it was purely decorative. Contained inside this fence were several colorful cubes that looked like presents at first glance, but upon closer inspection, actually had its ribbon and wrapping paper design printed onto the faces of the cubes.
“Well then…” Kai shrugged his shoulders as they looked over. “So there are.”
Mel was not as impressed. “They’re not really presents, you know?”
“Better than nothing!” he chuckled.
“I guess.”
Hands in his pockets, he turned to face the small courtyard again. “Now the only thing missing here is some music.”
She looked at him with visible confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Playing through the loudspeakers, you know?”
“… Oh… Right, that is weird.”
“Maybe some people might not like it, but come on! You’re in a mall and it’s Christmas Eve!”
“I would have done it anyway,” Mel scoffed. “Other people can just deal with it.”
“I mean, we can do that ourselves.” He moved his hands from his pockets up to the front pockets of his jacket. “I’ve got a cassette. Wanna listen to some Christmas carols?”
“Sure!” she chimed, whipping her bag in front of her and carefully unzipping it. This was the moment she was waiting for. Pulling open her bag just a little bit and peeking inside, she found the red, rounded corner of her walkman. However, she slipped in her hand and pushed it aside, revealing another box, a blue one, with much flatter edges. The printed letters above the small window the box had, it was obvious what this was.
“Here…” She quickly turned, pushing both her arms out towards Kai. However, they stopped halfway. Frozen midair as she came face to face with Kai, who was also holding out something in his hand. Not a cassette, but a thick, black box with a smooth matte surface and polished face. The box was wrapped with two red ribbons running perpendicular to each other, joining together at the center of the box face to form an elegant bow. It was also clear, from the large letters running vertically down its side, what this box was. A walkman.
Mel stared at the box. Her heart initially dropped. She was too late. He already got one. However, with the way it was wrapped, and the way both of his arms were stretched out towards her, she soon realized it was not his walkman. It was a present. A present for her.
When she finally glanced up, she found Kai wasn’t staring at her either, but at the box in her hands. He was just as stunned, with a touch of amusement, a face she had never seen from him before. Then, Kai finally started laughing.
“What… How did this happen?”
Mel grew warm in the face from the sudden outburst. “Huh…?”
Kai smiled, focusing back on her eyes. “What a coincidence…”
Mel avoided his gaze, shrinking her mouth into her scarf. Her arms drooped a bit, but she kept them held out.
“We both got similar presents for each other, it looks like.”
“You dummy,” she quietly started. “Why’d you buy me another walkman before you even got yourself one?”
“I told you before, didn’t I? I think?”
“We aren’t always hanging out together, you know?”
“Ah, but that’s really the only time I listen to music outside of home,” he reminded. “When I’m with other people. If I’m by myself, I’m perfectly fine listening in my head.”
Mel remained quiet, head tilted down towards the blue box in her hands, not wanting to reveal her glowing face. Seeing this, Kai took a step forward, extending his hands again.
“Here.” He nudged the gift forward. “Let’s exchange.”
Nodding, she brought her arms back up again to meet with his. Kai let go of his gift with one hand to reach out towards Mel’s, and she did the same. After grasping on, they both let go.
With the walkman in her hands, Mel brought it to her chest, observing its build. It was already warm to the touch, having been nestled in his jacket pocket. Even through her mittens she could feel its warmth. A welcoming sensation.
(writing in progress; read previous part here)