A Present For You

“Achoo!”

Suddenly, an unexpectedly adorable sneeze rang out.

When I looked over, Maria was wearing an awkward expression.

“Ah… Sorry. I interrupted the conversation.”

I glanced up at the sky and saw powdery snow fluttering down.

“No wonder it’s cold. It’s snowing. We sweated so much after eating that ultra-spicy ramen, so it’s only natural our bodies would get chilled afterward. We don’t want anyone catching a cold, so perhaps it’s about time we called it a night.”

When I said that, Ren called out to Maria with a tense expression.

“Ah, uh… Maria! Before you go, there’s something I wanted to give you…?”

“Huh, to me? What is it, Ren-san?”

When Maria smiled brightly at him, Ren looked embarrassed and pulled a piece of red cloth from a rustling white bag.

“I don’t really know much about this sort of thing, and it’s only from Uniqlo, but… it’s one hundred percent cashmere, and they featured it on TV, so I figured girls probably like this kind of thing.”

Maria accepted it and spread it open, revealing a vivid red stole.

It was made from a soft-looking fabric woven with fine fibers and dyed a brilliant color. It looked incredibly expensive… Even nobles probably did not own many stoles this splendid!

Maria’s face lit up.

“W-wow, it’s beautiful! Ren-san, are you really sure I can have something this amazing!?”

“Yeah. Don’t hold back, it’s yours.”

“Amazing! Ren-san, I love you!”

Overjoyed, Maria grabbed Ren’s hand and shook it vigorously.

Ren’s face turned almost as red as the stole itself.

Maria immediately wrapped the stole around her shoulders and began happily twirling in front of the yatai.

“Hey, everyone! Look, look… Does it suit me?”

With the vivid red stole draped over her shoulders, Maria looked beautiful as she smiled beneath the yatai’s light in the dark alley while snow fluttered around her.

Brad, Ouri, and I each spoke up.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Maria!”

“To think that filthy little brat grew up into such a beauty… damn it all!”

“It suits you wonderfully! …Still, Ren, suddenly giving her a present like this—what brought that on?”

At my words, Ren answered with a happy expression.

“Heh. Tonight’s Christmas… In our world, it’s a day when you give presents to people who are important to you or close to you.”

Hmm? I see, I see… “Christmas,” was it?

So tonight, in Ren’s world, there was an event like that….

You gave presents to people who were important to you or close to you… Hmm, hmm.

….

……..

…………

“T-that’s terrible! That’s absolutely terrible, Reeeeen!”

When I shouted that, Ren stared blankly at me.

“…Huh? Terrible…? What is?”

His expression said he had no idea what I was talking about.
Unable to hold myself back any longer, I closed in on Ren and shouted.

“Y-you said today is when you give presents to people who are important to you or close to you…! Then why haven’t you given me anything…? D-does that mean… I’m neither important nor close to you!?”

Ren made a face as though he had just realized his mistake.

“Ah!? N-no… Rinsir-san. That’s not what I meant…?”

Tears began spilling from my eyes.

“You and I may have had some unfortunate misunderstandings when we first met! But afterward, I thought we had forged a true friendship through ramen… U-ugh. I-I like you so very much… and yet you ignore me! Oh, how full of compassion are the eyes of the basilisk gazing upon the blue bird crossing the desert! (An elven expression meaning ‘love only travels one way.’)”

Ren flusteredly tried to comfort me.

“C-come on… What am I supposed to do here…? That’s really not what I meant, so please stop crying, Rinsir-san….”

But I could not stop my tears of frustration.

…It wasn’t fair! I was jealous of Maria!

In other words, it was pure jealousy. Even I had never imagined that I would harbor such pathetic feelings toward a girl 374 years younger than me, someone I had practically regarded as my own child.

But the shock of being neglected by Ren—the man who made the finest ramen of anyone, when I prided myself on loving ramen more than anyone else—had simply been that overwhelming!