Dragging the pine tree to the right place and putting it down, Naruse rubbed the little peeling bark on his hand and shook off his arm.

"It's pretty heavy......"

"After all, it's two meters tall, and the branches and leaves are completely preserved, and they haven't been removed." Naoko looked at his hand, and then at the student vice president who came over, "Do you have any requirements for the Christmas tree?" ”

"There are no special requirements, as long as the final product is a Christmas tree."

"Okay." Naoko smiled, "Leave it to us." ”

Yoshioka-senpai nodded, and soon left, and the people in the restoration department began to plan around the pine trees on the ground.

"This height, it should be about the same, right?"

"Hmm."

"The branches and leaves here are a little dense, so let's just cut some off and coordinate with the other side."

"Is it dense? Not...... I can't see it on the ground, so let's stand up and take a look. ”

In the process of design and planning, Naruse basically did not open his mouth, and was only responsible for contributing.

Picking up the pine tree, he looked to the other side of the gymnasium, where the starfish was standing next to several girls, watching them weave colored ropes.

She came with Hikaru Takikawa, and somehow helped out, but looking at her expression, she was quite happy.

“…… What does Naruse think? ”

He came back to his senses, and several senior sisters around him looked at him.

"What?"

"Do you need to cut off some of the branches and leaves here?"

"Everything." He looked at the pine tree he was holding in his hand, "If it's not too troublesome, you can actually find some more pine branches to cover it, so that the branches and foliage of the whole tree become dense and more beautiful." ”

"That's a good idea...... But pine branches are hard to find, right? ”

"Just ask the people in the student council."

For the first Christmas party in Tsugar, several people discussed it with an attitude of excellence, and finally Naoko put forward a request to the student union.

"Pine branches? No problem, of course it can be satisfied. However, we don't have time to go there now, so we can only trouble a few people from the restoration department to buy pine branches by themselves, and all the expenses will be reimbursed by our student union...... Ah, as long as it's not too much. ”

The student council gave the address and contact information of the shop where the pine trees were purchased, and after finding that it was not too far away, the two seniors decided to go and see it for themselves.

The rest of the people continued to revolve around the pine trees, planning their next steps.

"Then again, how will this tree be erected when the time comes, you can't hold it all the time, right?"

"Just get a base."

"Do you want to pour your own cement?"

"Wow, that's too much trouble...... I'm going to make a frame out of a wooden plank, and when the time comes, I can put some heavy objects like stones into it, and it should be able to hold up. ”

The Christmas tree is one of the most important decorations for the party, but it is also independent and does not affect the rest of the work.

"Wrap thin strings of lights around the branches, decorate them with flowers and birds cut out of glittering cardboard, and hang cute puppets like Santa Claus, reindeer or snowflakes. Not...... Also, finally, at the top of the Christmas tree, a glowing filament comes out with a star around it. ”

When Hikaru Takikawa, who was passing by, asked, Naruse explained their design.

"It's so complicated, it's really hard."

"So it's a lot of work." Naruse said.

In the plan of the members of the restoration department, even if it is a string of lights, after buying it, they have to paint the small bulb with different colors.

"They've gone back to the ministry to make decorations now." Naruse gestured to the pine trees on the ground with his gaze, "I'm waiting for the other two senior sisters to come back and do some preliminary decorations." Hmmm......"

"What's wrong?" Hikaru Takikawa sensed his desire to speak and stopped.

"The strength of the light is okay."

"Well, do you want to compare?"

"That's not what I meant...... Does Light have time now? ”

"It's nothing now, let's talk about it."

"I want you to go to the restoration department and help me get the base of this thing, Sister Ogawa should be almost done. Or you can help me watch the tree here and I'll move it myself. Naruse said.

"I'll go." Hikaru Takikawa preferred to move a little and readily agreed.

Seeing her leave the gymnasium, Naruse let out a cold breath, then stomped his feet and circled around the pine trees on the ground, moving his cold body.

People come and go, and after the cultural festival, the gymnasium is busy again for the first time in a long time due to the festival.

"—is this the Christmas tree for the party?"

Naruse was stunned for a moment, and quickly turned his head, "Yes." ”

"Hmmm......"

Starfish stared at the pine tree, their eyes rolling, as if hesitating what to say.

"I haven't started decorating yet, it's not the last thing it looks like."

"Oh!" She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Naruse smiled, "Looking forward to it." ”

"Uh-huh." Starfish nodded.

He glanced at where she had stayed before, "Starfish was there just to help?" ”

"Just helped move a little bit...... There's nothing I need anymore. ”

Naruse thought for a moment, "There will be some pine branches sent over later, if the starfish is fine, help me install it." ”

"Huh...... All right. ”

She immediately agreed, and then looked down at the pine trees on the ground again.

Naruse looked at her, and looked away before she could notice.

After Matsu returned to Tokyo, the starfish never came to his house, and the communication between the two was not interrupted, and they were able to chat with each other normally on the way home from school and waiting for the bus.

After the official reconciliation that night, the two became more and more like ordinary friends.

The starfish squatted down, touched the mottled bark, and suddenly looked up: "How do you connect the branches?" ”

"With wire and barbed wire, just hang it." Naruse said, "If you fix the roots of the branches, they won't fall off." ”

As the two were talking, Hikaru Takikawa returned to the gymnasium with a wooden plank made of the base of the Christmas tree.

"It's not very heavy, but Sister Ogawa moves really fast."

"In terms of carpentry, the senior sister is very good at it, and she has been moving very quickly after having specific ideas." Naruse took the base of the plank and tried it, but it was really not too heavy.

The base is hollow for heavy loads, and the top has a square hole about the size of a pine trunk.

"Senior sister said that after the Christmas tree was put in, it was stuck with these two planks." Hikaru Takikawa pushed a movable plank, "That's ingenious." ”

The starfish came over, and Naruse also squatted down to take a look.

After waiting for more than twenty minutes, he received a message from Naoko asking him to go to the school gate to help bring Matsuzhi in.

When I arrived at the school gate, the two seniors almost asked for most of the branches and leaves of the tree to come back.

"That's too much."

"It's almost not much, I can't help but ask for a little more......"

Hikaru Takikawa and Starfish, who took a moment to drag Matsueda back to the gymnasium and went to the playground to move rocks, also returned.

Naruse lifted the Christmas tree, inserted it into a base stuffed with stones, secured it, and began to wrap barbed wire around the tree.

"Just stuff the branches into the holes in the barbed wire and hang them." He explained the method to the starfish, "If you can't hang it, fix it with a thin wire." ”

Starfish nodded, trying, "I see." ”

The two seniors looked at the two of them next to them and looked at each other again.

"This is ......"

"Starfish in Class E of the year."

Naruse lowered his head and handed a thin wire to the starfish, "I used to be my stepsister, and today I came to help." Naoko also knows her. ”

(End of chapter)