At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the starfish, who was lying by the window, saw Naruse come to the Morimi Komoto store again.

After a short while, the two of them left together, and the former turned his head to look this way.

“……”

Before Morimi looked over, the starfish subconsciously hid.

When they probed again, the two did not come, but had already walked away in the other direction.

They're going to the city together......

Seeing the figures of the two disappear around the corner of the county road, the starfish also retracted their gaze.

Isn't Naoko together?

…… Is it dating?

Starfish lay by the window and thought about it until a cold wind blew and woke her up.

Closing the window and returning to the house, she lay down on the bed, absentmindedly fiddling with her phone.

Father's voice came downstairs: "Starfish, send two bottles of wine to Mr. Sanji's house." ”

"Got it—"

She got up and went downstairs to deliver the wine.

At the end of the year, the business of my hotel became busier. In the afternoon, she pushed her bicycle and ran around, and there was basically no time to stop.

If only I could drive......

On the fourth departure, looking at his own wine truck, Starfish thought so.

It's a pity she won't.

And the hard work is also self-inflicted - she has to work to make money. Unless it's time urgent, Seiichiro will ask her to deliver the wine.

This time, there is a small half-box of wine, which belongs to two families.

"This is the sake that Mr. Saito ordered...... This is what Mr. Honda wanted. ”

Putting away the order form, Starfish pushed the bike and set off again.

The busyness did not stop, and the afternoon passed like this.

And in the evening, there are still people calling to ask for a drink. Seiichiro drove himself to deliver it, leaving starfish to look after the house.

Sitting at the counter, she was in a daze, occasionally answering the phone.

"Hello, this is the real wood hotel...... Two bottles of Matsumoto, okay...... And another bottle...... The address is...... Okay, we'll get it to you as soon as possible. ”

Hanging up the phone, Starfish quickly wrote down the address, and then took out the wine that the guests needed from the wine cabinet and put it together with the order.

These days are the peak of the year-end party and the year-end banquet, and there is always a wine in the evening, every year.

Not long after, a pickup truck stopped outside the door, and Seiichiro, who had gone out to deliver alcohol, returned to the store.

"How?"

Starfish pointed to the side, "There are four more orders, and the wine is ready." ”

He picked up the order, looked at the address, thought of the delivery route in his mind, and then loaded the wine prepared by the starfish into the truck, and went out to continue delivering the wine after a few words.

As soon as he got into the car, Starfish suddenly waved his arm and motioned for him to wait.

"Wait a minute, there's a call!"

Seiichiro gets out of the car and returns to the store, where the starfish answers the phone, listening and repeating the customer's request to him.

"Two bottles of Junmai Ginjo today...... The address is...... Okay, we'll get it as soon as possible. ”

Seiichiro jotted down the address, then took another order form and wrote it down, and Starfish went to the wine cabinet to look for it and took down two bottles of Junmai Ginjo for him.

"Good. I'm out of the house. ”

Seeing Dad away again, Starfish glanced at the bookstore, the lights were still on, but he didn't know if Yiye was there.

The busyness of the evening lasted until more than ten o'clock, and by the time Seiichiro came back from delivering the last order, he was already exhausted.

Seeing a few order forms on the counter, he hurriedly glanced at them, "Have you received another order?" ”

Starfish nodded, "But it's all for tomorrow morning." ”

Seiichiro also nodded, didn't say much, and sat down at the counter.

Every year at the end of the year or before an important festival, the store will be so busy for a while, but fortunately, Starfish has been much more sensible in the past two years and can help him share some things.

However, when they were really busy, it was still a little stretched to rely on only their father and daughter......

The thought of continuum crossed his mind again, and he shook his head again, tossing it aside.

"Starfish go rest."

Starfish looked at his father and wanted to say something, but when he saw that his face was tired, he swallowed again.

"Hmm...... Good night. ”

I took a shower and went back to my room, it was already past eleven o'clock.

Dry your hair, and the starfish didn't go to bed either.

Standing by the window, the street fell silent late at night, and the bookstore diagonally opposite was closed.

"It's so quiet......"

This is true at this time of year.

The street lights were bright alone, and the roads were empty.

After all, it's already so late.

She froze for a moment, awakened by the slightest movement below.

It's the sound of a roller shutter locking.

Daddy is going to rest, too.

Starfish went back to the bed and sat down, glancing at the time.

There are still a few minutes left, and today will be over.

A new day, the last day of the year, is coming.

She fell backwards, staring at the ceiling.

I took several orders after stopping the delivery, and tomorrow is also very busy, so I have to start busy in the morning.

She should have rested sooner.

But she still wanted to wait a little longer, a little longer.

Pick up your phone, there are two minutes left.

She pressed a few times to adjust the smallest unit of the time display from minutes to seconds.

23：58：35

Staring at the beating numbers, she subconsciously held her breath.

23：59：00

One minute to go.

23：59：30

Thirty seconds left......

With only ten seconds left, she took a deep breath and stared at her eyes without blinking.

10, 9, 8......

Three seconds.

Two seconds.

One second.

Time goes to zero.

December 31, 00:00:00

"Happy birthday." She closed her eyes and whispered to herself.

Today is her birthday.

Because I hit the last day of the year, I always have a forgotten birthday in all kinds of busyness.

"This year's wish, no, I should say that today's wish, is ......"

She opened her mouth, only to find that she could only think of something unrealistic.

If anything, it's possible......

Now my wish is to see him.

Syllable!

"-Wow!"

Suddenly there was a muffled noise from the window, and the starfish were startled.

When I turned my head, I saw a small cloud of falling snow on the glass.

What's the situation......

She was stunned for a moment, then stood up and leaned over slowly.

Syllable!

Another cloud of snow flew and smashed into the window in front of her.

“……”

Starfish quickened his pace and came to the window.

On the street below, Naruse was about to throw out a third ball of snow, but when he saw that she finally came, he threw it aside again, and waved at her instead.

Behind him, Naoko, Kazuha, and Hikari, waving their hands.

“……”

I had a faint premonition in my heart, but more of it was unbelievable.

When he came back to his senses, the starfish found that he had opened the window.

"Happy birthday, starfish." Naruse said.

The three girls in the back also smiled, "Happy birthday!" ”

"You ......"

Starfish opened its mouth, looked left and right, and held on to the windowsill, and there was a feeling that there was nowhere to put it.

My eyes moistened all of a sudden.

"What...... Suddenly...... ...... like this"

Everything in front of me became blurry.

"I don't think you're in the mood to sleep right now."

Naruse looked up at her.

"It just so happened that we had a birthday party in place, and now we're waiting for you."

“……”

Starfish looked at him, then at a leaf behind him.

A birthday party for her...... I see.

Why hide it from her!

"What time is it?"

Naruse turned his head, "She can't say it......"

"Coming!"

Starfish burst into tears and smiled, waved his hand at a few people, and turned away from the windowsill.

Naruse turned her head and was about to say something, when she hurried back to the window and closed the forgotten window.

After changing his clothes to go out, thinking that his father had fallen asleep, Starfish suppressed his excitement and went downstairs cautiously.

Carefully unlocking the roller shutter door again, she had just bent down when two hands came in from the outside and slowly lifted the door.

He stood outside, holding the door in his hands, cloaked in snow.

Starfish blinked.

Her birthday wish has come true......

(End of chapter)