River of Stars

Chapter 8 - The Warmth of Your Hands

December 24th, 16:10. The clouds covered the sky like a blanket, making even the midday slightly dim, and small snowflakes fell from the sky. Nishikata was leaving his house at that moment to meet Takagi at her house. He wore a blue coat and pants, he also had a green scarf on.

They had agreed to meet up at her house at 16:30, and her parents would take them to the Center, where they had gone two weeks before. Her parents would come back to pick them up at the same place at 21:30. Nishikata was excited to go back there now that the decorations were complete and that they'd be able to see it at nighttime. He put his hands into his pockets and exhaled, which made a white steam cloud flow out of his mouth.

Nishikata arrived 10 minutes early, he walked to her door and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, the door opened, but Nishikata's view of the inside was almost completely blocked. Nishikata looked up, and there stood a tall man with black hair, and his eyes were dark and sharp. 'Takagi-San's father...' Nishikata guessed, and the man's gaze instantly became, for Nishikata, way more frightening than it actually was.

"You must be Nishikata, I assume?" the man asked, he didn't look mad, in fact, he seemed curious, but Nishikata became a wreck of nerves "I am Keiko's father, it's nice to meet you" he said.

"Y-Y-Yes! I'm Nishikata, I-I'm Takagi-San's friend, it's nice to meet you as well" said Nishikata, bowing.

"You're famous around here, boy, she talks about you all the time" he said, laughing to himself, then he turned to Nishikata, with an actually menacing look, getting up close to his face "But don't you dare do anything funny to my daughter tonight, you hear me kid?"

Nishikata panicked, his face went completely red as he almost fell over, trying to back away from Takagi's father "N-N-N-NO, NO, I WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!" He shouted in desperation and fear.

"So you're saying she's not good enough for you?" Takagi's father said, closing once again the gap between them.

"N-NO, SHE IS" he said, even more desperate and stumbling in his words "I MEAN, I WOULDN'T DO THAT, BUT THAT'S NOT-"

The boy was cut off by the father's lively laughter, and he looked at him in confusion. Then, he heard a voice that seemed to be coming from upstairs that Nishikata recognized to be from Takagi's mother "Dear, stop messing with the boy" he heard.

"Sorry, sorry" he said, still chuckling "You're just like she said, kid" he said cheerfully "Thank you for always looking after my daughter, I'll leave her in your care today"

"I-It's nothing, really" Nishikata said, still feeling a bit nervous and scratching the back of his head.

At that moment, Takagi herself came from upstairs, pouting "Hey, dad, go help mom pick up the rest of the stuff" she said in a monotone, and she gave him a light pinch in the arm, signaling him to go away.

"Alright, alright" he said, chuckling "Sorry, I was just having a little fun" then he went upstairs to help his wife.

"H-Hi, Nishikata" Takagi said, not being able to hide her nervousness.

"H-Hi, Takagi-San" had answered, just as nervous as her.

"Wait here for a while, Nishikata, I'll be back in a second"

Takagi went back to her room, and Nishikata waited at the living room for about 5 minutes until everything was ready and they finally got into the car. And off they went to the Center.

Takagi was wearing a white coat, and she had a cute pink winter cap on the top of her head, and also a red scarf. During the drive, she kept her hands on her pockets and steam flowed out of her mouth as she breathed, just like Nishikata. But the cold could not take away the young girl's excitement, and the snow added a renewed interest to the places they passed by along the way, even though they already saw them when they went there last time.