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“N-Nijika, don’t you think you should take a break?”
Nijika took a deep breath, trying not to think about the deep circles she’d seen under her eyes in the mirror this morning as she finished hanging up a garland. “Hitori, I appreciate the concern – I really do – but someone has to do this.”
“B-B-But you’ve been running yourself ragged all day for the last week or so.” Hitori carefully placed a hand on her back. “I-I know that we haven’t been particularly helpful – “
“Well, that’s an understatement,” Nijika dryly said. The next moment, she buried her face in her hands and bit her tongue. “God. Sorry, Hitori, that wasn’t fair to you.”
“I… I don’t think it’s fair that nobody’s helping you,” Hitori said. “Or that you’re not letting us help you.”
“Fuko’s helping me.” Nijika still didn’t look at Bocchi. “At least I don’t have to make all the food by myself. And Tsuguko is helping me by keeping both Ikuyo and Yoyoko in check, somehow. I don’t know how she does it.”
“S-Still – “
“You saw Yuyu’s decorations.” Nijika sighed. “And Ryo eating some of the prepared food. And Yoyoko trying to ‘beat’ everyone at setting things up, and Ikuyo going overboard, and Akubi and Tsuguko just filming everything.”
Bocchi didn’t reply to that, awkwardly staring to the side.
A weak smile managed its way onto Nijika’s face. “I’ll let you all help with the Christmas tree, okay? That one isn’t complete unless all of us decorate it.”
“…Okay.” Bocchi tried returning the smile. “I just… don’t get why you’re so fixated on getting everything right. Last year was, uh…”
“Horrible?”
“…Yeah. But we still had a great time, right?”
“I guess.” Nijika paused, before pouting a little. “I know it’s stupid, but I just don’t want my sister to feel like she was right.”
“Huh? Wh-What did she say?”
Nijika took a deep breath. “A relationship with more than three partners is doomed to fail. Nine people is just way too many,” she said in her best mocking impression of Seika. “She said the same thing about any relationship with more than two people before getting together with both PA-san and Kikuri. But we managed to figure things out, so I want to prove that to her.”
“W-Well, in that case, I just think you should let us help even more!” Bocchi turned Nijika’s face to her, the conviction in her eyes at a surprising strength. “It’s all of us, together, that should prove it, not you alone!”
It took a moment for Nijika to pick up her jaw again and smile. “I guess that’s a good point. But please, tell everyone that I’m making sure they’re not messing things up.”
Bocchi smiled back. “I think we can work together properly to spite your sister, at least.”
“So,” Seika said, sweating bullets, “I should probably apologize about that statement I made – um, I started dating Shima and Eliza too – “
It took all eight of her girlfriends to stop Nijika from committing first degree murder on Christmas.