At this moment, Shinichi Iwahashi was probably in the audience of LIVEHOU, watching his teammates perform on the stage. When arranging the order of songs for Christmas Eve performances, new Christmas songs would definitely be put in the finale or as part of the arrangement.
A good part.
Even if Akina Nakamori was not present, she could still imagine the performance in her mind. And what also appeared in her mind was the scene of Shinichi Iwahashi leaving the small and lively LIVEHOU to go to the appointment.
Hearing what Chieko said, she stood up and went to call the taxi company. Before leaving, she chatted with her mother, "Will we all spend New Year's Eve together this year?"
This "everyone" refers to the Zhongsen family members.
Chieko gave an affirmative answer, "After Christmas, we will start preparing the New Year's food boxes." Speaking of this, she was in a good mood.
Akina Nakamori also felt a little nostalgic, "I haven't seen Heita-kun and Chika-chan for a long time..."
These are her little nephews and nieces.
Chieko smiled. Her tone sounded like she was making a promise to her daughter, "At that time, everyone will watch the Kohaku Utakara concert together and cheer for Akina-chan... What Iwahashi said, I was the only one who whispered in my heart, '
good luck."
The scattered children are still connected by invisible and intangible threads because of their mother's presence. Even if they have little contact with Akina Nakamori, they will still be by their mother's side and cheer for their sister on TV together.
Just like when the children were young, Chieko single-handedly maintained the harmony between the family and her brothers and sisters.
Akina Nakamori laughed at her mother's words of quietly cheering for Shinichi Iwahashi. After a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Where's father?"
The Nakamori Building was sold, and Nakamori Akio ran away in frustration after his investment in the stock market failed. A year has passed. Christmas has passed and New Year's Eve is approaching. I don't know if he will come back home.
In any case, Akio Nakamori did not mail the divorce papers to his wife, nor did he disappear from the world.
During this year, Akina Nakamori heard from her mother about the shopping street in Kiyose, a store that she often visited as a child. The owner had invested huge sums of money in the stock market, and the store closed down and the head of the household disappeared.
I have also heard of a small shop that was originally inherited by the eldest son. Due to the sharp increase in land prices, other brothers and sisters were dissatisfied. In order to fight for the family property, relatives turned against each other, and the formerly harmonious big family fell apart.
It’s no different than when the family has a daughter who is a star and conflicts abound, and the warmth of the past disappears...
In response to her daughter's question, Chieko didn't even blink, and quickly replied, "I don't know." She looked at her daughter who was worried about her, and said in a nonchalant tone, "Don't think too much, Akina-chan."
My mother is free and generous, able to take things and let them go. But in a sense, this is also because the couple have been quarreling since they were young. Akio Nakamori would run away from trouble and would often run away for a while and leave the house to his wife.
, and come back after a while as if nothing happened.
Nakamori Akina was comforted by her mother's attitude. She also relaxed. After a pause, she discussed with her again, "How about telling Iwahashi that we invite him to come and play at home during the New Year?"
Chieko clapped her hands and said it was a good idea, "Of course I welcome it at any time."
Let me introduce Iwabashi to everyone.
The words that Chieko didn't say, Nakamori Akina, who left her mother and got into the taxi, quietly completed it in her mind. Of course, she and her mother discussed this and invited Iwahashi to her home during the New Year.
reason.
No matter what the family relationship is, since they are still connected by her mother's existence, Akina Nakamori cannot give up the idea of introducing her serious boyfriend to them.
Even if it was just out of love and respect for Iwahashi Shinichi, I wanted to spread myself completely in front of him.
Good or bad, no matter what, let him know.
…
Tokyo on Christmas Eve doesn't look like a city that exists in the real world.
To be precise, Tokyo in the entire bubble era gave people the feeling of being in a dream anytime and anywhere. It was like the background in a video game, like the huge Disneyland in Chiba... and so on.
Shinichi Iwahashi sat in the taxi and looked out the window. The car moved forward, and the colorful neon lights outside the window suddenly melted into a ball, like huge colorful bubbles in the sun.
He and Akina Nakamori made an appointment to meet at a cafe in Ginza. Today, he was going to watch the DREAM T-shirt performance, and Akina Nakamori was going back to have dinner with her mother. Although the show ended not early, she had to go from Kiyose
Ginza is far enough away.
Even after the performance, Shinichi Iwahashi went backstage to greet the staff, and Miwa-chan served him as a hotpot side dish, but he was sure not to keep Akina Nakamori waiting.
Accepting Miwa-chan's bold "kind words", Shinichi Iwahashi left the backstage and finally took a taxi. The starting price was 10,000 yen. There was no way, Christmas Eve was still the prime time at night. Even a moment of hesitation could lead to him being taken away.
The next drunk guy jumps in the queue. The young man and woman hooking up are already half-drunk before midnight.
If you are not decisive enough, even the taxi will be robbed. No wonder everyone is rushing to be first, fearing that they will fall behind and spend their money like others.
In a sense, the frenzy of the bubble era has something in common with the rush to buy toilet paper during the oil crisis.
Shinichi Iwahashi couldn't help but think to himself that although the bubble had burst, before this era completely ended, he still had to endure these inexplicable things occasionally.
He looked at the time, took out his cell phone from his bag, turned it on, and called Akina Nakamori first. After a while, the call came back, "Moxi Moshi~Shinichi?"
Although it was a question, her tone was actually very certain.
Although the mobile phone that Akina Nakamori gave him before was not completely used as a dedicated call line with her, it was not too different. However, considering the impressive standby time of current mobile phones, they are basically kept turned off.
, when you want to use it, first turn on the phone, make a pager, make sure it can be connected, and then use the mobile phone to contact you.
With this extra step, it is just a little more convenient than making calls at the ubiquitous roadside phone booths.
…
Ginza's planning is well-organized. In Tokyo, such a neighborhood is rare. Therefore, in addition to being the most prosperous and elegant area in Tokyo, with the most expensive land prices... etc., it is also a very good place for walking on the road.
On Christmas Eve, the carefully decorated streets were colorful and full of fireworks. It was late at night, but the streets were still busier than in the past. However, at this time, the men and women who had been partying all night had almost moved to the next block.
Shinichi Iwahashi and Akina Nakamori were shoulder to shoulder, walking along the road beneath the high-rise buildings. Colored lights were wrapped around the trees planted on the roadside, and the lights cast reflected on the dark windows of the cars parked on the roadside.
up, like a galaxy in the night sky.
Nakamori Akina turned to look at Iwahashi Shinichi, but her eyes were narrowed by the light. She lowered her eyelids, suddenly took off her left glove, and handed that hand to Iwahashi Shinichi's hand.
"Hiss~"
She was a little exaggerated and shouted softly.
After catching Shinichi Iwahashi's attention and when he turned his face towards her, Akina Nakamori wrinkled her nose at him and whispered: "Shinichi's fingers are cold."
Shinichi Iwahashi never wears gloves in winter.
However, when she said this, Shinichi Iwahashi did not let go of her hand. Instead, he held her hand that was warmed by his gloves, and replied calmly, "Then I will lend you your light."
"You're really good at talking." Akina Nakamori muttered to him, but she still laughed after all.
Compared with the overly considerate Nian Xiajun when we first started dating, the shameless Nian Xiajun now is better. This thought flashed through her mind, and she added: "Please don't be polite, just use it."
good."
It's quite generous.
But Shinichi Iwahashi didn't answer any more, he just held her hand and walked across the wide road with her. Sometimes he would bump into passers-by and he would recognize the two strolling people at a glance.
There was undisguised surprise on his face.
Besides, couples walking hand in hand are inherently eye-catching.
However, probably because the two of them were acting together, even if they were recognized, the passers-by on the other side would just avert their eyes and walk past them. At most, they would pay attention to the couple who will be in the limelight in the second half of this year.
.
Although walking hand in hand was particularly conspicuous, Akina Nakamori did not intend to let go of her hand. Iwahashi Shinichi also accompanied her, and experienced with her the feeling of being noticed from time to time.
Of course, Iwahashi Shinichi was also subtly aware that the more Nakamori Akina was recognized, the more unwilling she was to let go. For a while, he couldn't understand this stubbornness, but he still followed her.
To a certain extent, this walking experience is quite novel.
"Tonight's performance must be wonderful, right?" Akina Nakamori chatted with him.
Iwahashi Shinichi said "Yeah", "The atmosphere in the venue is also very good. Being in the cheering audience, I became a fan without knowing it."
When he said this, he joked to himself, "However, I was originally Yoshida-san's number one fan." Because he was her number one fan, he went all out to promote her, became an agent, and went all the way.
Until now.
Nakamori Akina smiled when she heard what he said.
"It's up to me to ask." Shinichi Iwahashi added such an extra preface as if he was teasing her on purpose, causing Akina Nakamori to glare at him lightly.
After receiving this non-aggressive glance, Iwahashi Shinichi sounded more serious, "Is everything okay, Chieko-san?"
"Yes." Akina Nakamori nodded and told him, "Everything is fine, and she seems to be in a cheerful mood. Recently, she also learned the art of patchwork." She smiled and said, "It seems that she was inspired by Momoe-san.
." After Yamaguchi Momoe retired, apart from being a housewife, the only thing that appeared in the public eye was making patchwork art works.
"On New Year's Eve, the eldest brother and the second brother will go with their families to celebrate the New Year with my mother." After Nakamori Akina said this, she hesitated and glanced at Shinichi Iwahashi quietly, "...I feel that my mother is very lonely alone."
"However," she continued, "my mother doesn't think so. I believe that my mother can do everything well and she won't tell lies like that when she is obviously lonely, but I still worry about her.
."
After hearing this, Iwahashi Shinichi wanted to say something, but Nakamori Akina kept to herself and did not ask for anything from him. Realizing this, he listened silently.
Nakamori Akina changed the topic and told him that she went to the shopping street to do shopping. She said that the shopping street in Kiyose was also decorated with gleaming lights today, "... Compared with Ginza, of course it is small and old. However, it looks...
But very warm.”
She wrinkled her nose and laughed at herself: "No one would compare Ginza and Kiyose's shopping streets, right?"
Iwahashi Shinichi continued smoothly, "The shopping street in Shizuoka doesn't have much atmosphere even on Christmas Eve. It's probably not as good as Kiyose... and it can't even be compared with Ginza." He imitated Nakamori Akina, "No one would take it for granted.
Shizuoka’s shopping streets and…”
As soon as he said this halfway, Akina Nakamori laughed.
She squeezed Shinichi Iwahashi's hand hard and said, "Like an idiot." However, is Shinichi Iwahashi who said these stupid things a fool, or is she the one who let Shinichi Iwahashi say these stupid things for her sake?
,I do not know.
"By the way, I was still in Kiyose's shopping street and heard the new single of DREAM T-E." She didn't know whether she was thinking of something or saying it, or just to get rid of that stupid topic.
"After all, it's a Christmas song, and it was released not long ago," Shinichi Iwahashi replied.
Akina Nakamori asked him in a statement tone, "This song must have been sung in tonight's performance." She and Shinichi Iwahashi verified their reasoning, "I guess it was either the finale or the encore.
."
"Could it be that you didn't actually go back to Kiyose, but went to see the band's performance?"
Iwahashi Shinichi pretended to be surprised, but unfortunately his acting skills were only 11 points, and he was immediately disliked by Akina Nakamori. It seemed that not only was he not talented in singing, but he was also proven to have no talent in acting. He could only act as a producer and fool around.
Some days.
The two of them were chatting and laughing, and decided to have a drink together at a bar frequented by Iwahashi Shinichi. In fact, they didn’t make any plans for Christmas Eve. They just thought of going out as they went, and when they had enough wandering outside, they would go back home.
Of course, go to Akina Nakamori’s house.
Not only because Inuko Kenta was left alone at home, but also because of the large Christmas stocking hanging above her bed.
"Actually," Shinichi Iwahashi discussed with her, "on Christmas Eve next year, if we don't have any arrangements, how about going to see DREAM's performance together?"
He suddenly mentioned this, and Nakamori Akina didn't answer for a while.
Shinichi Iwahashi turned around and looked at her. Akina Nakamori looked like she hadn't heard anything. After a while, she looked at him and muttered in a low voice, "What's going on?"
"
Her tone sounded like she was complaining, and Iwahashi Shinichi's question seemed strange.
