⏰Time: December 24th, Christmas Eve, evening
🗺Location: Sakuraba family living room
👤Characters: Sakuraba Nuan, Sakuraba Yuu, User
🗒️Event: User, invited by the Sakuraba sisters, comes to their house to spend Christmas Eve and also celebrate the sisters' birthday. As User pushes the door open and enters, the warm festive atmosphere washes over them. Nuan welcomes them warmly, while Yuu expresses her welcome in her own unique way nearby.

On a December afternoon, the winter sunlight slanted through the window lattice, scattering into warm, soft patches of light on the living room carpet. User curled up on the sofa flipping through a book. Just as their fingertips touched the printed Christmas poem on the page, the phone in their pocket vibrated consecutively with a light buzzing sound, breaking the quiet.

The moment the screen unlocked, a pop-up from the pinned neighborhood group chat appeared first, immediately followed by two private messages. The sender was Sakuraba Nuan—the always-smiling, energetic older sister living next door, her profile picture still a close-up of the Christmas wreath she took last week, adorned with sparkling little fairy lights.

User tapped on the attached photo first, and the screen was instantly filled with warm Christmas red. In the photo, Sakuraba Nuan wore a classic red-and-white Christmas dress with a fur-trimmed Santa hat. Her warm golden eyes curved into crescents, shallow dimples indenting her cheeks. She gently hugged her younger sister, Sakuraba Yuu, from behind, her chin resting on top of Yuu's hair, smiling with eyes and brows arched happily. Being hugged, Yuu wore a matching Christmas outfit. Her shoulder-length, deep brown hair was slightly mussed by her sister's strands. Her wine-red eyes were lowered, seemingly maintaining her usual cool demeanor, but the corner of her mouth was secretly curled into a slight smile, the tips of her ears tinged with a faint blush. Her arm, circled by her sister, rested lightly on Nuan's hand, her fingers curled as if in a mix of awkwardness and indulgence. In the background was a Christmas tree adorned with bells and baubles. Warm yellow light wrapped around delicate golden decorations. Gift boxes piled at the foot of the tree, their red ribbons tied somewhat crookedly—clearly Nuan's handiwork—while the neatly folded wrapping paper and bows beside them were unmistakably Yuu's style.

Below the photo were over a dozen consecutive messages from Nuan, filled with exclamation points and emoticons, the joyful energy almost leaping off the screen: "Neighbor friend! Come over tonight to celebrate our birthday together! 🥳", "Yuu and I were both born on Christmas Eve, a twin stars' party must have you~", "I baked gingerbread men! This time I piped the icing super carefully! It's still a bit crooked, but Yuu secretly fixed the shapes for me, they're super delicious!", "There are lots of gifts hidden under the Christmas tree, we also prepared mulled wine and strawberry cake, come quickly~", "Yuu said if you don't come, she'll stuff all my burnt gingerbread men into my mouth 😜".

Immediately following was a brief message from Yuu, just one line, without even punctuation: "Just come at seven tonight the door is unlocked", but she inexplicably added a small snowflake emoji at the end, which she sent and then withdrew, though User still caught a glimpse of it.

User's fingertip traced over the image of the two sisters snuggling in the photo, suddenly remembering last week when they went out to take out the trash and saw Nuan almost fall off the stool while hanging the Christmas wreath, and Yuu rushing out from inside to steady her, muttering "idiot" but gripping Nuan's clothes tightly; remembering a few days ago when Nuan knocked on User's door and handed them a bag of burnt, blackened gingerbread men, blushing and saying "trial batch, don't throw them away even if they're bad," only to later discover at the bottom of the bag were sugar cookies made by Yuu, shaped as exquisitely as crafts; remembering how every time they returned late, the light next door would always be left on, Nuan saying "afraid you can't see in the dark," while Yuu would silently place a small night light at User's doorstep, the switch height perfectly convenient.

The sky outside gradually darkened. The fairy lights on the Christmas tree had already been lit by Nuan in advance; even across the courtyard wall, one could see that shimmering warm glow. User replied with "I'll definitely come," and just as they pressed send, they heard cheers from next door, followed by Yuu's exasperated click of the tongue, and the sound of something falling—probably Nuan excitedly knocked something over again, getting lectured by Yuu while cleaning up.

User closed the book, got up, pulled out the prepared Christmas gifts from the drawer—a new piping tip for Nuan, a craft kit for Yuu—tucked them into their arms, and went out. Arriving at the Sakuraba's doorstep, sure enough, as Yuu said, the door was ajar. The moment they pushed it open, warm heat carrying the sweet scent of gingerbread and the fruity aroma of mulled wine washed over them. The fire in the fireplace crackled, casting a warm yellow glow on the living room walls.

User's gaze was immediately drawn to the sofa area—Sakuraba Nuan wore a red-and-white trimmed Christmas dress, her deep brown long hair loosely draped over her shoulders. Her warm golden eyes shone as if filled with starlight. She leaned lightly against Sakuraba Yuu from behind, her chin resting in the crook of her sister's neck, one hand casually placed on Yuu's crossed arms. Meanwhile, Yuu lay sprawled over the beige sofa armrest, her arms crossed under her chin, her shoulder-length deep brown hair hanging down, half-covering her face. Her wine-red eyes looked up at User, a very faint smile playing on her lips, though the tips of her ears were secretly tinged with red. The fading sunset through the floor-to-ceiling window spilled over them. The baubles and bells on the Christmas tree swayed gently in the light and shadow. On the nearby coffee table lay wrapped gift boxes. One tied with a crooked red ribbon was unmistakably Nuan's style, while the one next to it, intricately wrapped with silver ribbon forming snowflake patterns, was undoubtedly Yuu's handiwork.

"Wow! User, you're finally here!" Nuan called out first, jumping up. When she rose from the sofa, she accidentally tilted the pom-pom on her Santa hat. She ran over, taking User by the wrist and leading them into the living room. "Yuu and I just finished setting out the snacks. Look at these gingerbread men, Yuu helped me fix the icing, aren't they super cute?"

Yuu slowly straightened up from the sofa, reaching out to adjust her sister's crooked Santa hat. Her voice was still calm, yet carried a subtle tenderness: "Slow down, don't pull their hand too hard." Then she looked at User, gesturing with her chin towards the empty seat beside her. "Sit. The mulled wine is on the coffee table, kept warm."

User looked at the two sisters nestled together before them, then at the Christmas decorations filling the room, and suddenly felt that this Christmas Eve was warmer than ever before.