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So, here’s my present for this year’s Secret Santa. Merry Christmas Dexorf!
As always, the prompt as well as my author’s notes will be at the end of the story.

To Prime or Not to Prime
Exhausted I stumble into my room and collapse onto my bed.

The Christmas Party lasted almost until midnight, and I’ve been on my feet since my morning run. Unpacking the presents can wait till tomorrow. At this point I wonder if I should even bother to change into my pajamas or if I should simply fall asleep right now…

A buzzing sound jolts me back awake. Seriously?

I fumble for my phone and accept the call. “Hello?”

“Hi, Hisao, it’s me!”

Through the haze of my mind I recognize Taro’s voice. “Ooki, I’m tired, can’t it wait till tomorrow?”

“I mean, I guess so, I just wanted to ask… I unpacked your present, and…” It’s just like Taro to unpack his presents right when he gets back to his room. I expected him to have questions, but… “The mousepad is nice I guess, but I’m not sure if the cookbook is supposed to be a joke or what? You know I’ve never cooked a thing in my life.”

“Oh, no, the cookbook is not for you, that’s for…”

…

Suddenly I am wide awake. “Taro, listen to me! I need you to tell me exactly what was in your present! No omissions!”

“Well, there is that Rei Ayanami mousepad – which is nice by the way – and then there’s ’99 Healthy Vegetarian dishes you can make in under 15 Minutes…’”

I begin to feel a bit queasy in my stomach. “Nothing else?”

I hear paper rustling. “No, nothing else, why…”

“Sorry Taro, I have to go!” I hastily end the call and rush out of my room.

WHY?

Why did they send the book with the mousepad when I ordered it almost a week earlier?

I rush out of the boys’ dorm through the softly falling snow.

WHY?

Why did I order the presents already gift-wrapped?

It is way past curfew, but I don’t care as I storm into the girls’ dorm.

WHY?

Why was that package as large a whole book? It should have been way smaller!

I reach the room. My heart is beating quite fast, though not from the exertion of running all the way here. If I’m lucky she won’t have unpacked it yet…

I open the door without knocking to find Emi standing in front of her desk surrounded by torn wrapping paper. She is staring at something in her hands…

Slowly, almost mechanically her head turns towards me.

“Emi, I…” Seeing the stormy expression on her face I can’t go on. How can she look down on me when she’s almost a full head shorter than I am?

I fall down on my knees. Now she is actually looking down on me.

“Well, Hisao, I hope you have a really good explanation for this!” She shoves a pair of bra insert pads into my face.

It’s over. Everything is over…

I look down to the floor, my eyes catching nothing but the carpet and Emi’s prosthetics.

“Well… You remember when I went to that convention in Sendai with Taro and Miki last month? Taro was looking at this… specialty mousepad, but he said that it didn’t… feel quite right…, so he decided not to get it…”

As I falter in my explanation, Emi urges me on. “Do continue.”

“Well, when I got home I did some digging on the internet and found some DIY for how to modify those mousepads with silicon bra-pads, so I ordered the mousepad and the bra-pads, but when I got the parcels they had grouped your present with the mousepad, and the first parcel was the format of the book, so I thought it was the book, because it was so large, but just now Taro called and told me…”

“Pfffft.”

Surprised I lift my head and find Emi standing there, desperately trying to hold back laughter. As she notices my expression, she lets herself fall backwards onto her bed and begins rolling around bursting out in a laugh that would make Misha proud.

I slowly get to my feet and look at her indignantly. “You know I am honestly contrite here…”

She tries to get her breathing back under control. “You know, I… When I saw the pads I first thought you were aiming for some kinky punishment game, but…” She bursts into laughter again. “I never would have thought… Pfffft… that you… mousepad… Hahaha!”

I sit down on the floor, exhausted. On the one hand she doesn’t seem to be mad at me, which is more than I could have hoped for when I got here. On the other hand I could do without the ridicule…

On the gripping hand there is the question of what to do with the pads.

As Emi gradually calms down, I pose the question. “So, want me to go over to Taro’s and exchange those for your real present?”

Emi throws the pads onto her desk. “Nah, that can wait till tomorrow. I have a much better idea for a present… But close the door first, will you?”

Prompt:

”Dexorf” wrote:

Through a series of unfortunate mistakes/coincidences, Hisao accidentally gives Emi bra pads/inserts as her Christmas gift.

So, Dexorf, you can be proud that you gave me the most difficult prompt I had in the last five years.
It took me a while to even get an idea of how to approach this story…
I always try to write logically consistent stories, and while there certainly are mousepads like this, I have no idea if there are DIYs for improving them with bra-inserts nor if that would actually be an improvement.
What is realistic is that amazon regularly groups packages together illogically and uses ridiculously oversized packages for the smallest of stuff.
Anyway, once again: Merry Christmas!

Mirage_GSM wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 6:49 am To Prime or not to Prime

This got me to legit laugh until I nearly cried. I could totally imagine the look on Emi's face of; "You've got to be kidding me Hisao?"

Kinda wish I knew about this earlier I'd have taken a prompt.

Look at Prof's Discord. Some of last year's prompts were not fulfilled and a few of them are still up for the taking if I'm not mistaken.

From Craftyatom for XPND.Dev - Disconnection

As usual, I posted this over on my one-shot thread, partly because it's a good way of keeping my writing in one place, and partly because my story would've absolutely over-cluttered this poor thread. So click the link to read it, and Happy Holidays to Dev (and the rest of you, of course)!

So far the clutter is very limited this year ^^°

I have to say with that prompt I would never have considered writing anything but a crackfic (and considering what happened the last time I tried to write one it wouldn't have been pretty...).

You took it and wrote a character drama instead.

Heya, and Merry Christmas! In spite of my lesser writing skill, I hope everyone enjoys my submission! This fic is for one named 'Hacksorus.' Prompt: Running out of time

Now without further ado, I present

Low on time and gasoline

Five minutes.

Five minutes is all I got until the Christmas party starts.

Why the hell didn't I get gas the other day when I had the chance? Good question. Maybe it's because I'm so much more careless than I used to be. After all, I don't have to help take care of Lilly anymore. I haven't even had the chance to see her in months. She's more independent now, she's married, and Hisao is there to help her if she needs it, even if our Father doesn't like him.

Anywho, where was I? Because I was lazy and didn't refill my car yesterday, I had to take a long detour to find a gas station, and now I'm running late to the Christmas party, where my Sister, her Husband, and some other family are waiting for me. Not to mention a few friends, too.

Speaking of 'running...'

On the side of the road, I swear I see a short, athletic girl with dirty blonde hair in twin-tails, wearing prosthetic legs. She seems to be out for a jog, or maybe she's got somewhere to be? She turns to me as I pull over and roll my window down.

"Heya, Ibarazaki! You cold out there?"

"Ehh, huh?!?" She hollered, clearly a bit tired out.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Heading to the Christmas party Lilly and Hisao are at." She panted

"Wait, you were invited too?"

She takes a second to catch up with herself.

"Uh huh, aren't most of your friends?"

I look around for a second. On one hand, I'm running late. On the other hand, so is Emi. But if I just leave her here, she'll be extremely late.

"Get in. I'm giving you a lift."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So that's why you decided to jog all the way to the party?"

"Yep!" Emi attested.

"You're silly, you know that? I have no idea what Hisao'd do with you had you ended up married to him."

"Aw- shut up! He'd be much healthier than he is now if I married him. I mean his condition hasn't gotten better, Lilly can't make him exercise."

I shake my head a little "The least she can do is push him to try. Besides, if you were the one instead of Lilly, you'd easily be out of shape by now." I teased "You have no clue what marriage does."

"Pfft as if!" She pouted.

I chuckle a little, we both arrive at the cabin where the party is being held. The legless shortie and I both get out and make our way to the door. Chatter, and people talking among each other can easily be held. Then, almost as if on command, the door opens as I ring the doorbell. A tall man with long, dark hair, wearing a sword greets me.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? We were waiting for both of you, what took so long?"

I sigh "Nice to see you too, Jigoro."

Emi and I further ourselves into the place. Its much warmer than outside, and is very decorative, homey, the place you'd want to hold a party. And with that, I can finally see all who showed up. Hisao, Lilly, Shizune, Jigoro, Hideaki, Emi, and of course, myself. Frankly, I'm surprised Emi was even invited.

Hideaki look up at me.

"Greetings, have you been well?"

"Heya shortie. Is everyone here?" I respond.

"Apparently, Kenji and Misha were supposed to be here, but no avail. Kenji did leave a present for our Secret Santa thingy, which is an extra mile compared to what I'd expect of him." Hisao clarified.

I shrug. "At least its something."

Jigoro intervenes. "Now, is everyone ready? We have all the gifts, and I am one-hundred percent ready for a special someone to get the gift I got for our Secret Santa event this year, that being the 8th edition of my autobiography, eh?"

Shizune looks a little confused as Hideaki facepalms slightly. "Father, the point of a secret Santa is for no one to know whom the gift is from until they've opened it." He says this as he signs something to Shizune, likely translating the situation. I guess pinky drilly really didn't have to come to the party, huh?

I catch Emi out of the corner of my eye. Looking almost bewildered at Lilly, but then I lightly gasp as I realize Lilly looks like she's pregnant, and has a bottle of wine in her hand, whilst holding Hisao's hand in the other. How the hell could she be so careless? Emi and I turn to each other.

"I told you what marriage can do..."

And the bad thing is this is totally something I could picture Lilly doing...
Also makes you wonder what happened to Hanako for her not to be invited.

BTW, you should add the prompt you were given so others can see what you were working with.

added the prompt I was given

Victim: Feurox

Prompt: Hisao finds an artefact from his past, (a trinket or special gift) that sends him down memory lane. He looks back fondly at the life he's lived as another year comes to a close!

I'm hoping to see characters out of the main cast for this story, but anything goes and Merry Christmas to whoever gets this!

Merry Christmas Feu, I'm very sorry you had to read this.

---------

Hisao took the box down off the shelf, gently blowing the dust off the nondescript cover. His rheumy eyes inspected the edges for any damage. Finding none, he gently opened the lid.

The smell of leather as he gently lifted the contents immediately took him all the way back to his youth at Yamaku.

Miki watched him expectantly as he finished reading the inscription on the leather harness and looked up at her.

"Babe," he asked hesitantly, "What exactly is pegging?"

*****

Sorry but it had to be done. Ok let's start again.

*****

Hisao took the box down off the shelf, gently blowing the dust off the nondescript cover. His rheumy eyes inspected the edges for any damage. Finding none, he gently opened the lid.

Nestled together inside, as he knew they would be, sat two beautiful silver drop earrings. Twin polished amber stones glinted from each one. The soft scent of aged velvet emanating from the box took him back to the little antique shop near Yamaku and the very first time he'd laid eyes on them.

***

"They're beautiful." he breathed reverently as the shopkeeper nodded in agreement. He didn't need to see them side by side to know the gemstones would perfectly match Saki's eyes.

"You've a good eye," the shopkeeper took the box gently back from him, gently closing the lid and laying it on the counter between them, "most would dismiss this as simple costume jewellery."

Hisao raised an eyebrow at this but let the man continue uninterrupted.

"These are actually antique pieces once owned by the daughter of the Daimyo of Sendai during the Edo period."

Not having thought anything of the origins of the earrings, Hisao nevertheless nodded along, acting like he had any idea what this clerk was on about and smiled encouragingly at the man.

"Shall I gift wrap them for you?" the shopkeep smiled back.

***

"I know we said no gifts, but I saw these and couldn't not get them for you" Hisao grinned slyly at his girlfriend as he proffered the little gift wrapped box.

The fact that neither of them had been able to go back home for the winter break meant they could wake up together on Christmas day and frankly Hisao couldn't think of a better way to wake up regardless of the time of year.

Saki slapped lightly at his wrist, "You absolute arse Hisao, now I feel bad for not getting you anything!"

Despite her words he knew she was secretly pleased that she was being spoiled like this. Infuriatingly carefully, Saki opened the gift wrapping, peeling back the tape carefully to preserve the paper unspoiled before folding it and setting it aside. Hisao mentally thanked the old man for doing a much better job of wrapping than he ever could have managed.

She lay the box down in her lap and gently traced the carvings on the lid of the antique box, pausing to beam up at Hisao. His heart fluttered momentarily with at this and he hoped he'd not have to spoil the morning with a very unromantic trip to the nurse. Fortunately Saki had turned her attention back to the box in her lap and didn't see him steady himself. Slowly opening it she gasped and wrapped him in a hug so tight and long he started to wonder if that trip to nurse wouldn't happen after all.

"I absolutely love them!" she finally broke the hug and opened the box to look at her gift once more. "They're perfect!"

She got out of bed and crossed the room to her dresser, sitting in front of the mirror as Hisao casually admired the not insubstantial amount of flesh on show. She pulled her little silver studs out and carefully returning them to one of the drawers in her jewellery box she put the new ones in and swept her hair back over her shoulders and turned her head to get a better look at them.

Nestled between her auburn hair and the alluring curves of her throat, the earrings looked like they had been made for her. Even if he hadn't been able to tell from her expression, seeing them on her, Hisao knew he'd picked well.

"I feel so baaaad" she repeated, practically dancing back across the room to land on the bed next to him with an expression that suggested she certainly didn't feel half as bad as she was making out. "Maybe I'll have to give you a special present"

Hisao arched an eyebrow, struggling to keep a straight face, "And what would that be?"

Wearing nothing but the earrings, she pulled the sheets off Hisao and grinned hungrily down at him for a moment. "I'm sure I can think of something."

***

Lost in memories, Hisao gently caressed the earrings absentmindedly before returning to the present. Yes. These would do perfectly.

Gingerly touching the needle in his freshly pierced ear, he slowly pulled it out and winced as he replaced it with the earring. It hadn't actually hurt as much as he'd feared. A few glasses of the whiskey Mutou had given him when they had met up before Christmas had numbed him just enough for the ice to do the rest. Repeating the process with the other ear, he sighed heavily and gently straightened the old skirt that lay across his lap.

Adjusting his wig, he took a deep breath to steady himself before crossing to the mirror with his eyes tightly shut.

This time for sure, he'd be able to see her again, even if just for a moment.

Couldn't be happier that you received my prompt! Prof's *unbiased* assorting strikes again ha!

I really adore what you did with this, and it straddles (fitting word choice really) a thin line between wholesome, tragic and a little creepy. I don't think enough stories do the 'Hisao has gone a little off the deep end' aspect, but here it has a subtle but creepy beauty. Nicely done, and the prose itself is charming!

I have to admit I was thrown at first by the misdirect, and I wonder if you would have still included that if you were writing for someone else

Anyway, a fantastic Christmas (well, New Year) gift! Thank you so much!

(Now I had better finish mine ha!)

Merry Christmas Gray! Sorry for the delay, WuFlu kinda floored me for a while.
Prompt: Kenji tries to find the perfect Holiday gift for Hisao
Author's notes at the bottom.

Field Operations

There’s gotta be a better way in.

Can’t go under. Tunneling all the way from Yamaku would take years without heavy equipment, and there’s no way I could use explosives without getting caught.

Can’t go over. Even if I found a pilot willing to drop me, parachuting into an urban area is a death sentence, especially since I can’t see my LZ. Those crafty fuckers probably have flak guns set up anyways.

Can’t go around. The Aura Mart’s almost at the dead center of the city. No matter what angle of attack I pick, the distance wouldn’t change enough to keep me out of sight.

Straight through, then. Hit them head on. In and out before they can call reinforcements… or an airstrike.

Why does Christmas shopping have to be such a damn nightmare?

My phone’s alarm buzzes in my left jacket pocket. Seven on the dot. The sun’s already way below the horizon, and with no snow on the ground to reflect light, it’s nearly pitch black. I pull my scarf back over my mouth and step out of the apartment block’s stairwell into the cold. Gotta love stairwells- out of sight, and nobody thinks twice if you’re standing around doing nothing.

I stay on the left edge of the sidewalks, away from the streetlamps. Two blocks west, one block north, make a right at the tailor’s doorway into the alley. Whenever I’m off the main road, I have to move slowly and check for landmines. It’s time consuming, but you never know.

Following the alley leads to a four-way intersection, and from there, another block north to the convenience store. Thankfully, there isn’t much artificial light, apart from the store’s neon sign.

I hug the concrete wall just to the left of the storefront windows and peer inside. No visible customers, and only one cashier.

Shit!

Long hair. Elbow length at least… hard to tell from here. No self-respecting man grows their hair out that far. Definitely a woman. Even so, I have a mission to complete- I owe it to my brother in arms. I put my elbow in front of my face like I’m blocking the wind and go to the front door.

The door swings open automatically and I make an immediate left, away from the checkout. If I’m lucky, she didn’t get a good look at me. Can’t have her reporting my movements.

This place reeks of cheap disinfectant, even more than usual. Maybe there’s a kill room in the back and they’re hiding the smell. Could be a feminist execution site, picking off lone men as they stock up on provisions. An army marches on its stomach; target the food supply, and you can grind any force to a screeching halt.

Checking every corner as I pass, I make my way to the wall of alcohol in the back. Second shelf from the top, farthest to the right. I grab a bottle of vodka.

Fuck it, make it two.

The Russians are one of the last remaining bastions in the war on feminism, with all that orthodox patriarchy stuff. Maybe some of their warrior spirit gets put in their booze. Bottled essence of the great bear… it might help Nakai wake up to reality.

I run my thumb over the seal on each bottle. It’s not a foolproof test, but at least this way I know they probably weren’t poisoned on site.

One problem left.

How am I gonna get out of here?

If I try to pay, she’ll ask for my ID. Handing over government documents to a potential feminist would be suicide. If I run out without paying, she’d see it and call the cops. What I need right now is a diversion.

Maybe I could whistle to grab her attention and sneak out when she comes to look for the sound, like that dude with the sweet goggles. There’s no guarantee she’d take the bait, though. I need something a little more concrete.

I take a step back from the alcohol shelf again and my shoes noticeably squeak. Leave it to a fucking clean floor to ruin things. I bend down and take off my shoes, pinching them together in my off hand. Socks won’t make a sound.

I peer closely at the vodka on the shelf, trying to read the price tag. It’s old and kinda scratched, but most of it is legible. I pull out enough cash to pay for three bottles, take a deep breath, and whisper an apology to whoever owns this place.

The sound of shattering glass echoes through the store.

I can hear her chair scrape as she stands up, no doubt coming straight for me. She’ll take the most direct path- towards the back wall and hook a left. It’s perfect. I loop around the front of the store, drop the money on the counter, and make for the exit. The automatic door takes agonizingly long to swing open far enough to get out. I turn left and dart around the corner, solidly out of sight.

All that’s left is to get back to base.

I put my shoes back on, tuck a bottle into each of my jacket sleeves, and head back the way I came. Once she realizes what happened, the whole town will be on high alert. Feminist agents could be crawling the streets in minutes. I break into a light jog, hopefully not quick enough to arouse suspicion. It takes me under ten minutes to get clear of the buildings and onto the main road towards Yamaku.

Hike up the hill, slap some cheap wrapping paper on these, and call it a day.

The winding path back is oddly still. No crickets, no birds, and of course no people. There’s something unsettling about it, like I’m the last man on the planet. I find myself dragging my heels just to add a little bit of sound to the world.

Blind corners come and go as I walk, cordoning off patches of reality one by one. With no landmarks as guidance, I trudge along until the faintest hint of noise catches my ear. Voices.

I swing my head around, scanning for the walls of Yamaku. Nothing but bushes and trees… so where’s the sound coming from? I spin in place slowly, trying to pinpoint it. The volume climbs steadily until I’m certain of the direction.

Behind me!

A hunter-killer team. That bitch at the store must have seen me run for it. Out of options, I squeeze my eyes shut and take a dramatic dive into the nearest bush.

Immediately, I realize how stupid that was. The stiff branches scratch me all over. If they have a bloodhound, I’d be lit up like a Christmas tree. Still, it’s too late to back out now. I strain my ears, trying to pick out words.

“... still hurt?”

“... embarrassed … anything.”

Weird. Did they get hit by one of their own traps?

“ … scared me … heard … floor …”

“ …survived worse.”

The volume abruptly raises. I can hear them walking now- two pairs of steps, I think. They must have rounded a corner. I try as hard as I can to relax and keep perfectly still.

“That’s my Hisao. Rugged and handsome.”

My eyes shoot open. Thankfully, my glasses stayed mostly on my face after I went nose first into the shrubbery, but even without them, I’d know that ugly-ass sweatervest anywhere.

Nakai’s walking arm in arm with someone about his height. Blond hair at waist length and towering over her fellow women… no doubt about it, that’s the Amazon bitch.

She tugs him closer and gives him what looks like a kiss on the cheek. They’re out of sight before I can process what just happened.

Wretched little rat bastard.

I’ve half a mind to tail the happy couple and put him down myself. Smash a bottle and ram a piece of glass through his neck, then leg it for home.

I smirk at the thought. It’s not like miss high and mighty could identify me. Among the blind, the four-eyed man is king.

That said, I’d have to pour out the bottle first, or I’d be leaving a nice puddle of evidence at the scene. Completely out of the question. Wasting good booze is sacrilegious.

In hindsight, maybe I should have tried to find another way out of the store.

With my plans for homicide vanishing as quickly as they arrived, I crawl out of my bush and start up the hill again, nice and slow. Nakai can snuggle up with his Highlander wannabe and drink cheap egg nog for all I care.

I’m keeping the damn vodka.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Kenji is weird to write for, but way more fun than I expected. Whatever he was planning, it absolutely had to go wrong, so I rolled with it.
Thanks for the opportunity! I may not be a top-notch writer but I always enjoy trying.

xpnd_dev wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:11 pm Maybe I could whistle to grab her attention and sneak out when she comes to look for the sound, like that dude with the sweet goggles. There’s no guarantee she’d take the bait, though. I need something a little more concrete.

You're the fucking BEST lmao, this one made me chuckle.

Here's my piece for our local space enjoyer, Crafty. Merry (very belated) Christmas and happy (very belated) New Year, Crafty.

Prompt: A story that takes place (at least partially) at Yamaku which includes someone in love, someone in trouble, someone who knows more than they want to.

White christmas, not for everyone

The feeling of something moving next to me wakes me up. Slowly opening my eyes, the first thing I see is Suzu’s blue messy hair, as she stretches with a yawn. This is a blessed sight; she’s too cute when she’s the most vulnerable.

Caressing with my fingertips over her lower back, I look at her with a big smile on my lips. She quivers, turning to me, kissing my forehead when she sees I’m awake.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning, babe.”

“You turned your back on me last night.” She says with a pout, faking indignation before smiling.

“As if I can control myself when I’m dreaming. Blame your lovely sundress, not me.” I answer with a serious tone before bursting into laugher.

Since the beginning of the week, Suzu is sleeping in my room, and luckily for me, she doesn’t take too much space. However, I wouldn’t say that I sleep well.

Suzu’s narcolepsy causes frequent nighttime awakenings, because she has realistic nightmares that scare her, or because she has trouble breathing. She does her best to be discreet at night, but I always try to reassure her before she goes back to sleep.

“I’m gonna shower; you wanna come?” She asks, even if she already knows the answer.

“You’re really asking me if I want to shower with my hot girlfriend? I would never say no.”

She takes a spare towel, and we head towards the bathroom. It’s quite early, so the hallway is empty; a quiet atmosphere prevails, which is something I learned to like about this place.

Once in the bathroom, I quickly undress and throw myself in the shower. It takes some endless seconds before the hot water runs over my skin. I breathe a sigh of relief, and can’t do anything else than waiting for her. She takes her time, but she eventually joins me in the shower.

She clinches her body against mine, resting her head on my breasts. Breathing a sigh of relief, she wraps her arms around my waist.

I don’t know how long we stay there, doing nothing else than enjoying the hot water and each other’s warmth. It’s not something we do regularly, but we still enjoy doing it when we can.

Putting shampoo on her hair, I gently stroke her hair, which ends with a ridiculous result that makes me laugh; her hairdo makes no sense. She does the same with my upper body, giving me a warm sensation, and it takes a lot of efforts to resist the urge to press her against the wall and kiss her.

We soap each other, Suzu doing it more innocently than I do, like anything she does. She’s my exact opposite, innocent in every thing she does, a calm and girly girl, that could spend long hours on reading or doing things I wouldn’t have the patience for. Despite that, she’s the one I love.

“I love you, Suzu.”

“I love you too, you dummy.” She says, on tiptoes, kissing my forehead. “Don’t you want to make love, by any chance? I mean, it’s your signature call when you say that you love me when I’m naked.”

“I would say that I’m trying my best to resist the urge right now.”

“If you wait until tonight, I’ll give you a pleasant surprise.” Her saucy voice tone says everything, which motivates me to wait.

“After breakfast, I’ll check on Hisao; you wanna come?” I ask, concerned about his state of mind.

He must have had a terrible week; he had another argument with Emi about a subject she doesn’t want to talk about if she’s not the one who starts the conversation. I don’t know if he talked to her since the argument, but if he wants to reconcile with her, he must do so.

“Yeah, I think we need to pay him a visit; it would give him something else to focus on.” I knew she would accept, but asking her if she wants to come was polite.

We eventually finish our shower and come back to my room. After dressing up, I take a spare bandage, but she takes it from me. She slowly wraps my bandage around my hand, with a religious care.

Since we’re dating, she insists on doing it as often as possible. I don’t know why she wants to do that, and she even does it better than I do. Maybe it’s one of her ways to show me she cares about me, but her love for me is a sufficient proof for me.

Once we’re ready, we’re heading to the cafeteria, my stomach reminding me I have eaten nothing since last night. I pray we won’t have to wait for too long to grab something to eat; the place can be pretty busy sometimes. When we reach it, I’m pleasantly surprised there is almost nobody here. It only takes less than two minutes to grab some food, a bowl of rice, eggs and some greens for me, and the same for Suzu, with an extra soup on the side.

Finding an empty table, we take a seat and quietly begin our breakfast.

………………………………………………

The boys’ dorm is much more lively than the girls’ dorm when we left it. The hallway is busy with students and parents; a lot of students are leaving to spend the Christmas holidays with their families. We try to make our way between the students, their parents and the many luggages that clutter the path.

I’m kind of jealous; these kids seem thrilled to come back home for the holidays. The only one who waits for me at home is my sister, and it kills me to leave her alone with our parents.

They spend their time yelling at each other; they don’t really care about us. I’m used to it, but my sister is way younger than me, and I hate the fact that they can’t even think like adults and can’t even give some stability to my little sister. I know they can’t stand each other anymore, but it would be a sign of maturity to calm down, just to give some peace to my sister.

The perspective of finding a job after my diploma, even the most boring one, to give some stability and peace to her, helps me to endure this situation. Haruka deserves better than that, and the least I can do for her is to be a reassuring figure for her. It’s a lot of responsibilities, and I will learn to be responsible the hard way.

We head towards room 119, and once in front of the door, I knock twice. As expected, there’s no answer. I knock once again, and eventually, we hear footsteps coming to the door.

A sight I expected greets us. Hisao is standing there, in front of us, in his pajamas, with large dark circles under his eyes, messy hair and pasty skin. It looks like he didn’t even leave his room since the argument, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually the case.

“Hi, hotshot; what’s up?”

“Hi, Miki, hi, Suzu.” He loudly yawns, his body language only confirms what I thought. “I’ve been better.”

“Get dressed, we’re going to the Shanghai.” Suzu looks as surprised as him, maybe because she was thinking we would just check on him. But, seeing the poor state he is in right now, there’s no way I’ll let him mope around.

“You know, you don’t need me if you want to go there.” He says, showing no will to come with us.

“Oh, come on Hisao, don’t tell me you have something more important to do today.” I retort, moping around won’t do him any good.

“I’m fine here; I’m glad you’re concerned about my well-being, but I don’t feel like strolling around today.” His bored voice tone only gives me one choice.

“Did I stutter? I’m giving you five minutes. If you’re not ready after these five minutes, I’ll come here, and I don’t care if you’re butt naked.” It may sound imperative, but it’s for his sake.

“All right, all right…” He sighs, sounding more defeatist than anything else.

He closes the door, leaving us in the hallway. I hope for his sake that he didn’t go back to bed.

“Don’t you think you were a little rough with him?” Suzu asks, and she may be right, but I don’t want him to stay alone like that.

“He’ll thank us for this later, trust me.”

Less than five minutes later, he comes out of his room, wearing the most boring winter outfit I’ve ever seen. Brown coat and sweater, white scarf and gloves, black trousers and brown leather boots. I knew he had no sense of style, but he could have at least tried. However, he’s coming with us, that’s something, so I won’t complain about his outfit.

Once outside, I can’t help but running in the snow in the school’s gardens. It’s probably childish, but it brings back nice memories, when my parents were still loving parents and they were playing with me in the snow. I don’t know why everything changed, but we can’t go back.

I don’t care about what others are thinking; I do what I want to do, and this is something I like to do during winter. Sometimes, Suzu joins me, and she also has fun. It’s all that matters, the judgment of others doesn’t affect us.

While we head towards the Shanghai, Hisao says nothing, and it seems he’s still not happy to come with us.

“Cheer up, hotshot! Don’t tell me you don’t want to see our lovely Yuuko. You know it will thrill her to see her star student.” I banter, giving him a nudge.

“It would have been better if I had the choice to come with you.” He answers, not liking my little joke.

I don’t want to argue with him, not during Christmas Eve. It doesn’t matter if he thinks it’s useless to bring him with us; he’s my friend, the least I can do for him is to try to cheer him up.

For the rest of the way, we remain silent, except for Suzu, that complains about the icy wind. A few minutes later, we finally reach the Shanghai, and once we pushed the door, Yuuko rushes to us, exaggeratedly bowing before realizing it’s only us.

She leads us towards a free space before apologizing because she has to take care of customers.

“Nothing beats a warm teahouse during winter.” I say, breathing a sigh of relief while we sit down.

Yuuko doesn’t keep us waiting for too long, and directly takes our order.

“A cup of your strongest black coffee, please.” I wouldn’t have expected anything else from Suzu.

“A cup of black coffee with vanilla extract, and a big slice of Black Forest cake, please, Yuuko.” I ask with a smile.

“Same for me, without the vanilla, please.” Weak, Hisao, weak. You’re not supposed to copy me.

She bows once again and leaves to prepare our order. If Emi was there with us, she would kill me because of my order. Even if we’re rivals, she still takes a great care about what I’m eating and how I practice. Maybe to humiliate me even more when she wins a race.

Less than five minutes later, Yuuko comes back with our order, staring at Hisao during the entire process. “You look defeated, Hisao.”

“I had a horrible week, yeah.” He sighs, drinking a bit of his coffee. “We had another argument, and I don’t think Emi wants to see me right now.”

“You didn’t talk to her since the argument?” Yuuko asks, surprised. He simply nods, which makes me sigh, a loud sigh I’m not even ashamed of.

They had words, and they decided not to talk to each other? They’re really smart, it would definitely do them good. He was dumb to talk to her about a subject she doesn’t like and permanently saying he wants to help her. On the other hand, she was dumb to yell at him for that; he just wants to do what he thinks is the best for her.

They have to talk to each other; I don’t think she would like to lose him, so they have to talk about this situation, otherwise this whole situation will last forever.

“You should talk to her; avoiding her because of an argument would make things worse.” She says, and she’s right.

“Do you think Emi would listen to me? She’s stubborn.”

Suzu and I stay quiet, just sipping our coffees; we don’t want to interfere in their discussion. “She is stubborn, but so are you, Hisao. Emi knows you’re there for her, that you want to help her. But the more you tell her, the more it will irritate her.” The only thing I can do is to nod; Yuuko is right, even if she always thinks her advice is stupid.

“It’s not like she ever asks for anything.” He replies, sighing even more.

“Because it will happen when she really needs it. She knows you’re there for her, but you know she rather faces her problems by herself. Give her time, and she will come to you when she will need it.” She pauses, and her expression shows she’s lost in her thoughts.

I would have thought hearing it from Yuuko would be enough for him to understand, but it seems it did nothing. When it doesn’t go his way, Hisao won’t listen, and he becomes extremely stubborn. Even I had lost the will to argue with him when he acts like that.

“Emi doesn’t like when you tell her what to do, or that you repeat the same things over and over. When she was at the hospital, she refused, for a long time, to do her re-education, because she thought it was an order from the nursing staff.”

Wait, Emi, someone who takes a religious care of her health and well-being, refused to do something that important? It doesn’t sound like her at all. Suzu and Hisao look as surprised as I am, and I can’t blame them; for me, Emi wouldn’t act like that at all.

“Even her mother has failed to make her understand she has to do that, for her sake. It took her a long time to cope with her situation, and she finally did her re-education, because she wanted to make her father proud.” She finally adds, and when she sees our shocked expression, she blushes, looks at her feet and eventually rushes at the counter, saying that she shouldn’t have said that.

We remain silent, especially me, because of these shocking news. I thought I knew Emi, and this just proves to me I didn’t. The only thing that breaks the silence is us occasionally sipping a bit of our beverages.

When I take a bite of my cake, I can’t help but sigh in satisfaction. This cake is my favorite dessert, and I never miss an occasion to take a slice of this chocolate-infused heaven. Even during the darkest days, a simple slice of that cake would brighten my life.

Hisao’s expression has changed; he’s not bothered to be there anymore, but he seems to be lost in thoughts. But it’s better than nothing; if he understood what Yuuko tried to tell him, it would surely fix things between them. I just hope they won’t be dumb as much as they were, because I don’t want to see my friends sad because of a couple’s quarrel.

When we are done, we still stay there for a bit, enjoying the pleasant warmth of the place. I could stay there all day long, but I’m not sure Suzu and Hisao would like to do nothing else than staying there for no reason.

Eventually, we leave the Shanghai and we head for the city center. There is a place I want to go to, an arcade that is only a few blocks away. This was a place where I used to go a lot during my first year at Yamaku; I went there less during the second year because I had met Suzu. We really became friends during the second part of the second year, and now, I just can’t imagine my life without her.

“Cheer up, hotshot. What’s better than spending a wintry afternoon with two hot girls?” I ask, giving him a nudge.

“I know something better that only concerns you.” Suzu replies with a serious face but a really saucy voice tone.

“Babe, this isn’t something you should say when young ears are around.” I can only fake an outraged expression before bursting into laugher.

The city’s streets are lively, full of couples and families carrying gifts or food for the Christmas’ dinner. When I see these kids with their parents, I can’t help but feeling a bit of jealousy. I would love to be in their shoes, even for a single day. Even Suzu offered me to help me on that side, but they are so stubborn it would waste our time to make them understand they have to change.

We walk in silence, slowly making progress while trying to make our way through the crowd. Some people lightly collide with us, but they apologize, so I won’t make a big deal out of this. Suddenly, a change in Suzu’s way of holding my hand tells me we have to do a break, right now. I don’t even have to ask her what happens; I already know what it means.

“Hisao, break time; she needs it.” I say, holding Suzu’s arm and leading her towards a bench. As soon as we sit down, her head falls on my shoulder. “That was a closed one.”

Every time I’m hanging out with her and she’s about to have a narcolepsy outbreak, I try my best to find a safe place. She has already fallen asleep alone outside, and obviously, sometimes, she hurts herself. So, if I can provide her a safe place to sleep when she has an outbreak, it’s the least I can do for her.

“I think I will never get used to that.” He whispers, even if it’s useless, because he can’t wake her up.

“I got used to it quickly. As long as I’m with her when it happens, she’s safe. When she’s alone, that’s a different story.”

“I don’t think I could deal with something like that…” His answer reminds me what I initially thought when Suzu told me about her condition. I can’t blame him for that.

“It’s what I initially thought. Despite that, I’m here for her; when I sleep with her, I have to comfort her when she wakes up with a start, terrified by a realistic nightmare, or because she has trouble breathing. I have to deal with her frequent nighttime awakenings, which explains why I’m often sleeping during the morning classes. I always try to find activities that wouldn’t be dangerous for her if she has an outbreak. Trust me, if I could otherwise, I would do it. But I love her; she’s my girlfriend, and I will help her with everything.” I answer, stroking her hair with my hand. I would never complain about anything I do for her; she’s too precious for me.

I just wish her expression would be serene; it really hurts me when I see her expression when she has an outbreak, and if I can appease her with my presence when it happens, it’s all that matters to me.

We stay there, quiet; the silence being only broken by the noises Suzu often makes when she sleeps. Some people look at us strangely, probably because they didn’t expect to see a teenager sleeping on a bench during a wintry afternoon. I can’t really blame them, but I hate these looks; I already have a lot of them because of my missing hand, and I don’t want anyone to look at her like that.

“If Emi doesn’t want to do anything tonight, do you have a backup plan?” I ask, curious about anything he could say.

“I mean, Hanako is alone, so I’ll probably do something with her.”

I totally forgot about Hanako. Lilly is in Ninohe with her girlfriend for the holidays, Akira is in Scotland, and Hanako is alone. If there is a person who doesn’t deserve to be alone for Christmas, it’s Hanako. For a long time, I thought she was a weird girl, and Hisao was the first one, apart from Lilly, who knew how to talk to her and how to soothe her.

Since Lilly has a girlfriend, she spends a little less time with her, but Hanako has gradually opened herself to others, and she even joined the newspaper club, which would have been unimaginable before. I’m glad she joined our little clique, and I always make sure she enjoys the time she spends with us.

“You’re right; she doesn’t deserve to be alone at this time of the year.”

Suzu is still sleeping, making weird noises as she usually does. There’s nothing we can do but wait until she wakes up, which never happens before she sleeps at least twenty minutes. We have nothing important planned, so waiting until she wakes up doesn’t bother me at all, but I don’t know what Hisao thinks about it, but since he’s with us, he has no other choice.

It almost takes her thirty minutes, since she has fallen asleep, to wake up. She slowly opens your eyes, but she can’t move at all. Every time when she wakes up from an outbreak, it paralyzes her body for a few seconds until she’s able to move again.

“Rise and shine, babe; we’ll have some fun.” I say, kissing her on the forehead. Stretching, she eventually gets up and asks where we’re going. “It’s a surprise; don’t spoil the surprise for Hisao.” I got his attention, perfect.

Now, Hisao shows more enthusiasm, which is better. If he was sulking all afternoon, I would have told him to go back to Yamaku to talk once and for all with Emi, to sort it all out. We want to spend a good time with him, and not see him moping around for some dumb reason.

A few minutes later, we eventually reach the arcade, and a huge smile appears on Hisao’s lips. I hit the nail on the head; it seems he likes arcades as much as I do. It’s the first time I come here with Suzu and someone else, and I really wonder why I didn’t do that before.

At the counter, I take some change for everyone; this place is quite cheap, so it won’t impact my budget that much. The first machine that attracts my attention is a fighting game, one of my favorites. Few of the regulars here have beaten me to this game, and Hisao will have to face me.

“You’re ready to get smacked?”

“I’m used to this kind of place, you know? And it’s a fighting game, the type of games I used to play a lot, so what would happen?” He challenges me with a smug face, but that just makes me burst out laughing.

“There are only a few people that are regulars here that beat her at this game, you know?” Suzu answers, with pride in her voice and her eyes. But he doesn’t seem to believe what she says, probably because he thinks she’s my girlfriend and what she would say about me would always be subjective.

I put a coin in the machine, and an upbeat rock guitar riff greets us on the character selection screen. I give him some time to select his character, and he selects a character with short pink hair, a blue jacket, and a sword behind his back. That’s a wise choice; this character has an excellent move and skill set, but it won’t measure up against my favorite character.

I’m faking hesitation when I choose my character, but I eventually choose a character with short but spiky black hair, an orange and blue suit, and blue boots. He doesn’t realize it, but he has already lost. And for maximum Machiavellianism, I will offer him time to learn how to fight with his character, only to see his smug expression fading away when he will realize he will never win.

When the fight begins, I give him time to discover the controls of the game and the different attacks of his character. And, as expected, when he attacks me, it’s only beginner moves, low attacks and energy beams. He doesn’t even use the sword, which is really powerful with the right combos. I just have to teleport behind him to dodge his energy beams and to start my combos.

I finish every combo with an energy beam, and even if I give him some opportunities to dodge some things, he never succeeds. Winning the fight is quite easy, but he still has the audacity to say that it was just luck. If you really want to think that, Hisao, let me destroy any hope you could have.

For the second fight, he chooses a green-skinned character with little antennas on his head and a purple suit. It’s still a powerful character, but it won’t change anything. Even with the weakest character of the game, the wife of the main character with spiky hair, I already know I will win.

The fight is like the previous one, even if my combos are way slower than with the previous character. I still win, even if I took more damages than the previous fight. And for the third and last fight, I win, once again, which erases that smug smile on his face. The best thing he could do was to make damages equivalent to one third of my life bar, which wasn’t that bad, to be honest.

“You’re not a poor player, even if I literally took the worst character for the second fight. But to be honest, you had no chance during the first one because I took the most powerful one. Maybe, with training, you’ll be able to beat me one day.” I joke while nudging him.

“I’ll beat you next time; don’t worry about that.” He answers, with the most serious expression I’ve ever seen on his face.

In the back of the arcade, there is a dancing machine I really want to try with Suzu. It’s not that complicated, so it should be quite safe for her. She likes to dance, and she’ll probably have fun, even if it’s not the thing she’s used to. She doesn’t know that, but I’m currently learning to dance, and once I’ve learned enough, I’ll dance with her, and it will be, I’m sure, a really pleasant surprise for her.

When she sees the machine, Suzu’s eyes shine with joy; she definitely can’t wait to try it. And I already know it will be kinda difficult to beat her on that game, because she’s way better than me. I just hope I won’t embarrass myself in front of her and Hisao.

I put a coin in the machine, and Suzu already selects a song in one of the highest difficulty settings. Okay, she just wants to crush me in front of our friend; I deserve it a bit, anyway. If you want to be too cocky, you will always end up being punished, eventually.

The countdown starts, and the song begins, with a really fast pace, maybe a bit too fast for me, but Suzu follows the pace easily. And I’m the one who’s supposed to be a high-paced runner. I miss a lot of steps; my combo never goes up than twenty, while she’s scoring a lot. How can she keep up with such a pace, the arrows on the screen are scrolling way too fast?

I’m sweating like crazy, and she’s doing that like this is nobody’s business. Suzu never fails to surprise me by doing things I never thought of. This song never ends, and the pace is still going faster, to a point I can’t even follow it, even if I try my hardest. But eventually, the song finally ends, and Suzu laughs when she sees how red and heavily breathing I am. When I see the score, I look at my feet; she is way ahead, with four millions more points than me.

Even Hisao is laughing, but in my shoes, he would have already given up a while ago. His heart condition would never have put up with it. I try to catch my breath, still wondering how such a little thing can do that without sweating at all. Is she training for that for a long time, just to embarrass me in front of our friend? No, it can’t be; she’s not that Machiavellian.

When I’m able to breathe correctly, I ask for a rematch, but with an easier song. I just can’t loose like that. When the song starts, the pace is way easier to follow, and for once, my feet go on the right arrows. Even if it’s an easier song, Suzu still seems to have fun, and it’s all that matters to me.

Sometimes, the song goes faster, and it’s quite difficult to keep my combo, but somehow, I still keep it. She’s moving with ease, as if she did that for years, while I’m still struggling to do that properly, but I’m scoring, so it doesn’t really matter if my moves are clean or not.

Surprisingly, when it comes to turning on myself, it’s way easier than the rest of the moves; I don’t know why, maybe because it doesn’t require a lot of precision. I have to admit, it’s way funnier, because I can finally score a bit, and I’m not embarrassing myself. The last part of the song is more difficult than I expected, and unfortunately, my feet aren’t fast enough to follow the pace. Which goes to show that, even if you’re sporty, you can fail at a rhythm game.

Once again, she beat me, with a huge margin. What did I expect? It’s not the type of game I’m used to play, so there was no way I could beat her. But, as long as she has fun, I don’t care if I’m embarrassing myself, even if I don’t like to admit that.

“I don’t know why, but the result was kinda predictable.” Hisao jokes, nudging me with a smug face.

“Don’t worry, you’ll go through it too. And I’ll let you suss out what just happened to you.” I pat his shoulder, because he will understand he should have shut up really soon.

I let Hisao choose a machine for our next game, and he has chosen a racing game with two bikes on a split screen. If he chose that for me, I will spank him, I don’t care. But, luckily for him, he asks Suzu to choose the bike she wants. Good job, Hisao, you just avoided a painful death; I’m proud of you.

He puts a coin in the machine and selects the circuit, choosing a map in Tokyo’s city center. Not something very original, I have to admit, we can see such maps in a lot of these games. I won’t complain about that; there are some things that are very common in games, even so, they work very well.

When the race begins, Hisao starts up faster than Suzu, but I believe in her, and his head start won’t last long. At least, this is what I’m hoping for; Suzu knows how to surprise me, after all. But, somehow, Hisao keeps his head start, and Suzu can’t catch up with him, even if she tries her hardest. It looks like he’s used to play it, given how well he drives, and luckily for me, I’m not playing against him.

On the second lap, she comes closer, but not enough to overtake him. She still has a chance, and if she wins, she’ll deserve it. But she still has to make a lot of efforts if she wants to win. On the last curve of the second lap, Hisao crashes his bike into the wall, wasting precious seconds, enough to give Suzu the opportunity to overtake him. Now, she has to keep her little advantage, but it’s definitely something she can do.

The last lap is a tight race, Hisao dangerously coming back, to the point they are nearly side by side on the last part of the track. I cheer for her, knowing she can beat him, and that’s what she eventually does, crossing the finish line one second before him.

I cheer for her when she wins, my pride being visible in my eyes. It would be an understatement to say I’m proud of her, no matter what she does. She’s the best thing I got, and I would never leave her.

“Congrats, babe; you deserved that.” I say, patting her head, which makes her chuckle. “You did well, Hisao, though. But there’s a game you could win; follow me.”

I have an idea; there are several punching ball machines in a corner of the arcade, and he should be better than us at such a game. For many people, he would look rather plain, but he has a nice build. It’s a shame he didn’t join the track club; he would do just fine, even with his heart condition.

I convinced this blonde girl with burn scars to join the club, but I failed with him, and I saw this as a personal failure. He’s running from time to time to keep in shape, but that’s it. That’s something, but if he had joined the club, I could spend more time with him.

“A punching ball machine, seriously? That’s what you found to let me win?” He says, feigning indignation. “So, be it.”

I put a coin in the machine, selecting the three players mode. We have only one shot, so I tell Suzu to punch as hard as she can, even if I know she won’t make a big score, given her lack of strength.

She punches as hard as she can, and the score goes up to 640. Not bad for such a fragile thing, I know people who got lower scores than that. When my turn comes, I take my time studying the machine and thinking about the best way to hit it. I also punch as hard as I can, making a score of 760. If Hisao makes a lower score, I win, but it’s highly unlikely.

He also takes his time, but he looks really confident. And he’s right, I know him enough to know he won’t disappoint me on that matter. After a short time of reflection, he punches the machine, making the highest score, with a score of 850. I expected nothing less from him, and his eyes shine with satisfaction.

“Nice one, hot shot; I expected nothing less from you.”

“Choosing such a game to let me win is a weak move, though.” He jokes, punching my shoulder with more force than I expected.

“We did that for your manliness, though.”

He just booed at me, pretending to be harmed by what I just said. “You wanna try something else?”

“Nah, I’m done; it was fun.” He answers, and I get the same answer from Suzu.

“As long as you had fun, it’s all that matters.”

Before we leave the arcade, he buys us some snacks from a vending machine, giving Suzu a chocolate bar with peanuts, a dark chocolate bar with orange for me, and some fruit candies for him. If Emi was with us, she would kill us.

Once outside, the icy wind is a blessing compared to how overheated the arcade was. But Suzu doesn’t seem to enjoy it at all, given how much she’s shivering. Stuffing my chocolate bar in my mouth, I wrap my arm around her to bring her a bit of warmth.

“In the end, you had a good idea to force me to come, Miki.” He admits, and I know it takes a lot of effort from him to admit he was wrong.

“When I said you’ll thank me later, I know what I’m talking about. Just listen to me a bit.”

That being said, it’s Hisao we’re talking about, and given how stubborn he is, admitting than someone else than him was right is kinda difficult for him. When he admits I was right, it’s a personal victory, because it doesn’t happen often.

We’re slowly making our way back to Yamaku, the idea of preparing myself for my date with my girlfriend sweeping other thoughts away. I just hope he won’t screw things up when he’ll talk to Emi.

…………………………….

I reach the restaurant before Suzu, and even if the chilly wind makes me shiver, I don’t go inside the restaurant, because I want to be there when she reaches it. For her, I have made an effort, wearing a winter kimono, make-up and a purse, where my gift for her is hidden. This is the most girly outfit I’ve ever worn, and to be fair, I like it, but it’s not something I would wear daily.

This kimono was the last gift my parents ever gave me; it may be a second hand, I love it and take a great care of it. We never had a lot of money, and I should be grateful they’re paying for the school, even though I have almost no respect for them anymore. I respect them because they sent me to this school, but for everything else, I almost hate them.

A track team mate helped me with my hairdo and my make-up, and she did an excellent job. With such a hairdo and make-up, I definitely look like another girl, and I like that, even if it’s not something I would often do; too much work.

It takes a few minutes before Suzu appears across the street, and the vision she already gives me is wonderful. She’s extremely cute, even in her pajamas, but in such an attire, it’s a heavenly vision. She takes her time, coming closer with a slow pace, but the wait worths all.

I can't help but look at her with pride as she reaches me; she’s lovely with this candy pink kimono, and she even cared to comb her hair in a fancy way. And in her case, it’s way more difficult, since her hair is a mess.

“You look stunning, babe.”

“Not as much as you.” She says, kissing my forehead on her tiptoes.

We enter the restaurant, and I instantly realize why I never go to such a fancy place. We definitely don’t belong here, businessmen, ladies of the upper class; everyone here looks so formal when we are just teenagers trying to have a good time.

But the waiter who greets us at the entrance doesn’t feel surprised to see us, even if we don’t really belong to such a place. After checking our reservation, he leads us to a table for two, while wishing us a pleasant evening when we sit down. Suzu looks very surprised, and I can’t blame her; it’s a high-class establishment, and she does not know how difficult it was for me to make a reservation for us here.

“Tell me, how did you manage to book?” She asks, her surprised look hasn’t vanished.

“I’ve been trying for three months. Three months, with several calls a week. I’m still surprised they accepted the reservation, though.” I answer, finally telling her the truth about it. Trying to keep a secret away from her for three months when it involves our couple was more difficult than I expected.

“And why didn’t you tell me?”

“You don’t want me to tell you what is your gift, too?” I chuckle, poking her forehead with my fingers. “The whole point of a surprise is that you don’t know about it, babe.”

She’s faking indignation, but I can see gratitude in her eyes, and such a vision would make me do anything for her. My savings will go up in smoke, but it’s our first Christmas Eve together, and I wanted to make it special. And unlike some other couples, I don’t expect her to do anything in return just because I did that.

We didn’t wait a long time before the same waiter comes back to bring us the menu. Suzu tells the price of the items aloud, but I immediately spank her hand, telling her to take everything she wants, regardless of the cost. I can’t stand to see her to deprive herself of certain things on the pretext that I come from a modest family. She’s my girlfriend; I don’t worry about the cost when I’m with her.

Her choices are a piece of salmon for the first course, a piece of beef Wellington with side vegetables and pieces of truffles for the main course, and a strawberry pie with white chocolate for the dessert. Even in a fancy restaurant, her choices are casual, except for the truffles. I’ll have a piece of bluefin tuna for the first course, a pike fillet with side rice and vegetables for the main course, and a black forest cake for the dessert. Nothing too fancy, but I can’t go wrong with such a meal.

Our waiter takes our order, and with a quick bow, head towards the kitchens. Looking around, there are some young looking people, just like us, but wearing clothes we will never afford. Another reminder that we don’t belong here.

“Do you think he talked to her?”

“If he’s not dumb, he did, yeah. But we’re talking about Hisao and Emi; they are both extremely stubborn, and you can’t make them understand when they are wrong. I just hope he was smarter than her.” I answer, sighing; they can be pretty tedious when they act like that.

“I mean, I understand they can argue; we also do it sometimes, but not during the winter holidays; it’s supposed to be a festive period.”

“I know, babe, but you know, sometimes people don’t choose when they argue. The only thing we can do is to hope that they talked to each other, and that Emi has stopped pouting for a stupid reason.” Knowing Emi, it would be a waste of time, but I still have hope for them, sometimes.

Our first course doesn’t take too long to be served, and when I see our pieces of fish, I expected something bigger, but in such a place, the amount doesn’t matter, quality comes first. I take a bite of my piece of tuna, and as soon as it reaches my tongue, I understand why this place is always full. This is the best piece of tuna I’ve ever tasted, and it’s only the first course.

Suzu is clearly enjoying her fish too, given her expression and the little sounds of satisfaction she does. In another restaurant, I wouldn’t be that discreet, but here, I have to make an effort if I don’t want to be kicked out. Eating this piece of fish with my usual eating pace would be a sacrilege, and I’m eating way slower than usual. I never thought a piece of bluefin tuna would taste that good, even if I’m already used to such a taste.

“How did they make it so good when it looks like your usual piece of fish?” Suzu asks, with genuine surprise in her voice.

“I mean, it’s an upper-class establishment, babe. If it wasn’t good, I would wonder why people would still come here.”

It doesn’t take us too much time to finish our first course, and to kill time before the waiter gives us our main course after taking our dishes, I eat some bread. It’s obvious we’ll have to wait longer to get our next dish, but I don’t want to give her gift before the dessert, it would spoil the surprise.

A couple comes in, four ladies come out, a delicate procession of members of the upper-class is unfolding before our eyes. I can’t help but feel jealous; their outfits are magnificent and their behavior is flawless. Lilly would definitely belong here, and sometimes, I wonder if her parents really accept her relationship with a middle-class girl.

“Would you have still dated me if I was like them?” I ask Suzu while wondering about the girl I could have been if I were a member of a rich family.

“No.” She simply answers, but when I look at her with a curious look, she elaborates. “The Miki I love is a runner, a carefree girl that doesn’t care about what other people think about her, with her kindness, and even her incorrect behavior sometimes. The Miki who attracted me is you; I wouldn’t care about your upper-class counterpart.” She says, smiling and delicately fondling my hand.

Sometimes, I tell myself that I don’t deserve her, but at the same time, I feel glad she chose me. She could have chosen anyone, but I’m the one she chose. And I don’t think she realizes the impact she had on my life. Explaining her with the right words would be quite difficult for me; I’m not good at it.

After a bit of wait, our main course comes, and I just can’t wait starting eating. Pike has always been one of my favorite fishes, but for some reason, I can never find some, except in rare cases. And as soon as I can find some, it’s always quite expensive, so it’s more of a festive meal for me than anything else.

When I take a bite of my fish, childhood memories rush back into my mind. My parents were a lovely couple; I was playing with my sister in the garden during a late summer afternoon while Mom was cooking dinner, my uncle parking his car in front of the gate… When I was young, when we were receiving family, it was always a moment I cherished. I’ve lost so much, and I would give everything to live a moment like that again.

I can’t repress a nostalgic smile; Suzu notices it and can’t help herself but ask why.

“When we were receiving family, my mother used to cook pike of fishes like that. It was a carefree time of my life, something I would like that Haruka knows.” I sigh; each time I think about her, I feel guilty because she’s alone at home with them.

“Cheer up, sweetheart; you will soon be able to take her with you.” Suzu knows how to cheer me up, even with the simplest words.

Three people in the same house, like a small family, those who matter most to me. She would probably not mind if my sister lives with us, even if we would have to adapt a bit. But the idea of allowing her to leave this toxic atmosphere makes me able to hold out.

I don’t want to break the mood, so I quickly wipe my thoughts away, and I just focus on enjoying my meal with my girlfriend. It could be weird for many people, but I find her cute when she eats. To be fair, it’s extremely rare when I don’t find her behavior or actions cute.

The vegetables are excellent, the delicate sauce which accompanies them adds a sweet taste, making, with the fish, the most subtle dish I’ve ever tasted. The price of this dish is fully justified, and even if I couldn’t afford such a thing more than twice a year, I don’t feel ripped at all.

“Can I try your fish?” Suzu suddenly asks, looking at my dish with a curious look.

I don’t answer, but I simply bring a piece of fish to her mouth. She takes her time to bite it, as if she was analyzing every nuance of the fish’s taste. But given her expression, she doesn’t like it, her disgusted face is highly amusing.

“How can you eat that? That’s definitely not good.”

“My dear Suzu Suzuki, your palate isn’t fine enough to appreciate such a masterpiece. And since you like natto, you ain’t one to talk.” I poke her nose with my fingers, as a kind of banter.

“You’re one to talk, you eat offals.” She’s faking indignation, but I can understand people could hate offals.

“Hey! Offals are very good for runners! Okay, it looks and can taste weird, but it’s incredibly nutritious.” I can’t believe I need to justify myself because I sometimes eat something that is good for me.

We quietly finish our main course, the waiter taking our dishes a few minutes later, asking us if everything was fine, a question to which we answer with a kind yes.

This is a perfect time, before the dessert, to give Suzu her gift. Casually taking my purse, I take out the little box wrapped in a pink gift wrap. I don’t have the time to say anything because she does the same thing.

“Merry Christmas, babe.” I say, putting her gift in front of her.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” She answers, doing the same thing.

I let her unwrap her gift first, and when she opens the box, her eyes shine with awe. A silver necklace with an orchid, the first flower I’ve ever bought her and also her favorite flower, comes out, and a little ring with the same orchid accompanies it.

Her beaming smile tells me I was successful when I bought her this ensemble. “Thank you, sweetheart; it’s magnificent.” She cheers with one of the most sincere gratitude I’ve ever seen.

I slowly unwrap my gift, wondering what she may have taken. It’s also a box of similar size to hers, but the distinct color and texture tell me she went to a jewelry I never went to.

There is a silver bracelet with our both names on it, and the date from which we started dating, and a cute heart-shaped necklace with our names on it. It looks really feminine, and even if it looks like something I never thought I would wear daily, it’s way too cute to stay on a desk. Time to be more feminine, I guess.

“Thank you so much, babe; this is wonderful. You shouldn’t have…” She can see I’m really glad she did that; I love this ensemble.

“Initially, I thought it wouldn’t be your style, but in the end, I thought it would look good on you.”

“Back in the days, I would have definitely seen this as being too feminine for me. But since I’ve known you, I don’t know, I like that kind of thing more and more. And I don’t care about what the other may think, I’ll wear this ensemble all the time. This is the best gift I’ve ever been given.” I reply; my smile and my eyes don’t lie, I’m really grateful she gave me such a wonderful gift.

A year ago, I never thought I would date Suzu, and that she would become so important in my life. Being her girlfriend changed me in so many ways. I knew who I wanted to be with, knew what I wanted to do with my life… Suzu, with her kindness, her care, her little attentions, changed the girl I was. I was self-centred, running was my obsession, and the only thing I wanted to do was to find a job, even the most boring one, just to give my sister an opportunity to leave my parents’ control to live a better life.

I cared about my friends, simply. When Suzu came into my life, I never thought I would care about anyone as much as I care about Haruka. To say I’m not glad she changed my behavior to that degree would be a lie; I’m really proud to be her girlfriend, and above all, to be the girl I am, thanks to her. And I would never be grateful enough to her for that. The only thing I can do is to be there for her as much as she is for me. And she will never know how much I love her.

Posting on behalf of MoashLannister(Detective Emo). I'm still working on mine.

PsychicSpy (Freelancerga) Prompt: It’s Christmas time and since the tragic passing of Nakai, the school has gotten stricter about students being out at night. Two or more students sneak out and celebrate the Christmas spirit


Yagami had his eye opened even at the call of curfew, an occasion that has been occurring more and more often lately. Though tonight, it was on purpose as the brief light coming out of his room came to a close, a silent declaration of curfew. Now the only thing that illuminated the room was his window, which was locked shut due to the new school regulations. From the view of his bet, he could see the snow pouring down, almost like rain.

“It’s the most…wonderful time…of the year~” He sang in a celebratory tone, trying his best to keep quiet despite wanting to belt out the song off the top of his lungs. The third year student knew that being too loud would inevitably summon the wrath of the security guards, and that a reprimand would be considered a blessing compared to what could potentially befall him, as rumors that were discreetly confirmed could attest to.

Occasionally the darkness coming from the openings on his door illuminated, the light of a patrolling guard and his flashlight. It came routinely enough that he could deduce when it would appear the next time, spending his waking hours memorizing the pattern, as did several other students he knew. Some out of boredom, others out a hope of sneaking around what was supposedly a dorm but was more accurately a prison. Yagami was of the former mindset, wanting something to keep his mind occupied before he inevitably passed out, but not today.

Another seven minutes before the next time the light would pass through his room. Three more times, and it would be his turn. Yagami just had to trust that the others wouldn’t be caught, otherwise they’d lock down this building on an even greater scale, making escape virtually impossible for the students.

While waiting, the young man tried to recall what his life had been like before his fateful arrival at Yamaku academy, fresh off an accident that saw fit to completely destroy half of his face. With the knowledge that other students here had suffered far worse, up to and including conditions that would prove lethal in a few decades if not years, he figured that being blind, deaf and horrifically scarred on one side of his face was comparatively rather pleasant as far as disabilities were concerned.

And it wasn’t as if the school did not come with its own share of benefits, as it certainly had facilities that far outstripped the ones of his old high school. The food was really good compared to what he had been accustomed to, and there was certainly a sense of comfort and independence he had felt living on his own instead of with his parents, who continued to fracture following his accident.

Of course, such a freedom had its cost, namely in many other freedoms that he had now taken for granted. Ones that he would give a lot to obtain.

At first, it didn’t seem like much. There was a curfew in place, and students were discouraged from exiting school grounds without an escort. He felt as if those restrictions were reasonable, if a bit annoying at times. But as he spent the better part of two years here, he began to realize just how demorazing those rules could truly be, especially in how they enforced them.

Students who had violated those rules were immediately suspended, and punished by having their actions closely monitored and regulated, from the moment they wake up to the moment they were to be escorted back into their rooms after class. Even worse, the names of those students were often posted onto bulletins in the school hallways, as if to shame them.

Those draconian rules have only gotten worse in the coming months, with punishments for disobeying intensified, though not enough for it to cause a public scandal. It started with the perpetrators getting sectioned off into their private classes, unable to interact with anyone other than what the school calls ‘deviants’. Soon guards were posted both in the school compound and the dorms, ensuring that they had eyes and ears everywhere, and each one completely unsympathetic to whatever plights the students might have.

Even if the transgression was as minor as being late for class by a measly few minutes, such an act was considered a crime of the highest order, let alone more serious ones such as outright truancy or disobedience. Students bearing such crimes would quietly disappear, some permanently while others returning in a much more docile manner, unwilling to reveal what they’ve gone through to induce such a sudden change.

A friend of his was one such a case, though now their relationship was strained, with barely a word said between them. It induced a sense of horror in Yagami, which equalled his rage towards the school for its dictatorial methods, though the sight of guards and the potential punishments forced him to conform to their rules.

Though not today, on one of the most important days of the year. Despite being a holiday, the school was not in the same celebratory mood, though the students were allowed to exit the grounds so long as they came back in time. It wasn’t much, especially considering the fact they had to return only a scant few hours into the evening, but it was enough to at least to prepare and coordinate their little plan.

A plan that could have them face expulsion, or worse, but it was a plan nonetheless.

Light began to peer from the doorway once again, and Yagami needed to wait two more times for his moment. He wondered how exactly did Yamaku turn out this way, as his seniors said it was a far more welcoming place before, something he could scarcely imagine.

From what he could gather from the rumor mill, it involved a student falling to his death, which he admitted was a tragedy and a fair reason to impose precautions against another incident occurring. But at the same time, the school went way too far in how it tried to do so.

His eye immediately widened as light crept into his room from the doorway, far earlier than he expected. Did the guards change their patterns? Was someone caught sneaking out? Surely not, considering how loud the last of such incidents were. Regardless of the reason, it unnerved him enough to ponder if he should follow the plan and exit his room the next time it happened.

Even as he was questioning whether to go through with it, Yagami finally got off his bed and reached beneath it, revealing a box wrapped up tightly. It was missing a bow and a tag, but there was no mistaking it for anything other than a present for Christmas.

And with a simple look at that, he steeled himself. It might have been a simple holiday to some, but to him it was a time to be happy, and he certainly would not be if he did not at least try to celebrate it that night.

“Twenty seconds after the next light passes.” He said, a declaration that was heard from no one other than himself.

For the fourth time light passed by his room, and he hoped that it would be the last he would see tonight, counting the seconds in his mind. His body tensed as it reached the door, box in hand as he readied to open in, hand on the doorknob. Yagami turned it without trying to make even the slightest noise, and peered the door open to see the dark hallway outside.

This was the moment, and there would be no going back. The door’s small opening grew until he was able to slip through it, before quickly closing the door shut to prevent future guards from suspecting anything. He took the fact that he even got a single step out without being caught as testament to the success of the other’s escape.

Which meant that if he himself got caught, their rooms would certainly be searched, and their absence would be found out and punished. It was a thought he hoped would encourage, and not burden.

Inch by inch, Yagami made his way towards the entrance, fear creeping into his heart as the silence and darkness of the dormitory at this hour began to unnerve him. The fact that he couldn’t see any light was a double edged sword, as it meant that a guard wasn’t present, but at the same time it left their position completely unknown save for where he roughly predicted them to be.

So he prayed with all his heart that those predictions were correct, as he walked extremely carefully towards the entrance.

“Four, five, six…” Yagami whispered to himself, the sound barely audible even to him. When he finally reached the number he was looking for, his body immediately turned to the left and opened the door, revealing an empty bedroom similar to his. It was too dark to make out any real differences, though the layout was mostly the same, and he entered it and shut the door as quickly but quietly as he could.

It was the room of one of his friends, the architect of this plan that was so insignificant, yet so important at the same time. As a consequence of being farther from the entrance than any of the others, Yagami had to hide due to the fact that he couldn’t sneak past the entire hallway without being seen. This was the first, though certainly not the last.

His heart was beating extremely quickly, and he could feel it thumping loudly in his chest as he waited for light to pass by this room. For a few seconds Yagami was afraid he might suffer from a heart attack, and with his hand he clutched his chest to calm himself, to little effect.

Before he saw the light pass by the doorway, he heard a noise from the guard, which almost caused him to scream. They were usually silent to a very unsettling degree, so for him to hear something from them was unexpected. It ended up being nothing more than that, and as the light passed by he held his breath.

Another twenty seconds counted, he opened the door and emerged from the room, making way towards the entrance of the building, carefully counting just how many doors he had passed. Once again he hid in the room of another, waited for the patrol to pass by, and slipped out. It was almost like a routing, one that got him closer to freedom each time he repeated, but also one that had less and less room for error.

The last time he was supposed to hide, he caught a glimpse of a flashlight as he was heading towards the door, causing him to panic. Despite managing to enter the room, Yagami made enough noise to almost be certain that someone had heard it, and his thoughts immediately turned towards what seemed like his inevitable capture.

He waited for the guard to shout that someone was sneaking out past curfew, for him to rush towards the door and demand it’d be open, or to force it open anyways. Miraculously, neither of these things happened, and light passed by the room without incident.

Yagami thought it was impossible. The guards have been very keen to anyone sneaking out previously, so how did they miss him? Was it simply luck? Or were the guards more lax due to the holidays?

Regardless of the reason, he composed himself and quickly exited a room for the final time tonight, and headed towards the entrance. It was a surprising fact that it wasn’t locked or even guarded, save for the people on patrol that occasionally watches over this area. Yagami didn’t think much of it, simply chalking it up to a guess that the school couldn’t justify spending so much money on security.

With a push of the doors, he was greeted by snow blowing towards his face. He was free at last, and that fact almost made him scream in joy. With reckless abandon, the young student quickly ran towards the prescribed meeting place with the box still in his hand, where his Christmas celebrations could truly begin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The meeting place was, seemingly against all logic, inside the main school building itself. Upon hearing that was the location where they would all gather, Yagami nearly backed out of the plan, but ultimately his desire to have fun and disregard the rules convinced him to agree. As he approached the building and opened the main doors, he was met with the place he had entered and exited on a daily basis, now lifeless and empty thanks to the late hour.

And even then, it was still preferable to how it normally was, with students too afraid and unmotivated to talk to one another. He could almost see lifeless looks in their eyes as they went about their day, thinking of nothing else but the desperate need to conform to the rules set in place, even if they hated it more than anything else.

Not wanting to linger on such thoughts, Yagami simply walked towards the stairs and onto the second floor, then walked down a series of hallways to reach another set of stairs leading to the rooftop. It wasn’t a place he was familiar with, but the directions proved simple enough for him to be approaching the door leading to it in short order.

As he reached the rooftop, he saw that it was covered in snow, acting as a white blanket between his feet and the floor below it. Right in front of him were a circle of people gathered around something that was glowing brightly. At first Yagami thought it was a fire, but it turned out that it was merely a collection of candles in approximation of one.

One of the people around the circle noticed Yagami’s arrival, and raised his hand in recognition. “Alright, the last of us is here! Yagami, come on and join in already.”

For the first time tonight, the fear in his heart has been quelled, replaced by a sense of relief that everyone made it without being caught. He quickly rushed towards the circle and took his place in it, sitting down as he looked at the people around him, friends who similarly despised the despotic rules the school put in place.

Starting from his left there was Aru, who wore a very thick looking red overcoat with a hood that covered the top of his face. In his hand was a thermos, which he poured to one of the others, revealing that there was hot chocolate inside.

“Want a glass?” He asked in his usual stoic voice, his expression just as rigid and stoney. “Thermos is almost halfway empty.”

“Yeah, I’d love some,” Yagami responded, and he quickly poured one into a paper cup and handed it over to him, which he took and took a sip off. The warmth that filled his body reminded him of how he loved drinking such beverages during wintertime, especially in the company of others. “Thanks, it’s really good.”

Beside Aru there were two people exchanging tales with one another, though one used his voice while the other had another method, typing out words in his phone before revealing it. Kato and Chozu were the pair that was closer to each other than anyone else, having the benefit of knowing each other before Yamaku, in a similar place that dealt with disabled students.

“Hey Yagami, can you believe this guy? Says he’s going to ask Shirogane out on a date.” Kato said, legs crossed in a manner similar to a meditative position, his hands resting on top of his lap. They didn’t move much, on account of being excruciatingly painful for him to do so, though they were not useless. For him to even sneak out, which surely meant that he had to use his hands, was just further evidence of how much he disliked the constraints placed upon them all.

Chozu simply rolled his eyes, his expressions being the best way to convey his intentions due to his muteness, though he relied on written words for more complex stuff, which he did so now using his phone. [She’s deaf and I’m mute, so we get along quite well. I see no problem in telling her I’m romantically interested.]

“I wish you the best of luck,” Yagami replied, trying to balance out Kato’s teasing with genuine encouragement. “Though honestly, I can’t see how a relationship would work inside a school like this, and how stifling it is.”

[Others managed to get by,] Chozu responded, his fingers a blur as he typed out the words, and his expression full of optimism. [And it won’t be long before graduation, so assuming she reciprocates my feelings, we’d only have to endure a year or so.]

“I don’t know, man,” Kato muttered out. “A year here feels like a freaking eternity.”

At that, Chozu didn’t seem to disagree, and their expressions turned more dour. Yagami found himself at a loss for words, and simply turned to the right, towards the ringleader of this entire operation.

“I see you brought a present…” Shigeru said with his ever present smile, one that he showed whenever the opportunity arises itself. Amongst his friends, it served as a source of comfort against the almost overwhelming bleakness of the school, and it almost seemed to be in defiance for what most people perceived as an attempt to keep the students miserable.

While he has drawn the suspicion of the school faculty, nothing he ever did was against the rules, and it would be ridiculous for even them to put a ban on smiling. Which is why it came as a bit of a surprise when he suggested doing this for Christmas, which was tantamount to an open act of rebellion.

“Yeah, I did,” Yagami responded and presented the box to him. “We’re doing a present exchange, aren’t we?”

“In a bit, right now all of us should just relax and shoot the shit,” Shigeru responded with a sigh, his body leaning back. “God knows how long it’s been since we’ve been able to do that here, without feeling like someone’s watching us.”

“Honestly, it feels like they’ve never let their eyes off us,” Yagami admitted, and looked back to the doorway, half expecting to find guards bursting out of it any second. “I’m still surprised I was even able to leave my room without getting caught, let alone come this far out.”

“Calm down, if they’d have half a hint, we’d all be dead by now.” Aru interjected, pouring more cocoa into Shigeru’s glass, which he raised in appreciation.

“Yeah…” A voice to the right of Shigeru said, wearing a black hoodie that covered most of his face. It was then that he realized that he didn’t know that was.

“Um, who are you?” Yagami asked curiously, having a bad feeling about this mysterious person.

“Relax, Yagami,” Shigeru insisted as the person shifted back, acting as if it were threatened, though considering what he looked like Yagami wasn’t too surprised. “His name is Goto, and he’s an underclassman, but we know each other through the computer club. He heard about what I was doing, so I let him sneak into my room and escaped with him.”

“Pleased to meet you…” Goto said, his voice hoarse and rough, as if his throat were dry. “Sorry for coming here unannounced.”

Despite having a bad feeling about his presence, Yagami simply dismissed it as irrational paranoia and simply nodded in response.

“Heh, you need to stop scaring people, Yagami.” Kato teased, causing him to turn towards his friend with a frown on his face.

“Yeah, help me fix half my face and we’ll talk.” He responded wryly, rolling his singular eye.

“Come on, it’s not just your face that makes you intimidating, though it definitely helps,” Kato said, and Aru and Chozu nodded in agreement. “A lot of the students here look like you, maybe even worse, but you manage to make even them flinch when you stare at them.”

“That’s not true…” Yagami denied, trying to recall the faces of people who looked at him as he went about his school life, but was unable to see if they truly were afraid of him or not.

“No! No!” Shigeru said, raising his hands before hesitantly adding. “...Well, maybe a little.”

The rest of the group burst out into laughter, though Aru offered a comfort hand towards Yagami, who simply chuckled at their jabs. They were close enough friends that such things were common, and everyone knew that there was malice in their words. The only exception was Goto, who remained quiet throughout.

“Anyways, I think it’s time for the present exchange,” Shigeru announced. “Everyone bought your gift?”

The group nodded and pulled out their boxes, all wrapped to hide its contents. Once again, the exception was Goto, who did not seem to have one. The others noticed and turned their attention to him, which made the younger student shy away further.

“Sorry…” He said nervously, causing the rest to feel guilty.

“Don’t worry, Christmas isn’t just about presents,” Shigeru said, giving him an encouraging smile. “It’s about spending time with people, and being happy. So seeing you smile would be a good enough gift, at least for me.”

“Heh, playing the hero as always…” Kato teased.

“Someone’s got to, especially with how oppressive the school’s being.” Shigeru responded with a shrug, as if it were natural to him.

[Does anyone know why it’s like this?] Chozu asked, his expression a mix of curiosity and disgust. [An environment like this, something akin to an authoritarian regime, can’t simply happen out of nowhere.]

“Yeah, from what I’ve heard from the older students, this place was actually pleasant to be in,” Yagami reaffirmed his claim, though finding such a statement to be extremely difficult to believe. “Apparently it had something to do with a student falling to his death or something, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Sounds like a pretty dumb reason to herd us all like sheep,” Aru practically spat out, disgust evident in his voice. “Curfews, constant monitoring. Hell, I hear they’re trying to cut down on lunch time…again.”

“What?” I’ll barely have time to eat!” Kato said distrestingly. “Man, they just find a way to make things worse.”

“...Nakai.”

The four students turned to the source of the voice, curiously looking at Goto. whose expression was far less frightful than before.

“The student who died, his name was Nakai…” He clarified, his face tilting downwards. “He died falling off this rooftop, on a night like this. That’s why the school’s…what it is…”

There was a dead silence as the group processed this new information, now realizing that this place was where someone spent the final moments of their lives before dying, the morbidness of that fact prevailing.

“Anyways, let’s start our gift exchange already. I’ll go first!” Shigeru said, trying to lighten the mood once again as he gave his box to Aru, small and wrapped in red paper. Aru bowed in thanks and ripped it open, revealing it to display what seemed like a robot with wings.

“Oh damn, a Gundam!” Aru exclaimed excitingly, holding up the box to get a better look. “Damn, this isn’t just any ordinary model either. Where’d you get this?”

“I have my ways,” Shigeru answered with a rather cheeky smile on his face. “Cost me a pretty penny, but as long as you’re happy, it’s worth it. Have fun building that thing.”

“Man…thanks…” Aru said, even sniffling a little. “You’re the best friend anyone can ask for.”

“I don’t know, I’d think you want a friend with working kidneys,” Shigeru responded wryly as he made light of his own condition. “Anyways, time for your gift, Aru.”

“Alright, alright,” Aru said, and handed a box that was far smaller than the one he got, and immediately shoved it into Chozu’s hands. “I got something that’s just for you.”

Chozu nodded in appreciation before destroying the paper, revealing a small black device with several keys and a screen. Raising an eyebrow, he fiddled with it for a bit, and what happened next was enough to surprise everyone except for the one who gave and received the present.

[Hello? Is this working?]

The voice was extremely synthetic, and the enunciation of it was slightly off, but the machine was crystal clear in the words it relayed out of its speaker.

“Whoa,” Kato blurted out, still in shock. “Isn’t that a text-to-speech machine? Like the one that wheelchair scientists use?”

“You mean Stephen Hawking? I think his machine uses a different kind of voice,” Aru responded using the machine, clearly enjoying the use of it. “I think I might prefer this one, it sounds far more feminine and comforting.”

“Sounds a bit creepy to me,” Yagami pointed out, emphasizing the inhumanity of the voice. “Still, it must beat showing everyone what you’ve typed out, huh?”

“That’s what I had in mind when I bought it,” Aru said, sounding more than a little smug at his thoughtfulness. “Of course I wanted to get a more advanced model, but I don’t have that kind of cash on me, so you’ll have to settle with that one.”

[That’s perfectly fine,] Chozu responded, and raised a hand towards Aru, who quickly high-fived it. [I guess that means I can now laugh when you guys make your bad jokes, hahahahahahahahahaha…]

“God, please don’t do that,” Aru said, raising his hands to his ear, though the others also made their reaction to the machine’s attempt at laughter plain on their faces. It was more akin to a staticy whine or screech than true laughter, one that made it sound even more inhuman and creepy than usual. “Just say you’re laughing…”

“Agreed…” Shigeru added, his smile breaking momentarily.

[Fine…I am laughing,] Chozu conceded, though Aru’s face was still the only one smiling, suggesting he truly was amused. [Thank you, Aru. It’s a really thoughtful gift.]

“Well, let’s hope yours is just as thoughtful, huh?” Aru responded, and Chozu pulled out his box, not as large as Shigeru’s gift but larger than the machine he received. He extended it towards Kato, who wasted no time tearing into the paper, revealing it to contain a collection of books.

[I know you’ve been reading that manga whenever we go to the library, so I’ve taken the liberty of buying something from the same author,] Chozu said as Kato’s jaw was open. [It’s not the complete collection, but it’s a good starting point.]

“Damn, I’ve heard of this one,” Kato exclaimed as he pulled out one of the manga, the cover showing a boy with blue hair holding a vial of red liquid, in what seemed to be a fantasy manga. “I’ve always wanted to read this. Thanks, man!”

[Just don’t read it right now,] Chozu said with a roll of his eyes. [You still have your gift to give.]

“You’re right, you’re right,” Kato grumbled, gazing at the manga for a few seconds before placing it back in its box beside the others, and reaching for his own. “Yagami, this is for you.”

The box he handed Yagami wasn’t a box at all, as it had a more cylindrical shape to it. Nevertheless he ripped the wrapping paper open, and it was revealed that it was a tin containing something which made him feel extremely nostalgic.

“You always said that you ate cookies with your parents during Christmas,” Kato said, his voice quieting. “I can’t exactly bring your parents here, but I can at least provide you with some cookies…and you can eat them right now, if you want to.”

Yagami couldn’t help but be touched by the gesture, and stared at Kato, usually the most rambunctious of their little friend group. He simply gave him a wide grin, which was returned in kind.

“Thanks, I…honestly can’t explain how much this means to me,” Yagami uttered in appreciation, remembering the Christmases of his past, times spent snuggling against his parents as they ate and laughed together. It might not be the same, but he felt as if the spirit of the memory were still with him. “Uh…right, my gift.”

Last but not least, Yagami gave Shigeru his box, which was opened soon after to reveal a case containing a pair of something small with wires connecting them. A pair of earphones.

“Oh, I’ve been looking for a pair of these,” Shigeru said, clearly ecstatic with his gift. “I never got around to replacing my old ones.”

“I know, which is why I got them. Underneath it is the second part of my gift,” Yagami explained. “There’s a few CDs inside that case. Some of it I bought myself, others I haven’t used in a long while, so I figured I might as well give it to someone who might.”

“Aww, thanks,” Shigeru placed the box beside him before turning his head to look at everyone. “Heh, turns out this Christmas ain’t so bad after all.”

Yagami couldn’t help but glance at Goto, who neither gave nor received a gift, and looked as if he were a separate entity from the group as a result. Looking at the tin of cookies he received, the young student quickly handed it over to him, who looked confused at the gesture. The others took notice, with Shigeru looking on in approval.

“But…this is your gift,” Goto said, shaking his head. “I can’t…”

“I can get these cookies whenever I’d like,” Yagami responded, to which Kato couldn’t help but frown at the statement, however true it might be. “Christmas is about giving, so I figured it wouldn’t be right until everyone here has gotten something.”

“I…I can’t,” Goto repeated, shaking his head once again. “I don’t…deserve…”

“It’s not about deserving,” Shigeru interjected. “Giving is about thinking of someone, and wanting to make them happy. Go on, take it.”

“He won’t take no for an answer,” Aru added morosely. “So you might as well say yes now and save us some time.”

Despite still having some reluctance, Goto took the tin and hugged it, looking away as he barely whispered out the words. “Thank you…”

“Well, that concludes the gift giving,” Shigeru announced. “I suppose we’ll all just…drink what’s left of the hot cocoa and wait till we can head back into the dorm.”

Before any of them could react, the entrance to the rooftop burst open as several men flooded in, causing the group to panic as they stood up. They were soon surrounded by what were clearly enforcers, all wearing guard uniforms with a cold and apathetic expression on their faces.

Their hearts sank as they realized that the worst had happened, and that they had been caught breaking the rules in such a spectacular fashion. None of them even had the opportunity to question when or how they managed to find out before the guards quickly went to restrain them, grabbing everyone but Kato’s hands, who instead was grabbed tightly by the shoulder.

“Well, well, well, it seems that you’ve finally slipped up.” A chilling voice called out as someone entered the room, dressed in a suit and tie despite the climate, with an aged but bitter expression. They all immediately recognized that voice, as they’ve heard it countless times in announcements and admonishments of the student body.

It was the principal of Yamaku, a figure that inspired within his students hatred, resentment, and fear most of all.

“I’ve finally been given a reason to punish you,” He said in an arrogant voice, his eyes aimed at Shigeru in particular. “You’ve been a thorn in our side for quite a while, and while you have certainly been prudent in following the rules up until now, the faculty was more than aware of your…defiance towards how we conduct things around here.”

“Well, glad to know I’m famous,” Shigeru spat back, having the audacity to talk back, though the others were still frozen in fear. It earned him a twist of his arm by the guard, to which he grunted in pain. The principal simply laughed, completely amused by his statement.

“Famous enough that we’ve been keeping our eye on you for a while,” He conceded. “And it seemed to have paid off, considering this…gathering of your conspirators.”

“Punish me all you want, but leave them alone,” Shigeru insisted, sounding desperate for the first time. “They were just following my lead.”

“I’m aware. Why do you think you were caught?” The principal asked, approaching Shigeru and slapping him across the face with a gloved hand. “But they need to be taught a lesson as well. They need to learn what happens to people that refuse to follow the rules. All except one, that is…”

He motioned his head towards one of the guards, who let go of Goto, still carrying the tin of cookies as he approached the principal. That simple act was enough for the others to realize who exactly had informed the school of their plans, and had been their pawn from the very beginning.

“You son of a bitch!” Aru screamed out, only to be silenced when the guard holding onto his arms began to twist it. Shigeru simply stared at Goto with a disappointed look and a sigh, while the rest simply looked on in anger at the betrayal.

“C-Can I go now…?” Goto asked shyly, the guilt evident on his face. Even so, he knew there would be no forgiveness for what he had done, even if he felt forced into doing so.

“Yes you may,” The principal responded, sounding oddly kind to him. “You’ve done a marvelous job in catching these deviants, and I’ve informed the guards at the dorm that you’ll be coming, so they won’t harass you. Rest assured, you did the right thing, and will be rewarded in doing so.”

Goto merely nodded, still looking conflicted as he walked towards the entrance. After turning to look at the others one last time, seeing their eyes still full of hurt and loathing, he left the rooftop and headed back to his room.

“Now then,” The principal turned back towards the other students, looking on with venom in his eyes. “What should I do with you rascals? Certainly something that would ensure you won’t break our fair rules ever again.”

“That’s never going to happen,” Shigeru responded, finding courage in his heart. “As long as the school is what it is, students will never stop disrespecting it.”

“We’re ensuring your safety,” The principal countered calmly. “It’s necessary to provide you all with a safe environment within our walls.”

“By taking away all our freedoms?”

Shigeru’s words caused the principal’s eyes to twitch ever so slightly, not to mention the baring of teeth. It’s clear that he managed to strike a nerve, though even then the principal was more than happy to retaliate. Something that would burn the memory of this event into them.

“Allow me to inform you of how I’ve managed to come by my position,” He explained as he took several steps towards Shigeru, hands reaching to grab his head, ensuring that the student had nowhere to face but towards him. “My predecessor happened to be well liked by all. Faculty and students alike respected him, but unfortunately it took a simple scandal to destroy that respect. No doubt you’ve heard of it, a boy falling to his death from a rooftop, on a day of celebration much like this one.”

“They all blamed his lack of responsibility, and so he was quickly ousted from his position, where I came to fill the void. Naturally, to placate the parents who entrusted the students to our care, I had to change things. To prevent a tragedy like that from ever occurring, and to ensure that our students have a future. But they refused to cooperate, protesting and defying authority at every turn, even when we had the best of intentions. We let the first few infractions slide, but as more and more piled out, I knew we had come into a crossroads. Either we sacrifice our ability to keep them safe, or any semblance of mutual cooperation with us. It wasn’t a hard choice to make, given their inclination towards childish defiance already.”

A silence permeated throughout the roof as students and guards alike grew quiet, with even Shigeru having nothing to say.

“Of course, I knew there would still be those who still wouldn’t get with the program, and so I made use of the tools given to me,” He seemed particularly arrogant at that statement, even letting out a snort. “Turning the students against each other, planting some of them as my own eyes and ears. This wasn’t the first time Goto has been of use to us, and I doubt it would be the last, whatever his reservations may be. All I need to do is provide a good incentive, and he’d be more than willing to sell out anyone to me.”

His speech was interrupted with a buzzing of his phone, and he swiftly picked it up. “Speak…ah, it’s finally ready? Good, expect it to land soon.”

With a swift motion of the principal’s head, the guard holding Shigeru began to forcefully move the much weaker boy, and despite his resistance he managed to push him all the way to the edge of the roof and pressed his face against the chain link fence.

“Yes, I believe that’s where that student fell as well, a gap created in the fence,” The principal said, slowly and calmly walking towards the fence, even as Shigeru began to shout in protest. “Naturally, fixing it was our top priority, even if we were barring students from accessing it in the first place. Still, considering that no one was supposed to come here, we didn’t exactly put much effort into it…”

Kneeling down near one of the thin fence posts, he reached down towards one of the metal pegs holding it in place, and simply pulled it out with some effort. Already the post began to lurch, though it was when he removed the others beside it that it truly felt unstable. Rising up, he grabbed the fence and moved backwards, pulling it back along with the post attached to it.

Leaving a wide gap where there were no safety precautions in place, merely the edge of the roof and the sky beyond it.

Not needing to be told, the guard holding Shigeru immediately pushed him towards the edge, letting go. Whatever resistance or defiance that filled him was immediately gone as he was dangerously close to the end of the rooftop, and what he thought was the end of his life when he looked down.

“That student died because he wasn’t following the rules, and we failed to enforce it as much as we should,” The principal explained, turning to the other students. “It’s only fitting that history should repeat itself. You’re all willing to let him die, if it means you get your precious sense of freedom?”

The looks on their faces ranged from horror to bafflement to muted anger, but none of them dared to respond. None of them dared to risk Shigeru’s life.

“AM I RIGHT?” The principal roared, face twisted into a scowl. “IS THIS WHAT YOU’RE WILLING TO RISK?”

Shigeru wanted to reassure them, even if it was a lie. But the words were stuck in his throat as he was mere inches away from a gruesome demise, unable to find the courage when faced with that. One by one, the others shook their heads, the seeds of compliance sewn into their hearts.

“No?” The principal reaffirmed. “Then here’s what’ll happen. All of you will go back to your rooms, and from tomorrow onwards will follow the school’s laws to the letter. You hear me? To the letter.”

It didn’t take long before Aru slowly nodded his head, the resistance snuffed out of him. Kato and Chozu followed soon after, with Yagami the only one that didn’t answer the question. A part of him still wanted to refuse, to fight back against what was so obviously an unfair situation.

All it took was one look at Shigeru’s back to change his mind, and he nodded as well.

“Good, you’ve finally learnt to conquer your rebellious impulses,” The principal praised, even clapping to emphasize the matter. Though when his hands stopped, his face turned even more menacing. “…Although, there’s no point of a threat if you don’t intend to follow up on it. Just to ensure you know what it means to disobey rules.”

The principal nodded towards the guard preventing Shigeru from safety, and with both hands pushed the student off the edge of the school, which utterly broke the others as they struggled and screamed to no avail. The principal simply regarded them with cold eyes and motioned the guards to take them away, which they did despite trying to thrash about. It wouldn’t be long before even that final act of disobedience would fade, and would be replaced by despair and a newfound necessity to conform.

With them gone, the principal simply sighed as he let go of the fence, the guards moving to place the metal peg back in its place. Looking over it, he could see Shigeru landing on a safety mat that was placed not too long ago, though the trauma seemed to have frozen him more than the cold did.

He knew that he was broken like the rest, though he took little pleasure from it. It was all necessary to keep them safe, he told himself.

With the operation done, he simply headed down the school, ready to go home and spend a long overdue Christmas with his family.

END

From me to Lap for 2021 (finally, sorry)!

Have a story about a cold night and warm food, and maybe something extra.

https://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=52& ... 97#p248297