Victim: ToothedYew006
Prompt: Hisao becomes Santa Claus due to a mysterious turn of events. But he's slowly loosing his Santa magic. Since he didn't see the small prints, he didn't know what is happening. Now, he's looking for a certain someone to restaure his magic.
Cold war, slow revival
In life, some things happen when you least expect them. I didn’t expect my heart to fail this badly during a confession, but it allowed me to write another chapter in my life and to meet wonderful people.
What I didn’t expect, however, is my new condition. I always thought I would have a career in science, or teach science, but here I am, wearing a red coat all the time. Being the new Santa at such a young age is an enormous responsibility, and I wasn’t prepared for this.
Still, my entire existence now is dedicated to making children happy, so it could have been worse. I know I shouldn’t have signed this contract; Miki told me that was stupid. I didn’t take it seriously; I thought it was a joke, and yet, it impacted my whole life. Should have read the fine print, and above all, not made a bet with that strange old man.
Recently, however, things have gotten weird. Many children began to misbehave, no longer afraid of the consequences, even with the approach of Christmas. It had nothing to do with a sudden change in attitudes; many children simply stopped caring about who I am, and that can only imply one thing: I’m losing my magic.
I’ve read my contract many times; it definitely has nothing to do with how I am doing my job. I’m not the greatest Santa of all time, but I’m decent at the job, according to the contract, at least. Reading it again and again gave me the impression I was going nuts. It must have been some hidden clauses or stuff like that.
Approaching the contract to a flame to check if there was any invisible ink didn’t help either. Looks like a job for a magnifying glass. I take all my time to read the contract again, trying to find some tiny writing I could have missed. It takes time, a lot of time, but I finally understand why I’m losing my magic. Now that I’ve realized it, the reasons are really obvious.
(Hope you'll like it, buddy, and have a wonderful Christmas in advance)
I’m supposed to be Santa now, but in all the stories, Santa is never alone. Reindeers? Check, I got all of them. Elves? Check, I got an army of them, and they are working very well. Mrs. Claus? Nowhere to be seen, and for good reason. She couldn’t come with me, because I didn’t plan to marry my girlfriend at that time.
I wasn’t able to come here with Saki, and thus, I had no possibility of contacting her. She must be mad at me, but I’ll blame the contract for that. It clearly states that no normal ways of communication can work since I became Santa, but I don’t expect her to believe that, if she even entertains listening.
I got used to my condition, and I want to keep my magic, so there’s only one way to retrieve it. I must find Saki and ask her to become my bride. But after all this time, after abruptly cutting contact with her, which isn’t actually my fault, it seems impossible. However, I have to try; my whole life as Santa Claus depends on it.
Destination: Japan. After I left instructions to the Elves and packed the contract and magnifying glass, I rush towards my sleigh. God bless this invention; it allows me to travel around the world at insane speeds. If I relied on a plane, I would lose a huge amount of time, and in this current state of affairs, I can’t afford that.
Seeing the world from above is always a wonderful sight, so many colors and landscapes. I feel privileged to behold such a thing. If I ever find another job, I’m going to miss it, and above all, I’m going to miss the joy I feel when I make children happy.
Japan appears in the distance, my home country, which I’ve missed a lot, where all my friends and my family live. The country where I left the girl I love, where my heart broke again. I’ve spent countless nights crying because of it, but there was nothing I could do to change this situation before I noticed this tiny print.
I finally reach Tokyo and park my sleigh on a building’s roof. Finding her in such a big city will be a major problem, but there’s a list of places I’m pretty sure she could be at, which helps to narrow my search. First, I need to head for the Tokyo Faculty of Medicine. She always wanted to be a pediatrician, and I know she got a place in this university.
As I walk down the street, many people are turning around, looking at me as if I were a fool. I can’t blame them; they don’t know who I am, and for us, I’m just a crazy man in a costume. Christmas is in a month, and it’s not cold enough to wear such a coat, so discretion eludes me.
After a long walk, I reach the university, and I take a lot of time to find the medical library. This place is vast, and I wonder how she got used to it. Just like on the streets, many students are turning around, and even some of them make fun of me or even call me crazy. I couldn’t care less; I’m on a mission, and I intend to complete it.
When I reach the counter, a librarian becomes nervous when she sees me.
“Can… can I help you, Sir? Are… are you alright?” She’s genuinely concerned, probably thinking I’m crazy.
“Ignore the coat, please. I’m looking for one of your students.”
“Such a coat is difficult… to miss, sir,” she pauses. “There are thousands of students at this university. I don’t think I’ll be able to help you…”
Oh yes, you will. Saki is the opposite of unnoticeable; a girl clumsily walking with her cane at this young age is not something that you can miss.
“A girl with light chestnut hair, brown eyes, cherry earrings, and who’s always walking with a cane.” I say, describing her exactly as I remember.
It still takes her a few seconds to realize who I am talking about.
“Oh, that one… She came this morning, but I didn’t see her after that.” She replies. Unfortunate.
“Thank you, ma’am.” I reply, leaving the library.
There is a café in a nearby neighborhood that she likes to go to with her mother. Perhaps I’ll have better luck there. It’s quite a hike, though; over twenty minutes on foot. Along the way, I think about everything I could say to her, but also, what she could say in response.
I eventually reach the café, after asking several people the way. Once at the front door, I freeze. Saki is there, drinking a hot beverage, looking exhausted. My heart yells at me to go talk to her, yet my mind prevents me from doing so. What if she hates me for what I did or doesn’t want to talk to me anymore? Does she think I don’t love her? Did she find someone else? So many questions are rushing into my mind.
I’m staring at her for what feels like forever, before I muster some courage to face my destiny, or perhaps my doom. I’m moving slowly, and even that feels way too fast for my mind.
“Saki?” I mumble, nervous.
She realizes someone’s talking to her, and when she sees me, her mouth falls open. It is only temporary, as she clenches her fists while visibly twitching.
”You’ve got some nerve. You dare come here after what you did to me? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
She’s breathing heavily, as if she was trying to repress the will to slap me.
“I can explain everyth-”
“You show up here after a year with no contact, and you expect me to just listen to you? Do you even care about how things have been this past year because of you?”
“That’s exactly what I want to talk about.” I reply, twitching because of fear.
“I thought you were different. If you weren’t dumb, you would have explained yourself before leaving. And you dare come back here with that stupid outfit? Do you even have common sense?” she snaps at me.
“Saki, please, could you just listen to me?”
Her fist hits the table with a strength I never saw her exhibiting. She’s definitely mad at me.
“I loved you! More than anything! And you… you just left without warning, and without a word. You just dumped me out of the blue!” Tears are now flowing from her eyes, with an expressive pain on her face.
I sit down in front of her and take one of her hands in mine. A touch she wants to avoid at first.
“I still love you, Saki, more than anything,” I say as my heart races. “I never ceased to love you, and I can explain everything to you.”
She’s still trying to escape my touch, but she’s not twitching anymore, which is a good sign.
“I never lied to you, and I will not start today. But it’s one of the craziest things you’ll ever hear. And I promise you, everything’s true.”
“I hope, for your sake, that you have an excellent excuse; otherwise, I’ll never forgive you.” Saki barks.
I take off the contract from my coat’s pocket. She looks at me, puzzled. “That’s your excuse? That’s all you have to offer? Some sheets of paper?”
I sigh. Here we go, no turning back now. “You remember that party? The evening before I disappeared?” I ask.
She sighs heavily, looking at the ceiling. “Oh no, I don’t think I remember the night before my boyfriend at the time disappeared; I forgot everything… Any more stupid questions?”
“It all started because of this. You remember that strange old man? Kind of hard to forget, I mean, even Miki said he was doubtful,” I say, still twitching.
She doesn’t talk for a bit, lost in thought. It’s the kind of awkward silence you want to break, but you don’t dare to. She eventually speaks again.
“Now that you mention it, I remember I explicitly told you not to speak to him, but you did anyway. It’s not like I ever forced you to follow insane boundaries.” She rasps.
I just shake my head; she’s got a point. It was pretty dumb for me to do such a thing. We wouldn’t be where we are today if I’d done as she said. I’ve made many mistakes in my life, and during that evening, I made one of the worst.
I muster the courage to carry on. “ To be fair, I thought he was just silly, and I took everything as a joke; I know I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have signed this contract, I know that, but I did it anyway.” No excuses can cover the fact that it’s all my fault, and I know it.
“At least you’re smart enough to realize it, even if it’s a bit too late,” Saki says, still irritated.
“The reason I didn’t contact you for an entire year was… well… because I have become the new Santa ‘thanks’ to this contract.”
She bursts into laughing, clearly not believing me. “You expect me to believe that? It doesn’t make any sense. If this is your excuse, I’m done with you.”
“Read it, then.” I reply, confident with myself for once.
She reluctantly grabs the papers and reads. From time to time, she stops reading, and looks at me with a puzzled look, before carrying on her reading. “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.” She’s clearly not convinced.
“Before all of this, did I ever not contact you, or lie to you? Even when I had my second heart attack? The first few days do not count, for obvious reasons.” I insist, just to make her realize I’m not lying to her.
“… You’ve got a point, I suppose,” She replies.
“Then, please, read the 12th clause aloud.”
“‘The signatory party acknowledges that conventional methods of communication will not be effective and that any alternative approaches are likely to lead to unsuccessful outcomes. Furthermore, the signatory party consents to using designated communication methods exclusively permitted for their new role as Santa Claus, in collaboration with authorized third parties.’” She finishes, sighing. “I’m sorry Hisao… But this… this makes no sense at all.”
“It doesn’t, yet. But I assure you, this is the truth. I wanted to tell you, to call you. Just to hear your voice, one more time.” I pause. “I’ve spent countless nights crying because of what happened. Calling you and coming back were the only things I wanted, but I couldn’t. If you don’t want to believe me, I won’t force you. But I have never ceased loving you.”
The way I look at her says it all, my love towards her is obvious. She knows it, but can’t repress her anger after what happened. I can’t really blame her.
“Let’s say I believe you on that point… but, you can’t expect me to believe you turned into Santa Claus. Even a child would not believe this,” she sneers.
“You think I enjoy wearing such a thing in public?” I reply.
Saki nods. “True, true. Your casual fashion sense is not… something I would call distinguished, but I would not think you would wear this daily without being forced to.” The anger in her voice is gone, or she’s great at hiding it, but I’d rather think it’s the former.
There’s another awkward silence between us. “I won’t say I believe everything you told me; that would be lying. But as you said, you never lied to me, and you were there for me all the time since I met you, even when I didn’t ask for it,” she says, with a shy smile. “I still resent you for what you did, though”
“I wouldn’t expect you to forgive everything with a snap,” I reply.
“Is there anything else you want to say? I need to… process things,” she says, looking at me.
“I need you. In my life.”
Saki’s expression becomes unreadable and my heart sinks. This is what I was afraid of, not knowing what she thinks about it. I don’t see anger or rejection, but I don’t see happiness, either. I should have expected that, but to experience it is another thing, and extremely unpleasant. If today’s the day I need to forget our relationship forever, it’ll be immensely painful, but I’ll accept that sooner or later.
I give her the magnifying glass. “Read the bottom part of the last page with this, please.”
She proceeds and gives me an inquisitive look. “So, you’re telling me you need me in your life because you would lose your magic otherwise?” She asks, not pleased about that part of the contract.
“Yes.” The following few seconds of silence seem to last forever. “I won’t pretend it doesn’t play a role in this whole situation, but more important than anything, I love you. This year I’ve spent without you was the worst year of my life. Not a single moment passed where I did not think about you. I don’t want to spend another day without you, Saki. You’re my beacon, my everything,” I declare, looking deep into her eyes with sheer love.
She takes a sip of her beverage, looking at me with another unreadable expression and deafening silence. My throat tightens, as I don’t know what to expect. I knew, before coming here, that she wouldn’t jump on me as soon as she saw me.
Come on, Saki, say something, I’m begging you. Anything, even something I wouldn’t like to hear, just say something.
She eventually speaks up again. “You know… This is a lot to process at once. But, at least I’m happy to hear that I was wrong about you not loving me anymore.”
“I can’t blame you, especially after what happened. But if there’s one thing I’ll never hide from you, it’s my feelings for you.”
“I… I need to think about it. I can’t just drop everything for your sake, even if I still love you,” she whispers, and the last part of her sentence cheers me up, even if I don’t show it. “How will I be able to contact you, though?” She asks.
“I’ll find a way. There must be a way. I promise you, I’ll find it.” I gently stroke her hand. “Take your time to think about it. It was really good to see you, Saki, and I promise you, I would never leave you again.”
She lets me go, and the last thing I say before I go out is how much I love her. Once outside, I look at my phone to see if I got any messages. Nothing. But a subtle flash on the screen catches my attention. I rummage through my phone to look for any changes, but to no avail.
Yet, there is one thing I didn’t check. My contact manager. And what I see makes my mouth fall open. There is a new number, one that I know by heart and that, until today, wasn’t there. It’s Saki’s number; I couldn’t confuse it with any other.
Selecting it, I type out message: ‘Thank you, Saki, for listening to me. Even if you don’t believe everything I told you. Just know that everything I told you is true. I’m so sorry for everything, please forgive me. I love you.’
To my joy, I can send the message, which means I’m now able to communicate with her as much as I want to. I don’t know what this means according to the contract I signed, but I know I will not spend another minute without talking to her. I have much to do to make up for what happened, and it starts now.
Only time will tell if I’ll succeed or not, and I intend to do all I can to achieve this. For me, for her, for us.
. A wonderful start to the holiday exchange, nicely done!
Thank you!