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Syo sighed for the umpteenth time that day. He knew he should have been happy. It was Christmas Eve of all days, and he was getting ready to have fun with all his fellow agency members, all nine of them. A lump formed in his throat when he thought of the number nine. It would’ve been ten, but one member was unfortunately going to be absent.
Natsuki.
He knew that him not being there was perfectly okay; his friend hadn’t seen his family since he left for Saotome Academy, so going home for Christmas was totally understandable. But even so, it felt wrong being in his room alone, his senpai prepping for the party and his best friend on the other side of the country. He just wished that Natsuki wasn’t coming back the day after Christmas. Most people knew that once December 25th came and went, all the festiveness disappeared, with nothing but post-holiday sales to clearance out all the decorations-
At that very moment, a brilliant idea came to him. Pulling out his phone, he began looking over various pages and chats as fast as he could, with his fingers tapping on the screen even faster. His eyes grew wide with happiness with what he found. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he knew he could do it in time. Grabbing his best holiday hat, a white fedora with a piece of holly poking out of the ribbon, he ran down to meet the others.
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“Thank you, have a great day!” Natsuki called to the limo driver as he drove away. Coming back from Hokkaido, he was fully refreshed from his family holiday. It was great to see everyone he loved, and they all reciprocated his feelings ten-fold. Who wouldn’t be, knowing someone very close to them was now one of the most famous young men in the country?
Even so, it still had felt good to come back to the Master Course dorms. He couldn’t wait to hear about what had happened during his friends’ party. He had almost prepared a batch of cookies ahead of time for them to enjoy, but Otoya had wanted to talk to him for so long when he mentioned it, he barely had enough time to pack! He smiled at the thought; maybe he would still whip a basket up, just for fun. All he would have to do is omit the red and green sprinkles he was going to add before the holiday had passed…
Getting back to his room, he was ready to greet Syo and Ai with open arms. However, the room was empty when he came in with his suitcase. Shrugging his shoulders, he put it right by his bed and went to the couch. The flight hadn’t done him well, and sleep started to creep up on him. Laying down on his back, he was ready to take the tiniest of naps before going down to find his group members.
Instead, he felt a lump in the arch of his back where he should have felt sofa cushions. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t something he was expecting at all. Reaching under him, he pulled out the oversized pea in his mattress. He grinned happily when he saw what exactly it was.
It was a small Piyo-chan plushie, dressed up like Santa Claus. Even if it was December 26th, he was elated seeing his favorite mascot decked out for the season. It even had a small list in its wings, almost like it had its own list of kids to give presents to!
Looking at that detail, Natsuki noticed something about the ribbon holding the rolled paper together. It was almost like there was…writing on it. Pushing his glasses a bit farther up on his face, he saw tiny white letters along the red ribbon. “Open me!” appeared to be the words they formed…
Following its orders, he took the piece of paper from the plushie, untying the ribbon and unrolling the scroll. When he did that, he realized that the “list” was more than just a prop, as there was a message inside.
“Look for my friends, ten right here inside.
With what they will give you, a present you’ll find!”
A riddle? Natsuki tried to think of what the words within it actually meant. Ten friends? They have something with them? It made sense…yet it didn’t completely.
Soon though, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A speck of yellow was peeking out from behind the television…
Running up to the set, he looked to where he saw the bright spot. He had a feeling he knew what it was. Pulling whatever it was out, he was right.
It was another Piyo-chan, a bit bigger than the one in the red suit. This specific one had a tiny guitar around it, a piece of paper threaded through the strings. Taking it out, he saw what this “friend” had given him:
An L written in red marker.
Natsuki didn’t get what the letter meant, but he did know that there were nine more in the room waiting for him to find.
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Within an hour, the blonde had gathered all ten of his new friends, each giving a new clue as to what needed to happen next. He was surprised at all he had found. Each Piyo he had found was different, with a different accessory and a different colored letter with them. There was one with maracas sitting on a shelf above Ai’s bed, one with a tiny plate of gelatin under his senpai’s pillow, a saxophone-toting one resting in the closet, and even one with sheets of music resting right on Syo’s bunk. Whether they had a piece of melon bread, a microphone, cat ears, a banana, or a little staff, each one had a piece of paper in tow, baring a single letter in a specific color.
Natsuki scratched his head in confusion. None of the ten letters in front of him seemed to line up in any way. All he could see was the specific colors for each one. There were multiple shades of red, green, blue, and purple, but besides this it seemed like almost every color in the rainbow was there-
Pale green eyes widened as the realization hit him. Repeats of four specific colors? Rainbows? That was the answer! Taking all of the letters, he shifted them around and around and eventually he came up with an answer.
M in a deep shade of green…
A in the color of wine…
I in lavender…
N in pale, icy blue…
L in bright red…
O in a deeper blue…
U in violet…
N shown in orange…
G in a light green…
E in the sweetest baby blue.
The main lounge? That seemed to be what the letters revealed, but what would be there? When he came in, there was nothing special about it to be had. But he figured that it had to be something. After all, whoever was planning this had taken the time to purchase and decorate 11 of these adorable toys, so there had to be more in the metaphorical sack of gifts. Taking the smallest chick with him, he went down to where the papers led him.
It was sunset when Natsuki had come back to the dorms, so he was expecting all of the lights to be on. Instead, it was all dark, the moon giving off the only rays. Now where is the light switch? He had to fumble along the walls of the room, trying to find a switch, knob, something so that he could see.
He was about halfway along the second wall when the silence filling the room was broken.
“HEY NATSUKI!” a shrill voice yelled out in the darkness. “You looking for something??”
Despite not seeing a thing, he turned in many directions, trying to find where the voice was coming from. It almost sounded like…
In a moment, the lights flickered on, revealing something Natsuki was never expecting. In the center of the room, there were a few balloon bouquets in red and green around the chairs, many plates of food, and even a tiny Christmas tree on the coffee table. And in the middle of it all was a small young man, decked out in a white suit, holding a large box wrapped in yellow paper.
The taller of the two couldn’t hold back his excitement. “Syo-chan?!” he gasped, looking all around him. “What is all this?”
“You couldn’t come to the agency party this year,” Syo chuckled, walking up to his friend. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate here. Even if it is a little late!”
The shota of the group wasn’t able to get out many words after that, as Natsuki had him wrapped in the tightest bear hug he could give. “Thank you sooooooooooo much!” he gushed. “This is the best surprise ever!”
“Y-You’re welcome…seriously…can’t…breathe!”
When the two blondes were hugging each other, the box Syo was holding had fallen to the ground, the lid falling off when it hit the floor. When he saw it out of the corner of his eye, he frantically slipped out of his friend’s grip, trying to get the present back to normal.
“Syo-chan, what’s wrong?” Natsuki asked him.
“Nothing, nothing,” he muttered, getting the gift back in order. “Just figured…since you were gonna miss the gift exchange…” With those words, he gave the box to his friend. “I could get you a little something myself.” As he saw Natsuki take the lid off of the box, a blush prickled on his cheeks.
Pushing his glasses up one more time, he took the tissue paper out of the box, more excited than he had been the entire time. And at that moment, when he saw the contents inside, he almost started to cry.
Two last Piyo-chan plushies, but bigger than all the others. One had wire-frame glasses in front of its eyes, the other wearing a white fedora with a sprig of holly in the ribbon.