Chapter Text
To be fair, it wasn’t a particularly bad idea to turn to his assignee’s best friend for advice on what to get him for Secret Santa. Honestly, it was a pretty good idea.
Thing is, his assignee just so happened to be Izaki.
“...and that’s how I got you those!”
The attendees of the Card Capital Christmas party sitting in a circle, Aichi gestured sheepishly towards a gift box practically overflowing with dinosaur plushies. A large plushie of Ancient Dragon, Tyrannolegend took up most of the space, its once-cruel and menacing demeanor softened into an adorable little dinosaur with a grin. Other dinosaur plushies, at least five more, filled in the spaces beside Tyrannolegend, a small ticket peeking out in the corner of the box.
“Oh, thanks!” Izaki said, eyes lighting up as he picked up the plushies. “I’ve been waiting to get these for a while, actually.”
“And let’s not forget this!” Morikawa grabbed the ticket, proudly shoving it into Izaki’s hands. Blinding orange with his face plastered onto it, some star decorations dotting around what seemed to be the drawing of a wizard in the corner. “The most important gift of all!”
“Er- thanks?” Izaki’s eyes squinted at the slip of paper. “It says here that I’ll get 300% stronger in Vanguard... after just one day of your super-exclusive Grade 3 training program?”
“More like you’ll get 300% worse!” Kamui hollered from Aichi’s right, cupping his mouth with his hands like a megaphone.
“Say that to my face one more time, you little loser!”
“I will! It’s more like you’ll get 300% worse, Lose-umi!”
As the two bickered on, Misaki sighed. “We haven’t even used the Mistle-foe and they’re already fighting.”
Ah, yes.
Yep, you heard that right.
The Mistle-foe.
Honestly, no one knew when their lives got to the point where this was actually created, but it all began when they were trying to come up with Christmas decorations...
”You know, we should make some sort of Vanguard-related Christmas decoration.”
Shingo tapped his pen on his clipboard, pushing up his glasses and looking around the room. Honestly, it was reaching nighttime and most of the people present were already pretty tired. Aichi was straightening his back every five minutes, Misaki fiddling with the hair tie on her wrist as usual. Naoki was now doodling in the corners of his notes, with Miwa absently scrolling through memes on his phone. Shingo checked his list again, jotting down notes in the margins.
There were some of the regular Christmas decorations, like the Christmas tree and lights, both of which Card Capital already had on hand. Then, there were the more... unique ideas.
(Namely, the one where they would put a star with sub-manager’s face on it at the top of the Christmas tree. Everyone voted unanimously that this was a fantastic idea, including sub-manager, who by all means shouldn’t have been able to vote but somehow managed to.
Shingo really shouldn’t have underestimated that cat.)
“We could always just hang up some Vanguard circles on the trees?” Misaki suggested half-heartedly, fidgeting with the hair tie.
“That’s a great idea, I’ll list it down here!” Shingo looked around the room. “Any other suggestions? We’re almost done, just a couple more minutes.”
“That’s what you’ve been saying for the past hour,” Naoki groaned, flicking away his pencil. “Plus, Boss Lady’s idea sounds pretty good to me.”
“I told you not to call me that. And anyways, it’s always better to have more options in situations like these.”
“Eh, true.”
The group remained in silence, no one really moving to think of any new ideas. After all, Misaki’s was already pretty good, so what was the need for another? And anyways, the sooner they get this done with, the quicker they can finally go home-
“Guys!” Naoki slammed his palms on the table, jolting everyone else out of their sleepiness like a lightning strike.
(Shingo did not jump into the air. No, he absolutely did not.)
“We should do a Mistle-foe!”
“Er,” Aichi looked to Naoki confusedly. “A Mistle-foe?”
“Oh, wait I have this saved somewhere!” With a few swipes of his screen, Miwa pulled up this picture of a Tumblr post:
“Yeah, this one!”
”But how is that related to Vanguard?” Shingo asked, tapping his pen on his clipboard. “Plus, it sounds incredibly violent.”
”Instead of actually decking someone, we can just cardfight them!” Naoki explained, his eyes bright with excitement.”
”That does make some sort of sense...”
“I have one at home, so we don’t need to do much for this either!”
”Well, that does help with the budget...” Shingo mused, looking to his clipboard and piles of notes.
“And if anyone wants to arm-wrestle under it, that would be cool too!”
”Okay, um- I’m going to have to stop you right there-“
”I think it’s a great idea!”
Miwa clasped his hands together, looking to Shingo with a wide smile on his face. “I mean, it’s related to Vanguard, it doesn’t add to the budget at all, and, if anyone just wants some good ol’ arm wrestling, they can do it!”
(No, Shingo was not slightly shaking in fear.)
”Yes- yes, that’s all true...”
”Fantastic!” Miwa looked around the room. “All in favour?”
Aichi and Misaki turned to each other and nodded, raising their hands. Naoki immediately raised his hand of course, with Shingo quickly following suit.
“Then, it’s settled!”
”Bring on the Mistle-foe!”