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Christmas was looming over kids and adults alike in Japan. Kids because of being their best so Santa-san will come, and adults wrapping up their children’s presents in the guise of him. And far deep into the suburbs, one young child with her best friend was one of the most ecstatic.
“Chi-Chan! Chi-Chan!” Kaoru piped, trying to lift herself into the arm of the couch where Chisato was residing to read her lines for the upcoming Christmas play. It wasn’t anything too big, just a small recurring elf. The adults figured she wanted the holidays to herself, to where the child actress was eternally grateful for.
“Yeah, Kao-Chan?” she said, setting aside her lines for the play, she already had most of them memorized, but one could never hurt to read and reread again.
“You wanna stay up to see Santa-San tonight?” she asked, eyes filled with sparkles of hope, hope that Chisato dared not to tarnish. Unfortunately for her, Chisato learned the harsh reality of Christmas during the plays. An adult slipped that Santa-San wasn’t real in front of her, and she wasn’t in the mood to perform for a week. Kao-Chan didn’t deserve that agony yet, so the actress played along.
“I might not be able to stay up all night, but I’ll certainly try!" she replied, carefully choosing her words. That seemed to satisfy Kaoru, who went in search of a nice place to spy on the Christmas tree the Shirasagi family had.
Chisato sighed, what to do, what to do…if she knew her best friend well enough, she’d stay in that hiding spot all night. Thoughts swirled in her head to keep Kao-Chan oblivious to the sad truth for the child. And that’s when she got an idea.
XoXo
Night had fallen onto their side of the world. Kaoru was intently watching the tree from a hidden corner under the stairs. She’ll catch Santa-San tonight! She’s sure of it! Her parents always made her go to bed before she could Santa watch, but Mr. and Mrs. Shirasagi allowed it since they didn’t have school tomorrow.
The young girl checked the tiny clock she brought. 10:21. Her eyes were drooping precariously, her body swaying as all she wanted was to lie down in bed with her favorite stuffed animals. Yet she fought on. You can only catch Santa-San once a year after all! Kaoru doesn’t know if she could last a whole year waiting to catch him again.
The floorboards creaked. Her head shot up. Mr. and Mrs. Shirasagi were supposed to be asleep right now, and so was Chi-chan. Who was that? Could it be…?!
Daring to inch out of her spot, Kaoru craned her neck to try and see the intruder. To her disappointment, it wasn’t Santa-San. It was an elf. A very tiny elf, in fact. Maybe Santa-San couldn’t handle the workload this year and got some of his elves to take care of some places? That had to be it. Looking closer, the elf was heaving a sack of presents behind, the size being too big to be carried by someone so small. The elf had pale yellow hair and pale milk skin. The outfit she wore was what almost every elf had on the tv shows. Green suit with a belt with some jingle shoes to complete the look. How odd, she looked like someone Kaoru recognized.
The purple-haired girl could only stand in awe as the elf carefully pulled out a multitude of presents, some wrapped in cream-colored wrapping paper, (probably for Chi-Chan), and some in royal purple, (Kaoru dared to think those might be hers).
Then as the elf was walking away with a much lighter bag in hand, her hat fell from her head. As she went to pick it up, Kaoru gasped.
It was Chi-Chan.
Chi-Chan works for Santa-San? The child wondered. But before she could think about it further, Chi-Chan disappeared.
And then, sleep overcame her at last as she slept inside her hiding spot.
OxOx
Chisato was exhausted. Carrying that sack of presents was much harder than one would assume. Moreover, Chisato had to stay up extra late to make her arrival believable. What kind of elf delivered presents at 8 pm?
Before Chisato could get any acceptable amounts of sleep, her alarm clock rang. Weird, it wasn’t set this early, what was…?
As she peered over her bed, it wasn’t her alarm clock going off…
It was a small girl being like an alarm clock.
“Chi-Chan! Chi-Chan! Chi-Chan!” Kaoru cried, jumped up and down beside Chisato’s bed. The latter rubbed her eyes. Why was Kaoru up so early?
“Chi-Chan! Chi-Chan! You work for Santa-San?”
Ah, that was why.
The blond-haired girl rubbed her eyes again. “Yeah, but don’t tell anyone," She half-slurred. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, ok? Santa-San’s orders!”
Kaoru nodded quickly; she wouldn’t want her best friend in trouble after all!
Sighing, Chisato got out of bed and got ready, tired and excited to spend Christmas morning with her best friend.
OxOx
Years later…
“Ah! Chisato-San!” Kaoru cried, wrapping her arms around the idol. The guitarist sighed, half-expecting her to come. Christmas was one of Kaoru’s favorite times of the year. And while she didn’t believe in Santa-San anymore, it never stopped her love of the holiday. Naturally, flocks of girls from her school swung by her to awkwardly give her presents. (Including Rimi.)
“Hm, is there something you need, Kaoru?” Chisato asked coolly, while part of her tone was because their relationship was a secret, (screw idol contracts), part of her also doesn’t like flirting.
“I was wondering if you could give Santa-San a call and see if I get presents early,” she asked coyly, bringing back memories of that night years back. “I believe I’d like some affection from my lover.”
Chisato picked her phone up and pretended to get a call. “Santa-San? Yes? That’s exactly it. Okay. Bye.” After making sure no one could see them, the bassist left a chaste kiss on the lips of the guitarist, the latter being flustered that the former actually reciprocated in public.
“Merry Christmas, Kao-Chan,” Chisato said, before leaving Hazawa cafe.
“...M-merry Christmas, C-chi-Chan…”