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Akira was standing a few steps from the central entrance of the Venus Fort shopping mall. Snow was falling thick around her, making her cheeks flush from the cold. She tightened up her coat in an attempt to prevent the cold from further spreading to her body.
All around her, she could hear the happy noises the children were making. Children who were accompanied by their parents and they had probably come to the mall in order to choose their Christmas’ gifts. Aside from the cheerful families, she could also hear the noisy teen groups and if she concentrated enough she could hear the shy couples who seemed to be lost on their own world, too. Young and old, in big groups or even alone, lots of happy people entered the shopping mall. Most of them had the same purpose: to find the perfect gifts for their loved ones.
Wasn’t this the reason Haise asked her to accompany him to his shopping trip, after all? So he could choose gifts for his quinx group. Christmas and its preparations had casted a charming spell to everyone; everyone except Akira herself. That’s why when a few days ago Haise entered her office and pleaded her to help him with his Christmas gifts she had been about to decline. She had no desire to participate in anything Christmas related and especially not with someone as cheerful as Haise. As she was trying to find a polite excuse to decline, she remembered that Arima had bestowed her with the task to act as a person on whom Haise could always rely. Between her personal feelings and her duty she would always choose the later and thus why she reluctantly accepted to help Haise.
She casted an indolently look to her watch. As it seemed she had arrived earlier than the date time she and Haise had set. She didn’t mind much, though. On the contrary, she used to arrive earlier at her dates that if she failed to do so she would feel anxious. Since she couldn’t do anything else until Haise arrived, she started counting numbers on her mind. She had counted until two hundred when Haise appeared in front of her. His face was a bright shade of red and he was trying to catch his breath – probably he had hurried on his way to their date.
“I hope I didn’t arrive too late” he offered instead of a greeting and he quickly added an apologetic smile.
“It’s okay. It was me who arrived earlier, after all” she simply informed him not offering a greeting, either.
“Shall we go inside?” Haise continued to smile at her and lead the way in the mall.
As they walked, Haise kept talking about how he almost missed his morning train, what he had done the previous day and various other little details of his everyday life. It was so effortless to him to offer information about his personal life that Akira almost envied him for that. But then again, even if talking came more naturally to her she doubted she would like to share every single detail of her life with anyone.
Suddenly, Haise stopped in front of her causing her to stop so she won’t bump into him.
“I want to say something important” he declared in a serious tone and then made a small bow “Thank you so much for agreeing to accompany me today. I really needed someone’s help and it means a lot that you were willing to offer it”.
“Sasaki, stop being so dramatic” Akira wondered what was wrong with him to make such a big deal over just a small matter. But then again, that was Haise. Being eternal grateful even over trivial things.
“Just tell me what I can help you with” she continued.
“Well, as you know we are going to have a small Christmas party at home” he started explaining to her “and of course what Christmas party would it be without any presents?” He paused for a moment. Perhaps he waited for an answer from Akira or any kind of acknowledgement that she was truly interested on what he was saying but since she offered none he continued “I’ve already picked presents for the boys but I couldn’t think of anything I could buy for Saiko” at this point he lowered his voice a bit and gave Akira a shy look “I was thinking that since you are a woman you would probably have a better idea for Saiko’s present”.
Akira couldn’t find anything she had in common with that Saiko, aside from their sex. So she couldn’t fathom why she would be more appropriate to help him choose a present for the small girl. It would have been better if he had asked one of the rest quinx members to help him with that task.
Still she didn’t want to dismay him so she offered “Perhaps you could get her something to eat?” It wasn’t the best suggestion she had ever made, but every time she saw the girl at the CCG’S corridors she was always chewing something.
“But I’m already making a Christmas cake for everyone” Haise objected “No, food isn’t a good idea for a present. No,no” he added more talking to himself and then turned to Akira once again “Perhaps you have another idea, Akira-san?”.
He gave her a pleading look that made him look like a desperate puppy and because of that Akira found herself trying once again to find a solution to his problem. As they passed in front of a toy shop, she had an idea.
“You could get her a stuffed animal!” she told him with the confidence that she had found a good enough solution. “Isn’t she fond of cute things?”
“That’s an excellent suggestion!” Haise shouted with joy.” Thank you so much for helping me”.
He opened his arms and took a step forward, making an attempt to hug Akira to show her how grateful he was.But Akira was already taking a few steps backwards and had raised her hands to defense herself from any future hug attacks.
“What I have told you?” she said in a tone that resembled something between a teacher and a mother “No hugs are allowed!”
“That’s right” Haise ran a hand in his hair and lowered his eyes at his feet embarrassed “I’m sorry”.
Inside the shop, chaos dominated. Children were running through the corridors looking at the toys with a bewitched look and their parents were running after them trying to catch up with them. Akira was very careful not to run into any person. Haise wasn’t so lucky and he bumped a couple of times into people. Despite of walking in front of him, Akira could hear the embarrassment to his voice every time he ran into someone. She almost felt sorry for him.
In the end, they were able to reach their destination; a counter full of stuffed animals at every size and color.
“May I help you?’’ A clerk who had approached them from behind asked them. Akira was about to decline politely their offer but Haise spoke before her.
“Yes, please. We’re looking for a present for a very special girl”.
“Is it for your daughter?” the question was aimed at both of them, implying that the clerk thought that Haise and Akira were a couple. Haise’s face turned a bright red from his abashment. He turned his head to look at Akira’s direction hoping that at least he wasn’t the only one who was feeling awkward. But much to his disappointment she was able to maintain her calm expression.
“No, no. We are not a couple with kid” Haise moved his hands in front of him in a negative gesture “She’s more like my mo—“ Akira send him a death glare that made him stop his sentence in the middle and change his last word “ she’s my colleague”.
“Sasaki, I doubt the lady cares for our relationship” Akira whispered to him and then turned to the clerk “We will take the big teddy bear; the one with the blue shirt. Could you wrap it up for a gift for us?”
The clerk signed positively for which she received a ‘thank you’ from Akira. After the present was wrapped and Haise payed for it they finally left the toy shop; for which Akira was grateful. The loud voices of the children and the chaos that ruled inside the shop was starting to give her a headache.
Once they were outside the shop, Haise thanked her one more time.
“I’m really grateful for your help Akira-san. Without you, I’d be still searching for a gift” He would like to give her a hug as a sign of gratitude but his last hugging attempt was still fresh in his mind. So, instead he offered her a beaming smile.
“It’s okay, Sasaki. I didn’t do anything special and I lost the count on how many times you have thanked me already”.
“Perhaps I could help you pick presents for your loved ones since you did the same for me?” he offered hoping that she would accept his suggestion because he would really like to be as helpful to her as she was to him.
“It’s nice of you but I’ve already picked a present for Maris Stella” she politely declined his offer.
“Is she a friend of yours?” he had never heard about that person before. But then again, he hadn’t heard about any person from Akira’s personal life at all. That woman surely knew how to keep all her personal details to her own.
“Actually, she’s my cat” she replied making Haise to open his mouth in surprise. He had guessed that Akira was a cat person- after all she usually carried a cat strap with her. But he never thought that she would be the type of person to care for a pet. Still, it was nice to find out something new about her.
Haise thought that it was time to ask her a question he had on his mind from the moment they met up earlier that day.
“Akira-san” he almost made her jump with how loud he called her “Would you like to spend your Christmas day with me and the rest of the quinx squad? We won’t have any grand party or anything but we’ll still have fun”.
“It’s really nice of you to ask me to join you, Sasaki. But once again, I have to decline. I won’t be in Japan on the Christmas break. I’ll spend my holidays in Italy”.
“I see…” his smile disappeared from his face giving its place on a more gloomy expression.
“But I’m really grateful you considered to invite me” Akira was feeling a bit guilty for declining two of his offers in a row. And the fact that he wore a genuine sad expression didn’t help either.
“Thank you, Sasaki. I really appreciate it” she quickly added and offered him an honest smile.
Her smile had a positive effect on him. It made a small yet determined smile to re appear in his face.
“Then I guess I’ll give you your Christmas present today” he told her and took out a small packet from his coat pocket. As to confirm his words, he extended it towards her.
For a moment Akira was too shocked to react. She couldn’t even remember when it was the last time someone had given her a present. Surely, it was a long time ago; almost in a different life time. She stretched out her hands and took the packet from him.
“I hope you’ll like it” he told her with an anxious voice as she started to unwrap the present. Once the packet was open, it revealed a silver pendant with a single word engraved on it. This word was the affectionate nickname Haise had given her; mom.
“I know you don’t like this nickname but it means a lot to me” he tried to explain himself. “Because it’s a word I haven’t associated with anyone else, and that makes you a special person in my eyes”.
Normally, Akira would feel irritated that Haise was still using that nickname. She would yell at him and she could even give him a strong punch for that. But that would happen any other day. Not today. Because today Akira was feeling only touched by Haise’s gift.
Haise was waiting anxious for her to reach to her present. Knowing how much she disliked this nickname he was prepared for the worst. And yet her reaction surprised him.
“Sasaki, remember when I told you that no hugs were allowed?”
He expected her to say lot of things but asking him about her earlier banning wasn’t among them. Still, he gave her a positive nod.
“Well, I think we can make an exception this time” she told him and opened her arms.
That was all Haise needed to hear. Within a moment he had quickly approached her and closed his arms around her.
Normally, Akira disliked hugs. She couldn’t even remember the last time she happened to hug anybody. But Haise wasn’t just a normal person and neither was their relationship.
She raised her arms to return his hug and as she held him so tight she could feel his heart beating next to her own. It was a new sensation to her but it felt nice. It felt like someone was there for her and for a while she could pretend that she was lonely no more. Akira wasn’t a person who cared much for psychical contact; at least not anymore. But that moment she decided that it was alright once in a while to let herself be held by someone who cared for her and for whom she cared for as well.