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It was the first snowfall of the year in Seasoning City. That may have been putting it mildly. With the heavy flakes and the wind tossing them into people faces and piling them in corners, it was a blizzard. Anybody out on the streets had their heads down and their coats zipped up to their chin. But it wasn’t all bad. Anyone hoping for a white Christmas the following day was certainly going to get their wish.
Reigen was not one of those people. It wasn’t that he hated Christmas or anything, it just didn’t mean much to him. He didn’t have a girlfriend to spend time with and his parents had never done much for the holiday, so for him it was just another day. Most years he spent the night at home watching TV. Maybe he’d buy a treat for himself, but at this time of year he had a lot of last-minute bills and not much cash to spare.
Well alright, this year he might have had a little more spare cash. And that might have been the result of hiring an apprentice who could actually perform the job he advertised. And that apprentice may have completely turned his life sideways. In a good way. Heaven knows, it hadn’t been upright before.
So this year, rather than closing the office early and holing himself up in his apartment for the rest of the evening, he was out in this lovely weather. His hair was plastered with snow by this point (he had forgotten a hat of course), and his coat wasn’t nearly thick enough to keep the wind from blowing straight through the seams. He was freezing. Not that freezing, though. He looked behind him, having to squint since the wind was strongest in that direction. His student, Mob, was trudging slowly through the deepening snow on the sidewalk. His head was lowered and his hands tucked beneath his arms. At least he remembered his hat and gloves, though the collar on his neck was too short.
“Almost there!” Reigen called. The building holding his office was only a few doors away. Reigen probably should’ve checked the weather before taking Mob out for a bowl of ramen towards the end of the day, but it was too late for regrets. The wind shifted and Reigen had to put his own head down as he continued on. The flurries seemed to get worse the closer he got to the building. He nearly passed the entrance as he was protecting his face from the wind. He rushed to grab the handle, relieved that they would be inside soon. At the last moment he turned to check if Mob had caught up, but he saw no one.
“Mob?” He put a gloved hand over his eyes, keeping the ice away as he looked. The boy had passed the entrance completely and was almost at the other end of the building by now.
“Mob!”
Mob stopped then and looked back, blinking through the wind and flakes. Realizing his mistake he rushed back. The ground was icing quickly and he slipped as he was reaching the door. He practically crashed into the wall next to it.
“Oi, oi,” said Reigen. He caught Mob’s arm to steady him and quickly shoved him inside.
God did it feel nice to be inside. Even if it hadn’t been heated, being out of the freezing wind felt amazing. Reigen brushed the snow off his head and stomped it off his boots. Mob took off his cap, which was coated in wet snow. His nose, usually pale, was bright red, along with his cheeks. It was actually nice to see some color in his face for once, but Reigen didn’t mention that.
They headed towards the stairs. This late in the evening there weren’t many customers, and with the storm there were none at all. Reigen had just come back to close up. And maybe wait out the storm. He wouldn’t mind spending the night in the office if he had to, but Mob…Mob had a family. And plans.
“You gonna be able to get home okay?” Reigen asked his student when they had reached the upper floor.
“I can take the bus most of the way,” said Mob.
Assuming they’re still running, thought Reigen. Well, they’d figure something out when the time came. He’d walk him home if he had to, thought Reigen when he pictured his student trudging through the ice and wind again. He glanced at his real student who was digging snow out of his collar.
“Guess I should’ve given you your present early, huh?”
Mob stopped and stared at him. “…Huh?”
“Ah shoot. Did I spoil it?” said Reigen, his grin discrediting the disappointment of his voice.
They were in the office and had taken off their coats when Reigen dug around inside his desk and produced a brown shoebox with a red string tied around it. He pushed it into Mob’s hands without much ceremony and went to turn the electric kettle on. If there was ever a day for hot drinks, this was it. Mob sat in the office’s lone couch and stared at the package on his lap.
“Well, are you going to open it?” Reigen asked him after a minute.
“I, um…I didn’t get you anything,” said Mob, almost in a whisper.
Reigen leaned back against his desk with a shrug. “It’s fine. It’s not like I asked you to. And that’s the whole idea of a surprise, right? To be unexpected?”
Mob nodded. There was still a hint of sadness in his face as he pulled at the string, slowly untying it. He lifted the lid to reveal bright red fabric that was practically overflowing out of the box. It was knit with thick yarn looped in a pattern of tiny arrows going up and down and up and down.
“You needed a new one, right?” said Reigen. He waved his hand over the kettle to see if it was steaming yet.
Mob didn’t understand what he meant until he pulled out the present. It tumbled down into a long strip. A scarf. That’s right, Mob had lost his old one towards the end of winter last year and never got around to getting another. It hadn’t been cold enough for him to bother. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have bothered until his mom noticed and forced him to take a new one. The material was thick and it hung down to the floor and beyond.
“Oh right, forgot I had these,” said Reigen, distracted by his work with the kettle. He pulled out some hot chocolate packets he had grabbed ages ago. Was it weird to make hot chocolate in a tea cup? Well, whatever, he thought as he tore them open.
Mob sat quietly as Reigen worked on the drinks. He rubbed the knit cloth with his thumb, unsure of how he felt right now. His nose and cheeks were still biting from the cold so he held it up over his face. It was warm. So why couldn’t he feel happy right now? He hugged the present to his chest and stood up.
“Do you like it?” Reigen asked when his student approached him. The boy looked somber for some reason. “I can return it if you don’t,” Reigen continued. “I mean, I kept the receipt.”
The second Reigen had turned towards him, Mob stepped forward. He locked his arms around his master and Reigen flinched. They stood there, Mob holding on as tightly as his skinny arms could, and Reigen unsure of how to react. When it was clear Mob wasn’t going to let go yet, he patted his head awkwardly.
“Um…you’re welcome.”
Mob still didn’t let go. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. Reigen became more confused with each one.
“Hey Mob…did something happen?”
The boy tried to tuck his head further into the crevice between his own shoulder and Reigen’s. Reigen heard a sharp breath and felt the small body cringe against his. He hurriedly took Mob’s shoulders and tried to see his face, but it was buried within the hug.
“Mob, talk to me. Please.”
Mob shook his head. Reigen bit his lip. If he wasn’t going to tell him what was wrong, how the heck was he supposed to help? He stared at the top of his student’s head and exhaled.
“Okay, okay.”
Reigen returned the embrace. His arms practically engulfed Mob, the boy had contracted himself so much. He leaned over just enough so he could tuck Mob’s head beneath his chin. Mob finally relaxed his hold, but only a little.
“Thank you,” Reigen heard him mumble into his shirt.
Maybe he was just cold, thought a part of Reigen’s mind. He wasn’t convinced, but if this was all he needed...
“Yeah,” breathed Reigen. He shifted so his cheek was resting on top of Mob’s dark hair. “Merry Christmas, Mob.”