What welcomed Dante as soon as he stepped inside the Dancing Fox were unfamiliar songs and glittering lights. It was no longer just the storefront but even the inside was covered in those colourful blinking decorations. Lucy was seated behind the till, wearing a casual jacket and reading from a dull-looking brown book. Since the shop closed early she apparently had nothing better to do.

“I was half expecting you would bail,” She only raised her head when she heard the door shut behind Dante and immediately grinned.

“What are you reading?” Null didn’t react to the joking taunt.

“Bones,” she replied, looking back down.

“Is that like a detective story?” Dante guessed.

“No, I am reading literal bone names,” Lucy laughed and turned the book around, there, taking up both pages was a skeleton with way too many tags, “Need to learn all this by heart by the end of the holidays, though I don’t mind it all that much.”

“Dante, you came!” though before Null could retort, Pete’s voice interrupted their dialogue, “I see you managed to figure something out. Leave the presents over there for now,” he pointed towards a heavily decorated plastic tree already surrounded by a 9 wrapped up boxes.

“Lucy, since we are already all here, let's gather around,” by the time Null was done putting things down another voice sounded behind him. By elimination it had to be the shop owner Karl, a man around the same age as Pete though far better dressed in a proper suit-like uniform, looking a bit like a classy butler. It was a bit hard to tell with him whether the situation was formal or if he just didn’t have any other clothes in his closet though. Perhaps rather than more sensibly dressed, Karl was doing a different flavour of Pete’s insane shirts.

What came next Dante could only describe as a tidal wave of eccentric traditions he could hardly understand. First they held hands and sang along with a choir from the DVD for about 2 long songs. After that came a toast, Pete and Karl enjoyed wine, while Null wasn’t even offered alcohol and Lucy refused, citing something about ‘willingly drinking poison’, so the two of them just had juice.

Next, they all sat around the table and ate carp with potato salad, carefully prepared by Karl who was good enough to be a professional chef. Well, he kind of was. Dante didn’t know carps even lived in the area and apparently they didn’t. They had died out because of a large factory built upstream had killed them all off with a chemical leak 50 or so years before but the local tradition hadn’t died out so ever since then carps would be imported specifically for the holidays from overseas.

Next were supposed to be prayers which Dante skipped out with certain discomfort. After all, basically the only 2 things he knew about the Messiah were that he was worshipped as a religious figure and that a bunch of madmen were in the habit of executing people in his name. While Pete also didn’t join in, Karl and Lucy seemed to be exceedingly diligent, taking 3 full minutes of closed eyes and unintelligible whispers. But then, it was finally time for the presents.

“As a newcomer, you should begin,” Lucy reckoned towards Dante, “Choose one of your presents and give it to the person it’s meant for. Witty remarks are encouraged.”

“In that case, I will do this,” Dante reached for the largest of his packages beneath the decorated tree, “This one is for Pete. I thought he would like it.”

“Is this what I think…” Pete’s eyes widened a bit as he felt the items inside and he quickly unwrapped it.

“No way!” Lucy burst out laughing the moment she saw the shirt without time to even properly inspect it, “Absolutely no way!”

“You told him?” Pete was smiling quite wide as he looked at Karl.

“I didn’t,” Karl couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore and also burst, “Which makes it so, so much better.”

“You really hit the jackpot with this,” Lucy managed to stop laughing for a moment to congratulate the rightfully confused Dante. She had actually teared up and had to sit down from all the intense laughter.

“What exactly did I do?” Null could not bear it any longer and asked.

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“Dad and Pete have a long ongoing personal tradition, from long before I was even born,” Lucy reined herself in as she explained, though her breathing was still a bit ragged, “Every year, Dad would buy Pete the ugliest, most unappealing shirt he could find all year long.”

“Thank you, Dante,” Pete chuckled, “At first I wore them out of spite but eventually I actually started to like them. Wearing a funny shirt puts people off their guard.”

“Wise words, though what Dante found might also put them off their feet,” Karl chuckled once more.

“Alright, enough fun at my expense,” Pete eventually tried to stop the father-daughter duo from constantly giggling, “This one is for you, old fox,” he said as his hands grabbed the by far biggest box and handed it over.

“It’s light,” Karl commented and carefully cut the upper layer of wrapping with a pocket knife. Dante realised he did not notice Karl ever reach for it nor open the blade, though the mood was too good to think about something like that.

“It’s another crate,” Lucy burst out laughing again as she stared over her father’s shoulder. Indeed, inside the wrapped box there was another one. So Karl took out the smaller box and cut the tape, perhaps already expecting what would come next.

“Did you give me a cheap matryoshka?” Karl looked at Pete with a feign hint of annoyance as another taped layer appeared.

“If I told the truth you wouldn’t have to be careful while cutting the tape,” Pete chuckled at his own prank and Lucy with Dante couldn’t help but join in. Five boxes later and Karl actually found something that wasn’t a piece of cardboard.

“This is the same model as your old hand watch,” Lucy exclaimed a while Karl remained quiet, “I thought they no longer make them since long ago.”

“They don’t,” Pete puffed his chest, “But when I heard that your broke I had meticulously searched and found an antique store that had them in an immaculate state.”

“Thank you,” Karl eventually said, no longer smiling. In fact, Dante saw his eyes glitter with emotion, “You know how much these mean to me. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“What wouldn’t I do for you, old fox?” Pete patted him on the shoulder, giving Karl an understanding smile.

“Me next,” Lucy proclaimed after giving the two a few seconds and took a wrapped square from beneath the tree, “Dante, since you seem to be always oblivious to so many things, I got you this,” she handed him the thing. Full of anticipation, Dante unwrapped it, finding a book titled Society for Dummies - What an oblivious tourist needs to know.

“Thank you, this is great,” Dante said with a large smile. That actually sounded extremely useful. He could finally stop spending energy on trying to figure out every single little nuance of society on his own and instead read up on most of them.

“I am up next then,” Karl smiled and picked up a relatively small present. When Lucy unwrapped it there was a piece of paper neatly placed and folded inside.

“What is this?” Lucy looked over the document, “Wait, is this a rental agreement?”

“You are going to intern at a hospital for your next term, right?” Karl smiled, “So I figured, rather than making you commute for 20 minutes every morning, I discussed with one of your professors and rented you an apartment right next doors.”

“How will you run the shop without me?” Lucy immediately asked.

“Stop thinking about your old man for once,” Karl smiled, “Spread out your wings and fly. Moreover, with your help I have way too much free time anyway. I could really use more workload around here.”

“Thank you,” Lucy smiled and hugged her father for 5 full seconds.

“I am stealing your thunder for the next round,” only Pete’s words stopped the moment as he picked up another present, looking at Dante, “I find it admirable that someone from your generation can live without a phone, though I think they are so convenient, not using one is almost a waste. For now, I managed to strike a bargain on a SIM card with unlimited calls and data.”

“Thank you,” Dante was once again overjoyed. He had wanted to get on the internet he had heard so much about but he just had little to no idea how since most internet providers for whatever reason seemed to also want a proof of identity before selling. Getting an actual phone would not be too difficult. About 20 passed through his hands just that month after all.

“I am pretty sure phone providers don’t let you haggle,” Lucy eyed Pete while Dante unwrapped the box.

“They do if you wear a funny shirt,” Pete chuckled.

“Me next,” Karl took charge and looked at Pete, “Though you already know what is coming,” he didn’t even pick the item up, instead he pointed at it with feigned disgust in his face.

“Dante totally beat you this year,” Lucy grinned as she investigated the shirt Pete had just unwrapped. It was ugly but nowhere near as hideous as Dante’s.

“I am not sure that is the kind of competition I want to win.” Null sighed, though there was still a smile on his face.

Throughout the rest of the evening, Dante felt increasing warmth in his chest. He no longer felt like an escaped guinea pig but as a real person. As someone who had a place to belong. Later Karl actually gave Null a relatively new smartphone. Both Karl and Lucy also liked his presents. Even after everything was given to the new owners the group sat around a table and enjoyed the company. Although not traditionally exciting, to Dante it was his first night to remember.