“Merry Christmas!”
Reina exclaimed as she threw herself at Annabelle and Kiria before the two could even make it through the doorway, embracing them in one of her patented hugs.
“Merry Christmas to you too, Reina!” Annabelle replied. “I’m so sorry we’re late! My father wouldn’t let me leave the manor until the guards finished killing all of the evil snowmen on our lawn.”
“There were a lot more than last year,” said Kiria, taking hold of Annabelle’s coat and hanging it in the closet along with her own.
In her other hand were two small packages wrapped in colorful paper, which she gestured towards Reina. “Where should I put the pre-?”
She didn’t get to finish speaking, however, as Reina snatched the gifts and dashed away, half giggling and half screaming out that she would put them in the “Secret Santa Pile”.
Kiria and Annabelle continued further into the house, entering a bubble of voices produced by the other attendees of the Christmas party, most of whom were dressed in the agreed-upon ugly sweaters, with the two exceptions being Cain and Ryuna, who appeared to have picked sweaters that were actually legitimately stylish and not even remotely hideous to the eye.
Zeo and Lance were the first to notice the two girls enter, offering a wave at them as the former said, “Hey, ladies! Kept us waiting, huh?”
“Evil snowmen,” Kiria stated before pulling out a chair and offering it to Annabelle. “There might be another wave in this area in a few hours. Walk home in pairs tonight.”
Both blond boys turned their gazes to Annabelle, although for entirely different reasons. Zeo offered a smile and nod, while Lance had a bit of a frown on his face, stating, “I thought your mom was coming?”
Annabelle shook her head. “Oh, she decided not to. She couldn’t decide on a Secret Santa gift that wasn’t really, really expensive, and she didn’t think that would be fair for everyone else.”
Lance’s head dropped. “Oh….I see….”
Rocky, seated to Lance’s right, dropped his hand onto the young man’s shoulder. “Maybe next time, kid.”
[THE ELVEN WENCH WILL NOT BREED WITH YOU, MORTAL. KNOW YOUR VALUE: TRASH.]
Rocky reached for the key around his neck, giving it a flick. “He can’t hear you, Rak.”
[I AM AWARE OF HOW THIS WORKS, YOU OAF!]
On the other side of the living room, Ryuna stretched her arms above her head. “That’s everyone, right? Can we get started? I’m starvin’.”
Reina, the host of the party, skipped to the center of the room, clapping her hands together. “Okay everyone! Before we eat, we’re gonna start with Secret Santa!”
Tyger raised a brow in surprise. “What? Is Reina actually prioritizin’ somethin’ before food?”
With a smile, Kiria said, “Reina loves Christmas.”
“So!” Reina exclaimed with another emphatic clap, racing over to the corner of the room, where a pile of gifts sat beneath a Christmas tree. She closed her eyes and reached into the pile, grabbing hold of a present at random, yoinking it out. “Let’s see who gets to open their gift up first!”
She flipped the package over and her eyes immediately jumped to the label. “Ooh! Kiria! This one’s for you!”
She tossed the decently-sized box over to Kiria, who blinked in surprise. “Oh, thank you.”
All eyes were on Kiria as she tore open the present, although Kizzy’s gaze occasionally jumped away sheepishly.
When the wrapping was gone, Kiria popped open the lid of the box, and pulled forth a pair of motorcycle riding boots.
“Whoa, those are pretty cool,” Zeo commented.
Agreeing, Kiria nodded. “You’re right, they’re quite nice. I could definitely use an upgrade. Thank you to whoever got me these.”
With a smug smile, Ryuna leaned back in her chair, her eyes sliding over towards Kizzy. “Yeah, I wonder who got you those? They seem like a real sweetheart.” She stopped the teasing when Kizzy pinched her leg with more power than she thought Kizzy could ever muster.
“Okay! Next present!” Reina announced, grabbing hold of a gift that was very obviously a glass bottle. “This one is for Meifang!”
“Gee I wonder what it could be,” Meifang said.
Across the room, Zeo shrugged. “Sorry. Didn’t have any boxes to pack it in.”
“You absolute buffoon,” said Cain, folding his arms across his chest. “These were supposed to be anonymous gifts.”
“Oh, crap! I’m sorry!”
Meifang shook her head, laughing all the while. “Don’t sweat it, kid. Thanks for the gift.” She completed the unwrapping, expecting a bottle of wine or something along those lines, but when her eyes took in the label, they widened. “Holy shit….”
“Ooh is that wine?” Ryuna asked. “Can I have some?”
“It’s not wine, actually,” Zeo clarified. “It’s actually-”
He was interrupted, however, by Meifang’s reading aloud of the label. “Shunrei Spring Soda….Wow….”
Upon hearing the word “soda”, Bianca awakened from her nap, sitting up and poking her head around the side of the couch, a fact which prompted Annabelle to jump and scream in surprise. “Soda? Now we’re talking!”
“Soda? Ridiculous,” Cain stated. “There’s no nutritional value in it. It’s garbage that doesn’t belong in the body.”
“Not this soda,” Meifang said. “Shunrei Spring Soda helps your chi flow more clearly, plus it tastes like fucking heaven. I used to drink it all the time back when I was a teenager, especially with….N-nevermind. Damn, I thought they stopped making these ages ago?”
With a shrug, Zeo said, “Maybe? My brother had it lying around in the apartment and he said I could bring it as a gift. I’m glad you like it!”
Meifang slowly returned to her seat, her eyes still on the label. “Yeah….thanks kid….”
The next gift was for Rocky, and it turned out to be a pair of fashion sneakers. “Whoa, nice! These look gorgeous!”
Lance held his hand up. “I made sure to get one in size 12, and one in size 14, too! Merry Christmas, man!”
Cain scowled. “These are supposed to be secret, you fools.”
[YOUR FOOTWEAR COMES IN UNEVEN SIZES? WHAT IN THE BLAZING HELLS IS WRONG WITH YOU?]
“When I woke up and broke off of the stone I was born in, I kinda tripped over myself and lost a chunk of my left foot,” Rocky answered, holding both of his feet up to reveal that the left was indeed a bit misshapen. “So my left shoe’s always gotta be smaller.”
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
[YOU TRIPPED?! YOU BLUNDERING-!]
It seemed that all pretenses of the gift givers being anonymous had been thrown out the window, as everyone began to proudly declare themselves the providers of the gifts.
Reina personally skipped over to Kizzy and sat beside her as the girl opened up her present. It was a stuffed unicorn toy that she was too embarrassed to admit she was in love with, but she had no choice but to hold it tightly as Reina threw an arm over her shoulder and took a selfie of the pair on her phone.
Bianca didn’t actually outright declare that she was the one who had gotten Cain his gift, but that was more so because she didn’t need to, as her gift was an autographed photograph of herself. She explained that one day, when Bianca was world famous, that autographed photo would be worth quite a lot of money. Cain practically tossed the thing away, declaring that it was useless to him as he would become even more famous than her, and thus have no need for the money he could potentially sell the photograph for. Ryuna secretly swiped the photo and tucked it into her wallet.
Immediately after, Bianca received her gift, which turned out to be from Kiria: a pair of decent headphones, along with the explanation that the headphones were for Bianca to use at work so that when she was watching porn at her desk, she wouldn’t force everyone around her into that awkward scenario any longer.
Tyger was the next to receive his gift, and the first in quite awhile to actively be excited about his, as it turned out to be a pair of limited-run SHIELDERON boxer briefs.
“Holy shit, no way!” he roared, so excited he jumped out of his chair. “SHIELDERONDIES?!”
With a giggle, Annabelle said, “M-Merry Christmas, Tyger. My mom got them when she went to a Gunmetal Robo convention and said you might like them.”
“They’re awesome!”
Ryuna cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hey, put ‘em on!” From across the room, Meifang offered her wholehearted agreement.
Unfortunately, Tyger did not end up stripping down in order to put his fancy superhero undies on, and simply sat back down so the party could continue.
Reina was jumping up and down in place as she noticed her name scribbled onto the wrapping paper. “Oh! Oh! Oh! This one’s for me!”
“Merry Christmas,” Rocky said as Reina tore into the gift wrap like a beast tearing through the flesh of its prey. “Hopefully they didn’t go rotten.”
[WHY WOULD YOU GET A GIFT THAT COULD ROT, YOU IDIOT?]
They did not appear to have rotted, to the relief of everyone in the house. “They” being the assortment of sweet, bright red fruits packed into the box.
“What are those?” Lance asked, craning his head over to get a closer look. “Apples?”
Rocky shook his head. “Nah, there ain’t any apples in there. They’re all red cuz they’re from the Rosso Woods.”
“Oh my gosh, they look soooo yummy!” Reina declared before immediately chomping into one. Red juices exploded out, splashing her cheeks, as well as the pile of wrapping on the floor around her. By some miracle, none of it seemed to have managed to hit the carpet. “Oh my gosh, they are soooo yummy!”
“I’ve never seen fruit that red before,” Zeo noted before turning to face Rocky. “What are they called?”
“Goreberries.”
“….”
With Reina distracted by the berries and making too much of a mess to continue leading the Secret Santa party, Kiria opted to step in and get the final round of gifts out.
The first was actually a gift bag from some designer store that went to Zeo. “Uh, you sure this is for me?” he asked, chuckling as he noted the very girly packaging. “Ha, I’m just joking. I’m excited to see what it is!”
It turned out to be….a set of lacy, bright pink lingerie.
Meifang clapped her hands. “Okay, put that on!”
Ryuna smiled, nodding in Zeo’s direction. “Technically it’s for Annabelle, but I still consider that a gift for you.”
Both Zeo and Annabelle’s faces went redder than the goreberries, and neither could say a word.
With a scowl, Kizzy pinched Ryuna’s leg again, whispering harshly into her ear, “They’re not together!”
“They’re not?”
Kizzy shook her head.
Ryuna pursed her lips for a moment in thought, then shrugged. “Well, then, I guess you can give it to whoever you do end up with. Merry Christmas, dude.”
Zeo scratched the back of his head. “Th-thanks….”
The next present appeared to be the largest of the bunch, packed in some sort of thin box that measured several feet long. “This one’s for you, Lance,” Kiria said, carrying it over to him. “It’s a bit heavy.”
“Oh, no kidding,” he remarked as she transferred the gift over to him. “Is this….a sword or something?”
Meifang smiled. “Wow, you got x-ray vision or something?”
It was indeed a sword, but not just any sword. It was-
Cain fell backwards in his chair in absolute shock before jumping to his feet and scurrying over to Lance in the blink of an eye. “I-is that the Chrono Falchion?!”
“Mm….that sounds kinda familiar. Yeah, let’s go with that!”
Lance raised a brow at Cain, who was looming over his shoulder so closely he might as well have been a conjoined twin. “You recognize this thing?”
“How do you not?! What kind of swordsman is unfami-?!”
Tyger growled. “Dude, if yer gonna nerd out about it then just fuckin’ explain what it is!
Though he narrowed his eyes at Tyger for his interruption, Cain ultimately relented, for he never let an opportunity to lecture anyone about anything slip through his hands.
“The Chrono Falchion is a legendary relic. It was retrieved by the Five Heroes after they defeated a monster from another world.”
Face brightening in recognition, Meifang chirped in with, “Oh, yeah! The Timeosaur! Man, good times. Good times.”
“Giving it away as a Christmas present is absolutely ridiculous!” Cain spat, but everyone else in the house had seemingly decided to collectively ignore him and continue on with the party.
And continue on with the party they did, as Kiria provided the final two presents to their recipients — Ryuna and Annabelle.
“Y-you can open yours first, Ryuna,” Annabelle said.
“Who’s this bad boy from?” Ryuna asked, shaking the box beside her ear. “It’s pretty light, but I can hear something jingling around inside.”
Tyger raised his hand. “That one’s from me.”
Ryuna turned the package around in her hands. “Did you wrap it, too? You did a really good job, dude.”
“Course I did. Why?”
Nodding in agreement, Kizzy stated, “It looks like those perfectly-wrapped presents in movies and stuff. Look, he even tied the ribbon nice, too.”
Zeo reached over and patted Tyger’s back. “Aw, that’s our Tyger. Baking, cleaning, hair styling, gift wrapping; what can’t you do, big guy?”
“P-piss off! Or yer ass is gettin’ thrown into outer space!”
Ryuna carried on tearing open the wrapping paper, and then sliding the lid of the box off. “Whoa, you got me nunchucks?”
“Not just any nunchucks!” Tyger said. “I got you the gunchucks prop used in the Gunchuck Dragon movies!”
Cain rolled his eyes. “How are you not ashamed of yourself for liking things with ridiculous names like that?”
“Awesome, dude! Thanks, Tigger!” Ryuna jumped up to her feet, twirling the weapon around in her hand. “How do you use these? I’ve always wanted to try them.”
Tyger stood up and moved beside her, helping direct her stance and positioning. “It ain’t too hard. Just hold it like this, and….”
“Like this?”
“Yeah, you got it. So just-”
“WAHCHAH!” Ryuna whipped the nunchucks around with speed and power, almost nailing the motion in her first ever attempt; a testament to her natural talent as a fighter.
….She also ended up, er, thwapping Tyger right in the balls.
As he crumpled to the floor in pain and Ryuna and Kizzy knelt down to check up on him, Kiria pat Annabelle on the head. “And last but not least….”
Annabelle carefully opened the gift, preserving the wrapping as best she could (although she did require some assistance from the built-in knife of Kiria’s cyberizer arm to cut the tape).
Underneath the wrapping paper was a sturdy wooden box with beautiful engravings canvassing the lid, although the script appeared to be in a language completely foreign to her.
“Wow, this looks beautiful!” she said.
Reina, having finished up the last of the goreberries, jumped onto the couch beside the elven girl. “Ooh, fancy! Check what’s inside!”
The box was sealed with a latch that, upon being released, caused the box to slowly and satisfyingly open like a treasure chest.
“Ooooh,” Annabelle and Reina cooed in harmony.
Inside were neat rows of tiny gemstones of a variety of colors, each one radiating a soft light that bathed the entire interior with a rainbow sheen.
Kiria’s eyebrows curved up as she took in the sight. “Forcestones?”
Hearing the word, Annabelle perked up. “Oh! Forcestones! D-does that mean I can use ULTRA Force with these?!”
Nodding, Kiria reached into the box and picked out a gem of blue light that was almost certainly attuned to water particles. “Yes, these are definitely proper forcestones. They’re really small, so they won’t be dangerous or anything, but there’s quite a few different kinds. Maybe it’s some kind of beginner-level sampling box?”
“Annabelle has mentioned wanting to try out using ULTRA Force, right?” Zeo inquired. “Sounds like the perfect gift for you, then, ahaha!”
“D-did you get this for me, Zeo?”
“No, I pulled Meifang’s name, remember? I got her the soda.”
“Oh, r-right!”
Kiria was suddenly stricken with a sort of….sixth sense. A sense that compelled her to stare across the room at a certain man who had remained uncharacteristically silent when the girls were questioning what the gift was. A man who certainly would have felt the need to jump into the conversation and provide a detailed description of the contents of the box, the purpose for each and every forcestone found within, and maybe even a few sentences about how foolish it was to not immediately recognize the engravings on the lid.
In fact, Cain wasn’t even paying attention to Annabelle, having chosen to instead pretend to be occupied with the wounded Tyger squirming around on the floor, all while sipping his tea.
With the Secret Santa gift giving completed, Reina was more than happy to announce that it was now time to dig into the food and enjoy the rest of the holiday night together.
[https://i.imgur.com/x0ZOCRs.png]