Tomato's Unexpected Xmas Present
Chapter - 1
'I'll make sure that little imp won't be able to laugh at me anymore!' you said to yourself in frustration.
It was a cold afternoon at the end of December, the last day for school right before the Christmas and New Year holiday to be exact. Normally most of students would go home with joy. Unfortunately it wasn't the case for you as a sour look is plastered on your face.
Your feet stomped almost violently, shoes against the solid pavement. You walked in silent because you kept your mouth tightly shut. But from your frown it was clear that you were deep in your own mind, taking much of your focus and almost made you slipped thanks to the wet road after last night's snow.
Lucky for you, you managed to keep your body's balance at the last seconds. Thus, preventing you from falling onto the ground and wetting yourself. It won't be funny if your mother sees you wet when you later after all.
Now to the main question... Why did you look this grumpy like this?
oOo
Everything started when your practice session with your group had ended around thirty minutes ago.
"Says Maki-chan, you looks really happy today. Is there something good happened?" A raven haired girl asked you after the practice.
"Ueeeh?! I-it's nothing Nico-chan!" You replied, surprised by the sudden question.
"Oh! Is that true, I wonder." the smaller girl replied with a teasing tone. A sly grin formed on her lips.
"I-It's nothing, really!" you protested.
Despite your voice's volume rise in response to Nico's tease, you actually didn't mad at her at all. You're already getting used to the girl's behavior. To tell the truth, sometimes you find it odds and even kind of miss this talk when the smaller girl choose to stay silent and don't start any conversation with you at all.
But you would never admit it to yourself though.
"What makes you think I feel happy today?" Feeling curious, you asked her. And without you realized it you averted your gaze from her.
"Well..." the smaller girl continued. Her pair of ruby irises stares deeply into your eyes.
"..." you kept silent, waiting what would Nico say next.
"You seems to smile a lot today, Maki-chan."
"..." your mind was processing what the raven haired girl just said
One second passed...
Two second...
Three...
'Eh?!' you flustered out of sudden as the realization hit you. Your face slowly turned as red as your hair.
You don't expect that she would notice it, let alone saying it bluntly in front of you and the others.
"People smile when they're happy. So, there should be something good, right?" Instead of teasing, this time her words sounded sincere.
You only nodded as a sign that you agree to the smaller girl statement, face still as red as tomato.
"So, mind telling this great Niconii what makes the usually grumpy Maki-chan smiles a lot today?" Nico went back to her teasing mode less than several seconds after that only to get a protest from you.
You actually planned to keep it for yourself at first, but it was too late for you. What Nico had said made the other seven getting curious, even to the rate of Rin went hugging and rubbing her cheeks against yours to make you spoke.
"Nya! Tell us please, Maki-chan!"
"Alright, Rin! I'll speak! I'll speak! Just stop rubbing your cheeks against mine!" you defeated.
And then,
"Well, you see..."
"Tomorrow is Christmas..."
The others gave a small nod.
"That means Santa will come tonight, right?! I wish that I will be able to meet and thank him for every presents he gave me for those previous years..."
"I have been a good girl this year, I even cleaned the chimney in my home yesterday for tonight..."
"Unfortunately I always fall asleep at night when I wait for him to come." you said honestly and innocently
"..."
Burst of laughter could be heard from a certain smaller girl not long after that.
oOo
'Seriously, why did I tell her?' you murmured to yourself again before noticing that you had arrived at the front gate of your home. Decided to let it slide for now, you opened the gate and went inside.
"I'm home..." you said while entering the living room. A decorated Christmas tree could be seen near the sofa where you and your parents usually sat and talked each other when they had time.
'...' Only met with silence.
"Mom?" You tried to call once more while your legs bring you to the kitchen where your mother was usually at around this hour.
You found no one in the kitchen.
You walked out of the kitchen. But before you could do so, you noticed that there was a small note on the table.
'Dear, Maki-chan.'
'I'm off for a while to help your father with his work. We'll be back after we finished.'
'p.s. I've prepared your favorite for dinner in the refrigerator in case we're late. Just put it into the microwave to heat it.
'p.s.2 Be careful not to burn our kitchen like the last time, okay?!'
'Take care, honey!'
'Mom'
"It seems that I'll spend the night by myself." you mumbled to yourself before putting back the note onto the table and checked the refrigerator for your dinner.
oOo
You went to your room and slept after you finished with your dinner.
You sighed for a moment while your slender figure rested on the soft bed. You thought that today wasn't a good day for you. You closed your eyelids, hoping that you would fall asleep soon.
'Perhaps, tomorrow will be better...' you thought.
.
.
.
.
.
THUD!
'What was that?!' you opened your eyes, surprised by the voice you had heard just now. You gazed to the clock on your table, checking how long you had fell asleep.
'2 o'clock in the morning' you made a mental note while contemplating what should you do next. There should be no one awake at this time. Even if it was your parents, it's kind of impossible for them to cause such noise.
You carefully moved yourself from the bed, deciding to go out from your room to check what caused the noise. You didn't forget to take a broomstick from the storage near your room in case you need to protect yourself. At least it's better than nothing.
You carefully walked in the corridor, barely see anything thanks to the turned off lamp. You carefully tiptoed to the living room first, assuming that the thud was actually coming from there.
"Phew... I'm done here finally. Almost messed up thought."
"Well, at least I don't wake her up I think."
Silently reaching the living room, you noted that your assumption was right, a voice could be heard from the living room.
To make it worse, you recognized the voice wasn't belong to anyone you know in your home. Not even your parents' nor the maids' that work here.
Beads of sweat fell from your forehead while you brought yourself closer to the living room. It was clear that you were afraid as your grip on the broomstick you were holding got tighter. You noticed that there was a moving silhouette near where the Christmas tree was.
"Who's there?!" you shout, one hand reaching for the lamp's switch and turned it on.
You prepared yourself in case it was really a burglar or such. You were ready to swing the broomstick on your hands to hit the silhouette you saw before as hard as possible, only to be stopped midway by what was reflected on your violet irises.
Red hat...
Red boots...
White thick beard...
"S...Santa-san?!" you said, mouth agape. "I... I didn't know that it was you. I'm sorry!" there was excitement in your voice. What you believed is true, you were right. Santa is real.
The white bearded man in front of you staggered, probably because he really didn't expect that he had wake you up.
on a positive note, at least you didn't think he's a suspicious person.
"Ohohoho. Yes, it's me!" Santa said.
"I come to bring you some present, because you behave well this year." he continued before handing you a present from the sack she brought.
"Thank you very much, Santa-san!" you accepted the present from her with gratitude.
"Also, I'm sorry because it seems that I accidentally woke you up." he said. "I'll make your wish come true as an extra present in exchange, but only one wish."
"R-really, Santa-san?!"
He nodded.
"Can you go with me and meet my friends? I would like to tell them that you're actually real." you said in excitement. Oh, you couldn't wait to show your friends that you were right. Even you couldn't resist to imagine how smug Nico's expression would be when she found out that you are right.
"Only that?" Santa asked back, he clearly surprised by what your wish is.
"Y-yes, Santa-san..."
"I thought that you would ask something more complicated." the bearded man said. "Something like love thingy related, especially judging from how triumphant your smile was" he continued.
"Y-you mean?" You asked. You didn't get what he mean.
He laughed a bit before continued.
"What I mean is, don't girls your age usually have crush on a boy or something like that? I'm surprised that you didn't ask to make someone you like fall for you instead."
Blood rushed to your head as your brain digested what Santa-san just said. "C-crush?! I don't understand what are you implying Santa-san." you said in denial.
There was no way that you could fall for a boy, especially since the only male you know well is your own father considering the school you attend is an all-girl school.
"Crush..." you murmured to yourself once again.
And then somehow an image of a certain raven haired girl flashed in your mind, turning your face redder than before. 'What did you just think, Maki?!' you cursed yourself.
"Oh so you did have a crush... Although it's not a boy, I see... your senior at school eh?" You looked surprised that he is reading your mind.
"Alright! It's decided then! I'll make her fall in love with you." Santa-san said. For a moment you could see a grin flashed on his face, a sly smile that reminds you to Nozomi.
"Wait-"
"So, have fun starting tomorrow, and see you next year, Maki! Hohoho..."
You wanted to protest, but he already turned himself into sparkling dust and vanished.
You tried to reach him with your right hand, but you failed. Your hand only reached for thin air before you lost your balance and you feel your body was falling.
"W-WAIT!"
THUD!
You opened your eyes, finding yourself on the bed in your room. You stared onto the clock once again. It showed eight past five in the morning.
"A dream..?" you murmured. You decided to let everything slide and moved your body a bit, only to realize that you couldn't do so. You just noticed now that something was coiling around your body and much to your surprise, the things coiled around your body were actually someone's arms and legs. Someone turned your body into her bolster to hug... in your own bedroom.
"Ehehe... Maki-chan, good morning nico~!"
"Where's the daily morning kiss for Nico?"