Nobue
It's impossible, thought Nobue. No one could travel all around the world in one night, stopping at every person's house... There's just no way.
Nobue, ten years old, decided to point this out to her parents. She approached her mom one day she was making dinner.
"Oh, hi Nobu-chan," said Nobue's mom. "I'm making curry."
"Mom," said Nobue. "How can Santa Claus fly all around the world in one night?"
Nobue's mom looked startled. "Well... Santa is magic, so he can go as fast as he wants."
"Well how can he fit all the presents in his sleigh?"
"Santa's sleigh is really big."
"How does his sleigh fly?"
"Santa's reindeer have special powers."
"I don't think that's scientifically possible," said Nobue.
Nobue's mom sighed. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart."
Nobue decided to look up her questions online instead. She turned on a computer and searched for, "How can Santa Claus fly all around the world in one night?"
Nobue got many search results that were obviously full of lies. She finally got to a site where there was an article titled, "How to Tell Your Child Santa Claus isn't Real".
Nobue was confused. "Santa's not real?" she whispered. She clicked on the link to the site and read the article, her eyes growing wider with every sentence. When she finished reading it, she leaned back in the chair, trying to sort out her thoughts.
So... there is no Santa Claus? Well, I guess I should've known... My parents lied to me? Why would they do that? Nobue thought. A lot suddenly made sense, actually. Wait... does that mean Mom and Dad also eat all the cookies? No fair!
Nobue felt rather disappointed.
Then she heard a knock on her door. She flinched, and quickly exited out of the window. "Come in," she mumbled, just loudly enough to be heard.
Nobue's little sister, Chika, came into the room. "Hi Onee-chan," she said cheerfully. Then she noticed Nobue's... unusual... expression. "Um, is something wrong?"
"I'm fine," said Nobue, but it was clear by her tone that she wasn't.
"Okay..." said Chika. "Well, Mom wanted me to ask you if you've written your letter to Santa yet."
"No, and I'm not going to," said Nobue.
"Huh? Why not?"
"Because he won't even get it," said Nobue.
"Why wouldn't he?"
"Don't worry about it."
"But Onee-chan-"
"Don't worry about it."
Chika went to go tell her parents Nobue didn't want to write a letter to Santa Claus. They both looked concerned.
That evening, Nobue's dad knocked on her door. "Nobu-chan?"
"What?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, whatever."
Nobue's dad walked into the room, where Nobue was spread out on her bed, lazily flipping through pages of a manga she'd read a million times.
"Nobu-chan, why don't you want to write a letter to Santa-san?" Nobue's dad asked.
Nobue looked away from her dad. "Because Santa doesn't exist."
Nobue's dad sighed, trying to think of what to say. "Sweetheart... Santa will always be real in your heart."
"But he's not real! You and Mom always put the presents under the Christmas tree! Right?" Nobue tried to hold back her tears.
"Nobu-chan, you're growing up," said Nobue's dad. "And you should be mature enough to realize that whether or not Santa is real doesn't matter. Santa is real to a person who believes. And that's why it's absolutely important that you don't tell Chika-chan about this."
"I guess not," said Nobue, sniffling. "I don't want her to feel as awful as I feel."
"Good girl," said Nobue's dad, patting her gently on the head. "Chika-chan is still little. Let's not spoil her dreams."
Nobue nodded. She felt a little better knowing that she was holding an important secret. She felt grown-up.
And then she felt a lot better.
苺ましまろ・苺ましまろ・苺ましまろ
One afternoon when Nobue got home from junior high, she was about to walk into her room when she heard crying coming from Chika's room. She opened the door, and saw her six-year-old sister Chika sitting on her bed crying.
"I'm home," said Nobue.
"Oh Onee-chan, is it true that Santa-san isn't real?" Chika cried out. "It's a lie, right? He is real, right?" Her voice cracked on the last word.
Nobue looked at the ground, trying to decide what to say.
And that night, Nobue snuck though Chika's bedroom window to deliver a special gift.
She also fell off the roof.
Chika
A girl in Chika's class had told her Santa wasn't real. Chika had been putting her coat in her cubby at the time.
Chika's first instinct had been to defend Santa Claus. "No, Santa is real!" she said. "My parents said so, and they know everything!"
"Well your parents are liars," the girl said.
Chika felt hurt.
That day at recess, Chika and Miu were playing hopscotch.
"I just don't get it," said Chika. "Of course Santa-san is real. Why would anyone think otherwise? You believe in Santa Claus, don't you Micchan?"
"Yeah," said Miu. "But you know, Santa Claus isn't all that great."
Chika was confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well he never gives me the right presents," said Miu. "I asked for a traffic light, and he gave me some flashlights. So then I asked for a hot spring, and I got bath salts. Then I asked for a sumo wrestler, and he gave me a sumo wrestler costume."
"Well those are unusual presents," said Chika.
"Yeah, I guess so," said Miu. "Anyway, this year I'm gonna ask for a huge mountain. Do you think he'll get it right this time?"
"Well I don't know," said Chika. "But I don't think he could fit it in your house..."
"Oh, he can just leave it in the backyard if it's easier for him," said Miu.
When Chika got home from school, it was time to put up the Christmas tree.
"Yay!" said Chika. "I love doing this!" She pulled a handmade ornament from her backpack. "We made these in school today."
"Cool," said Nobue. "That'll look nice on the tree."
"I would've put more glitter on it, but Micchan was taking all of it," said Chika. "You should see hers. It's really sparkly."
Nobue smiled.
"Hey Onee-chan," said Chika. "Why don't you write letters to Santa anymore?"
Nobue was hesitant to answer. "Well... because when you get older, you're not supposed to write letters to Santa anymore," she said carefully, trying to be honest without spoiling things for Chika.
"But then how does he know what you want?" said Chika.
"He has to start guessing," said Nobue, unable to come up with anything else.
"Oh..." said Chika.
苺ましまろ・苺ましまろ・苺ましまろ
When Chika was ten years old and still believed in Santa Claus, Nobue went to talk to her parents. "Shouldn't we tell her now?" she said. "I was ten when I found out."
"I suppose so," said Nobue's mother. "How about you tell her?"
Nobue looked nervous. "Oh, I don't know... I really don't want to be the one to crush her dreams."
"Crush her dreams, eh?" said Nobue's father. "She has to know eventually, right? Maybe it would be more comforting to her if her big sister told her."
"I never wanted her to find out," said Nobue quietly. "She could be really upset. How will she take it? And how will I know what to say?"
"It'll come to you," said Nobue's dad. "Just don't make it seem like a bad thing."
But it is a bad thing, right? thought Nobue.
The next day, when Chika got home from school, she had tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" said Nobue.
"Onee-chan, everyone at school says Santa isn't real," said Chika.
"I see..." said Nobue nervously.
A tear rolled down Chika's face as she suddenly blurted out, "They're so mean, Onee-chan! Santa is real! Santa is completely real!"
Nobue looked down, sighing. "Chi, I need to talk to you about something."
"What?" said Chika.
"I'm going to tell you a very important secret that you can't tell anyone. I'm telling you this because you're a very big girl and I know I can trust you with it. Dad told me this when I was your age, and so now I have to tell you," Nobue explained.
Chika looked confused. "Okay, I can handle it. What is it?"
"Well, you see..." said Nobue. "Remember how I don't write letters to Santa anymore?"
"Yeah," said Chika. "Are you gonna tell me why or something?"
"Yes," said Nobue. "It's because... I don't believe in Santa Claus anymore."
"Huh?" said Chika.
"Look, you have to look at it as part of growing up," said Nobue. "Santa Claus isn't real, and you'll just have to accept that. It doesn't change anything. Mom and Dad will keep getting the presents for us, as they always have."
"You mean everyone at school is right?" said Chika.
"Well... yeah..." said Nobue.
"So... there is no Santa Claus?"
"That's what I said."
"Oh..." said Chika. She stared at the ground.
"Are you okay?" said Nobue.
"Yeah," said Chika. "Like I said... I can handle it."
Nobue smiled, ruffling her little sister's hair.
After Christmas, when school started back up, Chika and Miu walked up to each other at the cubbies.
"My present was terrible," said Miu. "I never get the right thing!"
"I got everything I wanted," said Chika. "Maybe you should ask for more reasonable things."
"I guess I'm gonna have to," said Miu. "Santa isn't going to visit me anymore."
"Huh?" said Chika. "What do you mean?"
"I got a note saying my parents would start to give me my presents," said Miu. "Santa Claus was a fake."
"I know right?" said Chika. "Nobu-nee-chan told me he's not real."
"No one told me, but I figured it out," said Miu.
Then Chika's ears picked up the sound of crying. She turned around and saw a girl in her class, standing by a group of students who were laughing at her.
"You still believe in Santa?" said one boy. "What a baby."
"I'm not a baby!" the girl said, shaking.
"Hey!" said Chika. "Leave her alone!"
"But this girl believes in Santa!" a girl said.
"Let her believe," said Chika. "I mean, why not? Do you really need to ruin everything for her by telling her Santa isn't real?" Chika got the crowd to go away and then talked to the girl.
"Are you okay?" Chika asked.
"Yes," the girl said. "Thank you. They're bullies."
"Yeah," said Chika. "It sure is mean to tell someone Santa isn't real."
"Yeah, they're liars too," said the girl. "Of course Santa is real. He has to be."
"They're all gonna get coal for Christmas," said Chika.
The girl giggled. "Yeah."
"So what's your name?" said Chika.
"Matsuri," said the girl. "Do you want to be friends?"
"Sure," Chika said with a smile.