"This is dumb. Are you serious, Nozomi?" Nico sat back in her seat, crossing her arms in a clear show of non-compliance. Across the room, six pairs of eyes held conflicting opinions, all weighing what Nozomi had just suggested. She may have been the all-knowing Mother of Muse, but not everyone had the same enthusiasm.
Umi was the next to speak up. "I hate to agree with Nico..."
"Why does everyone have to agree with me reluctantly? Screw you guys, seriously."
"... But she does have a point. This is not exactly your most feasible plan, Nozomi."
"Aww, Umi-chaaaan!" Honoka pouted, fixing the blue-haired girl with her best pouting face. "Where's your Christmas spirit?"
"Yeah, nya!" Rin chimed in, jumping over to join Honoka for a pouting duet. "It's the season of giving!"
"Maybe it's time we told her." All eyes turned to look at Eli, who gave the rest of the group a sympathetic smile. "I know how some of us feel about it, but she is at university now. Don't you think she's a bit too old for this?"
"Elicchi, how could you?" Nozomi gasped dramatically, faux-fainting into Eli's lap and getting herself a hard eye roll from Nico. "The innocence of a young girl is at stake!"
"Pfft, since when have you ever cared about someone's innocence?" Nico rolled her eyes again when Nozomi stuck her tongue out, letting her head loll back against the chair and let out a groan. "Can we just take a vote or something?"
Nozomi had called the rest of Muse in for what she had said was an 'important meeting'. Well, important was clearly a subjective term, because Nico felt this was not nearly important enough to keep her from doing, well, anything else. The focus of this 'important meeting' was, as it turned out, the one member that wasn't there that day. Since when did Nozomi start caring about Maki's innocence?
Poor, sweet, innocent Maki. These were not words Nico would ever use to describe the rich, cynical, and caustic redhead that somehow, inexplicably, was in university while still believing in that children's fairy tale known as Santa Claus. Wasn't she supposed to be smarter than that? Of course, now that she was living away from her parents, there would be no 'Santa' to put presents beneath her tree. It would be nearly a decade late, but Maki would finally join the rest of them in reality.
At least, that was until Nozomi gathered them all to suggest collectively being Maki's Santa and leaving presents under her tree. Nico didn't even want to count all the flaws inherent with this plan. There had to be at least, like, two. Besides, she was too lazy to enable Maki's childish beliefs.
"Alright then. All in favor?" Five of them - Nozomi, Honoka, Kotori, Hanayo, and Rin - all raised their hands. "And opposed?" Three hands - Eli, Nico, and Umi. "Well then, I guess we're in agreement!"
"Bullshit! This is rigged." Nico now directed her attention towards Eli. "Eli, control your girlfriend. You know that this isn't a good idea."
"Well, I know..." Eli glanced down at Nozomi, still lying dramatically in her lap. She gave the blonde a big smile, and the rest of what she was saying died off into quiet, nondescript mumbling.
"Ugh, you're so useless, I swear." Nico pushed her face into her palm, shaking her head in annoyance. "I guess we always knew who wore the pants in that relationship."
"Oh Nicocchi, I don't wear pants when I'm with Elicchi."
"That's enough out of you."
"Y-You know how much Maki-chan loves Christmas, Nico-chan." Hanayo spoke up for the first time that day, wringing her hands shyly when everyone turned to look her way. "Sh-She would be crushed if it all wasn't true."
"Yeah, Nico-chan! Don't be a Grinch!" Honoka and Rin both jumped onto Nico's lap, causing the chair she was sitting in to tip over and send the three Idiots falling to the ground.
"Karma's a bitch, Nico-chan." Rin nodded sagely.
"Sh-Shut up. You did that on purpose." Nico rubbed the back of her head, unable to get back up due to having two excitable gingers lying on top of her. "And I am not a Grinch! Ugh, fine, fine! We'll enable Maki-chan! But don't come crying to me when you have to pry a thirty-year-old doctor off of Santa's lap before someone calls security."
"Yay Nicocchi!" Nozomi sat up and clapped her hands, while Eli and Umi just looked at each other with worried expressions. What in the world were they all going to have to do?
"I am not doing this."
"C'mon Nicocchi, you look cute!"
"Absolutely not."
"Y-You... pfft, you look g-great, ahah, Nico-chan!"
"See?! Honoka's laughing at me!"
"At least you can breathe."
"Shut up, Eli, you... you giant!" Nico sighed deeply, the action causing the bells hanging from the sides of her hat to jingle in a mocking chorus. The things she had to do for these people. "And why does my hat have bells? Do you want her to wake up?"
"It just completes the outfit, don't you think?" Nico grabbed the hat off of her head, ripped the bells off with her bare hands, and threw them at Nozomi. "Nicocchi, that wasn't nice!"
"You made me an elf!" She felt absolutely ridiculous in this stupid elf getup. If she had to participate, why did Eli get to be Santa and she had to be a freaking elf?"
"It suits you!"
"I hate you so much." She stomped her foot on the ground, another jingling reaching her ears. "Why are there bells on the shoes?!"
After tearing off the second pair of bells and throwing them at Umi - who wasn't able to hide her laughter in time - the group of girls made their way to Maki's dorm, trying to be as silent as possible so they wouldn't have to explain why they were trespassing on university grounds. Now that Nico thought about it, this wouldn't have even had to happen if Maki hadn't been so stubborn about staying on campus for the winter holiday. Was her need to show off her independence really worth putting Nico through all this effort? No.
Once they reached the door, Umi pulled an inactivated credit card from her pocket and started to pick the lock. She had been given a choice by Kotori: either break the law by picking the lock, or be Santa. Umi chose wisely. It didn't take long for the latch to give in, and as quietly as she could, Umi opened the door just a crack.
"Alright you two, all you have to do is go in," She pointed to the small sack hoisted on Eli's shoulder. "Put the presents under the tree, then get out. Nozomi, Honoka, and I will be out here waiting." Eli and Nico both grumbled their agreements, then silently they slipped into the dorm. Luckily, they didn't have to wander around in the dark due to the big honking tree sitting in the center of the room, brilliant lights strung all over it.
"How would Santa even get in here?" Eli whispered, looking all over the room. "There's not even a chimney in here."
"Are we really discussing how Santa deals with chimney-less kids?" Nico hissed back, tugging on Eli's sleeve. "Just put the damn presents under the tree and let's go!" With a nod, Eli gently set the sack on the floor and both her and Nico started grabbing for the few presents inside and placing them beneath the tree. "I can't believe we personally bought and wrapped presents for a rich girl."
"Quit complaining, Nico. Look, we're done, alright? Let's just get out of here and you can complain at home."
"Fine, fine-" The lights turned on. Eli and Nico froze, slowly standing up and looking towards the switch, where a certain redheaded girl, clad in her pajamas, was staring at them curiously. "Ooooh fuuuuck..."
"S... Santa-san?" Maki's eyes lit up with excitement, and Nico thought her heart might just explode from how adorable she looked. No, no, she had to focus. They were in trouble, big trouble, unless they somehow got out of this. She looked at Eli desperately, hoping that 'Santa-san' had something up her sleeve.
"H-Hello there, Maki dear." Dear? "I've heard you've been a very good girl this year." Okay, now Nico was sure she would die of embarrassment. This kind of talk was always guaranteed to send Maki into a blushing fit. What the hell was Eli doing?
"Oh yes, Santa-san! I've tried to be extra good this year!" The strength it took for Nico to not burst out into peals of laughter would have put a bodybuilder to shame. Extra good. Uh huh. She was sure that, if Santa was actually real, he would not be so quick to believe those words if he'd been watching Maki the entire year. Nico specifically remembered when they were all swimming over the summer and her top had gotten washed away by a particularly perverted wave, and when she'd tried to get Maki to help her, she had to nerve to suggest that Nico just get out of the water and walk to her towel! 'Don't worry so much, Nico-chan. It'd be just like a guy walking around shirtless.' She deserved to be buried in coal for such a cruel remark about Nico's chest... deficiencies.
"Ho ho ho, so I've noticed!"
"Please kill me," Nico muttered under her breath. She looked back at Maki, who was now giving them a funny look.
"Santa-san, you seem... skinnier than usual." Both of them froze.
"O-Oh, well, y-you see, Mrs. Claus got me a P90X for Christmas. She can't keep herself away from those infomercials, you see."
"You know, for an extra nice girl, you sure are skinny-shaming Santa right now."
Maki's eyes widened and she stuck up her hands defensively. "I-I'm sorry, Santa-san! I d-didn't mean to!"
"It's okay, Maki dear." Eli put a hand on Nico's shoulder, giving it a nice, bruising squeeze. "Don't pay any mind to my elf here. I'm just showing her the ropes."
"You're also going to rip my arm off- Ow!"
"Well, we had better get going." Picking up the sack, Eli dragged Nico towards the door. "Lots of good little boys and girls need their presents too."
"Th-Thank you, Santa-san!" Maki watched the two of them head for the door, eyes shimmering in the dark with unmitigated joy. Why wasn't she ever that happy to see any of them? Nico tried to think of something else to say about that, but she was pushed out the door before she could, stumbling into the wall as Eli waved to Maki before closing the door.
"Well? How'd it go?" Umi whispered as they all took off down the hall.
"We are never doing that again!" Nico retorted indignantly, bursting through the door and immediately hopping up and down. "Ahh, it's cold! Cold!"
"I think Nicocchi was really happy to see Maki-chan again."
"I think you're cruisin' for a bruisin'."
"Just get in the car," Umi huffed, forcing them to stop their bickering and jump in the car. Nico was just happy that there was warm air blowing on her shivering arms.
"On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer-"
"Nozomi, I swear to God I'm putting you in the trunk."
They all met up for dinner at Maki's dorm, each of them bringing something to eat, along with presents to swap. Maki was in very high spirits, even turning a blind eye for once when she caught Nozomi and Rin sneaking in alcohol. Not even an hour in, Kotori had dipped into the sauce and was rapping some oddly-specific and perverted lyrics with Nozomi to a clearly-flustered Umi. Using that as a distraction, Nico grabbed Maki and pulled her off to her own room, where they could be alone.
"Hey, Maki-chan, so, uh..." Shifting the hastily-wrapped present under her arm into her hands, she held it out for Maki. It had been a bitch to wrap, but it was the best she was going to get. "Here, I got this for you. Merry Christmas, or whatever." Raising an eyebrow, Maki took the present from Nico and gave it a soft squeeze.
"It's not going to blow up, is it?"
"Why would it blow up? What the hell do you think I got you?" Maki merely shrugged, gently tearing the wrapping paper off to reveal the contents within. Inside was a large stuffed bear with a green and red bowtie, bequeathed with a star right in the middle. A santa hat had been stitched on its head, and written on one of its feet were the words 'Merry Christmas'.
"N-Nico-chan..." Maki's eyes widened at the bear, then up at Nico, who was looking pretty smug.
"I thought you might like it. The great Nico Nii always knows-" Her words were cut short by the presence of a soft pair of lips pressing against her cheek. Blood immediately rushed to the area as it was her turn to stare wide-eyed at an equally-blushing Maki, who gave her a soft smile.
"Th-Thank you, Nico-chan. I love it."
"Y-Yeah, no... No problem." Hugging the bear tightly, Maki walked out of the room, humming to herself. Nico decided to just stand there and look at the wall like an idiot, blinking and opening her mouth without any idea of what to say.
"Looks like she liked her present, Nicocchi." Nozomi wandered into the room, smiling at her dazed friend.
"Yup."
"Was all this worth it, then?"
"Yup." It suddenly seemed worth it ten times over. "Next time though, you're the elf."
"You're such a cute elf though, Nicocchi."
"Santa must leave you with nothing but coal, you witch."
"Wanna know what Elicchi got me for Christmas?"
"Nope."
Nozomi sidled up right next to Nico and whispered in her ear, "I could show you exactly what it was right now..."
"Nope! Nope! Stranger danger!" Nico turned right around and bolted from the room. "Eliiii, keep your girlfriend on a leash!"
"Other way around, Nicocchi."
"N-Nozomi!" Nico really needed some saner friends.