Reiko: Here's our Christmas present to the world, oro! Please enjoy!

Ororo: Have a happy Christmas and New Year, everyone.

Keiichi was walking towards the school through the snow, leaving footprints behind him. There wasn't any school today, but that was where he was going to meet with his friends to celebrate the day before Christmas.

"Keiichi-kun! Good morning!"

Keiichi lifted his gaze to a red-head girl in a lavender coat, standing in the snow with a cheery expression. "Hey, Rena. Excited for Christmas?" She nodded, her smile growing. Keiichi smiled as well, until a snowball hit him square in the forehead.

"Oi, Kei-chan! Stop flirting with Rena and hurry up!"

He groaned as he wiped the snow off of his face, and opened his eyes to see a girl with long green hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a dark blue coat that looked like it would be better suited for a boy. Keiichi stooped down to pick up a giant ball of snow, and then chased after the girl. "Mion, you little―! I'm gonna snowball the crap out of you!" And thus, Keiichi chased the laughing Mion all the way to the school as Rena ran after them.

Once they arrived at the school, Keiichi forgot entirely about the fact that more people might be expecting them there, and foolishly opened the classroom door, only to be greeted with enormous amounts of snow and glitter falling on his head.

A young blonde girl emerged from the shadows and appeared in front of Keiichi, who was on the ground because of all the snow. "Ohohoho! I'm glad you got my Christmas present, Keiichi!" Satoko laughed, standing with her hands on her hips in a pose of triumph.

Keiichi grumbled underneath the sheet of glitter and snow, until a small and warm hand was placed on his head. He lifted his gaze to the face of a young girl with long, violet-blue hair. She smiled calmly at him. "If I pat your head, the coldness of the snow will go away, sir."

Keiichi smiled feebly at this. "Thanks, Rika-chan…" he said, but really he was thinking, What kind of statement is that? The snow's still cold!

After getting Keiichi unearthed from the snow and tearing him away from Satoko, Mion addressed the group. "Alright, so to celebrate Christmas, my uncle is holding a special event at his toy shop! Santa will be there, and anyone who refuses to sit on his lap…" Mion put on an expression of pure evil, "Will have to play the penalty game!"

Keiichi cringed at this; the thought of having to sit on a creepy guy's lap was just sketchy. The others didn't seem to care all too much though. The walk to the toy store was rather long, since it was over in Okinomiya, but every step of the way was worth it and full of fun and snow.

The toy store was full of children, most of them even younger than Satoko, all of which were celebrating the joy of Christmas. In the back there was a small line of children waiting to sit on the lap of a rather young-looking Santa who had glasses and looked at though he attempted to stuff his red and white coat. Keiichi got into the line behind his four friends, not even attempting to hide his shame. He looked up at the odd Santa, and noticed a girl dressed as an elf next to him…but wait, Mion was in line right next to him, but the elf girl looked exactly like Mion….

It took a second for Keiichi to remember who it was.

The second Mion spotted the five of them in line and rushed over, a bright smile on her face. "Hi, guys! I didn't know that you guys wanted to sit on Ir—er, Santa's lap!"

Mion jumped backwards in shock when she spotted her look-alike. "Sh-Shion! What are you doing here? You don't work here!"

Shion shrugged. "I had nothing better to do, except wearing skimpy red and white costumes at the Angel Mort. So, Uncle let me work here."

The small child sitting on Santa's lap had jumped off, and now it was Satoko's turn. She was hesitant at first; she wasn't the type of person to trust adults. After taking a closer look at Santa for a moment, she walked forward and sat gingerly on his lap.

Santa's smile was larger and brighter than anything Keiichi had ever seen, and it wasn't a normal smile—in fact, it looked rather perverted. Santa laughed with delight as Satoko sat on his lap. "Hohoho, how are you on this lovely day, Satoko-chan~?

Satoko looked into the man's shining eyes for a second before saying, "Hi Irie-san. I thought you were going to Tokyo for Christmas."

Irie chuckled, fingering his white taped-on beard. "I was going to go, but I wanted to wish my darling Satoko-chan a merry Christmas! But, in any case, I need to continue on as Santa for now, so…what do you want for Christmas, Satoko-chan~?"

Satoko listed a few simple items that Keiichi knew was meant for traps, and then hopped off. Rika sat down, a warm smile on her face, but said she didn't want anything. Rena hopped on and squealed with delight as she asked for some more adorable plushies. Mion sat down next and asked for some more toy guns. Now it was Keiichi's turn, and he was flushed with embarrassment as he sat down gingerly on Irie's lap.

"H-hi…Irie-san…"

Irie laughed. "Hello, Keiichi! I'm surprised you decided to come; then again, I'm sure the others shanghaied you into this, huh?"

Keiichi groaned with depression. "I don't like this, so let's just please get this over with."

Irie laughed heartily. "Alright, alright…" his hand fell on Keiichi's hand, and Irie's smile widened. "Keiichi, has anyone told you how smooth your hands are~? I wish I had maids with hands like these…"

Keiichi fell off of Irie's lap and scrambled away, mumbling about "creepers" and "pedobears". Irie and the five girls that called themselves Keiichi's friends all laughed at his mental pain. The rest of the day at the toy store was spent with Keiichi in a rather skimpy Ms. Clause outfit with his friends laughing at him, Rena trying to take him home, and all of them playing games and buying last-minute gifts for one another.

/

The walk home was even longer this time, seeing how the night sky was getting darker. Keiichi was out of the maid outfit, because otherwise he would catch hypothermia and have his limbs chopped off due to frostbite. Now it was just him and Rena walking through the snow and on their way home.

Keiichi groaned as the scene with Irie kept replaying through his head. "Why does that creeper even bother with that, anyway? Getting teens to sit on his lap when he knows perfectly well that they don't believe in Santa? Sheesh!"

Rena stopped walking, and Keiichi took a few more steps before pausing and turning around. Rena's bangs were covering her face, giving her a scary and macabre look in the darkening setting. "Rena, what's wrong?"

Rena raised her head to meet Keiichi's eye contact, her eyes now like that of a demon. "You don't believe, do you?"

Keiichi stepped back with surprise. "Huh?"

Rena raised her voice. "You don't believe in Santa Clause, do you?"

Keiichi would have laughed if Rena wasn't being so god-damned creepy. "Well, no, I never have."

Rena chuckled, and then her laughter grew. "He does exist, he does exist! You don't believe him, but I do!" She threw her head back, laughing louder before suddenly stopping. "He'll stand over my bed at night…just like with other children…he sees you when you're sleeping, and he knows when you're awake…"

Keiichi was trembling with fear now; what was he supposed to do about this? "R-Rena, are you alright…?"

Rena caught his eye contact again. "Santa will show no mercy to children who have been naughty…he won't give them any presents, just coal…tell me, Keiichi, have you been naughty?"

Keiichi, not knowing what else to say, mumbled out, "No."

Rena looked at him with utmost anger. "YOU'RE LYING!" A cleaver appeared in her hand out of nowhere, and Keiichi did the first thing he could think of; turn around and run like hell.

/

"Ooishi, there's an odd report that just came in."

Detective Ooishi turned to his assistant, who had just hung up the phone. "What is it?"

"Rena Ryugu was chasing someone, and she brought her friend too."

Ooishi raised an eyebrow. "A friend? Keiichi Maebara, perhaps?"

"Ah…no. It was a cleaver."

Ooishi smacked himself in the forehead. "Oh well. Those stupid kids are probably just playing more sacrifice games again. Just let them kill one another, and it'll work itself out."

"Alright, sounds good."

/

Keiichi slammed the door behind him and pressed his back to it, sliding down its wooden surface. He had just nearly been killed by Rena, and his heart was pounding faster than lightning. He slipped his shoes off and walked up the stairs, not even bothering to get into pajamas before curling into bed.

He was just about to settle in for a long winter's nap when he heard something. He strained to hear it before realizing what it was.

Footsteps.

On the roof.

Rena was right.