The snow kept falling gently as the lone figure of Miki walked through the empty street. The redhead was never a big fan of crowds, so she made sure to stay away from the center of the town. The only problem was that walking usually didn't earn people money, and money was something she needed with urgency.
Miki, the Freak, looked up in the clear night sky. Her cousin, Snow Prima, said they should all get a job so they could put at least food on the table that night. But what could she do, especially in a night like that? Who would hire someone like her?
"If only I didn't have these marks," said Miki. She looked at the strange black lines on her arms and tights. They made her look like a robot of sorts.
Not only that, but her hair also behaved strangely. She had a weird hair antenna that appeared to have a life on its own. No matter how hard she tried to keep it down with various hair products, it always found its way to stand up in a spiral position. She swear that one time, when her cousin Rin was about to grab one of her cookies, her hair antenna slapped her in the face. Rin was so dazed by what just happened that she didn't have room in her brain for anger.
"I could always try working at a circus, but I need money now," she said, kicking an empty can away.
Not to mention she didn't quite know if the circus paid well. She needed to think harder.
"Hey, what are you doing?" asked someone from the door, snapping the two girls back to the real world. They turned their attention to the source of the voice and saw a young blonde boy sporting an eye patch made out of bandages. By his shoulder, a yellow canary chirped.
"Nothing, just telling a story," Sonika simply said. "What are you doing here, Oliver? I thought you were feeling sick."
"Yeah, sick of having to stay in bed all the time," Oliver pouted. "Everyone is having a good time downstairs and I'm here doing nothing."
"Then stay here and listen to the story Sonika's telling," Yuki said, sympathizing with the boy's boredom.
"Did she invent it?"
"Yes! How did you know?" the black haired girl asked.
"Oliver's already pretty used to my stories," Sonika said with a sheepish grin.
Oliver, once inside, closed the door and sat by Sonika's side. "What is it about?" he asked.
After explaining everything that has happened up until now, Sonika took a deep breath and continued the story from where she had stopped.
Miki continued walking, totally lost on what she was supposed to do to help her family. So lost, in fact, that she really had no idea in what kind of street she ended up in. It was a deserted dead end, not a single soul that wasn't hers in sight. She had better go back to the center of town before someone actually showed up. After all, she was very familiar with the stranger danger concept.
She turned around, ready to leave, when she heard someone calling for her from the shadows. Miki stood there, frozen in fear. It didn't matter that the voice sounded kind and gentle, she had no idea who that person was.
"Young lady, please, wait!" the voice called out again.
The redhead fearfully turned around, knowing that it was too late to ignore. The owner of the voice was a young man with a rather delicate and pretty face, snow white hair and the most captivating aqua blue eyes.
But what definitely stood out for Miki was his hair antenna. It looked just like hers! It didn't even look like he had styled it that way with hair gel. Miki was so happy to find someone who had a hair problem similar to hers.
Not that she trusted him yet. Oh, no, she would never. "But he looks like me! Sorta," Miki thought in delight.
"Yes? How can I help you?"
The young man smiled. It looked like a genuine and innocent one. "First of all, my name is Piko Utatane, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said shaking hands with the hesitant girl.
"I'm Miki Sato."
"I wanted to ask you a favor."
"Yes?"
"Well, you see, I work in an orphanage nearby, and tonight we have promised the children that Santa Claus would visit. And we do have a Santa Claus, but it would be nice to have an elf. You know, a helper."
"So… um…" Miki didn't know how to answer to that. She could already guess what he would ask her.
"You look like the perfect helper. Would you mind spending a few minutes giving presents to children?"
"H-Hey now, I don't even know you, and you definitely don't know me. I can be terrible with children," Miki said waving her hands in a negative gesture. "Besides, I need to find a-"
"I have the feeling you might be the person we've been looking for," Piko interrupted her, his smile never once fading from his face. "Oh, please, just imagine the happy faces of those children when they see Santa and his helper. They have almost nothing, the poor things. Here, I will show you!"
Piko grabbed her wrist before she could protest and walked off with her. Miki bit her lower lip, her sudden fear of that strange man coming back. But now it was too late and she followed him, for better or for worse.
"Miki could kick him in the knee and run," Yuki said, perplexed at how little resistance the heroine of the story showed.
"Or hit his back with her knee," Oliver suggested.
"Or karate-chop his neck with her free hand!"
"Or even-"
"But Piko wasn't a bad guy! He was telling the truth, he did work at an orphanage," Sonika said, trying to calm both children down before their suggestions started to get too violent.
"But how could she even know he was a nice person? How could she know he wasn't going to kidnap her?" Yuki asked.
"Have you ever heard of a hot person being a kidnapper? Hot people aren't criminals. That would be blasphemous."
"SONIKA!" both exclaimed in unison. What kind of lesson was that?
Sonika let out an awkward laugh and petted the children on the head. At least they were very aware of not trusting strangers. She was grateful for that, because she honestly couldn't ret-con her story now.
The two arrived at a very simple looking house. It was a rather big two story building, yet the paint job was lacking and the whole place gave a melancholic feeling. The front yard was lacking in greenery, yet Miki could see that the staff tried their best to make it somewhat presentable.
"We try what we can to repair this place, but we are always short on money," Piko commented as they walked. "You'll see that it looks better on the inside."
"I believe in you."
Piko guided Miki to one of the house's windows. The girl got closer and saw a group of kids playing in a well-lit living room inside. She felt a pang on her heart as she saw all those kids. Even with their clothes filled with patches and scarce toys, the all smiled and had that glimpse of hope on their eyes.
"We were hoping to give new toys and clothes to them," Piko said, watching the children by Miki side. "Those kids are so excited for Santa Claus, Miki, you have no idea."
Miki looked at Piko and then back at the children. It was Christmas Eve, time to do good deeds and help others. But she also needed money to buy food for her family. She didn't have the guts to ask if she could get paid for helping him. What would she do?
She wasn't going to get money in time, one way or another. Besides, her cousins were brighter than her. Miki was sure they would come up with something and get at least bread and cheese. Those kids didn't even have a family.
"I'll deal with everyone at home later," Miki murmured.
"What was that?"
"I mean, I will help you," the girl said. That certainly brightened up the white haired man's face.
"Oh, thank you, THANK YOU!" Piko grabbed both her hands, his blue eyes shining with glee. Miki's face blushed a little and let out a shy smile.
After a couple of hours, Miki was already wearing the itchy bright green elf clothes, while Piko sported a washed out Santa outfit and a fake white beard. The girl watched from the wall she was hidden behind the group of children reuniting in front of the orphanage's head principal, a woman named Meiko. The woman entertained the children while Piko finished putting all the presents on the big red bag on the wooden floor.
She let out a quiet giggle as she saw Meiko trying to quiet down the impatience of the children, without much success.
"Why couldn't Meiko be the elf?" she whispered to Piko.
"Meiko is not the best actress. And hiring someone now was out of question. It's Christmas Eve, who would work at this time?"
"Ha ha, what sucker would do such a thing?" Miki's voice was dripping with irony and sarcasm. So they WERE hiring. She had failed her family.
Piko didn't seem to catch on the sarcasm. "I mean, we could ask her to be the elf. But I think the magic would be lost if she did," he whispered.
"Uh, well, but why did you think I would be the perfect candidate for this?"
He innocently pointed at her hair antenna. "Your hair antenna looked exotic enough to make you look like an elf."
"Wow, ruuuude," Yuki said putting her hands on her hips.
"He wasn't rude. He was innocent," Sonika pouted.
"Sonika, stop defending Piko just because he is cute!"
Oliver rolled his eyes.
Miki didn't mind much the comment, because she wasn't easily offended like a little girl. Not to mention Piko had an antenna just like hers, so that little comment was a case of him not looking at himself in the mirror close enough.
Piko nodded to Miki as a sign that he was ready. The girl ringed the little bell in her hand, announcing the arrival of the two.
"HO HO HO!"
Miki couldn't help but smile at the joyful yelps the children gave as they saw Santa Claus entering the room. Their happiness was so genuine and innocent, that she almost forgot how mad she was at herself for not finding a job.
The orphans got up from the floor, each trying to get a grasp on Piko, who looked at Meiko with pleading eyes. The woman giggled and then proceeded to calm down the excited children, before they looked too much into the cheap Santa costume and realized who was there.
"Why don't we all sit down and let Santa and his nice helper give your presents? What do you think of that?" said Meiko sweetly.
Miki giggled silently as the excited children sat on the floor, eagerly waiting for them to be called. Meiko took out a list and called them by their names, one by one. The child would then sit on Santa's lap, talk to him for a few seconds, and then Miki would deliver their present. Some would just take it off unceremoniously from her hands and go back to their places, while others would thank her from the bottom of their hearts, or even hug her. It didn't matter, however, because the redhead felt happy. At that point, she didn't even care that she wasn't being paid. Only being able to help make someone's Christmas better made her, herself, feel better.
So much, in fact, that her hair antenna begun to swing like a puppy's tail. Miki's cheerful face immediately turned into one of embarrassment once she realized all of the children's eyes were fixed on her hair.
"Oh, no! Not now!" she whispered, trying her best to keep her hair down. "Stupid hair, why do you have to-"
Miki expected many things to come from that awkward revelation. Glares of shock, horror or just outright confusion from the children. What she didn't expect was to see a big smile splattered on their faces.
"Oooooh, this is so cool!" one of them chirped happily.
"Do it again, miss!" a little girl said clapping her hands.
"She really is an elf!"
Completely caught off guard, Miki released her hair antenna, which turned into an interrogation point shape. The children laughed, not a malicious one, but one of enjoyment and innocence. They really believed she was an elf because of her hair.
If they saw the strange markings on her arms and legs they would think she was a robot, but that was another story.
Feeling more confident and accepted, Miki continued her elf act through the rest of the night.
"Aw, that's sweet," said Yuki with clasped hands and a smile on her face. "I'm happy that Miki finally feels better about herself."
Oliver also felt pretty happy for the heroine, but he knew Sonika all too well to know that she had something reserved for Miki. Sonika wasn't one to give off normal and happy endings to her characters. In the end, he felt more torn apart than happy. He shouldn't be this invested, because now the tragedy would hit him harder than before.
Sonika's evil grin just proved his theory right. He didn't sign up for that.
"Thank you very much for everything. You were great there, Miki," Piko said as he and Miki were leaving the house.
The two had just finished giving the presents to the orphans and were back to wearing their usual clothes. They now were enjoying a quiet stroll around the entrance of the orphanage and Miki would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying it. Walking with Piko was nice and, for some odd reason, made her feel warm and at home. She almost didn't want to return to her family.
"Hey, Miki, can I make you a question?" the white-haired pretty boy asked.
"Hmm… what is it?"
"Could you tell me about your family?"
What an odd question. But Miki would humor him anyway. "My family consists of my five cousins. We live in a small house not that far away from here," she said as she kicked a small rock away.
"Oh, your aunt? No parents?" he asked
"Nah, never got to meet them," Miki shook her head. "I mean, I was adopted by my cousin, so I never got to meet my biological parents."
"Oh, is that so? Why do you call her cousin, if she technically serves as an adoptive mother?" Piko tilted his head to the side.
"It's mostly because of my cousins. They live with her and they call her cousin all the time, so I guess I just got used to calling her like this. For the record, they aren't my cousins either, but eh, that's how we live."
Piko stopped walking and looked straight into her eyes. Miki was a little thrown off by the sudden serious aura he was emanating, but tried her best to not show that.
"Miki, I have something I need to tell you…"
"You are a robot, Miki!" Sonika, trying her best to impersonate the boy's voice, declared proudly.
Yuki's jaw dropped, while Oliver's hands made direct contact with his face. What in the heck was that sudden revelation? Oliver knew it was coming, yet it was still painful.
"SONIKA!" Yuki yelled in frustration. "What is up with this… this…"
"I'm not fooling around, I'm being serious!" Sonika said raising her hands. "She really is a robot. Her name is Miki, the Freak, for a reason!"
"B-But that's so weird!"
"Mike, the Freak! You didn't expect someone with that hair and body marks to be a normal human, right?" she gave a sly grin.
"Tell us how the story ends already," Oliver said.
"Well, Miki got pretty confused, but Piko explained that she was an experiment from a foreign country that accidently ended up in Queen Neru's country after a trip they had done to analyze the way of life of its citizens. She ended up in an accident that messed up with her memory circuits," Sonika explained, not even bothered the glare of disbelief from Yuki. "And that he was there searching for her ever since they realized she had been forgotten there. Now she could finally go back home!"
"But why was he taking care of orphans then?" Oliver asked.
"Piko was also a robot. He was programmed to help and do well to others, and those children had a really hard life before he decided to help them."
That story threw such a curveball that Oliver just got up and went back to his room. He was pretty sure his fever got higher after hearing something such an asinine explanation. Sonika didn't even bother trying to make him stay, as she knew Oliver, one day, would still ask her to tell a story again. She was pretty sure that kid was in a masochistic relationship with her ingenious storytelling.
It was only a matter of time until he came back.
"Don't know why he's so mad. I did leave a huge foreshadow hanging there," the green haired pouted childishly.
As for Yuki, she gradually softened up to Miki's story conclusion, but one more question bugged her. "What did she do, then? Did she go back home?" she asked.
"Duh, of course! It was better than staying in that decadent country and continue being poor."
"Why did I even think it would be different?"
"I promise this next one will be a little more normal."
"Who's next again?"
"It was the one and only Iroha, the Fangirl. Queen of dying obsession and avid Hello Kitty collector."
Originally I wanted Miki to be an alien, but then I thought robot was more like it. And I'm actually more satisfied with the robot explanation, even if that was still ridiculous. /o/
Also, I couldn't call her SF-A2 Miki, so for some reason I gave her the surname Sato. I don't even know if that's a real word, I just put it there because it was the first thing that came into my mind when reading "SF-A2".
