Advent


Day 7 – 18 days to go


Present Panic I


At break Kyoko could be found at her now usual break spot. Well, if people new about her break time spot they would be able to find her.

She had wondered if anyone else wondered where she went off to. Kanae did seem to give her a weird look every time she rushed off and came back but she hadn't followed.

She instinctually knew that Kyoko needed some time apart from everything.

Either that or she was glad of a break herself.

It was the second day of decorating the two girls had to do and Kyoko had thrown herself into the job with even more gusto today than she had done yesterday.

A feat in itself.

But mainly it was because she felt bad about leaving Kanae to decorate by herself the next couple of days.

That, and the fact that she had completely forgotten about having this afternoon off.

It wasn't as if she had meant to forget; only that she had asked for the time off so long ago that it had completely slipped her mind.

She was aware on the fringes of her memory that she had thought of it recently but at the moment her mind was a blur of tinsel.

This was the reason that ha fuelled her desire to decorate today.

And decorate she had.

As such nearly three quarters of the building were decorated. Kyoko had rushed around most of this morning like a mad woman, streaming tinsel and mistletoe behind her like in a tornado-esque whirl.

People had actually dived out of her way when they saw her coming.

If they saw her in time.

This was why she was sitting down now taking her break.

Yesterday she had completely forgone her morning and afternoon break. And by default so had Kanae.

But today, as she had spent so much energy, she actually needed a break to catch her breath.

And that was where she was now.

Sitting, surrounded by mistletoe and wreaths of holly that had somehow become attached to her and wrapped head to foot in a large string of golden tinsel, which, every now and then, she would stroke absentmindedly.

She was thinking about what she was going to do on her afternoon off.

Now that she had her list it was just a matter of working out whose present to buy first.

That and figure out what to get Ren.

She had spent all of yesterday thinking about it. Mulling it over when she was decorating. Even then Ren's perfect Christmas Present was still a mystery to her.

After the third headache she had decided to give the pondering a rest and sleep on it.

It wasn't as if Christmas was tomorrow anyway. She still had plenty of time.

A thought swam its way into her consciousness.

Hadn't Kanae said something about leaving early?

Kyoko thought harder, trying to remember what she had been told.

Slowly the memory became unclouded.

Yes! That was right!

It had been yesterday as they both had been decorating the tree. Kyoko had asked what Kanae was going to be doing over the Christmas holidays and Kanae had said that she was leaving a week earlier to go with her family to a cabin in Hokkaido to spend Christmas there.

She hadn't sounded very pleased when she had said it.

Well, that threw off all Kyoko's plans.

She had thought to give everyone their presents at the Christmas party. But if Kanae was going home a week early she wouldn't be there.

That meant that Kyoko would have to buy, wrap and give Kanae's present to her before everyone else and before she left.

This was becoming slightly complicated.

No matter!

At least what she was doing this afternoon was sorted now.

Checking her list Kyoko saw that she would be looking for a piece of jewellery; a bracelet or perhaps necklace. Something to show her that she was special to Kyoko. But nothing too expensive, Kyoko didn't have enough money to buy something expensive for everyone.

She stopped stroking her tinsel and took out her pen instead and circled Kanae's name. Then catching the time on her watch she rushed off back down to find Kanae again. It was time to fit as much decorating into one and a half hours as she possibly could.

This afternoon she was going shopping.


The streets were busy with shoppers even though it was only early afternoon. Kyoko had rushed off as soon as her lunch break had started; only pausing to say a quick goodbye to Kanae.

As such she hadn't had anything to eat yet but she wasn't hungry.

She was too excited to be hungry.

Filled with a warm glow she had started her search for the perfect present straight away. She had planned to just look at the jewellery shops but found herself sidetracked by all the pretty lights and decorations hung up in the shop displays.

So far it had taken her an hour to travel the length of five shops.

None of which were jewellers.

Sighing, Kyoko wondered if other people got distracted like this when they were out shopping.

After she had finished 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' at the last display, which looked exactly like all the others, she paused and reviewed her mental list.

Buy Moko a piece of jewellery.

That was it.

And it wasn't as if it was hard or anything.

She put back her shoulders and strode down the street, purposefully ignoring any and all window displays.

She lasted two minutes.

Half and hour later and she was still standing on the same street. She hadn't done anything yet she was still exhausted.

Deciding to take a break she spied a small coffee shop a little ways down. Quickly making her way over to it she entered. A blast of hot air hit her as soon as she opened the door making her realise how cold it had actually been outside.

She had been so distracted that she hadn't actually noticed.

Ordering a hot chocolate she sat down by the window to drink. As she thawed from the inside out she tried to set her priorities straight.


Despite this it was another hour before Kyoko found herself in her first jewellers of the day. By this time it was pushing three o'clock and she was feeling slightly frazzled.

The attendant looked slightly worried but pasted a smile on her face anyway.

"How may I help you this afternoon?"

Kyoko looked at the display in front of her.

"I was looking for a bracelet or something for my friend."

The attendant's smile became genuine as she found something that she could deal with.

"Well all our bracelets are over here."

She pointed to a tray at the far end of the display and they both moved down to have a look.

Arrayed on the tray were twelve bracelets, some gold and some silver with prices ranging from the moderate to the six figures.

Kyoko looked over them with a critical eye…or what she believed to be a critical eye. She was actually looking for something pretty and in the moderate price range.

Finally her eyes settled on a beautiful golden bracelet that was seven delicate butterflies linked together and it was exactly in her price range.

Kyoko's face broke out into a huge grin and she pointed to the piece. The attendant followed her gaze and pointed to the bracelet.

"Yes, that's the one."

Gently picking out the jewellery the attendant turned to Kyoko.

"Would you like that gift wrapped?"

Kyoko thought for a minute. It would be a lot easier for her if she got the gift professionally gift wrapped and not have to spend a lot of time on it tonight when she needed an early night.

Tomorrow she would start filming.

"Yes, thank you."

Five minutes later Kyoko had parted with her hard earned money but was one present up. She pulled the slightly crumpled list from her pocket and with a flourish that was wasted on passers-by she crossed 'Moko' off.

One down, seven to go.

But for now it was enough. It had already gotten dark and she still needed to get home.

Making sure her present was tucked safely away she started back.

She had an early start in the morning.