Miku opened her phone she stared at the screen as she was waiting to receive a message from Luka. She was about to leave her house and meet her at the plaza.
"Gumi, I'll be leaving to my part-time job." She announced as she put on her boots.
"Oh, okay." Gumi replied, turning towards Miku as she was reading a magazine in the kotatsu. Miku put her scarf on and opened the door. It was cold outside and it was beginning to get dark. Luka would be waiting in the plaza, presumably. However, when Miku arrived in the over-crowded plaza filled with food stands she wasn't able to stop the girl anywhere. She waited in the middle where there was a fountain, there were some lights inside it which made it look very impressive. The plaza had a variety of Christmas decorations hanging and there was also a Christmas tree in a corner. Miku sighed; it was so cold that her sigh took the form of a small cloud. She stared at it. It felt lonely and Miku wasn't planning to get upset again because of Luka. She wanted to be calm and composed. In fact, many things had changed since last Christmas. Miku had become more cheerful and confident. Miku looked down at her boots. She smiled, thinking about how much she liked them. At that moment she heard steps of someone running. She lifted up her eyes. Luka was standing in front of her, bending her waist and holding her knees, panting.
"A… are you okay?" Miku asked baffled.
"Oh, yes. Sorry Miku-chan, I'm late." Luka smiled uncomfortably. She sighed and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Let's go to the shop, we must get our uniforms." She said.
"Oh, right." Miku agreed and followed Luka. "Oh umm… Luka-san… Why didn't we go to the shop from the very beginning?" She asked curiously.
"Oh well… that's…" Luka started. "It's the first time I come to this plaza with my motorbike so I thought it would be better to try and find it before going there to work. Since you were going to help out anyway, I figured you could wait here and then we could go together to the shop, do you mind?" Luka asked, smiling.
"No, not at all." Miku replied, smiling back.
"Good." Luka grinned. When they were next to Luka's motorbike she sat on and started it. "Get on." She instructed Miku. "And wear this." She gave her a helmet. Miku sat clumsily behind Luka and gently placed her hands in her waist.
"You'll have to hold on me tighter than that." Luka declared, giggling. After than Miku wrapped her arms around Luka's waist completely, afraid that she might have an accident. "Is this the first time you mount on a motorbike?" Luka asked.
"Umm… yes…" Miku answered with a bashful smile on her face. Luka giggled and started going towards the road. Miku observed the traffic and city lights as they moved, everything was so lively and it reminded her of the happy days she had spent with her family back when they were still alive. She looked away; facing Luka's back and tried to block this type of thoughts from her mind.
"Oh, you're early!" Meiko said widening her eyes as they entered the pastry shop. "Here are the uniforms, I'll take you there with my car and set up the stand, then I'll go and prepare more pastries, okay?" she continued.
"Okay." Luka answered as she gave one of the uniforms to Miku. They were green elven uniforms but they were also quite classy. After that, they got in Meiko's car and headed to the plaza. Luka packed her guitar.
In the stand, Miku observed the crowd analyzing almost every person she saw. On the other hand Luka waited patiently for clients to come. Suddenly a little girl stopped in front of the car. Luka bent until she reached her height. "Would you like something?" She asked with a smile. The girl didn't reply, she seemed to be thinking about the possible reply she would give. Luka giggled. Miku gazed at them with an expression of clear surprise. Suddenly the girl's mother approached them running. She had a worried expression in her eyes and after that she bowed and left with her daughter.
"Maybe no one wants to buy anything…" Miku said sad.
"Come on don't say that!" Luka answered, getting guitar out of the cover. She hanged it around her neck and began playing a slow song, probably a ballade. "Do you know this song?" Luka asked, smiling at Miku warmly.
"I do…" Miku replied.
"Sing for me then." Luka grinned Miku took a deep breath and started singing a beautiful angelical song. Luka widened her eyes as people started to gather around the stand. Soon the song was over and everyone wanted to buy pastries. Even the girl from before showed up with her mother.
"I would like one of those cakes…" She said pointing at one of the Yule logs.
"Coming." Miku answered melodically as she packed it. "Here" she handed it to the girl with a smile. Luka smiled too looking at them.
"These uniforms are a bit light… for this weather…" Miku said shivering as they headed back to the shop. Luka looked at her happily without answering. Then, unpredictably she grabbed Miku's hand and embraced her from behind.
"Better now?" She asked a bit mischievously. Miku who was astonished didn't answer but she placed her hands on Luka's arms which were wrapped around her waist. She wasn't expecting something like this to happen. The way Luka was hugging her wasn't exactly what someone would call "friendly". Miku didn't want to get her hopes up… but she knew that she desired this deep inside. "Doesn't it feel very warm?" Luka suddenly asked.
"Yes… umm… thank you, I was very cold." Miku tried to answer as naturally as possible.
"Stay at my home tonight, Miku…" Luka whispered without using any honorifics. Miku blushed.
"I…" Miku stammered. "What are we going to do?" she asked unsure.
"Get a better taste of this warmth…" Luka answered as she rubbed her forehead against Miku's hair. Suddenly Miku backed off.
"Wha… What are you saying Luka-san?" She asked strictly. Luka widened her eyes.
"Oh, umm… I meant like it's going to be warmer once we get there, you know I'll turn on the heating…" She looked away embarrassed. "Well, we're going to talk… I mean nothing special, just a normal sleep over. You're not thinking I swing that way, now are you?" Luka joked.
"No, that's not what I was thinking." Miku sighed.
