**Author's Note at bottom**

Chapter 14 - Year-Round Christmas

12.16.05, 3:44 PM

Chiaki joined our class as a sophomore, only a couple days before the end of the term. When school began again in April, he participated in the enrollment ceremony, but by then, he had already made a name for himself. He had only gotten into one fight over spring break, but several factors led to his infamous reputation: he was a new kid in Tokyo; he entered our class in the middle of high school; he seemed to not have any relatives that would come to school functions; he had a slight accent that no one could place; and lastly, he looked a bit suspicious, what with his tall physique, bright-colored hair, careless saunter, and cool demeanor. Rumors about him spread like a disease. People said he had been kicked out of his previous school for fighting. Others said that he had left his hometown because he had knocked a girl up. Still others didn't participate in the gossip but just quietly wondered about Chiaki's true past.

Chiaki, Kousuke, and I hung out a lot over the year, but usually only out in public, namely, at school, shopping malls, or restaurants. And it isn't nice to press, so we never asked about where and in what conditions he lived. Then, winter break came.

We're walking around in a convenience store we frequent. The untrustworthy fluorescent lights flicker, our shoes scuff the linoleum floor, and the winter cold bites us through our school uniforms. Chiaki and I stand by the windows where the manga rack is, as close to the cashier's small personal heater as possible, while Kousuke scours the aisles for food.

"What are you guys thinking of doing over vacation?" Kousuke hollers from the candy aisle.

"Staying at home," Chiaki answers with the slightest tinge of bitterness, narrowing his eyes at the faces of blond-, orange-, and blue-haired manga heroes and heroines.

"Well, I was thinking of visiting some family down in Kyuushuu. The weather's probably better down there."

"Ugh, lucky," I respond, leafing through a random shojo manga, then putting it down, disappointed as usual. "My parents want us to go somewhere, but we haven't decided on a place yet." I look up at Chiaki and ask, "No plans at all?"

"No."

Kousuke appears with snacks piled in his arms. "Not even seeing family?"

"I only have one family member to begin with."

"Oh..."

"Do you live with them?" I ask cautiously.

"Yeah. My uncle. But he's out of town, so I'm stuck at home."

"You live with your uncle?" Kousuke asks a bit incredulously.

"Yeah. I don't live with my parents because they're dead."

Kousuke and I glance at each other, wide-eyed, and Kousuke offers, "Oh. Sorry, man. I didn't know."

"I've never mentioned it, so of course you didn't know. Don't worry about it."

Putting my hands on my hips, I say, "Hey, why don't we come over for today? Kousuke and I will fix up the place for you. How bout it?"

Chiaki shakes his head, smiling. "No, you don't need to do that."

Kousuke brings attention to all he's holding by shrugging, making the plastic wrappers of minimal-nutrition food rustle and crinkle. "I mean, we're kind of all set on food already. C'mon, Chiaki. We can't help out once we're gone, but at least for today, let's celebrate together."

After a few more pleas and Kousuke threatening to follow Chiaki home, Chiaki relents.

"Alright, alright."

"Yes!" Kousuke and I yell in unison.

"Kousuke, you buy all that-"

"What?!"

"Shut up, I'll pay for decorations."

Kousuke speeds to the cashier.

Once we get the food, we roam around the area until we find a small shop that sells random merchandise, basically anything from mechanical pencils to picture frames. Near the back, I discover some small potted plants. Picking one, I turn to find Chiaki staring at me. When he notices me staring back at him quizzically, he shakes his head and says, "That's our tree?"

"Better than nothing." Kousuke peers around Chiaki and holds up a miniature nativity scene for me to observe.

"How's this?"

I smile widely. "Perfect."

Laughing a bit uncomfortably, Chiaki says, "Isn't that a bit over-the-top?"

"It's Christmas, you idiot. Nothing's over-the-top," Kousuke grumbles, walking away.

"Hey Kousuke, find a set of origami paper please."

"Okay, but you're paying for that, too."

"Alright, you penny pincher. Chiaki, anything you want?"

Chiaki smiles. "You guys really don't need to go through all this trouble."

I punch Chiaki on the shoulder wordlessly and head over to the counter to pay.

Once we're done shopping, we pile into a cab with all of our packages and plastic bags. Chiaki tells the driver where to go, and we take off.

Ten minutes later, Chiaki announces, "Well, this is it."

We get out and look up at the three-story apartment building we'd stopped in front of. I recognize this building and realize it's not too far from my house. I always assumed Chiaki lived somewhat close to me since we meet pretty early on in my bike route to and from school, but I never could have guessed that he lives here. I mean, it's not a bad place, not at all, but this is your standard apartment complex, with off-white-painted walls, rectangular balconies, small stairwells, and telephone wires running dangerously close to the building. Chiaki has always seemed so not standard that I couldn't imagine him in a place so ordinary.

"It's not much, really," says Chiaki, scratching the back of his head. He always did that when he was embarrassed.

I smile and say, "It's great, Chiaki." I see a hint of a smile flash across Chiaki's face as he hurries forward to unlock the front door of the building with a bronze-colored key. He opens the door for us, and we head in. He leads us down the hallway to the right and speeds up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. We get off at the third floor and go left five doors down. Chiaki fumbles with the keys a bit, and when he finally opens the door, I peer in.

It's a two bedroom apartment, clean and barely decorated. The only sign that anyone is living there is a pile of clothes on the master bedroom's floor that I can see through the crack of the slightly open bedroom door.

"It's nice," Kousuke says, stepping in first and putting all of our bags on the kitchen counter.

"It's small, but it works."

"You said your uncle lives with you."

"Oh, yeah, he's already out on his business trip."

I place my bags next to Kousuke's load on the counter. "That's cool. What does he do?"

Chiaki glances out the living room window, then looks back at me. "He works for a hotel chain."

"Which one?"

"You wouldn't know it; it's more well-known overseas."

Kousuke nods. "So he's away a lot?"

"Yeah."

I laugh. "Chiaki, dude, that's perfect. Why haven't you been throwing parties while he's gone?!"

"... Parties?"

"I mean, nothing crazy, but at least inviting Kousuke and me over."

"I... I didn't think you guys would be interested."

"Of course we'd be!" Kousuke says. He begins unpacking. "Makoto, why don't you start on the decorations?"

"Sure thing. Chiaki, you're helping out, right?"

"I don't know what I'd have to do..."

I grab the bag with decoration supplies and head over to the carpeted living room floor. I sit on the floor and dump everything from the bag on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "Okay, I'm gonna teach you how to fold paper cranes." I open the box of origami paper and pull out a purple sheet. I motion for Chiaki to choose one, and he picks a red one. "Okay, so you fold it like this..."

In a couple hours, we're done decorating the apartment and preparing dinner of some delicious ramen, fried eggs, and glass bottle sodas. We gather around the coffee table and sit on the floor.

"Itadakimasu!" we exclaim before digging in.

Kousuke, his mouth half full with egg, says with difficulty, "So, Chiaki, this was Makoto's and my Christmas present to you. You'd better have something for us."

"Shut up, Kousuke," I laugh, smacking him on the arm. I turn to Chiaki. "You don't have to get us anything at all. Don't worry about it. You just have to promise us one thing."

Chiaki nods. "What?"

"You cannot take down these decorations until the next Christmas."

Chiaki almost chokes on his ramen. "What?!"

I smirk. "Hey, you have to appreciate our work. And it'll be nice... it'll be like year-round Christmas. It'll be awesome."

Kousuke shrugs. "It's not a terrible idea."

Chiaki smiles. "Okay, okay, next Christmas it is."

We eat without saying anything for a few minutes, enjoying the hot spicy ramen and salty eggs. Finally, when Chiaki drinks up all the soup and sets down his bowl with a satisfying "ahhh", Chiaki says,

"You guys. Thanks for all this. Really."

Kousuke finishes his portion off and leans back on his hands. "It's no big deal."

I add in, "Don't mention it. Just make sure you keep these decorations up. Promise?"

"Promise."

"Merry Christmas, Chiaki."

"Merry Christmas."

We clink our bottles together and finish them off in one shot.

**Author's Note**

I DO NOT OWN THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME OR AM AFFILIATED WITH IT IN ANYWAY

HEY GUYS! Okay first of all, I apologize, I was out of town and without Internet, so that's why this is so late. Thank you for your patience 333

So I wrote this chapter a while ago, but I kept it back because I was hoping to upload the next two chapters with it as well (since this one is just a relaxing flashback and the other two are more... plot-y) but I'm not quite done editing them, so I decided to just put this up. The next two chapters should be up before the month is out.

Thank you for continued views, reviews, follows, and favorites!