Red Diamond

It's chapter 20! Woohoo!

This is just a random chapter to get things into line for the romance to start bubbling up. It'll have a little less humor, but yeah, it's a bit fluffy though. I only hope that you like the chapter.

Alert: I don't know if it snows in the setting of this anime, so if it doesn't then kindly forgive me for not researching and being the lazy bum I am.

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except my OCs, and the plot.

Chapter 20: Merry Christmas

Sabrina's POV

Before I could even tell, it was already the Christmas Eve.

It had been getting cold, and having nothing exciting to attempt, I decided to have an ice-cream in the cold. Nothing is as good as an ice-cream in winter!

As I walked to the market and purchased a chocolate flavored cone, I saw a park at a distance. I went inside, and saw couples holding their gloved hands, strolling around. There were surprisingly no children, but on a second thought, there had to be none since it was already the time for sunset.

The atmosphere was romantic, considering the couples around me which were glued to each other, talking in low voices, being all mushy. I was the only single one there, perhaps. The sky had turned into a shade of orange above us. The sun looked like it was melting in the saffron sky, infusing a shade of yellow into it. Gentle breeze played around, making it chillier. I didn't know that the temperatures could dip to such depths in Japan.

I sat on the soft-trimmed grass, admiring the breathtaking view before my eyes. I put on my earplugs and the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri played. I certainly didn't want a partner to see this scenery with me, I decided. I was on my own; independent, they say. Whom am I ever going to dedicate this song to? I guess no one. You already have me with you. I'll always be with you.

"I'll always be with me? Wow." I said, chuckling at my own self. I licked the dessert in my hand, stroking the grass with my other hand, as I stretched out one of my legs, the other one bent. I sat silently for a few minutes, and then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head to see that it was Natsume looking down at me, dressed in his formal clothing. I removed my earplugs. "Hey, Natsume-san."

He sat down beside me, keeping his office bag aside. "What're you doing in midst of couples, alone?" He asked.

"Enjoying my own date, I guess." I joked, and he chuckled.

"Don't you have a date?" He implored.

"No, I'm well-off on my own." I proudly declared, "Don't you have a date?"

"No, I'm well-off on my own." He imitated me, and we laughed again. However, the fact that he didn't have a girlfriend was bizarre. He looked like one of those men who were tough on the outside but very romantic when it came to their partners. Plus, such a handsome and charismatic person single?

He took out a smoking pipe out of his pocket and lit up a pipe. Of course, I couldn't silently sit there and watch him blow the cancer pipe, so I snatched it from his hands and crushed it, and threw it away, while he tried to snatch it back the whole time. Before he could say anything, I put a finger on his lips and silenced him, saying, "No smoking, it's bad for health."

We sat there, watching the sunset, with my ice-cream almost melting in my hands. I quickly took a few bites and asked him, "Want a bite?"

"No, thanks." He hesitatingly said.

After sometime, we got up, discussing about the video game he recently sent me. "It's really good. It's just that I'm stuck at the last level, in the desert area. I even defeated the boss but I can't seem to get past the area." I explained.

"Are you? That's bad, then. We'll have to make changes accordingly." Natsume sighed.

"Why? Isn't it out alre- wait, are you saying that I'm the benchmark?" I exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

"Yes. You are a strong gamer who has completed one of our hardest versions in just one go. If the problem is occurring to you, then it must be tuff for the others to crack it." He stated, and I nodded.

We were on the main road, slightly crowded with people. A tiny layer of mist was visible, but wasn't that dense to blur the surroundings. The sides of the paths were illuminated with reindeers and Santa Clause made with tiny LEDs. With a huge grin, I watched the setting around me. This was a first. The people here surely made an effort. I felt someone's eyes on me, so I turned to see Natsume, who averted his eyes right at that second. Was he watching you? I ignored it.

"Looks like the place is in Christmas mode." He said, looking at an LED reindeer. "Yeah..." I agreed.

"So, having any plans for Christmas?" He asked me.

"Lemme check my schedule... Oops, I forgot – I have no schedule. Yes, I'm free tomorrow." I jokingly replied, and we laughed.

He remarked, "But seriously? A pretty high-school girl with no plans?"

Wow, people really think you are pretty. I think you look like a mashed potato.

"Aw, I'm so lonely!" I said dramatically, putting a hand on my chest, pretending if I was hurt. We chuckled. "What about you?"

"Not at all, this time is the most profitable for us toy companies. I wish I could take a day off." He said, and I felt bad for him. He already lived alone, and not even having a Christmas break must suck.

"Aw! We both are lonely, yeah?" I said, and we laughed yet again, as we walked to his car.

"You don't need to drop me." I said, but he insisted, "Ukyo-nii will kill me if he finds out that I let my little sister walk back alone to the house. Got some responsibility, right?"

"Hmm, right." I said and got into the car. We drove back home in comfortable silence till we reached the Sunrise Residence. I got out of the car, and I didn't know he did that too. "Thanks for dropping me here!" I thanked him. He took out the olive-green colored scarf from around his neck and put it around mine. Before I could argue, he said, "This is a small gift from the poor brother with no plans to the poor sister with no plans." He said, taking my high-ponytail out of the rolls of fabric. Well, you can accept it now.

"Thanks." I said, touching the warm scarf.

"Do you always wear your hair up like that?" He asked, still holding my hair in his hands, stroking the strands.

"I guess for the most part I do. Why?" I asked him, and it suddenly felt like he had been awakened from some spell. He slightly flinched, and left my hair.

"Goodnight." He said, and got inside his car. I waved at him. He smiled at me and drove his car. I turned to go back inside the house, thinking that it must be too tiring to keep working, even on a festival. Unfortunately, I couldn't give him a day off, but could definitely give him a small gift.

O~O~O

Rubbing my eyes, I checked my phone. It was earlier than the time I set my alarm on – thirty minutes earlier. Poor me, I couldn't get enough sleep because of the Antarctica-type weather. Taking three blankets didn't help enough too. How I wish I was a penguin!

Frustrated, I kicked the blankets off me, and tried to unsuccessfully straighten my tangled hair with my fingers, and acted like a brave warrior, like the cold didn't affect me. It wasn't long before I started to regret my decision; it was freezing cold outside the blankets. "...Merry Christmas to me..." I whispered, shivering and chattering. I started rubbing my arms to get more heat. After all, I was still in a thin, striped cotton top and sweats. Merry Christmas!

I walked towards my balcony window and pushed its curtains aside. Through the window, I saw something amazing. I opened my window – mind you, this time I wasn't shivering – and extended my hand to confirm that I wasn't dreaming. And when it fell on the palm of my hand, I instantly rejoiced. It was snowing! Now that's a Merry Christmas!

Not a minute later, I was out in the yard, dancing in circles, bathing in the snow flurry. The ground was covered in snow, and so were the trees, the building structures, and the plants, giving them an exquisite look. I lifted a handful in my hands and threw it in the air right above me so that it showered on me. I must've been making a lot of noise, that I very soon heard Wataru yelling from his balcony, "It's snowing! Onee-chan!"

"Merry Christmas Wataru!" I yelled from downstairs.

"Merry Christmas, onee-chan! I'm coming!" He yelled, and then another one from the floor above shouted, "Even I am!" It was Tsubaki.

A few minutes later, the household was downstairs – Wataru, Tsubaki, and I were acting like mental hospital patients, like we had never seen snow before (I had, only once); Yuusuke was half asleep, sitting on the entrance doorsteps, grumbling; Masaomi, Kaname, and Subaru were watching us from afar in a shade; Ukyo excused himself to go to the kitchen; Louis and Iori were clicking our pictures. Azusa came up behind me and put a warm bathrobe on my shoulders, "Wear this, or else you'll catch a cold." He advised.

"Thanks a lot, and Merry Christmas!" I said, gladly accepting the clothing. It felt better to be surrounded by a furry hug. He smiled and helped me wear it while I got my hair before they got entangled in the robe. My hair, by now, had a white frosting over them. I dusted them, and while doing the same, a ball of snow crashed against my head, the situation returning back to square one. I turned to see that it was Tsubaki, laughing, with a ball of snow in his hand. I gathered some snow and threw it on his face. The shot was on target, as his face had snow all over, and this time it was me and Wataru laughing at him.

"You can't get away with that!" He said and threw another one at me. I ducked as the shot landed on Yuusuke's face, who was having gusts of sleep. He woke up with a start, and angrily shouted, "Who did that?!"

All of us broke into a fit of laughter. He angrily picked up some snow and threw it in our direction. It was too low, and thus, it hit Wataru. The salmon haired guy threw it back at him, and that's how we started a full-blown snow war.

We dragged the rest of the people standing in the shade with us too, and it was Wataru, Louis, the twins and me on one side, and Yuusuke, Masaomi, Iori, Subaru, and Kaname on the other. With all of us throwing snow at each other, we could call it a Christmas morning. It was childish to do so, yet fun.

Somewhere in the middle of the war, unbeknownst to me, Kaname crept up behind me and grabbed my waist, and lifted me, only to smash my face on the little snow wall Wataru had built. A few others burst out laughing while I lifted up my face like a snow monster. I had to come up with a payback right at that moment. Forget it, you cannot possibly lift him. Oh, but you can definitely try the 'evergreen' idea. So...

I extended my hands to the sides of his waist and started tickling him, hoping that he was ticklish. And luckily he was. He started laughing hysterically, rolling on the floor. The cruel me didn't stop. In fact, Wataru and Tsubaki joined me, while Kaname begged, gasping, "Okay stop! S...Sorry! ...Stop!"

When we finally stopped, Masaomi grinned, "That was a nice item for recording."

O~O~O

Midday time. Nothing to do. Best. Day. Ever.

"Yeah..." I mumbled, trying to balance a book on my nose, lying on the bed. "We're almost there, baby, don't fall down... "

Here's the chimpanzee from the zoo, which ran away by stealing a motor bike from a visitor.

Then the idea of going out to buy something for Natsume struck my mind, and I immediately rose, making the book flip and fly off to Antarctica. I grabbed the scarf he gave me the previous day, stuffed my feet in a pair of shoes, and opened the door, removing the hair band from my hair. I ran fingers through my hair and put the band back up again, certainly not in the mood to comb my locks.

I went towards the marketplace, observing people, just like I always did. I decided to have some fun, like I always did.

I stood behind a man talking on the phone, and shouted behind his phone, "Girls hit your hallelujah – wooh!" And ran away to hide behind the nearest building. Before going, I glanced at his face. It was priceless! He was looking around, perplexed, and yelling, "Who was that?!"

"Merry Christmas!" I yelled back and ran further.

I was soon tired, and bent down to keep my hands on my knees and began panting. I was probably the only one panting in the icy cold air. I blew on my palm and pretended that I was Elsa from Frozen. After doing that for a while, I remembered why I had come in the first place, and shrugged, and straightaway went to the music store. I looked for a pair of headphones – since I knew that Natsume was fond of music, as he had told me once – and grabbed a pair of green ones for him, and got myself new black headphones too.

I purchased it and taped a piece of paper to it, and carried it to Natsume's apartment. I knew that he wasn't home, and put it in the mailbox. He'll like it, hopefully.

O~O~O

Narrator's POV

"And Merry Christmas to me." Natsume sighed as he reached his floor. Christmas was pretty flat for him – work for hours, sign documents, have a drink with coworkers at the end of the day, and return to his own empty apartment to have no one waiting for him. He kept his laptop bag beside the door and unlocked it, when his gaze fell on a red box bulging out of the mailbox.

He took the pack out of his rusted mailbox, and unwrapped the present, and found a paper that read,

"To the poor, hardworking man with no plans,

Merry Christmas! I hope it meets your taste!

From,
Santa Claus (with no plans, again)"

"Sabrina..." He whispered, grinning by default, as he opened the cardboard box and found those green pair of headphones he saw on the display of a music store. He liked them, and was astonished at how she knew that he wanted them.

Talking of Sabrina... he had lately been experiencing something fairly unfamiliar, something which he shouldn't. Though he couldn't see her every day, there was a new longing to see her smiling face. The previous day's image of her showed up for the thousandth time in his mind that day, and closed his eyes to avoid her cheery face; the way she looked around at the usual city decorations. She looked adorable! More than that, was this coming from a brother? He shoved the question away, but it still put itself high.

Were these new feelings bad?

Oh, these feelings are vERY bad, you'll notice at the end of the story...

So yes, we're starting off with the romance, and will very soon reach the destination where we are supposed to be. Review, my lovelies. What on earth does it take to tell the author if you liked the chapter or not? To share the suggestions you have in mind? CRITISM IS WELCOME, FOR GOD'S SAKE!

I'm counting on you guys now...

Forever yours,
Diamond Shyn