Ren and Shin sit at the only table in Ren's apartment. They are both quiet as mice afraid of attracting the attention of the mumbling, grumbling Kyoko who is opening and closing cupboard after empty cupboard failing to find whatever she is looking for. They do not speak even when suddenly like a phone signal cut off, Kyoko becomes eerily quiet. Stealing a surreptitious look at her they see her staring forlornly at the meager haul of edible items on the kitchen counter. They exchange a look, Shin's accusatory and Ren's conciliatory.
"Sorry," Ren mouths silently.
Shin shakes his head. He had, of course, been right. If at all there is a day every restaurant within 50 miles of Danville is closed, even Big Boy Burger - it is Christmas Eve. Earlier Shin had asked if Ren could use his keys to Big Boy Burger, perhaps they could forage for something to eat there. But Ren had revealed he had already handed over his keys to Lizzie at her house that morning and quit his job.
"You knew you were going to come with me even before I woke up? Why make me work so hard to convince you then?" Kyoko had asked.
Ren had held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "One way or another I was done with Danville, I knew that. That's why I quit this morning," he had replied.
After the brief silence, Kyoko starts back up - speaking to herself. But this time it is not in as exasperated a tone.
Emboldened by this, Shin ventures, "Perhaps I should try and break into Big Boy Burger. Should be fairly easy and it isn't like I am going to steal any money. We could just make some-" he stops feeling a pricking in his neck.
'Why do I feel like I am being watched very intensely right now?' he thinks.
That feeling grows and grows and he feels a presence behind his back. Afraid to turn around, he tries hard to stare straight ahead and pretend it doesn't bother him.
CLANG! A plate is banged on the table in front of them - a salad with fresh lettuce, cucumbers tomatoes in a very delicious dressing that Ren cannot place.
'I'm pretty sure I had no salad dressing.' thinks Ren as he tastes some of the salad.
"It's delicious.," exclaims Shin echoing Ren's thoughts. Kyoko simply glares at him and walks back to the kitchen. When she returns, a wonderful aroma precedes her. Shin gets up with a deep inhale as though physically lifted by the smell like in cartoons.
"Is that..." begins Ren.
"Lemon chicken," replies Kyoko.
In about fifteen minutes everyone is finished with dinner - both because they were incredibly hungry and because the food was that delicious.
"What was that wonderful salad dressing?" Ren asks, unable to contain his curiosity.
"Coffee-pomegranate"
"What?! I am pretty sure I had no pomegranate at home."
"You had an assorted herbal tea collection. Chinamini, that is where I got the lemon peel and other herbs to put on the lemon chicken. You had no lemon at home either." Kyoko continues daintily picking up the last crumb on her plate and eating it.
Ren looks incredulously at her for a beat and then smiled fondly. Oh! how he had missed her. He had forgotten the depths of her resourcefulness and quick-thinking. She was a genius. But she was also his genius.
After dinner, Ren, Shin, and Kyoko take turns trying to sing Christmas songs but neither of them having any reasonably melodious voice, they are soon made to give up by Ren's neighbors.
Kyoko stifles a yawn and Ren says, "I think it is time for you to rest now. You haven't fully recovered from your injury yet."
Shin says, "I can sleep here in this apartment and you guys can go to the hotel room. There is more space there."
With a silent look exchanged, Kyoko and Ren agree to Shin's proposal.
Walking back to the hotel in the snow, Kyoko asks, "Are you really going to come back with me? Forgive me, but I want to make sure you don't come back and run away again."
Ren squeezes Kyoko's hand, "For better or worse, till death do us part, you're stuck with me."
Kyoko smiles and sidles close to Ren feeling his warmth. She presses against his side and says, "Yup. Stuck to you now." They laugh.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, there is a soft knocking on Shin's door. Shin is instantly awake.
"If you are Santa Claus, just leave the gift at the door. There is no chimney here," he calls but the soft knocking continues. Shin looks around for a weapon in the dark but finding none near the bed, he thinks of getting something from the kitchen. Then a sound freezes him - it is the sound of the doorknob turning. The creak of the door as it opens sounds unnaturally loud in the dark, silent night. Shin rushes to the kitchen and crouches down hoping to hide from the intruder.
Soft footfalls indicate that the intruder has entered. There is a pause and then the sound of the light switch being thrown on. Light floods the apartment and Shin is momentarily blinded. He can hear the footsteps draw near and he tries to shield his face from both the intruder and the light.
"Sorry I frightened you." says a voice. Shin squints against the light and slowly widens his eyes.
"What are you doing here, Ren-san?" he asks.
"I need your help," says Ren.
They are trudging silently through the snow. It is late and dark and too cold to talk. Their shoes crunch in the snow as their breath comes out in white puffs.
Eventually, Shin says, "Remind me again why we are doing this at this time?"
"Like I said. Kyoko's birthday is tomorrow. Or rather, today. I haven't gotten her a gift yet."
"Can't you like, kiss her or something and say that is my gift?"
Ren gives Shin a deadpan look in reply. They continue in silence till they reach the door of a trinkets store. It is dark inside and a printout stuck to the door proclaims, "Gone on vacation. See you in the new year."
"This is the place. Do your thing," says Ren. Shin's thing, of course, is breaking into the store. Ren looks surreptitiously around. Shin catches him doing that and sighs.
"You are an awesome criminal mastermind, aren't you?" Shin says sarcastically. "Relax. No one is around. And the thing about breaking into places is to be totally cool and nonchalant about it. Besides," he says feeling around the lock and then looking around. "I don't even need to break in here."
Ren's eyes narrow. "What do you mean?" he asks. "You won't help me?"
"No. Not that. Look.' Shin points in the direction of an elf statue by the door.
"I can't give her that elf statue as a gift if that is what you're suggesting," says Ren indignantly.
"God, such straight arrows I am saddled with. Don't you think it is odd that the statue is left outside?"
"People don't steal Christmas decorations in Danville and I don't think anyone would want an old worn down elf statue. "
"Exactly. It is old and worn down and difficult to move or carry. So," says Shin walking over to the statue. He lifts it slightly and underneath it is a key. "Voila!"
Ren smiles, "You are as good at understanding people as Kyoko claimed you were."
Shin brightens into a smile. "Elementary, my dear Watson," he says with an exaggerated flourish. "Technically not breaking and entering if you have a key." He opens the door.
The inside of the store is more freezing than the outside if that could be possible. Ren feels around for a light switch and finding it, switches it on. Shin pounces on the switch and turns it off again. "Are you crazy? People may or may not see us in the night but they would definitely see a light shining from a store that is supposed to be closed," he whispers.
"Sorry," Ren whispers back. "How am I supposed to find her gift in here without a light?"
"What are you looking for?"
"Something..." Ren says searching as his eyes get used to the darkness. He wants to say 'magical' but that sounds sappy even in his mind.
"Doesn't your phone have a torch? Use that," says Shin.
Ren switches it on and shines it around. The light catches the usual items one would find at a typical souvenir store. T-shirts with "Danville forever" written on them, fridge magnets, picture postcards of Danville downtown, printed coffee mugs, and other such things. Ren walks down the aisle looking this way and that. Finally, at the end of the aisle, his torch catches something that shines back. 'My memory did serve me right' he thinks and picks the object up.
"Yup. Definitely- something," says Shin from behind Ren's shoulder. "Can I get one too? It is Christmas tomorrow." He makes a puppy dog face.
Ren relents and says, "Fine, you can pick one item from the store."
"I already did," says Shin and holds up a Danville T-shirt. Ren takes a quick look at it and nods.
"Let's go then," says Shin and starts walking to the front of the store.
"Wait a minute," Ren says and takes out his wallet. Counting the bills, he leaves more than what the two items costed on the counter. Shin stares at him, mouth agape. "What?" says Ren. "Stealing was never the intention."
Shin shakes his head as they both get out of the store. He replaces the key under the statue and they trudge back - Shin to Ren's apartment and Ren to the hotel.