The sound of Insomni's excited voice-too excited for her, really-quickly woke me out of a sound sleep. I sat up in bed and looked at the clock on my night stand-it was only noon. Why was I awake so early? As she asked, I stood from my bed and slowly stumbled through the hallway to the door, fumbling to reach the doorknob before pushing the door open with a little too much force; it slammed against the wall and moved right back, hitting me hard in the face.
"Fuck! Ow! Fucking thing!" I yelled in frustration, rubbing my nose in pain. I pushed the door open slowly this time, still furious. "What?! What am I looking at?!" I yelled once again, looking outside. It was snowing pretty heavily, and the ground was covered in a beautiful, white blanket of snow. I couldn't even see grass or rocks on the ground. Quite the picture-perfect winter scene.
I don't care. Snow days aren't a thing after you graduate high school and drop out of college.
I slowly turned back around, seeing Insomni and Hanako floating behind me. Each had the cutest goddamn winter outfits on I had ever seen: Hanako had a red hat with a white trim on the bottom and a white puffball on top. Her red, puffy winter coat and pants looked like they were some kind of designer brand (likely her own,) and her matching mittens completed the adorable look. Insomni had purple earmuffs on and a matching purple sweater on her dress (that actually covered her cleavage) and both Yo-kai looked excited. They stared at me expectantly.
"Have fun. I'm going back to bed." I replied to their silence. Both of their faces drooped in disappointment as I walked past them. "You two can go play in the snow, but it's not for me. Too cold out there."
"Come on! Christmas time only comes once a year!" Insomni whined, appearing in front of me. She had a very upset look in her eye. "Let's go play!"
"Winter will last until like the end of January. The snow's not going anywhere." I said with a yawn as I climbed back into bed. "Besides, Christmas is a little ways away. We'll do something then, okay?" I cuddled back into my warm, soft blanket and nestled my head on my pillow. I slowly closed my eyes, feeling that amazing sensation of sleep begin to overtake me.
"Unfortunately, you don't have a 'little ways.' You need to start preparing now!"
I didn't recognize this voice. I slowly opened my eyes, seeing a white ghost floating over me. It had huge purple lips and a black stripe over its eyes like a raccoon's. After I focused on it for a moment, it came to me: I actually did know this guy. Whisper, the ghost Yo-kai who was with that Nate kid that Insomni knew. I sat up in my bed, looking up at him-he looked happy to see me.
"Whisper, right? Why are you in my apartment?" I asked. Insomni and Hanako floated next to him, both looking curious. Whisper reached behind his back, as if his hand was going into a pocket; not his ass, I hope. Within seconds, he pulled out a sealed envelope. "What's that?"
"We received your letter in error, so I told Nate I would deliver it myself!" Whisper replied. He handed the letter to Hanako with a smile, but his look was one of annoyance as she took it from him. "Why Nate couldn't just summon her for this, I'll never know, but a Yo-kai butler's job is never done."
"Why would he summon her if you offered?" I asked. Whisper paused, realizing he was caught in a lie. He quickly shook his head and his smile returned.
"Enough about me! This is an amazing opportunity!" Whisper exclaimed. He looked back at Hanako, reaching out and grabbing one of her hands to shake it. "You have been chosen to be Santa this year!"
"Me? I can't be Santa! I have an empire to run-I mean, a fashion line to produce! I don't have time!" Hanako argued. Insomni snatched the letter from Hanako and tore the envelope's top, pulling out a glowing piece of paper.
"'Dear Hanako-san ...'" Insomni started to read, but paused when she noticed something on the paper. "Oh look, Toiletta was crossed out and they scribbled over it ... anyway, 'you have been selected to become the Yo-kai to represent Santa Claus this Christmas. Please come to the Yo-kai World for further instruction.' Not fair! I never get to be Santa!" Insomni pouted, tossing the letter to the floor.
"Because the year you did it, you accidentally gave a few teenage girls vibrators instead of what they wanted." Hanako explained. Insomni looked confused.
"Accidentally?" Insomni asked, looking genuinely confused at her words. Hanako gave her an annoyed look. "This is still good for us! If you're Santa, that means we get to help and see what presents we get this year!"
"Wait, wait." I stuck out a hand to silence her. "One, Santa's real? And two, what do you mean she was selected? If Santa's real, why does she need to do it? Santa's real, so it's his job." Before Insomni could reply, Whisper was right in my face. I had to lean back to create some distance.
"A lot of folks don't know this, but Santa Claus is actually a Yo-kai!" Whisper exclaimed.
"No he's not." I replied.
"Is so." Whisper argued. "A Yo-kai has been in charge of Christmas in Springdale for years now! While Santa himself usually does the job, if he's ever in need of help, one of us takes over! I heard rumor a while back that he was taking this year off for a trip to Wiiha!"
"The fuck is a 'Wiiha'?" I asked. Whisper gasped in shock.
"Such language!" Whisper replied, looking offended. "Wiiha is the Yo-kai World's version of the human world's Hawaii! Santa does need a break now and then, you know! The year's chosen Yo-kai delivers gifts in Springdale so Santa has one less place to worry about!"
"Santa has a Yo-kai cover one city. One." I thought out loud, looking at Whisper. "Not even the whole state, or country, or whatever the hell we're in? Why not just pick one Yo-kai from each city and not do anything? Losing one city means he'll have time to go on vacation?" Insomni pushed Whisper aside and got in my face, looking angry at my questions.
"Stop being a negative-nyan about everything!" Insomni shouted at me. I saw a big purple puff of smoke pour out of the envelope and surround something behind her.
"A nega-what now?" I asked. I looked past her at Hanako, who was now in a complete Santa outfit somehow: The red-and-white santa hat, the suit, and even little black boots and a black belt holding up little red Santa pants. She looked absolutely adorable!
I reached past Insomni and grabbed Hanako's ankle, pulling her towards me and into a hug.
"Oh my God, you're so damn cute! Stay like this forever!" I gushed. Hanako struggled against me, pushing out of my hold. "Awww!" I feigned a pout. "Hug me!"
"I want to get this done with and come home!" Hanako snapped at me. "I don't have time to deliver presents when people could be buying my products AS presents!" At her protest, Whisper's smile once again turned to a frown.
"Excuse you! Being Santa is a great honor!" Whisper argued, getting in front of Hanako. "Any Yo-kai should be thrilled to have the job!"
"I'm done with you, Whisper." Hanako said, sounding much more calm. She grabbed Whisper's tail and pulled him towards the door. She held the ghost Yo-kai over her head and started to spin him around by the tail; I heard a scared-sounding "Whis! Whis! Whis!" come from Whisper as he was spun. The panicked noise left his huge lips quicker and quicker as Hanako spun, finally letting go and sending the butler Yo-kai flying through the door. Thankfully, being a ghost meant he literally went through it and didn't leave another hole for me to worry about.
"Why does your Santa suit have pants?" I asked Hanako, not even thinking to filter the question. "Why not a skirt like you usually wear?"
"Because Santa wears pants, dum-dum." Hanako replied as she floated back into the room. "It's not like I'll wear these forever, don't worry about it."
"Ya know, I'm not wearing pants." Insomni snuggled against me, giving me a smirk. "I never wear pants, actually."
"I know." I replied. "I like that." I yawned once more, stretching out my arms. "Can I go back to bed now? Don't you two need to go to the Yo-kai World? Do I have to come?"
"Well, not really, no." Hanako replied. "I just have to go get briefed on Santa duty. I should probably check in at my store, too."
"I'm in! I have presents to buy!" Insomni spoke up, smiling and floating up next to Hanako. The girls looked disappointed in me as I climbed back into bed. "You're really going to stay here and sleep?" Insomni asked. "No Christmas shopping in the Yo-kai World with me? You're not even gonna go be her drooling lapdog?"
"Hey!" Hanako snapped at her. Insomni ignored her.
"Bring me back something neat." I replied. "I'll go next Christmas." I heard both girls groan in annoyance before they disappeared in puffs of purple smoke. I don't know how they were going to visit the Yo-kai World with that Nate kid's mirror Yo-kai, but I was too tired to question anything. I wonder if that Whisper guy has a medal too? He didn't even offer it to me.
Sleep came fast. I don't know how long the girls were gone, but it felt like mere seconds.
"Never Sleep Ever!" I heard Insomni call, slowly pulling me out of my sleep. Did she use her Soultimate Move to wake me up again? I'll be up for a week now, damn it. I yawned, stretching out my arms before reaching down to scratch my back. I fumbled around for my glasses on the night stand, putting them on just before Insomni floated down in front of my face. "I'm home!"
"I see that, welcome back." I said with a yawn. "Where's Hanako?"
"She's still in the Yo-kai World getting Santa lessons." Insomni replied. "She should be back tomorrow in time for Christmas Eve."
"Christmas Eve is tomorrow?" I asked, pulling my phone from my pocket and quickly swiping. Son of a gun, it's the 23rd. Where did the time go? "Huh."
"Yeah. Huh." Insomni said. I looked down her body, seeing she had a shopping bag's handles around her arm. Her eye followed my gaze, and she smiled when she noticed where I was looking. "Oh, this? I got you a present!" Insomni put the bag in my lap, clasping her hands together in excitement. "Go on! Open it!"
"Shouldn't I wait two days?" I asked. "It's not Christmas."
"Open it! I can't wait!" Insomni protested, pointing at the bag. "The more time you have with it, the better!"
"Okay, thanks." I replied, digging into the bag. I felt something plastic and square-shaped, like a case of some sort. I pulled it out, seeing a watch in the case: it had a red band with a blue stripe down the middle, and the face had a beautiful, shiny golden border around it with multiple lights like a roulette. The colors alone made it look like something Apelican would approve of. "Is this a new Yo-kai Watch?" I asked. "It has the colors on the front like the Classic."
"The Yo-kai Watch Dream, complete with the Dream Roulette!" Insomni happily replied. "It can use any Yo-kai Medal, no matter the series or color frame! You never need to switch watches again!"
"You didn't think this through, did you?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her as I took off my Model Zero Watch. "If I don't need to switch, how are you going to get your free groping?" I admired the new watch on my wrist. I loved the color scheme. Insomni was silent, and looked dejected when I looked up at her; clearly, she hadn't thought of that. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find a reason to play with your boobs."
"Good!" Insomni's face quickly returned to pleased as she grabbed my wrist, looking at the watch. "There's a new kind of medal too, but I never picked one up. Too pricy for your blood."
"You've been using my money for Yo-kai stuff again?" I asked. "So I bought this, essentially."
"Oh, drop it." Insomni huffed. "Hanako has a Dream Medal, you know. Medals are essentially business cards for some Yo-kai now."
A purple puff of smoke appeared between us, with Hanako appearing as it faded.
"That would be my cue." Hanako said with a smile, reaching into her pants pocket and pulling out a purple disc, handing it to me. I grabbed it and looked down-it looked like a poker chip. Purple and white horizontal stripes covered the medal's art border. A picture of Hanako was in the center, with rolls of toilet paper around her. It looked like she was popping out of a toilet. Underneath the art was "HANAKOSAN" written to look like a neon light sign on a slot machine. Dream Medals are pretty damn neat!
"Ooh, cool. I love the art." I commented, looking at the chip. "So this is a Dream Medal, huh?"
"Sure is." Hanako nodded. "Try and summon me, so we can try the Dream Roulette."
"Uh, okay." I replied. I took the medal between two fingers and pushed it into the watch's face slot. The lights covering the golden frame started to light up in a bright red.
"It's Eerie time!" The watch announced. "Shopping Mall Lottery Roulette!"
"A wha?" I asked. In front of me, a huge vision-filling image appeared. Hanako was in what looked like a casino, with a creepy-looking purple eyeball on the walls behind her. Some weird-looking people were in the back of the room, beginning to sing the summon's song.
"Eerie, so Eerie! I wonder what will come out of this, so Eerie!" The song played. During this, Hanako floated in a circle over a large platform that looked like the Dream Watch's face, with multi-colored lights around it. As the song ended, I saw Hanako reaching out and grabbing the handle of some big, spinning box like from a Japanese lottery game. As she spun, a small ball popped out of the box: a little white one, which meant a runner-up or "thanks for playing" prize. Hanako looked crushed.
"Loser!" The watch announced. Another song started to play as little packets of tissues began to rain down on Hanako. "Pocket tissues! Pocket tissues! Nothing but tissues!"
"... Hanako-san." Hanako muttered her name, looking disappointed and covered in tissues and tissue packets as she appeared on my bed. She grabbed one of the packs from her shoulder and tossed it at me, smacking me in the face. "It was supposed to be a Hawaiian vacation win summon! Not this!"
"A roulette isn't supposed to always be good, I guess!" I said, trying to avoid the packs of tissues being flung at my head. "Sorry! I'll try again!" I pulled the medal out of the watch and quickly pushed it back inside.
"No, wait-!" Hanako tried to stop me, but it was too late. The music started to play and the casino filled my vision. Before I knew it, the song was over and the result was playing.
"Loser! Wasabi sushi! Wasabi sushi! Spicy hot wasabi!" One roulette, one about eating sushi, ended up being another loss with a song that was far too catchy. The wasabi sauce stuffed in the sushi was so spicy and hot that Hanako spat out a ball of fire and almost burned a hole in my wall. Her lips were puffy and red as she smacked me across the face over and over again in frustration.
"Let me try!" Insomni insisted and stopped me before I put Hanako's medal back in, handing me her old gray one. Insomni actually looked excited as I popped the medal in.
"It's Eerie time! Christmas Present Roulette!" The watch announced. Huh, rather fitting.
Since she shared the Eerie Tribe with Hanako, the same song played-however, rather than floating around, Insomni posed, putting a hand on her hip and another behind her head, blowing a kiss, and pushing out her chest with both hands. As the song ended, Insomni was now shown reaching under a Christmas tree for a huge present. When she tore the wrapping paper off and reached inside, she pulled out something: a video game. More specifically, it looked like a game Hanako wanted to play. This won't end well.
"Winner! A brand new video game!" The watch announced. For once, the roulette was successful. Insomni cheered, holding the game above her head like a treasure.
"Insomni!" She happily announced herself, hugging the game to her chest as she appeared. "Look! I got ... whatever this is!" Insomni pointed at the game. "That was fun!" She looked over at Hanako, who was fuming with tissues sticking out of her Santa suit. Insomni paused for a moment before handing the game to her. "Merry Christmas, honey. I know you'll get more use out of this than I will."
"... Thank you." Hanako hugged the game, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. I smiled-I love when the girls get along. "I'll play it after I get home from working tomorrow night." It was cute that she was actually so grateful and excited that she was embarassed. Why did I just explain that to myself?
Moving on.
"So what do you have to do?" I asked. Hanako had finally cooled down her mouth and the tissues were gone.
"I get my own sleigh and some reindeer to fly around Springdale and deliver presents to everyone." Hanako explained. "I've never done anything so important before!" She sounded a little nervous as she continued. "I mean, owning a store and meeting with press is one thing, but this is Christmas! It's all on me! I don't have staff to rely on this time!"
"We'll help!" Insomni said, reaching out and grabbing my head, pulling me against her bust. "We'd love to see all the presents-I mean, deliver the presents for you! Won't we?" Insomni looked at me. She paused, rubbing my cheek against her chest for a second and making a pleasured expression. I pulled my head back.
"Sure, we'll help." I replied. Hanako flew towards me and hugged me, nuzzling against my chest.
"Thank you." She said. "We have a lot to do. Would you mind calling a few friends?"
"I'd love to." I said, looking around for the medallium. "Maybe the others have Dream Medals too." I spotted the medal-holding book sitting next to my laptop on my desk. I fumbled my hand, barely grabbing it and pulling it to the bed. Opening it, I fished out almost every medal I had: Komasan, "Lady Longnek" (I'm still not used to that,) Hungramps, Spoilerina (in case she could tell me what present I got,) Espy, and Gnomey. A group of little dudes that like to build would probably be a huge help. "Show yourself, Komasan!" I called, popping the gray medal into the watch.
I was excited to see how adorable this would be. A jingle started to play from the watch.
"It's Charming Time!" The watch announced. "Dream Roulette!"
'Dream Roulette?' What's this one gonna be?
A melody started to play as Komasan appeared. "Charming! Charming! I wonder what's gonna happen? Huh! Charming! Charming! So Char-ming!" Komasan looked excited as danced on the Dream platform in time with the music, moving his little arms to the beat and waving. There wasn't any kind of winner or loser message, Komasan just looked happy and waved at me as the song ended. A pair of angels floated behind him, probably signifying this particular roulette was some kind of miracle. This 'Dream Roulette' looked to be a guaranteed win, which was fitting of the happy little fire dog.
"Komasan! Oh my swirls!" Komasan announced himself cheerfully as he landed on my bed on his little fire-tailed rump. "Well howdy friend! Y'all need somethin'?" Komasan greeted me with another wave. "That new summon sure was somethin' else!" Komasan dug around in his little coin purse as he spoke, reaching in and handing me a pink poker chip: his Dream Medal. It had a pink and white border, unlike Hanako's purple. The art was Komasan holding a massive ice cream cone and smiling with his tongue out. Like Hanako's, a name was under the art: "KOMASAN" was written like a neon sign across the front.
"Another Dream Medal! Thanks, Komasan!" I said, resisting the urge to pull him into a hug. Komasan looked quite pleased and was reaching into his bag again, pulling out another pink chip. This one had his brother Komajiro on it. Komajiro was holding two ice cream cones in his paws, each with three dripping scoops on top. "KOMAJIRO" was written under the art. "Are you sure Komajiro won't mind me having this?"
"Aw, shucks! Don't worry none!" Komasan reassured me. "Komajiro's yer buddy just like I am! Call us anytime!" Come to think of it, I hadn't called Komajiro when I grabbed the medals. I had his gray one, but I had completely overlooked it. Now's a good a time as any to keep trying Dream Medals, I guess.
Let's pop it in, and ... "It's Charming Time! Tempura Roulette!"
What's tempura?
Well, you get the idea. After eating an apparently delicious piece of food (something Japanese, probably,) Komajiro happily appeared next to his brother. I could summon everyone else later, I had who I needed right now.
"Okay you two, we actually do need your help with something." I said, and the Koma brothers looked at me with a determined nod. I wanted to gush at their cuteness so badly, but we had something serious going on! Perhaps later. "Hanako has been chosen to be Santa this year, so we-"
"Congrats, y'all!" Komasan cut me off, shaking Hanako's hand. "I was Santa last year! Me an' Komajiro had a swell ol' time, didn't we?"
"We had tons'a fun, brother!" Komajiro agreed. "Delivering presents to everyone in town was awesome!" As much as I wanted to think of the brothers in little Santa suits giving me gifts, I tried to stay focused.
"Can you help us out with delivering, then?" I asked. "We only have until tomorrow night to get ready."
"Ain't nothin' but a thang!" Komajiro replied. "We'd be happy to!"
"Fantastic!" Hanako said, floating above my bed and snapping her fingers. In a flash, piles and piles of wrapped Christmas gifts fell from nowhere, filling my room with stuff I would probably want. Insomni was thrilled, flying around and shaking each box to guess which was what.
Well, this was going to take forever.