Day 4: The Christmas Letter

Sora was making her way out of Tsukishima High School when she saw Koushiro sitting on a bench reading something that looked like a letter.
"Hi, Koushiro." She sat down beside him. "Is this a love confession letter?"
"Hey, Sora." He blushed a little at her question. "No, that's letter from an orphan child. My mother is friends with a woman who works in an orphanage and every year in December the kids write letters for Santa with things they want to get for Christmas. Then we can go there and get as many as we want and buy them what they asked for. Around Christmas they have a party for the children where they give them the presents and the people who bought them can participate too."
"It's really cool."
"It really is. My mother always gets three letters every year, one for my father, one for her and the last one for me."
"And how do I get one of them?"
"You just have to go there and ask the person to give you one. I think you have until December 23rd to take all the presents back there."
"Interesting."
"If you want, I can ask my mother to pick one for you."
"Yes, yes, please." Sora said excitedly. "I really wanted to do some charity this year, but couldn't find anything so far. This is perfect."
"Great! I'll talk to my mother and bring your letter next week, since she's only going there on the weekend."
"Okay, cool. Thanks."

.

Sora was having lunch with Yamato and Takeru when Koushiro joined them with the Christmas letter that he handed to Sora.
"There you go."
"Thank you, Koushiro." She grabbed the letter with a smile.
"What is this?" Yamato asked with eyebrow raised.
"It's a Christmas letter an orphan child wrote." She replied as she opened it. "This year, I wanted to do a charity thing, so I'll be Santa for this child."
"That sounds so awesome!" Takeru exclaimed and turned to Koushiro. "I didn't know you did these things."
"It's not something I talk about a lot, but Sora happened to find me reading mine."
"I think it's a great idea, this child is going to love it."
"I know. It's sad that no one remembers about these kids when it's not on special dates, you know? All they want is someone that can love them."
"That is really sad. Is there something we can do to help too?"
"I suppose maybe you can help with the party." Koushiro shrugged. "I'm not sure, but they probably need some food for it."
"I think I can do something about it."
"Really? That would be amazing."
"I can help too with this. And I'll try to convince my mom to pick a letter too, if they are still available."
"I think they are, but I need to confirm with my mother."
"Alright."
"It makes me so happy that you guys decided to do something for these kids too. We're going to give them the best Christmas ever!"

.

Sora had just left a toy store at the mall after buying board game for the girl she was going to be the Santa for. She went through her list of things to buy and check the toy. The next thing would be a super-hero T-shirt, so she began to head to the clothing store. She was so focused on her list that didn't even see that she was going to bump into someone until she actually did.
"I'm sorry!" She quickly said and found it strange that the person kept holding her arms. She started looking up and came across Yamato and Takeru. "Yamato, Takeru, what are you doing here?"
"Takeru wouldn't stop talking about the letters from the kids in the orphanage and he managed to convince our mother to pick one too."
"Really? So Mrs. Izumi actually got one for you."
"Yeah, she did. I couldn't wait to get everything from the list for the girl I got, so I dragged Yamato along with me."
"And then we're going to buy some stuff for the food I'm going to make for the party."
"That's nice!" She said excitedly. "Can I join you two?"
"Of course!" The two brothers said together.

The three teenagers went to the clothing store to look for some kids clothes. She Sora had already picked what she wanted, so she went to help Takeru with his list.
"Having trouble choosing it?"
"It's so hard choosing girls' clothes!" He complained. "Look at this! You have so many things to choose from!"
"Yeah, it's much easier buying for boys because girls really do have a lot of cute things to choose from." Sora went through some hangers. "What's on her list for clothes?"
"Hmmm…" He looked down at the paper in his hands. "A dress."
"Does it say which color?"
"No. At least there's nothing here." Takeru looked up again. "I suppose we're going with the usual colors for girls?"
"Why?" She looked at him confused. "There are no specific colors for girls or boys, for that matter. I'm surprised you'd say something like this, out of everyone."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."
"That's alright." Sora smiled and then kept going through the clothes. "Who old is she?"
"She's seven."
"I think these ones are her size. If not, we can change it later." She spread the dresses over the other clothes and hangers, so Takeru could see them.
There was a purple dress, a yellow one and also a blue one. He looked at them and frowned.
"It's impossible to choose a color." He said exasperated and looked at Yamato. "What do you think?"
"Hm, I'd say the purple one. Or maybe the blue one."
"That's not really helpful at all. What do you think, Sora? Sora?" Takeru looked around for his friend. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know." Yamato started looking around too. "She was here a minute ago. We'd see if she had left."

It was time to put her plan into action. Sora discreetly sneaked away during this moment of distraction from the brothers and went to the male section of the store. First, she looked at some shirts for Yamato. She went through the hangers and eventually was torn between a brown one and a lavender one. She knew he liked dark tones the best, but she couldn't help but think he would look great in lavender. In the end, she went with the brown one. Then she chose another one for Koushiro and went to buy a new hat for Takeru.

After getting everything she wanted, she went back to the kids' area and wasn't at all surprised that both Yamato and Takeru were still debating which color to choose. Well, maybe she was a little surprised.
"You still haven't decided which color you're gonna buy?"
"Not yet, this is so difficult."
"Where were you?" Yamato asked concerned. "You disappeared out of nowhere."
"I was looking for clothes for me." She replied with a smile. "But I'm here now."
"Now I can understand why sometimes some women take a long time buying clothes. Look at this."
"You obviously haven't gone out with me. I absolutely hate spending too much time on a store buying clothes. Personally, I prefer the yellow one, but they are all pretty."
"You're not helping much either."
"Just pick one and let's go." Yamato's tone was a little annoyed.
"Baby, don't talk to your brother like this."
"Sorry."
"I'll go with the yellow one since it's the color of my previous digivice."
"Alright, let's go."

.

The small group decided to eat before heading to the supermarket to buy things for the food Yamato was going to cook. On their way there, they decided to do it together and went to Yamato's apartment when they were done.
"God, I'm so tired of walking. I can't feel my feet." He said as he sat on the floor to take off his shoes.
"It's been quite a day. I'm a little tired too. Can we rest a little before we start?"
"Yes, please."
"Okay, we can rest for an hour and then we start. We have a lot to do."

Sora's phone started ringing and Yamato grabbed it to turn off the alarm, as she was still sleeping in his arms. He gently shook her arm and called her name.
"What?" She slowly opened her eyes. "Did something happen?"
"No, we just need to start getting everything ready for the party tomorrow."
"Already?"
"Yeah, the hour is over."
"It went by so fast." She sat down.
"That's because you were sleeping."
"Probably." She jumped out of the bed. "Alright, let's get it started then."
"Let's go."

They got everything they needed on the table and the sink and Yamato went to get two more aprons for Sora and Takeru. The last fifteen or twenty minutes were spent deciding what they were going to do for meals and for dessert. Sora volunteered to make a chocolate cake and the boys were in charge of the salty food.
"Are you sure you don't need any help with this?" Sora asked when she walked in the kitchen and looked over their shoulders. "I can help."
"We got this." Yamato replied with a smile. "Besides, you are already making the cake."
"Yeah, but I can't help but feel useless because making a cake is much easier than this amount of salty food."
"I knew this would happen." He said lightly. "You've always loved being useful to other people."
"That's right, so please let me help you." She begged. "I'm already wearing an apron."
"Fine." He rolled his eyes, defeated. "You can cut the fish."

.

Sora put on a hair clip to hold her bang in place and then wrapped a white scarf around her neck. She took one last look in the full-length mirror inside her wardrobe and grabbed the bags on her bed before leaving her bedroom and walking into the living room. There was a red cake package over the table in the kitchen. She carefully grabbed it and placed it beside her on the floor, just as careful, while she put on her boots.
"Mom, I'm leaving now." She announced when she was on her feet again. "I don't know what time I'll be back, but it shouldn't be long I think."
"Alright, darling. Have fun."
"Thank you."

Sora walked out of her house and then downstairs, where she was supposed to meet Yamato, Takeru and Koushiro. Each one of them was carrying at least two bags in their hands.
"Hey, I hope I'm not too late." She said with a smile after she approached them.
"No, you're not. We just got here."
"Good to know." She looked down at the bags. "Is any of these bags heavy? I can help carrying one or two of them."
"No, they aren't heavy at all. Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure? Because I…" She exchanged looks with Yamato and bit her lower lip, realizing she was being a little too overprotective of them. "Alright."
"My mother is waiting for us outside. Let's go."

.

Mrs. Izumi took them to back entrance because of the cake and the food, but the sound of the children could be heard as they got near the house. Sora felt her heart break into a million pieces thinking about how it was possible for a parents to give up their own children. Sure, she thought sometimes it was the best option, but the mere thought of knowing they would have to grow up away from their parents and that some of them wouldn't be adopted at all made her incredibly sad.
"Are you alright?" Yamato managed to place one hand on her shoulder and only then she realized her eyes were watery and her vision starting to get blurry.
"I am. I was just thinking about these children… how some of them might never find a family to adopt them."
"Yeah, it's sad. What you're doing today is amazing, I hope you know that. It will mean everything for these children. I couldn't be more proud of you."
Sora smiled kindly. "Thank you for jumping into this with me. You… neither of you needed to, yet you did. I can't even explain how happy I am with this."
"We can see it in your face."

.

Sora was in absolute awe with the girl she was Santa for and couldn't leave her for not even a minute. At the moment she was holding her in her arms. She had brown hair and green eyes and Sora couldn't remember seeing a girl so beautiful before. She had just met the girl, but was already so attached to her that she knew her heart would be shattered when she had to go home and leave her behind.
"What's your name?"
"Mina."
"That's a pretty name!" Sora said excitedly. "How old are you?"
The girl showed her full palm to Sora, who couldn't help but laugh and kissed her on the cheek.
"Do you want to open your presents now?" She asked the girl after one of their care-takers said it was time to open the gifts.
"Yes!" Mina nodded her head with excitement and ran towards her bag after Sora put her down.
She watched the girl open her presents and the expression she had after each one she came across with, but Mina was the most excited with her brand new super-hero T-shirt. She began to run around and show her friends the clothing proudly. Sora then realized she would be another person when she had to go home after the party. A better person. She touched her heart when it became quite clear to her that Mina had just taught her a new meaning for the word Love. She prayed with everything she had Mina would find a good and lovingly family to adopt her. She was a very special girl and deserved to have an amazing home and be loved unconditionally. Part of her couldn't help but feel a little jealous because she would completely adopt her if she was older and financially stable to provide for her.
"She looks very happy with the presents you've given her." Yamato came up behind Sora and placed his hands on her shoulders, kissing the back of her head gently.
"She really does." Sora couldn't take her eyes away from her, but there was a sad smile on her face. "I just don't understand why some parents give up their own children, you know? I mean, sometimes there's no option, but… some of these kids may never find a real family."
"It's a shock of reality, isn't it?" He stopped beside her, but both of them kept looking at Mina. "It makes you realize other people have different realities."
"Yeah…" She touched the hand that was still resting on her shoulder and began to stroke it softly. "Do you think she will find a good family someday?"
"I certainly hope so. I can already tell that you grew attached to her right away."
"How could I not? Look at her. A part of me really wanted me to be older now, so I could adopt her."
"I'm absolutely positive you'd a great mother to her. I wouldn't mind at all having her as a foster child."
"She would still be your daughter. It's the connection and love that bring a family together. It doesn't matter the kind of family it is. Whoever does it is going to be a very lucky one."
"I completely agree. This is a life-changing experience."
"It is. What she taught me today I'm going to carry with me for the rest of my life. I feel like I'm not the same person who walked through that door anymore. I think somehow that made me become more aware of other people's realities, does that make sense?"
"Of course it does. I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you, baby." She smiled kindly and finally looked into his baby blue eyes. "I'm so happy to have you here with me today. I know I already said it, but it means a lot to me."
"You don't need to thank me. I also learned a lot today."
"I'm glad." She reached out for his hand. "I also have something for you."
"Really?"
"Of course. I could never forget about our anniversary today."