Hinamizawa Hell
Omake 1-2
Ch. 16: Festivities
*Ding*
*Ding*
Rika came to the door, slowly opening it up and revealing Komoto and Mizuho at the doorstep, waiting for entrance into their house and some protection from the cold winter night. Everything outside was turning to ice, given the snow melted so much during the day. Once inside, however, the warmth of the house returned whatever heat energy the two travelers had lost outside to their bodies. They sighed in relief, taking their winter wear off and meeting Satoko, Shion, Rika, Hanyuu and Satoshi in the home.
"I'm glad you came Komoto-senpai. You too Mizuho-san. Nippah!" Rika bowed respectfully to Komoto and Mizuho, greeting them into her home. However, Mizuho looked down to the girl curiously, surprised at how much she and Rika had in common in their physical appearances. Komoto looked to both of the girls, who now studied each other in thought.
"Rika, I'm sorry for not introducing you two properly the night before. This is Mizuho Otome. She and I were quite the duo in our mercenary days. I even saved her life about…"
Suddenly, as Komoto was about to finish his sentence, Mizuho just smiled at him and hit him in the face, sending him crashing into the nearby wall. Rika stood there, amazed at how strong Mizuho was.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself last night. Komoto-kun has really talked quite fondly of you all day, as well as the others. I must say, you look a lot like me when I was a child, but I wasn't as energetic or happy as you are Rika-chan." Mizuho knelt down to her and patted Rika on the head. "…and as for him, don't believe that. I was always the one saving his butt from the enemy. No one stands a chance against my sniper rifle, as you saw last night…" she smiled.
Rika helped pick Komoto up from the ground, given Mizuho's hard punch, and brought him to the living room. Though a little dazed from Mizuho's surprise attack, he seemed used to those kinds of things, and brushed it off. While rubbing his face back into some feeling, he saw down, while Rika broke out her Bernkastel bottle for the occasion. She poured drinks for him and Mizuho, including herself and even Hanyuu. As she was about to sip on it, Mizuho stopped Rika.
"Rika-chan, you're too young for alcohol. You can't…"
"Mizu-chan, its ok. Rika-chan can do as she pleases in her own home. I'm sure some alcohol won't hurt, right?" Komoto looked to Rika, who nodded with an innocent smile. In the depths of her mind, though, preventing her from having some alcohol would have made the night longer than wanting. She wanted to even get Hanyuu to loosen up again and even do some more crazy acts of hers for entertainment.
Mizuho looked from Komoto to Rika, seeing them smirk at their stance against the situation, and gave up. She eyed Komoto, stating an obvious distaste for it.
"May God help you're kids, Komoto-kun. What kind of parent will you ever be, letting kids drink at such a young age?" she asked in humor. They both laughed and sipped on their drinks.
Once the others came over to the house, it was another night of partying for everyone. The food and beverages were great, thanks to Rika and Satoko's cooking. Rena made desert for everyone, and Hanyuu even had her creampuffs finally. Shion made sure that Angel Morte' made enough to quench the unusual girl's craving for them. Once they were allowed to have desert after the dinner, even Rika had to admit that she was even afraid to take one; fearing Hanyuu would growl or even bite her arm off.
For Mizuho and Komoto, a lot of questions about their past were asked during dinner for conversation. They already knew they would be one of the topics for the night, so they did their best to answer anything asked of them. Keiichi seemed to be earnest in their fighting styles.
"I couldn't believe you had such skills with guns! It was amazing! I mean, you shot every knife in midair, where do you learn something like that?" he asked. Mion looked at Keiichi with a sigh, shaking her head over his boyish glee.
"Kei-kun, I hope you realize I still have my gun on me…" Mion's glare at Keiichi shot him back in his seat, with a worried expression on his face. He knew Mion was becoming a bit jealous over his admiration for Komoto and Mizuho's guns skills, but even with this realization it was still hard to compare the three. For his best interest, he sat in his seat with a defeated look.
"Honestly Maebarra-san, Miss Sonozaki and Komoto-kun here are far better with pistols than me. I like rifles above all else actually." Mizuho tried her best to calm Mion, sharing an inner bond with the tomboy. If anything, all Mizuho wanted tonight was to just relax from all that happened in the previous months. Mion saw this from Mizuho, smiled, and just replied by hitting Keiichi over the head with her fist, sending him to the floor. He seemed K.O'ed for a bit.
"Seriously Komoto-san, where do you even find the time to do that kind of stuff?" asked Mion. She seemed a bit curious as well.
"Just practice actually. When I was a mercenary, training physically and with our guns was our way to pass the time between missions. Unfortunately, since we're in Japan finding a gun range is a rarity. So Akasaka-san hooked me up with Detective Oishi and after some talks I was allowed clearance with a local facility to practice on. When the weather gets better I think I'll take you and Satoshi to go practice on. How's that sound?"
Satoshi and Keiichi looked up, with some excitement in their voices. However, Satoshi was a little more hesitant than Keiichi.
"I'm…not very good with guns Hagara-san. I don't think I'll be any good, I'd rather just play baseball."
"Come on Satoshi-kun, you should try it. I even happen to be skilled with an AK-47, I'm sure you'll do fine!" Shion tried to cheer Satoshi on, to which he finally gave in.
"Awesome! I'll finally learn to use a gun!" stated Keiichi.
After more deserts were brought out, and before Hanyuu would explode from so many creampuffs, it began to snow a little bit again outside. From the window, everyone could see the red night sky fall over Hinamizawa, bringing an evanescent glow to the village. Komoto sipped on his drink, reminiscing about old times with Mizuho.
"Kinda reminds me of Christmas in South America, remember Mizu-chan?" he asked.
"Yes, I do. That was a nice night before the fighting broke out the next day. At least the cartels had the decency not to attack on a holy day…" she responded.
The others in the group looked to one another, and only then did they realize the date that day.
"Speaking of which, Christmas is at the end of this week, I'm sure." Rena looked up to the ceiling with a quizzical look. She pressed her index finger to her chin, pondering the holiday a bit.
"That is so. It's on Friday I think. Christmas shopping has already been going on all across Japan the past month. With all that's happened, we didn't even realize it I guess," stated Satoshi.
"Christmas? What is that?" asked Satoko. She seemed oblivious to the holiday and the occasion.
"Christmas is an English holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm not surprised that you don't know of it Satoko. It's a nontraditional holiday here in Japan, so celebrating it is uncommon, right Sis?" asked Shion.
"Tell me about it. Our grandmother doesn't like anything untraditional in our family, so it's out of the question. We never celebrate it sadly," sighed Mion. She fumbled with her fork a bit, seeming a bit sad at the thought.
"Mii…Mi-chan, it's alright. We can celebrate it now that we're old enough. I think we can even get a tree up for our home too!" Rika replied. Hanyuu and the others nodded in agreement happily. This idea brought some excitement to the group, as they came up with ideas over how to prepare for the occasion. The mention of gifts came to light eventually, making Satoko become eager in the holiday's arrival even more.
"It's going to be a hassle to get gifts for everyone especially now. It's probably a madhouse in Okinomiya and elsewhere. The stores are probably out of stock of anything good even…" sighed Satoshi. He seemed down about not having a remote chance to even shop.
"Don't worry about it Satoshi-kun. We don't have to even exchange this year. It's been a mess this past month, so there's always next year. Besides, you know what I want…" Shion rested her head on his shoulder, enticing Satoshi to smile and blush. The others just laughed at her response, though, agreeing with her previous statement.
"So Kei-kun, what are you gonna buy this old man, huh?" nudged Mion. She smirked at the thought, wondering how he would treat her to the occasion.
Keiichi looked at Mion for once and just shook his head. He even smiled at the idea, which kind of made the others look at him with question.
"You and the others can be patient till Friday. I've already done my shopping weeks ago, so I'm all set," Keiichi stated. He seemed proud of the fact he trumped everyone else in his Christmas shopping, astounding the others.
"What! You already did your shopping? But…when?" asked Rena. She and the others were surprised at the idea of Keiichi having even bought them gifts, making it hard for them to return the favor.
"Heh…my parents and I went weeks ago to shop for our relatives, so while I was in the city I just got my shopping out of the way. Pretty smart of me actually." Keiichi's pride in this matter casted dismay to the others, but he rectified the situation quickly. "…I expect nothing in return from any of you. I did this because I owe a lot to all of you for giving me such a wonderful place to live in. Without any of you, I don't think I would have ever had this much fun." His final statement brought smiles on everyone's faces, especially Mion's. They all appreciated his feelings for them, at which they agreed and decided ultimately to at least try and return the favor.
Mion looked at him and acted happy in front of the others. Deep down, however, she hadn't had any time to go shopping, causing panic inside her mind.
*Damnit! I haven't had any chance these past weeks to go shopping. What am I gonna do? I don't even know what Keiichi would like. Huh…wait, what is it Shion?*
Mion's thoughts were stopped suddenly after casting her momentary gaze on her sister. Shion looked at her with one narrow eye open, smiling at her with a devilish look, just before closing her eyes again and resting on Satoshi's shoulder.
*…Wait…what the hell Shion? What are you planning?* thought Mion.
Just before Shion had a chance to drift away in sleep on Satoshi's warm shoulder, she murmured something to her sister.
"Sis…don't worry, we'll go shopping tomorrow with Rena and the others. Just us girls…ok?"
Mion, for whatever reason, just blushed and nodded in agreement. Something to her didn't feel right, even though the other girls just nodded happily in return. Whatever it was, Shion was plotting something; whether it be dubious or well planned in nature.
For the most part, the night went without a hitch for everyone. The party lasted not too long after the Christmas discussion, given that it was very late. For Rika's sake, she wasn't able to get Hanyuu drunk that night, for she already passed out on an overdose of cream puffs. Rika put her to bed on their futon, making sure she was kept in warmth under the covers. Everyone else helped clean up the table and left for the night, glad to know that the next day would be the reopening of their school and club activities. Mion made it clear to Komoto that he was still obligated to attend the after school gaming club for them, at which he only smirked back in response without another word.
Rika greeted off Komoto and Mizuho, who left before everyone else. Rika could only guess that they wanted to get settled into their home, which was natural at best.
"I'm glad you both came over. I hope you had fun, Nippah!" she cheered.
"Thanks for the dinner. I'm sure we'll have to return the favor for all of you sometime soon." Mizuho responded. She smiled at the little girl, but somehow throughout the night she couldn't take her eyes off Rika. She looked too much like her younger self, but different in personality. It was too odd for Mizuho, so she left it at that for the night.
"I'll stop by for the club tomorrow, but if you remember last night there are a lot of penalty games to deal out, right partner?" Komoto and Rika plotted evily together, grinning at the fact that they made Keiichi and Mion engage and lose in so many games the previous night that the next day would be interesting in terms of punishment games.
With that said, they left for the evening, returning back to Komoto's house. But for the two walking down the roads of Hinamizawa that snowy night, it was awkward at best…