The following day, the Oh-gals accompanied Akasei on another visit to the department store. There, the three of them set their plan in motion.

When they were sure Akasei wasn't looking, they quietly sneaked away.

''All right,'' Ami said, ''You two know what Santa looks like, right?''

Yushi nodded, but apparently Gojei didn't know.

''Hello?'' Ami said, irritated, ''Red suit, white beard, reindeer, ho ho ho...ring a bell?''

''Oh yeah! THAT guy!'' Gojei exclaimed. ''Now I remember!''

''Now then,'' Ami said, ''Let's get this party started!''

''Party?'' Gojei said, ''You didn't say anything about a party!''

''It's a figure of speech,'' Yushi said, rolling her eyes.

They had not gone far when Gojei seemed to have found something.

''Hey guys!'' Gojei called out, ''I think I found him!''

Yushi and Ami stopped to look.

''Gojei,'' Yushi said after a closer look, ''That's a plastic decoration!''

Gojei touched the thing. ''You're right...sorry 'bout that.''

They left the area and kept on looking.

It was only a few minutes later when Yushi spotted something as well.

''Ami! Gojei!'' She called out, ''I found Santa!''

Ami and Gojei stopped to look. Next to a display for the new video game systems was a woman dressed in a Santa Claus suit with red shoes ringing a bell and heckling the other shoppers into looking at the fancy electronic things.

''Santa is a SHE?'' Gojei said, perplexed.

''No! No! No!'' Ami said angrily, ''You've got it all wrong!''

''We do?'' Gojei asked. ''Really?''

Ami went on. ''You need to let me do all the looking!''

Yushi sighed. ''Fine...have it your way.''

They wandered around for a bit longer, then Ami spotted something.

''THAT'S Santa!'' She shouted, pointing.

Yushi and Gojei stopped. It was one of those things that they have in the malls at Christmas where the little kids can get their picture taken with Santa Claus.

''You're right,'' Yushi said.

''Ha ha! Who's the smarty pants?'' Ami said happily.

''You're the smarty pants,'' Gojei said with a sigh.

''But...there's one thing you didn't notice...'' Yushi said, pointing. The line to meet Santa was...horribly long.

''Oh...yeah...forgot that part,'' Ami said, dissapointed.

''I know what to do!'' Gojei said. She took her sisters by the hand and began to push and shove through the appalling line. ''GET OUTTA THE WAY! MOVE IT! OUTTA THE WAY, SUSHI BREATH!'' Were the various shouts from Gojei as she did this.

Then when they had reached Santa they all leapt on him jauntily, making him fall over. His hat and beard fell off.

The Oh-gals looked closer at the chaos they had caused.

''Hey all you kids!'' Ami shouted, pointing, ''This Santa is a phony! You hear me! A big, fat phony!'' But everyone just left, ignoring her.

But admist the vast throng of people leaving the area there was a very angry Akasei.

Noticing her and her obvious anger, the Oh-gals sheepishly walked up to her. Without saying anything else they left.

''Never, ever do that again,'' Akasei said with much seriousness.

The Oh-gals thought they would have plenty of time to find the real Santa and ask him for the puppy, but when they arrived back at their home they were in for an absolute shock when they looked at the calendar: Christmas Eve was the next day!

''Oh...now what do we do?'' Ami said with despair.

''That, and one other thing,'' Yushi said, ''Since we don't have a chimmney, how will Santa get in?''

''Pshh! That's no problem!'' Gojei said. ''He'll just come down the thermostat!''

But Ami wasn't paying the least bit of attention to any of them. ''I just hope something works out for us...''

''Aw, don't worry 'bout it,'' Gojei said.

''Yeah, haven't you ever heard of Christmas miracles?'' Yushi said.

''I thought those were just urban legends,'' Gojei said, a bit confused.

''Well anyways,'' Yushi went on, ''It's not as hopeless as you think. Trust me.''

''Why should I?'' Ami said. ''After all, you couldn't even find Santa at the store!''

''Well...that--that was just a mistake,'' Yushi said.

''Besides, if Santa can tell whether you've been good, he probably knows that you want that puppy,'' Gojei said.

Ami pondered this. ''Now that I think about it,'' She said, ''that sounds kinda creepy...''

''What's creepy about it?'' Yushi asked.

''Are we being watched or what?'' Ami asked.

''Probably,'' Gojei said, shrugging.

Then all of a sudden Yushi thought of something. ''Hey, you two!'' She said, ''I know what we can do!''

''What?'' Ami asked.

''We can stay up late tommorow night and when Santa shows up, we'll let him know about the puppy!''

Ami and Gojei thought this over. ''It's worth a try,'' Gojei said.

A/N: Don't have much to say about this chapter...other than review it; flamers will be shot and blah blah blah.

---Shaddie-chan