(AN: And now we're back to Part 2! Hopefully you appriciate the early update and that the split part chapter made things easier to read! Anyway, this part is definetly on more of the fluffy side, but it's the last bit before we set up the next event, which I can't wait to get started on! As usual, thanks for waiting for this chapter, I'll hopefully try to get the next one out sooner!)
When Espio opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a grey, tiled room, the floor wet with moisture from steam covering the entire room. Feeling his body, which was rather warm, the chameleon got up from the floor, quickly catching on that he wasn't wearing his yukata. In fact, as his hands slid down his body, it felt like below his legs… didn't exist?
"What is going on?!" Espio questioned, startled by the change of environment but also the lack of limbs. In fact… all there were below his waist was heavy steam, feeling like dense fog during the early morning.
That's when the transfer student stopped, hearing the sound of something faint. Head tilting at the sound, Espio attempted to find the source of the noise, soon coming into clear hearing that the sound was… a running shower.
"This must be a shower room," Espio said, now aware of his surroundings. He walked past multiple walkways, the room feeling neverending as he tried to listen to the sound get louder and louder. Eventually, the chameleon finally found the shower in question, standing in front of a shower surrounded by glass walls. The source of all the steam also appeared to come from this shower, with heavy steam pouring out of the top of the shower at an intense rate. There was one more detail that Espio could make out, one that made his chest feel funny.
There was someone in the shower.
And it wasn't just someone, the figure in question seemed to have a rather masculine figure, but it was very difficult to make out any other features besides that. Not sure what to do, the chameleon suddenly began to start moving to the direction of the shower, trying to get past all the steam as it only became denser and denser. Espio squinted his eyes, trying to make out who this mystery person was as his vision only got whiter and whiter. It was about halfway through that it suddenly became unbearable, and Espio's vision became completely white, the figure disappearing into the density of the steam, but not before one final notable detail about this person being noted: the spikes on the back of their bod-
Espio awoke.
He gasped softly, rising out of bed as he suddenly felt blood rushing into his head. Then, the headache began.
"Ow…! Ow ow ow…!" he said in his native tongue, grabbing the sides of his head as it felt like taiko mallets were beating on each side of his head. He could feel the immense pain, what even felt like his heart pumping blood directly into his head.
What… happened last night? Why was he in so much pain? Why was there so much of a blur? Why were there images he could very vaguely make out, yet feel so unfamiliar?
There were so many questions he didn't get answers to, because his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice.
"Hey, so d'ya remember what we talked 'bout on the bus ride back to Mobius U, Knux?" It was Vector's voice… Vector's calming, soothing voice…
The chameleon slowly and sneakily crawled over to the side of the bed, peering over to see Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty, all three sitting in front of the TV with a container of something green and red in it in front of the three athletes and a gallon of that milk drink the chameleon always seem to feel ill from drinking.
"Oh yeah, that. Did you decide on doing it?" the echidna replied.
"Doing what?" Mighty asked.
"Vector wanted to start up an online fundraiser, a sort of very late Christmas present."
"A fundraiser? What for? Don't you have enough money as is?"
Espio watched as Vector whispered into the armadillo's ear. Mighty looked surprised then happy at what the crocodile said.
"Really? Wow, I'm surprised you're being that generous. And you're doing it of your own volition?"
"Yeah, man!" Vector replied. "I'm sure he's probably gonna be strugglin' with a lot of debt these next couple of months. It's the least we can do to help him! And it ain't just gonna be me either, not only is Knux on board, but I talked with some of the guys on the team and they said they'd wanna help out with advertisin'!"
"Legit, that's a really generous thing you're doing. I'm sure Mr-"
"Oh, late mornin', Espio! Merry Christmas, man!" Knuckles said as he turned his head to see the chameleon staring down at the three. Vector and Mighty looked up to see Espio.
"Espio! Yo, yer finally up! I repeat what Knux said, Merry Christmas!" Vector said happily, smiling at his friend. "How ya feelin'?"
"Ha-Hurt… it hurts…." the chameleon said, grabbing his head.
"Heh, yeah. Vector told us about what happened," Knuckles added. "Trust me, hangovers aren't fun. NO ONE likes them. That's the worst part about drinking, if you ask me."
"Yeah, which is why I don't do it!" Mighty replied, arms crossed.
"Oh, getting all moral with me, well maybe you just don't want your presents this year, eh! Santa Knuckles ain't so kind to judgemental people!"
"Well maybe Santa Knuckles should get sloshed on something that ISN'T booze!"
"Kids, kids! C'mon, it's Espio's first Christmas! Wait until after gift openin' to fight at least!" Vector said, one hand on the echidna and armadillo's shoulder.
"Yeah, you are right…" Mighty replied.
"You know what they say about humbugs…" Knuckles added. "Besides, we've been waiting for you to get up, Espio. We weren't going to leave you out of our gift exchange!"
Espio looked down at the three, remembering that they had all gotten gifts for him. It seems like he was finally going to understand how this 'Krismas' would work. Climbing down the ladder, he walked over to the three, seeing that Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty were watching something on TV while they appeared to eat something unfamiliar to Espio.
"Knuckles brought some of these over for us," Vector said. "We try to avoid sugar throughout the year… but fer today, I think we can make an exception. Besides, it's like bein' a kid again, watchin' Christmas cartoons on TV while eatin' Santa cookies… sure brings me back to Elementary School, that's fer sure."
"I'm just glad they're airing Rudy the Red-Antennaed Chao, that was always my favorite special," Mighty said.
"Yeah but they sure like treatin' Rudy like a total asshole until they find something useful they can exploit outta him!" Vector said, eyes closed. "...Okay, maybe it is nostalgic but still…"
"I always liked How the Black Arms Stole Christmas, I always found it funny that some weirdo alien just hated Christmas so much," Knuckles added.
"Ughhhh…" Mighty groaned. "You are reminding me of the time we watched that in Kindergarten and I legit cried because Black Doom's design scared me so much."
The crocodile and echidna burst out laughing as Espio sat in the middle of the three, getting a closer look as to what his friends were eating.
"Feel free to take some, Espio!" Vector said. "Knux brought plenty fer us, and yeh haven't had sugar cookies yet, so go on! Give it a try!"
Espio looked at the container on the ground, noting that the 'kookis' seemed to leave quite a mess judging by the amount of crumbs around the container. He grabbed one, no stranger to having to eat with his hands in the Outside World (even if he'd NEVER get used to it…) and looked at it. It seemed to be in the shape of that person he saw in the mall with Knuckles and Mighty, just with a more Overlander-like face than what he saw. It was red, white, and some kind of beige color…
Not sure what to expect, Espio took his first bite, crunching as he chewed the cookie. It was surprisingly sweet, similar to the oshiruko he would eat around this time of year. He had never had anything like this before, as most of the sweets he had were soft and chewy, or something soupy, but never hard and crunchy. This, on the other hand… this was delicious! In fact, before he was almost done with his first one, Espio soon grabbed another, this time a green cookie.
"Looks like he loves 'em!" Vector said. "Not a single person doesn't like sugar cookies! Anyway, that's besides the point. Now that yer awake, Espio, we gotta get started on our gift exchange!"
Espio looked up at Vector, remembering that he had left all his friend's gifts in the room by the corner. However, some of them were gone.
"Where is-" he asked before Vector cut him off.
"Oh yeah… I meant to tell ya but yeh were knocked out…" Vector began. "Jewel, as well as that Bow guy yer friends with and his pals all came by the dorm to deliver yer gifts. They all said they couldn't be around too long so that's why they came by early. Jewel said she was gonna be busy all day helpin' the staff clean and pack up the campus fer the Christmas break, and Bow and his pals said once they were done here, they had to quickly leave campus and head to the airport to catch a flight back to their home. Some place in Mercia… I think they said it called Snottingham or somethin' like that? I dunno, but I gave them the gifts yeh gottem. Sorry if ya weren't able to give them personally, I didn't wanna wake yeh up… But they did leave stuff fer ya too! We can see what they gotcha once we finish up our exchange!"
With that, the four all got into a circle as they began their gift exchange. First, Vector started off by handing over one of Knuckles' gifts, a new pair of cleats, since Knuckles had been using the exact same ones he had since last year, which were almost starting to fall apart had it not been for the echidna super gluing parts of his shoe back together. The echidna was thankful for the gift, and tackle hugged Vector to the ground.
Espio however, looked confused at the action. Was this what you were supposed to do when you received a gift? Tackle into someone and then… hug? Actions like these were never done back home in Gojo, in fact… the last time he had ever been hugged was before he left to the Outside World by his mother. And now that he thought about it harder, it was something she had NEVER done before that day… could he do what his friends were-
"Espio, it's yer turn. Pick a gift ya got!" Vector said, pulling Espio out of his trance. The chameleon quickly blinked and turned his head towards the crocodile before looking at Knuckles and Mighty. He quickly got up from the floor, walking to the pile of gifts and seeing which ones were for whom. Passing by gifts for Norris and Sonic, Espio was able to find one of his gifts for Mighty, which Knuckles had helped him pick out; a new wireless speaker, which wasn't that pricy, but the echidna said the armadillo would love it. And sure enough, when he opened it, the armadillo was thankful for the gift, and he walked up to the chameleon and hugged him. Awkwardly, he returned the hug, a face of 'Am I even doing this right?' on Espio's face.
"Okay, mah turn again!" Vector said. "Okay, so this is one of two gifts I got fer Espio. I think yer gonna like this one, pal!"
The crocodile slid a slim cardboard box towards Espio, designs of trees and those 'snowmen' he saw some of the freshman building outside the ST Building on it.
"Oh… no I… I cannot…" he said, pushing the box away. It felt far too humble for him to accept this gift, especially from someone like Vector.
"Naw man, it's okay! I promise!" Vector smiled. "Ya dun gotta say no, I really do mean it!"
"Vector, but-"
"But nothin'! It's Christmas and we ain't gonna leave ya out, so dun say no to someone givin' ya a gift! Just say thank ya, even if ya dun like it!"
Espio stared back at the present. He was always too humble when it came to gifts, but it was like that for people in Gojo anyway…
Still, he did wonder what it was, and so, Espio grabbed the box and examined it. He could feel that it wasn't very heavy. But… it didn't look like any of the gifts the others received.
"Just slide open the box by grabbing that top part, Espio," Mighty pointed to the top part of the box as Espio grabbed the sides. "Yeah… yeah… there you go…"
With the top part of the box now opened, Espio opened it to see… a black sweater.
"Yo… is that what I think it is?!" Knuckles questioned, raising himself up to get a better look. Espio grabbed the sweater and looked at it, noticing that 'GREEN FOREST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL' was written in blue and green lettering on it.
"What is th-this?" Espio asked.
"Mah high school sweater," Vector replied. "Our coach gave this out to all the players on the Green Forest High football team, but by sophomore year, I grew outta this thing and couldn't fit into it anymore. I figured if it would fit someone, it'd be yeh. Besides, I..." the crocodile turned away. "I made sure to getcha somethin' that means a lot to me. Hope ya like it."
"Dude, that is so nostalgic," Knuckles said. "I don't even know what happened to mine. Pretty sure dad donated it to a thrift store…"
Meanwhile, Espio was still looking at the sweater with intensity, realizing that he had gotten something that Vector had previously owned, not something he bought. It didn't quite look like the jackets Vector and Knuckles wore, but it reminded him of what people would wear around campus now. Trying to put it over his head, the chameleon found himself having difficulty, not used to putting on clothes in such a manner.
"Oh, d'ya need help, bud?" asked Vector as he crawled over, helping the chameleon put on the sweater. After doing so, Espio looked down at himself, the sweater completely covering the top half of his yukata.
"How is it?"
"It…" Espio felt such warmth, an intense feeling of being at home and comforted overall as the fact that he was wearing something Vector had sunk in. He could even very faintly smell something coming from the sweater, something that reminded him of the cherry blossoms that would bloom in the Historic District every spring. He smiled. "...is good. Thank you."
Vector smiled in response as he went back to where he was. "Well, now it's time fer my gift in return! C'mon, I heard Knux and Mighty helped ya pick it out fer me!"
"Hey, isn't it my turn?" the armadillo questioned.
"Yeah, but this is more important! I'm excited to know what he got me!"
Not wanting to disappoint the excited crocodile, Espio walked over to his gift pile and went to search for one of the gifts he got the crocodile, soon finding one he knew he would love. As he walked over to Vector and handed it, the crocodile opened it up to see what the contents contained and was shocked at what he saw.
"No way… not the limited edition pressin' of Madonna the Diva's latest album?! I've been meanin' to pick that up but it's been sold out everywhere so I had to get it digitally!" he said, hands shaking as he held the album. "Espio… I know Mighty and Knux helped ya out gift shoppin' but… thank ya!"
That's when Vector hugged the chameleon, and as he did, squeezing the smaller reptile with his strong arms, Espio could see his scales turn pink as his body collided with Vector's. He looked up at his friend, more bravely returning the hug compared to the one he gave to Mighty.
Eventually, most of the gifts had finished being passed out, with Espio gifting his second, third, and fourth gifts to Vector. A couple of containers of pre- and post-workout powder supplements, a new pair of pants meant for crocodiles like him, and a calendar for next year with Vector's favorite football team, the Downunda Gators, decorated all over it. With him being appreciative of each of the gifts, Vector finished off the gift exchange with the very final present: one from him to Espio.
"The reason I didn't getcha much was because I put a lot of my funds onto this one right here. I know it might be… different than whatcha expect, but I think yer gonna make great use outta this, Espio," Vector said, passing a small box to the transfer student. "Well? Open it up."
Espio looked at the box, wondering what it could possibly be. He picked it up, noting that it was just a slight bit on the heavier side for something so small.
Grabbing the corner, he recalled how his friends just now opened their gifts, digging their fingers into the boxes and pulling off some sort of coating off it. However, he did it much slower, as he didn't want to break whatever this gift from Vector was. Finally opening it, he let all the paper around the box fall to the ground as he saw a blank black box. Now even more confused, Espio opened it just like he did Vector's sweater, only to drop it as the box crashed onto the ground. However, something spilled out from the box that Espio was surprised to see.
"Did you get him-?..." questioned Mighty as Espio reached over to grab a shape he was all too familiar with.
"Is this a f-fo…" he said, pointing to the cell phone he had seen nearly EVERYONE at Mobius U use.
"Merry Christmas, dude," Vector grinned. "I figured yeh could use this for a lot of reasons, and trust me, I'll be super happy to teach ya how it works. But I hope ya like it…"
Espio was surprised as he stared back at the phone with stars in his eyes. Did… did he have his very own phone? Was he finally going to understand why so many people used these on a daily basis? It made Espio excited to use it, and Vector couldn't be more thoughtful to get him this.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you have my number first thing!" added Knuckles. "Which reminds me, is it unlocked, Vector?"
"It is," replied the crocodile. "But I figured it wouldn't make sense to get him on a plan when he's leavin' in a few months, so there's no SIM. I just got this alongside the charger, a case, and a screen protector."
"Ho-how do I yu… use… this?" Espio asked, pointing at the phone.
"Dun worry, I'll help ya in a bit. But d'ya like it?"
Espio looked up at Vector, being so appreciative of what he received. He had heard from Valdez that technology like this cost quite a lot of money. The fact that Vector spent this much on him…
"Aw, dun look too embarassed, bud! Come on, gimme a hug and a huge thanks!" Vector grinned, opening his arms wide. The chameleon felt his scales get slightly pink as he shuffled over to Vector, the crocodile pulling him in for yet another tight hug, with the chameleon now returning it a little more confidently. He could start to feel himself get more comfortable in Vector's strong arms, feeling him so close like this… it was a feeling that he didn't want to stop. But knowing that Knuckles and Mighty were still in the room…
"Thank you-you, Vector…" Espio said. "It is… ver… very good."
"Heh, anytime bud!"
Soon after, all the gifts were open, and Vector, Espio, Knuckles, and Mighty were very content and happy with the gifts they had received from one another. Currently, as the armadillo and echidna were busy with their own things to make sure that everything either fit or worked, Vector was helping Espio initially set up his phone, showing him how to turn it on. The gifts that Mighty and Knuckles had gotten for the chameleon (an incense stick set and holder, as well as a winter hat and boots from Knuckles, and a small LED fountain and a night robe from Mighty) sat neatly in front of the chameleon as he watched with intensity, the light of the phone shining his curious face.
"Okay, so now that we're in, we gotta do a few things first. The first thing we gotta do is set up Wi-Fi based apps so that yeh'll be able to call and text. Since yeh aren't on a phone plan, that means that yer ability to call and text is limited since yeh can only do it while connected to to the internet," Vector explained. "So, let's connect this to the school's Wi-Fi-"
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Were you expecting someone else, guys?" Mighty asked. Espio got up from the floor and walked to the door, opening it to find…
"Oh, Espio! Merry Christmas! I didn't think you'd still be on campus! Oh… nice sweater… I've never seen you with it before!"
It was Mark, who held various gifts in his shaking hands and had his phone on the top of it, the tapir closing his eyes.
"Th… this stuff is real heavy! Can I come in now?.. P-Please? Besides, you don't know how hard it is to bring up all these heavy things while you're trying to watch something!"
"The ru… ru-ule," Espio said, reminding the tapir of the sole rule he had when it came to guests in the dorm.
"No need to remind me… uh… it might be hard! Just… just a lil! Can you receive-"
Just then, Knuckles started to help out the tapir as he grabbed some of the gifts he had as well as the tapir's phone and brought them inside. Mark sighed, finally able to get his shoes off with just his feet, grateful for the act.
"Thanks a lot… oh, you two! I remember seeing you the other day at the mall… Uh… what were your names again?" he asked as the tapir stepped inside, his trunk swaying.
"Knuckles and Mighty, dude!" the echidna replied, pointing at himself then at the armadillo as he handed Mark his phone.
"Right, sorry I forgot. Anyway, these aren't all mine anyway. Norris, Dave, and Hacker all pitched in to get you something. But I did get you a few things you might like! So for real, Merry Christmas, Espio! Well, c'mon! I wanna see what you think! In case I'm getting distracted, heh heh… sorry, Nicole-chan, one of my favorite V-Tubers, is doing her yearly Christmas stream today so I just had to tune in…"
Espio could see on Mark's phone what appeared to be quite a lot of action as a brown lynx girl with black hair sat in the corner of the screen bopped back and forth, appearing to be talking. The tapir set down various gifts in front of the chameleon, including an envelope as he looked down at his phone for a brief moment.
"Hey, dun forget yer gifts from Jewel and Bow and his gang too!" Vector added. Espio nodded in response as he grabbed the first gift in front of him, a somewhat tall gift that seemed… hard to the touch. Upon opening the gift, Espio was surprised to see a large stack of manga in front of him, all six of them having quite a large amount of pages.
"Kinda figured yeh'd get him something like this," Vector said. "So uh, why are they that large?"
Espio picked up the first manga in the stack, reading out the title.
"Megami…" he squinted his eyes, trying to read the last two kanji of the title. "Aah! Ibunroku… Perusona? What is this?"
Mark then looked up. "This was the next series I wanted to recommend to you!" he excitedly said. "So, I got you the Megami Ibunroku Persona quintology! They're not connected stories so you can read each of them individually, but I would recommend reading them from the start. Right there, you're holding the first series, Be Your True Mind. After that, you have the second series which is split into two stories; Innocent Sin and its sequel, Eternal Punishment. Then the third, Battle for Everyone's Souls, then the fourth, Reach Out to the Truth, and finally the fifth and latest one which just finished up last year, Theft of the Heart! And-"
Knuckles, who felt his eyes spin in place in his sockets, suddenly held up his shaking hands.
"Whoa, whoa whoa whoa, hold on, Mark!" he said. "I'm glad you're very excited to introduce your… what are those called... your mango things? But don't confuse Espio, man! It was hard for me to follow, imagine how hard it was for Espio!"
"It's MANGA," replied Mark. "But I suppose I did go a little bit fast… I'm just really excited to show all this stuff to Espio! Like, here, open this one next!"
And for the next couple of minutes, Espio would open Mark's remaining gifts, which included the DVD for the second season of The Pegasus Knights of the Zodiac and a one for a new series he hadn't heard of called Shining in the Darkness, the first volume of the manga adaptation of Sakura Taisen, a small, exaggerated keychain figure of Shinguji Sakura, the main character from Sakura Taisen, and finally, a multicolor set of chopsticks. Espio was beyond thankful for the set, seeing as he can FINALLY use his own pair of chopsticks instead of having to use the ones offered by the university three times a day (especially since some days there wasn't one he could use) or worse, having to use his hands to eat, something he doesn't think he'll STILL get used to. He was just glad that behavior could finally stop. Imagine what his mother would think if she saw him using his hands to eat...
Finally, it was topped off with an envelope that Mark personally handed to Espio. After getting Vector to help him open it, he squinted his eyes as he attempted to read Mark's somewhat sloppy handwriting.
"𝚃𝚘 𝙴𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚘,
𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚒𝚡 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚕𝚐𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊. 𝙰𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚈𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎. 𝙾𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙰𝙽𝚈𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶! 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚎, 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚈𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚈𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚊 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍. 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚑𝚊 𝚑𝚊…
𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚞𝚜. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏, 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚢𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎.
𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚆𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜, 𝙸 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝.
𝙼e𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜, 𝚍𝚞𝚍𝚎
-𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚔"
Attached to the left was one of those cards that Espio saw Mark and his friends play in the K building during lunch or dinner, on Sundays or after class. Picking it up, he saw that the art of the card had two hands forming a symbol that connected together. He then read the card's name; "An Unbreakable Bond".
"Mark…" Espio said, looking up at his portly tapir friend.
"Is it too silly sounding? Sorry, I'm not the best at being sappy…" the tapir replied.
"Hey, listen man, it's the thought that counts," Vector said, grabbing Espio from the side as he made a noise from surprise. "We're all frankly thankful to have Espio in our lives, and I think the holidays remind us about what's important, being with the ones that inspire us daily."
He then turned to Knuckles and Mighty. "Hey, yeh two agree, right?"
"Well of course ya idiot!" Knuckles replied. "Just cause you two are buddy buddies doesn't mean Espio isn't my friend! Hell, for everything he's done for us just this semester alone, I think he deserves to be treated like a king!"
"I think you guys all said it best," Mighty added. "Espio, from all four of us here, we couldn't be happier you're with us." He then smiled. "I mean it."
Espio nodded before… giving a very rare smile to his friends. He looked at Mighty, at Knuckles, at Mark, and then Vector.
"O-o… no… All… all? All… of you… Thank you…" he said, giving off one final bow where he sat.
With Mark's gifts now opened (he was appreciative of the DoTC book, especially since they were rather pricy and took some time going through the Warriors and Wizards box picking out which cards he would add to his deck) and the tapir taking the gifts Espio got for his friends, it was time to open the remaining gifts from his friends before finding something else to do prior to the campus' closure for the holidays.
After opening Dave's gift, which was a fifty Mobium gift card to Meh Burger, and Hacker's gift, a Sonic Man mask and watch, it was finally time to open Norris' gift before opening Jewel and Bow's. Upon opening the first gift, everyone in the room saw that it was yet another manga, this one being of a series that Espio hadn't heard of again but that Mark was familiar with.
"Of course I know The Sorrow of Princess Elise!" he said. "Norris is the one out of all of us who likes Shojo the most, after me. It's probably up there with magical girls if you had to ask me, but I'm glad it's at least that. I was worried about what it was originally going to be…"
In fact, the next gift seemed to be the next volume of The Sorrow of Princess Elise.
Keyword, seemed.
For when Espio opened up the manga, he was instantly shocked by what he saw. There was a short porcupine woman with very large… features… and a smug look getting VERY close to a man with glasses, several panels focusing close on parts of her body. The chameleon gasped, unaware that THIS is what Norris wanted him to read?!
"What's wrong?" Mark asked.
"Th-there is…" Espio tripped on his words, not sure how he was going to explain this to his friends.
"Hand it here. What did you see?"
Mark's question would soon be answered when he opened the same page Espio had. His eyes widened as Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty watched with confusion, his glasses almost falling off his trunk.
"What's wrong, Mark?" the crocodile asked.
"Oh… OH... No… oh NOOOOOO!" the tapir said, quickly taking notice at the cover as he flipped through the pages. He could see that the manga cover had been swapped out, and after taking off the cover for The Sorrow of Princess Elise, saw what the manga TRULY was.
"Niidorumausu-chan…" Espio read the cover in his native language, realizing that it wasn't in English. "...de otoko o shihai shite sekai o seiha shiyou?"
"Dominate Men and Conquer the World with Ms. Needlemouse…" Mark groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. "He… got you ecchi…"
"What the heck is that?" Knuckles asked as he grabbed the manga.
"No, no trust me, you REALLY don't wanna see what's in there!"
Just as Knuckles sat back down, a sticky note fell out from the manga. Mighty picked it up and read it for a couple of seconds before handing it to Espio.
"Is this from your friend?" the armadillo asked. Espio and Mark read it together.
"мarĸ мιgнт ĸnow тнe ѕaғe тo go cнoιceѕ wнen ιт coмeѕ тo мanga, вυт ι'м goιng тo ѕнow yoυ тнe тrυe вaѕed мanga yoυ ѕнoυld ѕтarт pιcĸιng υp! ι нope тo нear ғroм yoυ aвoυт wнo'ѕ тнe вeѕт waιғυ, and тrυѕт мe, ιт'ѕ мѕ. needleмoυѕe or geт oυт!
-norrιѕ"
"This is what I feared…" Mark said. "I didn't want him to get you this cause I know you wouldn't be too cool with having something with so many-"
Just then, Knuckles had already opened up the manga. And when he did-
"WHOA-HO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he exclaimed, surprising Vector and Mighty. "MAAAAAARK, I didn't know your nerdy manga things had so many busty babes in it!"
The tapir groaned and rolled his eyes. "It's just the genre. Ecchi involves a lot of playful sexual situations but it isn't hentai! Still it's… not the kind of thing I feel someone new to manga like Espio should dive into first hand like this."
"Screw that! If he doesn't want it, I'll gladly take this!"
"Were things so bad with Rouge last night yer now gettin' horny over drawn girls?" asked Vector, causing a reaction from Mark.
"Hey, even I have my wai-" the tapir coughed, adjusting his glasses. "I mean my best girls! You can appreciate both!"
"Anyway, why'd yer Norris friend gift this to Espio? Seems pretty booby fer someone like him."
"What makes you think he isn't into boobs, Vector?" Knuckles retorted. Espio wasn't sure what the two were talking about, but there was something about the way the crocodile's expression suddenly changed upon the echidna's comment that made Espio feel… upset for him.
Something he wasn't sure why…
Regardless, he decided to let the excited Knuckles keep the Ms. Needlemouse manga. Now that he was done with all of Mark's gifts, the tapir now helping himself to some of the Christmas cookies the echidna brought as he returned to the livestream he was watching, it was time for the final gifts to be opened: Jewel's, and Bow and his gang's. Jewel's turned out to be a lavish sketchbook and what seemed like a carrying case filled with different style pencils, erasers, blenders, charcoal sticks, a notepad, and most interesting, a wooden doll shaped like a person, among many others in it. It was topped off by a bottle of ink and a brush, as well as a card.
"𝐼'𝓂 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈, 𝐸𝓈𝓅𝒾𝑜. 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒻𝓊𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒽, 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒸𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒻𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝓈𝑒𝓉 𝓊𝓅, 𝒾𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇.
𝒜𝓈 𝐼'𝓂 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈, 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼'𝓂 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝒾𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝓉. 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝐼'𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝒿𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻, 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝒶𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝑜𝑜, 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝒾𝒻𝓉𝓈 𝐼 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒻𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝒻𝓊𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒. 𝒩𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒽, 𝐼 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒴𝓊𝓇𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝒶 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓉. 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝐿𝐸𝒜𝒮𝒯 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒.
𝒩𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝐸𝓈𝓅𝒾𝑜. 𝒞𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝓊𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝒸𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒾𝒸 𝒿𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓃𝑒𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒹𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒. 𝑀𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈.
-𝒥𝑒𝓌𝑒𝓁."
Meanwhile, Bow and his friends had quite the multitude of different things given to Espio. Vector explained that one was in the fridge even, and the others had such strange shapes. First, he was given a small handcrafted bow from the sparrow, complete with Espio's name even engraved onto it in both English and Japanese (even if the kana was clearly engraved by someone who wasn't used to writing it, as it was clearly done out of order). Munch had gifted him a heavy blanket and scale cleaner and shiner similar to what Vector used in the shower.
"And he gotcha a bunch too!" Vector said, placing the four bottles of each next to one another. "Hopefully that means I won't run out faster than I have this semester since ya been borrowin' mine."
After that, Buck had gotten Espio a decorative candle encased in a glass container with a picture of a gold, eight winged angel on it and a black pillow with the phrase, "The world is bright when one is relaxed". Thorn's gift was the one that came to a surprise as Vector said it was in the fridge, which Mark opened and pulled out, shocked at what it was.
"A… cake?" he asked, pulling out and placing a cake in the middle of the group. Espio could see that whatever this thing was, it was brown with something white similar to powder coating the entirety of the three layered cake, which was decorated with more cookies both around and on top of it.
"Yo, that looks so good…" Knuckles said. "But we just had cookies…"
"And Thorn said this was fer Espio," Vector added. "Let's save it fer later. Put this back in the fridge, will ya, Mark?"
As the tapir did just that, it was time to open the final gift, a surprisingly large one from Alan.
"What did he get you, a pizza stone or something?" Mighty asked.
"Now why would a pizza stone look retangular? Shouldn't it be circular?" Vector replied. "Besides, it feels and looks like a big briefcase. What the hell did Alan getcha, bud?"
Espio was confused as he stared at the long gift. He tried to lift it up, but it was easily the heaviest of the gifts he opened. As such, he decided to open it while it was on the floor, and once he ripped a huge chunk of the wrapping paper, he was surprised at the gift.
"What is this?" Espio asked, pointing at it.
"It does looks like a case…" Mighty said before Mark gasped.
"Wait, is it an instrument case?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"My brother is in a band and he plays guitar. This looks almost like a guitar case, I can guarantee it!"
"Why would Alan get him a guitar? Lemme see…" Vector said, getting up and walking over to open the gift. After unlocking the case, he opened it up and everyone crowded around to see-
"What the heck is THAT?" Knuckles questioned, all five of the students staring at some sort of long and slim wood stringed instrument. Espio had NEVER seen something like this before, although looking at it closer, it reminded him of the koto that would be played by ensembles during festivities like the New Year's festival in Genshu alongside the shakuhachi and the shamisen, among many others. The other four however, looked far more perplexed.
"Do you recognize that, Mark?" Mighty asked.
"Never seen it before. Who got you this?" the tapir asked.
"A friend of Espio's. Dunno why though, I never saw Espio play an instrument. Well, open Bow's card. What does he say?"
Espio would be given the card by Vector, who opened it up and was surprised to see writing all over the inside, seeing that it wasn't just from Bow, but also Alan, Thorn, Buck, and Munch.
"𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘰,
𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦! 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴! 𝘛𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴! 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱! 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴! 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘠𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘺𝘮! 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰! 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴!
-𝘉𝘰𝘸"
"𝓣𝓸 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓔𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓸,
2 𝓜𝓮𝓹𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓼 5:8 𝓼𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓼: "𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓼. 𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓵𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓗𝓲𝓼 𝓰𝓵𝓸𝓻𝔂 𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓭 𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓮𝓽." 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓿𝓮 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮, 𝓔𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓸. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓵𝔂 𝓫𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓪𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓶𝔂 𝓰𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓳𝓸𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾.
𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓼, 𝓢𝓾𝓷 𝓖𝓸𝓭 𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓾𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵, 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓗𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓗𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝓯𝓯𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮.
-𝓑𝓾𝓬𝓴"
"wнαт α yeαr тнιѕ нαѕ вeeɴ, нυн? ιт ғelт lιĸe yeѕтerdαy ι jυѕт ɢoт тo мeeт yoυ ιɴ тнe ι вυιldιɴɢ, αɴd ɴow looĸ αт υѕ! yoυ're jυѕт αѕ мυcн α pαrт oғ тнιѕ ɢroυp αѕ тнe reѕт oғ υѕ! ι dιdɴ'т reαlly ĸɴow wнαт тo ɢeт yoυ тнιѕ yeαr, ѕo ι'м ѕorry ιғ мιɴe ιѕɴ'т αѕ ɢood αѕ тнe oтнerѕ. ѕтιll, ι'м нopιɴɢ yoυ lιĸe ιт reɢαrdleѕѕ. мerry cнrιѕтмαѕ!
-мυɴcн"
"𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙴𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚘,
𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎. 𝚃𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚜, 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚊𝚝, 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚊𝚢. 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛. 𝚂𝚘, 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙶𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙲𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚛, 𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊 𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚖𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘!
𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚆𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔.
-𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗"
"ʙʟᴇꜱꜱɪɴɢꜱ ʙᴇ ᴏɴ ꜱᴜᴄʜ ᴀ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀꜰᴜʟ ʜᴏʟɪᴅᴀʏ! ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ꜱᴀᴡ ᴍʏ ɢɪꜰᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴏɴ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ? ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍʏ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ, ɪꜱ ᴀɴ ᴀᴘᴘᴀʟᴀᴄʜɪᴀɴ ᴅᴜʟᴄɪᴍᴇʀ! ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢᴇᴅ ɪɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴍᴇɴᴛ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɴᴏʀᴛʜᴇʀɴ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴄᴇɴᴛʀᴀʟ ᴍᴏʙɪᴜꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴋɪɴᴅᴀ ꜱɪᴍɪʟᴀʀ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴋᴏᴛᴏ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ɴᴏʀᴛʜᴇʀɴ ᴍᴏʙɪᴜꜱ! ɪ ᴅᴜɴɴᴏ ʜᴏᴡ ᴡᴇʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄᴀʟ ɪɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇɴ'ᴛ, ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ꜱᴏ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ʟᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ, ɴᴏ? ʙᴇꜱɪᴅᴇꜱ, ᴡᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴜꜱᴇ ᴀ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ɴᴏᴛ-ꜱᴏ ʙᴀɴᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɪᴍᴘʀᴇꜱꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜰᴏʟᴋꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ʜᴏᴍᴇ! ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴏʀʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛ ɪᴛ ᴄᴏꜱᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴏʀ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ, ɪ'ᴍ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪᴛ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ! ɪ'ʟʟ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ʙᴇ ɢʟᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʟᴘ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢᴇᴅ ɪɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɪꜰ ɪ'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴅᴜʟᴄɪᴍᴇʀꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪ'ᴅ ʙᴇ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴏ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴏᴜʀ ɪɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ!
ᴍᴇʀʀʏ ᴄʜʀɪꜱᴛᴍᴀꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ꜱᴀꜰᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴡɪɴᴛᴇʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ!
-ᴀʟᴀɴ Q."
"An… appalachian… dulcimer? What's that?" Mighty asked as he grabbed his phone from his pocket, looking it up. Meanwhile, Espio still was trying to process everything in his mind. The gifts from Bow and his friends really only further emphasized the friends he'd made in his time in the Outside World, finally truly sinking in despite everything from the others in the room. Here he was, not even sure about what Christmas was and having others do his gift shopping for him and yet, Vector, Knuckles, Mighty, Mark, Jewel, Norris, Hacker, Dave, Bow, Alan, Munch, Buck, and Thorn all thought about him…
And it was only going to become more apparent when there was ANOTHER knock at the door and the 'BEEP' sound of the door being opened via the door key. The dorm door opened wide, revealing Valdez dressed from head to toe in heavy winter gear.
"Ah, goodness quite a lot of you are here!" he said. "Merry Christmas to you all."
Just then, Valdez turned to see all the presents on the floor. "By goodness, look at all this! Are these all of yours, Vector?"
"Just some of them," Vector replied. "Some of them are mine, some are Mighty's, Knux's, Mark's, but lemme tell ya, Espio's been real popular today! It's insane what some of us have gotten him!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that you boys are having a good time today. I'm hoping you haven't spent too much money on this at least."
"Thankfully, being on a sports scholarship saves a lot of money," Mighty said. "It's pretty much the only way I could pay."
"Lucky you three... I already had to take out student loans..." Mark moped.
"I'm hoping you're spending your finances correctly, Mark. Don't want you to rack up more debt by the year," Valdez replied. "Anyway, this is the only free time I pretty much have as I'm actually on my lunch break right now. So, I came by with Espio's gift."
That's when Espio noticed Valdez holding a medium sized cardboard box under his arms.
"Valdez-san, what is that?" he asked in his native language. The blue chameleon looked at the box then back at Espio.
"Ah, this? Well, don't think that I didn't get you something this year, Espio-kun. I know you're likely worried because I'm still paying off your legal debts, but that doesn't mean I'm still not going to get you something that I know you're going to not just love, but also need. Ah, by the way... what is that sweater you're wearing? I've never seen you with it."
"What the heck is he saying?" asked Knuckles. Vector shrugged as Valdez crouched down, but not before looking at the Appalachian dulcimer Alan had got the transfer student.
"And… what is that?" he asked.
"Something called an Appalachian dulcimer," Mighty replied, looking up from his phone. "It's a string instrument you play on your lap according to what I looked up. A friend of Espio's got it for him because it reminded him of some instrument from Northern Mobius and he thought Espio could take up playing it. I don't really know the guy who got it for him, I'm just friends with one of his friends cause he's on the wrestling team."
"It does remind me a lot of the koto now looking at it. Although, usually members of the Shinobi clan only played the shamisen, and other instruments were played by other people for Espio's clan during celebrations and festivals," Valdez shook his head. "Anyway, I'm getting carried away."
He turned to Espio. "Well? Go on ahead and see what it is."
Handing him the box, Espio was also surprised at the sudden weight of it. He had already dealt with the dulcimer just minutes ago, now what could this be? Everyone watched as Espio tried to look for a way to open the box.
"I don't know how to open this, Valdez-san," Espio said, flipping the box as he wondered how DID this open. That's when Mark started to pull out a tab on the side of the box.
"Right here, Espio!" he said. The tapir opened up a tab, allowing the chameleon access to the contents inside. Pulling it out, he started to feel cardboard before touching something metallic and cool. What was it?
His question would be answered when the object in question was pulled out.
"Is that a laptop?!" Vector questioned, As it turns out, Valdez's gift was a silver laptop manufactured by MeteorTech complete with its charger and a USB mouse. Espio was shocked to receive it, as he was still trying to process that he had his own phone. Now he had his own laptop just like Vector?!
"I got this for you for a multitude of reasons. Not only have a lot of your professors asked me that you move to Capsule, what we use for submitting assignments online here on campus, but Vector's complained to me more than once about how you use his laptop to watch anime when he needs it and he's too nice to say no to you. Now, you'll be able to do your assignments online as well as use your own device for recreational use," Valdez explained.
"Valdez-san, this…" Espio said. "This is all far too generous! I've wanted to say no to all of these, but Vector told me I shouldn't! But something like this, especially with-"
"Don't worry about it, Espio-kun. Trust me, this will be very helpful for your next semester. Don't worry, I'll be happy to help you set it up, and show you how things work. It'll be far more different compared to the computers you used in the computer labs."
Mark crawled up next to the chameleon, staring at the laptop.
"It's cool that you have your own computer now!" he said. "Hey, maybe that means we can play Witchcarts together! Not only am I happy to teach you how to play, did you know that not only is it critically acclaimed, but that it has a free trial and has the entirety of its main story; The Trials of Naugus and it's expansion: Blood of the Troll Successor that allows you to play up to level-"
Valdez coughed loudly. "I understand you're excited Mark, but Espio will be using this device to do his assignments primarily. Not to play games on."
Mark frowned, denied the chance to introduce his friend to his favorite MMORPG.
Vector decided to break the tension then and there. "Still though, I not only gotcha a phone, Mr. Valdez gotcha a laptop, how cool is that!"
"He has a phone now?" the blue chameleon asked.
"Yeah, I gifted him one! It's one that doesn't have a SIM since no use puttin' him on a phone plan when he ain't gonna be 'round forever."
"Well, that's good. At least he won't run up minutes on it if you got him a prepaid one, but it would be a good idea if he had a way to text either one of you should something happen. Speaking of, did you set it up?"
"I was in the middle of showin' him how to set up WI-Fi, alongside how to set up a lock password."
"Let me handle it, I'm sure he'll understand more."
And such, as the others went back to the gifts they received, opening them up for the first time or continuing to see what they entrailed, Valdez had helped Espio by not only setting up the main language of the phone to be Japanese, but also setting a third party keyboard that could change between both English and Japanese, as well as setting up messenger and phone apps that allowed him to call and text.
"Okay, since this app does have the ability to store contacts, I can show you how to rename it. But first, time to test and see if this works. Give me a minute here…" Valdez said as he pulled out his own phone, looking back a couple of times to check Espio's 'phone' number as he typed. Pressing send, the transfer student looked down as he suddenly received a message.
"Ah, Valdez-san! I got something!" Espio said, pointing at the message.
"Tap on it."
Doing just that, Espio read the message from an unknown number.
"こんにちは、エスピオ君! こちらはバルデス。お元気ですか?"
The chameleon looked over to see Valdez smiling, waving softly.
"How do I reply?"
More than happy to explain, Valdez showed Espio how to change between the English and Japanese keyboards, how the Japanese keyboard worked and how to type each kana but also create kanji as well, which the phone did on its own. With this, Espio was able to type back, despite doing so quite slowly.
"私は大丈夫です。"
With that, Valdez soon left with the gift that Espio had given him and Mark decided to take his leave (but not before asking for one of the gingerbread cookies on Thorn's cake).
"I'll be sure to get this to the others, Espio!" the tapir said. "Sorry about earlier with Norris' gift, I'll give him a piece of my mind about that… Are you sure you don't mind if you give it to Knuckles? I know that Norris expects you to read it."
Espio shook his head, feeling like such indecent material could get him in trouble. If he wasn't allowed to be shirtless at home without his mother calling him obscene, heaven forbid he read something such as that.
"Well, either way, I'm glad we had a fun time together! And I already gave you my phone number so be sure to text me during the break! I hope you have a Merry Christmas! And you guys as well too!"
With that, the tapir made his way out from West Hall as Espio watched him leave.
"I'm surprised how comfortable Mark is hanging out with us now," Mighty said. "Before you can tell he felt really uneasy hanging around guys like us. But I think you being friends with him has pretty much quelled his nerves, Espio."
"Heh, I'll say. Just cause we play sports doesn't mean we're gonna antagonize him, and I think he realized that!" Vector replied. "Anyway, I'm gettin' hungry. Who's up fer lunch?"
"Oh, you're right! I forgot they were serving one last lunch before campus closes for the break," Knuckles added. "We probably should go. Although… Hey, Espio. Didn't you get gifts for Sonic and his siblings? We should probably try and find them."
"Good idea!" Vector said. "Plus, didntcha get somethin' fer him too?"
"Sure did. That blue idiot likes to one up me every year, but not this time!"
And so, after bundling up and after Knuckles went to grab his gift for Sonic, and Vector helped Espio with carrying his gifts for the blue hedgehog alongside Manic and Sonia, the four trekked towards the A building to hopefully find the hedgehogs. As they walked downstairs and to the first floor, Vector, Espio, Knuckles, and Mighty came across a dark skinned Overlander woman they hadn't seen before. She looked both concerned and impatient, tapping her foot as she checked her phone.
"Come on, you said you'd be here… we need to grab lunch soon… Our reservation time is coming up..." she said to herself. Vector walked up to the lady.
"Excuse me, ma'am, ya lost?" he asked.
The woman turned towards Vector. "Oh, sorry. No, I'm just waiting for my husband. He was supposed to get off his shift early today, and we have quite a lot of plans today… I just don't see him anywhere-"
Just then, the sound of familiar footsteps were heard alongside the dangling of keys, a noise that sounded FAR too familiar. From just outside the nursing classroom's hallway, Officer Wachowski walked out, turning to see-
"Baby! There you are!"
The woman walked up to the campus officer and kissed him, surprising Espio.
"Who is…" he asked Knuckles before someone spoke up.
"Ah, you all," Officer Wachowski said. "Seems like you just ran into my wife before I did."
"Maddie Wachowski, nice to meet you all," the woman said, smiling. "It seems like you're quite familiar with these boys, Tom."
"I've had my run-ins with them. Especially the chameleon right there. Him and I have had a bit of a history if you put it."
Tom stared down Espio, who simply just stared blankly.
"I'm hoping Tom has been treating you kids nicely. I always tell him to befriend the other students so they have someone to turn to should something go wrong."
The officer turned towards his wife, surprised. "Jeez, didn't know it was criticize me day today."
"Well, I wouldn't be a little irate had I known you put off a lot of your Christmas plans until the end. Not only are we running late for lunch, but we need to get ready for tonight."
"Do we though?"
Maddie sighed as she turned towards Tom to look at him in the eyes. "Look, I know you don't like going to my sister's place for Christmas, but please just be a little more humble. Besides, you promised to get Jojo a nice gift and you haven't done so. You better pray Route 99 isn't too packed cause we're going after lunch."
"I know I know… I've just been busy and also-"
"The sooner we get out of here, the more likely it is we can find something for your niece. Besides, you don't want to be late on a reservation, no?"
Tom puffed his cheeks. "I suppose you're not wrong."
The officer then turned towards the four. "You boys be safe this holiday. Drive safe, and don't get into trouble on New Year's getting hammered. I don't need more of you getting either hurt or arrested."
With that, Tom and Maddie both made their way out of the A building, the mobians left watching as they did so.
"Is it just me, or did Officer Wachowski seem tied down to her?" Mighty asked.
"She totally wears the pants in their relationship," Vector joked. "Good to see someone put him in his place fer how he's been to Espio all semester."
Espio paid no mind to the officer, and simply left with the rest of his friends. Leaving the A building out the back and walking through the snowy and windy back campus, the reptiles shivering, the four made their way to the packed K building. All over, both students and staff were enjoying the last meal of the semester as they discussed Christmas plans. Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty said a quick hello to AD Sommersby, who was chatting with Professor Starline and Montclair.
"Frankly, it feels good to return home for the holidays after a hectic sports season. The missus has been rather lonely considering how much I've been working. I'll definitely be enjoying some quality time at home throughout the break to make it up for her. Heck, maybe I can try to find time for a vacation for the both of us," he said before turning to the four. "Vector, Knuckles, Mighty, you boys enjoy the holidays and, as much as it pains me to say it, I suppose today can be a day to enjoy good food and time with others."
"You know, George," Professor Montclair said. "If you're looking to spend quality time with your wife, Dresdin is lovely around this time of year. I won't have time to go for Christmas, but I'll definetly be going for New Year's. It's been some time since I last visited my family after all."
"Before he replies..." Starline said. "George, about what you said about your hesitation regarding your athlete's eating habits today... Doesn't your wife prepare your favorite pie this time of year? I recall you mentioning that one year and that's one reason you're excited to go back home. And you're telling your fellow athletes they can't indulge in sweet or fatty foods that are perfect for this time of year…"
The bulldog, realizing he was ratted out by the platypus, bit his lip. "Now, Starline, we talked about this before…"
After their meeting, the four would eventually get lunch, which wasn't much as the meal staff were trying to clean out the kitchens so everything would be clean, neat, and nothing would be left to spoil in time for next semester. As such, ham and cheese sliders, potato casserole, chili, Apatos-style salad, and hot chocolate were being served, which Vector, Mighty, and Knuckles happily ate while Espio only had the casserole and the salad.
"I'm surprised they prepared this much," Knuckles said. "Seems loaded if you ask me."
"Probably the last thing the food staff has," Vector replied. "So, they did the best with what they got. Still, these sliders are so good… I might go for seconds…"
"Do you have room to fit more?" Mighty questioned.
"Dang… yer right, we have a bit of a loaded Christmas dinner at home."
"I mean, crocs like you tend to eat a lot anyway."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Just then, the quarterback turned to his friend. "Hey, whaddya think of the meal, Espio?"
The chameleon, who had looked up from his half eaten casserole, looked down at his plate and back at his friend. "It is gu-good."
Just then, there was a sudden voice crying out, 'Oh! Oh excuse me! Pardon me! I didn't mean it! Where are you, Frooooogyyyyyy?' The four turned to the sound of the voice, seeing a large purple cat trying to walk through the crowd looking distraught as he went to table and table. And like clockwork…
"Excuse me!" he said in a slow, dopey voice. "Have you seen my frog, Froggy?... I can't find him and we have to leave soo-"
Just then, the cat turned to face Espio. The chameleon made eye contact, realizing that this cat was VERY familiar.
"AAAH! It's you!" he proceeded to cover his ears, shaking. "Please don't hurt me this time like you tried to do last time!"
"You know this guy, Espio?" Knuckles asked.
Espio remembered all too well: this was the cat he had almost killed thanks to Jet confusing him the day of the vandalism incident. He remembered feeling bad for making the large cat cry, and now that he remembered, he never made amends with him. Getting up from his seat, he stood in front of the cat and bowed.
"I am ve-very sorry…" the chameleon said, formally apologetic.
"H-Huh?..." the cat looked up. Espio continued to bow, not letting go as he closed his eyes. "Do you mean it?..."
"Yes."
"You seem like you mean it… Bu-But I'm still scared…"
"No… no…" Espio stopped, not really sure how to tell the cat that it was okay in English.
"Hey, dude," Vector interrupted. "Whatever Espio did, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Heck, if he did hurtcha, I wouldda heard about it as his friend. Can ya find it in yerself to forgive him? He's still learnin' after all…"
"He seemed pretty serious though…" the cat replied. "B-But… but he does seem sorry…"
Espio got up and once again looked at the cat. As he did, he couldn't help but think back… Hadn't he seen this man recently?
In fact, it wasn't just Espio who thought this. As Big looked at Espio, he squinted his eyes. "Wait... excuse me but… did we meet a couple of days ago?..."
"No?..." Espio didn't THINK he saw this man, but something did seem familiar…
"I feel like I have seen you somewhere… I just don't remember... I'm sorry if I'm confusing you… and thank you for apologizing… By the way, have YOU seen Froggy?..."
"Fu-Frogi?"
"Where'd you last see him?" Knuckles asked.
"He was with me when I came in here for hot chocolate, but then he jumped off my shoulder…"
"Then he's probably still in here, probably near the entrance I bet. Look there."
'I hope you aren't trying to fool me…"
"It's just a guess, my dude. No harm in retracting your steps… uh?"
"Big… and thank you!..."
With that, the large cat named Big ran off as he went to look for his pet frog. Espio was glad to finally apologize to him, but why did it seem like he really had seen him just days prior?
It was finally after 4 when Vector and Espio had finished packing up parts of the dorm in preparations for the winter break. They had collected their clothes and everything on the desk that they wanted to bring back home, cleared out the fridge and neatly made their beds and cleaned up all the trash in preparation for Sally to make sure the dorm was clean just like her Thanksgiving break checkup.
"Well, look at you two, keeping this place nice and tidy," she said. "Frankly, the fact that I'm being forced to be without shoes here should be prime example that I can handle the floors here, which is more than what I can say for SOME of the idiots in this part of the hall. Anyway, overall an A score for both cleanliness as well as making sure the TV, AC, and fridge are unplugged and that everything needed from the fridge is either stored or thrown away. Good job, now let's see how messy your friends are..."
Their things had also been packed up as well, including some of the presents the two reptiles were gifted. Alongside the pile given to Espio's friends, the presents that he had received from Sonic and his siblings sat near Alan and Thorn's gift (the later of which was partially eaten as Vector, Espio, Knuckles, and Mighty all had a slice). The three hedgehogs were very pleased with what they got, especially Sonia, who loved the bath basket Knuckles helped pick out for Espio. In return, Sonic gifted the chameleon a pair of purple tennis shoes, Manic a Badniks themed mug and football, and Sonia two pairs of gloves and a beanie colored black and purple.
With everything of his now packed up, Vector was completely ready to head back home for the holidays.
"And remember, ya got my phone number so text me whenever," he said. "I'll be busy in the next couple of days doin' stuff that I'll tell ya 'bout later cause I'm under contract, but hey, can ya do me a favor? Mr. Valdez said that yer headin' back to Gojo should everything go right with yer lawyer. If ya get to return, can ya PLEASE take some pictures of the place? I know ya shouldn't bring anythin' there cause yer mom is a tightass, but I really wanna see what the place is like. C'mon, please?"
"Bu-Bring my fo-phone to Gojo?" Espio questioned, looking down at his phone. He knew that doing such a thing was BEYOND dangerous, as he had to hide from his mother that he'd been interacting with the Outside World. But seeing Vector beg to see his home, well…
"I will to-try."
"Alright! I can't wait! In the meantime, I'll def show ya some pics of stuff I'll do 'round the holidays. Like, pops and I really like to make snowmen when it's this heavy, so I'll be sure to make a couple and show ya what we can make! And that's just one set of what I wanna do! But I dun wanna spoil it now! In the meantime, try to enjoy yer time back home. I'm sure yer folks and the people of yer village are gonna be happy to see ya again, no?"
Espio nodded, happy to think about returning home but also hoping that all the strange things he'd been feeling would go away once he returned home. With that, Vector hugged his friend and patted his back.
"Have a great break man, I'll see ya in less than two weeks," he said, smiling as he grabbed all his things and left the dorm. Leaving Espio behind, the chameleon sighed as he got on Vector's part of the bunk bed, wondering when Valdez would come by to pick him up. It felt like such a long year already, but soon the end of the year was upon him, and he hoped that come the new year, so much of what happened would be erased and new fortune would shine upon him.
But as he sat and soon laid upon Vector's bed, he wondered if it was possible at all. Even though Espio was able to contact Vector on his new phone, him not being there felt… lonely, especially since the smell of Vector was still clear on his sheets-
Just then, there was a knock and a BEEP at the door, and Espio got up from the bed, glad that his thoughts about Vector's scent on his bed were gone. The second time in a row too?...
Shaking his head, the chameleon looked to see Valdez standing by the front door.
"Ah, there you are, Espio-kun. Sally already told me that your dorm was clean. Well, it's getting close to campus shutdown. I just need to run by my office before the final inspection and when my room gets locked until January, but I figured I could pick you up on the way. Do you have everything?"
Espio got up from the bed, looking at his back that had all his clothes, books, everything he'd gotten not just today on Christmas but gifted in the past, alongside the gifts from Alan, Thorn, and the hedgehog triplets.
"You certainly have a lot. Here, I'll help you out with some of that," Valdez picked up the Appalachian dulcimer case in his left hand, leading the chameleon out of the room. "I'm sure you can't wait for tonight. I have a delicious dinner planned, one that I know will warm you up. Meanwhile, I'm hoping to hear back from your lawyer about letting you go back to Gojo for New Year's…"
Espio grabbed his bag and placed it over his shoulder, definitely weighed down by all the stuff he had in it as he grabbed the gingerbread cake and the hedgehog's presents. And to think, the final gifts he had lay in his bag as well, one that he hoped his mother and Shami would appreciate…
The chameleon walked near the dorm, and with one turn around, looked to see everything unplugged and empty, and with one flick of his hand, turned off the lights to the dorm before walking out.
LATER
"It's so good to see you again, sweetie," Vector's mother said as she hugged her son upon coming through the front door. The crocodile smiled as his tail softly wagged.
"Missed yeh too, ma," he said. "It's so great to be back home after this entire semester, lemme tell ya. Looks like ya got the place decorated and everythin'."
"You know your father and I always loved to decorate, even if we both had to suffer in the cold getting all the lights up outside."
"Trust me, I almost fell offa the damn ladder a few times!" Vector's father called out from his room. Their son laughed as he walked into the living room to find a place to place his bags and boxes down, passing by his pet chao, Bunger, who was enjoying a tangerine in his little 'house'.
"Hi buuuuuuudy!" Vector said as he pet Bunger's head, the chao smiling as he enjoyed the head rub. Just then, Vector's father came down the stairs, giving his son a tight hug.
"And how's mah lil' football star doin', eh?" he said. "Boy, I couldn't be more prouder of y'eh than I am. Y'eh deserved that victory so much, and I couldn't be happier to call y'eh mah son. Y'er a real champion, never forget that."
"Aw, pops… yer gonna make me blush and I just got here! Can I at least settle back in first?"
"Oh, I understand it's been some time since y'eh been home. How were y'er exams too? Dun forget, y'eh might be a football star, but I expect y'eh to be smart too."
"My professors haven't posted them yet. When they do, I'll letcha know. Say, when's dinner, ma?"
"It should be done soon. I've had everything on in the oven for the past couple of hours, and I know it took you a bit of time to get here because of all the traffic. I'm just happy you were able to come before midnight at least."
"Yeah, almost four hours gettin' here, not fun if ya ask me. Lemme know when dinner's ready, I kinda wanna unwind fer a bit."
"Did you want to take a shower before you eat, sweetie?"
"I'll think 'bout it, thanks ma."
With that, Vector scooped up his bags and walked up the stairs and to his left, where his room was. He breathed in and out, glad to be back home as he walked towards and collapsed on his bed.
"So good to be back home…" he said, watching the snow fall outside the purplish night sky. As he grabbed his phone from his pocket, there was only one person he could think about at the moment, someone a couple of hours away who no doubt was also watching the snowfall.
"Hey, it's me," Vector typed to Espio.
"I'm currently back home right now, took me a while to get back but I'm here."
He then sent a picture of his room.
"See? This is my room."
"I'm happy to be back, but also I'm happy that we were able to celebrate the holidays together."
"Thanks for all the kind gifts you gave me, pal. They really mean a lot and I'm going to cherish them a lot."
"You didn't have to get me anything, and yet you still did. You're a real friend, man."
"Anyway, I'm about to eat soon. Just in case I don't reply."
'Merry Christmas, man. I already miss you."
END OF CHAPTER 22
