Chapter 35: A Rexmas to Remember
Yasui wasn't sure what it was that caused what he was feeling right now. Up until Thursday morning he had been doing well. He'd felt rough on Monday and had felt a little weird but ultimately not that bad the rest of the week. He thought that with all the exercises and eating enough and sleeping and… all that stuff that he might have avoided the worst of the consequences of his cut supply of pills. But this Thursday morning Yasui felt awful once again.
He woke up shuddering and spasming sporadically, his eyes bloodshot and baggy. He stumbled through his morning routine, barely able to put one foot in front of the other. Before breakfast he broke down and called Gouhin. The phone rang a few times before the gruff voice of the panda came through.
"Doctor Gouhin speaking, how can I help you?"
"D-Doctor G-G-Gouhin. I-It's me… Y-Yasui."
"Ah, how you doing you little punk?"
"B-bad. V-very… b-bad."
"Geez, you sound it. What's going on?"
"S-shaking. E-everything… h-hurts."
"Hmm… I bet that your body finally metabolized the rest of the pills in your system. I suspect your metabolism is pretty slow, hence why you're so tiny."
Yasui didn't even care about the "tiny" remark. The fox licked his lips.
"W-what d-do I d-d-do?"
"Hang in there. My advice is to keep warm, get something to eat, and keep with a buddy to help you ride this out. Can you do that? If not, I can come pick you up and you can stay at the hospital for a bit."
"N-no! I c-can't miss m-m-more c-classes!"
"It isn't worth falling off the horse just to not miss class. Don't do something that you'll regret."
Yasui sighed and began to pace around. He felt all sorts of messed up. With a resigned huff Yasui stammered,
"I-I'll b-be f-fine. J-just a little b-bit jittery."
"Well keep in touch. I can always try to get you something to help with it."
"T-thanks."
Yasui rubbed his face as he hung up. He couldn't miss more classes. He was only just beginning to catch back up. With no better idea, Yasui decided to send Miss Diana a quick text.
Y: Hi, Diana. I woke up feeling pretty awful today. I'm all shaky and feeling sick. Any advice?
Yasui waited for a few minutes before deciding his best option was probably to just eat some breakfast. Waiting in the line was agonizing. Every little noise seemed to make his head split in half, and the bright lights of the cafeteria hurt his eyes. He finally got his scrambled eggs and toast and made his way to a table to sit down and try to eat as much as he could. Yasui closed his eye as a wave of dizziness washed over him when he sat. His phone buzzed, and Yasui saw that Diana had replied to his earlier message.
D: I'm sorry to hear that!
D: Do you need me to do anything to help?
D: I can come over there if you want
Yasui smiled and replied.
Y: I think I'll be fine. I just wanted to see if you had any tips for dealing with these withdrawal symptoms.
D: I meditated and did yoga
D: find something that relaxes you and helps you focus
Y: Okay. Thanks for the advice!
Yasui mulled over the advice for a bit. What did he find relaxing? He tried to run through a list of relaxing things in his head as he slowly ate some toast.
(Well, rain is relaxing. And so is reading. And hanging out with friends. And cooking.)
"Morning, Yasui."
Yasui looked down to see Shinrai joining him at his table. The squirrel gave him a quizzical look.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Yasui shrugged. Eating had definitely sorted out the shuddering a bit, but he was still not quite okay.
"I'm a little under the weather today, but nothing serious."
"So… wanna hang out? It feels like it's been ages since we actually did something. Like, almost since you were in the hospital. And the shopping trip, I mean you and me go play a game or watch a movie or something."
Yasui frowned. He and Shinrai had sort of grown apart recently. But, Yasui had sort of distanced himself from everyone while he dealt with all the unpleasantness that happened because of his injuries. Yasui gave Shinrai a thumbs up.
"I'd like that. Maybe after work tonight we can watch something or play some new game you've gotten."
Shinrai thought for a moment.
"Hmm…. Have you ever seen any of those old Rexmas stopmotion films? Like, 'The Year Without Santa-Paws' or 'Rendolf the Green-horned Dinosaur?'"
Yasui shook his head. Seeing this, Shinrai immediately grinned.
"Oh, we definitely have to fix that. I loved those movies as a kid. They're just so… weird."
"Well I'll be looking forward to it."
The rest of the day passed unbearably slowly. The unpleasant shudders and headaches didn't abate for the entire school day. Yasui even had to step out of his Advanced Literature class because his head was hurting so bad he couldn't see straight. He was tired, his bones ached, his head was throbbing, and he just felt off. As Yasui slowly prepared to make his way down the hill to the cafe, his phone buzzed.
D: Hello!
D: Feeling any better?
Yasui licked his lips as he weighed what to say to Miss Diana. She was the main one helping him with his recovery, so honesty was probably the best policy.
Y: Hello, Miss Diana. I'm still not feeling very good. I especially have been having trouble with really painful headaches today. I had to leave a class because my head hurt so bad I couldn't see straight.
D: Oh no!
D: Do you have any medicine for migraines?
Y: No. I've never had them before.
D: Do you work today?
Y: Yes. I'm getting ready to go to the cafe now.
D: Okay
D: I'll drop by and bring you some medicine
Y: Thanks, Miss Diana. You're the best.
D: See you in a bit
Yasui smiled. He was glad that he had someone responsible looking out for him. Especially with how… off he had been feeling this week. Not just physically, but also mentally. Not only was he struggling with the intense craving he had for those stupid pills, he also felt all over the place. Sometimes he was just super sad for no reason, then he was happy again. Or randomly he'd get angry about the stupidest thing and immediately that anger would be gone. Yasui felt like he was losing his mind.
The trip to Cafe Lapin was uneventful, and the start of his shift was very typical. The only strange thing was that Mimi was there on a Thursday when usually it was the very strange parrot Marco. Yasui tilted his head.
"Hi, Mimi! What are you doing here today?"
Mimi glanced at him before returning her attention to her phone.
"Marco got sick. He has pneumonia."
"Oh no! Is he okay?"
"No, he has pneumonia. Dumbass."
Yasui got into place behind the counter and smiled at the goth rabbit.
"So, ready for Rexmas? It's next week!"
"Kill me."
"You don't like Rexmas?"
"It's an over commercialized circus of corporate greed and exploitation."
"Oh… I thought it was about family and friends."
"Meh."
Yasui winced as his head throbbed again. However, he didn't say anything about it. As his father had always said, whining about a problem never does anything useful. So, despite his various aches and pains, Yasui set about to do his job as best as he could. They had a few customers, primarily ones who wanted to try their new Rexmas themed drinks that were primarily mint or spice flavored. About an hour into his shift, Yasui looked up as the door opened.
"Hello! Welcome to Cafe— Miss Diana!"
He waved happily as the leopardess strode into the cafe. She smiled warmly at him.
"Hello, Yasui! How goes the coffee business?"
Yasui shrugged.
"It comes and goes. Nothing too crazy yet."
"Hm. Anyway, here. I brought you some headache medicine."
She held a small white pill out to him. Yasui hesitated. He was reluctant to take any pills right now. What if he started getting worse about his cravings for the other pills. But then again, his head was killing him. Uncertainly, Yasui accepted the pill. Diana smiled at him.
"Now, while I'm here, I might as well get something to drink."
Yasui smiled.
"Do you like cinnamon?"
A few minutes later, and Yasui was carrying a steaming cup of coffee to Miss Diana. He set it down in front of her and smiled.
"Here you go! Let me know what you think!"
Diana accepted the cup and took a dainty sip. Her lips curled into a slight smile.
"It's very good. Thank you. Would your boss care if I borrowed you for a little?"
Yasui looked around. The customers they had were already drinking their coffees and eating pastries, happily absorbed in their own affairs. Yasui sat down.
"At least until a new customer shows up. Besides, it's my job to engage with our customers and make them feel welcome and comfortable."
Diana nodded and laid her hand on top of his. Immediately, Yasui's face felt warm and his tail began wagging excitedly.
"How are you doing, Yasui? Give it to me straight. I'm here for you."
Yasui smiled shyly at her. He couldn't even begin to express how much he wanted to kiss her right now. He just wanted to wrap his arms around her and lean his head against her neck so he could take in her wonderful scent. Yasui desperately wanted to tell her how much she meant to him and just how wonderful he thought she was. Yasui shook himself out of his reverie and frowned.
(Woah, that was… intense.)
Yasui had grown accustomed to his infatuation with Miss Diana, and had learned to suppress his romantic feelings towards her pretty well. But this was just… so intense. It was this primal longing he hadn't ever felt before, and specifically as his mind and eye wandered to other areas of Miss Diana's body. Other… alluring and curvaceous areas that were just begging for him to caress and kiss.
(Snap out of it! What has gotten into you!?)
Yasui cleared his throat.
"Yeah, I've been… struggling a bit, Miss Diana. It's just… I feel really weird. I'm achy and sore, and I keep having these mood swings."
Diana's matronly expression radiated sympathy and care as she nodded.
"I can imagine. Your body is in detox right now. I'm pleasantly surprised that your not doing as bad as I was when I detoxed."
Yasui shivered.
"Oh, I've had some awful days. This is just a… bizarre ongoing problem."
"Well, I think I know one thing that will help with that."
"Oh?"
"Mhm, some rest and relaxation. And fortunately for us, you're only one day away from your break."
Yasui sighed in relief.
"I think you're right. I do feel tired all the time recently."
"A couple nights at my house where you can sleep as much as you need and get all the attention you require should be perfect for you. And then, after Rexmas, you'll get to go home and spend time with your family."
Yasui grinned.
"I'm looking forward to it a lot! I've already gotten all my Rexmas shopping done!"
Diana leaned towards him and returned his smile.
"I'm glad you're getting into the spirit of the season. It's gotten me more excited for Rexmas than I've been in… well… ever!"
Yasui was excited at the prospect of a nice, long, and relaxing stay with Miss Diana. Catching up on sleep, doing fun stuff with her, and maybe even cuddling and watching movies again.
(Like that time we watched that scary movie. And then we were so scared we shared a bed. I wonder if I could ever manage to get to do that again. Maybe if I tell her that I'm worried about wanting to take more pills or something she'll let me sleep with her. I want to so bad. Just spend another night all warm and cozy like that.)
Yasui caught himself as his mind wandered again.
(Geez! I'm really spacey today! Wake up!)
Once Diana had finished her coffee she gave Yasui a pat on the shoulder.
"Well, I'll stop bothering you now. Have a good rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow night."
Yasui nodded.
"I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for stopping by."
Once she was gone, Yasui returned to his spot at the counter. Mimi gave him a deadpan look.
"So what exactly is the deal with that lady? She related to you somehow?"
Yasui shrugged.
"She's sort of like my aunt. She looks out for me while I'm staying here."
"How did that happen?"
"We met at a yarn store!"
Mimi shook her head.
"You are so weird."
Business was pretty good for the rest of Yasui's shift. In addition to their usual regulars, several college students had apparently decided to use the cafe as a study spot. Yasui watched as the older animals talked while typing on computers or reading textbooks.
(That's a really good idea. We should hold our study group in a cafe sometime.)
The only particularly notable event that happened was as they were closing. Mr. Nabuyo, the old rabbit who owned the place and flitted in and out to manage it, was getting ready to lock the doors. He called out to Yasui,
"Yasui! Can you go hurry Mimi along! It shouldn't take that long to clock out."
Yasui nodded.
"Will do."
He turned and headed into the back of the store. He frowned as he glanced around the space. She wasn't at the desk, but her bag was sitting on the old sofa that made up the impromptu employee break room of Cafe Lapin. Yasui sniffed and caught a whiff of something odd in the air. Pungent and smoky. Worried, Yasui headed towards the store room and nervously looked around. Was there a fire somewhere? Had Mimi gotten hurt? Yasui was about to call out when he saw something that made him freeze.
Standing in the walkway between two shelves was Mimi, and she wasn't wearing any pants. As he watched, she was muttering angrily as she wiped at a puddle of something acrid smelling on the floor, the tattered remains of her pants sitting beside her. The most surprising part was that she was wearing a pair of soft pink underwear with a little bow on the front. Very off brand for the goth rabbit. She froze and looked up at him, apparently having noticed his presence. There was a brief pause before she swore loudly and threw a box of wipes at him.
"Get the hell out you pervert!"
"Ahhh! Why are you not wearing any pants!"
Mimi, looking embarrassed, grabbed a box from the shelf beside her and covered her lower half.
"I… spilled something on them. Cleaning chemicals."
Yasui knit his brows. He knew they had some strong cleaning chemicals, but nothing that would cause the damage to Mimi's pants he was seeing.
"I don't understand, what was it? We don't have anything that would burn your pants." Yasui looked at the bottle on the ground and nodded. "Yeah, that stuff isn't corrosive. Wait, you're okay? Right? Not hurt?"
Mimi huffed.
"I'm fine. And… don't tell Nabuyo."
"Huh? I don't—"
"I was smoking."
Yasui froze. Slowly, the picture began to form in his mind. The chemicals wouldn't burn her clothes on their own, but they were flammable. Yasui winced.
"How did this happen?"
Mimi threw up a frustrated gesture at the window on the wall beside her.
"I opened the window so the smoke could get out. I was leaning against that shelf with the cleaning stuff on it and knocked whatever this crap is off the shelf. It splashed me and when I jumped in surprise, part of my cigarette fell onto my pants."
Yasui was immediately concerned.
"Are your legs fine? Did you get burned?"
"I'm fine! I got my pants off before I got burned. But now my pants are destroyed. And I don't have any others."
Mimi huffed and returned to desperately trying to clean up the spilled chemicals. Yasui thought for a moment before coming up with a possible solution. Quickly, he pulled his own pants off and held them out to Mimi, wrapping his apron around his waist as he did. It didn't quite cover everything, but if some weirdo wanted to look at his thighs that was their problem.
"Here, borrow my pants. I don't think anyone will be tempted to creep on me while I'm not wearing pants. That way you can take the train home without worrying."
Mimi looked up at the clothes he was holding out to her. She raised an eyebrow.
"You're willing to head back to school in your underwear in the middle of winter?"
"I have this apron on. It's like a tiny kilt."
"…Are you serious about this?"
Yasui nodded.
"We're pretty close in size, so they should fit okay. Maybe a bit long but you can roll them up."
Mimi hesitated before accepting the pants.
"Thanks…."
"No problem. You can give them back to me whenever I work next. Which given I'm out on Rexmas break soon will probably be a while."
Mimi nodded and headed off to the bathroom to get changed. Upon her return Yasui was a bit disappointed with how well his pants fit her. He was a fox, she was a rabbit. His pants weren't supposed to fit her almost perfectly. She grumbled,
"They're a little long. But whatever."
Yasui smiled as Mimi's usual bored, uncaring facade returned. This was the goth bunny he knew and loved. Together, they made their way to the front doors where Mr. Nabuyo was waiting. The old rabbit raised an eyebrow at Yasui's rather ridiculous outfit.
"What happened to your pants?"
Yasui gestured at Mimi.
"There was a chemical spill, so Mimi needed to borrow them."
Mr. Nabuyo grinned at Yasui.
"Ah, what a gentleman. You're a credit to your species."
Yasui inclined his head as Mimi blinked and muttered "wow" under her breath. Soon, the doors were locked and Yasui was making his way back up to school. The winter air was cold on his practically bare legs, but he was from the mountains originally so he was used to chilly temperatures. But what he wasn't used to was how hungry he was. Yasui had noticed it earlier this week, but figured it was just him getting his appetite back. But it was way beyond his normal appetite, he just felt absolutely ravenous constantly.
As Yasui passed the familiar convenience store close to school, he couldn't help but go inside to grab some food. The animal at the front counter was the owner of the store who Yasui had seen a few times before, a leopard named Arty. Arty saw him and nodded.
"Welcome in! Uh… why are you wearing a skirt?"
Yasui grimaced.
"It's not a skirt, it's my work apron. One of my coworkers accidentally spilled chemicals all over her pants and couldn't wear them. So I let her borrow mine."
Arty nodded.
"I see. Probably a little chilly out for bare legs."
"A little. Sorry, but what do you have to eat? I'm absolutely starving."
Arty tapped his chin.
"Well… I have some veggie dumplings that I can start heating up. They're technically for tomorrow morning but I can make a few now. Just came in tonight."
Yasui's stomach grumbled and he nodded enthusiastically.
"I'd appreciate that."
"Alright, give me a sec."
The leopard went to the back of the store, leaving Yasui to stand awkwardly by the counter. Arty the leopard reminded him of Diana, and of the fact he was going to be spending a few days at her house before going back home. This reminded him of how insanely attractive he found her. With pretty eyes, kind voice, pleasant smell, and perfect figure. Yasui shook his head.
(What is going on with me? It's like detoxing has scrambled my brain!)
But he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. Yasui's mind kept wandering back to Diana. Especially how good she had looked in her bathing suit when he had stayed with her over summer vacation. Those long, shapely legs. And big, soft—.
Yasui grew tense as he noticed an unusual sensation around his… nethers. To his embarrassment, he was definitely having… issues. Yasui gulped and moved to a corner. This had never happened before. Why was his whole body suddenly acting so… weird! It made no sense! He'd had something like… this… happen once before. After a particularly naughty dream he'd had. But the shame and embarrassment he had experienced then was nothing compared to now.
Unfortunately for Yasui, most of his instruction and guidance into the world of "animal urges" had been a talk with his father when he had turned fourteen. Unfortunately it had pretty much been his father telling him to avoid all that stuff until he was married. And so far Yasui had been very capable of doing so, but now it seemed like his entire body was in revolt against him. Yasui's mind was clouded with a deep, instinctual desire. And that scared him.
Arty returned with a paper tray holding four dumplings and looked around in confusion. He saw Yasui and smiled.
"Ah, there you are! Was wondering where you went. Here you go."
Yasui smelled the snack and his mouth immediately began to water. He hurriedly paid and had wolfed down one of the dumplings by the time he was back outside. He effortlessly polished off the others before he had even made it back to school. He then ate dinner, and had no issue cleaning his plate despite his large snack just minutes earlier. As per their arrangement, Yasui then set off in search of Shinrai.
He found the squirrel sitting in the common room of the Carnivore dorm, playing a game on his phone. Shinrai waved as Yasui entered.
"Hi, Yasui! Why aren't you wearing pants?"
"Long story. Mind if I go to my room and change?"
"I'd prefer if you did."
After hurrying up the stairs and hastily pulling on a pair of pants and a clean shirt, Yasui made the return trip to the common room. Shinrai was still there, and turned the television on.
"Luckily for us, they're actually playing 'The Year Without Santa-Paws' tonight. It starts in twelve minutes." Shinrai told him.
"That's good timing."
"Yup. The universe wants you to see this movie. Gummy worm?"
Yasui looked at the bag of candy Shinrai held out hungrily.
"Yes please! I'm starving!"
As he grabbed a handful of the sugary creepy-crawlies, Shinrai smirked.
"You skip dinner? You could have taken the time to eat, you know. The intro isn't that vital to the plot. It's a kids movie."
"I did eat dinner! And some dumplings on the way here! I'm just so hungry all of a sudden!"
Shinrai pretended to scootch away from the fox before laughing.
"Uh-oh, somebody has the munchies. Don't give me the hungry eyes, dude. I'm all skin and bones."
Yasui rolled his eyes with a mouthful of gummies.
"Haha. But I swear, I've felt so weird all week!"
"Weird how?"
"I'm hungry constantly, I'm super sleepy, my bones ache, and I've been feeling really… off."
"Off how?"
Yasui shrugged.
"Like… moody. I keep having weird… urges."
Shinrai scoffed.
"Dude, that's just puberty. Welcome to the party."
Whatever Shinrai was going to say next, Yasui didn't hear. His mind began to race as he heard Shinrai's statement. Puberty? Was that what this was?! Was he suddenly, finally going through puberty? Yasui's face split into a grin. Shinrai noticed.
"Uh, Yasui? What's with the face?"
"I think I'm going through puberty!"
"Yeah? And?"
Yasui excitedly leaned closer to Shinrai.
"That means I might finally get my growth spurt! I won't look like a little kid anymore!"
"Here's hoping!"
"Wow, I wonder what else will happen? Maybe my voice will get deeper. I'd like that."
Shinrai laughed.
"Well just wait until the horniness sets in. For me, it was when I was fifteen. I was down bad for a while. Like, insanely so. If it was female, I would ogle it. Species be damned."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, it was rough. I had to go to summer school for history because my teacher was this female zebra with insane cleavage. Like, spilling out of her shirt levels of cleavage. Pretty sure no guys could actually focus because of that."
Yasui, desperate to change the subject, seized his opportunity.
"So… I know it's come up a few times, but interspecies couples aren't seen as… weird here?"
Shinrai raised an eyebrow.
"You kidding me? Super weird! People might decide to have a fling outside their species, or have a fetish for certain species. But as far as actual relationships go, nah. People still don't exactly like that crap."
"Oh. Wait, so people here will date someone not to marry them, but just to… fool around?"
Shinrai nodded.
"It's not exactly dating, but close enough."
"That's just weird to me. Don't you get attached?"
Shinrai shrugged.
"Wouldn't know. Haven't ever dated before."
Yasui was quiet when he heard that. The movie started and was very strange. Two little guys were on a mission to find someone named Santa-Paws before Rexmas. Who this guy was and why everyone cared was beyond Yasui. Part way through, Yasui asked.
"So… how did you deal with your… horniness?"
Shinrai snickered.
"How do you think? The same way every guy does."
"Which is?"
"You know… taking matters into your own hands. Or hand in this case."
"Huh?"
"Hey, I'm not proud of it, but I won't lie to you about it."
"No, I mean I don't get what you're talking about."
Shinrai gave him a disbelieving look.
"C'mon, I know you're sheltered, but you obviously have to know what I'm talking about."
"No, sorry."
"Come on. Spanking the monkey? Cranking the hog? Rubbing one out?"
"None of those names mean anything to me, Shinrai."
The squirrel shook his head, laughing.
"Unbelievable. You mean you've never… jerked it?"
Yasui frowned.
"Whatever this conversation is about seems gross. Is this some nasty sex thing?"
"Kind of the opposite actually. It's when a guy, well, uses his hand. On his privates."
Yasui took a second to decipher what that meant before pulling a face.
"Ew! You mean… touching yourself!?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
Yasui shook his head disapprovingly.
"Shinrai…. I thought you were better than that."
Shinrai jabbed an accusatory finger at Yasui.
"Don't you judge me! Given what you told me you'll be reaching for the lotion and tissues soon. Mark my words, it's like you go feral. The horny builds up until you just lose it."
Yasui shuddered.
"Can we please stop talking about this?"
"Hey, I'll drop it if you will."
The bizarre movie continued and Yasui had to ask,
"So, maybe I'm missing something, but what's the deal with this Santa-Paws guy? Why do these people all care so much?"
Shinrai turned to Yasui, mouth agape.
"Dude, you've never heard of Santa?"
"Not until recently? Is he a mascot for the holiday or something?"
Shinrai shook his head, grinning.
"C'mon, big polar bear in a red coat? Super joly and kind? Gives gifts to all the good children?"
Yasui frowned.
"So that's who was in all the decorations at the mall? I thought he was the owner or something."
"Santa! C'mon, you went to school in a small town so you had to have at least heard about him from some friends!"
"Everyone hated me and I had no friends."
"Well fine then, Mr. Sadboy Killjoy."
Yasui gave Shinrai a disapproving look. The squirrel elbowed him.
"Relax, I'm just messing around. But I can't believe you've never heard of Santa before. I was obsessed with him as a kid."
"Why? I mean, I know you like polar bears but I thought it was only the females because—"
"This is different! So, Santa is a mythological character. He's a polar bear who rides around in a sleigh pulled by magical beetles, and he delivers presents to good children on Rexmas Eve. I used to stay up every Rexmas Eve to try to catch him delivering his gifts."
"That's… very weird."
"It's all good fun. Parents tell you that Santa knows if you're being naughty and won't bring you a present to make you behave. You write him letters telling him what you want for Rexmas. And of course you go meet him at the mall to get your picture taken. It's just a classic part of Rexmas!"
Yasui smiled.
"Wow. I was right, this holiday is super weird."
"Oh get over it! It's not supposed to make sense, it's just fun!"
Yasui laughed and returned his attention to the movie. There sure seemed to be a lot of bizarre traditions surrounding this holiday. Maybe he could tell his family about it. They might get a kick out of it.
That Friday, the day before Winter Break, was just as chaotic as you could possibly imagine. Everyone was too excited to pay much attention in class. The hallways were filled with talk about who was going where and what they would do. Shinrai spent all of breakfast telling Yasui about how his family would be leaving on Monday to go to his aunt and uncle's house a few towns over for a huge family reunion. He added,
"Hey, maybe you could come over for dinner tomorrow! I'm sure my parents would like that."
"Oh, I'll have to see what the plan is. I'm staying with Miss Diana through Rexmas and then heading back home the day after."
"Cool beans. Just let me know beforehand so I can give my parents a heads up."
However, not everyone was brimming with excitement and Rexmas spirit. A few tables away, the dogs from Yasui's Advanced Literature class were fuming as they watched Yasui walk towards the exit. Kojo the beagle groaned.
"Why does it seem like everything we try doesn't work!? We can't get rid of this guy!"
Jimin the Newfoundland dog huffed.
"It's so dumb. Rebecca, did you find out anything by trying to get close to him?"
Rebecca the golden retriever scowled.
"That sort of went up in smoke after he spent almost a month in the hospital. He really became a loner once he was back. Couldn't ever find a way to get close to him without him coming up with some excuse to leave."
Jimin shrugged.
"We can think about it over the break and try again. Maybe it's time for more drastic measures."
Kojo gulped.
"Like, how drastic? I'm not going to prison!"
Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"He means breaking a few rules. Besides, I'm sure Shiki would be so happy with you if you got that fox kicked from the advanced program."
Kojo's ears pricked up and his tail wagged a bit. Both Rebecca and Jimin were well aware that the beagle was head over heels in love with Shiki the poodle. Kojo grinned down at his food.
"Well… maybe I can think a bit more outside the box…."
Classes were slow, painful, and rather uninteresting for the rest of the day. Even the teachers seemed to realize that nobody would be paying any attention to their lectures and spent most of it talking about the sort of projects they would be assigning in the new year. Yasui was walking through the hallway to get to his last class of the day when a familiarly gruff voice accompanied by a large hand squeezing his head interrupted him. He turned to see Izumi the giant otter glowering at him.
"Hold it, you little dweeb. I need a word."
Yasui nodded.
"Okay, Izumi. Is this about my workout routine?"
"Why else would I be caught dead near you? I'm leaving for home as soon as classes are over and I'm not coming back until the end of break. That means I won't be around to kick your scrawny ass around the track or make you do your other exercises. But remember this, if I found out you slacked off over the break I will throw your ass on the ground and force you to do push ups until you barf. Got it?"
Yasui gulped.
"Wow, you're really good at this."
"I never realized how fun inflicting pain on others with their permission is. Thanks to your dumb ass I've applied to a pre-med program in the exercise science course."
"Oh! That's great! I'm glad you've found something you like doing. I bet you'll be a great… uh… whatever job that would be."
"Shove your flattery. And I took the liberty of putting my laundry in your locker. Wash it for me and get it up to my room or I will skin you and wear your sorry hide as a coat."
Yasui gulped.
"O-okay! Can do!"
She tugged on one of his ears before leaving.
"Later, bitch-boy. Have a great break."
(She is so confusing. Why do I get the feeling that her treating me like this is how she shows affection?)
Once classes were finished for the day, Yasui headed towards the Cooking Club's club room. They had decided to not have a full meeting today, as everyone would be in a hurry to leave for the break, but Yufine had insisted they all say goodbye. Yasui unlocked the door and set about making sure nothing was sitting in the refrigerator that would spoil while he wasn't here. The door opened and he turned to see that the first club member to arrive was Chaussette. He waved at the snake.
"Hello, Chaussette! Excited for the break?"
The snake dipped her head.
"Yessss. My family issss going on a trip to Hawaii. We like to go ssssomewhere tropical over Rexmasss break."
"I bet. Probably nice and warm there."
"Very. How about you? Going home?"
"In a bit. Spending a few days with friends and then back up the mountain."
"Well I hope you have a very merry Rexmassss."
Yasui returned the sentiment.
"And a very merry Rexmas to you too."
The door burst open and Yufine came running in holding a few bundles. She squealed.
"Merry Rexmas! Chaussette, Yasui! It's finally here! Only six more days to Rexmas!"
She was wearing a large sweater covered in snowflakes and trees and a Santa hat on her head. She was followed by Maihime, who had a shirt on that had a gingerbread bear with an arm snapped off that was saying "Oh Snap!" The kangaroo grunted at Yufine.
"You're too loud."
Yufine giggled and clutched her packages closer. Yasui had to admit that the tiger had been a bit loud. Yufine began to hand out the packages.
"I got you all a little something! Go on, open it!"
Chaussette shook her head.
"Yufine! You sssshould have told usss you were getting everyone giftsss! I didn't get you anything!"
Maihime pointed at her prosthetic limb.
"You can have my arm."
Yufine giggled.
"Don't worry about it, girls! No need to repay me! Yasui can cover for you!"
Yasui looked up in confusion.
"Wait, what? But I didn't get you anything?"
Yufine sidled closer.
"Buuuut, you can definitely give me the gift of letting me squeeze your adorable little face as much as I want."
Yasui gave her a nonplussed look before sighing.
"Fine. Because it's Rexmas."
Yufine giggled happily and immediately scooped him up and swung him around, squeezing him tightly to herself. Yasui groaned.
"Easy! My ribs only just healed!"
While Yufine was preoccupied, Chaussette and Maihime opened their gifts. Maihime got a small strand of battery powered twinkle light garland that she immediately wrapped around her prosthetic arm, and Chaussette got an adjustable heating pad in the shape of a ring so she could wear it while moving around. Both girls expressed their gratitude while Yufine continued to squash Yasui like a plush toy. Maihime picked up Yasui's present.
"I'll open this while you're preoccupied."
"Go ahead!" Yasui groaned from Yufine's arms. Inside the wrapping paper was a thin book called "Baking Through the Ages: The Most Famous Pastries Of All Time." Yasui gasped,
"Thanks, urf, Yufine! It's really… nice!"
"I'm glad you all like your gifts! Because I sure like mine! Say cheese!"
Yasui grunted as Yufine squashed her face against his and took a picture. She laughed.
"That's going to be my new wallpaper!"
Yasui groaned.
"How much longer? I do need to, nfff, get to my friend's place."
Yufine put him back down and sighed as she looked at the other members of the Cooking Club.
"Ooooh, I'll miss you all! I hope you all have a great Rexmas."
With much emotion (primarily on Yufine's part) they said their goodbyes and slowly trickled out of the club room. Soon, only Chaussette was left with Yasui. She had volunteered to help him get rid of anything that wouldn't keep for a few weeks, and was poking around the pantry as Yasui drank the last of the milk they had in the refrigerator. She snickered as he gulped down the final few drops.
"Do you like milk a lot?"
Yasui shrugged.
"It's fine. My family's moto is 'waste not, want not' so I wasn't about to dump it down the drain."
"Ah. That makessss sssenssse."
Yasui squashed the carton and placed it in the trash can. He tied the bad shut and removed it, ready to throw it in the dumpster. Yasui sighed.
"Well, that seems like it's it. Thanks for helping."
"No problem. I didn't want to leave you to do everything."
Yasui smiled at her.
"I hope you have a great vacation, Chaussette."
The snake flicked her tongue before slithering over and wrapping around him in the serpentine form of a hug.
"Thissss year hasss been great, thanksss to you. I've really enjoyed being in your club. It'ssss nice to be part of something."
Yasui hesitated awkwardly. He wasn't sure where to hug her back. Given her whole body was one long cylinder, he wasn't sure if there were places that were inappropriate to touch. He settled with the portion of her that was across his torso.
"I'm glad you joined too. Cooking Club wouldn't be the same without you."
They separated and Chaussette bobbed her head.
"Sssso long."
And with that, Yasui was alone in the club room. There was no study group today, because everyone was in such a hurry to leave, so the only thing left for Yasui to do was gather his things from his dorm and head to Miss Diana's house. As he walked back to the dorms, he could sense the cheer in the air. Everyone was excitedly talking and saying their goodbyes. Despite being a somewhat shorter break, everyone seemed more excited for Winter Break than they had been for Summer Break. Yasui's room was already practically empty as most of his other roommates seemed to have left already. He was gathering the last of his belongings when he heard the door creak open.
"Hey, bro? You in here?"
Yasui turned and saw an unusual figure in the doorway. Seated in a wheelchair was a thin and frail looking fox who looked maybe three or so years younger than Yasui. His limbs were thin and emaciated looking, as was the rest of his body that wasn't covered by a blanket. However the fox's eyes seemed very bright and alert as he met Yasui's gaze.
"Oh! Hello. I'm looking for my brother. His name is Juzo."
Yasui's eyes widened a bit.
"Juzo? Big guy? A bit… quiet?"
"Yeah, that's him."
"I know him, well, somewhat know him. He isn't here though."
The fox in the wheelchair frowned.
"He said he would be here. He's supposed to show me around the campus."
The skinny animal pulled a phone out of a shirt pocket and typed a message. Once he was done, Yasui gestured towards the room.
"Well, feel free to hang out here. His bunk is this one here."
The fox nodded.
"Thanks."
As the younger animal wheeled himself into the room, Yasui couldn't help but ask,
"How did you even get up here? With the stairs and all that?"
"I took the elevator."
"There's an elevator?!"
"Yeah, pretty much any multi story building has to have one to meet city codes. It's for handicapped people like myself."
Yasui nodded.
"Right. Uh… sorry if it's rude, but can I ask—"
"What's wrong with me?
"Well, I would have put it a bit nicer."
"It's fine, I know it's hard not to ask. I was born with a condition called cerebral palsy. Basically the part of my brain that controls my muscles didn't develop right. And mine is super bad. So I can't really walk, and my muscles are super weak."
"Oh. That sounds…. Uh, wow."
The fox shrugged.
"It is what it is. I appreciate you not saying the usual 'I'm so sorry!' or 'That's so terrible!' line. It gets old."
"I wasn't sure what to say. But… you seem to be doing pretty well, I think."
"As well as can be expected."
The smaller fox's phone buzzed, and he looked at it. He sighed.
"He forgot that he said he would meet me here and is at the front gates."
Yasui chimed in.
"Want me to take you there?"
"I can manage on my own. Thanks though."
"No, I'm literally going there now. I'm about to leave for the break."
The fox inclined his head.
"Well if you're going that way, company is always welcome."
"Want me to push you, or are you fine?"
"We'll go faster if you push."
Yasui gripped the handles to the younger boy's wheelchair and pushed him out the door. Yasui allowed him to direct them to the elevator and soon they were headed down. The younger fox held out a gaunt hand.
"I'm Timothy, but you can call me Tim."
"Yasui."
Timothy nodded. There was a pause in the conversation before Yasui asked,
"So… are you planning on coming here for school?"
Timothy nodded.
"I want to. I was supposed to start middle school here this spring, but I was having a lot of health problems. So my parents home schooled me until I got stronger. So maybe this upcoming semester I'll be able to come here."
Yasui grinned.
"That's awesome! Hey, if you want to join a club, the Cooking Club is always recruiting."
Timothy scoffed.
"Oh yeah, join a club. Very funny."
"I'm serious. I'm the president. And not to brag, but we accept everyone."
"Even cripples who can't lift anything heavier than a spoon?"
"One of our newest members is a kangaroo who was born missing an arm. And the first member to join was a snake. We just have a fun time."
Timothy seemed to consider that for a moment before grinning.
"You know, I'll keep that in mind."
The elevator dinged and Yasui pushed Timothy out into the bottom floor of the building. He found the wheelchair accessible ramp and meandered his way to the front gates. He looked down at Timothy as he did.
"So, is Juzo a good brother?"
"Yeah. He's always been good to me, even though it was probably hard. My parents had to spend a lot of time with me as a kid, so he probably felt a bit neglected. But he didn't care, he just wanted me to be happy and healthy. And of course if other kids made fun of me for my condition he'd beat them up."
Yasui laughed.
"No way! When I broke my arm he beat someone up for picking on me too!"
"Yeah, he hates when people mistreat disabled animals. He might look mean, but he's a big softy. He unironically helps old ladies cross the street and gets little kids' kites down from trees."
"Daw, that's adorable!"
"Just don't let him hear you say that. Also, what's the deal with the eyepatch? You missing an eye?"
"Nah, it just got hurt when I broke my arm."
"You get hit by a bus or something?"
"Beaten half to death by a caiman."
"Damn."
Yasui soon saw the school gates, as well as the taller figure of Juzo leaned against one of the trees around the path. He saw Yasui and walked over. He nodded brusquely at Yasui before fixing his attention on his brother.
"Sorry, I forgot I told you to meet me in my dorm."
Timothy shrugged.
"It's fine. Yasui and I were talking on our way here, and I got to see your dorm. Ready to show me around?"
"Yeah. Where to first?"
"I don't know, whatever you like."
As Juzo took over pushing his brother's wheelchair, he gave Yasui a clap on the shoulder.
"Thanks for bringing him down here. Have a good break."
"You too. Both of you."
Timothy waved.
"See ya around, Yasui."
As the two headed towards the main building, Yasui began his trek to Miss Diana's home. As he rode the train through the city, Yasui was amazed at how beautifully decorated everything was. Garlands and lights were wrapped around posts and poles, while many of the trees had decorations hanging from the branches. It transformed the city into something out of a storybook. And this transformation extended to Miss Diana's house too.
Upon walking up the path to her front door, Yasui was amazed to see that lights had been wrapped around every bush, as well as the two pillars in front of her door. Yasui knocked on the door and looked at the pristine lawn as he waited. Miss Diana definitely had style. The door opened and Diana greeted him enthusiastically.
"Yasui! Merry Rexmas!"
Yasui stepped inside and grinned.
"Merry Rexmas! Your house looks amazing!"
She leaned down and gave him a hug as she spoke.
"Why thank you! Of course, we saved decorating the official Rexmas tree until you were around. Don't want you to miss out on anything."
She then gestured towards the stairs.
"I decided to put you back in the same room as last time. We can consider that your room for whenever you want to spend the night."
"Aww, that's so nice! Thank you!"
Yasui found "his" room to be just as spacious and fancy as last time. Massive bed, silk sheets, and gigantic bathroom. It was a bit hilarious how much larger this room was than his room back home. And he didn't even have to share this one with his brother. With his bag (and the gifts hidden inside) safely stowed away, Yasui returned downstairs to find both Diana and Charles in the kitchen. Charles looked very resigned as he worked up to his elbows in various types of cookie dough. Meanwhile Diana was looking on with a slight pout to her face.
"You know, Charles, this might be more cookies than we can eat."
"Miss Diana, this is enough cookies for a small tribe of elephants."
"Well I couldn't decide what flavor we should make because Yasui hasn't had any of them! Maybe we can… donate some? To someone?"
Yasui whistled as he looked at the carnage in the kitchen.
"Where are you planning on putting them all?"
Diana immediately turned to him and smiled.
"Ah! Yasui! There you are. Would you like to help make Rexmas cookies?"
"Sure! But… where are we supposed to put them all?"
Charles grumbled as he reorganized the multitude of baking sheets he was juggling. Diana shrugged.
"Well… we can sort that out later. I think the sugar cookies are cool enough to decorate, so let's start there."
It took three hours to finish all of the cookies. There were gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, jam thumbprints, snowballs, peppermint twists, peanut butter, lemon crinkle, Italian anise, and butter cookies to name a few. Finally, at almost eight o'clock, they were finished. Yasui flexed his hands and winced.
"I think I pulled a muscle in my thumb from frosting so many cookies."
Diana gagged and immediately covered her mouth.
"I don't think I'll want to eat another cookie for a while."
Charles snorted.
"Well that's too bad, because we have over a hundred of them."
The three of them shambled to the living room and collapsed onto various chairs and couches. Yasui shuddered and held his stomach. They had been eating cookies as they went whenever they got hungry. He didn't want to know how many he had eaten himself. Diana sluggishly turned on the television and put on some Rexmas movie or other, but Yasui was too ill to care. He slumped against her shoulder and groaned.
"I feel like I swallowed a rock."
Diana grunted her assent and stifled a belch. She flushed.
"Excuse me! That was very unladylike."
Yasui laughed, which made his stomach hurt more.
"You don't have to worry about being proper around me, Miss Diana. I won't think less of you just because you burped."
Charles groaned.
"I'm going to go get seltzer water and some antacids."
Diana moaned.
"Get one for me!"
Yasui raised his hand.
"Me too."
As the gorilla shuffled off, Diana wrapped her arm around Yasui and sighed.
"Anything you desperately want to do before Rexmas?"
"Well, my friend invited me over to his house tomorrow. So I'll definitely want to do that, although I'm not sure how long he plans on me being there. I'll text him to find out."
Diana yawned.
"Sounds like a plan. We can decorate the tree on Sunday. I'm too tired to do it now."
"Same. Who knew that making cookies was so exhausting?"
"I know. And now we need to figure out what to do with them all."
Yasui rubbed his chin.
"You know, I might have an idea."
The next day, Saturday the twenty-first of December, Shinrai's mother was busily preparing dinner in the kitchen. What had started as Shinrai asking if he could have Yasui over before they left town (which she had of course been fine with) had then become Hana, her daughter, wanting to invite her new boyfriend. Tobi, her oldest son, had also asked if it was fine to bring the girl he had started seeing. Then Shinrai had asked if another friend of his could drop in for a bit so they could swap gifts, and now she was hosting a full blown Rexmas party. Guests were supposed to arrive around five, and it was currently two in the afternoon. She had practically nothing ready because she didn't know how to say "no" to her children wanting her to meet their significant others (sans Shinrai.)
There was a knock on the door and she bustled out of the kitchen towards the front door. She paused to catch her breath bedtime opening it.
"Can I help— oh! Hello, Yasui!"
The small and rather childlike fox was awkwardly hunched outside the door carrying a massive bundle of some sort. He smiled.
"Hello, Mrs. Hanako. Merry Rexmas."
"Merry Rexmas to you too! You're here early."
The fox slowly shuffled inside and set down the plastic wrapped burden he had been lugging around. Yasui sighed.
"Yeah. I wanted to get here early so I could drop these off and grab something from the store. How are you doing? You look a little… frazzled."
Hanako glanced in the mirror hanging in the entryway. Her fur was disheveled and she was covered in various stains from desperate cooking. She sighed.
"Well… I found out yesterday that family dinner turned into a Rexmas party. So I'm trying to figure something out to feed everyone."
Yasui grinned.
"Well… I can definitely help with some of that."
He opened up the bundle he had been carrying and revealed that it was full of boxes upon boxes of cookies. Yasui laughed.
"So my friends and I were making cookies last night, and we went a bit overboard. There's around seven dozen here."
Hanako held her hands over her mouth as she inspected the cookies. There were more than enough for her needs, which took one massive bite out of her list of party preparations. Yasui looked into the kitchen where it appeared that a food tornado had passed through.
"Where's everyone else?"
Hanako sighed and wrung her apron.
"Well my husband and Tobi are at work. Hana and Shinrai are out doing some last minute Rexmas shopping. And I'm here… cooking for nine!"
Yasui frowned.
"Well that doesn't seem fair. Want me to help out? I'm not a great cook, but I can get by."
Mrs. Hanako surged forward and hugged Yasui tightly.
"Don't tell anyone, but of all the guests my children have ever brought over you're my favorite!"
It was close to four thirty when Shinrai and his sister Hana walked through the front door. The two squirrels were holding a couple bags that contained their bounty gathered during their shopping trip. As they walked deeper into the house, Shinrai called,
"Mom! We're back!"
Mrs. Hanako's voice called out from the kitchen.
"I'm in here!"
As Hana walked to her room to get ready for the party, Shinrai entered the kitchen to see a very strange sight. His mother and Yasui were in the process of cooking the evening meal, and Yasui had evidently borrowed one of his mother's aprons. His best friend definitely looked a bit ridiculous. His mother smiled at him.
"Hello, honey! How did your shopping go?"
Shinrai nodded, puckering his lips to try to keep a straight face.
"It was good…. Hi, Yasui."
"Hello." Yasui replied. The fox then directed his attention to Shinrai's mother.
"So should I start baking the rolls now? Or do we wait for a bit?"
"We can start them now, they'll take a while." She replied. She then returned her attention to Shinrai. "Go get ready for dinner. And pick up your room a bit. It's filthy."
Shinrai gave his mother a nonplussed look.
"Are we eating in my room?"
"Don't talk back, just do it." She dryly replied. Shinrai shrugged and made his way to his room. He hurriedly shoved some bits and baubles under his bed and crammed his dirty clothes into his closet. Satisfied, he returned to the kitchen where he snuck a roasted carrot off of one of the platters his mother was preparing.
"So what's on the menu?"
Yasui replied,
"We have roasted carrots and potatoes, rolls, three bean soup, rice, fried tofu, and cookies. Lots of cookies."
Shinrai nodded.
"Wow. Also, what time did you show up, Yasui?"
The fox shrugged.
"A few hours ago. I was dropping the cookies off and then I was going to go to the store."
Mrs. Hanako gasped.
"Oh, Yasui! I'm sorry, you never got to go to the store!"
Yasui shook his head dismissively.
"It's fine. I just needed some toothpaste and socks."
Mrs. Hanako pointed at Shinrai.
"Shinrai, can you go grab one of the spare toothpastes from the bathroom? Yasui, you can have one of our toothpastes."
Yasui held his hands up.
"You don't need to do that. It's not urgent."
She patted Yasui on the back and smiled.
"Nonsense! You've been slaving away over a hot stove all afternoon for us. The least we can do is give you some toothpaste."
Shinrai rolled his eyes and grinned. This was a lot different from the first time he had brought Yasui over. And he should have expected Yasui to show up early to help out. If there was one thing Shinrai had learned about his friend it was that he was a chronic people pleaser.
Soon various guests began to trickle in. First Shinrai's father came back from work. Then Shinrai's brother Tobi arrived followed by a female squirrel named Lena. The next to arrive was somebody Yasui hadn't expected, Hikaru the fennec fox. She walked through the door wearing a heavy winter coat and skater beanie. Unlike most of the time at school, where she wore contact lenses, she was wearing wide circle framed glasses. She jerked her chin at Shinrai as he opened the door.
"Sup, Shinrai. Merry Rexmas."
"Aaay! You made it!"
Yasui waved.
"Hi, Hikaru."
She nodded.
"Hey. Dang it is cold out."
Mrs. Hanako walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
"You must be Shinrai's friend! It's nice to meet you."
Hikaru had begun taking her overcoat off, revealing a thick sweater decorated with candy canes. She turned to Hanako and nodded.
"Yup, that's me. And you must be his mom. Nice to meetcha."
Hikaru's hat came off, revealing her massive ears. Yasui hated to admit it, but it was very hard to take her seriously when her ears seemed almost as large as her whole body. She reached into the backpack she had been carrying and pulled out a small scented candle, which she handed to Mrs. Hanako.
"Here, a little 'thanks for having me over' gift."
Shinrai's mother accepted it cheerfully.
"How thoughtful! Dinner is almost ready, please make yourself comfortable."
The fennec fox nodded and reached into her bag again. She threw Shinrai an object wrapped in brown paper.
"Think fast, Chuckle-nuts."
Shinrai caught the object and immediately returned fire with a bundle of black fabric. Hikaru grinned.
"Oh? What have we here?"
She unfolded what turned out to be a tshirt with a custom design on it. She snorted with laughter at the print, before turning it to reveal what it said. In massive letters like something from one of the retro stores Yasui had seen in the mall, was the following inscription. "My ears might be large, but my ass is larger. Undefeated shortstack world champ." Mrs. Hanako looked mortified at her son's gift.
"Shinrai! Where did you get such a vulgar shirt!?"
Shinrai giggled.
"Got it custom made."
Hikaru was cackling with mirth now.
"I love it! Check out what I got you!"
Shinrai grinned as he tore open the paper to reveal a neon yellow shirt. It had big, blocky letters that looked like they were on fire. Additionally, the last letter of the words had a massive cartoony fox tail. It read, "Fox Fetish 4 Lyfe. Love A Big Fluffy Tail." Shinrai shook his head, still laughing, and put the shirt on over his current shirt.
"What do you think?"
Hikaru nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
"I think that's a good look for you. I was torn between that and one I thought of that said, 'Chasin' Tail, Trying to Nail. Fox-con 2013.' But I thought this was better."
Mrs. Hanako was holding her head in her hands. She gave Shinrai a searching look.
"Shinrai? Just… what?"
Shinrai held up the shirt.
"Hikaru and I had been joking about getting each other terrible Rexmas gifts a few weeks ago, and decided to get the worst shirts possible for each other."
Shinrai's mother threw her hands up in resignation.
"Why do I even try? You're clearly bound and determined to be weird. I should just accept it."
There was another knock on the door, and Hana burt into a smile.
"That must be Robby! I'll get it!"
She opened the door and squealed with glee. Yasui had never seen the usually moody and aloof squirrel so… girlish. She walked back in and addressed everyone.
"Mom, Dad. I want you to meet my boyfriend!"
Whatever anyone was planning on saying immediately died on their lips as Hana escorted her boyfriend into the room. He was at least a head taller than her, with deep brown fur. Of course, the reason everyone went quiet was because he was a stoat. Yasui heard Shinrai's brother Tobi sigh and murmur,
"It's Uncle Shojo all over again."
The initial exchange of introductions was a bit on the chilly side. First she introduced him to her parents, and then to Tobi and his date. Finally she introduced him to Shinrai and his guests.
"And this is my younger brother, Shinrai. And his friend Yasui. Oh, and Hikaru."
The stoat smiled at them all, shaking hands with them each. Yasui felt like he and Hikaru were the only ones not completely stunned by what was happening, just confused. Robby pointed at Yasui.
"Is this the guy you told me about? Saved your little brother from a caiman?"
Hana beamed.
"Yeah, that's him!"
Robby nodded to Yasui.
"Respect. And I see you're a fox man yourself, Shinrai. Cute girlfriend."
Shinrai blinked in confusion.
"Uh… what?"
He looked at his shirt. He looked at Hikaru. Shinrai grew flustered.
"Oh! N-no! Hikaru isn't my girlfriend! She's just my friend who is a girl! My friend-girl! And this shirt is a joke gift! You weren't here for it!"
Hikaru snorted.
"As if Shinrai could ever land a baddy like me. He'd be walking around like, 'yo this is the bad bitch I pulled by being goofy'."
Robby laughed at the joke. There were awkward chuckles from some other guests. Finally, Mrs. Hanako seemed to recover a bit and grimaced.
"W-well…. I guess… let's eat?"
There was very little conversation around the table that night. Yasui sat awkwardly beside Shinrai and tried really hard not to be noticed. Everyone was pointedly looking at their plates, with the exception of Hana and Robby. They were both happily talking and laughing the entire meal. Occasionally someone would take part in some clipped conversation, but then it would return to near silence. Finally the meal ended, and Mrs. Hanako began to gather up the dishes. Immediately, Yasui sprang to his feet.
"Let me help you get those!"
He hurriedly grabbed as many plates as he felt comfortable with and brought them to the kitchen. He turned on the faucet and began to fill the sink with warm, soapy water. Anything to avoid going back out there to that awkward situation. After a few trips, he and Mrs. Hanako had retrieved almost all of the dishes and had placed the cookies out for everyone to enjoy. Mrs. Hanako gave him a strained smile.
"Thank you. Excuse me for a second."
Yasui nodded and watched as she walked into the pantry and closed the door. There was a pause before a muffled scream came from inside, followed by what sounded like "Why! Why! Why! Why!" The noise slowly tapered off. Yasui decided to give the female squirrel a little bit of time. She seemed like she needed it. But, soon the dishes were all cleaned and dried, and Yasui decided he should check on his hostess. He knocked on the door.
"Mrs. Hanako? Are you okay?"
There was a pause before her distraught voice echoed from behind the door.
"No. My daughter is dating a damn weasel."
Yasui was about to point out that Robby was a stoat, which while similar to a weasel as a fellow mustelid, was different. However he thought better of it. Mrs. Hanako continued.
"I should have known that something like this would happen. Especially after my brother pulled what he did."
Yasui remembered Shinrai mentioning something about an uncle at one point, but he didn't remember what it was. He assumed it was a similar situation though. Hanako continued.
"I mean, if it was going to be anybody I thought it would be Shinrai. But Hana? Never! She seemed so… normal!"
Yasui nodded sympathetically, before realizing she couldn't see him. He wasn't sure how he would feel if his sister started dating outside her species, like, maybe something ridiculous like a rabbit. But he could imagine it would be a bit hard. Yasui decided to try to comfort Mrs. Hanako somewhat.
"Hey, it's not… all bad. I mean, this guy seems… nice. Sure it's really weird but… at least she seems happy, I think."
"But why did it have to be a stoat!?"
Yasui crossed his arms, uncomfortable. Finally, he sighed.
"I'll give you some time. I'll tell everyone else you're drying the dishes."
"Thanks, Yasui. I'm going to sit in here for a while."
Yasui exited the kitchen to find everyone seated in the living room. The tension was thick as Yasui took the only available seat next to Hikaru. He muttered to the fennec fox,
"What's up out here?"
She whispered,
"Insane levels of awkwardness. I'm about to fake an injury to leave early."
Shinrai's father shifted in his chair and spoke up.
"How about we watch a movie?"
Shinrai jumped at the opportunity.
"Absolutely! What should we watch?"
Hana shrugged and leaned into Robby.
"I don't really care, so long as it's a Rexmas movie. Maybe one of those old musicals?"
Apparently enough time had passed for Mrs. Hanako to gather herself, because she walked into the room and looked around in confusion.
"Sorry, what are we talking about?"
Ouga, Shinrai's father, answered.
"We're picking a movie to watch."
Hanako clapped her hands.
"How about 'Vacation Inn'? I used to love that movie!"
Everyone looked around in confusion, not recognizing the name. She continued.
"Oh it's a classic! We used to watch it every Rexmas Eve when I was little! It's about this singer who opens an inn that's only open on national holidays. It's American."
When nobody voiced any complaints, Mrs. Hanako went to find where she had left the movie. She returned with it, wiping some dust off as she did.
"I haven't seen this in years! It's in black and white though, so be warned."
The movie started and Yasui was… indifferent. It began with three cats, two males and a female, who did some goofy singing and dancing routine at a jazz club. One of the cats was dating the female, but she left him for the other guy. The dumped cat decided to go start his own club open only on holidays. Several holidays went by with musical numbers for each one (Yasui was questioning if this was a Rexmas Movie by this point) when it switched to being a holiday Yasui didn't recognize. It was some American person's birthday, which Yasui thought was weird. Who gets their birthday turned into a holiday.
The male cat and his new female cat assistant were getting ready, when said male singer cat found out his old partner was here trying to steal his new assistant/love interest. As such, he proposed the idea that they'd both dress up as highly caricatured stereotypes of foxes to make the song funny. Yasui frowned as he saw them put on costumes that were slightly… insensitive. Beside him, he heard Hikaru whisper,
"What… the… eff…."
Looking around, Yasui saw that everyone was visibly uncomfortable and giving the two foxes in the room weird looks. He saw Mrs. Hanako whisper to her husband,
"I don't remember this part."
The song began, and used several unflattering names for foxes as it went on. Yasui shifted uncomfortably and coughed.
"I'm going to… use the bathroom."
Hikaru stood as well.
"Gee, I could go for another cookie! I'll… go get one."
Yasui hurriedly walked to the bathroom and closed the door. He spun around and took a minute to calm himself. It wasn't that he was angry about the movie. It was just… wildly uncomfortable. Realizing that he was just standing in the bathroom, Yasui did the first thing that came to mind. He flushed the toilet and turned on the sink so it seemed like he was washing his hands. Eventually, he opened the door and tried to look casual as he entered the family room again. Everyone else was looking at him, mortified. Immediately, Yasui stopped. He noticed that the movie had been turned off as well. Once again, Yasui did the first thing that came to mind. He gave them a little wave.
(Wow that looked stupid.)
Shinrai slowly asked,
"You okay, dude?"
"Yeah! Fine. Just had to use the bathroom."
Shinrai pointed at the screen.
"I mean about… you know."
Yasui waved the question away.
"Please! That doesn't bother me! It's old! They made fun of all sorts of different species back then!"
Robby frowned.
"I hadn't even heard of half of those slurs. Do people really call foxes a 'Tar Paw'?"
Hana elbowed him. Robby looked down at her.
"What? Oh, sorry. I wasn't trying to be insensitive."
Yasui shook his head.
"Don't worry about it! It's fine! It's no big deal!"
"It was a pretty big deal!" Yasui huffed from his seat on Miss Diana's couch. The leopard was sitting beside him, and gave him a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry, Yasui. That must have been very uncomfortable."
Yasui shrugged. The remainder of the Shinrai family party had been somewhat awkward and quiet. He was glad to be back at Diana's place.
"It just sucks being reminded how much people look down on foxes for no other reason than our species. Especially female foxes! Geez, now I want to go hug my mom. I bet other animals used to say awful things about her when she was my age."
He slumped against Miss Diana, and she patted his head.
"How did your friend and his family take it?"
Yasui shrugged.
"They thought it wasn't that big of a deal. And I know it shouldn't bother me, but it still does. I guess I'm just sensitive."
Diana frowned. Speciesism was always a hard to handle subject for anyone. She could sympathize with Shinrai's family for trying to downplay the issue. But she could also understand how uncomfortable that would have made Yasui. She gently cupped his face to make him look up and smiled.
"Tell you what? Why don't we go somewhere exciting tomorrow to cheer you up? Maybe to the planetarium? Or of course there's a wonderful greenhouse garden on the northern edge of town that's always beautiful, even in winter."
Yasui returned the smile.
"I'd like that. Thanks, Diana."
Diana smiled to herself. Crisis averted.
The days before Rexmas flew by in a whirl of excitement and color. On Saturday Diana made good on her promise and took Yasui to the gardens. She had decided to save the planetarium for a rainy day when a nice, relaxing experience would be more appreciated. Sunday saw them going to the foothills outside of town so Yasui could sled while Diana sat in the lodge drinking coffee and cocoa. When asked if she would join him, Diana shuddered.
"I'm cold during the summer, you could not pay me enough to go slide around in the snow."
Monday dawned cloudy and snowy, with fierce winds blowing hard enough to shake the windows in their panes. It was a perfect day to put up a Rexmas tree and decorate it. Yasui was amazed at how many different ornaments and garlands there were to choose from. After much deliberation, they elected to put white lights on the tree, red glass baubles, and silver tinsel. It was appropriately festive, but in the words of Diana, "not overly gaudy." Yasui was getting excited for Rexmas. He had enlisted Charles's help to wrap his gifts and was looking forward to giving them out more than he was to the idea of receiving any gifts. That Tuesday, Rexmas Eve, Yasui joined Diana in placing the assorted boxes and bags of presents underneath their tree. As they looked at the colorful scene, Diana crossed her arms and grinned.
"You know, this is actually the first time I've ever personally done all of this. It's fun, I see why people like it."
Yasui gave her a questioning look.
"You hadn't done any of this either?"
"Not personally. As a girl my parents didn't celebrate Rexmas. They claimed it was 'too Western' and that they would stick to their traditions. And once I was an adult I was too absorbed in my work to care. I hadn't even realized how much I was missing."
Yasui patted her hand.
"Well I'm glad we're both having our first Rexmas together. It makes it special."
Yasui didn't sleep much at all that night. He was too excited for tomorrow. Wednesday, December twenty-fifth. His first Rexmas. Morning dawned to a bright blue sky dotted with wispy clouds high in the sky. Yasui hurried down the stairs to the smell of pancakes being cooked by Charles. The normally stern gorilla smiled at him.
"Good morning, and Merry Rexmas."
Yasui grinned.
"Merry Rexmas!"
Charles jerked his head towards the coffee pot and grunted.
"It's a bit earlier than Miss Diana prefers to wake up, but if you bring her some coffee she'll probably be able to drag herself down here sooner rather than later."
Yasui nodded his agreement and hurriedly filled a mug with the bitter drink, stopping by the fridge to add a hearty amount of cream. Just the way Diana liked it. He carefully made his way back up the stairs, trying not to spill coffee on Miss Diana's floor. He knocked on the leopard's door and gently eased it open. He grinned as he crossed the floor to her massive bed.
"Oh Miss Diana~! Wakey wakey! It's Rexmas!"
He approached the side where she was sleeping and set the mug of coffee down on the nightstand. He heard a barely audible groan from the bed, and laughed. He gently pulled the covers back a bit and jostled the sleeping felid.
"Come on, I brought you coffee~."
Blearily, Miss Diana came to consciousness. She kept her eyes closed as she yawned.
"Hmm? What?"
Yasui laughed again and tapped her shoulder.
"It's already morning! C'mon, we're making pancakes."
Still mostly asleep and with her eyes still closed, Diana pulled Yasui towards her and cuddled him against her. She cooed.
"Oh, Daniel. Come snuggle with Mommy for a bit."
Yasui froze, confused as the leopard pressed her cheek against his, purring loudly. She kissed his cheek and yawned again.
"Where's your sister? Helping Daddy in the kitchen?"
Yasui opened and closed his mouth a bit, unsure of what was happening. Who was Daniel? And she'd referred to herself as "Mommy" too. Yasui gently shook Diana again as she cooed and stroked the back of his head.
"Miss Diana. It's me, Yasui! Wake up!"
Clumsily, her eyes opened and she scrunched her face up in confusion and disorientation.
"Hm? Wha? Where?"
She looked around and saw Yasui. He watched as a look of abject heartbreak crossed her face before she let go of him.
"Oh…. I'm sorry, I must have been sleeping very heavily."
"It's no problem. Are you okay?"
"Hm?"
Yasui looked at her with concern.
"You seem… sad."
Diana sighed and looked up at the ceiling. There was a pause before she spoke.
"I am. I was having the most wonderful dream. I didn't want to wake up."
"What was your dream about?"
Diana smiled wistfully.
"It's silly. I won't bore you with my stupid dreams."
"Please?"
She sighed.
"Fine, if you must know. I… dreamed I had a happy family. A husband, two children, the whole nine yards. It was so… vivid. I didn't even know I was asleep."
Yasui moved closer to hug Diana and smiled up at her.
"I understand. It must have been disappointing to wake up."
She sighed and scratched his chin.
"Only a little."
"Don't worry, Miss Diana. I'll always be here for you. Because I love you."
Diana squeezed her eyes shut and hugged him.
"Thank you, Yasui. That makes me feel a bit better."
She released him and groaned, stretching in that gradual, springy way only felines can.
"I'll be down in a bit. Just give me a minute to gather myself."
Yasui nodded and silently retreated from the room. He felt a bit sad as he thought about Miss Diana's dream. She would have been a great mom, he thought.
It proved to be closer to ten minutes before Diana made her way downstairs. Unlike most mornings, she didn't even bother to get dressed in anything fancy and do her makeup. She was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a large white shirt, and looked distinctly disheveled. Charles shook his head.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
Diana groaned.
"Oh shut up. There had better be some chocolate chip pancakes mixed in with those. I know Yasui can't eat them, but I can."
Charles rolled his eyes and pushed a plate of chocolatey breakfast towards her. As they ate, Diana smirked at Yasui and asked,
"Did you see if Santa-Paws left you any presents?"
Yasui frowned.
"Why?"
"Because it's a tradition!"
"But how does he get in?"
"The chimney."
"So he's a burglar?"
Diana rolled her eyes.
"Reverse burglar if you want to be pedantic. And I know you're pulling my leg."
Yasui broke out into a grin.
"Aw, I wanted to see how long I could keep it going."
Diana sipped her coffee and gestured with her fork.
"Anything in particular you hope Santa brought you?"
Yasui shrugged.
"Not really. I'm just here for fun."
Diana scoffed.
"You know, you could be a bit more avaricious. Just to make me feel a bit better."
"Oh? Anything in particular you wanted?"
Diana fluttered her eyelashes.
"Why diamonds of course. They are a gal's best friend."
Yasui pursed his lips.
"You know, those are a bit out of my budget."
Diana finished her breakfast and daintily patted her lips with a napkin.
"Well, let's go see what old Saint Nick brought us?"
"Who?"
"It's another name for Santa."
"Dude has a lot of names…."
As they gathered around the Rexmas tree, Yasui squinted at the mounds of presents underneath. There seemed to be many more than there had been last evening. He looked at them skeptically, noting the tags all read "To: Yasui. From: Santa-Paws." Yasui looked at Miss Diana, who had adopted a look of pure innocence. Yasui gestured at the tree.
"Did you go nuts with the shopping? I told you you didn't need to get me a bunch of stuff. I only got you one thing!"
Diana held her hands up defensively.
"As did I! It seems Santa brought you a lot of gifts. Probably because you've been such a good boy. Isn't that right?"
She teasingly scratched behind Yasui's ears, making his tail wag. He loved it when she called him a good boy. Yasui playfully batted her hand away.
"You first, Miss Diana."
Yasui retrieved his gift for Diana from the pile and presented it to her. Diana smiled sweetly at him.
"Thank you. I'm sure I'll love it."
She delicately slit the wrapping open with a manicured claw and slid out a thick binder. She opened it up and gasped with delight. It was a scrapbook filled with pictures of all the things Yasui and her had done together. There was their beach trip, and the picnic in the park, and Halloween. She flipped through the pages and gave Yasui a surprised look.
"Where did you get all these pictures?"
Yasui pointed at Charles.
"It was a group effort. He's been photographing most of our outings."
Diana turned to the gorilla and squeezed his hand.
"Thank you, Charles. It's fantastic."
Yasui nodded.
"And speaking of Charles. Here you are, one for you."
Charles accepted the gift and tore it open. Inside was an apron with "Head Chef" printed on it, as well as a framed photograph of Yasui and Charles doing the preliminary cooking for the Cooking Club's Meteor Festival booth. Charles cleared his throat and replied, slightly huskily,
"It's great."
Diana clasped her hands together.
"Well then, let's get you your presents, Yasui."
In terms of excessiveness, the amount of presents Yasui received was excessive. He was given a new backpack, new shoes, new pants, several shirts, a set of fine pens, a sweater, several books, a collection of interesting knick knacks from across the globe, and to top it all off was a small brass key. Yasui inspected the key.
"What's this for?"
Diana leaned forward and clasped his hand.
"That is a key to this house. So long as you wish, my home is your home."
Yasui felt tears well in his eyes at the implication of this. Diana was essentially saying that he was no longer a guest, but a member of her family. Yasui darted forward and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you, Diana. It's amazing."
She squeezed him back.
"You're welcome. Now, I believe we have a Rexmas feast to prepare?"
Charles grunted.
"First we need to clean up this mess."
Yasui looked at the mounds of torn wrapping paper and laughed.
"Yeah, there's a lot of it."
Charles tapped his finger and raised an eyebrow at their lack of movement.
"That wasn't a suggestion."