Chapter 19: Christmas Kids

As it turns out, the first Christmas in the Hayakawa household had raised a number of problems for the four misfits who had been haphazardly put together into what could generously be called a family.

One conundrum was proving the most troublesome: What the hell do they get each other for Christmas?!

This was the precise question Denji was wrestling with as he made his way through the thronging crowds, the street bustling with people making their way home. Indeed, he would have been on his way back home himself if he hadn't remembered that he still had to buy Christmas presents, and it being a week out from Christmas Eve, he had little time to put it off.

So here he was: working his way through the crowd, going from window display to window display to no avail. Beam followed closely behind, hidden under the ground, the only sign of the fiend being his fin weaving through the trampling feet of the crowd, cutting through the dirty slush.

"Ughhh… Still nothing…", Denji groaned, resting his head on the store window, he'd long lost count of how many shops he had visited, and still he had no luck finding what he was looking for.

He hadn't had much trouble with buying most of the gifts, Power had been simple enough since she was always wanting some new cosplay outfit or accessory of some sort, whilst Denji had settled on buying Aki a new cookbook, given the man's love of any and all cooking shows.

No, the gift he was having most trouble with was the most important: his girlfriend's.

"Don't s'pose you'd have any ideas Beam?", Denji's desperation was beginning to show as he resorted to asking for Beam's input, the boy staring blankly at the window display. He'd already rejected any accessories or clothes out of hand, he had little clue about fashion and it wasn't like their work in Public Safety gave them much opportunity to dress in their casualwear.

"Lord Chainsaw! Why get Bomb a gift? She's scary…", Beam responded, poking his head up out of the pavement by Denji's feet, confusion clear on even his fiendish face.

"You can't just not get a gift for your girlfriend! That'd be- aagrh whatever!", Denji snapped, storming away from the window having realised the futility of explaining this to the fiend, "You wouldn't get it!"

"Humans are weird…", Beam muttered with a shudder as his head dipped back below the pavement, settling for following Denji from a distance as the boy got more and more frustrated.

It wasn't long before Denji's feet led him into a department store. The place was quite quiet, with only a few people milling about, Denji guessed it must be closing soon so he picked up his pace, resolving to go from shop to shop for as long as he could until he found something.

'There's gotta be something here!' Denji thought. He must have gone to half of the shops in the place at this point and still he'd seen nothing that would make a good gift for Reze. At this point he was almost ready to just go home and try again another day, that was until a small, unassuming shop caught his eye: a boutique-y little stationery store nestled between a chemist's and a chain café.

"That's it!", Denji could have jumped for joy upon seeing this shop: the answer to his conundrum right in front of his eyes!

After a short look around the traditional-looking shop, and baulking at the price he'd be expected to pay for the high-quality stationery, he'd finally got his hands on a gift he knew Reze would love, leaving the store with a paper carrier bag in hand and a spring in his step.

"Hey Beam! We're goin' back to HQ, get over here!", Denji called as he stepped through the automatic doors and out into the bitter cold night. Denji didn't check that the fiend was following along, trusting that the loyal shark-man had been hanging around nearby.

He was in such a good mood in fact, that he didn't even hesitate as he walked by a charity stand manned by a couple of old ladies, throwing his remaining change into their donation box without even waiting for one of the pins they were giving out.

And, as he walked through the cold night, wisps of snow beginning to fall around him, he was in no doubt that he had a heart.

Back at Public Safety Headquarters, Reze was in a very similar situation to her boyfriend.

She and Denji would usually partner up for their patrols, but since they restarted work in the aftermath of the assassin's incident they had just as often been paired with the remaining fiends, with Denji and her being paired with Beam and Power respectively.

Thankfully Aki had taken the blood fiend back home with him after he'd gotten back from doing his rounds with Angel, Reze didn't think she could've stuck waiting around Power for much longer, the fiend just had too much energy for her own good.

For her part, Reze had decided to just wait in the lobby until Denji got back from patrol, after all, he and Beam usually weren't too much later getting in than she was. The upside of this was that she got some time to unwind after a stressful six hours of babysitting Power, the downside though was that there was another thing stressing her out: Christmas.

Well, more specifically the issue of Christmas presents. For the most part, it had been quite easy, she'd just gotten Power some of her favourite snacks, and Denji some issues of that manga Shark Kick he'd recently taken a liking to, among some other more… personal gifts.

The one that was giving her the most trouble was Aki. Sure their relationship had improved drastically since she'd first moved in, but whilst she wouldn't assume he had forgiven her, he at least seemed to have let go of much of his ire towards her. But that didn't mean she'd forgiven herself…

She still felt nervous at times around the older devil hunter, in the back of her head she could envisage the man simply scorning whatever gift she'd get him, hell she would exactly be thrilled about getting a gift from her friend's murderer either. But she still felt she had to at least get him something to show her appreciation for him taking her in, even if it was under duress.

That was only the start of the problems with buying the man a gift. Power had let slip that he only had a short time left to live, a fact that put extra limitations on what she could get him, after all, it's not like she could in good conscience give a dying man a voucher he may never get to use.

"Goood why is this shit so difficult…?", Reze groaned as she leaned back into her seat, exasperated. She wasn't used to having to think about stuff like this, with every Christmas before this having just been another day for her, the only difference being slightly nicer food delivered to her cell at dinner, likely the result of the chef's guilty conscience.

Back then all she'd known about Christmas had been gleaned from the idle chattering of guards talking about spending time with their families over the holidays, something that had made her feel no small amount of bitterness at the time.

'Screw it, he's getting a book', Reze thought, the old memories souring her mood. She'd initially rejected that idea out of hand, but as the days ticked down and Christmas got closer the idea had been becoming more and more tempting. She'd just need to make sure it was a sufficiently angsty novel if his other books are anything to go by.

A frown tugs at the corner of her mouth. She hoped that he'd have the time to read it, not just for his sake, but for Denji and Power's too…

Power was bored.

It was a few days before Christmas, and the fiend had no idea what to do with herself. That vile woman Makima had deemed to give them some extra time off, no doubt she was planning something heinous…

She'd just come back to her room after having dinner five minutes ago, and she was bored stiff already: however, it was better to be bored than to be stuck out there with… them again. Dinner had been nearly unbearable for the devil, stupid topknot hadn't let her leave the table until she'd eaten all of her veggies, and just to make being trapped there all the more insufferable Denji and Reze had been at the table flirting the entire time. She was pretty sure they were even playing footsie! Right in front of her!

"Yuck…", Power stuck her tongue out at the memory of the two giggling over dinner, quickly scooping up Meowy from the floor and flopping back onto her bed, the poor cat clutched tightly to her chest.

"Tch… You'd never force me to eat something so disgusting, nor to watch something so sickening!" Power groused, kicking her legs in annoyance. She liked the newer girl well enough, she had been kind to her after the events of Hell, with their encounter with the primal devil was still enough to send a shiver down her spine.

But the bomb girl's closeness to Denji still rankled the fiend for reasons she didn't fully understand, all she knew was that she felt an uncomfortable twisting in her gut when she saw the two together.

Power frowned, her grip on Meowy loosening enough for the plump feline to jump free of her embrace, quickly stalking its way to its bed in the corner, Power pouting as she watched it go, "Thou'rt a traitor too then…"

However, never one to mope for too long, Power's mind quickly turned to another thought: Christmas. Her face brightened as thoughts of food and presents filled her mind, though she was still concerned about that anomaly the humans called Santa Claus. Delivering presents across the world in one night? Flying reindeer? A horde of little creatures helping him?

She had to see this with her own two eyes, this man who had the power to rival even a powerful devil such as herself!

It was then that a plan hatched in her head: she'd wait up on the night of Christmas Eve and ambush this 'Santa'. Yes! It was a perfect plan!

She'd simultaneously be able to find out if the fat old man was as powerful as the stories say as well to plunder the old fool's bag of presents. She might even earn a second Nobel prize if she could capture the slippery geezer!

She even briefly pondered if the reindeer would taste any good, she could even share some of it with Meowy like back when they lived in the wild! But…

Aki had already said he was picking up a KFC on Christmas, and from how he described it sounded quite delectable… Yeah, on second thought she'd scrap the whole reindeer part of the plan, catching the old man would be enough…

Maybe she'd even get to nab some of Denji and Reze's share of the food while they were distracted? It is a couples holiday after all, and maybe some of their chicken would help settle that uneasy feeling in her gut when she saw them together…

'Indeed, 'tis only fair reimbursement!'

"Just where are you taking us Denji?"

It was afternoon on Christmas Eve, a light snow was falling and Reze and Denji were walking hand in hand down a quiet semi-residential area, similar to countless other places throughout Tokyo.

For once they were both able to eschew their Public Safety uniforms, instead wearing some of their rarely worn casualwear, with Denji wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a heavy winter coat and a comfortable pair of trainers, whilst Reze had plumped for a simple but stylish skirt and sweater combo with a tan coat on top, a thick pair of tights and scarf being all else that was needed to protect the Russian girl from the bitter cold Christmas night.

"It's a surprise, trust me", Denji replies to her with a wink and a grin, with Reze pouting in response, moving closer to him as they walked.

"Tch, meanie…", the girl muttered playfully, causing Denji to roll his eyes, recognising the oh-so-familiar lilting tone that was more often than not synonymous with her teasing him.

"Don't worry, we'll be there pretty soon."

As it turns out, she didn't have to wait long for Denji's surprise to reveal itself, as the scenery became more and more familiar to Reze. She knew for sure as they passed a familiar corner store, her eyes widening as she turned to Denji in surprise.

"Denji…! Why are we here?!', Reze whispered harshly, having realized why the scenery had seemed so familiar: the location only being confirmed as they cut through a short alleyway and out onto the next street, practically coming face-to-face with a familiar sight: her old workplace.

The Crossroads café looked no different from when she last left the place on the way to her first date with Denji, and it was a sight that brought out many conflicting emotions within her. On one hand, she had enjoyed working there, it had been her first taste of a normal life, even if it had been a lie at the end of the day. The memories of all the time she and Denji had spent there together also caused her to associate the place with a sort of warm, fuzzy nostalgia.

But going back there was another matter altogether.

"What's wrong Reze?", Denji looked down at her in confusion, clearly not having expected this reaction, "I thought you liked this old place when you worked there?"

"It's not that… I…", Reze began to reply, but quickly trailed off, conflict written all over her face, "I can't go in there when…"

Her whole time there had been a lie, and what would she tell her boss? After all, just rocking up and saying 'Hi, long time no see. My whole identity was a lie by the way' would hardly win her any brownie points…

"It'll be fine Reze. The old guy didn't seem like the kinda guy to interrogate you or anything, seemed to like you well enough too", Denji just smiled at her reassuringly, "Hell, I'd bet even if you told him everything he'd still be pretty understandin', so what do you want to do?"

Reze hesitated, doubts filling her head, the what-ifs were near endless. What if he asks too many questions? What if he suspected that she had something to do with attacking Tokyo? What if, what if, what if…

She found herself looking up at Denji and soon found that his comforting gaze and warm smile helped those anxious thoughts fade into the background. The nerves remained, but Reze made her decision, letting out a weary sigh as she shot a small smile back at Denji.

"Alright, you win, just… don't share too many details, I don't really want to spread around that I blew up several blocks of downtown…", even whilst giving her consent the self-loathing was still there, a constant whenever she brought up her past. Something the girl herself realized, as she quickly put on a sly grin for the benefit of Denji.

"After you siiiirrr."

On the other end of the city, a petite girl was sitting at her table, eating a modest lunch of toast and coffee, an old battered laptop sitting off to the side, with a dozen tabs open; all being different job listings.

Kobeni had spent most of her time since quitting Public Safety sifting through the same old recruitment websites or scouring the newspapers for job advertisements, all in the hope of finding a job that could at least cover her rent and the money she had to send back home. At this point, she wasn't fussy about who would hire her, as long as it didn't involve devils or sex work at the very least…

So far it had been a pretty depressing Christmas for the girl, with job hunting not exactly being at the top of her Christmas list, honestly, the one silver lining of the holiday was that her family didn't celebrate the holiday at all. However, that didn't mean she'd been planning to spend the holiday all alone, cooped up in her small flat eating some off-brand cereal with more in common with cardboard than anything edible.

She and Violence had originally been planning to spend Christmas together, the fiend had always been kind to her and had been appalled when she said she usually spent Christmas alone and had instantly offered to take her out for the day. However, that plan had been brought to an abrupt end when he died in his attempt to defend them from that devil in Hell.

It only made her feel worse that, when they had been clearing out Violence's quarters, they had found an envelope addressed to her containing only a Christmas card and some vouchers to an ice cream place nearby Public Safety Headquarters.

It had felt like a cruel reminder of her isolation when she had opened the card this morning, the heartfelt message written in it suggesting that they went together. Needless to say, she'd been inconsolable for most of the morning, the job search had honestly been a pretty good distraction all things considered.

'Another happy year…' Kobeni thought bitterly as she pushed her bowl off to the side, dragging her laptop closer, 'Better get looking again, no point in moping around all day…'

She barely had time to restart her search before she was interrupted by the clattering of her mail slot. The girl immediately shot to her feet, her job search forgotten once more as she rushed over in excitement.

Could it be a tax rebate? Some funding from her parents? She'd even settle for a Christmas card!

She quickly grabbed the letter up from the ground, ripping it open without a thought, her mind racing, trying to figure out who could have possibly cared enough to send her a Christmas card, only to wilt as she unfolded the letter enclosed inside.

As it turns out, Public Safety had overpaid her in her final pay cheque, and was demanding that she pay back the difference by the New Year…

'Well… At least Family Burger is hiring…'

The door chimes rang out as they entered the café, not a soul in sight as Denji and Reze hesitantly entered the building, with Reze eying the staffroom door behind the counter with trepidation.

With both being veterans of the café, Denji as a customer and Reze as staff, they knew better than to call out as both knew Kayo always kept an ear out for the door chimes, ready to rush out at the first sign of a customer. And, as it turns out they were right, as it wasn't long before Reze's old boss rushed through the door in full customer service mode.

"Hello, hello! Please take a sea…", the polite smile quickly gave way to surprise as his practised greeting trailed off, his eyes wide in surprise and his mouth agape for a second as he registered the two teens standing in the doorway.

"Hey Boss", Reze said, burying her nerves under a wry smile.

This seemed to snap the man out of his shock, as he quickly rushed around the counter over to them, his shock quickly giving way to his usual resting expression of mild annoyance.

"You better not be here looking your wages girl, your holidays don't cover for three months of missed shifts."

Whatever tension Reze had felt walking in dissolved upon hearing Kayo's usual griping: the man clearly hadn't a clue about her true identity. Honestly, she actually felt kind of stupid for being so worried that he would figure her out, considering Makima herself had ordered a complete media blackout on anything relating to her and Denji's battle.

"Long time no see", now more relaxed, Reze responded with the flippancy she knew he'd come to expect from her, "I'd ask for the holiday pay at least, but you didn't even pay me for half the days I worked in the first place."

"You kids… always an answer for everything, huh…?", Kayo shook his head in mock disappointment, before looking at the pair with a subtle smile, "It's good to see you two again, I was afraid that you both got caught up in that devil attack a couple of months back."

"Well, we kinda were…", Denji scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "We're not allowed to go into it much, but me and Reze got wrapped up in it and she's workin' with me at Public Safety now…"

"Yeah, things got pretty messy…", Reze frowned, she was glad Denji took the lead in filling Kayo in, she hated talking about that day. It was cowardly of her of course, to feel sorry for herself after that massacre, to hide behind her old Soviet masters as some sort of excuse for killing all those people…

But all the same, she was trying to move past that, she couldn't change what she'd done, but she sure as hell could change what she'd do from now on.

"Well, I'm glad you made it out safe. Kids shouldn't have to go through something like that. I would've thought Public Safety…", Kayo shook his head as if dismissing the thought, "Never mind that, go and take a seat, I'll go whip up some coffee. On the house, just this once."

As the teens thanked the man and moved towards their seats, Kayo turned around once again with a sly smile.

"You know, when you both didn't show up for her next shift, my first thought was that you'd gone off and eloped together. Good to know I was half right."

And with that, the old man disappeared behind the counter, leaving the two teens rosy-cheeked and without any, sitting back at their old favourite window booth, their coats and rucksacks discarded and sitting by their sides.

"See? It all went fine", Denji said with a lopsided grin, "Told ya."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, rub it in…", Reze pouted before grinning back, "You're lucky you're cute when you get all cocky y'know. Soooo… maybe if you show me whatever's in the bag I'll forgive you, hmmm?"

"Hmmm… you sure drive a hard bargain…", Denji scratched his chin, a smile tugging at his lips as he half-heartedly tried maintaining his faux-conflicted act, he knew Reze wouldn't buy it of course, but that wasn't the point. He knew she enjoyed a little bit of teasing and theatre sprinkled through their daily interactions, and he quite enjoyed playing along, and it was definitely more enjoyable than having to go along with Power's delusions of grandeur.

"Guess I'll just have to then, here you are", Denji sighed dramatically as he reached into his bag, pulling out a small parcel, wrapped in a pastel-purple wrapping paper and tied neatly with a green ribbon, and set it on the table in front of Reze.

"Ohhh… Looks fancy…" Denji watched as Reze picked the package up with almost reverent care. Indeed, the gift had clearly been professionally wrapped in the shop and whilst pretty small, it was still hefty enough, "May I…?"

"Yeah, go right ahead," Denji quickly replied, watching with a mix of trepidation and excitement as she began unwrapping the package, carefully untying the ribbon and unfolding the paper, revealing the gift within: a leatherbound journal and a bookmark, both of which were delicately embossed with a familiar floral design - daisies.

"O-oh, Denji…", Reze turned to Denji with a warm smile, one that reminded Denji of the first time they met, huddled for cover in that rickety old phone booth, only now he knew it was oh-so-real, "It looks expensive, you really didn't have to get something so…"

"Don't worry about that," Denji quickly waved off her concern, "I've been saving up for a while now, so it wasn't a problem, really!"

"Besides, I wanted to get you somethin' special," Denji's voice lowered again, his face slightly flushed as he shared his reasons with her, "I know that… well you didn't have much great back then, but hopefully you'll have plenty to write about from now on…"

"Thanks, Denji…" Reze nestles into Denji's side, wrapping him in a warm hug. They stayed like that for a time until Reze pulled back again, uncharacteristically bashful as she quickly reached over and grabbed her own bag, pulling out a gift wrapped in simple plain brown wrapping paper, the only adornment present on it being a Christmassy-looking label, with Denji's name being written on it in a delicate cursive.

"It's not much, but I hope you like it…" much like Denji had moments ago, Reze was now watching in anticipation as Denji tore through the paper, his face lighting up as he saw the first items inside.

"Aw hell yeah!", Denji nearly jumped out of his seat as he saw what was inside: all of the volumes of the latest manga he and Power had been reading, Shark Kick. "That's awesome Reze, thanks!"

Denji had meant to buy his own copies of the manga since it was a bit of a hassle reading them in-store, and he usually got annoyed looks from the staff when he did. However, that's not all that was in the present.

"Huh? What's all this?" Denji asked, puzzled as he set the manga aside, sifting through the other books that were packed alongside them. Thankfully he didn't have to wonder long, as Reze quickly jumped in to answer.

"They're nothing exciting, it's just a bunch of school books that appear on the curriculum," Reze said, laying out the books on the table and pointing at each one in turn, briefly describing each one, "We have textbooks for maths, Japanese, history, and a couple of others. I figured it'd be good to get a head start on all of this if we get to go to school at some point. At the very least we'll be able to catch up on some subjects we'll need to know."

"Plus…" Reze leaned her elbow on the table, resting her head in her hand as she looked at Denji suggestively, "I thought it'd give us more time to… study together."

"Well yeah, of cou- ohhhh…"

Kayo watched the two lovebirds from behind the counter with a wistful smile, he'd been waiting to bring over their drinks for a while now but hadn't wanted to interrupt their moment, with the man busying himself by making some snacks while he waited.

'Ah, young love… Reminds me of back when we were young…' Kayo thought as he made his way over, arms laden with drinks and snacks, 'This time of year always makes me sentimental…'

This was the first time Aki had really celebrated Christmas since he was a kid. His parents used to go to a lot of effort for him and his brother, buying in a small mountain of gifts for them both. He'd never really got why they celebrated it back when he was young, he figured it was just their excuse to spoil them.

As he laid out the contents of the KFC Christmas box he'd picked up on the way home, an old Christmas album playing in the background, he found himself thinking about how the holiday had simply passed him by every year since the Gun Devil first attacked. Honestly, the only times he'd really done anything during the holiday was when Himeno would drag him out to some social at a karaoke bar or something similar.

Though he'd be hard-pressed to call it properly celebrating the holiday, since Himeno was just as likely to do that on any given weekend, and most of the people they went out with just used it as an excuse to party more than anything else.

As he laid the platter out on the table, all covered with tinfoil to keep it warm, Aki found himself, as he often did these days, thinking about his death. Specifically, on how he would prepare the other three for after his death, he already had a will written up and whilst he was at least confident enough that Denji and Reze could fend for themselves and had each other to lean on; he still worried, especially for Power. The fiend had been doing a lot better recently and he hoped she would continue that trajectory after he died.

On top of those concerns, he also had to make time to hear Tendo out, the woman had been pretty insistent on meeting up soon.

'Something for the New Year I think…'

Aki's thoughts were interrupted as the front door clicked open and Denji and Reze walked in, all smiles and laughs as they stripped off their coats. He was honestly surprised that they were on time, he'd told them to be back for dinner at 6:00pm, and they were 10 minutes early. A pleasant surprise for sure, the pair usually delighted in bending the rules, especially when it came to their time together…

"Surprised to see you two back in time, figured you'd have been out later," Aki said, mildly surprised. Denji and Reze just shrugged.

"Hey, you said dinner was at six, no way am I leaving Powy alone with all that food. It'd be gone as soon as you'd turn your back" Aki couldn't exactly deny that, he'd had Power go to her room until dinner time for that very reason after all…

"Besides, old man Kayo was closing up early today, and there wasn't much else to do" Reze's intervention made their early arrival make more sense: they were just bored.

"Well, you two go and get ready whilst I finish setting out the rest of dinner, and grab Power only your way."

The rest of the night passed by quite quickly, all things considered, the food disappearing rapidly as Power and Denji got to work on it, practically inhaling the chicken whilst Aki and Reze looked on in shock, before scrambling to get some for themselves.

After that came the exchanging of gifts, and to everyone's surprise they were all pretty content with what they'd received. Aki had given them all a bank account each, all filled with a fair amount that was only meant to be used in emergencies. Aki had received a cookbook and novel from Denji and Reze respectively, whilst Power had received various cosplay outfits and a pile of her favourite snacks. However, the fiend seemed to have forgotten an important aspect of Christmas: giving…

"C'mon Powy, really!?" Denji said with a deep, aggravated sigh, quickly followed by Reze.

"Last time I buy you anything, you little brat," the other hybrid muttered, giving the devil the stink eye. They were all utterly unsurprised of course, the fiend was infamously selfish after all, but they had all, perhaps blinded by the optimism of the holiday, given the fiend the benefit of the doubt. Aki especially was kicking himself, knowing he should have reminded the fiend to get everyone gifts…

"I didn't know, don't blame me!" Power vehemently argued back before picking up the leftover chicken bones on her plate, "Here, have these! The marrow inside is much more nutritious than any other gift here!"

"Jeez… how selfish can you get…" Denji spoke what all the others were thinking as they looked on at the fiend in exasperation.

"Nay! You do not get to talk Denji! I gave you my blood, tis' the most valuable thing of all!"

Needless to say, this argument went around in circles until Aki shut them up, distracting the fiend with practised ease, putting on the television and putting it to the first Christmas movie to catch his eye. By the time it was over it was nearly midnight, with Denji and Reze slipping off to bed early together, whilst Aki had to order Power to go to hers under the threat of having a talk with Makima about it. Only then did she consent and head off to be in a strop, Meowy dangling from her arms as she went.

Later that night…

'Twas the night before Christmas and in the Hayakawa household something was stirring, and it wasn't a mouse… Indeed, Power was stalking around the flat, crouching behind the sofa in the hope that St Nick would soon be here.

"I'll show them! They'll see just how generous I am when I have that old fatso tied up!", Power seethed as she waited, Meowy as always tight in her grip, "I just need to take his lists, then they'll all see that I'm on the nice one!"

Suddenly there was a clatter, and Power made her move, she knew in that moment that it must be St Nick. She flew like a flash from her hiding spot and pounced on her prey, tossing Meowy aside as she flew through the air.

"Time to see if you bleed red and white old man!"

But as she hit her target and brought him to the ground, the figure fell with a yell, and it didn't sound like a jolly little man, but instead someone more familiar.

Because instead of the cherubic face of Old Man Christmas, with his twinkling eyes and round, rosy cheeks, she was instead face-to-face with Aki, and he was no jolly old elf…

"POWER!"

Well, that's the Christmas chapter done, and just in time too! Hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year!