Ch 3 – Santa Nico's Night

By Christmas Eve, µ's had returned to the mountain villa owned by the Nishikino household. They had already seen the house once, but the girls of humbler background stood in awe of the grandeur of such an expensive property.

"Rich man's house!" cried Rin.

"Rin-chan, you were here before," Maki rationalised.

"Wow, it's even bigger than I remembered," Honoka exclaimed… no, screaming away into the mountains.

"Mmm… the mountains are calling to me again," Umi proudly proclaimed, "This time, I shall conquer you."

"Wonderful to return to places your footsteps once treaded upon." That was Nozomi's simplistic words.

"I wonder if that wristband of mine is still here…" Nico mentioned off-hand.

"Maki-chan, please do some wisecrack that it's lost forever or something…" That was Nico's train of thought that generated along with her words.

"Everyone, the servants had prepared everything beforehand, so we can just enjoy the party," Maki explained, taking out her key, "Let's go in before it gets dark."

As the members of µ's moved their bags and themselves into the warmth of a luxurious house, Nico was still stunt by Maki's complete ignoring of her.

"Maki-chan… she never just ignores me like that…" she thought, "Nico will be forever remembered as Maki-chan's eternal enemy to be destroyed… Bad, bad! With her wealth…"

Nico suddenly found herself in a dark room with no light, no… there was just no spotlight that she was right under. Normally she relished at the spotlight of the performance stage, but it was no performance she wanted to be part of.

Two burly men in jet-black suits grappled her limbs, forcing her fragile body down in a kneeling position. Wounds, scars and bruises were all over her body, the marks of abuse by brutes upon Nico's young body. Even her hair and face showed signs of premature aging, a curse carried from years of captivity.

Still kneeling and held down, Nico could barely look up as she heard footsteps in the dark. Footsteps that grew louder by the second, like the ticking of a time bomb.

The additional figure appeared in the spotlight, someone Nico knew as a friend. It was none other than Maki, but her visage was now ruled by malice and wrath. Her attire even resembled something from a cheap yakuza movie, and she raised a knife held in her hand.

"Nico, die!"

"Hey, Nico-chi~"

Nico practically jumped in shock upon Nozomi calling her; at least it saved her from a strange fantasy or nightmare. The two were in fact the only ones still outside the villa.

"Nozomi, you can't scare people like that!" Nico tried to divert from her shock.

"Nico-chi, you were the one spacing out," Nozomi laughed, "We should be going in…"

And then, Nozomi's lips moved towards Nico, inches away from the flat-chested girl's ear.

"Have you done what I had directed?" she whispered.

"It's in the bag," Nico answered.

"Okay, let me help you," Nozomi replied, carrying Nico's sack along with her own, "It sure is heavy. Can I get Rin-chan to help us?"

"Please don't. Making this… that thing is already bad enough," Nico said, face blushing pure red, "Last thing I need is everyone seeing me in that."

"Understood," Nozomi just teased Nico, "But you might just jinx it if you aren't careful."

Later into the night, the party went on as per normal… or at least normal by the standards of the ragtag team that is µ's. Thanks to the likes of Honoka and Rin, the party was not the formal dinner parties the Nishikino houses were used to; their spontaneous natures were literally the life of the party.

As to how spontaneous the two were, it is more accurate to say chaotic. After donning a set of cat ears, Rin's inner animal just took over Rin. She effectively saw herself as a big cat on its hunt. Honoka played along as a hunter of the big cat, trying to catch the agile cat-like girl.

"Nya! Rin-chan is now Panther-chan!"

"Somebody save me!"

"Honoka, don't run about when you are full! Kotori, assist me."

"Umi-chan is no fun! Kotori-chan, corner Panther-chan with me!"

While excitement and fun were the overall tone of the scene, Nico was ever solemn. All she did in the party was a few bites of the food and drinks provided, and most of her effort was focused at staring at Maki. In hopes of catching her by staring at the redhead, it failed as Maki was more focused on getting the party in order as its host.

"Maki-chan, why is the music classical?" demanded Rin, "Rin wants modern music!"

"Rin, classical music is good for your mind," Maki explained, "There are pregnant wives who listened to Mozart for their child's sake. You should appropriate culture."

"Yes yes!" Nico agreed enthusiastically, hoping to get Maki's attention again… It failed, and Maki was distracted by another ordeal.

"Oh no, nothing is working… Must I resort to… to that…" she thought, now driven slowly towards desperation.

By then, practically everyone realised Nico's anguish radiating from her body. She was definitely troubled, even her face and gestures betrayed her altogether.

"Nozomi," Eli whispered, "Is Nico okay?"

"Don't worry, Nico-chi will resolve her problem in due time," Nozomi smiled.

"You gave her another one of your mad schemes," Eli said, glaring at her friend.

The night dragged on with the party. Sadly, the festivities had to come to an end… at least, for the night. Like the time in the beach vacation house, all nine of them had set up beds in the room. Since the living room was relatively compact, an adjacent room was chosen as µ's makeshift bedroom.

As usual, Umi was overseeing µ's sleeping.

"Okay everybody, sleep in early and we can continue to have fun in the morning. And Rin is forbidden from wearing cat ears until next year!"

"Sorry nya~" apologised Rin.

"Don't worry Rin-chan! We can play in the snow tomorrow!" declared the eternally optimistic Honoka.

"I guess so… maybe Santa-san will come… ops…" Rin remarked, before she realised what she just said. The Santa taboo still hanged high on µ's, given recent events.

"Rin-chan!" scolded Hanayo.

"Okay, let's sleep everyone. Good night." Maki spoke, turning off the lights to the room.

With the room darkened, most of µ's retreated from conscious and submerged into the realm of dreams. Even the normally energetic Rin and Honoka were exhausted by their earlier antics and knocked out in bed almost as quickly as the others.

Only Nico remained more or less awake, quietly waiting for everyone to be asleep and stay asleep. Certain that the others were knocked out, Nico carried out her plan.

Slowly, Nico removed the bedsheet covering her. For the sake of a convincing disguise, she even applied her beauty treatment so that no one will suspect otherwise. Quietly packing away the cucumber slices away, Nico pitied the waste but they were a necessary sacrifice.

"Let's do this."

Walking to the living room where their bags were placed, Nico searched for her bag. She gulped before daring to open it, slowly zipping it open.

"It has come to this… No point turning back now…"

As though coincidences do exist, Maki woke up in the middle of the night. That was a childhood habit of hers; every Christmas Eve she would try to at least find Santa-san as he came down. Oh well, that practice should be dead since there is no Santa-san.

"Maybe some milk will help get some sleep."

As Maki got up, she soon noticed that she wasn't the only one awake in this ungodly hour. In fact, she was not even in the room.

"Geez, she is such a bother."

Wanting to get milk, Maki left the room for the kitchen. Passing by the living room, she realised that the door was strangely left ajar. Peeping in, there was something moving about near the fireplace.

"A burglar?" Maki supposed, "I can't let him steal from the Nishikino family, but I can't realistically overpower him… If I expose his cover and scream accordingly, he will flee and I have people like Rin and Nozomi who can stop him."

Taking the bold step befitting noblesse oblige, Maki swung open the door and turned on the lights switch right next to it. However, she was not prepared for the scandalous vision that would behold her.

The so-called 'burglar' was actually Nico, sneaking around the living room. But that was not the point; it was that thing that she wore. It resembled the animal-themed outfits µ's once wore for a photo shoot on request from the Photography Club.

Nico's outfit was based on a panda, but this one worn now by the petite girl is different. Instead of black and white, this outfit was red with green – as though it were a Christmas-themed outfit. To top it off, a red ribbon and bell were tied around Nico's neck to serve as her choker.

"What is this creature?" Maki thought.

"Uh…" Nico was equally shocked by the surprise, before resorting to a variation of her usual routine.

"Nico nico-nii~, Santa Nico is here in town. Please don't cry or pout. Santa Nico is always here for you~"

"Nico-chan, what is with that outfit?" Maki asked, slowly regaining her composure.

"Oi, it is Santa Nico-chan tonight," Nico claimed, "I am here to bring you presents from the North Pole tonight."

"I'm not a kid, you know," Maki said as a matter-of-fact.

"B-but…" Nico exclaimed, "I'm sorry for destroying your childhood innocence! I am doing this to redeem myself! And here you are, acting like it's nothing!"

"It is nothing," Maki said, "I had an intelligent conversation with Okaa-san after school and we sorted things out almost immediately. I got over it rather quickly, if you ask me."

"What?" Nico exclaimed, "Then why did you ignore my calls?"

"My phone's broken; it can't receive messages," Maki elaborated, "There was a reason why I had to contact Eli to message all of you today."

"Then ignoring me during the party," Nico continued.

"I am the host, so you guys are my responsibility," Maki explained, "Besides, Honoka and Rin were about to trash the place if I didn't stop them."

"So… it was all a big misunderstanding?" Nico summarised, "Maki!"

Nico just hugged Maki tightly, not willing to let her go. Maki just collapsed under Nico's full frontal assault.

"You can say that," Maki confirmed, "But must you wear that outfit? It's embarrassing for anyone and it's winter."

"Oh nothing's too embarrassing for Maki-chan," Nico declared.

At that point, the door slammed open again. This time, the rest of µ's (except for Umi, still 'thank goodness' sleeping) were behind and fell into the living room and saw the embrace in its full shameless glory. All of them, sans Nozomi, were understandably shocked.

"Hello," Nozomi beamed.

"Ni-nico-chan…" Honoka stuttered.

"Look, this is not what it looks like!" Maki was reddened by shame.

"Nico~" That was all Nico could say in such awkward situations.

"Nico-chan is secretly Santa-san!" Honoka declared, to the shock of virtually everyone else.

"Honoka-chan…" Kotori was just dumbstruck by her childhood friend's immediate response.

"That's not the point!" Hanayo exclaimed, equally bewildered by Honoka.

"Santa Nico-chan, Rin wants Ramen for Christmas," Rin apparently had no issue with Honoka's skewered logic.

"Nico-chi, you look cute," Nozomi was enjoying the fruits of Nico's labour and her brainchild.

"Nozomi, you have something to do with this." Eli turned to Nozomi, who merely winked in return.

Rin and Honoka continued probing Nico in her Santa outfit, which only had her hold onto Maki even tighter.

"Nico, let me go!" Maki exclaimed.

"Maki, I am your Christmas present!" replied Nico.

"Maki-chan, you can't monopolise Santa Nico-chan!" Rin demanded.

"This has nothing to do with me!" Maki retorted.

"Y-you're hurting Nico-chan and Maki-chan…" That was all Hanayo could do in the face of such forcefulness.

"At least everyone's lively as usual." Eli pointed out, "And Nico seems to be in a much better mood now."

"There was really nothing for Nico-chi to worry about in the end," Nozomi added, holding The Moon Tarot card, "She was just being too anxious over nothing."

"You're not going to tell her that."

"It no longer matters. Nico-chi seems to be enjoying herself."

Nico ended up being the centre of attention, with Honoka and Rin pulling her about and lying on her lap. They were even listing out anything that could conceivably be presents for this 'Santa Nico' to bring. Maki was crushed under so much weight that she hardly moved, or gave up moving.

"God, this is the strangest Christmas ever." Maki thought.

And with that, we have come to an end to this lovely fanfic. Thank you everyone for your support.

To clarify, the wristband Nico mentioned is the same one in Season 2 Episode 2; it was taken by a squirrel and still remained with it by the end of said episode.