"Great...this will be just wonderful..." He remarked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Shuichi's eyes went all woobly as he leaned in Yuki's face, "Awww, come on Yuki, it can't be that bad! Sakuma-san worked very hard on this."

Suguru sat in the corner, rubbing his temples, "It can't be as bad as K-san's "Carol of the Bullets." My head is still ringing."

The blond-haired manager fingered the trigger of his magnum, "Neh, what was that Fujisaki?"

"Nothing…" He quickly replied, afraid of what might end up with bullet holes in it if he said otherwise.

"Nah...the worst had to have been "How the Romance Novelist Saved Christmas," Hiroshi remarked, sticking his tongue out at the pink-haired lead singer.

Shuichi shrunk into SD-angry form and began to beat Hiro on the head, "I'll have you know I wrote that for Yuki from my heart!"

Plucking the chibi-Shuichi off Hiro, Yuki leveled the pink-haired bundle with a glare, "Idiot..."

Finally, Shuichi returned to normal, and fell into Yuki's lap, "Yuki...you are mean."

"And you are a bad writer," He retorted.

"Kumagorou's turn now!" Ryuichi said jumping up and down. "Kumagorou is going to tell a story, but you have to picture it in your minds or it won't work."

"What story is it?" Shuichi asked, almost as excited as Ryuichi himself.

"Um...umm....I don't remember the name, I just remember lots of people dancing around in tutus for it...but don't worry, Kumagorou says he can tell it." With that said, Ryuichi cleared his throat and began the tale....

"Once upon a time, there was a pretty girl named...well, I can't remember her name in the story, so lets just call her Noriko."

The purple-haired female just smiled at Ryuichi.

"And Noriko lived in a big fancy house that had a lot of pretty decorations for Christmas up- like a really big tree and lots of presents. That's when people came to visit her family and gave her more presents...each of which she opened quickly. But the best of all came from...um...Kumagorou; do you remember that guy's name?"

The bunny nodded in the negative.

"Well...we can make him be...." Ryuichi surveyed the room, thinking about who to cast. "Sakano can be this guy."

The uneasy producer just blinked and pointed to himself, as if to ask, "Who me?"

Ryuichi nodded and continued the story, "So Sakano came to the party late, crying about how he was soooo sorry for the delay. Then, he presented Noriko with her gift."

At this point, Ryuichi began to "act" out the actions himself, "He said to Noriko: "This was made especially for you" and he handed her a small box. And inside the box was...was...um...a stuffed bunny!" He held up Kumagorou to illustrate the point. "But....somehow...the bunny's arm had a small rip in it."

"Aww...what happens next?" Shuichi blurted out, unable to contain his question any longer. The older vocalist just smiled.

"Sakano cried and begged that Noriko forgave him for the flaw. She just smiled and went to get some thread. She quickly fixed the bunny's arm and thanked Sakano for such a wonderful gift. Later that night, Noriko fell asleep on the couch with the bunny, who she had named, Kumagorou."

"How unoriginal can you get..." Yuki mumbled.

"Yuki, be nice." Shuichi replied.

"But suddenly, the Christmas tree seemed to flash, and weird things began to happen. Because the evil...um...the evil..." He paused the story and thought, "The evil rival band of um...TASK had come to make sure that no one removed the curse they had placed on the toy. Noriko bravely fought, using the notes from the nearby keyboard to scare the evil ones away...and she um...she threw her shoe at...at...the lead singer's head and it broke the curse on Kumagorou."

K-san just chuckled; he knew this was deviating drastically from the real story of the Nutcracker, but Ryuichi was having fun, and that was all that mattered. As for the others, just about everyone else had picked up that Ryuichi had begun to change the story a little once the issue of a "rival band" had come up, but Shuichi was so wrapped up in the story that he couldn't care less.

"So then a big bang and flash and explosions happened," Ryuichi elaborated as he spun around in circles, "And then..." He held the stuffed bunny in front of him. "Kumagorou turned into...ME!" He exclaimed, grinning widely, "Wearing my Kumagorou costume of course- no da! So then I took Noriko to a magical land of...music and dancing."

Yuki was reaching for a cigarette when he saw Touma shaking his head no, and mouthing "Not in here." Noting that he was still pinned down by Shuichi, the blond novelist sighed- any hopes of escape were futile without causing a scene.

Ryuichi continued the story, becoming entirely engrossed in it, "The magical land was beautiful, full of lots of colored lights, and music, and the great Sugar-Pink-Singer who ruled the land with his shining powers. I said to Noriko, "Come and I will let you meet the great Shuichi, a singer who uses his magical shining abilities to protect all who live here." She nodded to me, and we entered the great musical palace."

If it was possible, Shuichi's eyes were almost as big as his entire head and sparkling like they had never before.

"Sakuma-san thinks I'm great..." He whispered to himself.

"That's because he's an idiot too." Yuki mumbled in his ear.

Shuichi stopped his googly-sparkly look and stuck out his tongue, "He is not!" he retorted before turning back towards the story.

The brown-haired singer was continuing his strange tale, as just about the entire room held in laughter at his zealous storytelling.

"Once in the palace, I presented Noriko before the Sugar-Pink-Singer and he thanked her for saving me from the curse. He said he would provide the greatest entertainment the kingdom could provide for her great deed. First, he called forth the great players of synthesizers- Touma and Suguru...who were wearing funny little squarish hats and vests."

Both Touma and Suguru collectively blinked, and then shrugged. It was Ryuichi telling the story, so it would only be natural that something this odd would happen....then again, that didn't completely stop the blue lines and sweatdrops from forming.

"After they performed their song, Shuichi called forth K-san, who was wearing a Chinese hat and made a song out of bullet shots bouncing off things."

K-san smirked and in his typical random English remarked, "Very cool, Ryuichi."