Today was December 25th—Christmas.
In the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep, Itsuka-kun and I were called by Murasame-san and dragged out to [Fraxinus], rubbing the sleep from our eyes.
"Reine-san? Why did you call us?"
"...Ah, you’re here. Look at this."
At Itsuka-kun’s question, Murasame-san pressed a button, and with a beep, a photo appeared on the screen.
It was Santa Claus, with a red fur coat, a fur hat, and a thick white beard.
I tilted my head, unable to understand why she was showing us a picture of Santa, but she kindly explained.
"...Tohka and Yoshino, and the other spirits, believe Santa comes on Christmas. Some of them even prepared stockings and hung them up."
"No way..."
"...I think Hiki knows what I’m getting at. For today, the two of you are going to be Santa."
Sure enough, everyone had been pretty excited on Christmas Eve.
Especially the younger ones, like Rio and Yoshino.
Natsumi didn’t really believe it, probably because she’d been hit by reality too many times, but she still seemed to want presents at least.
And once the Fire Keeper learned Santa existed, she believed it for real.
I guess that made sense. In Dark Souls, there were mysterious powers like magic, miracles, and pyromancy, so maybe Santa could exist too.
But the most important problem was that we had no idea what they wanted.
Just as I was worrying about that, my phone screen lit up and Marina’s voice came through.
[Don’t worry. We already checked what they all want.]
"Marina? What do you mean?"
[Literally that. We asked each of them what they wanted as a Christmas present the day before Christmas Eve.]
"Ah! That!"
At Miss Maria’s words, I dug through my memory and remembered that on the 23rd, they’d done a survey asking everyone what they wanted.
When I asked why they were doing something like that, they just said it was a secret, so I’d wondered what it was for. This was why.
"...In that case, Hiki and I need you to wear these."
What Murasame-san handed us was the classic outfit everyone imagined when they thought of Santa.
Once I put on the red fur coat and hat, it felt a little tight, but it was warm enough, so it was fine.
One thing I was curious about, though, was why there was a second outfit for me.
And that outfit was a Santa costume for women.
On top of that, it exposed the navel and the collarbone, making it look no different from something a girlfriend would wear for her boyfriend.
"Why do I have to wear this...?"
When I held up the outfit and asked Murasame-san, she gave me a flat, emotionless death sentence.
"...Because Miku is looking forward to it too."
"......"
I’d already guessed a little from the fact that there were two outfits and one of them was for women, but hearing it outright was truly miserable.
If I wore this and sneaked into Miku’s house, only to get caught, I couldn’t even imagine the humiliation I’d suffer.
So I felt utterly betrayed by Murasame-san.
Couldn’t she have compromised on this?
[I hate to say it, but there’s nothing we can do. Miku has a hatred of men, so what are we supposed to do about that?]
Like Marina said, no matter how betrayed I felt, there was nothing I could do.
If I refused, her misandry would kick in and she’d use her power immediately.
Sure, I’d be fine, but if my identity got exposed in the process, I’d probably end up suffering the same humiliation I would if I were caught in my female form.
So, with tears in my eyes, I put the women’s Santa outfit into my inventory.
"H-Hieta. Hang in there."
"Haa.... Yeah, I’ll hang in there."
At Itsuka-kun’s encouragement, I nodded and steeled myself.
If we were going to do this, we might as well do it properly—without anyone finding out, and with the mission completed perfectly.
With that in mind, we each checked the presents everyone wanted.
First, the rooms I had to visit were Yoshino’s, the Yamai sisters’, Mayuri’s, the Fire Keeper’s, and Natsumi’s—five rooms in total.
That was just for the spirit mansion. If I added Miku, it would be six.
Itsuka-kun had the commander, Rinne, Rio, Tohka, and Tobiichi—five rooms on his side too.
"Uh...?"
"What is it?"
Itsuka-kun was staring at the gift list in confusion, so I peeked at what was written there. The moment I saw it, I could only gape in shock.
[A-Ahem! We shortened it as much as possible.]
Miss Maria said that, but I couldn’t believe her at all.
That was as short as possible?
"How are all the gifts they want about virility...?"
Just by looking, I could tell who wanted them.
It had to be Tobiichi.
Probably not on purpose, though.
"What are we supposed to do about this...?"
"...Itsuka-kun, hang in there."
"...Yeah."
It was obvious what would happen if he got caught during the gift delivery, so I offered a tiny bit of encouragement, and then we each headed off to our assignments.
*******
2 a.m.—the time when everyone was asleep.
That was the perfect time to put on a Santa suit and deliver presents.
So I gathered the gifts Murasame-san had bought and moved carefully.
Thankfully, I had the convenient function called inventory, so I didn’t have to worry about being exposed by the gifts. That made things much easier.
With my body feeling light, I quietly walked down the hallway, and the first stop was Yoshino’s room.
‘Let’s see...’
I took out the paper and checked what present she wanted.
‘Ah, this is it.’
What Yoshino wanted was a red rabbit plushie.
The description was incredibly detailed too, so detailed that anyone could tell it was Hikinon at a glance.
She must have felt that Yoshinon needed a friend.
‘Cute.’
The box containing Yoshino’s present was blue.
I put the blue box into the stocking Yoshino had hung up, then quietly closed the door without making a sound.
‘Next is...’
The next room was the Fire Keeper’s.
What she wanted was a cookbook.
Now that her mission had completely vanished, her new hobby was cooking.
So I guessed that was why she wanted a cookbook, but honestly, I wished she’d show a little restraint.
I was always the one who had to finish off whatever she made.
I didn’t exactly hate it, but eating something that always felt like it wasn’t really food was not a great experience.
So while I carefully placed the gray-wrapped present on the Fire Keeper’s desk, I still felt a little worried.
‘It’ll be fine. Okay, next.’
Now I was heading to the Yamai sisters’ room.
They had warned me over and over that if Santa came yesterday, they would check his identity, but they were sleeping soundly now.
At times like this, I could only be grateful that the two of them slept so well, and check what gifts they wanted.
What Kaguya wanted was bandages, and what Yuzuru wanted was cosmetics.
Yuzuru wanted cosmetics because she’d run out, and Kaguya wanted them because she was just being a chuuni.
‘Their box is... orange.’
I left the orange box by their pillows and stepped out of the room.
‘Now it’s Mayuri’s room.’
My next destination was Mayuri’s room.
Like the Fire Keeper, it was the room right next to mine, so if I’d gone there first, it would’ve been a little more convenient. I’d made a mistake.
‘Well, nothing to be done about it.’
I could regret it later; for now, I still had presents to deliver. So I tiptoed over and checked what present Mayuri wanted at her door.
After seeing it, I almost made a sound from surprise.
‘No, this is a little...’
At first, she’d written down Hiki’s intuition, but then apparently decided that wasn’t quite right and crossed it out with heavy lines before writing something else next to it.
I did wonder if I really was that oblivious, but I checked the item she’d written beside it.
‘A necklace?’
She wanted a necklace with a locket that could hold a photo inside.
I wondered if she was planning to put in a photo to remember someone by, like Mana did, but there was no way for me to know what she was thinking. So I just left the yellow box by her bed and went on.
‘That leaves Natsumi and Miku.’
Miku lived farther away, so she had to be saved for last. Natsumi lived in the spirit mansion with us, so I decided to go to her room first.
What Natsumi wanted was a red cat plushie.
This one was also described in a lot of detail, saying it had to be a red cat with blue eyes.
I didn’t really know why she wanted it, but she’d always seemed to like cute things, so I placed the green box under the tree in Natsumi’s room and left.
‘Now all that’s left is Miku.’
Miku lived in her own house, not the spirit mansion, so getting in would be a little difficult.
Still, thinking that I had to try, I left the spirit mansion and told Miss Maria through the intercom.
"Miss Maria, I’ve finished delivering everything in the spirit mansion."
[Understood. Then we’ll retrieve you and send you to Miku’s house.]
The moment Miss Maria finished speaking, light flashed, my body was moved by the transfer device, and I was sent straight to the front of Miku’s house.
‘First, I guess I have to put this on...’
Looking at the women’s Santa outfit, I let out a deep sigh.
Still, I had to wear it for Miku’s sake, so I equipped the Dark Clutch Ring and the Ring of Favor and Protection.
Then my body shimmered and changed into a woman, and in that state, I put on the women’s Santa outfit.
"Hoo..."
Gathering my resolve again, I equipped the Fog Ring too, just in case I got caught.
At the spirit mansion, I hadn’t worn it because once I stepped out of a room, the distance was so short that the Fog Ring’s effect was basically meaningless. But Miku’s house might have CCTV installed, so I put it on.
And the Ring of Quiet Resolve, which reduced footsteps, had already been equipped since I entered the spirit mansion, so my preparations were perfect.
"Okay. Let’s go."
I made a light leap over the wall and looked around.
Everything was shut tight—doors, windows, all of it—so I was wondering how I was supposed to get in when I spotted exactly one open window.
It felt a little suspicious, but that was the only place I could go, so I had no choice but to leap toward it and slip inside.
The first thing I saw when I entered was a bed.
Looks like Miku had left the bedroom window open.
I wondered what she was thinking, leaving it open like that, but then I realized that at this height, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to climb up anyway.
‘All right, then...’
What Miku wanted was a dakimakura with a drawing of my female form on it... apparently.
The moment I confirmed that, I almost turned around and left immediately.
"......"
It was a little gross, but I figured she probably wouldn’t do anything weird with it, so I was just about to place the long pale-blue box beside the bed when—
"Got you!"
"Ack!"
Miku, who had been asleep, grabbed my arm and yanked me down.
I toppled onto the bed, and Miku stared at me with sparkling eyes.
"Darling~!"
"H-How...!"
"Dressing like this for me? I can’t hold back!!!"
Miku’s eyes sharpened, turning into the gaze of a predator looking at prey.
Seeing that look, clearly saying she was going to do something to me, I immediately tensed my body, broke free from Miku, and fled through the window.
"M-Miss Maria!"
[I’ve confirmed it!]
Miss Maria had heard through the intercom that Miku had grabbed me, so the moment I came out the window, I was retrieved.
"Hmph, what a shame."
Just before I was pulled back, though, hearing that from behind gave me chills all over.
*******
After being retrieved to [Fraxinus], Itsuka-kun and I were completely wiped out.
I was exhausted because Miku had almost caught me, and Itsuka-kun was exhausted because the commander had stayed awake trying to catch Santa and nearly caught him instead.
"...Everyone did a good job. You can go to sleep now."
"Yes, I’ll be heading back now..."
"Me too..."
The current time was 4 a.m.
We usually gathered for breakfast around 7, so if we went to sleep now, we could still get three hours.
Dragging my heavy body into my room, something bumped against my foot.
Looking down, I saw a gift box sitting there.
"This is...?"
"It’s a present~?"
"Eek!"
Startled by the voice from behind me, I turned around, and there stood the young lady.
"Ufufu. You were giving presents to everyone else, but you didn’t prepare one for yourself. How kind of you. Well, this is a little present from me for a kind person like Hieta-san~?"
Wearing a women’s Santa outfit, she pointed at the box by my feet and said that.
I was already wondering why she was dressed like that, but now I was also curious about the present itself, so I stared at it. Then the young lady spoke again.
"Please open it after I’m gone. Well then, see you later, Kurukurumin~"
With those strange words, she vanished into the shadows.
Following her words, I unwrapped the gift and opened the box. Inside was exactly what I wanted.
It was a cookbook related to baking.
Earlier, when I’d written down what I wanted, I’d put down a baking-related book because I thought it would be fun if we all made a cake together today, and somehow she’d figured that out and given it to me.
"Haha, how did you even know...?"
With a dry laugh at the young lady’s gift, I dragged my tired body into bed.
"Yaaawn... I should sleep now..."
And then I closed my eyes.
*******
"Kyaaaah!"
"H-Hai! Open your eyes!"
"Incredible! Hai lost consciousness after tasting the whipped cream Mana made!"
"H-Hai-san!"
That day, after Hieta and the others called Mana over and started making a cake together, chaos broke out afterward.
And so, happily ever after~
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