Secret Santa
Short Story: Disability, Reality
For: Vekter
 
Tick. tock.
I can only count the minutes from now until the bell--Salvation in the form of a ring. Even if the bells here can be annoyingly loud, it's different when you're waiting it. Kind of like trying to sleep the night before your birthday...at least the ones you don't spend in a hospital bed. No, focus is not possible at a time like this. It is, after all, the last day before winter break---I need freedom from this prolonged exposure to mathematics. I'm not even sure if i'll even be able to focus on lunch...which is probably not a good thing. I think everyone will be talking about the holiday, though, so i'm not not alone. Maybe except for Kenji.
Clap! That's not a ring. That's a clap. Wait--that's---.
 
"And If I may have everyone's attention"...that voice is all it takes for me to be suddenly pulled away from whatever inner workings of my head I found myself in, and into the cruel world of reality. I was sure that was directed to me, but the noise of everyone's heads shifting up reassures me I wasn't the only one dozing off.
"I know that our clock and the concept of time is very fascinating to your young, eager minds, but I think you should be prepared for the pop quiz you will be taking after lunch." Mutou explains, and I think I can hear everyone's jaw in the room suddenly hit the floor, if that was even possible.
 
A quiz on the day before break, and on short notice? Has he gone mental? This is reassuring to me that my focus is going to be the least of my problems today.
 
"If this is a problem for some of you, I suggest pairing up and performing a quick review of the chapter during lunch break". With those words, I think Mutou just single handedly changed the entire atmosphere of the classroom in an instant. What was once a horrifying place to be, is now an even more horrifying place to be. At least, that's what it feels like.
 
If this was still my first semester, now would be the part where Misha and Shizune shoot glares at me, but ever since summer break, they seem to pay less attention to me. I wonder if it's because i'm not the new guy anymore. My mind quickly realizes it's trailing off again and snaps back into reality, as my eyes shoot across the room to meet Hanako's. Has she been looking at me the entire time? From what I can see, her eyes share that same fear I do. This is bad.
The silent chaos ringing in our heads is interrupted by the actual ringing of the bell. What once was the sound of salvation, now seems to be our death knell. One by one, the class empties. Leaning against the door, I wait for Hanako who is still packing up her things. She seemed to be caught off guard by the quiz notice so much so that she forgot to pack. In the meantime, a small whisper enters my ear.
 
"Psst."
 
I tilt my head and see a pair of glasses stairing at me, and I almost jump back in surprise before realizing it was Kenji.
 
"Hey, dude.", he shrugs casually as if this wasn't the most awkward thing he's ever done. But I decide to let that slip, it's par the course when you're dealing with him.
"What is it?", I ask, not caring to waste any time.
"You, me, we need to talk. Like, during lunch, in the cafeteria. Now." he says bluntly.
"I can't."
"Why not?" he gets closer, like he was getting supsicious over me or something.
"I have a quiz. What's this about?"
"I can't tell you here, are you crazy?" he raises his voice, but still in a hushed whisper. However, I don't think it's very effective, as even Mutou seems to be able to hear him from the desk.
 
I look back at Hanako. I need to spend this time with her, and we'll need the time to study anyway.
 
"Well, I can't do it today, sorry." I sigh, before being grabbed by the arm by Kenji and pulled out of the classroom and into the hall, which was eerily empty.
 
"Listen. When school ends, meet me at the entrance as quickly as possible. I'll explain there. This is important!" he whispers into my ear.
"Okay okay i'll be there", I reply, nodding.
"Good", he nods as if everything went according to his master plan, and he departs to the cafeteria.
 
Hanako exits the classroom shortly after, so begins our journey to the tea room. Nobody being around, my eyes trail from Hanako to the floor, as I try to only step on the black tiles. I think I hear a soft giggle as Hanako notices and starts playing along, this had become our game. I found it kind of silly at first, but it's become entertaining, and as silly as it sounds, it feels like i'm bonding with her by doing it. I enter the room first, holding the door open for her and helping her into her seat, as I sit in the seat opposite of hers. Just through the windows, you could see how well it was snowing outside.
As much as I wanted to bring out the chess set and play with her, and as much as she would probably like to do the same, there was  work to be done.
 
After cracking through a quick review of the chapter, the door opens. Lilly sits in the chair next to me and nods. Ever since Hanako started dating me, Lilly's had more free time to herself that she would have otherwise spent with Hanako. Recently though, i'm getting the feeling that Lilly is avoiding us for some reason. I'm not sure why.
"Hello Hanako, Hisao." she says, nodding.
"Hello"
"Hello.", Hanako and I both reply, almost at the same time. Lilly laughs at this.
"That is cute, you've almost become one.", she jokes, as Hanako looks the other way, flustered.
"Anyway...I don't know if you've noticed yet, but we're studying for a quiz in math.", I explain
"Oh? I'm sorry...is there any way I can help?"
"Sure, actually.." I respond, as we work on the problems together.
 
Lilly helps us practice some problems until the bell rings, signalling the return to class. However, our return is stopped when we notice the students standing outside of the door.
"What's going on here?" one of the male students ask.
"The door's locked...is the teacher not around?", a student replies.
 
Emi and Misha are throwing handsigns at eachother as we try to figure out the mystery of the locked door. Mutou has always been on time, the only time I ever call him being late was my first day at Yamaku High. Was there a new student today? The kids are hushed when we hear the lock click. Mutou opens the door and looks at us, nodding.
 
"I apologize for being late." he states, even though it appears like he was in the classroom the entire time but forgot to unlock the door., "I hope you are all ready for your test." he nods, walking into the classroom and letting us in. When we enter the room, we're caught off guard by the sight inside. A cupcake on every student's desk! After everyone's seated, Mutou clears his throat.
 
"If you are sitting here, you pass the quiz, and your reward is what you see on your desk. I wanted to fimd out just who was eager enough to return to my class, with break after today. From the looks of things, most of you seem to be present, which is good news for me", Mutou explains, leading to sighs of relief and grumbling among the class. I look over at Hanako, who looks more disappointed than relieved. I'm not sure why, but before I get a chance to ask, Mutou continues:
"You may use the rest of this class period as you please. Have a good break, and happy hollidays, class" Mutou dismisses us, as he sits down and works at the teacher's desk.
 
Noticing that the girl who normally sits next to Hanako never returned from lunch, I take the seat next to her and sit down.
"I guess that was our lucky break, then.." I sigh, leaning against the chair.
"I-i guess.." she nods, looking at her desk.
"Is something wrong?"
"N-no. Everything's fine." she reassures me as I sigh and offer her my cupcake. I wasn't that hungry anyway. She looks at it and back at me and shakes her head,
"N-no, you have it.."
"It's okay, I want you to have it. It looks like you already ate yours, so.."
"A-are you s-sure?" she blinks, looking at me. I give her a nod, and she offers a small smile before eating the snack. However, some frosting remained on her face.
 
"Oh, you're wearing it, here, let me get that..", my finger brushes against the frosting of her cheek, stopping when I realised where the frosting was. Her eyes widen, as she stands up and dashes out of the room. I pull back my hand and look at the fingers...it was the first time since we've started dating that I felt that side of her face before. I stand up and get ready to leave when Mutou stops me.
"Nakai, may I have a word with you?"
"Yes, sir..", I get up in defeat and walk to the teacher's desk, willing to take responsibility for her leaving. But to my surprise...
 
"The first thing I want to do, is I want to thank you for being Ikezawa's friend. I've noticed her grades and attendance improving considerably this semester as opposed to last...", he sighs, giving me a stern glare.
"However, this does not give you an excuse to leave the class whenever you want. You're a good student, Nakai, you just need to have a little more faith in people.".
 
That advice hit me hard, as it really felt like that conversation with Lilly all over again...if Lilly was a man.
 
"Yes, sir.", I nod back to him as the bell rings.
"Oh, and...Nakai."
"Yes?"
He stands out of his chair and continues, as the class starts to leave: "I say this not as a teacher, but as your friend."
He rests a hand on my shoulder, I can only offer a simple nod in thanks, taking in what he said before taking my leave.
 
Outside the front door to the school, I bump into Kenji near a set of bushes.
"Hey! You're late!" he gives a stern glare at me.
"Sorry, The teacher held me a bit after."
"Really? What did you do?" he asks curiously.
"I..uh...don't worry about it. What I should be asking is what we're doing here."
"Don't you GET IT?" He gets an angry face and looks at me
"Don't you realize what this is? Christmas!"
"Christmas? What about it?"
 
Kenji's cheeks start to fume red, his voice raising notably.
"It's their holiday! The day the feminists execute their attack on the global economy! Shopping for clothes and goods by the dozens!"
"Wouldn't that help the economy though?", I ask, shrugging.
"No! Because, think about it, what are they really buying! What do the people and stores selling the items see when a majority of their goods being sold are female crap!"
"I'll tell you what they think! They think girl trends are what's hot! And what happens to us guys? We get shafted! SHAFTED!", he starts yelling.
"I'm going to take a stand if I allow them to ruin my holiday! It's time I took the war to them!"
 
He kneels down behind the bush
"Now get down. This is war!"
Curious as to what he's doing, I kneel down in the bush next to him, as he reaches his hand into the snow behind the bush and starts creating snowballs in his hand. By the time I realize what was going on, it was too late. He chucks a snowball into the air, which conveniently lands on the head of the first girl to exit the school doors.
 
Emi looks up, shocked, "E-eh? What was that? Rin what happened?!"
Rin shrugs, or what passes as a shrug, "I think someone threw a pile of white stuff at your head."
"But I don't see anyone around, why?!"
"Maybe it was the ghost of chrismtas past."
"A ghost!?"
 
Emi shrieks and runs off of Campus, with Rin in tow. I have to admit, it was a bit hilarious...and I found myself chuckling alongside Kenji.
 
"Alright...the next one is yours", he says, loading a snowball into my head. I nod and take aim, waiting for my victim to exit the school. The second the door opens, I chuck the snowball and duck behind the bushes.
 
"What the--", the girl's head bounces back from the force of the snowball as she looks around. I gaze through the bush to see Lilly looking in my direction...with Hanako right next to her. Oh shit! I immediately duck behind the bush and hide. If they see me, i'm a goner.
"Hey wait a minute, isn't that the cute girl yo---", Kenji's muffled voice is silenced by my hand as I stay low, hoping they walk past and don't notice us. My worst fears, though, are realized by the voice I soon hear behind the bush.
 
"Hisao!" Hanako yells to Lilly, who comes over next to them.
"Oh, Hisao, is that you...?" Lilly, with snow removed from her face, stands by the bush next to Hanako. It was then I finally noticed that Kenji had already ditched me, making a high tail run for it.
"U-uhm, I can explain..." I try to think of a reason, standing up, starting to back away...
Hanako's eyes lock onto me. I'm screwed.
I turn around and make a run for it, but Hanako quickly picks up a snowball and chucks it the back of my head, knocking me down and sending me toppling back down into the snow. I lay down, face first in the snow, lying in defeat, hearing footsteps that get closer and closer. Turning around, I see Hanako standing next to me, kneeling down and extending her hand to me. Smiling, I snatch her hand and pull myself back up.
"Hanako, I need to talk with Hisao for a while, if you don't mind..?"
"Okay." she nods, walking off, leaving me with Lilly, who turns to face me.
"Hisao."
"Yeah..?"
"This will be your first Christmas with her, won't it?"..
 
I knew where this conversation was going. Our discussion gradually turns into getting christmas presents for Hanako. We were going to have a christmas party in the dorm room on Christmas Morning. The conversation never picked up what happened in the classroom earlier, though.
 
At town, we had purchased our gifts and gift wrapping for Hanako, and walk back to Yamaku. I hand my wrapped present to Lilly who nods and takes it into the dorm. We would surprise Hanako with it first thing on Christmas Morning.
In the meantime, I walk back to town to find a gift for Lilly, now that she was out of the way. I stand there in the gift store, sifting through the merchandise with my hand, when my hand meets another's. I look up and see Hanako, falling back out of surprise, Hanako nearly does the same.
 
"H-hisao!?"
"H-hanako! What are you doing here?"
"Umm...I was..uhmm...looking for a present...for Lilly.."
"E-eh? I was too..."
 
I look down to where our hands were touching, where there lies a harmonica. I pick it up, staring at it, and show it to Hanako, "How about this? Do you think she'll like it?". Hanako looks at it and takes it out of my hand, getting a close look at it, "I think so...", handing it back to me. The cash register rings it up at 6000 yen. My jaw hits the floor. That's one expensive harmonica! But, me and Hanako are able to pool together enough money to pay for it together. I'm now dead broke. I nod, leaving the store with Hanako, walking the streets as the black night sky and falling white stone create the perfect ambience for this winter night.
 
"Hanako, about earlier...", I sigh, looking at her.
"It's fine..", she looks away..
"No, truly, i'm sorry if I hurt you or anything...I didn't mean to...", I grab her by the shoulder right then and there and look her in the eye.
"It's not that...it's just...", She looks to the ground, starting to tear up..
 
I don't know if she was embarrased about me feeling that part of her face...but it didn't matter. Hanako is hanako, and everything about her is beautiful to me. Her skin is soft, no matter what I touch it, and I can't stop myself from looking away. Without saying anything else, I lift up her chin and kiss her on her lips, right then and there.
 
"I love you, Hanako..", she smiles, face lighting up faintly as her arms wrap around me, hugging me tight. I smile back, as she whispers in my ear "I love you too."
 
Even though I haven't seen it, I suspect Lilly and Hanako also got me a present for Christmas morning. While I expect the christmas presents to be nice, and I will cherish them forever, what's actually in those presents doesn't matter. Hanako is the best thing to ever happen to me, and time with her means the world to me, it's the only present I could ever ask for. It's not about the presents, it's not even about giving or recieving, it's about spending time with the people who matter. And to me, Hanako is my world.
 
With that in mind, with a smile so bright it could probably melt the ice from Santa's sleigh, I walk back to Yamaku, hand-in-hand with Hanako, to our first Christmas.