A Dokidoki Christmas

Chapter 2

12:00 PM

The girls decided to spend the rest of the day wandering around the park. Initially, Aguri wanted to go home early and call it a day as she was, unsurprisingly, in a really bad mood. Mana however, wanted her to stay. After a few minutes of bickering, Aguri finally gave in when the latter gave her the puppy dog eyes treatment.

As they were strolling along the grey brick pathway, they've become more aware of their marvelous surroundings which they were encircled in; surely a lively environment like this one would cleanse a person of his or her bad emotions. This is particularly true for Mana as Christmas has always been her favorite holiday. Despite the day itself being approximately 3 weeks away, time could not contain the lively girl's Christmas spirit.

"Oh kyunkyun! I'm so happy that I think my heart may explode!" she cried out loud to no one in particular. She was grinning ear-to-ear, literally in this case as the tips of her crescent lips were basically skimming her ear lobes.

"Hehe, I can tell-sharu," her partner agreed.

"Mana, you're getting overexcited again," Rikka complained.

"Ah just let her be," Alice added. "It is a time for smiles after all,"

"I know right-lance! Especially because of that upcoming party tonight at Alice's place," the little gold bear chimed in.

"What party?!" A new flash of excitement sparked into Mana's bubbly mind.

"Oh pardon me, I seem to have forgotten to tell you," Alice replied. "We're setting up a final winter gathering featuring all of the executives working in each branch of the Yotsuba Corporation. It's really more of a business meeting, as...

"Can we come?" interrupted Mana. At this point, she was so happy that she did not care even if it was a lecture about vitamins; she just wanted to be there with her friend.

"Well, of course!" Alice replied enthusiastically.

"YAYYYYY!" The happy lass then jumped up and down in joy while doing her happy pose which was commonly mistaken by others as 'the chicken dance'. The funny thing is one time when she was younger, there was a school play where all the students in each class each get a part in their chosen stories. The young Mana got excited and did her dance and that's how she got the part as the protagonist in 'The Little Red Hen'. Not that she minded of course and her habit of imitating a foul lives on until who knows when.

After Rikka somehow managed to calm her overly-energetic friend, they found another bench nearby and sat there.

But Alice wasn't finished. "There's actually something quite fascinating we're going to discuss there," Alice continued. Do you know what the North Star is?"

"Of course I know what it is," Makoto answered confidently. "Although where I'm from, we called it the 'Diamond of the North'. Ever year in the winter solstice, the people of the Trump Kingdom would put out diamond shaped banners in front of our houses and we would all stare at the beautiful night sky together while eating star shaped treats called Twinkles.

"Wow! That sounds really nice!" Mana commented.

"It does!" Rikka added.

"Yes, I wish I could bring you along with me. If the Trump Kingdom was still here and... well." Her voice was starting to shake. She didn't realize it then but she was getting homesick. Suddenly, the memories of her birthplace were all starting to come back to her, memories that she had then, taken for granted. She remembered how she and her old friends would stay up until midnight and make up their own constellations in the sky. She remembered how she would sit and listen to the princess giving her speech of the event in her soft, charming voice. The nostalgia was too much for her, she couldn't take it anymore. Tears were starting to form in her large, violet eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away.