12 Days of Christmas Shipping Challenge

In the Marketplace - Makusanniuri / 산막욤

10. Person A takes Person B to a Christmas show. The show is absolutely awful but Person A and B still laugh anyway.

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"I can't believe we're finally going to the city's Christmas show!" Iroha whisper-squealed from excitement. She rocked back and forth in her booster seat in the car since she was legally too short to sit regularly.

"I know, they've been hyping it up forever." Nikei remarked. "I'm planning on going around to all of the events and doing an article on it!" He was stuck in the middle of the backseat because Iroha's booster seat was too big, and Mikado was larger than him and needed the other seat. 

The wizard was sound asleep on his side of the car, his head laying on the journalist. He didn't wear his cape, hat, or mask because he was going out into the general public, but he insisted on wearing his gloves. The Voids had agreed not to wake him up since he was the one who got them tickets to go in the first place. It was a fair tradeoff.

"Well, it's certainly going to be an exciting day! Mikado and I have all brought our money, so we can shop as much as we want and return back to the dorms!" Emma cheerfully added from the shotgun seat. "I think Mikado will have a field day at the foods section, but try to not let him keep you there all day!"

"Hey, who am I to refuse Mikado's food? It's homemade and healthy, that guy can stay in the foods section as much as he wants." Hajime commented from the driver's seat. "Besides, he already paid for our admission, so the crafts and other workshops are free anyway."

"There are crafts there?" Iroha gasped. She turned to Emma as a large smile broke out on her face. "Can we go there first?!"

"Of course, dear. I don't see why not!" The actress replied as the painter sat back in her seat with glee.

Twenty minutes later, they finally arrived at the Christmas marketplace. As Hajime parked the car and Emma searched her purse for their tickets, Nikei leaned over and shook the sleeping wizard to awareness. "Hey, asshole. Come on, wake up already." The journalist urged.

"Ah, are we here already?" Mikado asked, raising his head from Nikei's shoulder and sleepily undoing his seatbelt.

"Yeah, Hajime's just parked the car and Emma's got our tickets. It's time to go." The smaller boy smiled as he followed Mikado out of the car.

The five of them walked together to the entrance gates, where they gave their tickets to the man in the booth before going into the market. Void then separated themselves into the girls and boys, who were dating the other in their groups. It was understandable how Iroha latched onto Emma, but how Nikei managed to get two boyfriends is a mystery to this day.

"Let's all meet up at the Santa Claus parade this afternoon, then we can go home." Emma decided, and was met with no objections. She looked down at Iroha with a kind smile. "So, how about we go decorate some ornaments at a stall?" She offered.

As the girls went off hand-in-hand with each other, the boys pulled out their map to decide what events to go to first. After some light bickering, they decided that they would first go to the cookie decorating booth, the hora demonstration, the farmer's market, then meet up with the girls at the parade.

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The cookie decorating booth was their first stop, and Nikei had a blast covering the tops of his blank cookies with icing and sprinkles. "These are amazing! I can't wait to eat them later!" Nikei exclaimed.

"Uh, did you read the sign?" Hajime inquired. "It says that you can't eat them, these people take them and let them dry, then sell them in a spot around the farmer's market."

Nikei looked up to read the sign and his expression looked crushed with disappointment. "B-But...but..."

Mikado looked over from his decorating and rubbed the journalist's head. "Don't worry, it's just a cookie. I'll get you something later." He promised.

Nikei looked down and returned to depressingly decorating his cookies. The boxer sighed, knowing how notorious Nikei's sweet tooth was, and put a hand on his shoulders. "Listen, we don't need to continue this if you don't like it. Let's finish up the cookies we have now, and we can go to the next event." He reasoned.

"Okay..." Nikei sniffled, and the trio finished what they were doing before handing their cookies over and heading to the next event.

At the hora demonstration, the speakers talked about how Jewish holidays were just as important as Christian holidays as Nikei wrote it all down in his book. The dancers there showed the group how to dance the hora before they had the participants all make a circle and begin dancing together.

The boys were all beside each other with Mikado in the middle, and they seemed to be having a wonderful time. Especially Hajime, who enjoyed the exercise that the dance provided. That, and it got the resident weak workaholic to move his body a little. 

He noticed Mikado lean over and whisper something to Nikei, who turned bright red and struggled to conceal his smile but kept dancing regardless. Hajime leaned over and whispered to Mikado "What did you say to him?"

"I merely complimented his dancing." The wizard chuckled. "Our little doll gets unravelled so easily, it's so adorable."

"Hey, you're not so bad yourself, you know. I've never actually seen you dance before." The boxer remarked. "Actually, this might be the most relaxed from our mission I've ever seen you."

"A-Ah, I appreciate your kind words, but we should really focus on the dance." Mikado blushed slightly, changing the topic. Hajime smiled, knowing that the wizard would never admit that he was flustered.

Their last event before the parade was the farmer's market, where Mikado spotted good-looking foods and Hajime had to prevent him from buying all of it. It was agreed that Mikado would buy the ingredients before they got some lunch, since all of this walking and looking at food would make them hungry.

During Mikado's shopping spree, they came to a bakery where they had cookies the size of cork trivets. Mikado stepped up and bought some sourdough bread as well as one sugar cookie. Nikei had a feeling that Mikado bought it for himself, but looked surprised as the wizard gave it to him.

"Here, I promised to get you something later, didn't I?" Mikado giggled. Nikei eyes lit up in one of his rare displays of childlike excitement, and he began devouring the cookie as the trio walked away from the stall.

They went to a food court to get their lunches next, and they sat down at a bench while eating. Hajime had a lobster salad sandwich, Nikei got a cheeseburger, and Mikado got some barbecue kebabs, and they also split a blooming onion plate.

After the three of them finished their main course, they shared the onions and dipping sauce. Nikei laughed when Mikado dipped a piece of onion then suddenly fed it to the boxer. The surprised and flustered look on his face was priceless.

Finally the arrived at the parade and met up with the girls, who were at the ornament decoration booth, got lunch, did some more crafts, then arrived there. The boys may not have had the best entertainment, with Nikei planning to write an article fuelled by his saltiness at the cookie decorating booth, but they all had a good day in the end.

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Art credit: cemarnpa on twitter