KOF Extras

Christmas Vacation in Cannes (Part 4)

By the time the cashier was done with the gift wrapping, nearly half an hour had passed. Shingo sighed and pulled the two teens out of the shop. They were laughing too, especially at Shingo's look of dismay.
"How come he wrapped so quickly for you guys?" Shingo piped up.
"Because you just took that long to shop," Shun shrugged.
Shingo sighed. "Fair enough." They went towards the lift lobby. "Let's go put these away in the car, and then we can go to the bakery on the first floor."
"Bakery?" Meiten asked. "Are we getting cake?"
Shingo smirked. "Maybe. And we can get some snacks too."
The three of them made their way downstairs and went to the Citroen C3 they rented. They were carrying a lot of bags too, each person carrying at least two. After that, they made a beeline for the bakery.
"Let's choose a cake," Shingo said. "What do you guys want?"
The two of them frowned.
"I'm not sure what we should choose," Meiten shrugged. "Just buy whatever you want, Shingo-niichan."
Shingo turned to Shun. "What about you?"
Shun also shrugged in. "Up to you. I don't mind."
"Wow, you guys are seriously not picky," Shingo scratched his head. He swept his gaze through the cakes on display and eventually stopped on a white one with cream and strawberries on top. "How about a Christmas strawberry shortcake?"
The two of them shrugged again, so Shingo had that cake packed into a box. Next, he made them choose whatever pastries they wanted to take home with them.
"Are they your brothers?" The shopkeeper asked while she carefully pushed the cake into a box.
Shingo looked at them for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, kinda."
The shopkeeper smiled. "They seem really sweet."
Shingo couldn't help but agree with her as he watched the cake being delicately packed. The two of them came up with a tray of pastries, with three of each of whatever they chose. Shingo paid for everything and led them back to the parking lot. They went straight back to the chalet to put everything away.

"How come the sea's not frozen?" Meiten wondered aloud as he bit into a chocolate danish. "Like, isn't it winter?"
"It's only six degrees, not cold enough for water to turn into ice yet, I guess," Shingo shrugged. "Also, salt water has a lower freezing point."
"It's only seven degrees, Meiten," Shun added. "Water freezes at zero, doesn't it?"
Meiten nodded. "Yeah." He stopped short. "Wait, it's not zero? But my fingers are frozen!"
"So are mine," Shingo added. "But at least this pie is kinda warm."
"Ooo, I haven't started on my Apple pie yet," Shun chuckled, finishing his cookie before reaching for his apple pie. "So, what are our plans tonight again?"
Shingo smirked. "Well, I was thinking we should go for a nice dinner. How's that sound?"
"Aww, but I was thinking that we can camp out here for the night," Meiten pouted. "Sleep under the stars by the beach?"
"In this weather?" Shingo looked at him doubtfully.
"With no electricity to charge my stuff?" Shun shook his head. "No thanks, Meiten."
"Yeah, not all of us can sleep through everything, buddy," Shingo added.
Meiten shrugged. "Sure, I guess. What are we eating? Will they have Tamagoyaki?"
Shingo shrugged. "Maybe they will. You guys wanna go for Japanese food? A taste of home? Or do you want something French?"
"What about... stuffed turkey?" Shun suggested. "I mean... Christmas dinner, right?"
"I was hoping you'd say that," Shingo grinned.
Shingo's phone suddenly stared ringing with a call from his mother. He looked at the two of them, frowning as he contemplated on whether or not it would be a good idea to answer his phone here. In the end, he decides to excuse himself and went a little way away to answer his phone instead.
"Shingo, are you there?" Mrs Yabuki's voice came as soon as he picked up. "How's... France?"
"It's great," Shingo nodded. "How's things at home?"
"Well, Aya and Riri have been waiting for to return the whole time, you're coming tomorrow, right?"
Shingo frowned. "No, I'm not. I won't be home till the twenty-seventh, Mom." He decided to change the subject. "Wait, what are you guys doing up so late right now? It's almost midnight over there, isn't it?"
"Nah, it's just ten o'clock," Mrs Yabuki said.
"Oh, right," Shingo nodded. "So I'm guessing you guys are getting lots of fried chicken tomorrow, then."
Mrs Yabuki sighed on the other end. "Yeah, but it won't be the same without you."
"I'm sure it wouldn't," Shingo couldn't help but say. "Send my regards to the rest."
"Shingo, wait!" Mrs Yabuki suddenly said. "I need to ask you. Why did you decide to go to France this Christmas? You could've gone another day, right?"
"Yeah, but..." Shingo sighed. "After last year, I felt like I need a break from everything. I worked so hard on all of that, and you guys just laughed in my face."
"Shingo, I didn't," Mrs Yabuki reminded. "It was your sisters. Rieko went overboard in mocking you like that."
"And you guys just watched?" Shingo snapped. "You didn't even try to stop her from harassing me like that. It didn't help that she was heartily eating the turkey that I bought and cooked all by myself the whole time. Do you know how I felt? And all because her song wasn't playing."
There was silence on the other end. "Shingo, I'm sorry. I wish I had tried to do something."
Shingo heaved a sigh. No matter how much he tried to stop himself from talking about it, it came out eventually. "Mom, it's fine." He quietly said. "It's been a whole year since it happened. There's nothing that can be done now."
"Will you be here for Oshogatsu?" Mrs Yabuki asked. "For mochi night?"
Shingo nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there." He turned to look at the two teens curiously looking at him and frowned for a moment before turning to face the beach again. "But I might bring some guests with me. I'm not sure yet, but I might."
"Oh," Mrs Yabuki said. "Sure, why not? We'll gladly welcome them. Just as how we do you."
"Yeah, I'm not counting on that from Neesan and Riri's end," Shingo couldn't help but say. "I'll see you on the twenty-seventh."
They bade farewell and Shingo returned to the two of them, proceeding to continue snacking on his pastries.
"It seemed pretty intense," Shun said. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, it was my mom," Shingo sighed. "She called me since I decided not to celebrate at home this year."
"Wait, why not?" Meiten asked. "Why are you not celebrating with your family?"
"Just this time," Shingo sighed. "I just need space after what happened last year." He turned to look at them. "You guys wanna come over for New Year?"
"Here?" Shun asked, confused. "Will we be staying for that long?"
Shingo chuckled. "Nah, not here. At my place, back in Japan. With my family."
"Oh," Meiten nodded. "Well, as much as that offer sounds good, I don't think we should. Master Tung said that there will something special waiting for us at home."
Shingo smiled. "That's nice."

The dinner was a hearty one, the three of them were almost as stuffed as the turkey was. Shingo decided to sit in his room since the teenagers were practically flat out the instant they hit the chalet. He had some time since it was still fairly early and he had to write the recent happenings in his diary anyway.
So he did just that. He sat on his bed and started writing everything that happened in the last few days, how they came to Cannes, how they went to the Fête Foraine de Noël and how they briefly lost Meiten in the crowd. Shingo laughed when writing about how he mistook the blond man that tried to help Meiten for Rugal. He certainly did look like him, though he seemed to be much younger and with a clean shave.
Shingo sighed as he wrote of the phone call he had with his mother, how he even felt bad for going at her like that. It wasn't technically her fault for his sisters being like that, they were just so done with them as well.
There was a knock on his bedroom door. Shingo closed his diary and placed it on the nightstand before going over to see who it was.
It was Meiten, dressed in pyjamas, and he seemed excited. "Shun and I were thinking of waiting for midnight to watch the fireworks."
"There's gonna be fireworks?" Shingo said in surprise.
Meiten nodded. "Yeah, in the town square something. I think we can see it from here."
"Maybe we can," Shingo shrugged and stepped out of his room, closing the door as he followed Meiten to the living room. Shun was sitting in the living room while watching Christmas celebrations going on around the world, Meiten seemed just as excited for it too. Shingo joined in as well and the three of them ended up talking about what they will be doing tomorrow.
"I was thinking we can order some chicken from WFC, then have a feast here, and then do our gift exchange," Shingo suggested. "What do you guys think?"
"How about we also go walking around the city?" Meiten suggested.
"And maybe get some cookies?" Shun added.
Meiten chuckled. "Always with the cookies."
"What, I've got a sweet tooth," Shun pointed out.
They eventually switched to the music channel where a Christmas playlist of songs like Last Christmas by Wham, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, and many others that they didn't recognise. The fireworks soon came on, and somehow they got a clear view from their window. It wasn't like they can sleep with the noise, except for Meiten, so they decided to just watch the beauty of it instead. It was a long day, but a peaceful night.