25 Days of Ramen (A Noblesse fic)

Chapter 5: Christmas Confusion

Hey. Nothing really to say about this one. Yup. Later in the month, I'll start doing pairings, and you can suggest some if you guys want? :) I'm really sorry I didn't update yesterday. I got sidetracked, because after school I went straight to crew and after that I got glued to the Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood. It was super awesome!! Yup.

Enjoy!

...

When Seira woke up on the morning of December 25 she expected it to be like any other morning that year so far; Takeo, Tao and M-21 in their suits and leaving to go to the school early, Regis and Rai sitting at the counter, already in their uniforms, eating breakfast, and Frankenstein packing his briefcase.

What she wasn't expecting was all of them to be sitting, in their pajamas (except for Rai and Frankenstein), next to a pine tree with what looked to be tinsel and red, glass orbs hanging from the branches. Presents of many colors sat under the tree in a mysterious air. The occupants of the room seemed to be waiting for something, and then Tao's wandering gaze fell on Seira.

"Oh, Seira! Guys, she's up." Tao gestured to an empty space next to him on the floor. She dutifully plodded over to him and sat down. Glancing at Regis, she found his expression to be mirroring exactly what she felt. Confused, more than a little lost. What is going on? They all seemed to be hiding something. It didn't feel important or life-threatening.

"Now we can start, since everyone is up!" Tao's excited voice interrupted her thoughts, and with an indiscernible jolt she came back to reality. Takeo and M-21 had both started grabbing presents and handing them out to their recipients. Regis sat uncomfortably as they moved around him, he seemed at a loss for what to do. Frankenstein seemed to notice this and turned to Tao.

"Tao, would you do us all a favor and explain exactly what this occasion is to Regis and Seira?" Frankenstein seemed to have a moment of revelation, and added, "On second thought, Master may want an explanation as well..." He turned to Rai, who gave a slight nod in reply.

Tao grinned. "Sure. Yesterday was Christmas Eve. Last night we left cookies out for Santa Claus-" M-21 rolled his eyes, "-and so he left presents for us! Now today-Christmas Day-we get to open them."

"...Who is Santa Clause, exactly?" Regis looked peeved that this information had been kept from him, when it was obvious that the rest of the world knew about this mystery man.

Tao looked surprised for a moment, but hid it quickly, and started to explain. "He's a jolly old man who wears a red suit and laughs like this; Ho, ho, ho!!" Tao put on a ridiculously happy face and held his stomach in 'laughter'. No one could help but smile at his antics. "He's fat and happy and lives in the North Pole with Mrs. Claus. Every day of the year, they and their helpers- the elves- make toys all year, then on the 25th of every December, they put them all in a huge sack, they saddle up all eight of Santa's reindeer-"

"Wait, reindeer... elves? What's up with this guy?" Takeo interrupted. M-21 mumbled his confusion as well. Apparently they weren't the only ones in the dark here.

Tao sighed and slouched over in fake frustration. "All in good time, all in good time..." Straightening, he resumed his tale. "Anyway, yes he has elves and reindeer. Flying reindeer actually, but I'm getting ahead of myself. He saddles eight of them up to his giant sleigh on Christmas Eve night and they put the huge sack of toys onto it. Santa climbs in and takes off, his eight reindeer pulling the sleigh. And in one night they deliver all of those toys, to all of the good little boys and girls. But if you want toys, you have to be on the 'Nice List', otherwise you get coal in your stocking. You don't want that."

M-21 looked unimpressed. "So let me get this straight. This fat, happy guy flies around the world in one night and delivers presents to seven billion kids in less than twelve hours. He lives in the North Pole, for crying out loud! And he has a list of these kids, that says whether they've been nice or not? That doesn't sound the least bit crazy to you?"

Regis spoke up. "You forgot the elves and the reindeer. This story sounds like, well just that. A story."

Tao opened his mouth but Takeo interrupts. "He can apparently travel faster than any plane, car or enhanced human. Not even one of us could go around the world and stop at every house in twelve hours."

Tao sighed. "I never said he didn't use magic..."

"Oh great, now he's magical." M-21 face-palmed and shook his head. "I swear, Tao. Sometimes I'm pretty sure you have mental problems."

"It's hardly practical. How can a man make eight reindeer fly?" Regis added.

"There is sometimes a ninth..." Tao mumbled. He seemed to shrink with every comment. "His name is Rudolph."

The three continued to question Tao's story and berate him as he grew more and more annoyed. Until, after a particular inquiry about Santa's method for entering households, Tao threw up his hands.

"It's a story guys! For entertainment. For fun, it's supposed to teach kids to be good all year, so they get rewarded at Christmas. Yes, Santa is fiction, its not a real thing! There are no reindeer, or elves, or Mrs. Claus, and the presents are from us! So there!" Tao sat back, crossing his arms, and not feeling jolly at all.

Seira observed the happenings with an indifferent expression. "I think you are all missing an important piece of information." They all turned to her.

"And... what would that be?" Takeo asked.

"You all asked Tao to explain, so he did. You can hardly blame him for answering your questions."

The three glanced at each other and winced. Then looked at Tao, who had pulled his knees to his chest and was making a point of ignoring of them in favor of picking at an extra piece of ribbon laying on the floor.

"We're sorry Tao..." M-21 bit his lip. He didn't think Tao would take it this badly.

"Yeah, look, we didn't mean to make you feel bad." Takeo felt that the mood of the room was much lower than any other household would be this time of year. Especially considering the day...

Regis sighed. "It was a well-told story. It makes for good entertainment..." Realizing his voice was doing nothing to improve the mood, Regis stopped talking.

They all sat there in uncomfortable silence as they each tried to think of something to raise Tao's spirits.

All of a sudden Tao sprang up to his feet, making Regis, Takeo and M-21 just about jump out of their skins.

"April Fools, guys!! I got you good!" Tao laughed before seeing the looks on his comrades faces. He sprinted, giggling all the way out of the living room, the other three right on his heels.

It may have been inelegant, running around in his starry pajamas, but Regis couldn't very well let him get away with tricking him like that. Besides, it wouldn't have been very noble to let someone like Tao show him up. Especially when he was in the process of consoling him.

M-21 was about ready to strangle Tao. He'd be damned if the hacker thought he could just run away like that, and not expect M-21 to track him down, tackle him and pin him to the snowy ground. Maybe putting on more practical clothing for running outside would have been better, but who was counting?

Takeo really didn't think that Tao meant to make this morning (especially this one) into a fight, but he damn well did. And Takeo wasn't going to let him forget it. There are some things you just don't do, and man is that one of them.

Tao was just having fun! Ok, maybe getting slammed into the freezing snow outside the house wasn't exactly what he'd had planned but whatever. It was great getting Regis to run around without 'proper attire' on. He just wanted to get the household up and moving. But more than anything he wanted to show everyone what Christmas actually meant. Spending time together, with friends, comrades and having a hell of a good time. In a nutshell, its pretty much what they were doing now.

Minus the snowball to the face. This means war.

"TAKEO!! I'll get you for that!!"

...

Why do I keep doing this to myself? Wanna' guess how many words? 1418. That was the story. I said I was gonna make it short didn't I? So much for that. Oh well, hopefully you guys enjoyed it, some Christmas cheer to lighten your holiday. Stay elegant, my little nobles!

Yours crazily,

ThePsychO