Work Text:
"Finally! We're FREE!" Emma said dramatically, flopping on the couch in her house.
Nikei soon followed suit, flopping right next to her. "I thought it would never end!" He said. "But now we're finally on vacation!"
Hajime sat down a lot less dramatically in a chair. "Wow, you two. It wasn't that long of a wait."
"It felt like it!" Emma groaned.
Iroha giggled. "Stay there so I can take a picture for reference! This'll make a great painting!"
"Your first painting of vacation is gonna be of Ms. Magorobi and Mr. Yomiuri flopped out on the couch?" Mikado asked, floating right next to Iroha. She jumped, not expecting to see him there. "You know what, I won't judge."
Nikei pulled his hat over his head. "I'm tired. I might just go to sleep right here." He muttered.
"You know, if you slept during the night instead of working on all your articles, you wouldn't have this problem!" Hajime pointed out.
"Screw that! I'm gonna work on my scoops at night whether you like it or not!"
"Nikei, it's not healthy to stay up all night and work!"
"Ignoring another argument between Hajime and Nikei about health..." Emma sighed. "What do you guys think we should do for Christmas?"
Mikado shrugged. "I'm content with anything. It doesn't really matter to me."
"I know! We should have a Christmas party!" Iroha chimed in. "Maybe invite the rest of our classmates and decorate the house!"
Nikei frowned. "The rest of our classmates have plans for this holiday. I interviewed them about it, remember?"
"Oh yeah..." Iroha sighed. "Then who'll we invite over? Will it just be the five of us?"
Hajime tapped his fingers against the armrest, before shooting up straight in his seat. "I have an idea of who we can invite!"
"You do?" Mikado questioned.
Hajime nodded. "We all have people that we're pretty close to that we can invite, remember?"
Slowly, everyone nodded. "Oh, let's totally do that!" Emma said excitedly. "Come on, let's go send out invitations and start buying things to decorate the house!"
"How's everything going?" Mikado called out from the kitchen as he finished making a large Christmas dinner.
"Good! I think! Iroha, don't put that there, what are you doing?" Came Nikei's voice from the living room.
"Doesn't it look good there?"
"No, of course not! It should go over there!"
Hajime sighed. "I think we made a mistake putting Nikei in charge of decorating."
"Well, he's good at it, just a bit... bossy." Emma said, coming into the kitchen holding bags of gifts. "These are all the ones in your rooms, right you two?"
"Looks like it." Mikado said. "When are our guests getting here?"
Emma shrugged. "They should be here any minute."
As if on cue, the doorbell rang, causing them to jump. "See, what'd I tell ya! Hang on, I'll get it!" Emma said, putting the bags under the tree quickly and answering the door, letting out an 'oof!' as she was pulled into a hug.
"Emma, it's been so long! How's Hope's Peak? Everything doing okay?" Masami asked with a huge smile on her face.
Emma hugged her back, a smile of her own forming on her face. "I'm so glad you could make it! Come in, come in! I'll introduce you to my friends!"
Masami nodded and picked up her bag, and they entered the living room, where Nikei and Iroha were lightheartedly squabbling about where to put decorations.
"Nikei, Iroha!" Emma called out. "This is Masami Ono, the person who introduced me to acting!"
Nikei stopped and held out his hand for a handshake, but instead got pulled into a hug, startling him. "So nice to finally meet you!" Masami said happily, before letting go and giving Iroha the same treatment.
"It's nice to meet you, too." Nikei said, slightly caught off guard.
Hajime and Mikado entered from the kitchen, and they too were enveloped in a hug.
"Oof! Uh.. nice to meet you, ma'am?" Mikado asked, confused.
"You two must be Hajime and Mikado! Emma's told me all about you! Name's Masami Ono!" Masami said. "Sit down, I want to get to know you guys!"
Hajime and Mikado exchanged glances, but before they could sit down the doorbell rang again.
"I'll get it!" Nikei said, going to the door and opening it.
"Hello! Is this the right house for the Christmas party I was invited to?"
Nikei nodded. "You're... Kioshi Shimizu, right? Mikado's adoptive father?"
Kioshi nodded and shook Nikei's hand. "Yep! And you're Nikei, right? Can I come in?"
"Sure! Hang on, let me take your bag." Nikei said hurriedly, taking Kioshi's bag from him. Kioshi nodded in thanks and went inside.
"Mikado?" He called out hesitantly.
Immediately Mikado jumped up and ran to greet him. "You made it!" He cried out, enveloping Kioshi in a hug.
"I did!" Kioshi laughed. "How have you been doing?"
"Great!" Mikado said. "Here, let me introduce you to my friends!"
Kioshi quickly was introduced to the rest of VOID and Masami, and they began talking. Around ten minutes later, the doorbell rang again.
"My turn to get the door!" Iroha said, hopping up and running to answer it. When she did, there were two people standing at the door.
"Hello! Is Hajime here? He invited us for a party!" One of them, a girl, said.
Iroha nodded. "Yeah, he is! Are you Kaori and Takumi?"
"That's us!" Kaori said. "And you must be either Emma or Iroha, correct?"
"I'm Iroha! Emma's inside." Iroha said. "Come in!"
"Thank you, Iroha." Takumi said, and they came in.
Hajime was already making his way towards them, as he heard their voices in the doorway. "You guys made it!"
"There he is!" Kaori laughed. "What's up, Hajime?"
"Merry Christmas!" Takumi added.
Hajime put a hand around Kaori and Takumi's shoulders. "It's great to see you! Come on, everyone's over here!"
Kaori and Takumi were introduced to everyone else, and it wasn't long until the doorbell rang again.
"My turn." Mikado said, and answered the door. "Hello. You must be Ms. Maiya Fukuda, correct? Iroha's friend?"
"That's correct. Merry Christmas." Maiya said, fiddling with her bag. "It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"
"I'm Mikado Sannoji, the Ultimate Wizard. Come in, Iroha's gonna be happy to see you."
Maiya nodded and went inside, shyly introducing herself. Iroha squealed and tackled Maiya in a hug once she saw her, and again, everyone began talking. The doorbell rang soon after.
"I'll get it." Hajime said. Once he opened the door, his hand was immediately taken for a handshake.
"Hi hi! You're Hajime, right? And this must be the party! Is Nikei here? He invited me! Merry, merry Christmas, by the way!" The girl at the door said eagerly.
"Er- yeah, he's here! You're Reina, right? Reina Uchida?" Hajime asked.
"Yep yep yep! That's me!" Reina chirped. "Can I come in? Please?"
"Oh, sure!" Hajime said, and Reina ran in, tackling Nikei in a hug once she saw him. She eagerly introduced herself to everyone there, and now since everyone was here, Mikado quickly put the food on the table and invited everyone to eat.
Dinner was full of talk and stories, with everyone getting to know each other. Emma and Reina became fast friends, Nikei and Maiya began talking about their shared love for writing, and Kioshi talked to Iroha about art.
After that, it was time for presents. VOID got the most, as Masami, Kioshi, Kaori, Takumi, Maiya, and Reina didn't know anyone else well enough to shop for them. So each VOID member got about six presents, while the others only got about one, from their respective friend.
Iroha got a lot of art supplies and some manga.
Hajime got a new punching bag, coat, and a few new books.
Mikado got two cookbooks, one for baking and one for meals, a lego set, a new cape, and a DVD copy of his favorite movie.
Emma got a new pillow, a book of puns (which she immediately put to use), a set of scary stories, a new dress, and some makeup and jewelry.
Nikei got two plushies, a new blanket, a new notebook and pen, a scarf, and some books.
As for the others, Kaori got a basketball and Takumi got a stethoscope from Hajime, Masami got a new mirror from Emma, Kioshi got a set of fabrics from Mikado, Maiya got a painting of herself from Iroha, and Reina got a few fidget toys from Nikei.
The rest of the party was a mess due to Mikado bringing out eggnog. But overall, it was a very good Christmas party.