Christmas Side Story

Compared to the past #

It’s a story about the real-life Umemiya Hanako, who plays Blossom-chan.

“‘If you’re good, Santa Claus will come.’”

Those words tormented me.

In the end, it all depended on the financial strength of our parents and the circumstances of our home, yet I was denied my personality because of a non-existing old man.

According to them, Santa didn’t come to my house because I was a bad kid… and my innocent classmates blamed me for it.

They would say things like, “You’re a bad kid, that’s why Santa didn’t come,” even though it was just a matter of Santa not coming to my house.

They would bring up my insignificant failures and criticize me for them, even though I couldn’t do anything about it myself.

Once they finished doing all that, the teacher who organized this tasteless after-school event would say, “Have we decided who the bad kids and good kids are today?”

The girls who wanted attention and to wield their sense of justice would condemn the boys in high-pitched voices, and the teacher would approve it.

The boys who didn’t care about me anymore would add insult to injury by saying, “Apologize quickly and let us go home.”

It was terrible and miserable… all because of such a trivial matter.

It was just that Santa didn’t come to my house.

“I’m sorry for being a bad kid…”

“I’ll be careful not to smell bad…”

I apologized with the boy who was criticized for wearing the same clothes every day and being called “smelly.”

It might have been just because the troublesome girl who ran out of things to complain about turned her attention to me, who went to the same school only because my parents wanted me to.

In our world back then, my classmates’ and my world was too small.

So they thought that if I was a bad kid who didn’t get Santa’s gifts, there must be other things wrong with me… and that’s why they exposed me to embarrassing failures in front of the whole class.

Of course, as we advanced to the next grade, everyone began to realize that Santa Claus didn’t exist, and those who still believed in him were considered foolish.

But the stamp of being a “bad kid” that I had been given once would never disappear.

No one remembers what the trigger was, or why I was treated as the lowest in the caste system, but the treatment never changed.

And Christmas, a special day when society celebrates and parties, remained the same for me.

“I’m home.”

After walking three stations from the private elementary school where my parents had sent me to be with students like me, I arrived home and said those words.

No one was listening, and I walked to the kitchen, trying to distract myself from the emptiness of my voice echoing in the entrance.

Maybe because it was raining today, the burn mark around my shoulder blades was particularly itchy.

But what troubled me more than that was my hunger.

I had eaten soy sauce rice for breakfast, but since I didn’t get any allowance and couldn’t work part-time, I couldn’t buy lunch.

During lunch break, I had been enduring it by locking myself in the bathroom stall and punching my own stomach, but… it was reaching its limit.

“Is this… all there is?”

I couldn’t help but mutter a small complaint as I looked at the pastry bag on the kitchen sink.

Apparently, this 98-yen pastry… a red bean donut was supposed to be my dinner tonight.

There was no way there would be a decent meal just because it was Christmas, let alone cake or fried chicken.

“Bon appétit…”

I tore open the bag and ate the solid substance that was just sweet, then drank water from the nearby faucet.

“Thank you for the meal…”

In less than two minutes, in less than five bites… my last meal of the day was over.

After that, I had to clean up my mother’s messy room, even though I hadn’t made it messy.

If I skipped it, I didn’t know what would happen next.

“Ugh…”

My mother had apparently had a good time with her new boyfriend during the day… and the stench from her room made me wrinkle my nose as soon as I opened the door.

It would have been nice if she could at least open a window and ventilate the room… while thinking about such hopeless things, I cleaned up after my parents’ sexual activities.

No matter how much I struggled, it was a reality that I couldn’t do anything about… I just had to work quickly and finish it.

“Is there… anything good…?”

Such self-talk just dissolved into the void and disappeared…"

“Hey, Kako, are you listening?”

“……!”

I raised my head in surprise, and there was my best friend Komari-chan and Seigi-kun peering at me with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Feeling sick?”

Despite their down-to-earth and approachable personalities that seeped through their inhumanly beautiful faces, I still felt my face growing hot under their gaze. My social awkwardness persisted even with people I was familiar with.

“No, I was just thinking about the past a bit…”

“Is that so?”

“Don’t push yourself.”

Really, why do these two bother with me? They could gather a crowd just by calling out to people. But even so, the fact that they chose me made me extremely happy.

“I’m totally fine. …But what’s the matter?”

“Are you serious?”

“This guy won’t stop talking once he gets started.”

But…

“Hehehe! Kako, that Santa outfit looks really good on you!”

“Uh, umm…”

Please, I don’t want to be made to wear a miniskirt Santa outfit.

“Hey, Masato looks good in it too, don’t you think?”

Uh oh, this is really embarrassing… especially with Seigi-kun watching. It’s true that it’s my fault that things turned out this way, since I ended up saying something like “I’ve never had Santa come before” when they asked me. That’s why Komari-chan said something weird like “If Santa doesn’t come, we’ll just become Santa ourselves!”

“Oh, yeah… I guess so.”

“…Perverted.”

“…S-Sorry.”

My face is about to burst into flames… Even my inner Blossom feels exasperated.

“…?”

But, well…

“What’s wrong, Kako? Is Masato staring at you weirdly?”

“Hey, what the hell?!”

It’s hard to put into words, but…

“Hehehe…”

“Kako?”

“What’s up?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Compared to before…

“Christmas is really fun, isn’t it?”

I didn’t behave well, but two Santas came to me.

That’s good. That’s all that matters… I had a very fulfilling Christmas.