Let it Snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we\'ve no plao goo go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Sae rolled over on her bed in a state of semi-sleep. Next to the bed, her alarm clock radio played a muted Christmas carol. \"Mmm, snow...\" she thought. \"I\'d like to see snow today...\"

A sudden knocking at her door startled her into full awakeness. She sat up as her older sister poked her head into the room.

\"Sae,\" the pretty brunette said. \"Are you feeling well? You\'re usuanot not in bed this late.\"

Sae blinked, then looked over at her clock radio. She jumped out of bed when she saw how late it was. \"Gomen!\" she shouted to her sister, only seconds before she dove into the closet. \"I overslept!\"

Saki walked into the room. \"I kind of figured that,\" she said. \"I heard you awake in here pretty late. Were you studying?\"

Sae paused in mid motion and looked at the floor. She had been studying, in a way. She\'d been practicing her magic until the early hours of the morning. Of course, she couldn\'t tell her sister that...but she didn\'t want to lie, either. \"Hai...\" she replied.

Saki wandered over to the desk and idly looked over Sae\'s books. The centerpiece was the same as always, though, an open picture diary with an assortment of colored pencils on and around it. She shook her head. \"I thought you told me once you were going to try to move beyond the picture diary, Sae,\" she said.

\"I...I did try,\" Sae\'s muffled voice said. She finished pulling her uniform sweater off her face and quickly buttoned it up. \"It\'s just a habit.\"

Sae\'s sister just shook her head again. Only her clumsy little sister could get tangled up in a button-up sweater. She sighed before addressing Sae again. \"I know,\" she said. \"I\'ll let you finish getting dressed. You may want to wear a coat to school today, it\'s snowing outside.\"

\"Really?\" Sae asked. \"Sugoi!\" She dashed to the window of her room and looked out. Sure enough, light flakes of snow drifted down around the window and touched lightly to the ground. Most of them melted on contact, but Sae was entranced nonetheless.

Her sister smiled. She walked back to the door of Sae\'s room and started to leave. She glanced back one last time and saw her sister still standing at the window. She cleared her throat lightly and said, \"Sae...getting dressed for school, remember?\"

Sae started out of her reverie. \"Oh! Hai!\" she exclaimed. She rushed back to the closet to find the rest of her uniform.

*

\"Oi! Nanaka!\" Sae called. She ran to catch up with her best friend. She was only a few steps away from Nanaka when she slipped on a wet patch of ground and stumbled headlong into her friend, who had turned to greet her.

Sae\'s wide blue eyes lowered in apology. \"Gomen, Nanaka,\" she said quietly.

\"Whatever,\" Nanaka said. She waved dismissively. \"You trip on things that aren\'t there all the time; you should know better than to run when the ground is slippery.\"

\"Hai, Nanaka,\" Sae said.

The two of them walked the rest of the way to their school amidst lightly drifting snowflakes. Sae twirled on her toes and caught snowflakes on her tongue at every stop.

Once in class, Sae watched the falling snow out the window of her classroom. She barely noticed her teacher admonishing her for not paying attention, nor the odd looks she got from the other students in her class.

As the bell finally rang to dismiss the class, Nanaka walked up to Sae and touched her arm. Sae looked up in a semi-daze. She suddenly realized what time it was and jumped out of her seat. \"Oh no!\" she cried. \"I\'m going to be late for our Magic Club meeting!\"

Nanaka shook her head. \"Well, at least you\'re thinking about something besides the snow. Do you realize everyone in class was staring at you because you were totally ignoring our sensei?\"

\"I was?\" Sae asked. \"I didn\'t even realize that; I couldn\'t help it, the snow\'s so pretty, and it\'s not often I get to see it here in Tokyo.\"

Nanaka shrugged. \"It\'ll be gone before long, like always,\" she said. \"Come on; let\'s get to the meeting so we can get home before it gets too dark.\"

The two of them quickly went to change into their uniforms then walked together down the hall to the room the Magic Club shared with the Manga Club. As they approached the room, they saw Miyama, the Manga Club president, approaching from the other direction.

Much to Sae\'s dismay, they reached their respective doors at the same time. Sae braced herself for one of Miyama\'s scathing remarks but the taller girl simply turned up her nose at the other two and quickly entered the Manga Club door. She slammed it behind her without so much as a word to Sae and Nanaka.

Sae just stared in surprise. Nanaka gently nudged her, indicating that they should enter their own half of the room.

Sae blushed a little in embarassment. \"Gomen,\" she said quietly. \"I didn\'t mean to hesitate like that, it\'s just that Mizuha-senpai is kind of scary in her own way...\" she trailed off into her own thoughts.

\"She\'s a little different since Takakura-senpai told her off,\" Nanaka said, \"but you don\'t have to be afraid of her either way.\" She opened the door and pulled Sae into the room with her.

As the two of them entered, they saw that Takeo and Ayanojyo were already there; surprisingly, the freshman Akane also was.

\"Aikawa?\" Nanaka asked in surprise. \"You made it to the meeting today?\"

The young model toed the floor a bit. Her blue and black boots clicked softly as she spoke. \"Hai,\" she said. \"I had a date lined up for today, but he was really a pain, so I ditched him and came to the club meeting.\"

\"Sugoi!\" Sae said. \"I\'m glad you decided to come, Akane-chan!\"

\"Hai,\" Takeo agreed. \"And since we\'re all here for the meeting today, I wanted to announce a special training weekend I have planned.\"

The girls turned and looked at the club president. \"Training weekend?\" Nanaka asked.

\"Hai,\" Takeo said. \"Since next Monday is the Emperor\'s birthday holiday, I thought that taking a three-day weekend for a training retreat would be a good idea. I\'ve selected a location that is somewhat remote, so we won\'t run into a lot of people who might see us practicing magic, but it\'s also very snowy there. For that reason, I\'m going to be teaching a new spell tomorrow; we\'ll most likely need it on the retreat.\"

Sae\'s eyes sparkled. \"A new spell?\" she thought. \"Sugoi!\"

Nanaka watched her friend\'s eyes sparkle and dance. She wasn\'t sure which Sae was intrigued by more - the idea of learning more uses for magic or Takakura-senpai himself. Both were undoubtably on the cute red head\'s mind.

\"In the meantime,\" Takeo continued, \"I want all of us to use this club time and our spare time to practice the spells we\'ve already learned, especially those that didn\'t turn out so hot the first time. Some of them are very useful in the case of an emergency, but they are only useful if they work properly.\"

*

The next school day found the five Magic Club members again in their uniforms and again together practicing a new spell. They were gathered in a circle around the small club room table, which this time was devoid of any objects.

\"The spell we\'re learning today will actually come in handy on more than one occassion,\" Takeo said. \"This spell will give you a shield against the elements, protecting you from rain, snow or other weather.\" He looked over at the three girls. \"It\'ll be important to concentrate hard on this magic - especially for you, Aikawa. This magic is directed at one\'s self, so you would cause yourself to spin if the magic were to go wild.\"

\"Hai, Senpai,\" Akane acknowledged.

The five of them raised their wands before their faces and concentrated. Takeo read the spell out of the ancient tome beside him. \"Tego texi tectum in tempestas!\"

The other four took up the chant. \"Tego texi tectum in tempestas! Tego texi tectum in tempestas!\"

Sae\'s brows furrowed as she concentrated hard on the words. \"Shuuju, shuuju!\" she thought to herself. \"I don\'t want to mess this one up!\"

They felt a shimmering haze settle around their bodies. Sae opened her eyes in surprise, shocked that her magic worked the first time. As she looked at the others, she saw that the spell seemed to have worked for them as well. Akane\'s hair swirled around her shoulders in a cluster of sparkling, spinning magic, but she herself had stayed put.

\"Sugoi!\" Sae exclaimed. \"Did it work?\"

\"It seems to have,\" Takeo said slowly. \"We\'ll know for sure if we go outside. If it worked, we should be able to go out in our uniforms and the wind, snow and cold shouldn\'t affect us.\"

\"Sugoi! Sugoi, sugoi!\" Sae cried.thouthout a second thought she dashed out the door of the club room and toward the exit.

\"Sae!\" Nanaka called after her. \"Wait up! What if it didn\'t work?\" She dashed after Sae; the others followed at a more leisurely pace.

Sae dashed out into the lightly falling snow. Her feet left heeled boot prints in the snow, but not a flake touched her boots; likewise, the falling snowflakes seemed to drift around her body, as if intentionally avoiding her. She turned back to the others. \"Takakura-senpai! Aburatsubo-senpai! Nanaka! Akane-chan! You have to come out here!\" She jumped and twirled gleefully in the snow, completely oblivious to the weather.

Takeo\'s face brightened into a huge smile. \"Well,\" he said. \"It seems that the spell has worked! This is great news, it means that we should be able to use this spell during our training retreat without problems!\"

Ayanojyo sidled up behind Takeo. \"I love it when you look all overjoyed like that,\" he murmured.

Takeo turned two shades of red and quickly walked outside. The other two girls had already went out to join Sae, and Takeo quickly put them between himself and Ayanojyo. \"Well, now that we know it works we\'d better get headed back inside. We don\'t want anyone in the school to become suspicious seeing us out here in just our uniforms.\"

Sae looked a tiny bit disappointed but quickly realized that he was right. \"Hai, Senpai!\" she said. The three of them followed Takeo back into the building. Ayanojyo sighed and followed them.

*

It doesn\'t show signs of stopping,
And I\'ve brought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Takeo set his pack down in front of the door to a small cabin. He fished in an outer pocket of the pack for a minute and produced a keychain with several keys on it. \"This cabin belongs to my father,\" he said as he found the key for the door, \"but he rarely uses it any more. It used to be a vacation cabin, but it\'s nearly abandoned now. I thought it\'d be a great place to star thr this retreat.\" He turned the key in the lock and opened the door.

The five of them entered the dark cabin. Only a small amount of daylight trickled through the dusty windows and small dust clouds rolled up as the fresh air whirled into the room.

\"Well, it\'s definitely been a while since anyone used this place,\" Nanaka agreed. She looked skeptically over the room. \"We\'re going to have to clean just to be able to sit down.\"

Akane giggled a little. \"No we won\'t,\" she said. Before anyone could stop her, she pulled her wand off of the pocket at her hip and waved it about the room. A whirlwind of shimmering magic sped through the room, sweeping up dust and flying it out the door over their heads and off into the sky. \"A little magic is all it takes,\" Akane said. She winked at the others and skipped into the room.

\"Akane-chan!\" Sae said scoldingly, \"That\'s not how you\'re supposed to use magic! That\'s a selfish thing!\"

\"Ne?\" Akane asked. She tilted her head a little and tapped her wand on her chin. \"I don\'t think it counts as selfish, since it\'s for everybody, ne, Takakura-senpai?\" She looked to the club president for a response.

\"Um, well...\" Takeo began, \"I suppose it can get by this time, since there were good intentions in mind, but really magic used strictly for creature comforts quickly becomes selfish and...\" He let the thought trail off - Akane was no longer paying attention anyway.

Takeo made his way to the fireplace and was relieved to see that it was cleaned out. He located the extra firewood and brought some over to start a fire. In only a few minutes he had a warm, crackling fire burning in the fireplace. The others set their packs down and made themselves as comfortable as possible in the meantime.

Ayanojyo walked up behind him quietly and wrapped his arms around Takeo\'s waist. \"Mmm, cozy,\" he whispered in Takeo\'s ear.

Takeo stiffened. His eyebrow twitched a little and he made a slight choking crossed with gasping sound in his throat. After a moment, he found his voice. \"Aburatsubo!\" he screeched in frustration.

\"Ne?\" Aburatsubo asked. He didn\'t release his grip and he raised an eyebrow suggestively at Takeo.

Takeo shuddered and slid out of his grip. He smoothed out his uniform and turned back toward the girls. \"I\'ll show everyone where the bedrooms are,\" he said.TherThere\'s plenty of room for us to each have a separate room.\" He looked pointedly at Ayanojyo as he stressed the word \'separate\'.

\"Nani?\" Akane asked. \"In this tiny cabin?\"

Takeo smiled and winked at her. \"It\'s not as small as you might think,\" he said. \"Come along, I\'ll show you.\" He turned and led the way toward a door at the back of the main room.

The door creaked on its hinges as he opened it. He swung the door open wide and ushered ever in. in.

The room they found themselves in was windowless. Takeo found a candle by feeling around on a shelf in the dark. He lit it, and to everyone\'s surprise a hall with several doors appeared before them.

\"This is all tunneled out of the hillside behind the cabin,\" Takeo said. \"There\'s not much for light, but there\'s tons of room and plenty of candles to go around.\"

Ayanojyo found a second candle and lit it from Takeo\'s candle. \"Cozy and romantic,\" he whispered. The flickering candle played across his face, giving his suggestive, lusty smile an almost wicked gleam.

Takeo froze, and a full body shudder ran from his toes up through the tips of his hair. He looked around frantically for the girls and found them standing behind Ayanojyo, looking at him with curious expressions.

\"Eh, well...\" He cleared his throat. \"Erm...I think it\'s time I showed everyone the rooms, and then we can all go back out into the sitting room to practice our magic.\" He tried to force a laugh, which came out as more of a nervous giggle.

He quickly led the way dohe hhe hall. At each room he stopped and opened the door, lit a lantern hanging on the wall just inside the doorway, and gave the others a quick look around. He then finished the mini-tour by leading them all back into the main room.

The fire had warmed the room nicely, and the yellow-orange glow enhanced the woodgrain of the floor and walls, giving a warm, homey feel to the small cabin.

Everyone began to rummage through their packs and arrange their things. Tafounfound his ancient book of magic and set it on a table in the corner of the room. He then pulled out several other magical artifacts, including a stick of chalk for drawing diagrams, and set them near the book.

He turned back to the room to find the others settling in. He cleared his throat and addressed them. \"Before we get started tonight, I wanted to say that we\'ve seen remarkable improvement in all of the members, especially our youngest and newest members. Sawanoguchi, Aikawa, both of you have come a long way in your magic; I noticed at the club meeting yesterday that your magic still makes things spin, but not nearly as bad as it used to be, Aikawa.\"

\"Hai, Senpai,\" Akane said. \"I found out if I really concentrate hard that things don\'t spin as much; it\'s just when I do easy magic that things spin a lot.\"

Takeo tapped his wand on his chin thoughtfully. \"We really should try to figure that out,\" he said. \"It could be something important we\'re overlooking.\" He stared thoughtfully into space for a few minutes. \"And you, Sawanoguchi? Your magic has come a long way, even since Jinno left. You hardly had any trouble learning the new spell I taught.\"

Sae looked shyly at the ground. \"Well...I\'ve been practicing on my own a lot. Sometimes I stay up late at night to practice. My sister almost caught me once, because she heard me up so late, but I really want to learn to use my magic well, so that I can be a great magician one day...and not make so many mistakes like I used to before...I think Jeff-kun still helps me sometimes, but...um...I forgot what I was going to say.\" She toyed with a lock of her hair and waited for a response from Takeo.

\"Did you bring Jeff-kun with on this trip?\" Takeo asked.

\"Of course!\" Sae said brightly. She ran over to her pack and withdrew the small brown teddy bear. \"I always have Jeff-kun nearby. Even when he doesn\'t help with my magic, he makes me feel better.\" She hugged the teddy bear to her.

\"I wonder...\" Takeo started to say.

\"Ne? Wonder what, Takakura-senpai?\" Nanaka asked.

\"Iie, it\'s nothing,\" Takeo replied. \"I just had an idea run through my head.\" He paused. \"Shall we get started?\" he asked suddenly. \"There\'s not enough room to really fly in here, and I think we all have a solid grip on flying techniques anyway. Why don\'t we start by practicing moving objects from one place to another? In order to focus this skill, we can use it to get all of our stuff into our own rooms and get a table set for dinner.\"

The girls ran to their packs to begin moving their belong. A. Ayanojyo followed at a slower pace with a small smile on his face. He turned to Takeo and his smile widened. \"And have we decided which rooms are ours?\" he asked.

Takeo mused for a few moments, trying to decide if there was a double meaning in Ayanojyo\'s words or not. Finally, he gave up on the endeavour. \"I\'m sure that each of us mentally chose a room when we were looking at them,\" he said. \"When we use the magic to move objects, our minds will automatically focus on that room.\"

\"I see,\" Ayanojyo said. \"Ok!\" He walked off to his own belongings.

Takeo stared after him. as sas sure the young man had some plan or another in mind, but as long as he wasn\'t hitting on him, that was all that mattered at the moment. Takeo concentrated on his own belongings.

Occasionally, the magic would go a bit awry. A can of food suddenly found itself from someone\'s pack to the middle of the room; a flashlight found itself rolling across the floor near the fireplace. It soon became obvious, however, that the teenagers\' minds began wandering from their task as stranger things started to appear and disappear from different points in the room.

Takeo started to look up to say something about it; he was suddenly overcome by an odd sensation, however, and vanished from where he was kneeling on the floor. He reappeared on top of Sae\'s travelling pack.

Sae gasped in surprise. Takeo was taken by surprise as well, and without the solid floor beneath his knees tum tumbled forward into Sae\'s lap. Both of them turned red and struggled for a moment to untangle themself from the other.

Ayanojyo noticed immediately what had happened and jumped to his feet. \anoganoguchi!\" he shouted warningly. \"Did you do that on purpose?\" His face twisted in jealousy as he pointed accusingly at the red head.

\"Iie, iie!\" Sae cried. She shook her head. \"I didn\'t mean to! I\'m not sure what happened...I must have gotten distracted...\" Her blue eyes trembled, and for a second she appeared as if she were near tears.

\"It\'s not a problem,\" Takeo said quickly. He composed himself and got to his feet, dusting off his clothes on the way. A slight bloody nose gave away some less-than-pure thoughts he\'d apparently been thinking, and Ayanojyo didn\'t fail to notice, even though Takeo quickly wiped it away.

Takeo quickly steered the conversation in a different direction. \"So...\" he began, \"let\'s see what progress we\'ve made so far.\" He scanned the room quickly.

A dinner table stood at the far side of the room. It was set with dishes and an assortment of food, as well as scattered odd objects such as someone\'s toothbrush and a can opener. \"Not too bad,\" Takeo commented. \"Let\'s see how the bedrooms turned out.\"

The five of them walked back into the hall and began to examine the bedrooms. The girls\' rooms seemed to be mostly in order; Sae\'s broom had found its way into Nanaka\'s room, and one of Nanaka\'s pillows was missing. Akane\'s room looked like a small tornado had gone through it, but most of her stuff was there.

As they opened the door to the next room in line, it appeared as if it were very crowded. Takeo quickly realized that it was because both his and Ayanojyo\'s stuff had appeared in the room.

Takeo closed his eyes and ground his teeth silently. \"Aburatsubo...\" he muttered. The expression on his face clearly sa\"Wh\"Why me?\"

Ayanojyo leaned over Takeo\'s shoulder and smiled. \"It seems we were thinking of the same room, Takeo-kun.\"

\"We were not thinking of the same room,\" Takeo muttered. He quickly straightened up. \"No problem, I\'ll just move my stuff to the next room down,\" he said aloud. He concentrated on the tip of his magic wand and his belongings began to glow with a soft light. They disappeared simultaneously. \"That takes care of that,\" he said.

Ayanojyo looked a bit disappointed as Takeo and the others turned to walk away. He sighed. \"Hai, I guess so,\" he said.

Nanaka stole a sympathetic look at Ayanojyo. She knew exactly how she felt; she\'s have been glad to have put her things in Ayanojyo\'s room, but she knew ahead of time that the results would have been exactly what he received. She frowned to herself. Some things seemed so unfair.

Dinner and the rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Afternoon dimmed into twilight and twilight quickly became night. After a while, Sae yawned and looked around for a clock.

She spotted a small clock on the mantle. Her eyes nearly bugged out at the lateness of the hour. \"Oh, look how late it is!\" she exclaimed. \"The night went by so fast!\" The hands on the clock were nearing midnight.

Ayanojyo glanced at the clock. \"That can\'t possibly be right,\" he said. \"That clock must be off.\"

Takeo walked up to the clock and examined it. He picked it up and listened to the gears turning inside. \"It seems like it\'s running fine,\" he said. He dug in his pocket and found his pocket watch and opened it. \"Yep, it\'s right. We must have just been so busy that the time just flew by.\"

Nanaka stood up and stretched. \"I\'ll be glad to get out of this uniform,\" she said. \"I\'d be happy to spend the next two days in my pyjamas.\"

\"Next two days...in pyjamas?\" Takeo thought. His face distorted slightly as he got a naughty mental image of the three girls running around the cabin in lacy lingerie. He shook himself from his daydream to find that the girls had already left the room and were headed down the hall to their bedrooms.

Behind him, Ayanojyo sighed. \"Don\'t bleed to death in your sleep, Takeo-kun,\" he warned offhandedly. He waved over his shoulder as he also left the room.

\"Hai, hai,\" Takeo agreed. He wiped the blood away from his nose and followed.

*

The next day dawned white. When the five teenagers walked out into the main room, they had to squint against the white brilliance reflecting off the windows. They quickly realized that it was because the windows had frosted over.

Takeo walked to the door and opened it a crack. Bright, white light shone down from the sky, flickering and dancing between millions of snowflakes. A three inch blanket of white covered the doorstep. He quickly closed the door against the snow.

He turned back to the others. \"It must have been snowing all night,\" he said. \"And it looks like the snow has picked up a bit. I\'d better go get more firewood before we run out so that it has time to dry in here.\" He lifted his wand up before his face. \"This is a perfect opportunity to try out the latest spell we learned.\" He concentrated on the magical words. \"Tego texi tectum in tempestas!\" A glowing glimmer agicagic settled around Takeo. He started toward the door. \"I\'ll be back in a bit!\" he said.

\"Wait!\" Sae cried worriedly. \"Even if the weather doesn\'t touch you, you could still get lost in the snow. Let me come with!\"

\"You?!\" Ayanojyo demanded. \"Why?!\"

\"It makes sense, Aburatsubo,\" Takeo said calmly. \"Sawanoguchi has as good of a grasp on the protection spell as I do, and there does need to be a more advance magician in charge here in case something does go wrong. You stay here with Nakatomi and Aikawa.\"

Ayanojyo\'s displeasure was evident. \"All right,\" he said. \"I\'ll stay.\"

Sae repeated the protection spell on herself and walked out the door with Takeo. As the door closed, Ayanojyo walked over to the rug in front of the fire place and flopped down. He stared morosely at the fire.

Akane and Nanaka stood in awkward silence for a moment. The odd love triangles between the upperclassmen were painfully obvious to the freshman, but this time she didn\'t have a solitary place to escape off to and let Nanaka try to get closer to Ayanojyo. She decided to deter the subject for a bit.

\"I brought some playing cards with me,\" Akane said to Nanaka. \"Would you like to play a card game until Takakura-senpai and Sawanoguchi-senpai get back?\"

Nanaka smiled a little. \"Sure,\" she said.

Akane lifted her wand and muttered a spell. Her deck of cards appeared before her and she caught them before they could fall to the floor. \"Magic is so fun!\" she exclaimed. She walked over to the table and sat the cards down.

Nanaka joined her. She looked over at Ayanojyo, who was still staring into the fireplace.

\"Aburatsubo-senpai,\" she asked, \"would you like to join us?\"

\"No,\" he said shortly. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand without turning around.

Nanaka looked disappointed. She turned back to the cards on the table. \"What game do you want to play?\" she asked half-heartedly.

\"Actually, I don\'t know many real games,\" Akane admitted. \"I mostly only know card tricks. I found some that are a lot more fun with real magic, though!\" she said.

\"Oh?\" Nanaka asked. Her curiosity piqued slightly. \"Like what?\"

\"Well, like this one,\" Akane said. She stacked the cards in a neat pile in front of her, then touched the beak of her wand to the top of the stack. As she drew the wand away, the cards followed in a row, floating up and around, following the wand. Akane twisted them into intricate spirals and swirls, eventually creating a surreal castle out of the deck. As she turned the wand away, the cards collapsed back to the table.

\"That\'s amazing, Aikawa!\" Nanaka said.

\"Well, I think I\'ve always known a little bit of magic, even before I joined the club,\" Akane admitted. \"I used to be the best at making card castles that wouldn\'t fall down, and guessing the right card every time in a guess game.\"

\"Does anyone else know you can do that?\" Nanaka asked.

\"Not really,\" Akane replied. \"A few people have seen me play with cards, but they think I\'m just lucky or talented, like people who gamble a lot.\"

Ayanojyo had taken a slight interest in the conversation and now approached the table. He pulled up a chair and sat down. \"Magic is a talent,\" he said. \"More people have it than one would think. Most people just don\'t realize it\'s magic, or don\'t believe in it.\" He picked up the scattered cards and tossed them toward the ceiling.

Nanaka winced, expecting them to come down in a flurry around their heads. After a second, however, she realized that they weren\'t and opened her eyes. To her amazement, the cards were lightly drifting down and arranging themselves in a neat stack on the table.

\"Sugoi...\" Nanaka said in awe.

Akane was playing with the cards again. She used her magic to again lift them off the table, but this time she made a three-dimensional zig-zag patttern with them. From the points of some of the lines a lone card dangled delicately. \"Look!\" she said. \"A Christmas Tree, like the one I saw in the studio!\"

Nanaka smiled. \"Our family has a Christmas Tree in the store each year,\" Nanaka said. \"My mother says it\'s good for business.\"

\"It\'d be neat to have one here,\" Akane said, \"but it\'d be a shame to go out and cut one down just for a couple of days.\"

\"Oh, we don\'t have to,\" Ayanojyo said casually. He lifted his wand and concentrated. Suddenly, a decorated Christmas Tree appeared in the corner of the room. \"My mother loves the things,\" he explained. \"She puts one in my room every year, even though I don\'t really need my own. She says it makes the room look nice and festive.\"

\"This is your Christmas Tree, Aburatsubo-kun?\" Nanaka asked. She walked over to examine it.

\"Hai,\" Ayanojyo replied. \"Mother won\'t miss it; she doesn\'t go into my room when I\'m gone. I\'ll just put it back before we leave.\"

Just then, the door opened and Takeo and Sae entered, each carrying a large load of firewood. Takeo quickly closed the door, but a cold blast of wind and snow still managed to squeeze into the room around them. \"It\'s a good thing we decided to go get the firewood,\" he said. \"I don\'t know if we\'d have been able to get to it later.\"

\"Does that mean we\'re going to get stuck up here?\" Nanaka asked worriedly.

\"I don\'t think so,\" Takeo said. \"As soon as the snow stops we should be able to fly back without a problem.\"

Nanaka relaxed a little.

Sae suddenly noticed the Christmas Tree in the corner of the room. \"Sugoi!\" she exclaimed excitedly. \"A Christmas Tree! Like the ones in the stores!\" Her eyes sparkled as she took in all of the paper decorations and baubles on the tree.

Sae spent the rest of the day using her magic to fold more paper decorations and to pop popcorn for strings to add on the tree and around the room. The others worked on their own magic, and Takeo spent the time in between working on translating more of his spell book. Breakfast and lunch were provided via a mish-mash of magic and normal preparation of their supplies.

As the day waned, Takeo stood and stretched. He glanced idly out the window and saw nothing but white; he quickly realized however, that it wasn\'t frost but a flurry of snow he was seeing. \"The snow\'s really coming down hard!\" he exclaimed. \"I don\'t know if I\'ve ever seen so much snow!\"

Sae ran to the window and looked out. \"Sugoi...\" she exclaimed in awe. \"It\'s so white!\"

\"We may be snowed in tomorrow after all, if this doesn\'t let up,\" Takeo mused. \"I don\'t want to try to fly all of us out in a storm like that; it\'s too easy for someone to get lost.\"

\"What about the teleporation spell?\" Ayanojyo asked. \"There are plenty of doors in here we could use. We can just concentrate on getting back home.\"

Takeo shook his head. \"I\'m going to use that as a last resort,\" he said. \"It was such a fiasco last time, and it could be made even worse in this storm. Until we can safely perfect that technique, I don\'t want to rely on it.\"

\"Let\'s get to bed early, tonight,\" Nanaka suggested. \"That way if it\'s done snowing in the morning we can still leave as planned, but if it\'s still snowing we can come up with a new plan to get us by until we have a chance to leave.\"

\"Good idea,\" Takeo said. \"I think that sounds very reasonable.\"

The others nodded. Takeo added a couple more pieces of wood to the fire to keep it burning, and they all retired to bed.

*

To the tgersgers\' dismay, the snow was still coming down in torrents as the next day dawned. They decided to make the best of the situation by bringing in some more supplies with their magic and setting up a new plan.

Takeo bit his lip in slight worry as Sae used her magic to bring some fruit from her house to their table. \"With today being the holiday, a lot of people are bound to be home. I really hope that no one notices this stuff suddenly disappearing,\" he commented.

Sae shook her head. \"It\'s just Saki at my house, and she doesn\'t worry about it when stuff disappears,\" she said. \"My parents are still in Hokkaido, so they won\'t know.\"

\"Hai, same here,\" Nanaka said. \"My mother won\'t notice; if anything, she\'ll just figure she misplaced it.\"

\"Ok,\" Takeo said. He felt a bit relieved. \"At least that\'s one less worry.\"

The group finally settled on a plan of kicking back for the rest of the afternoon and keeping an eye on the snow. If it quit before twilight they would head back, and if not, they would again spend the night and just miss a day of school the next day.

The snow showed no signs of stopping, however. By the time night came again, it almost seemed as though the snow had increased in intensity.

The five of them went to bed, each with different thoughts in mind about the situation. Sae held Jeff-kun close to her as she climbed under her blankets. \"I wish there was something I could do to stop the snow, Jeff-kun,\" she said. \"I hate seeing Takakura-senpai worried, and I know he is even though he won\'t say anything.\" She paused. \"The must be some kind of magic we can use. I know that Takakura-senpai doesn\'t want to use the new protection spell because we\'re not supposed to fly and use magic at the same time, but there has to be something that\'d make it work.\" She thought some more. \"That one day by the stables...\" she mused. \"I found out that I don\'t really need my broom to fly...I wonder if we didn\'t use the brooms to fly if we could use magic then? Or if it\'s not the broom, but flying itself that\'s the problem?\"

She was quickly becoming sleepy. \"I don\'t know what to do, Jeff-kun,\" she said. \"It\'s so confusing...\" She drifted off to sleep.

*

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I\'ll hate going out in the storm,
But if you\'ll really hold me tight,
All the way home I\'ll be warm.

Sae woke sometime later that night. She blinked sleepily around, wondering what it was that woke her. Her eyes widened as she realized that Jeff-kun was glowing slightly. \"Jeff-kun?\" she whispered.

The teddy bear walked stiffly in air to the foot of her bed. Sae sat up to watch and noticed a tall man in a magician\'s uniform standing in the doorway. He had long, flowing hair, and a shining, pink, wing-shaped earring caught the light from the hall. His features were obscured in shadow, but Sae recognized him immediately as the magician she\'d met in the sakura forest many years ago. \"Jeff-kun?\" she whispered again.

The magician in the doorway beckoned for Sae to follow him, and the teddy bear mimicked his movements. Sae stood up as if in a trance and followed him out into the hall. \"Jeff-kun, where are we going?\" she asked.

The magician and the teddy bear were both silent, but both continued to beckon for her as they walked.

\"Jeff-kun?\" Sae called again. She kept following them.

Takeo, Ayanojyo, Nanaka and Akane were awakened by the sound of Sae out in the hall calling for Jeff-kun. They peered out into the hall at her.

\"Sae?\" Nanaka asked. \"What are you doing?\"

Sae acted as though she couldn\'t hear them. She walked as though she were following something, but the others couldn\'t see anything but the darkness of the hall.

Sae watched the magician and teddy bear walk up to the wall at the end of the hallway. They beckoned for her to follow, then disappeared into the wall.

\"Jeff-kun?\" Sae called. \"Where did you go?\" She walked up to the wall she\'d seen them disappear into. It looked like an ordinary wall. She put her hands on it, wondering how they\'d gone through the wall. As she put her weight on the wall, the whole panel slid open and revealed a dark tunnel. Sae could see a light faintly shimmering in the distance. \"Wait up, Jeff-kun!\" she called. She ran after the light into the tunnel.

Takeo, Ayanojyo, Nanaka and Akane stared into the darkness where Sae had disappeared. \"Sae!\" Nanaka called. \"Sae, where did you go?\"

\"Sawanoguchi!\" Takeo called.

There was no response. The four of them ventured out into the hall; Takeo grabbed a candle and walked in the direction Sae had gone. The other three each grabbed a candle and followed him.

The panel was still ajar when the four of them reached the end of the hallway. They stared at it in surprise.

\"A secret tunnel!\" Akane said. \"Where does it go, Takakura-senpai?\"

\"I...I don\'t know,\" Takeo admitted. \"I didn\'t know it was here; my father must have built it when I was still young.\"

The four of them stared into the pitch blackness of the tunnel. \"Well, I guess I\'d better go in and find her,\" Takeo said. \"I don\'t know where it goes, and if it winds around too much, she may get lost.\" He stared into the tunnel a moment longer.

Ayanojyo suddenly felt a chilling, magical sensation run past his senses out of the tunnel. He got a cold feeling of foreboding, as if he knew Takeo would be in danger if he entered. \"Absolutely not,\" Ayanojyo said firmly. He gripped Takeo\'s shoulders and moved him aside.

\"Aburatsubo, what-\" Takeo began.

\"You don\'t know this tunnel any better than the rest of us,\" Ayanojyo said. \"I\'ll go in after Sawanoguchi; you need to stay with the other two in case something happens.\"

\"But-\" Takeo began.

Ayanojyo silenced him with his finger. \"No arguments,\" he said. \"You\'re staying here.\" With that, he stepped into the tunnel and closed the panel behind him.

Takeo, Nanaka and Akane stared at the blank wall. \"Shouldn\'t we go after him?\" Nanaka demanded.

Takeo sighed. \"No, Aburatsubo is right. We don\'t need to put any more of us in danger than necessary, and someone does need to be here to get help if something happens. I trust his skill to get him through; I just hope he can find Sawanoguchi before she gets lost or hurt.\" He stared at the wall and wrung his hands anxiously.

\"Well, we won\'t be able to help them by standing in the hall,\" Akane said. \"Let\'s go out and sit by the fire. We can at least keep the fire going and be awake when they get back.\"

Nanaka looked at the freshman in gratitude. She\'d been full of surprises on this trip, and once again she surprised them by acting much more mature than her age. \"That\'s a good idea, Aikawa,\" Nanaka said.

Takeo nodded. \"At least it will pass the time, if nothing else.\" He glance back at the wall once more, then followed the girls.

Inside the tunnel, Ayanojyo carefully made his way by the light of his candle. He tried to hurry without being reckless; he knew the candle wouldn\'t last forever, and he needed to find Sae and get back out before it ran out. He could faintly hear Sae ahead of him, talking to someone. As he got closer to the sound, he could make out distinguishable words.

\"Jeff-kun,\" Sae asked, \"Why are we in here? Shouldn\'t we wait for Takakura-senpai and the others?\"

Ayanojyo shook his head. The girl was talking to her teddy bear again. He wondered about her sometimes; she\'d already proven to be more than everyone gave her credit for, and she showed that she had the potential to be the most powerful one of all of them - yet she still talked to a teddy bear and drew in a picture diary.

Sae watched the magician take a few steps ahead of her and sit down on an outcropping of rock. He leaned back and gestured with his hand, and sparkling gold dust showered around Sae, lighting her way. She saw that they\'d stopped in a small cave.

As the magic swirled around the room, the scent of sakura blossoms filled the air, and piles of the flowers appeared underneath Sae as a cushion.

\"Sugoi...\" she said. She sat down on the cushion of pink petals. \"Jeff-kun,\" she asked, \"is there something you need to tell just me? This place is so pretty, it\'s a shame not to share it with the others.\"

The little brown teddy bear walked up before her and bowed. \"You remember when you first found me, don\'t you Sae? When you were little?\" it asked.

\"Hai,\" Sae said. \"I don\'t remember everything well, I was so young and I was upset then, but I do remember you...and all the beautiful sakura trees...and how you made me happy again...\"

\"I\'m glad,\" the teddy bear said. \"You\'ve talked to me a lot; I know that you know I\'ve been watching over you.\"

\"Hai,\" Sae said again. \"It makes me so good to know that you\'re nearby. Even when you don\'t help with the magic, I like the warm feeling of having you near.\"

A smile graced the magician\'s face. It didn\'t seem possible, but the ethereal glow about his body intensified.

\"It\'s actually your magic, Sae,\" the teddy bear said. \"I\'m sure you realized that after talking to Jinno. I\'m just here to give you comfort and point you in the right direction.\"

\"The right direction?\" Sae asked. \"Does that mean I was about to go in the wrong direction somehow?\" Her brows knitted in confusion.

\"Possibly,\" the teddy bear replied. \"You were trying to make a decision about something; I could hear it in your dreams. But you couldn\'t figure out what the right thing to do was, so it kept bothering you, as it has been for several weeks now.\"

Sae thought on the matter. \"Something that\'s bothering me?\" she asked. \"I don\'t think I remember any problems; really this being stuck in the cabin is the only thing that\'s been a problem lately.\"

The magician smiled again at Sae, and the teddy bear spoke again. \"The snowstorm isn\'t happening by coincidence,\" it said. \"The snowstorm arose in response to your subconscious problem. It\'s keeping you here until you come to a resolution.\"

Sae looked at the floor and tapped her forefingers together. \"Then this mess is my fault again?\" she asked quietly.

\"I wouldn\'t look at it that way,\" the teddy bear said. \"Look at it more as a twist of fate. When you begin to see things on a larger perspective, you will mature, both as a person and a magician. Dig into your subconscious; what is your inner self trying to tell you? Something about Takakura, is it not?\" the teddy bear suggested.

\"Takakura-senpai?\" Sae asked. \"Something about him?\"

The magician\'s attention seemed to drift to something behind her for a moment, but the teddy bear kept its button gaze on Sae. \"Hai,\" it said. \"Think on the matter while you sleep. You\'ll be able to understand it all by the time you wake.\"

\"Sleep?\e sae said. \"Then I\'d better get back to my room...\" She started to get up, but the magician approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up quizzically, and her vision wavered then faded all together as she passed out.

Ayanojyo came to the cave entrance to hear the last bit of Sae\'s conversation. He sensed a magical presence in the room besides Sae, but he couldn\'t see who she was talking to. She was oblivious to his presence as she chatted at the blank wall in front of her.

Suddenly the other presence in the room moved. Sae was starting to get up from the cave floor, and it moved on an intercept course. Ayanojyo watched in shock as Sae suddenly passed out and slumped to the floor.

\"Sawanoguchi!\" he shouted. He dashed forward into the room and knelt beside her. She seemed ok, only sleeping, upon inspection.

Suddenly he felt the presence again, behind him. He whirled around and didn\'t see anything, but he shouted out anyway. \"Who are you?\" he demanded. \"What did you do to Sawanoguchi?\"

He heard a masculine voice chuckle. \"She\'s not harmed,\" he said. \"On the contrary, I\'ve looked after her for many years.\"

\"Then what are you doing with her?\" Ayanojyo asked. \"Why did you lead her back into this tunnel?\"

\"Sae has some things she needs to work out alone,\" he said. he\'he\'s on a good road to lopiloping into an astoundingly powerful magician; she just has to work beyond her emotions.\"

Ayanojyo\'s eyes narrowed. \"And I suppose those emotions have something to do with Takeo-kun,\" he said.

The voice laughed. \"Don\'t think that I don\'t know about your feelings for Takakura,\" he said.

Ayanojyo frowned. \"You never did say who you were,\" he said. \"How do you know what you know about us?\"

The voice chuckled. A shadowy figure materialized before him; before he could make out any distinguishing features, the figure\'s body lit up with an ethereal glow. Ayanojyo saw that he was a tall, graceful man with flowing hair, wearing a magician\'s uniform much like their own.

\"Sae calls me Jeff-kun,\" the man said. \"I was the one who gave her the teddy bear many years ago.\"

\"So, you\'re the one behind Jeff-kun\'s power,\" Ayanojyo mused. \"And how do you know about what I feel?\"

Jeff smiled. \"I\'ve been watching Sae\'s progress since she was little. You and the other magicians play an important part in her life, and it\'s not hard to tell that you\'re interested in Takakura; your flirting is actually quite blatant at times.\"

Ayanojyo reddened slightly. \"But I\'m guessing you want Sawanoguchi to admit outright how she feels about Takeo-kun,\" he seethed.

\"Of course,\" Jeff said. \"Even if in the end things don\'t work out between them, which I highly doubt, it\'s important for her to overcome the subconscious block of her confusion about Takakura. She knows deep down that she\'s in love with him, she just has to come to terms with it and take the step forward of acting on that love.\"

\"As if she doesn\'t do that quite enough!\" Ayanojyo declared. \"That girl has to be nearly peeled off of him at times!\"

Jeff chuckled. \"She doesn\'t realize she\'s doing it, though. That\'s where part of her inner struggle comes from. Much like you, Ayanojyo,\" he said, turning the conversation to the magenta-haired boy.

\"What about me?\" Ayanojyo asked suspiciously.

Jeff leaned in close to hiAyanAyanojyo found himself backing up, but suddenly came up against the stone wall. \"You have an internal struggle as well,\" Jeff said. \"You feel like you\'ll be devastated if Takakura chooses Sae outright, but is that really the truth?\"

\"Of course it is!\" Ayanojyo shouted. \"Takeo-kun is the dearest thing in the world to me! I want him to love me more than anything else!\"

\"Ne?\" Jeff asked. \"Is it truly Takakura that you\'re longing for, or something else?\" Before Ayanojyo could move out of the way, Jeff leaned in and kissed him very tenderly.

Ayanojyo\'s eyes widened in shock. He pushed Jeff away from him. \"N-nani?\" he demanded. \"Why did you...kiss me?\" His hand flew to his lips, feeling the still tingling sensation of Jeff\'s lips on his own.

Jeff smirked. \"Because I know that anyone can give you the pleasure you think you desire, Ayanojyo,\" he said. \"But I think deep down you don\'t want just pleasures of the h; yh; you want that special someone to love and care for you for the rest of your life. Would you have pushed me away, otherwise?\"

\"Of course I would have!\" Ayanojyo snapped. \"I don\'t have any feelings for you; and if you\'re helping Sawanoguchi take Takeo-kun away from me, then I don\'t even like you!\"

\"Is that a fact?\" Jeff murmured. He leaned in again to kiss Ayanojyo.

Ayanojyo raised his hands to push him away again, but Jeff caught his wrists in his own hands. He pushed Ayanojyo down against the rock of the floor. \"Can you say so with such certainty now?\" he asked. As he spoke, a blanket of sakura blossoms formed underneath Ayanojyo and ran out into the cave. They piled up in a fluffy cushion around the two magicians.

Ayanojyo struggled underneath the other man. He tried in vain to free himself, but the other\'s grip was too tight to even budge. He watched helplessly as Jeff dipped his head down and planted soft kisses along his chin the then down onto his throat. As the kisses moved down to the tender skin near his collarbone, they became softer and more velvety. Ayanojyo felt himself melting despite his resolve. \"No,\" he admonished himself inwardly, \"I can\'t lthisthis...I can\'t...but...it feels so good...\" He moaned softly as Jeff moved back up and captured his earlobe between silky lips.

Jeff moved his lips back over Ayanojyo\'s and silenced the moan with another tender kiss. He pulled away slightly after a moment. \"Anyone can give you physical pleasure, Ayanojyo,\" he repeated in a whisper. \"But if you want true love too, you\'ll have to find someone who can give you both.\"

Ayanojyo started to ask him a question, but the magician\'s body began to shimmer and change. His features became more delicate, taking on the form of a young woman; his hair shortened into a cute pixie cut, and gave the impression of dark ha The The winged earring became a gold cross and flashed brilliantly in Ayanojyo\'s eye.

Ayanojyo stared. He recognized the figure...Sae\'s best friend, Nanaka. \"N-Nakatomi?\" he whispered. \"Jeff-kun, what are you saying-\" Before he could finish his sentence, however, the figure pinning him down vanished in a spray of golden dust.

Ayanojyo sat up shakily. He looked around, but the cave was once again dark. His candle stood on the floor near Sae, burning steadily. He walked over to where the red haired girl was.

Sae was still sleeping soundly. Ayanojyo didn\'t know if he\'d be able to wake her, even if he tried, so he just gathered her up in his arms as best as he could, and carefully positioned his candle in his fingers so as not to burn her. Thus situated, he found his way back down the tunnel to the hidden door.

The cabin was dark and quiet when he entered. Some sounds from the main room caught his attention, and he headed there, hoping to find the others. He found them fast asleep on the floor in front of the fireplace. The clock on the wall showed that he\'d been gone longer than he thought; it was the early hours of the morning, and the sun would be rising soon.

He wondered briefly what had made the sound he\'d heard, but he suddenly heard it again. He realized that Takeo was talking in his sleep. Ayanojyo started to smile, but then he heard the words more clearly. \"Sawanoguchi, no...\" the slumbering young man said. \"Don\'t leave...don\'t leave me...\"

Ayanojyo took a deep, shaky breath. He knew it was true, he knew that Takeo loved Sae, and as Jeff had so aptly pointed out, Sae loved him. He would never win Takeo\'s love by trying to keep them apart. He walked over to where Takeo was sleeping and lay Sae down next to him. \"She\'s not going to leave you, Takeo-kun,\" he whispered. He conjured a blanket from his room and draped it over the two. He ran a thumb over Takeo\'s cheek. \"Merry Christmas, Takeo-kun.\"

He stood there a moment, just looking at the two of them, then his gaze wandered to the other two girls. Akane was fast asleep, curled in a tight ball near the fire. Her peaceful visage somehow suggested that she was happy like that; she didn\'t seem at all lonely, unlike Nanaka, who lie quietly on her side nearby. Even in sleep, her face spoke of a loneliness that he\'d seen before but never really given much attention to. He remembered her admitting once that she was in love with him. At the time he\'d just brushed it off, telling her in not so many words that it was a hopeless dream, like his love for Takeo. Now he knelt down beside her, wondering if that was true.

With a shrug, he conjured two more blankets. He spread one over the sleeping Akane, then he lay down beside Nanaka. \"I\'ll give it a shot, Jeff-kun,\" he thought to himself, \"But I\'m not making any promises.\" He pulled the blanket over the two of them. \"So that you\'ll have a Merry Christmas as well, Nakatomi,\" he said.

*

Akane was the first to stir the next morning. She realized that it was Christmas Eve morning, and she was a little sad that she didn\'t have a date for the day. However, she realized that most of the men she knew were shallow and to be honest, quite boring anyway - no real love to be had there. She started to get up, and suddenly noticed the still-slumbering forms of Takeo and Sae, along with Ayanojyo and Nanaka. She smiled to herself. \"Hoteiosho does exist,\" she thought.

She got up quietly, so as not to disturb the others. Being as it was Christmas Eve, and the snow was still coming down outside, she decided to use her magic to bring the Christmas presents she\'d bought for the other club members to the cabin. She also decided that they could use a Christmas cake or two to add a little cheer.

Takeo awoke to the sound of Akane humming and sparks of magic as her gifts twirled in the air and landed before the tree. \"Did we fall asleep in front of the fire?\" he wondered. He started to sit up and realized that someone was next to him. For just an instant he froze, afraid that Ayanojyo had decided to try something during the night, but a quick glance showed a female body. He looked over to see Sae lightly stirring from her sleep. \"S-Sawanoguchi?\" he gasped.

Sae\'s eyes flew open. \"T-Takakura-senpai! How...how did I get out here?\"

Takeo noticed with a gulp that the two of them were sharing a blanket. \"I...I don\'t know,\" he stammered.

\"Where\'s Nanaka? And Aburatsubo-senpai?\" she asked. She looked quickly around them.

The two of them noticed Ayanojyo and Nanaka at the same time. Sae started to call something out to them, but Takeo stopped her. \"Let\'s let them sleep,\" he said. He looked around some more and saw that it was Akane who had wakened them.

Akane smiled cheerfully. \"Since it\'s Christmas Eve, I decided to bring the Christmas gifts I bought to the cabin. I hope you don\'t mind, Takakura-senpai,\" she said.

\"No, not at all,\" Takeo said distractedly.

Behind them, Nanaka and Ayanojyo stirred. They heard Nanaka gasp and turned to see her staring at Aburatsubo in a mixture of fear and elation.

Ayanojyo smiled gently at her. \"Good morning,\" he said softly. \"I hope you don\'t mind; I thought it\'d be a nice Christmas surprise.\"

\"I...I don\'t mind at all,\" Nanaka said in shock. \"I...I don\'t know what to say...\"

\"Then,\" Sae began, \"were Takakura-senpai a tog together because of you too, Aburatsubo-senpai?\"

Ayanojyo nodded. \"I realized something last night,\" he said. \"And I knew that it\'d be the perfect Christmas Eve surprise for the two of you.\"

Sae looked shyly at the floor and folded her hands. \"Arigato,\" she said softly.

Takeo walked up to Ayanojyo and took his hand. He gave it a firm handshake. \"Hai,\" he said. \"Arigato.\"

Sae suddenly noticed the gifts around the Christmas tree. \"Sugoi! Presents!\" she cried. \"I wonder if it was Santa Kuroshu?\"

Akane giggled. \"You\'re cute, Senpai,\" she said. \"They\'re from me!\"

\"Oh!\" Sae exclaimed. \"Then I should bring mine too!\" She ran for her magic wand and returned to bring her own gifts to them.

The others smiled and followed suit. The cheeriness of the day continued on through the afternoon, as they sat together and sang Christmas carols and ate the Christmas cakes Akane had summoned. As twilight fell, Akane suddenly stood up. \"Time to open the gifts!\" she said.

Sae bounced with excitement as the gifts were handed out and tore into her packages, squealing with delight over each.

The others were more leisurely about it. They casually passed their gifts to each other. Ayanojyo held four small boxes in his hands. He handed one to Sae and one to Akane, then hesitated slightly. He looked at the two in his hands. He knew who he had bought them for, but was suddenly grabbed by an impulse. He handed the one he\'d bought for Nanaka to Takeo, and the one he\'d bought for Takeo to Nanaka.

Sae tore into hers with just as much enthusiasm as the others. \"Ooh, pretty!\" she exclaimed. She withdrew a gold spiral-shaped pendant on a delicate chain.

Akane found a shimmering gold barette with a tiny sapphire set in the center in hers. \"Sugoi, pretty!\" she exclaimed.

Nanaka and Takeo each carefully undid the paper on their gifts. Takeo cringed slightly as he lifted the lid, half expecting something mushy or weird, but was relieved to see a set of plain, gold double-hoops.

Nanaka suddenly gasped. The others turned to see her reach into the jewelry box and withdraw a pair of shimmering dangle earrings; small diamonds cascaded down the sides and caught the light from dozens of angles. \"Aburatsubo-senpai!\" she exclaimed. \"They\'re so beautiful! Arigato!\" she leaned over and hugged him tightly, then sat back to put the earrings on.

Ayanojyo smiled softly. \"I\'m glad you like them,\" he said. \"I bought them for a very special person.\" He pulled Nanaka closer as the fire started to die down. Sae shyly settled next to Takeo with her gifts in her lap, and Akane curled up on the pile of blankets discarded that morning. The five of them sat like that late into the night, talking and discovering each other all over again.

The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we\'re still goodbying,
But as long as you love me so,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!