Snippets of Christmas Spirit and Cheer

A picnic table in front of the life-sized gingerbread house. There, a group of four beautiful women were huddled around a new mother and her baby daughter. Sakura, Daji, Zhaojun, Xuannu, and then Yue with Aurora.

Sakura leaned on the table with her elbows and stared at Aurora, shaking her head. "I still can't believe it. A Christmas baby, huh? Some gift John gave you."

Yue laughed and said, "It was a bit painful, but I couldn't be any happier."

Daji shook her head and said, "A 'bit' painful, Yuyu?" She shivered and said, "If that's what having a baby's like, I think I'm going to pass..."

Xuannu chuckled and said, "That's just the natural course of life, Daji." She shifted her gaze to Aurora and said, "And if the baby's that cute, I think it'd be worth it, don't you?"

"Ba?" Aurora blinked and looked over at Xuannu. After seeing her, the baby giggled and reached out her hand.

Xuannu smiled and held her hand out, watching as Aurora grabbed her finger.

Zhaojun looked at Aurora with mixed emotions. But after a bit, she shook her head and looked at Yue. "Whatever the case, if you ever require assistance watching her, Senior Sister, I would be glad to help."

Daji quickly sat up and said, "Hey! That's not fair, Zhaozhao! You can't keep Aurie all to yourself!"

"I never said that I would." Zhaojun tilted her head. "...Though it seems to me that you would smother her with your affection, Daji. It would not do to have Aurora grow up spoiled."

"I wouldn't spoil her!"

Xuannu laughed and said, "Well, Auntie Xuannu here definitely would. Aren't you a cutie pie, Aurora? Yes you are!"

"Baba!"

Daji covered her mouth. "Pft." She looked over at Aurora and gave her a thumbs up. "That's right! Call Xuanni a Baba again, Aurora!"

Xuannu paused and then glared at Daji. "You..."

Yue smiled and then looked down at Aurora.

Aurora looked back up at her mother and giggled.

"You little rascal." Yue laughed along with Aurora and then reached out to poke the baby's cheek. "I can already tell you're going to be a troublemaker in the future."

Sakura nodded. "With John as her father, that's inevitable. Especially if she's anything like her big sisters."

"Hm?" Yue looked over and said, "What about them?"

Sakura stared back at Yue. "...You know what? Never mind."

Yue blinked, confused.

Daji clapped her hands together. "Anyway!" She looked at Yue and said, "Should we start with the gifts now!"

Zhaojun nodded. "Yes." She looked at the pile of gifts next to Yue and said, "Senior Sister will be here all day if you do not begin opening your presents now. And that is not even considering those for Little Aurora."

"I wanted to wait for Husband to return first..." Yue frowned and looked off to the side. "...But it appears that he is preoccupied."

At that time, Amadeus walked over, carrying a giant platter of cookies. Shoving one in her mouth, she frowned and said, "That's because Titor was being an idiot."

"Ooh!" Daji's eyes lit up and said, "You grabbed a lot, Ama!"

Amadeus's eye twitched, but she nodded and set the cookies down. "Help yourself. Nobody else was, so I just grabbed it." After that, she took a seat next to Yue, eyeing Aurora.

Aurora turned to look at Amadeus and smiled. "Ama!"

Amadeus froze. "W-What?"

Aurora giggled and waved her hands in Amadeus's direction.

"Hey!" Daji pouted and said, "No fair! How come Aurora can say your name, Ama?!"

Yue frowned and gave Amadeus a sidelong glance. "...Yes. Why is it my lovely daughter is saying your name when she has yet to even say 'mama'?"

Amadeus cleared her throat. "I-I don't know."

"Ba!" Aurora shifted and then looked back at Yue. "Mama!"

Yue's gaze instantly softened and she leaned over to nuzzle Aurora. "That's right! I'm your mama, Aurora. So just look at me, okay? You don't need anyone else right now."

"Not even her Papa?"

John walked up behind Yue and hugged her.

Yue flinched and looked up. "H-Husband!"

"Pa!" Aurora giggled and then reached up her hands.

John chuckled and said, "Here, Yue. Let me take her off your hands for now."

Yue looked hesitant, but then nodded and handed Aurora over.

John took Aurora and bopped her nose. "Now, be a good girl and behave. No being a diva, alright?"

"Ba."

Sakura looked up at John and frowned. "Can she even understand you yet, John? She's only a day old."

"And it's better to start early." John hugged Aurora to his chest and said, "You'd be surprised at how many things stick with kids even when they don't remember." After saying that, he glanced over at Alphy.

"Ah." Sakura nodded.

"Anyway." John looked around at everyone and said, "You girls having a good time? Did you get a chance to grab your presents yet?"

"Eh?" Daji blinked and said, "We have presents?"

"Of course you have presents." John frowned and said, "You're my sisters. I wouldn't have missed the chance to give you stuff. Ah, and I got you stuff too Sakura. It's not much since Kai would probably get jealous... No, wait. Elise is here so I guess that's a non-issue now?"

Sakura stood up and said, "Wait, what? Elise?"

"Mm? Yeah." John nodded and said, "Tsuki's mom. There's a complicated story about it, but they're over by the animatronic Santa's workshop..."

Before John could finish, Sakura shot up and ran off towards where John pointed.

"Aaaand she's gone." John took Sakura's seat and said, "Well. That's a problem for Kai to sort out."

Amadeus rolled her eyes and said, "Some friend you are."

"Hey. Karma will catch up to you sooner rather than later, especially when you hang around someone like me. That guy should just be thankful that Meggie didn't follow through on pummeling him for that misunderstanding he caused."

Amadeus frowned. "You mean the one *you* caused when you brought that woman back to life?"

"Correction. The one *Titor* caused. And the one he's currently being punished for by watching the Netflicks adaptation of a certain detective anime involving shinigami."

Amadeus winced. "Really?"

"Really."

"Ba."

John looked down at Aurora and poked her cheek. "No. It's not funny, Princess. Now go back to being the cute sleeping beauty that-" John suddenly paused. "Sleeping Beauty... Aurora. Hah." He frowned and shook his head. "I really must have watched too many things when I was younger..."

Aurora giggled and nuzzled against John's chest.

He sighed and shook his head before looking back to Yue. "Anyway, presents. I'll keep an eye on this little princess, so go enjoy your gifts."

Yue hesitated.

Seeing that, Daji stood up and grabbed Yue's hand. "Come on, Yuyu!"

"D-Daji. O-One moment...!"

-----AI|IA-----

Across the room by the breakfast buffet, Maji sipped on a glass of eggnog and watched John interact with his family before glancing off to the side. "Boss is a heck of a guy, huh? Surrounded by beauties and holding an adorable baby girl."

Kiri adjusted his Santa outfit and nodded. "He deserves it."

"I dunno about 'deserve'... but it's probably better than him rampaging around the world like a vengeful god, right?"

Saji drained a carton of eggnog and then grabbed another from below the table. After opening it, he glanced at Maji and said, "Boss isn't like that."

"As long as there aren't any idiots." Maji grabbed a sugar cookie from a nearby platter and took a bite. After that, he nodded his head towards a group of people off to the side. "I mean, look at those guys. I thought we were 'legends', but those people... They ain't human."

Legends Security Corporation. A subsidiary of Myth Incorporated that was established recently and headed by Takashi. And one with two supposed veteran soldiers, a mercenary for hire, and two former special operations personnel from America and somewhere in Asia.

Except, each and every single person there was as strong as the yakuza trio.

Kiri frowned. "...Maybe they just trained hard?"

"Pft." Maji shook his head and said, "That bastard was the only person who could reach that level by training and you know it. Even then, it took decades. You think that blondie and the silver-haired kid there trained that long?"

"Hn."

Saji frowned and then shifted his gaze over to the Christmas tree where Meggie, Xuan, and Wu were still opening presents. "Should we keep an eye on things again? At least the kids?"

"That's..."

"My job."

An unexpected male voice, one with an unplaceable accent.

Maji flinched and instinctively reached for his knife.

At the same time, Kiri and Saji shifted as well, getting ready for combat.

And then the speaker cleared his throat. "My apologies. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

A Caucasian man with a shaved head and a sleek tuxedo.

Toby casually picked up a cookie and said, "The Boss let you three off to enjoy a comfy retired life. While I am certain he would not mind if you helped, I believe he would be happier if you took the time to enjoy yourselves and leave everything to the professionals."

Maji clicked his tongue and said, "Professionals? And we aren't?"

Toby shook his head. "You are. But you also are enjoying quite the peaceful retirement, are you not? Leave the dirty work to the invisibles like myself and my juniors."

Maji frowned and wanted to argue with him.

But then a pair of cute voices echoed from the distance.

"Mister Maji!"

"Anikis!"

Xuan and Wu waved from the tree, holding up stuffed animals.

Xuan held up a black tortoise and said, "Look! Is it not cute?"

Wu held up a white snake and smiled. "Yes! Is it not the most adorable ever?"

Toby raised an eyebrow.

Maji shook his head and then drained his eggnog. After that, he glanced at Kiri and Saji.

The three shared a look and then finished up their food before heading over to the girls.

Toby watched them leave before pulling out his phone and opening a map app. After carefully observing some pinned targets on the map, he nodded and put his phone away. "...Yes. This should be a peaceful world for Employer and his family. We can deal with these anomalies on our own. But for now..." He poured himself a glass of eggnog and took a sip. "...Hm. A bit richer than in the States. I'll need to remember the recipe. Could be useful in the future..."

-----AI|IA-----

A whirlwind of activity. Introductions all around, gifts exchanged, and overall happy Christmas cheer.

Meggie, Xuan, and Wu enjoyed playing the role of happy children opening up gifts on Christmas Day.

Kai, Tsuki, and Elise spent a pleasant morning together finally reunited... and then had a long discussion after Sakura showed up and double-teamed with Elise to scold Kai.

The Myth Incorporated staff... namely Bai and Qing were dragged around by their lovers and essentially loafed around until John scolded them all and saddled them with more work to make up for the holiday break.

John himself spent the morning going around and chatting with everyone in his family, making up for lost time... as well as keeping an eye on Aurora to keep her from causing any mischief or being the source of any mischief.

The Prodigy girls had a blast exchanging gifts and roasting each other.

The Prototype girls panicked for a while sorting out Yudi, but then spent the time hearing stories from the old man about John and the rest of his family.

Betty and Emily played around a bit with all the exhibits and props, taking lots of reference pictures and selfies before heading back to prep for releasing their game.

And as for Titor... Eventually, Amadeus took pity on him and grabbed Jenny to free him from his misery.

Like that, the Christmas party came to an end. And then the next morning, Wednesday, it was back to business as usual.

And to kick it all off...

-----AI|IA-----

Next time:

Hana Homura - [Just Chatting] Happy Holidays! Did you miss us?