★KarNagi: Merry Christmas!!★

Chapter 5: Our First Christmas!!

"Good morning, me!" I said to myself, stretching.

Yawning, I slowly got out of bed before checking the time in my phone.
7:15 a.m.

Then, I jumped up about two feet high, my heart pounding, when I read the date.
25 December.

"Wh-- it's Christmas!! Oh- wait- I need to go-" I stumbled and tripped over my own legs, falling headfirst on the floor.
"Ow ow ow ow...." Rubbing my head, I quickly got up, grabbed my jacket, and headed out.

It wasn't just Christmas today.
It was Karma's Birthday!!

"Honey, where-" I heard my mom call from the kitchen, but I was already running out when she did, so I didn't really catch what she said.
I hope she won't be too mad!

Yesterday, I went out shopping with Kayano, but I couldn't find anything for Karma.
Worse still, the outcome was a total disaster.

I stopped and banged my head on a telephone pole to stop myself from remembering what Karma had told me yesterday.
I didn't hear anything. No, I didn't.

A few people were passing by, and all of them were looking at me as if I was crazy. I don't blame them!

I ran all the way to the Gift Shop and stopped at the door, huffing.
As I entered, an old lady greeted me.
"Welcome! How may I help you?" She asked, smiling sweetly.

"Um...it's okay, I'm here to get a gift for my friend."
I started to look around the shop, when the old woman suddenly said, "Rio-chan, could you see to our customer?"

"Sure, Yuko-san! Just a second..."
Suddenly, my classmate Rio Nakamura appeared from behind a bunch of flowers, wiping her face with her shirt sleeve.

"Eh?! It's Nagisa-kun! What's up??" Rio came trotting over.
"Nakamura-san?! What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.
"Oh, I work here part-time! But what, Nagisa-kun? Coming to a gift shop, on Christmas day...? Could it be that Nagisa-kun has a girlfriend?!" Rio's eyes sparkled just like Kayano's! Geez, girls are so scary!!

"U-um..." I suddenly figured that lying to Rio won't do me any good. Rather, the same thing as Kayano would happen again.
So, I let out a deeeep breathe and told Rio about me and Karma, although she's the last person I would want to trust with that information.

At first, Rio was like, 'OMG!!! IT'S BOYS' LOVE!!!' and stuff like 'you must be the uke' and 'Karma-kun would be a great seme' and what not!

When she finally calmed down, she showed me around the shop, and I actually found a couple of good things!

And in the end, my favourite thing was a bright red scarf, the same colour as Karma's hair.

"What do you think?" I asked, holding up the scarf for Rio to see. She grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

And like that, the 'gift' issue was solved.

"Happy Birthday, Karma-kun! This is for you!" I said stiffly, standing in front of my mirror.
Gripping the gift-wrapped scarf tightly, I held it out with a slight bow.

"Ah, geez!! No way, that's so stuck up!" I grumbled to myself, rejecting the pose immediately.

What was I doing?
Practicing.
I was actually practicing how to give my lover a gift on his birthday.

I sighed.
I couldn't believe how pathetic I was. I quickly checked the time.
4:30 p.m.

I was supposed to meet up with Karma in an hour.
I hastily turned to the mirror again.
Taking a deep breathe, I said, "Karma-kun, I wish you a very happy birthday! Here, this is for you. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"
Although it was kind of formal, that was pretty good for me!