Masara's Merry Christmas: A Magia Record Fanfiction

Part 2: The Preparations

 A few days later, Kokoro and Masara went to the shopping centre. Although they had arranged to meet Momoko before noon, there were a lot of Christmas shoppers bustling around. 

 "I still can't see her," Kokoro said, standing on her toes and straining to look past the crowds. "Can you check your phone, Masara? I could have sworn she texted us to meet her by the fountain." 

 Masara pulled out her phone and scrolled to Momoko's most recent message. "She told us to be by the fountain for 11:30, and it's 11:43 now. She's definitely running late."

 "Wait, there she is!" Kokoro started to wave her arms up and down, almost toppling over. "We're over here!" she called out.

 Momoko shouldered through the crowd, shopping bags in hand. She waved back at Kokoro and made her way to the fountain.

 "Sorry for keeping you waiting," she said, out of breath. "I can't believe how busy it is today."

 "No problem," Kokoro replied. She eyed Momoko's shopping bags. "Have you already been getting things for the party?"

 Momoko shook her head. "Not yet, just getting a few presents. Mitama hinted that she wanted a new tea set for Christmas, so I wanted to pick it up before meeting with you." She set the bags down and pulled a folded piece of paper out of her coat pocket, handing it to Masara.

 "Mitama made some lists of things to get today. I figured I would handle the food, could you two look for decorations?"

 "Sure," Kokoro said. She leaned over Masara's shoulder to scan their list. "This doesn't look like a lot to get, are you sure you don't want us to help you with the food?"

 Momoko laughed. "Trust me, you're already helping. This trip took me forever last year, I kept second-guessing every decoration I picked out. I don't exactly have an eye for detail.

 "It's almost noon now. Let's split up and meet back here at, say, 3:00? Hopefully there won't be as many people then." 

 "Sounds good," Kokoro said. "Are you ready, Masara?"

 The other girl nodded, already tired of being at the shopping centre. She hoped this errand wouldn't take very long...

                                                                           ***

 An hour later, they had been in and out of a dozen stores but didn't seem to be making any progress.

 "What do you think of this garland?" Kokoro held up yet another item for Masara to inspect. 

 "It's fine, I suppose," Masara replied. Her gaze wandered around the little shop, so much like every other one they had entered that day. This was even more of a bore than she thought. A free Adjustment was getting less appealing by the minute.

 Kokoro sighed. "I know this isn't really your thing, but could you please try to help?"

 Genuine confusion crossed Masara's face. "Why? I've never decorated for Christmas before."

 Kokoro looked exasperated. "You don't have to have experience in Christmas decorating to choose things for the party! Just tell me if you think it looks nice or not." She brandished the garland almost threateningly. 

 Masara looked at it as though it might bite her. "It's... nice. Very red."

 Kokoro's expression softened. "I'm sorry, Masara," she said, putting the garland back on its shelf. "I'm being way too overbearing."

 "It's alright," Masara replied. "I know this party means a lot to you."

 Kokoro smiled at her. "Why don't we take a break and come back later?"