"Yahoo! The holidays are here!" Zak cheered, spinning around in his chair with his hands in the air like he just don't care. "I can finally take a break from writing Circumstances! Ah man, my fingers really hurt..."
He got out of his seat and wobbled over to the mini-fridge in his cramped room, where he opened it and took a can of coffee out. Opening it, he started to empty the entire can into his mouth.
"Nothing beats a hard-earned coffee after a good day's worth of work." Zak nodded, rubbing his tired eyes and wandering over to his curtains. He opened it, and a blinding ray of light pierced his eyes. "Ah shit, how long did I stay up for? I started writing in the afternoon, and now it's morning?! Editor-kun's gonna kill me if I can't make it to the studio by noon!"
Scrambling to his desk, Zak poured over his loose pens, sheets of paper, crushed cans and food wrappers to find his phone buried beneath it all. Turning it on, Zak checked the time with a grin on his face.
"Ahaha... it's 6am! I have plenty of time! I won't be beat just yet! Except by my bladder since I really gotta go..." Zak sniffled.
After taking a wonderful trip to the bathroom to freshen himself up, Zak began cleaning his unbelievably messy room. Despite being a neat-freak and loving things that are in an orderly fashion, after becoming an author, the hectic life of writing constantly to polish his craft has overtaken time dedicated to keeping his room clean. After finishing his work, he always takes time to clean around his apartment.
After finishing that, he logs back onto his computer to check over his business emails. A lot of them are usually about offers from companies to do interviews, make special promotions using Circumstances, or other various things Zak isn't interested in.
Finally, he check his work emails that are from his editor and artist. As usual, his editor is reminding him about the book, and his artist is showing him the final drawings of what Zak requested for the art.
As Circumstances has received a manga adaption recently, Zak is in contact with the manga artist and is helping him to make a good adaption. Other emails include the anime directors thanks, since the Circumstances anime has finished this season, and congratulations from the committee behind it.
Zak relaxed, fist-pumping over the prospect of the money he's bound to receive by the end of the month, but more importantly, the Christmas break so he can take some time off to visit his sister who is coming home to Japan after taking a culinary school abroad in France, where Masaru is, coincidentally, also working at the moment.
As Christmas time approaches, everyone decides that the best place to hold their gathering is at Zak's apartment. But first, he has to make a trip to this editor and submit the newest volume of Circumstances, ready for the January release.
"Good work as usual, Tashimare." Zak's editor said.
"Oh please, Amatsuyu. Just call me Zak. If it weren't for you, I'd never publish Circumstances as a series."
"I have lots of respect for you, so calling you in such a familiar basis feels wrong. Your work has become of the company's best sellers!"
"If we were that distant, I'd call you by your last name. But I'm not, am I?"
"Well, I suppose you're not wrong..."
"Exactly. Say, does your family want to come over to ours for Christmas?"
"Oh, I'd love to meet your family!"
"Same here. Anyways, thanks for working hard for me as usual."
"Same to you do. Good job this past month, you've really made headlines."
It was now Christmas Day. In Zak's apartment, many people gathered. Izanoku, his sister, Masaru, his sister's boyfriend, Makoto, his sister's boyfriend's big brother, Amatsuyu, his editor, and Amatsuyu's wife, Sakuya and Amatsuyu's daughter, Shizuka.
"You didn't start cooking, right?" Izanoku asked. "Because I'm here to show off my cooking skills!"
"I don't have faith in you." Masaru said.
"I'll be the one having the last laugh when you try my fried chicken!" Izanoku entered the kitchen to start cooking.
"It's a shame Callum couldn't make it. What happened to him?"
"More like what happened to you? Why are you wearing a Santa outfit?" Zak asked.
"Oh, this? I heard there were gonna be little kids coming over so I thought it would be fitting." Masaru laughed.
"Well, there's only one little kid and it's my editor's daughter..."
"I'll be sure to make an embarrassment out of you and get your book series cancelled."
"Screw you!"
"Ohohoho. You've seriously lightened up the last time I saw you."
"I don't have a stick up my ass anymore since we aren't fighting a God."
"Y'know, you're not wrong."
"Daddy, Daddy! Santa's here!" Shizuka exclaimed, running over to Masaru.
"Ahaha, so he is." Amatsuyu laughed awkwardly. "What the heck Tashimare? Why do you have a suspicious guy dressed as Santa?!"
"Please forgive me, he's my sister's boyfriend..." Zak bowed to his editor repeatedly.
"Eh... it's fine. At least our little girl is getting entertained."
Masaru was in a rocking chair, with Shizuka sitting on his lap.
"Oi, oi, I suddenly regret this..." Masaru thought. "Ohohoho! Merry Christmas! Young one, what's your name?"
"Shizuka Chabashira!"
"Ohohoho, I've heard that you've been a good little girl this Christmas, Shizuka. What present would you like for Christmas?"
"Hmm... I want..."
Amatsuyu stared at the scene with a few hairs springing out of place. Sakuya giggled as she patted his shoulders.
"Amatsuyu, don't worry about it so much. You're so overprotective."
"B-But... Shizuka never laughs or smiles so much when she sits on my lap... where did I go wrong as a father...?!"
"Even editors have it rough, huh?" Makoto, Masaru's brother, laughed as he approached Zak. "Nice meeting ya. Heard lots good of things about you."
"Are you sure there're good things? I mean, your brother is something else..." Zak shook Makoto's hand.
"By good things I mean you being in love with an Astolfo beanie that sucks your dick and calls you gay."
"DAMN IT, YOU'RE JUST LIKE HIM!"
Zak pointed at Masaru, who had a demonic grin on his face while looking at Zak. Then, Masaru handed Shizuka a wrapped present.
"Luckily for you, young Shizuka, I have your present right here. Merry Christmas!"
"Thanks Santa! I'm going to show it to my mommy and daddy!" Shizuka said, hopping onto the floor and running over to her parents which sat on the sofa. "Can I open it now!?"
"Not yet sweetie. Let's do it when we go home." Amatsuyu grabbed Shizuka and sat her down in between him and Sakuya.
"You have a lovely apartment, Zak. It's very clean." Sakuya said.
"Thanks. I'm hoping to move somewhere with more space."
"Could Z-Domo not come?" Amatsuyu asked. Z-Domo was Zak's artist.
"He's spending Christmas with his extended family."
"Ah, what a shame. Could've had the whole crew together." Amatsuyu laughed bitterly.
"I'm gonna check on my sis in the kitchen, you guys make yourselves at home!" Zak ran into the kitchen, and blinked. His jaw dropped as he watched Izanoku prepare ingredients with the utmost ease.
"Give me another twenty minutes and I'll get the fried chicken out. Right now I'm preparing a coleslaw to go alongside it." Izanoku said, chopping vegetables with such skill and precision, it could be considered gorgeous.
"You... you look just like Erima from Shokugeki no Touma!" Zak exclaimed.
Izanoku blinked. "I do?"
"When did you become so good at cooking?!"
"Ever since I was placed at the bottom of my class..."
"Eh...?"
"Long story short, after I started culinary school in France, I was doing really badly. I was at the bottom of my class and I could barely read or speak French, even after getting lessons in Japan. So I decided to crack down and work even harder not to fail in the kitchen and become another laughing stock." Izanoku continued to chop vegetables. "I practiced the basics over and over while at the same time honing my French skills with the help of remedial classes. Afterwards, I became fluent in French, which helped me greatly in understanding what was being taught in lessons, and started seeing exponential growth in my cooking. Now..." Izanoku dumped the julienned vegetables into a bowl and added mayonnaise and a vinaigrette. "I'm in the middle of my class!"
"...woah, that's super cool of you big sis! You can speak another language and cook too?! You've come leaps and bounds!"
"You have too, little bro. You're a best-selling author who's raking it in. I think both of our parents would be proud of us."
"Well, we still have each other."
"Commencing the fried chicken!" Izanoku got out a bowl of chicken from the fridge, and set up a station to fry it. Zak watched as Izanoku meticulously coated the chicken in breading, then dunked it in the pan to start frying. The aroma of herbs wafted through the air and caught the attention of those in the living room.
"Ohohoho, so you can cook?" Masaru said, stroking his beard.
"I'm gonna serve you the best damned fried chicken ever, and still have leftovers for when we visit Callum later today!"
"Wait, we're going to visit Callum?" Masaru blinked.
"Yeah, aren't we, Zak?"
"Yep. Even mentioned it in the group chat."
"Oh man... time to go pull a present from my ass."
"Who's Callum?" Amatsuyu asked.
"Old friend of ours. He couldn't come for personal reasons." Zak said.
"Ah, gotcha. Well, regardless, let's enjoy our time with who we have here now."
"I agree. Let's get your Christmas spirit on, everybody!" Makoto raised a bottle of wine and cracked it open.
Zak started to play some Christmas music and Sakuya helped put up some decorations. Izanoku was fiercely cooking chicken, and Makoto was pouring everyone drinks. Amatsuyu kept Shizuka entertained, and Masaru was giving out presents to everybody.
"Here's your present, Zak. It's from your father." Masaru said.
"But he's dead..." Zak said.
"If Kyle's alive, he can be too."
"Haha, very funny." Zak took the present off Masaru's hands. "This is pretty large, actually..."
"You should open it."
"No one else is opening theirs, so it feels wrong."
"What a shame. Your dad said "she's cute"."
Zak looked at the box in his hands and his eyes widened.
"Don't tell me, is this a waifu figure of the heroine from Circumstances, Izanoku?! They released one this month, but I didn't get the chance to buy one since I was busy!"
He tore the wrapping off, and his eyes were horrified at what he saw next.
It was an Astolfo figure.
Izanoku peered over Zak's shoulder, holding a tray of fried chicken in her hands.
"He a little confused, but he got the spirit."
"MAAAAAAASAAAAAAAAAAAAARUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!"
"By the way, you stile owe me credit for that story you published. Maybe a little royalty, eh, eh?"
Izanoku laughed, putting the tray on the table.
"Want to say it together, Masaru?"
"Time for your 4th wall break debut, Iza."
Izanoku and Masaru turned to you, the reader of this Christmas special.
"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years, everyone!"
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