Episode 6: Operation: Christmas

OBLIGATORY CHRISTMAS EPISODE IS OBLIGATORY.

It’s the most stupidest time of the year!

… Or, at least Mimori thought so. But yet again, don’t trust her for her opinions on anything, because she hates mostly everything for specific and reasonable reasons. Let’s focus this episode on Erica instead, who hasn’t had a focus episode yet.

Shall we?

★

It was a blizzardy, snowy Thursday afternoon, approximately one day before winter break. All the girls were incredibly nervouscited for school to be let out.

This included Erica who was flying to America, where she originally came from, two days from now.

Ughhh, I am so not looking forward to this.

The girl hated flying.

“Calm down, Erica,” she said to herself. “Try to get pumped up! Motivated!”

She was totally failing at the whole “get over your phobia” thing her parents were convincing her to do. So, doing what she did best, she distracted herself by asking her best friends a simple question.

“So, guys! What do you want for Christmas?”

That occurred when her friends had just walked into the clubroom, FYI.

“Ooh! Ooh! The new Equestria Girls dolls! You know, wave 2? I already have three of the wave 1 ones.”

Of course, the first to answer her question was Mimori, who was not shy around her friends about what (or who) she was into. Which was, at the moment, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and Drew Fuller, an actor from Charmed that she very, very much had a crush on.

“I would love some new clothes,” Tomo said, giggling a bit. She crossed her legs while getting situated. “I mean, new-old clothes. The clothes these days are just, well… is ‘hideous’ a good word to use?”

Kasumi, who had also just taken a seat, looked both stunned and amused at the same time, if that was even possible. “Wow. Tomo, the hypocrite. that’s a new one.”

“What do you want for Christ-mass, Kasumi-chan?” asked Mimori curiously. Erica noted her friend’s intentional butchering of the pronunciation of the word.

Kasumi sighed. “I’m not sure, really. I mean, I’ve already made a list and checked it twice, but I feel like it’s incomplete. Let’s see… maybe some new nail polish, I guess? And an iTunes gift card? Or perhaps some new boots…”

Already bored with waffling, Kasumi turned to Mimori, who was right next to her, and did the Caesar Orzell pose with a thinking face. As expected, Mimori exploded into hyena-like laughter.

At that moment, it was Erica’s turn to sigh. “Anybody else wanna share?” she asked, looking around the table.

Unexpectedly, Suika piped up. “I want to,” she said stoically.

“Okay! Go ahead.”

Erica was prepared for something odd, and she wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. “I would like a Chris Halliwell body pillow.”

Asuka, raised an eyebrow, despite her being Suika’s best friend and supposedly knowing everything about her. “Who the heck is that, Sui-chan? You never told me—”

“You don’t wanna know,” Jopi interrupted, face suddenly darkened. “Trust me. She told me everything.”

Mimori, who was listening intently in on the conversation, began to freak out… although it felt a tad bit delayed. “Oh my God! A Chris body pillow?”

What followed was a series of noises that would be really hard to write down, but will be attempted to, anyway.

“‘Ooo-hee-hee-hee-roo-doo-roo-ree-roo-doo!

Ba-na-da-buh-buh-duh-dum-dee-dum!’”

… Or, something like that. Erica got the feeling that she was quoting something since she’s Mimori and all that. She felt like everything that came out of that girl’s mouth was a quote from something.

Back to the raw subject at hand before you get Fuller of what I just Drew, the girls were slightly freaked out by Mimori’s outburst and Suika’s slightly degenerate side, but continued on with full speed.

“I would like a ton of new video games,” said Behami, jumping up and down in her seat. “Or better yet, a Steam gift card!”

Mari clasped her hands together. “Praise Lord Gaben,” she said in an overly theatrical voice.

“Amen,” Kasumi added flatly. What, is she a nerd too? Actually no, she’s not. She just wants to not get the conversation sidetracked.

“Anyone want a new iPhone?” wondered Asuka.

“No,” all the girls chorused.

“Android for life,” echoed Naoko.

“Alright then,” Asuka said through gritted teeth, still smiling. “No pressure.”

But pressure there clearly was.

“Two girls left,” Erica announced like she was narrating a football game or something. “Er, three if you count me, but I’m going last.”

Likewise, Naoko raised her hand.

Erica pointed to her friend. “Naoko?” She called out, albeit a bit incriminating in nature. “You go.”

The girl cleared her throat. “I would like for me and Nathan to have a nice date together at his house, sitting by the fireplace and talking about our hopes, dreams, and fears.”

Erica’s widened. That was so wholesome!

“How inspirational!” she squealed.

Mimori pouted cutely. “Uguu! If only me and Hank could do that. It’s too bad—”

Luckily, Kasumi cupped her hand over her friend’s mouth, drowning out the sounds of her endless whining and complaining.

“Jopi-chan! You’re next!”

The kouhai by two years smiled warmly and ran a finger through her poofy brunette hair. “I would just like, or want, a nice feast on Christmas day, and for everyone to get along.” At this, Jopi glanced at Mimori and Kasumi, who were bickering and at Asuka who was giving Suika the Ultimate Stink Eye.

“Oh, and maybe a Puppy Surprise plush!”

That was also so wholesome—but with a shade of sarcasm. Classic Jopi-chan!

“My sister’s friend has a bunch of those,” mused Mimori, who at the speed of light moved her attention over to Jopi. Kasumi thus removed her hand from her friend’s mouth.

“And me?” Erica said rather loudly, hoping to cut off an unfolding conversation. “I just want to have a good time in America with my friends and family—and keep in touch with you all, of course! Is that too much to ask for?”

“I’m not sure,” Tomo said. “Oh, and by the way, how is my new video doing?”

At that question, Erica’s face lit up. “Oh! It’s doing great! Already has 1,000 views!”

Tomo’s mouth dropped open, rendering her unable to say anything other than “Uwaah!”.

During this, Erica suddenly had an idea. “Hey, guys! Let’s do a present-switcharoo-thingy tomorrow at our party!”

Naoko’s eyebrows raised slightly. “You mean, like a white elephant gift or something?”

“Exactly, exactly!” Erica nodded spastically. “And we can invite Nathan and Henry, too!”

Mimori clapped her hands together although Erica wasn’t sure why.

Kasumi’s nose wrinkled. “Nah. Can it just be girls only, please? I can imagine Naoko losing her shit if I ended up kissing Nathan under the mistletoe or something.”

Naoko looked visibly deflated, but she understood. Probably because she wanted Nathan and her to end up under the mistletoe. “Okay,” she said softly.

Erica rolled her eyes. “We don’t have to have a mistletoe, guys. I’m inviting them anyway. We’ll all live.”

The girls made various agreement noises and Erica made a mental note in her brain to call the guys up when she got home.

As the girls chit-chatted about their exciting first school party, Asuka walked up to Erica and made a gesture to her.

“Um, Erica. May we talk outside?”

Erica blinked. “Uh, sure.”

The two girls exited the room, and Erica made sure to close the door quietly.

Asuka looked rather serious while drawing in a deep breath.

What the hell does she want?

“Erica-chan, pardon my English but how the hell are you going to decorate the room and stuff by tomorrow?”

Erica made fishy lips for no reason other than to amuse herself.

Ah, yes. The job that she said a few weeks ago that she was going to tackle but never did. Well, at least I’ve got all the stuff in a box in my room. That’s got to count for something, right?

“Well, I’m a quick decorator,” she reasoned. “Plus, if I had other people help me, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, would it? Also, decorating isn’t that hard. You just gotta hang some stuff up and stick some stuff on the walls.”

Asuka was silent for a moment and then shrugged.

“Fine. Do whatever then.”

She then walked back into the room and left Erica there to stand there, thinking about the half-baked conversation they just had.

★

That evening, Erica found herself in a pickle.

She knew that picking out a white elephant present was not going to be easy, as mystery gift giving tended to be. The real challenge was going to find something that would appeal to both the girls and the two boys. Admittedly, Erica did have a pile of junk in the corner of her room that she had been meaning to sort out for months now, which was stacked to the brim with various things that she still held on to. Such things included bootleg Disney DVDs that she got at a flea market somewhere back in Michigan because she thought they were amusing and stuff from various birthday parties from back in the day, via Oriental Trading.

Would any one of them even like these items?

… What do kids like these days?!

For a second there she felt like she was Tomo.

Erica knew this was going to be a mental battle, and she was going to have to fight it on her own.

Silence filled her bedroom for a solid two minutes. She then perked up.

“Yes. I’m going to do it.”

The battle was won.

★

“It’s going to take some time to decorate,” they said. “It’s super stressful,” they said.

But one does not simply say that to a fellow, seasoned member of the Can Do Anything Club. Also, one does not simply quote overused, old memes.

But they were so good back in the day! she thought to herself, a tear coming down her face as she put up the last streamer. Realizing how cheesy she was getting about dumb things on the Internet, she wiped her tears away with her shirt sleeve and stepped down from the mini stepladder.

And with a big flourish of her hands as if she was casting a spell on the room, she was done!

“‘Ah ha ha ha ha, woo!’” she cackled, reminding herself of that one song with a similar evil laugh.

Oh, and the best thing about the party, in her (and a few others) opinions?

There was going to be regular music.

Yes, that was right. No Christmas music at all. The main reason was that Mimori adamantly hated Christmas music so she decided to step up and play some of her own stuff. Erica was admittedly sick of Christmas music too. However, music with Mimori was 50/50 because half of the time she’d play actual bangers and the other half she’d play a bunch of My Little Pony music or ten Pitbull songs in a row, just for “fun.”

Hopefully, she plays some bangers this time.

Innyway, Erica was done decorating, and it had only consumed barely an hour of her life. Halle-freakin-lujah.

Oh, and it was also the day of the party. Big whoop, right? Erica managed to get out of her last class of the day, language arts, a bit early by reading the assigned chapter for a book her class was reading the night before, as well as the questions that went along with it.

The room was all set—save for some of the cold food, which was currently chilling out (pun intended) in the cooler that was under the long, wide table.

Erica took a deep breath, exhaled, and began to change into her cute Santa dress in the corner of the clubroom.

The girl thought she did a great job decorating. Green and red streamers hung from the ceiling, along with decorative snowflakes. The table was also covered in fake snow, and the three white elephant gifts she brought were wrapped and sitting on an extra chair. (She brought three gifts because the boys confirmed that they were coming and she didn’t want to put pressure on any of her friends to bring two extra presents. The game was her idea, after all.)

There was a hesitant-sounding knock on the door as Erica was buttoning the back of her dress.

“Who is it?” she sang cheerfully.

“It’s me, Tomo.” the voice answered. “Kasumi told me that she got a text from you saying that Nathan wanted to come to the party so I teleported him here. Is it okay to come in or have you not finished decorating the room yet?”

Erica sighed as she straightened her dress and put on her Santa hat. “Yes, you’re good. You can come in.”

Why do I feel so nervous right now? Am I getting cold feet?

Cold feet for a party? What?

Erica gathered up her courage and opened the door.

“Surprise!” she shouted, waving her hands in the air (like she just doesn’t care?).

When Tomo and Nathan walked in, they expressed amazement at Erica’s mad decorating skills.

“M-may I take your present, please?” asked Erica politely, fidgeting with her hands behind her back. “Oh, and Mimori will be here any minute now with the, um… music.”

Nathan widened her eyes. “Cool! I can only expect good things from her playlist, as usual.”

Erica rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Yup, you could say that. Just pray that it’s not infested with Pitbull.”

“Ah. Yeah, you’re right,” Nathan chuckled. Then, he suddenly perked up. “Oh, hey! I like your outfit, by the way! You look nice.” He paused. “I’m saying that as Naoko’s boyfriend, by the way.”

Erica shook her head as she set Tomo’s gift on the table. “Nah, nah. You’re good. I get you.”

Just then…

“HEY GUYS I’M HERE WITH THE MUSIC!” a voice shrieked out of the middle of nowhere.

“Ah, it’s Mimori!” Tomo said all too happily.

The door slammed as Mimori, clad in her usual too-lazy-to-dress-up-properly get-up (available in solid colors, stripes, and pockets), entered the room with her prized possession: her fully charged iPod Nano. Oh, and a Bluetooth speaker too, which Erica had a feeling was going to be a pain to set up despite how easy it was supposed to be. Trailing behind her was the rest of the gang, each with a white elephant gift, sans Henry (also known as Max). Their reactions to the clubroom were, of course, positive.

After all the “oohing”, “ahhing” and Mimori’s yelps from having to struggle with the stupid Bluetooth connection to get to play her equally dubious playlist (to which Naoko had to help her with), the party was underway.

“Okay, everyone!” Erica shouted over the chatting of her friends/club members. “First things first—let’s do the white elephant swap!”

Already having the gifts mixed up in the middle of the table, she patted her hand in front of the massive mountain of mystery.

“Alright, everybody! Please form a line! When you get in front of the table, pick a random present and sit down. Once everyone has one, we’ll take turns opening them and guessing who bought it! Sounds fair?”

“Fair and square,” saluted Behami, saluting her friend comically.

“Good.” Erica nodded, and a smirk formed on her face.

Let the games begin.

★

Honestly, it didn't take long at all for everyone to pick a random present from the table. In fact, she’d say it took the friends the whole duration of one of Mimori’s early 2000s alternative rock one-hit wonder songs. (Guess. I DARE you!)

Once everyone had chosen a mystifying mystery gift (including Erica, who was the last one to pick), the members were eager to open them.

“Behami!” Erica instructed. “Since you were first in line… guys, get back in line! You go first. Please.”

Behami nodded, but likely to the song that was playing in the background at the moment. “On it,” she said in an overly serious tone.

The club members watched in anticipation as Behami unwrapped the gift, only to reveal…

… a dictionary?

“What are you, a dictionary?!” Mimori said in a squeaky voice, imitating probably a My Little Pony character.

The look that was Behami’s face was practically priceless.

“It was me,” Naoko said bluntly, raising her hand.

Behami distorted her brows. “Wow. Thanks, Naoko-chan. I was thinking it was either you, Tomo or Asuka. Well, um. Thanks.” The girl put on a stiff-looking smile.

Erica looked worriedly at Naoko, and read her mind.

I expected as much. Oh well.

On the outside, her face was stone-cold, as always.

Oh, well I guess no hurt feelings then. Poor Behami though!

“Next!” she then called out, trying to snap her mind back to the gift opening.

“Me!” Mimori said a little too hastily as she just as roughly began to open the gift (it was a System of a Down CD).

“Oh my God! Thank you so much, Mari-chan!”

Mari flicked her bangs for no reason. “T’was me, and you’re welcome.”

What’s even the point in the whole “guessing” thing anyway? Erica thought, a little downcast. She fiddled with the present in her hand, hoping it was something she’d end up liking.

The next person to go was Henry, and he ended up getting one of those cheap, plastic watches. Asuka admitted that she picked out that gift and Henry didn’t mind, and thanked her for it.

The person after that was Nathan, and he was a little puzzled as to why Tomo would ever give something that mundane anyway (a set of pencils, to be specific), to which her reply was “I wanted it to be something useful,” and the kids couldn’t argue with that.

The people who got Erica’s region-free, bootleg Disney DVDs were as follows: Suika got the Cinderella one, thanking her quietly and continuing with her dead-eyed stare; Mari, funnily enough, got The Little Mermaid, sporting an exaggerated icky face when she first saw it, and Tomo got Mulan 2, which made her outright confused and made her question whether or not her parents had a DVD player hidden in the attic.

As the white elephant extravaganza marched on, the reactions were admittedly pretty hilarious. Jopi’s overly cute reaction to Mimori’s mint-in-condition Candy Skull earbuds was adorable, and so was her reaction to Kasumi getting her husky Beanie Baby. Another funny reaction was Naoko ended up getting a sparkly purple notebook, courtesy of the weird Suika-chan, but the best one was probably Asuka’s reaction to her getting a Pony DVD, to which Kasumi was absolutely mortified to admit she brought.

Finally, after all of that, Erica was (of course!) the last to open her gift. At this point, however, her worries were gone.

Erica took a deep breath and tore into the thin, crunchy deep blue wrapping paper, only to reveal…

… a Mario game for the WiiU?!

Smiling from ear to ear. Erica took a long gaze at Behami, who was the only one who didn’t admit to having brought any of the previous gifts.

Then, she said it.

“I don’t have the WiiU,” she said, in a flat voice.

Behami blinked innocently.

“Ah, so you don’t!” she chuckled and scratched her head sheepishly.

An awkward silence filled the room as Behami continued to scratch herself as if she had mosquito bites all over.

“Um, so…” Erica’s voice trailed off as she stared at the game in her hand, flipping it back and forth on her lap.

“Hey.” Behami patted Erica’s leg and stuck out her hand. “Give,” she replied. “I’ll give you another thing instead.”

Erica, who was suddenly speechless again, watched Behami take the game right out of her hands and dug around in her backpac,k and instead pulled out what looked like a compact.

“Here,” she said casually as she handed it to Erica. “Merry Christmas! Sorry about that, eh heh.”

Everyone began talking at once after that occurred.

“I say, good show!” Mimori shouted, causing Kasumi to facepalm.

★

The rest of the afternoon went swimmingly. After the exchange game, Erica brought out the food and everyone ate. After that, the girls (and two boys) just talked, as per usual.

After the party was over, Erica was left to clean the mess up all by herself. Alright so Tomo helped her a little, but then she had to leave because she had an eye doctor appointment or something like that. Oh, and Asuka also kind of stayed behind to help, too, so she wasn’t totally alone, but Erica loved to exaggerate things for humor, no matter how dark it was.

It was when Asuka was helping her out that this particular exchange occurred.

“Good job, Erica-chan.” For the first time that afternoon, Asuka actually smiled, not that fake crap where her eyes looked soulless.

Man, she looks really pretty when she smiles. (Now if only she did that in photographs…)

Erica wanted to slap herself for doing a Mimori-core thing and referencing an early 2000s rock song (in her head, but still) but didn’t.

“Thanks,” she replied softly.

And then it was her turn to abandon her… or not, seeing as Erica was starting to undress, Henry teleported into the room.

Of course.

“Oh, so sorry!” he cried as he shielded his eyes, making Erica sigh and zip her dress back up.

“Whatcha want?” she asked, as she instead took a seat at the table.

Henry just stood there, not taking a seat. “I just wanted to say, thanks for the party. It was great. Oh, and I wanted to give you this… you’ve been looking very tired lately.”

Erica carefully took the glass vial from his hand and gasped.

“Oh my God! You actually did it!” she looked at the boy-who-was-actually-immortal, a big grin on her face.

Henry nodded. “Yeah. It took some time to make, but this potion will eradicate your dream-seeing power. Unless you really wanna keep it, of course.”

Erica chuckled. “Ah ha ha. Funny story, Henry.” Then, she broke out into a large, lopsided grin. “Thanks. I’ll take it as soon as I get home. Right now, I’ve gotta bag up the remaining traits!”

“Ah, can I help out?”

And so the two finished cleaning the room, Henry offering to teleport her home afterward. As for Erica’s parents, well…? They didn’t suspect a thing.