Primary Paring: NicoMaki

Hinted Pairings: NozoEli, RinPana, KotoUmi

Words: ~2.2k

Rating: K+

Time Frame: The week between Christmas and New Year, during Maki’s 1st and Nico’s 3rd year of high school.

Story Arc: “First Christmas”

First Christmas

Different

List of all HtHaN scenes

Author’s Note: This scene is a followup to Promoshoot, even if it takes place a number of weeks later.

From a real world standpoint, this entry doubles as one of the gifts the staff of Sukutomo is giving to its amazing community this year for Christmas. Unfortunately, I’m a little late as I let myself get sidetracked writing Nico on Ice and its follow up Sprawled on Ice, so I changed the in-scene date to after Christmas as well, as my own little meta reference. Ironically, NoI and SoI are kinda sorta Xmas’y as well, but they weren’t written with the intention of being a gift with a wider possible demographic.



As this is intended to appeal to more than just my fellow NicoMaki fans, I tried to include more interactions with the other girls. The rest of my favorite ships apply; NozoEli, KotoUmi and RinPana. In the overall world of HtHaN, HonoTsuba is the other pairing involving µ’s members, but at this point in the timeline, there hasn’t been enough interaction for me to include it the way I would want here.

“Alright,” Umi said from her position standing at the head of the clubroom table, “next order of business: our Christmas party.”

“I vote we have it at Maki-chan’s house!” Honoka cried, holding a hand up excitedly.

“Buweeh?” Maki looked up from her music notebook.

“Honoka.” Umi scolded. “We can’t just invite ourselves over to Maki’s house whenever we feel like it.”

“Awwww…” The leader of µ’s whined. “But Maki-chan has a piano and I wanted to sing Christmas carols…”

The group’s composer reached up and started twirling a few strands of her hair around a finger. “I suppose I could ask Papa and Mama…”

“Really!?” Honoka jumped out of her seat, only to trip on her own chair and faceplant on the table. “Owwieee…” she whined, sitting back down while rubbing her nose.

“Are you sure?” Umi inquired of her junior while ignoring her fellow second year. “We wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I’m sure it will be fine.” Maki said, thinking about how surprisingly easy it had been to convince her parents to let the girls use two vacation homes so far.

“Christmas at Maki-chan’s, nya!” Rin exclaimed, throwing herself easily on the redhead as she lacked a table between them.

“Rin…” The redhead started to protest, but when she saw the excited faces of everyone else, she sighed and gave up the idea of pushing away her fellow first year. “It won’t actually be on Christmas though, right?” She asked instead. “Mama and Papa and I have traditions to follow that day.”

“No, of course not.” The blue-haired girl assured. “I was thinking about after school sometime the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Anyone have a preference of days?”

“Mama has off from her second job the rest of the week after Christmas.” Nico offered. “So, she can take care of the kids and I’ll be free.”

“Alright, anyone else have limitations we need to consider?”

Six heads shook around the table, allowing the date to be set with ease.

“Presents!” Honoka cried, having just finished gorging herself on the heavy hor d’oeurves prepared by the Nishikinos’ servants.

“Presents, nya!” Rin echoed, despite still having food on her plate.

“Presents!” Nozomi chimed in, bringing a stack of neatly wrapped presents out onto the table.

Eli’s eyes widened. “Are those…?”

“You’ll have to open them to find out.” Nozomi grinned. “There’s nine here, so one for each of us.”

“Does it matter which one we take?” Hanayo asked.

“Not really, they’re mostly the same. But feel free to trade once you open them.”

That said, all nine girls took a package and began unwrapping them simultaneously.

“I knew it.” Eli said, staring at the box in her hands. “Would it be rude for me to have one now?”

“Of course not!” Nozomi laughed. “They’re meant to be eaten after all.”

Eli immediately tossed a chocolate into her mouth, savoring the smooth truffle filling.

“We all took them randomly,” Rin observed, “how did you end up with the only one that lacks caramel, Nozomi-chan?”

The purple-haired girl responded with a toothy grin.

“She probably marked them in some way.” Nico guessed.

“Nope.” Nozomi continued to smile.

“Well, she did say we could trade if we wanted,” Hanayo mused, “I would have traded with you if we had to, Nozomi-chan.”

“Thanks, Hanayo-chan but I knew it wouldn’t be necessary.”

“Did the cards tell you that?” Nico deadpanned the question.

“Of course.”

Nico rolled her eyes.

“Well, to continue with the theme of snacks,” Honoka hefted a box of her own onto the table, “my dad and I made these last night. Sorry, we didn’t leave time to box them all individually…” she held a single hand up in front of her face in a decidedly casual gesture of apology. “I was hoping Maki-chan could provide some containers if there are leftovers.”

“I’m sure we can figure out something.” The host said.

“Thanks, Maki-chan!” Honoka grinned. “And now, behold, the Homura Bakery’s latest creation:” She pulled off the container’s lid with grand ceremony, “Christmas Strawberry Daifuku!”

“Isn’t that usually a spring variety?” Umi asked, studying the confections. Certainly, from an external view, they looked Christmas themed, with dyed decorations depicting holly, reindeer, wrapped gifts and the like.

“Eh heh heh… We thought we’d try something a little different this time.”

“Just because?”

“Yeah…”

“Not because you’re sick of anko?”

“Awuuu…” Honoka pouted.

“They look delicious!” Kotori said, taking one with a light blue snowflake and quickly took a bite. “Mmmm… they are delicious!” She held a hand to her cheek.

“Thank you, Kotori-chan!” the leader of µ’s threw herself onto her childhood friend.

“They are indeed very good.” The blue-haired admitted.

“Umi-chan!” the orange-haired girl switched targets.

“H-Honoka…” Umi grunted under the weight of the other girl.

The rest of the girls took their share of the treats and collectively reached the conclusion that a traditionally springtime snack was a nice break from what was normally expected during the winter holiday season.

“Alright, my turn.” Eli said, distributing small packages to each of the other girls.

“Elicchi…” Nozomi uttered after opening hers.

“They’re nyamazing!” Rin cheered, holding up a small accessory.

“Did you make these?” Kotori asked.

“I did.” Eli confirmed with a nod. “And I made one for myself to match.” She held up a light blue Я.

“They’re our symbols…” Honoka said in awe.

“And our colors.” Maki held up her red star. “Thank you, Eli.”

The rest of the group echoed their composer’s sentiment.

“Our turn, nya!” An overly exuberant girl exclaimed as she jumped up to retrieve a set of packages.

“Are those origami bows I see?” Eli asked as the next set of gifts were distributed.

“Amazing detail.” Umi added.

“You’ll have to teach me how to make these sometime, Hanayo-chan.” Kotori said, running a hand across the folded paper.

“There’s also a reindeer on mine.” Nozomi commented.

“Is this Santa-san?” Maki asked.

“Yes.” Hanayo confirmed.

“And I got three snowmen?” Nico questioned.

“I… I thought your siblings might like them…” The sheepish girl explained quietly.

“Like them? They’ll love them!” the third year grinned. “Thanks, Hanayo.”

“Open! Open!” Rin prompted.

Seconds later, Nico snorted. Not long after, Eli stifled a chuckle. Nozomi bit her lip. Even Maki had trouble hiding a smirk.

“What’s wrong, nya?” the orange haired first year asked, suddenly worried. “Do you not like them?”

“Onigiri and ramen.” Umi stated, pulling out one of the packages in question.

“Not just any ramen!” Rin insisted. “NISSHIN Chicken Ramen!”

“And I used Akitakomachi rice for the onigiri.” Hanayo added.

“A very fitting gift.” Kotori said with a gentle smile. “Thank you, Hanayo-chan, Rin-chan.” That said, she stood. “And now for mine.”

Nico responded by handing out the packages from between her and Kotori.

“Nico-chan helped me a lot with these so they’re from both of us.” The ash-haired second year explained.

“Kotori set up the designs and picked out the material.” Nico explained, taking her seat. “But we both spent time on each when we made them.”

“Oooo… this looks warm.” Honoka said, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

“Such pretty colors, nya” Rin said, holding up a primarily yellow muffler with green accents. “And mine’s the opposite of Kayo-chin’s.”

Eli and Nozomi shared a knowing look as they noticed the colors chosen for theirs.

“Blue and grey are a good combination…” Umi thought aloud, taking note of the pattern and beginning to think there was a meaning behind it. Didn’t they pair off like this recently for one of their songs? Was this a tribute to the song’s popularity?

“And mine has all of your colors!” Honoka declared proudly.

“Because you’re our leader.” Kotori explained.

“I love it! Thank you, Kotori-chan!” the energetic leader pounced once again.

“Hold on…” Maki said, staring at hers still in its box. “Mine has pink as its accent. Pink is Nico-chan’s color. Why am I paired with Nico-chan?”

“You don’t want to be paired with Nico?” the raven-haired girl beside her asked.

“Buwehh?” Maki balked when she turned and saw Nico’s well practiced puppy-dog face. “I… Tha-that’s not what I said…”

“Nico-chan worked extra hard on that one, Maki-chan.” The ash-haired designer pointed out as the raven-haired girl put more effort into her pouting.

Maki glanced about for support, but only found expectant eyes staring at her. “Ahhh, mohhh…” She quickly wrapped the garment around her neck. “It’s fine, it’s…” she paused, blinked and placed a hand on the material, “soft… really soft. And warm. It’s… nice…”

“Awww! Maki-chan!” Nico draped herself over the redhead.

“Too warm! Too warm!” Maki complained. “Nico-chan…”

“I think that means it’s time for our gift.” The group’s lyricist spoke up. “Maki, are you ready?”

“Yeah… just… Nico-chan…”

“Fine, fine…” the twin-tailed girl relented before standing up. “You ready too, Eli?”

The blonde smiled. “Of course.”

“Maki and I called in the help of Eli and Nico for our gift.” Umi explained.

“Did you write a song?” Hanayo asked, perking up at the thought of new idol music, her eyes sparkling.

“Indeed we did.” Umi motioned to Maki as she took a seat at the piano as well as Nico and Eli who took positions beside it. “It is my pleasure to present to you, BiBi’s new song, Silent tonight.”

“There’s one gift left, nya.” Rin pointed to a single wrapped package off to the side.

“Don’t worry about that one.” Maki said quickly. “I’ll take care of it later.”

“It says ‘To: Nico-chan’ on the tag.” Honoka read.

“It’s no big deal.” Maki insisted. “I didn’t realize we were only doing group gifts, so, um… what?” She took a step back as all eyes turned to her.

“We don’t mind if you wanna give a special gift just to Nico-chan.” Rin said with a smile.

“And we want to see what you got for Nicocchi.” Nozomi added.

“It’s really not a big deal, but…” She glanced at the other girl in question. “You already got me a gift, so I wanted to get you something in return.”

“What did Nico-chan get you?” a nosy, orange haired second year inquired.

“Do you mean that bear from the photoshoot earlier this month?” Nozomi asked.

“Oh, I remember that, nya.” Rin added. “It was really cute, but I didn’t realize you kept that.”

“Yeah… that one.” Maki confirmed.

“You really like it don’t you.” Nozomi’s voice earned a teasing tone.

“…” Maki just nodded.

“I’ll bet you take it to bed every night.”

“No, I don’t!” the redhead insisted. “A-anyway, Nico-chan, if you want to open it, you can.”

Nico returned a strange look to their flustered host. She also hadn’t anticipated individual gifts, but far be it for her to turn down a present. She knelt beside the sizable package and began to tear away the paper.

“Maki-chan, this is…” she cut off.

The kit before her held a generous selection of products ranging from lipstick and blush to shampoo and conditioner. It was common knowledge that Nico cared about her appearance and took every measure in her meager budget to keep herself as cute as she believed an idol should be. But these were not the generic brands she was accustomed to using, on the contrary, they ranked among the best in the industry, and certainly among the most expensive.

“Wonderful.” Kotori murmured, completing Nico’s thought, though significantly understating it.

“I’ve always wanted to try this one.” Nico found her voice again as she held up the conditioner. “How did you know, Maki-chan?”

“The sales rep’s daughter is a fan of µ’s.” Maki explained. “So, she knew about us…” she shook her head “I mean you, and helped me pick out things she thought would work for you.”

And probably earned a decent commission as well… Nico decided not to vocalize that thought. Still, could she really accept a gift like this? The teddy bear hadn’t been the cheapest, but its price was a puny fraction of the kit she was being given in return.

“Do you like it?”

Nico blinked as Maki’s tentative question reminded her how long she had been silent. “Like it?” She repeated, standing to face the redhead. “This is amazing, I…” Think of something! Think of something! She glanced quickly at the others awaiting her response. “I suddenly want to test that manicure kit. Anyone else want to help me try it out?”

“I do! I do!” Honoka cried, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Are you sure?” Eli asked, obviously also aware of the hefty price tag associated with the items.

“Of course!” Nico grinned before retrieving the polish kit. “Stuff like this is best when shared with friends, right?”

“So, you do like it.” Maki repeated, though more of a statement than a question this time.

“I see the color I want to use.” Nozomi relieved Nico of the items while discretely placing a hand on the small of her back and giving her a light push.

Caught off guard, Nico stumbled forward, but was quickly caught my Maki. Lavender eyes stared quietly and expectantly into crimson.

“Yeah.” Nico finally confirmed. “I like it. I can’t wait to try everything. Thank you, Maki-chan.”

Maki smiled. “You’re welcome, Nico-chan.”

“So, um, want me to paint your nails?”

“Alright.”

Nico flashed a toothy grin before grabbing Maki’s hand and pulling her towards the other girls who were already planning the unexpectedly added activity of the night.

Author’s Note Continued:

Dear Fellow Denizens of School Idol Tomodachi,

Merry Christmas! (belated)

If memory serves, which granted, it seldom does, I opened my account on Sukutomo sometime in December of 2015, so even though I wasn’t active until February of 2016, this month technically holds my one year mark. In that time I have grown quite fond of the site and its community and checking for new posts has become as ritualistic as burning LP in SIF. I’ve interacted with no shortage of amazing and talented individuals, participated in many discussions and fought a memewar. And somewhere along the lines, I was granted the honor of joining the staff and in doing so was given the opportunity to help beyond just funding.

All said, it’s been a fantastic journey; one I hope to continue for as long as possible. But I can’t do it alone, of course, why would I want to? The community is what makes Sukutomo the wonderful site that it is; it’s so much more than just a card tracking database. I look forward to the possibilities 2017 holds; new denizens, improvements to the site, more fan art and fics, and of course, more memes.

Thank you,

“Grandpa” Ryqo



P.S. A special thanks to rdsathene for helping me with the RinPana gift part.