"What? Is it really your birthday?" Rikuto and Princess stepped outside the now-closed store still talking. "That's pretty interesting, but I guess it puts a damper on you when it comes to presents, huh? Haha," Rikuto continued lightheartedly. He'd noticed that she looked sad at the mention of the cloaks, remembering Psyche no doubt, but he figured the best thing he could do was try to cheer her up. "Don't worry though, I'll make sure to get you two presents instead of saying that one counts for both occasions."

Once he finished, he looked away from Princess up to the scene in front of him. Yup, it was definitely Christmas, a very Western Christmas. There was a massive lit up tree with a star at its head and Santa Claus at its foot, snow under his own foot (much more than before), and stands with Christmas food all about. On second thought, there wasn't all that much of a difference between Western Christmas and Japanese Christmas in those aspects. The differences were in the food and the people mostly. He noticed that most people were gathered in groups of friends rather than couples, himself included. It stood out to him because he was so used to the way it was celebrated as a lovers' holiday in Japan. Another difference he noticed immediately was the turkeys in the stands. He had gotten used to his family (himself and his parents) eating fried chicken on the holiday when he still lived with them (he was fascinated by the marketing aspect behind it all, but that was beside the point). In fact, he'd never tried turkey before. Maybe today would be his day for it. One thing that was like home though was the ever-familiar Christmas cakes. He definitely needed to buy one since it wouldn't feel like Christmas without it. There was one other essential part of Christmas for him that was missing, but he tried not to think about her right now, at least not while he still had things to do.

He didn't need to scan the area for long before he spotted the gathering of four waiting on a set of benches near the tree. "Cutting it a little late, aren't you boss?" Rikuto instantly recognized the sharp tongue of his alchemist. "I mean, you're an entire hour late and the store is right there." She paused for a moment before a small grin appeared on her face. "So...what do you have in store for us this time?"

Rikuto opened his mouth to speak, but another player interrupted by running in front of them. He recognized him as the strange player from a couple days ago. The man looked to Princess and enthusiastically shouted, "Aha! You're a child, I must gift- Nnnnope, not an NPC, don't mind me!" Giving gifts to NPC children definitely sounded like a quest. Perhaps thats what everyone was lining up in front of Santa for, besides the obvious gift wishing. The helmeted man - Turnip, he was called - turned to leave, but he abruptly stopped. "YOU." He said in an almost demonic voice, "I've got a present… with your name on it!" Turnip then did something Rikuto wouldn't have imagined. He tossed a present up and kicked it straight into an NPC child's face. "Nailed it!" Rikuto could picture the look of pride over the vegetable's face. As for himself, he winced at the action. NPC or not, it just didn't seem right...or even entirely sane. Regardless, it wasn't any of his business so he just ignored the whole incident. At least until a thought occurred to him.

When Turnip was gone, he turned his attention back to his employees to see the surprised looks in their faces. Xenith rolled her eyes and said, "What an idiot," whereas Kouki looked in the direction the helmeted-and-hatted player had run off like he had seen a unicorn, saying, "You gotta admit, that was a pretty nice shot." Silver Mist looked quite scared while Camlann seemed unaffected by the antics.

"You know," began Rikuto, "It looked like that quest is some sort of scavenger hunt for kids around the city where you give them presents. It actually sounds like a lot of fun, not to mention that everyone here likes quest rewards, right?" It looked like he had caught their attention, although Xenith didn't look entirely excited. It seemed like she was back to her old, cold-fronted self as opposed to the openly concerned and caring self from yesterday. Of course, he knew that she was caring no matter what, she just didn't show it as much as she should. "There are six of us, so why don't we split into teams and have a race to see who can finish the quest first?" Now he had definitely piqued the interest of his employees, getting vocal approval from all except Xenith. Rikuto rubbed his chin with his hand pensively. "Xenith, why don't you go with-"

"Princess," She interrupted, probably a little more forcefully than she meant to. "I mean, if that's alright with her. Although you included her into your count before even waiting to see if she wanted to do this in the first place."

Rikuto paused for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing. Of course, he didn't really need to, but it helped him segue back into what he was saying a little less awkwardly. "Y-yes, of course. Anyway, Why don't Silver Mist and Calmann go together, and Kouki-"

"Hold it!" Rikuto sighed at the appearance of yet another interruption, this time from his fellow manager. Normally they were more obedient than this, but he supposed that everyone was off the clock today so he was on equal footing with everyone right now. "Sorry," Kouki apologized, noticing Rikuto's annoyance at the interruptions. "We're both managers now, so I wanted to try something. Okay, so we all do the race, but you and I do it solo. Think of it as kinda like a challenge, or… a duel! Yeah, I challenge you to a duel!" With those last words, Kouki pointed at Rikuto, a fire in his eyes.

"You know that has nothing to do with management, right?" quipped Xenith.

"Shut up, I know that! But it still sounds like a cool idea, right?" Kouki retorted, finger still pointed at Rikuto, but the dramaticness of the gesture was gone now. Xenith rolled her eyes again in response.

Rikuto grinned widely. "Alright then, I accept your challenge!" He turned to the rest of the group. "Whoever wins, I might splurge a little on your present, or presents for those in groups." He then addressed only Princess. "Remember, none of this is mandatory. If you want, you can go hang out with Zeus and Poseidon instead, you know, celebrate your birthday."

While Rikuto spoke with Princess, the others continued talking around them. "Huzzah!" boomed Camlann. "A test of speed and wit? Magnificent! I shall prove myself, boss! And presents? Your generosity knows no bounds!"

"W-w-wait, presents? W-we were supposed to bring p-presents?" Silver Mist sounded worried.

"Nah, boss is just feelin' the Christmas spirit! He didn't tell us to bring anything, so we don't have to," Kouki explained.

"A-are you s-sure? T-then I feel bad for not bringing anything…"

Xenith, however, said nothing. She intently watched the interaction between Rikuto and Princess, god knows what thoughts bouncing around in her head.

(OOC:) How the store works:


​