Christmas Surprise

  After a couple of weeks, Minako's wound was completely healed. At the same time, our house was decorated with many decorations for Christmas. We even bought a real pine tree, suggested by Tate, to put in the center of our living room. After a little while later, Minako and Tate came back with ornaments for the tree. So right now, our house was filled with laughter and excitement. 

As I sat in the couch reading the newspaper, everyone was preparing dinner for Christmas tomorrow. We were going to have a little feast, rewarding everyone who had worked so hard over the year. I even received a letter from The King inviting me to the Christmas party in Hell, but that could not be as fun as celebrating with everyone in my house. Plus, I never enjoyed attending to those parties anyways.

"Master!" Tate yelled excitedly with a present in his hand. "Shall I begin to put all the presents under the tree yet?" he asked. He was wearing a jolly red sweater with a white scarf and a hat with a bell at the end.

"Mm..." I turn to the clock. "Nah, lets wait until it's midnight to do it. And oh, wait until Minako has fallen asleep." I smiled and took a sip of my coffee.

Tate nodded and smiled. "I've noticed that you don't call Miss. Minako 'that kid' anymore."

I look up at him and smiled back. "I suppose so..."

After dinner, the temperature outside had dropped tremendously and a few flakes had fallen. We all gathered around near the fireplace with hot coco in our hands.

"Hey Tate. I think I'm not going to school anymore." I told him.

"Are you sure Master?" he asked after taking a sip of his coco.

Minako turned to look at me curiously.

"Yes, I'm sure." I said.

"Okay. Then I'll tell the school later on." he smiled, and turn back to the fire.

I stood up and stretched. "I'm going out in the garden." I told everyone.

"But Akihto! It's snowing and dark outside!" Tate yelled from his seat.

I chuckled. "I'm not scared of the cold and it doesn't snow often in Hell, so I want to see it." I said and left the room. Minako quickly jump up from her seat and went to her room. She took something from her drawer and grabbed her jacket and hat and ran down the stairs to outside.

"Miss Minako, you're going outside too?!" he shouted in surprised.

"O-Oh, yea." she quickly said and went outside to where I was.

"Akihto, can I join you?" she asked. Her voice sounded a but higher, but that's probably due to the cold weather we were having.

"Sure." I said and walked to where the bench was. "Be careful you don't get sick." I warned.

Minako slowly toward me and hid something behind her back. After sitting down, she said,  "There's something I need to tell you."

I looked up in the sky while the snow was falling heavily. "Go ahead."

Minako smiled softly and headed me a decorated red box with a yellow ribbon on it. "I want to give this to you." she said and blushed.

I look back and forth between her and the box. "Thank you." I smiled and opened the box. Inside, there were a small, silver teddy bear keychain. I stood up and shined the keychain in the moon. "Thank you. This is very cute." I smiled playfully. "Although I rarely use keys, but this present I will keep."

Minako smiled brightly at me and stood up too. "Actually, there's somethin-" she began to say, but Tate suddenly rushed in.

"Master!!!" he yelled, waving and running to me. "She's here!"

I grabbed on to Tate's arm. He was out of breathe and his face was red. "Who's here?"

Tate caught his breathe and point at the door. There was a lady with glasses. She was wearing high heels with her hair all tied up in a bun. "Tate...Isn't that Yuka?" I asked.

Minako stood there, staring at us. "...What?"

Tate nodded continuously and stood still and tall. "She wants to see you." he said, suddenly gotten serious.

I slightly nodded my head back at him and we both walked back into the house.

"Hey, hey." Minako tugged Tate's shirt. "Who's that woman?" she asked. Tate was about to answer her, but the lady breaks them off.

"Tate!" she gasped. "What are you wearing!?" she shouted quietly at him. "Young man, this is not how professional butlers dress." she said strictly.

"I'm sorry Sis..." he said with disappointment.

Yuka turned back at us, noticing Minako. "I'm sorry, you must be that horrible little human girl we heard so much about." she said to Minako.

'Horrible?' Minako thought. She didn't know how to answer her, so she just kept silent with a smile.

"My name is Yuka Ono, and I'm Tate's sister." she introduced. "And Akihto, long time no see. You haven't change a bit." She made a little bow.

Tate blushed in embarrassment from his sister. "Sis! What are you doing here anyways?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm just here to wish you all a merry Christmas." she waved her hand.

"Really now...?" I said suspiciously.

Yuka smiled briefly and looked back at Minako. "I don't suppose you have introduced yourself yet." she said, sounding a lot like a teacher.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Minako said. "My name is Minako Kobayashi. I am 16 years old." she smiled nervously at her.

"Yes, yes." she nodded. "I see..." Yuka observed her. "Well, I should get going." she said to me. "I don't want to stay too long, but try not to miss me because we're gonna see each other real soon again." she smiled awkwardly at me.

I didn't quite understand what she was trying to say when she said we are going to see each other again. "Yes, we will all try not to miss you so much."

She walked over to one of my walls and used her magic to make a big, dark hole. This is her way of going back to hell. "Oh, before I forget." she paused and took out a letter from her purse. "This is for you, from The King." she said softly to me and hit my chest with that letter, thinking it would be unnoticeable. 

I took the letter in front of me and looked at her with a frown. What would that old man want from me? Is it time for me to become King already? But that couldn't be it, because there's still a few hundred years for me to take the throne...

"Well, goodbye world!" she said, exaggerating. "And goodbye, Minako." she smiled devilishly.

Minako was a bit frightened by her smiled, but she made a little wave at her before she had disappeared into the hole.

"Tate, your sister had given us quite a surprise here." I said, raising my eyebrows.

Tate blushed. "She is a very nice person isn't she?" he smiled cheerfully, like he doesn't understand how scary she was being. "Oh, I would love to be just like her!"

Minako looks at him silently. "You want to be just like your sister?" she asked, but her tone of voice made it sound more like a statement than a question.

Tate blushed. "Yes. She is the best maid there is in the whole entire Hell, and I'm sure she is the best in Earth too." he laughed innocently.

Minako forced out a smile. 'Tate is weird.' she thought, turning her back to him.

I looked down at the letter in my hands. "I'm going back to my room and I don't want anyone to bother me." I said, and walked up the stairs to my room.

Minako jumped. "B-But..." she said, but I had already went up the stairs. "But I was in the middle of confessing..."