It was Christmas day and we got the glorious opportunity to sleep in nice comfy yukatas, which I ordered for everyone, yes for every single person that was attending this trip. However they were only bought in standard sizes, so no crazy custom orders were made. The best thing about this ordeal was that we could keep them after the trip was over, after all, I paid for them, meaning they were absolutely brand new.

Not only would it pose as a nice souvenir to remind us of this wonderful trip, it had also practical use, someone could wear it inside their home, if they wanted to. It was like an additional small present, on the side.

Somehow this very morning all the girls woke up in sync, therefore we still had an hour to kill before breakfast, Emma decided it would be a nice opportunity to make every single one of us, look the best we could for the party coming afterward. So Emma, Hinata, and Momo the three musketeers were applying makeup on everyone. We were further passing the time by chatting, but then someone knocked on our door.

"I got it," I mentioned and rose from my seat, strolling towards the sound, and when I opened the entrance found Mikey standing there.

"You said I could visit if I wanted to snuggle so here I am." Never would have thought he would actually demand such a thing from me. So he waltzed inside, later put his head on my lap, and curled up once again reminding me of a cat.

"You were right Michi, he totally looks like a cat in this state." Emma seemed to have agreed there were in fact similarities in place.

"That's surely why he is friends with Keisuke, that fella naturally attracts all cats in various forms and sizes." I got some laughter, but of course, Emma had to add.

"Are you one of them?" Receiving a glare from me in return.

Then we returned back to chattering, but not even a few minutes later we heard another knock, this time Emma decided to check who it was at the door. It was quickly revealed to be Draken, that looked like a distressed mother that just lost her kid at the store.

"Have you seen Mikey?" He asked right from the get-go, no good morning just straight to his question at hand. Emma didn't seem to mind tho, though she just pointed in my direction. His expression basically told me he wasn't in the slightest bit amused.

"What? He wanted a snuggle, don't tell me you will accuse me of spoiling him once more."

"I definitely don't trust you anymore, especially after the thing you pulled yesterday."

"He only saw me naked, it's not that deep man," I responded standing behind my case.

"Only? You call that only?"

"Well he's the baby there is nothing wrong with a child seeing his mother naked." I pointed out.

"The thing is you're not his real mom, Michi!" Draken yelled out in frustration, causing me to gasp for the theatrics.

"Just because he is an adopted son, doesn't make me worse in the spectrum of motherhood, blood relations aren't everything," I screamed back.

"Michi! He's older than you!"

"Not from the universal standpoint," I argued.

"What is that even supposed to mean?"

"Can you keep it down?" Mikey finally spoke, bothered by the noise we were making, so the beanpole finally retreated. I saw it as a win in my pocket.

After we ate a really filling breakfast, it was time to take part in the Secret Santa event, I was prepared, and had a bucket filled with paper slips full of numbers.

The first couple of people didn't even make much of a fuss, just picked which present they thought looked the most interesting, that was until Izana entered the stage, looked at me, and straight out asked.

"So which one did you buy Michi?" I was perplexed, that he wanted to out every other guy on this front.

"Listen it's called Secret Santa for a reason, just pick out something and then be grateful for the thing remaining inside."

"Fine..." He said like a moody teenager. When it was my turn, I ripped up the package so quickly people must have thought I was running for the Olympics.

"Oh a manga, nice." One that I never heard of, but one could always broaden their horizons for sure. And if I had to guess the person behind this present it would certainly be Pe-yah, because he came over and started to discuss how good the series was.

Then when it was Keisuke's turn, he really channeled the cat magnet aspect of himself we joked about, because of all the gifts he could have chosen it was mine, the cat cup in question.

"Look how cute it is, I wonder who bought it." I didn't feel like either lying or keeping it a secret.

"That would be me." I could tell he was touched as if he believed this present was specifically bought with him in mind.

"I can let you use it when you visit me." He offered, which I didn't understand why, it was meant to be his, or was he already at the married couple mentality, that which was his was also mine? Hopefully not.

"I see." There was not any other answer I could come up with.

During the event, I asked the staff to put on some Christmas songs, and in no time was I singing along, at least to the English songs, South was one of the people that joined me, taking me by surprise.

"Don't tell me to become your boyfriend English is one of the requirements?" Keisuke asked, knowing what kind of country we were living in I didn't have such delusional expectations.

"How many Japanese truly can the English language?"

"Not many..." He let out.

"I can't just wipe out every single choice I have..." I pointed out.

"But if you want I can help you study the subject, the best way to learn a language is by speaking it." He had this weird glint in his eyes, making me suspicious of what his agenda was.

"Sure, I can take the help, if you're offering." After the event, everyone came up with other things to do, like chatting, playing ping-pong, or going to take a nice dip in the hot springs. As I was pondering what my next move should be a mission descended upon me.

'Would you rather drag a guy of choice under the mistletoe and kiss him or prank someone?' I pondered this thru, the prank certainly needed to be successful for me to receive the point.

"Prank it is," I muttered under my nose in need of chaos-inflicted energy and decided to use the mistletoe decoration just for that. I chose to stand under it, and see if anyone takes the bait and two guys did, which made it just perfect. And after they realized the other was thinking the same thing, they started to sprint. What they didn't expect, however, was me taking a step back causing them to end up under it together.

"So when are the two of you planning to kiss?" I asked as both Keisuke and Hanma were basically sending each other murderous glares, but then Keisuke realized that this must have been my plan all along.

"Wait you were expecting this to happen." He pointed it out, but I dismissed his claims.

"No... I just stepped away because I thought you two would crash into me if I wouldn't, I'm innocent." I fluttered my eyelashes to appear so, but neither of them was buying it.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity until Hanma let out.

"If we don't proceed Michi will have an excuse to not follow thru on this once we catch her off guard, standing under it next time." And he pulled a chad move, by kissing Keisuke's cheek.

"Wow, I was not expecting this development," I admitted truthfully. Then they dispersed and everyone that witnessed this scene didn't buy into it when I casually stood under the mistletoe the next time around. I just wanted to see if there was someone brave enough to try their chances against the odds of getting tricked.

At some point, it even became a spectacle, until Kazushi stepped up.

"If no one else will approach Michi, then I will." He got a bunch of good luck messages from his buddies, the whole display they were putting on made it feel like he was heading straight for war. And once he was standing beside me, he let out.

"I didn't think I would get this far... what now?" I just laughed at how cute he was and just kissed him, causing Makoto and his other friends to cheer out loud.

"Now Mikey grab Ran, we are going out on an outing." I thought it would be a nice gesture to let him slide down the hills on a sled, as a family. Since one of the staff suggested this specific activity for us.

"Ran take care of Mikey, I don't trust that person, like at all." So Draken rather trust this crazy man than me?

"How dare you, I will make sure to challenge you to a fight for honor and when I come back I will certainly win."

"A fight? I'm in!" South let out causing me to sight in defeat.

"No, be a good kitty and stay down!"

"That's a huge kitty if I have seen one." Rindou let out not amused.

So the family outing was great we ended up getting into a snowball fight, sledding around, and having the time of our life, yet I couldn't tell if Ran was thinking the same.

"So have you thought about asking me out after this trip is over? Because if so, I'm so down." Ran started up a conversation.

"As much as I like spending time with you... not that I like you or anything... you have some glaring points that can't be omitted."

"Why did you say it like a tsundere?" Ran questioned and when he didn't get any decent response he finally let out.

"And what are those glaring points exactly?"

"I'm not sure you're indeed ready for commitment. You strike me as those, I want freedom guys." I pointed out.

Once we made our way back to the Ryokan we got to witness a fight take place, between Izana and South.

"Guys, what is going on?" I asked, baffled that Draken let it happen, and he dared to have complaints about me.

"They are trying out their strength against each other, so we are taking bets in form of snacks." Kazushi was quick on updating me on what was going on here, causing me to facepalm.

"Michi! You should take part in this so we can determine your ranking as well." South yelled out before he received a kick to his face.

They were even creating a ranking on who was possibly the strongest? Who even suggested that idea in the first place?

"No can do, I promised Taiju to attend the church service with him." I let them be since besides making a ruckus outside nothing was really getting broken.

Once I tracked the other giant, we quickly headed out, as I put the coordinates into my GPS which was guiding us all the way there.

"Too bad I couldn't show those guys my true strength, I'm positive I would have won this." Taiju bragged as we were heading towards our destination, I didn't know how to tell him, that perhaps he was wrong. He was defeated by Mikey in the manga who in turn was struggling against Izana.

"You can do it some other time perhaps." I was actually astonished at the fact no real fights between Black Dragons and Toman had yet broken out.

Once we reached the church we got many suspicious looks from the locals, they probably weren't used to seeing strangers in this peculiar area. So at first, I was really trying to pay attention to what was said, but then halfway thru I simply dozed off, and by the time I woke up, Taiju was already carrying me back.

"You know you could have woken me up."

"And lose my opportunity at holding you close while looking like a gentleman in your eyes? I don't think so." Well, that was kind of a valid point he had there.