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Hey, other people make them for you, too. [Mostly girls.]
We can't let them beat us!
We can't let them beat us!
[Dipper kind of pats Ken's shoulder.]
She makes everything glittery.
She makes everything glittery.
Sorry I kind of chickened out for awhile. It wasn't because of you.
[He was just jealous for no reason!! No reason at all!!!]
[He was just jealous for no reason!! No reason at all!!!]
I think it's more than that for some people...
[His roommates have set up a Christmas tree and will probably want to try out the (western) tradition of opening them all on Christmas day. Ken himself has been going along with that, and he doesn't have any attachments to the date... but
BUT
He really really wants to open this?? It's from Akihiko. What is he going to do!?]
BUT
He really really wants to open this?? It's from Akihiko. What is he going to do!?]
[The card:
Merry Christmas Ken,
Since I'm gone during the holiday I mailed this hoping you'd get it in time, if not, sorry. Otherwise, enjoy the holiday and it goes without saying that I've seen a lot you've been going through and how you've been handling it.
You've been getting stronger, in a lot of ways. I'm proud to see it.
See you when I get back,
Akihiko
PS, you better get some use out of this, I'm going to check it when I get back.]
[The gift: A fitbit. A really heavy duty one. This thing's pricey, Akihiko enjoying the ego stroke of throwing his money around. But it's sure useful. It syncs with communicators (GPS, calls, texts, email etc), can set alarms, time, track calories, steps, distance gone, floors climbed, over all activity done, tracks works outs and records workout periods, tap into wireless hotspots, play music, constantly track heart rate, set up notifications and a lot more.]
[Or course it'd be a gift like this.]
[Though without knowing it, perhaps the card is even more of a gift than the actual gift itself.]
Merry Christmas Ken,
Since I'm gone during the holiday I mailed this hoping you'd get it in time, if not, sorry. Otherwise, enjoy the holiday and it goes without saying that I've seen a lot you've been going through and how you've been handling it.
You've been getting stronger, in a lot of ways. I'm proud to see it.
See you when I get back,
Akihiko
PS, you better get some use out of this, I'm going to check it when I get back.]
[The gift: A fitbit. A really heavy duty one. This thing's pricey, Akihiko enjoying the ego stroke of throwing his money around. But it's sure useful. It syncs with communicators (GPS, calls, texts, email etc), can set alarms, time, track calories, steps, distance gone, floors climbed, over all activity done, tracks works outs and records workout periods, tap into wireless hotspots, play music, constantly track heart rate, set up notifications and a lot more.]
[Or course it'd be a gift like this.]
[Though without knowing it, perhaps the card is even more of a gift than the actual gift itself.]
Edited 2015-12-24 22:41 (UTC)
[Akihiko doesn't hate him.
Somewhere, despite all their talks and their training and trying to be around each other and his memories of their relationship back home, that was a worry in the back of Ken's mind. No matter how close they had gotten in Iwatodai, theirs was a closeness achieved from having similar resolutions. They didn't have the time or space to develop anything like they did here, and even then, they had so much going on, and so much trouble Ken ran headlong into. And here, with Shinjiro trying to find his next steps, no matter how close Ken got to either of them, there was always a tugging, nagging thought: How much more could they have gained if it weren't for him?
But this -- this is undeniable. This is it, right here in his hands, the handwriting something he memorized from months of being around him.
I'm proud to see it. Suddenly he's thrown back into the early years of watching this man, attending his every match, cheering him on silently among the screaming girls and large boys. How, when it was just him and an empty dorm and the Dark Hour without any leads on his revenge, seeing Akihiko get stronger with every match and every practice had been a source of strength for him, too.]
... Ah, geez.
[He keeps to himself for a little bit after that, holding the warmth in his chest close to himself, memorizing how it feels. He has to go out to see Dipper in a few hours, too; he doesn't want to have puffy eyes when he does.]
Somewhere, despite all their talks and their training and trying to be around each other and his memories of their relationship back home, that was a worry in the back of Ken's mind. No matter how close they had gotten in Iwatodai, theirs was a closeness achieved from having similar resolutions. They didn't have the time or space to develop anything like they did here, and even then, they had so much going on, and so much trouble Ken ran headlong into. And here, with Shinjiro trying to find his next steps, no matter how close Ken got to either of them, there was always a tugging, nagging thought: How much more could they have gained if it weren't for him?
But this -- this is undeniable. This is it, right here in his hands, the handwriting something he memorized from months of being around him.
I'm proud to see it. Suddenly he's thrown back into the early years of watching this man, attending his every match, cheering him on silently among the screaming girls and large boys. How, when it was just him and an empty dorm and the Dark Hour without any leads on his revenge, seeing Akihiko get stronger with every match and every practice had been a source of strength for him, too.]
... Ah, geez.
[He keeps to himself for a little bit after that, holding the warmth in his chest close to himself, memorizing how it feels. He has to go out to see Dipper in a few hours, too; he doesn't want to have puffy eyes when he does.]
[For Christmas, Ken gets a homemade CD with a copy of their duet of Clair de Lune for Minato's school auditions, along with Minato's stamp on Jaime's scrapbook.
Koromaru gets a massive indestructible dragon chew toy because Minato feels a little badly that he doesn't have any Shadows to fight here.
He also includes a note:]
Ken-kun,
I wasn't sure what to get you for Christmas. We see each other so often, I guess I felt like there wasn't anything special to give you that I wouldn't give you already. But I thought you might like a copy of the song we played together. Sometimes I listen to it at night. I've never had music to listen to that someone else played with me.
Although I know we'll all have to go home eventually, and we won't have any control over when, as long as I get to stay here with you and everyone else, I'm happy. I'd like to play more songs with you, for as long as we can.
When I first came here, I was so relieved to see you. I still am.
Merry Christmas,
Minato
Koromaru gets a massive indestructible dragon chew toy because Minato feels a little badly that he doesn't have any Shadows to fight here.
He also includes a note:]
Ken-kun,
I wasn't sure what to get you for Christmas. We see each other so often, I guess I felt like there wasn't anything special to give you that I wouldn't give you already. But I thought you might like a copy of the song we played together. Sometimes I listen to it at night. I've never had music to listen to that someone else played with me.
Although I know we'll all have to go home eventually, and we won't have any control over when, as long as I get to stay here with you and everyone else, I'm happy. I'd like to play more songs with you, for as long as we can.
When I first came here, I was so relieved to see you. I still am.
Merry Christmas,
Minato
[On the 24th of December, Jaime swings by and drops off a present. One's this world's equivalent of Rune Factory, which Jaime denotes as the 'real' present, being by far the more expensive of the two.
The second is, of course, the scrapbook. The first five pages are already completed, and inside are a bunch of pictures from all over the place -- the first selfie that the two of them took together; an action shot of Ken out on the soccer field; Ken sitting with Minato; the Disneyland group shot; Koromaru doing one of his insane stunts...
It's the decorations that really stand out, though. The first two pages look a little rotten, truth be told. There's hardened glue smeared across it with an obvious attempt at scrubbing it away, little Disney and soccer and dog stickers he grabbed from the dollar store, and crooked ribbons, like he'd just googled how it was supposed to look and decided to wing it in relative anguish after looking at picture upon picture of meticulously put together Pinterest pages.
The following three pages are a lot neater, with Minato's attention to detail, though there's still a bit of a mess here and there because it's not like Jaime would make Minato do all of it.
The note reads:
Merry Christmas, Ken! I don't know about you, but I forgot about Animal Crossing months ago and I've been too guilty to open it up since. My entire town's filled with weeds now, I just know it. So I figure this might make a good replacement.
You've taken so many photos these days that I thought keeping a scrapbook was a better idea than just pinning things up on your walls. But I also thought I could decorate this dumb thing so that shows you how good my ideas are, right? Did I ever tell you I got a C+ in art when I was a kid? It wasn't pretty.
Anyway, Minato helped me with the other pages, so you've got him to thank for the nice looking ones. They've got those things you can bend and rip for the first couple of pages so you can just pop the pictures out if you want to start again. If you need any more pictures, just ask me and we can go and print some off together.
If you decide you need a quiet place to crash for Christmas, be sure to come over and say hi!
-Jaime
(There are also some dog treats, but they're not really the pricy ones. Sorry, Koromaru.)]
The second is, of course, the scrapbook. The first five pages are already completed, and inside are a bunch of pictures from all over the place -- the first selfie that the two of them took together; an action shot of Ken out on the soccer field; Ken sitting with Minato; the Disneyland group shot; Koromaru doing one of his insane stunts...
It's the decorations that really stand out, though. The first two pages look a little rotten, truth be told. There's hardened glue smeared across it with an obvious attempt at scrubbing it away, little Disney and soccer and dog stickers he grabbed from the dollar store, and crooked ribbons, like he'd just googled how it was supposed to look and decided to wing it in relative anguish after looking at picture upon picture of meticulously put together Pinterest pages.
The following three pages are a lot neater, with Minato's attention to detail, though there's still a bit of a mess here and there because it's not like Jaime would make Minato do all of it.
The note reads:
Merry Christmas, Ken! I don't know about you, but I forgot about Animal Crossing months ago and I've been too guilty to open it up since. My entire town's filled with weeds now, I just know it. So I figure this might make a good replacement.
You've taken so many photos these days that I thought keeping a scrapbook was a better idea than just pinning things up on your walls. But I also thought I could decorate this dumb thing so that shows you how good my ideas are, right? Did I ever tell you I got a C+ in art when I was a kid? It wasn't pretty.
Anyway, Minato helped me with the other pages, so you've got him to thank for the nice looking ones. They've got those things you can bend and rip for the first couple of pages so you can just pop the pictures out if you want to start again. If you need any more pictures, just ask me and we can go and print some off together.
If you decide you need a quiet place to crash for Christmas, be sure to come over and say hi!
-Jaime
(There are also some dog treats, but they're not really the pricy ones. Sorry, Koromaru.)]
Edited 2015-12-25 09:59 (UTC)
[Merry Christmas, Ken! Shinjiro's gift likely should have been included with Akihiko's... but if we're being honest, he probably didn't have it all together by the time those were mailed. But it still arrives, and both the neatness of the package and the appropriateness of the gift is likely enough to imply that Minato was involved.
Ken gets some nice soccer cleats, as well as a few sets of soccer socks- whereas Koromaru gets a rubber chew toy with a hollow cavity on the bottom, as well as a small jar of what looks like homemade peanut butter.
There's also, surprisingly, a note:
'Hey Ken, Koro:
Figured you might be outgrowing your shoes sometime or wearing them out or something. Hope you're still kicking ass at soccer.
Merry Christmas, I'll see you after the new year.
it'll be late but i'll still be up for osechi and mochi.
-Shinjiro']
Ken gets some nice soccer cleats, as well as a few sets of soccer socks- whereas Koromaru gets a rubber chew toy with a hollow cavity on the bottom, as well as a small jar of what looks like homemade peanut butter.
There's also, surprisingly, a note:
'Hey Ken, Koro:
Figured you might be outgrowing your shoes sometime or wearing them out or something. Hope you're still kicking ass at soccer.
Merry Christmas, I'll see you after the new year.
it'll be late but i'll still be up for osechi and mochi.
-Shinjiro']
I don't-- [That was way too high pitched and loud. He continues in a forced whisper.]
I don't get jealous!
I don't get jealous!
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