Icemelt Festival gifts

"Children, the names on the slips you drew are the people you'll be preparing gifts for."

The Icemelt Festival was a traditional holiday in Snezhnaya. Crucabena had found her conscience for once. Instead of continuing to torment the children, she had arranged a holiday, activities, and a lavish dinner for them.

The children learned who their gift exchange partners were a week in advance.

The original intent of the activity was for everyone to prepare gifts for one another, deepen their friendships, and finally come together to make dumplings.

But thanks to Crucabena's machinations, the children couldn't pull together. Even among the dozen or so remaining children, there were four or five little cliques. So Crucabena simply rigged the draw, arranging for the members of those cliques to exchange gifts among themselves.

For example, Xingsu drew Clervie, Clervie drew Peruere, and Peruere drew Xingsu.

As for those who couldn't fit into a group, like Scott, she could only pick some unlucky soul at random for them to exchange gifts with.

Although Clervie had often given Xingsu and Pepe little cakes before, and Xingsu often gave Clervie shiny shells or stones, this was their first formal gift exchange.

"Hmm... Clervie likes shiny things, but I've already given her shells and stuff, and she has quite a collection herself. What else do I have that would make a decent gift?" Xingsu paced back and forth in his room, holding his chin as he thought.

"Ow, ow, ow-hiss!"

Then, as he walked, the little toe of his slipper-clad foot struck the edge of the bed dead-on.

Numbness mixed with piercing pain shot straight to Xingsu's brain. He sucked in a breath from the pain, limped over to the bed, and lowered his head to check.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious.

"Huh?" Looking down, he seemed to catch something shiny reflecting the light. It was the necklace Xingsu had worn from the beginning. "Oh, right. I have a necklace."

He seemed to have worn it for so long that he had come to take it for granted as a part of himself, overlooking it entirely for a while.

Xingsu took off the necklace and examined it.

The necklace's main pendant was the outline of a star, its body covered in tiny, glittering points of light, as though a sky full of starlight had been crushed and embedded in the metal. The night sky lay beyond the window, and as starlight fell on the necklace, countless little glimmers danced across it, delicate and soft.

Seeing how beautiful the necklace was beneath the night sky, Xingsu lost himself in it for a moment. Maybe I shouldn't give it to Clervie?

No, wait. Wearing such a pretty necklace doesn't do me any good, but Clervie would definitely like it if I gave it to her. It's settled, this is the gift!

Delighted to have chosen a gift he was happy with, Xingsu cheerfully lay down on his bed and rubbed his little toe, which was still throbbing faintly.

"Hiss... It still hurts so much."

Most of the children were hard at work preparing their gifts. Even Scott, usually the least popular of them all, was making an effort. Very few were like Xingsu, able to use their starting equipment as a gift.

A week later, after Crucabena delivered a thoroughly empty speech, the Icemelt Festival activities officially began.

The most exciting part was naturally the gift exchange, and Xingsu was walking toward Clervie with a gift box in hand.

At that moment, Clervie was with Peruere.

"What do you think, Pepe? I made it myself! It's not just cute, it keeps you warm too!" Clervie planted her hands on her hips, proudly showing off to her best friend. "I call it the Super Kitty Hat!"

Pepe's face was flushed as she touched the cat ears on the hat.

...It actually seems pretty nice.

But why did you have to make me put it on in front of everyone?!

"And look!" Clervie tugged on the strap dangling from the front of the hat. "If you pull this strap, the cat ears on top move!"

Pepe gave it a tug herself, and the cat ears on her head twitched nimbly.

...This is pretty fun.

No, wait! Is this really the time to be playing with it?!

Peruere stopped moving her hands and looked at Clervie. "Thank you, Clervie. I really like this... gi..."

Following Pepe's gaze, Clervie saw Xingsu approaching them from behind her. His and Peruere's eyes met in an instant.

Peruere immediately let out an indescribable marmot scream, hurriedly turning away and pulling off the kitty hat.

"What's wrong, Pepe?" Utterly bewildered, Clervie turned around and spotted Xingsu looking their way.

"Uh, Clervie, Pepe, I came to find you two." Xingsu scratched his head, his gaze drifting to one side.

"When did you get here?" Peruere asked gravely.

"Uh... just as you put that hat on?" Looking guilty, Xingsu didn't dare meet Peruere's eyes.

Clervie gradually understood everything. Wearing a mischievous grin, she retreated somewhere neither of them could see her and quietly enjoyed the show.

"Doesn't that mean you saw the whole thing?!" Peruere instantly became like a kitten with its fur standing on end and hissed fiercely at Xingsu.

Then she covered her scarlet face and ran away.

"Actually... it was pretty cute..." Xingsu scratched his head and murmured.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the show from the sidelines, Clervie stepped in at just the right moment. "Right? Right? I made it myself!"

"You did a great job!" Xingsu gave Clervie a thumbs-up. "Oh, right, Clervie. I'm your secret friend."

As he spoke, Xingsu took out the gift box and handed it to Clervie. "Open it and have a look. You'll definitely like it."

"This is...?" Clervie opened the gift box and saw an exquisite necklace, then looked back at Xingsu. "The necklace you always wear?"

"Yep. I've decided to give it to you."

"No!" Clervie shook her head firmly. "This is too precious! Besides, you've been wearing this necklace ever since I met you. It must mean something special to you, which is all the more reason I can't accept it!"

"Don't worry. As long as you think it's pretty, that's enough. Besides, it's not really that precious. It's been with me for so long, and now I'm giving it to you. Doesn't that make it a token of my feelings?"

"Don't say things people could get the wrong idea about! Then... anyway, I'll accept it. Thank you, Xingsu. I love it!"

Clervie happily held up the necklace and spun around on the spot, then excitedly took Xingsu's hand.

"Ahem!" Peruere, standing to the side, took a deep breath and interrupted them. "Um... Xingsu, I'm your secret friend... Here, this is for you."

It was rare to see Pepe acting so bashful, and Xingsu found himself eagerly anticipating her gift.

"This is..." Xingsu opened the gift box. Inside was a glass jar filled with colorful stars.

"I folded these stars especially for you. There are 999 of them. I heard that if you give these stars to someone, that person will receive the blessing of the starry sky. People always call you the child from the stars, so I thought of this..."

"Thank you, Pepe." Xingsu's gaze became utterly earnest. "I've never received such a thoughtful gift before."

"It's nothing, really. I just folded some extra paper, that's all. As long as you like it." Faced with such straightforward praise, Peruere was a little embarrassed.

"Don't say that. You spent this whole week making such a thoughtful gift for me with your own hands. Of course I like it! You're so wonderful, Pepe."

Peruere's face reddened again. "Okay, okay, stop saying that..."

"Ahahahahaha!" A burst of unrestrained, raucous laughter reached them. "Well, little lady? Are you blown away by this gift from me, Scott?"

Vilina stood to the side holding a book, her face dark with exasperation.

"This book is an autobiography written painstakingly, diligently, stroke by stroke, by the renowned lone wolf-Scott, yours truly! And now this book has actually been given to you for-free! You'd better study it with proper reverence! Preferably write a fifty-thousand-word review..."

"Scott! Here's your gift!" Weizban interrupted Scott's preening and tossed his gift at him-a pen.

"Ahahaha! So you've found your conscience too, Weizban, you little rascal! Just wait until I write another autobiography with your pen. I'll be sure to let you admire my literary talent too!"

Scott examined the pen and noticed a button at the back. "Oh, pretty fancy. It's a ballpoint pen, too." As he spoke, he pressed the button.

With a hiss, a jet of ink shot straight at Scott's face. Scott had no time to react, and the ink scored a direct hit.

"Aaaaaah! My handsome face! Weizban! This isn't over!"

And so, the night of the Icemelt Festival came to an end amid cheerful voices and laughter.