Crunch crunch crunch.
Small boots on top of the vast, vast snow, footprints scattered here and there all about.
Boots of deep red, glossy
The snow pure white, sparkling.
"Oof."
The boy resituated the bag he carried on his back, a single breath of grasped cotton candy.
When he shook his head, trembling, his golden hair lifted gently as if he was a little bird, and the powdered snow danced, falling lightly as if from feathers.

"Hmm.. I wonder if it's around here... ah, here it is, here it is."
Though usually it probably was bustling, the chinese style street was covered in snow tonight, and the sound of heavy snowfall and silence could almost be heard if you strained your ears.
However, the boy halted before one of the inn's windows, from which a light that seemed warm together with boisterous voices unmindfully filtered outside.
"If it's come to this, let's play a round! A round!"
"I guess it can't be helped."
"Come on, Sanzo. You too!"
"'Ch"
...A small group of bad older brother's voices, 4 of them.
The boy stood on tiptoe, looking into the window from outside.
"Se-no, saisho wa gu-!!(this is said before rock paper scissors) DAmn it! Damn!! Damn!!!"
...They were playing Jan Ken, the 4 people, very seriously.
"------WOOT!! GOJYO LOST~~!!!"
"You punk, The next time I absolutely won't!!"
"He really doesn't know when to give up."
"Here, Gojyo, your cloak. Please go and be careful."
"....um."
As the boy opened the window and called out, the older brothers all turned towards him.
"... A kid? What's wrong, showing up at this time?"
The shortest older brother asked, blankly.
"Um, nice to meet you, I'm Santa Claus."
The boy lucidly gave a selfintroduction, and it was as if time stopped for the older brothers for a little while, and they couldn't move.
"...Hmph. If I'm not mistaken, it's the pagan ritual of Christmas, today."
"Nice to meet you, Santa-san. I had rather thought you wouldn't be so young, you suprised me."
"Huh? Santa? Seriously? wow! This is the first time I've seen you! It's a pleasure!!"
"Wait a minute, you guys, don't just adapt to things in 5 seconds!!"
The red haired older brother didn't quite seem to grasp it, and somehow or another didn't seem to believe it.
The boy was relieved, and said with a sweet smile,
"Really, I'm on an errand. Uncle Santa right now has a cold, and can't come."
"I see, thank you so much for your hard work, going out in this snow..."
"By the way, older brothers, why were you playing jan ken?"
"Ah, look, there's all the snow outside, and it's REALLY cold, right? We already
went out and did the shopping. But, we forgot to buy some stuff."
What, it wasn't because of a fight? Good.
"By the way, why did you come here? The people here will hesitate to say "Good boy" And Santa-san really has no connection...." The specticled older brother said.
"Don't pull yourself up." The blonde older brother, making a sour face scowled.
"Oof. But it seems that I have to give presents to you older brothers, there's
a memo that was written for you from Kami-sama."
"he says Kami-sama, do you think he means that ugly bodhisattva?"
"Who knows? There's lots of different sects."
"Hey, Did you really bring us presents? Wow!! we're so lucky!"
"Don't frolic, it's indecent."
The boy dropped his bag to the snow and spoke.
"Yes, I have everything that you'll say you want in order to continue your travels. What everyone wants."
I've collected it all in this bag." The boy replied, with pride.
"It's like, "A magician" or something."
"It's not like there was a magic fad this year."
"Comedy has flourished."
"No, no, it was a korean fad. You could say we resemble Yon-san well enough,
though."
"Don't laugh with only your monocle!"
"What are you talking about?"
To the rapidly talking 4 older brothers, the boy said with swelled cheeks,
"Look, look, Hurry up and decide. I still have to go a few other places than here."
The boy demanded, hitting the bag.
The older brothers became quiet, exchanging glances that seemed to say,"What should we say?"
"Um, well then, I won't hesitate..."

Crunch crunch crunch.
The boy walked down the snowy streets heading for the next town.
Even so, moreover the bustling older brothers with only one present, were good.
The red haired older brother asked for "Hi-lites"... some sort of Cigarettes, it seems.
The Blonde older brother asked for "Hot Sake"... When he took it out, he got burned.
The little older brother asked for "It doesn't matter, as long as it's yummy!" abstractly.
The specticaled older brother asked for "Edible Chrysanthemum" ... so he could make Boiled Tofu tonight,or so he said,butbecause he thoughtabout it a bit more, and was able to answer, it was what everyone answered.
Since I said that I'd only grant them one thing, it ended up not being anything that special.
Yeah. But, "This is so that no one will have to go shopping," he said delighted.
Well, isn't that ok?
The boy smiled sweetly and hoisted the bag over his shoulder, making a sound like 'gachan'
"?" What's that? Inside the bag, it seemed there was some sort of solid items.
Out tumbled a small television-like square terminal screen.
I didn't see the real thing, but, it resembled a "Car navi" machine.
Which reminds me, just now, from behind those 4 older brothers was a little white dragon child, with a very serious look peering straight at the bag, it seems.

It was dead midnight.
On a road where almost no cars passed, the traffic signal was blinking off and on, yellow.
Because he hadn't planned for so much snow, here, the boy was careful as he walked so as not to slip and fall.
"Oof. the next stop... is here?"
The tip of his nose reddening, the boy looked up at the square, standing in the night.
Um, is this what they call a "Manshon"?

"Good evening, I'm santa claus!"
That which the boy energetically opened was the bathroom door, and the older brother who was sitting in the bath, reading a magazine leisurely with narrow eyes said, "You surprised me.", though the expression he returned didn't seem very surprised at all.
"What are you doing, coming in here?"
The older brother put the magazine on top of his head like a roof, as he asked.
"Usually, you should stay in the entryway."
"I wonder if Tokito forgot to lock the door when he left..." he asked with a soft voice
"Look, I'm santa claus..."
"Yeah. So?"
The boy tilted his head, and the older brother tilted his head in imitation of him.
"Um, I've come to deliver a present! Please tell me the one thing that you want!
I'll pull it out of this bag."
"Huh? Isn't that interesting."
The older brother seemed to take interest, and rested his chin on his hands, his elbow on the edge of the bathtub.
The clean yellow-green bath made an angry sound.
"What would you like?" The boy asked, full of confidence, nodding.
The older brother, with eyes like threads, looked up at the ceiling tile for a little while.
"You shouldn't say that. Let me think about it for a bit. Ah, that's it.
Because of this and that which happened in the interrogation room, my glasses became broken. And it's so expensive to buy replacement glasses..."
...Somehow the boy didn't ask, "what's an "Interrogation room"."
"oh yeah, and the cell phone broke... yeah,... By the way..."
"Yes?"
"Since I'm going to get out, could you leave first?"

"-----Whoa, it's cold---!!"
From a store with "7" written on the sign, the older brother came and left after reading his book, holding his own shoulders and shivering, "brr". Looking up at the snow without worry, born from the pitch black sky.
The boy followed after the older brother without hesitating, calling out.
"Good evening! I'm Santa Claus!"
"Huh?"
Sniffing his runny nose, the older brother turned to look at him.
From the gap in his black hair, his almond eyes looked at the boy suspiciously.
"Um... and so, I'm santa. I've come to give you a present!"
Even though this older brother didn't seem to believe, really, the boy gestured with open hands, to explain as best he could. Eventually, if he brought what the older brother wanted out from his bag, he would finally believe.
"Aah~~~ how cool, how cool!! You're good at slight of hand!"
... He still didn't seem to believe.
"is it really ok to give this to me?"
"Of course, it's a present, you wanted it, so I brought it out. Really."
"I see, I see. Yeah. Thank you."
While the older brother said that, he reached into his jacket pocket.
"Look, boy, If you don't go back to where you came from, Won't the person waiting for you there be worried?"
He said, laughing and ruffling the boy's hair.
That right hand, covered by the black glove, had come loose here and there.
...aah, I see!!
The boy soon realized that the older brother would want "A sturdy black leather glove" as his present.
And so, now, that other older brother wanted a "New sturdy pair of glasses".
"? what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing! Merry christmas!!"
The boy, somehow very happy, while holding out his hands to the older brothers,
started running.
In this way, even on a cold night, with the sound of a beating heart, I wonder if the snow will melt away.

"I'm home!!"
The boy opened the door, with a big smile on his face.
"Ah, welcome home."
The real Uncle Santa who was house-watching was sitting in bed, drinking coffee. The boy, with a little snow dancing in his yellow hair, returned a small smile, and the uncle Santa coughed lightly.
"Don't do that, You'll surely turn crosswise! You won't get well!"
The boy's cheeks swelled red, scolding the uncle santa.
"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm sorry. Thanks for all your hard work. Did it go ok?"
"Yeah. Absolutely. It was fun! I met lots of different people."
He took off the deep red coat and hung it on the wall. The boy's expression seemed very happy.
The uncle santa was a little relieved.
"I see, good."
The last place I went, there was an eyepatched uncle and a bald uncle.
"Oh?"
"They had to work even though it was christmas night. It's hard even if you're not Santa. And, what do you want, I asked. I'll bring it out of my sack.
It was 2 cans of coffee. I wonder if that was ok, that sort of thing."
"Were they delighted?"
"Yeah. They drank the coffee and gave a shout of "Well, then, Let's do our best!"
"Then isn't it ok? Those two are doing something important right now, rather than something in the future that can never be seen."
"Hmph. I see, I guess so."
The boy nodded in agreement. The uncle santa's mouth tenderly shined in a smile.
Then, he coughed.
"Hey, because I did my best today, I wonder if I get a present?"
The boy, with big eyes sparkling, questioned the uncle.
"Yeah, surely you do. Tell me what you want."
The boy closed his eyes, and pressed his hands together against his chest as if in prayer, and then slowly reached into the bag.
Rummage Rummage
"It's here, it's here!"
"That's good. What did you wish for?"
Bringing his hand out of the bag, the boy held a small gift wrapped in white paper.
The boy smiled sweetly, annd gave it to the uncle Santa.
"Here, open it."
"?" While coughing, the uncle Santa took the wrapping paper,
and on it, written in small letters, was written "Panacea"
"This... is for me?"
The uncle santa looked at the boy's smiling face through his glasses, like it was shining, but proudly.
"Next year, we'll both go hand out the presents. Promise!"
"...Yeah."
No matter how cold the winter is, This is how the warmth can be felt.
"Thank you"
Surely it won't seem to freeze, when you rely on the heart.
"Merry christmas! Stork!"
"Merry Christmas, Tito."
No matter where you are, no matter which world, I wish everyone and anyone
A warm, happy night.
Merry Christmas.