Christmas' Early Miracles

Intro

13 Days Before Christmas

Volume 1

Takano Masamune

Chapter 1: Intro

***

Ciel was crying sorrow filled tears…

“I’m sorry… I’ve met someone else and I want to be with him instead… I hope you can forgive me…” Those were his girlfriend’s words, well… now his ex girlfriend… It all happened so suddenly that he couldn’t even open his mouth to say a single word to her.

She left soon after and he sat there on a bench at the side of the fountain that was gleaming with beautiful lights, all around him were couples holding hands and walking together…

“I’m really stupid…” Ciel muttered under his breath, the more he tried to remain calm the more his tears flew down his face. It was cold outside and the light amount of snow that had started now was only accompanying his gradually worsening mood. “I couldn’t even make time for her… so I shouldn’t be surprised she left me…” He continued mumbling about. People passed by him but most didn’t pay him any mind.

While Ciel’s face was freezing, his tears were warm to his skin and then as they fell to the ground near his feet, he shivered. He wanted to head back to his place but unfortunately he didn’t feel like moving at all.

Who would have known heartbreak would hurt this much?

“Are you alright?” A soft voice called out to him, as he raised his eyes to look up it was a sweet looking girl in a Christmas themed dress.

“Huh? Are you talking to me?” Ciel asked as he looked at the woman in surprise, he pointed at himself as if to confirm.

She chuckled. “Who else dummy?” Her kind manner made him feel all the more pathetic for crying in front of her. He averted his gaze but then felt something soft against his skin.

“This…” Ciel looked at the woman again and he had a scarf wrapped around him the next moment.

“It’s really cold out here so please head back home. It’s no good if you catch a cold, right?” She spoke to him kindly as she turned around. “Merry Christmas.” She said before leaving.

Ciel could do nothing but sit there at the bench and stare into the distance until the girl completely disappeared. He felt the warm scarf that she had given him. “It’s not even Christmas yet…” Ciel muttered under his breath, it was only the 21st of November today, yet the street was filled with Christmas decorations and lights that felt blinding.

Slowly he headed back to his apartment. His head was muddled and nothing made sense to him. He was dumped that day but instead of thinking about his girlfriend, the girl that showed him kindness was in his mind.

He barely managed to see her face, but he noticed her long blond hair that reached her back. Somehow that image had became engraved in his mind. He couldn’t forget about her…

“I’ve decided… I’m going to find her!” Ciel boldly declared as he stood up and shouted.

“Sure but didn’t you say you didn’t even see her properly? What if she’s actually ugly?” His childhood best friend Frank pointed out as he sipped on his hot chocolate at the side of the couch.

“It doesn’t matter what she looks like, it must have been fate for us to have met that day! That’s right! Even if I was dumped the truth is that when a door closes a window opens so this was the opportunity for me to meet someone that loves me back!” Ciel remarked with full blown confidence that walked on borderline arrogance at that point.

“You’re delusional… ever think she was just being nice to you because you were crying?” Frank questioned him once more. He seemed to be the only voice of reason in this otherwise unreasonable situation.

“Sure… that’s right, I did look stupid back there but even if it’s pity, I want to go out with her…” Ciel continued as he slumped his shoulders. “If only I could figure out how to find her… maybe I can just stand out there and wait for her to show up again?”

“That feels like you’re stalking her. Don’t be a creep.” Frank remarked.

“What do you suggest then?” Ciel questioned. “I don’t know anything about her… it’s only this scarf…”

“Think about it would you? When you met her she was dressed in a Christmas costume, right?” Frank asked while tilting his head to the side.

“Yeah and so?” Ciel asked while glancing over at his friend.

“It’s obvious she works for one of the local stores. Otherwise why would she wear barely any clothes in such a cold weather out there? She was probably giving out flyers or something of the sort.” Frank explained, his deductive prowess showing through for the most ridiculous of moments.

“Whoah!? You’re a certified genius! So all I have to do is visit all the stores and find her!” Ciel said while jumping out of his seat.

“It’s not that simple, what are you even going to do after you find her? It’s already been three days. Are you going to tell her you love her out of the blue and pray she goes out with you?” Frank once more shattered the other man’s expectations to the ground.

“I’m going to figure it out…” Ciel said while heading towards the door but his friend stopped him midway.

“Listen, take this with you and return it to her. Say that’s the reason for you wanting to meet her. Then ask her to go have coffee with you as a thank you for her kind gesture.” Frank said while throwing the scarf towards his friend.

Ciel caught it mid air and smiled. “Seriously man you’re smart!”

“Yeah whatever, buy some pizza on your way back. The four different cheese kind.” Frank told him as he turned back to hit hot chocolate and looking at his phone.

“Will do! It’s on me tonight!” Ciel said while heading out in high spirits. He went to the same place he was last time, but then he stared at the empty space…

It was Sunday…

Most of the stores had closed out early because of the holidays coming up…

“This is the worst… how am I supposed to find her if everything’s closed up today?” Ciel was dejected once more as he walked around aimlessly.

“Hey watch it!” A man shouted at him, Ciel had bumped into him hard.

“I’m very sorry I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going-” He was quick to apologize but the man that yelled at him wasn’t satisfied with just that.

“You stupid little punk. With no respect for your elders!” The man waved his fist around, he was clearly drunk and unstable on his feet, his anger was boiling over.

“Dear, calm down, the boy didn’t mean to do that!” His wife who was standing by his side was quick to pull at his free arm not holding the liquor bottle and give an apologetic look to Ciel.

‘Is he actually going to hit me?!’ Ciel wondered to himself as out of fear he could barely move out of the way, he was frozen in place as he watched the much larger man’s hand flying towards him… He had closed his eyes in preparation for the hit... but it never came...

“Huh? Is that it?” Ciel looked around he was confused. Then his eyes focused on the man once more. Someone was holding his hand mid air.

“It’s rude to go out of your way to yell at people on the street you know?” The person holding the man’s arm was tall and rather handsome. It was difficult to explain the feelings that went through Ciel at that moment, especially after he managed to see the man’s face better.

“Whatever, brat!” The older man saw he couldn’t fight him off even if he wanted to. With his shattered pride he turned to walk away with his wife next to his side.

“Sorry about that, you alright?” The man slowly turned around to face Ciel. They stared at each other for a bit. “…wait you’re-” Before the man could open his mouth to utter another word Ciel had already bolted. He ran away as fast as he could, he was like an Olympic track racer the way he ran at full speed.

The mostly empty and cold streets felt suddenly crowded as Ciel tried to make his way through people. He felt his heart racing out his chest. There was sweat dripping down his neck. Yet he never once turned to look back and continued to runaway.

“That wasn’t him… there’s no way he…” Ciel was out of breath and holding onto his knees that felt like they’d buckle over. He’d ran for so long he lost track of time. Thankfully he wasn’t too far away from his apartment. He walked slowly back.

“Welcome back. Where’s the pizza?” Frank asked as he tilted his head to the side in wonder as he saw his friend walk through the door.

“I hate Christmas time…” Ciel simply remarked as he headed to the sofa and slumped down like a bag of rocks.

“Eh? What happened? Is there no pizza?” Frank wondered out loud as he crossed his arms. “Man? You… look horrible…”

“f**k these holidays, I wish they didn’t exist… I hate winter as well, it’s the most horrible time of year… and I can’t stand it… it’s so… f*****g… stupid…” Ciel continued to complain as he stuffed his face into a pillow and laid down on his stomach.

“Alright… you’ve never been in such a bad mood since… wait…” Frank looked like a light bulb had went off inside his head. “Don’t tell me you saw… him?” He questioned with a concerned look in his eyes. “Is it… Dante?”

There was a prolonged silence between them…

“H… he was there… saved me from a drunk guy trying to hit me…” Ciel barely managed to form the words to explain it to the man.

Frank looked horrified but then confused as he asked. “Eh? Why would he save you though? Weren’t you the one that-”

“DON’T REMIND ME PLEASE!” Ciel yelled loudly, there was a knock from upstairs warning him to keep quiet.

“Alright… sorry…” Frank said as he leaned back into his chair. “So, he’s back in town then… I didn’t know he had returned, there’s no way he’s looking for you right?” He questioned curiously.

Ciel shook his head to disagree. “There’s no way he’s here for me… Besides… he didn’t know it was me in the beginning… then he looked at me and I…” He paused for a bit as if the very memory of what happened was haunting him.

“You what?” Frank asked with a discerning gaze that fell onto the other man gradually.

“I ran away…” Ciel finally admitted after a prolonged silence.

Frank was stunned. “Do you have a death wish?” He asked him without the slightest bit of mockery in his voice.

“There was nothing else I could do, I panicked!” Ciel defended himself as he grabbed the sides of the pillow and squeezed it tightly.

Frank nodded and then sighed heavily. “Oh… so… um… he didn’t see where you went right? He’s not going to show up here and beat you up right?” He asked him a bit hesitantly.

“I hope he doesn’t…” Ciel said as he glanced at his roommate. “I wasn’t paying attention to him at all, I just… ran…” He explained.

Frank stood up and went to the other room grabbing an empty suit case. “You know, I was thinking of moving out anyways but I guess this is a good opportunity as any for me.” He opened it up and began packing his things.

Ciel stood up and grabbed the suitcase off his hands and yelled. “What are you talking about?! You can’t leave me! Nooo!” They were pulling the case back and forth continuously.

“Stop it… I’m scared of that guy alright? I heard all the rumors that he’s as tough as a bear and that he once broke a guy’s arm with his left hand. And that means he was only using half his strength…” Frank said as the man took the suitcase and stuffed himself inside, pulling out the man’s clothes.

“Don’t be ridiculous! He’s not that scary!” Ciel said as he slowly began zipping up the suitcase making sure he was completely inside like a turtle. “But just in case, I will stay here until he leaves town again-” He said as Frank grabbed his arm and stopped him from zipping up the suit case any more than that.

“Shut up, you’re the one that dated and then dumped him! You don’t get to act innocent now.” Frank said as he pulled the man out of the suit case forcefully.

Ciel was now thrown onto the floor like a filthy stray dog. “It was just for a bit besides I only went out with him cause I was super scared of the rumors!” He explained with a pain stained voice.

“All the more reason you should have refused back then!” Frank reminded him. It was way back in middle school. They were about fifteen at the time, and now a decade later they were here in the same circumstance as back then…

“You try being in my place and see how it goes! And besides… he wasn’t a bad boyfriend…” Ciel reluctantly admitted, they had dated all the way up until high school and broke up after they graduated.

“Suree…” Frank spoke as if he obviously didn’t believe the man.

“I’m being serious… he was actually really kind and all… though when I watched him fight I really was terrified, he never really did that towards me…” Ciel explained while looking around a bit bashful.

“Then… why did you break up with him anyways?” Frank asked as he crossed his arms staring at the man. “If he was that good then you shouldn’t have-”

“That’s none of your business!” Ciel yelled at him with a strong sounding voice and a warning expression for the man not to mention the subject again.

“It is my business because this guy might want revenge for the break up!” Frank remarked loudly as well.

“Do you think so too?” Ciel asked him with a horrified expression upon his face.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to be honest…” Frank admitted with a heavy sigh as he grabbed his now damaged suitcase off the ground again.

“AAAAAAA WHAT SHOULD I DO? Why does this have to happen to me?!” Ciel’s voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the entirety of the apartment floor. Then there was one of their neighbors that knocked onto their roof and yelled for him to “Shut up!”

“Sorry!” Ciel yelled back in a meek manner. Exchanging another desperate look with his roommate. Both of them were in deep s**t…