#idesofnovember

The blonde looked down at the two heavy plastic bags in her hand, one containing a large paper bucket, the other held two boxes stacked on top of one another. Both were decorated in festive Christmas colors of yellow, red, and green, and featured the image of a smiling old man and the bold, white letters, “KFC”.*

Usagi took a deep breath of the smell of deep fried chicken now permeating the tiny chamber. Relishing the delicious scent, Usagi looked up when she felt the elevator come to a stop and the door reopened with another soft “ding”.

Practically hopping on her feet like her namesake animal, she crossed the short distance to a familiar door. Shuffling the bags in her hands to free one hand, she quickly patted her wind-blown hair and tugged her scarf back in place. Once she felt she was presentable, Usagi gave a firm press to the doorbell and waited with anticipation as the sound of footsteps approached the door.

As the door cracked open, Usagi belted out, “Merry Christmas, Mamo-chan!”

In front of her the dark haired Mamoru exclaimed in surprise, “Usako! I didn’t know you’d be coming today! What are those-“

Before he could finish, Usagi had walked into the apartment and had begun to take out the items in her bags. “It’s Christmas Eve, so I thought we’d have fried chicken together. See,” she gestured to the items laid out on the table, “I got the full set, including the party barrel, chocolate Christmas cake, and a salad!”

“Oh, that’s right,” Mamoru glanced at the calendar on his wall and looked back at the proud and beaming Usagi. “But aren’t you going to spend Christmas Eve with your family tonight?”

“I will, later tonight,” Usagi replied as she unbuttoned her coat and began setting out the utensils and plates that came with the chicken. Her blue eyes twinkled at Mamoru, “To be honest I didn’t get the idea to buy fried chicken until Kenji Papa mentioned this morning he’ll go pick up our family’s order of chicken before dinner. I kind of wish I had thought of it earlier though; the line at the nearest KFC was super long! It took two hours before I reached the counter!”

Mamoru frowned at the mental image of Usagi rubbing her hands together to stay warm in what felt like arctic conditions outside. She could’ve gotten sick waiting in line in weather like this, he thought to himself as he watched Usagi set the table when another thought occurred to him.

“Wait, but that means you’ll be eating fried chicken and cakes the whole day today…for lunch and dinner,” Mamoru grimaced. The prospect of eating that much sugary and greasy food in a day made him nausea just thinking about it, but the thought did not seem to bother Usagi in the least, who skipped from the table to stand in front of her beau.

“I don’t mind! And besides,” she pointed at the small bowl of chopped lettuce, cherry tomato and cucumber slices. “There’s salad! So it’s not so bad!”

As an aspiring future physician, Mamoru was at a loss for words. He rested his palm against his face and tried not to think about how many gym hours—or for that matter, doses of Lipidor—it would take to undo that much fat and sugar.*

With a sigh, Mamoru pulled his hand away and chastised gently, “Usako, I know this is a once a year thing, but you need to take better care of your body. First of all, you could’ve caught a cold standing outside in the cold for so long. As for the food…you eat a lot of sweets and snacks as it is, and while I love you no matter your weight, if you keep eating this type of diet it’ll be harmful to your body in the long run. You need to take care of yourself more.”

Seeing the disapproving expression on his face, the cheer that had buoyed Usagi through the cold earlier deflated and she turned her gaze to the floor. The apartment fell into an awkward silence, with only the faint sound of the traffic and the occasional gust of wind outside the balcony window to fill the void.

“Mamo-chan…”

Mamoru looked up when he felt Usagi tug lightly at the corner of his sleeve. His eyes softened and he reached for her hand, interlacing his fingers through hers.

“I know you’re worried about me, and you’re right, I should eat healthier. It’s just that…” Usagi paused, and Mamoru felt her grip on his hand tighten as she hesitated. After a pause, Usagi continued, her voice a whisper, “…You said you don’t remember anything from before your accident. I realized that meant you don’t remember any of the time you spent with your parents, be it at birthdays, Christmas, or New Years. So I wanted to make new memories with you, to spend Christmas Eve with you, to sit next to you at a table over a meal, and laugh and talk…”

Here Usagi’s voice cracked and she brushed at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Mamoru reached up and gently cupped Usagi’s face with his hand. Wiping a tear away with his thumb, he smiled tenderly at the girl before him and his heart swelled at the love he felt for her kind, loving soul.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Usako. I just…I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Smiling ruefully, Mamoru said, “I’m sorry my worrying rather killed the festive mood. I appreciate all the effort you went to in order to make this day special, because I want to make new memories with you too, Usako.”

Leaning in, he planted a soft kiss on her lips. After pulling away, Mamoru was glad to see the tears had stopped and a faint smile had reappeared on his love’s face.

Mamoru returned her smile and said, “It’s a special day. Shall we’ll think of this meal as a treat then?”

Hearing this Usagi nodded once enthusiastically. “Yes! And I promise I’ll try to eat less sweets and snacks in the future. It’ll be my New Year’s resolution!”

“Haha,” Mamoru laughed. If he knew Usako and the nature of New Years resolution, this was going to be a doubly tough resolution.

Shrugging internally, Mamoru cleared the nagging thought of healthy eating habits from his mind. Today was Christmas Eve, and though he knew in his heart of hearts this would be the first of many Christmas Eves they would spend as a couple, he wanted to treasure the memory of their first Yuletide, together.

Taking Usagi’s hand, he led her to the dinning table and pulled out a chair for her. “Let’s tuck in then. It would be a shame if the food you waited two hours in line for gets cold.”

“Let’s! Oh, and Mamo-chan?”

Mamoru raised an eyebrow when he heard the sappy sweetness in Usagi’s voice. He knew that tone of voice, and it could only mean one thing.

“Yes, Odango?”

With a big, puppy-face grin, the blonde beamed, “Can I have the drum sticks?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*In Japan Christians account for only about 1% of the population, so while Christmas is widely celebrated it is not an official holiday and the nature of festivities are very commercialized. A big part of that commercialization is the exceptionally successful advertising campaign launched by KFC in the 1970’s that promoted celebrating Christmas with a bucket of fried chicken. The idea is for people to buy a bucket of fried chicken and share it with family, much like how Americans share a turkey dinner with family during the Christmas holiday season. The name of this advertising campaign is “Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii!”, which means “Kentucky for Christmas!”, and is the inspiration for this story.