The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent

Claire might look like a reckless impulse shopper at first glance, but in reality, she’s quite cunning.

This was true even during her villain days in the original story. While blocking the protagonist’s party, she pretended to let them off easy, but really was picking apart their choices ahead of time, following the Emperor’s orders to the letter. In the end, she threw a wrench into the Emperor’s plans, leaving everything up in the air—that was all thanks to Claire.

And it was the same for the bright Claire I knew.

“Santa outfit…”

I wiped my face.

That’s right. Claire had the foresight to buy a Santa outfit in advance.

Wait, upon reflection, maybe she didn’t buy it ‘in advance’ after all. I don’t recall her picking it up while shopping for Christmas and Halloween decorations; it seemed like she got it after realizing we could return to this world.

However, you can’t underestimate the distribution network of Earth, and especially Korea.

If you buy it at a decent time, it arrives the next day—so Claire probably bought the Santa outfit the moment she thought of “Christmas special broadcast.”

She is quite the planner, perhaps having done her homework on the measurements of the main characters long before we even got here.

“What’s a Santa?”

Rena looked skeptically at the cylindrical dress made of red fabric and white fur.

“A Santa is an old man who comes to give presents to good kids all year round!”

“It doesn’t look like something an old man would wear…”

“Because it’s a woman’s outfit!”

Seeing Claire firmly state that right after explaining it was an old man’s outfit made me feel a bit of cognitive dissonance.

If you think about it logically, there’s no real need to make a Santa outfit into a dress form.

In my opinion, that color combination suits women quite well, which is probably why such costumes exist.
You see bikinis made with Union Jack or Stars and Stripes designs, and they don’t necessarily have to be from that country to wear them. Well, of course, that steers too much into a sexual image, so they probably only get worn in 2D contexts.

“We all saved the world together, so we deserve presents from Santa!”

“Except Santa doesn’t even exist.”

“Doesn’t exist, you say?”

“Alice!”

Claire leapt behind Rena and covered her ears with both hands. Rena’s head swayed with Claire’s movements.

“Here’s someone who’s hearing about Santa for the first time today—what are you doing?!”

She’s barely a year younger than us, right?

Well, besides, Rena seemed indifferent to whether Santa existed or not. She was from another world, after all.

Maybe Claire didn’t genuinely mean to do it, as she quickly let go of Rena’s ears.

“Well, Santa is more of an abstract concept than a real ol’ man, right? It’s a story parents tell to get their kids to behave, while giving gifts on Christmas.”

“Ah, so you mean we should become Santa ourselves.”

“Of course! I prepared gifts for Leo and Jake too.”

“Ours has a beard.”

“Well, Santa is an ‘old man,’ right?”

Despite that, the women’s outfits were all short dresses.

“Wait, am I wearing this too?”

“Of course you are, Roti! Jake’s been looking forward to it!”

“He is?”

“…”

As Roti shot daggers at Jake, he managed to grin awkwardly.

“Okay, okay, everyone else! Quick!”

At Claire’s urging, we split male and female and headed to our respective rooms.

*

“Uh, this skirt seems a bit short?”

“Mia, it’s not too different in length from the magical girl outfits you usually wear.”

“R-really? But those have wider skirts and more lace…”

Sure, Mia’s outfit looked like something that would please the police but ironically, it was legal in this country.

The reason was simple—Mia was considered an adult here.

Well, thinking again, it’s not like she was naked, so there was no legal issue. In terms of coverage, it was much more decent than a bikini.

“Ah, I get it now.”

Charlotte murmured that while closing her eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“I can definitely see how wearing this for a broadcast would draw in way more viewers.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless seeing Charlotte’s wide-eyed realization.

“Why the long face? We’ve broadcast in outfits even more scandalous than this!”

“This is more scandalous?”

Sofia gasped at that.

The Santa costume design was the same for everyone, bar the measurements. Shoulders revealed, the neckline barely covering anything, and the skirt felt almost as short as a school uniform skirt.

It definitely screamed “what the girls would wear at Christmas.”

“Of course! Remember the workout outfits we wore…?”

Sofia gulped.

…Should I show it to them later, since it’s on video?

That video did quite well in views—almost as good as [Eek! Dispense] and [Eek! Remix]. Though it got a yellow tag slapped on it too.

Just thinking about that embarrassing video made me want to shift my gaze.

“Excellent! You make for a perfect Santa, Roti.”

“B-but if we do this in front of others…”

Roti’s hands were trying to ‘support’ but not really ‘push away’ the act, and it felt a bit strange.

I’d prefer they keep affection displays for private instead of in public. Poor Leo standing next to them.

“Leo, over here.”

I grabbed Leo by the arm and pulled him over.

“W-why?”

Then I shoved Leo next to Sofia.

“Gah!?”

Without waiting for Sofia’s next reaction, I walked over to Lily Baker, who was a bit distanced from our group.

“I didn’t expect you to be this shy.”

After I spoke, Lily looked slightly taken aback then smiled a bit.

“Ah, yes. I grew up in commoner areas, you know? Though it was relatively well-off, I still saw a fair bit of street performers.”

Ah, I see.

In taverns, there were plenty of waitresses with short dresses.

Plus, in a world set in the early 20th century, there were still bikinis and bunny girls! Maybe it wasn’t just skirt lengths she was exposed to after all.

“Plus, seeing the Crown Princess and the nobles wearing outfits like this gives me a bit of courage.”

“Oh, is that so?”

In that case, I had nothing more to say. If it makes her happy.

“Okay, okay!”

Claire clapped her hands.

“Now that all the Santas are gathered, let’s exchange the gifts we prepared!”

Following Claire, everyone clapped along.

Ah, this is nice.

You can definitely feel the Christmas vibe.

It’s been ages since I felt that.

Dropping in and out of homes and school without a girlfriend was bound to lead to that.

Exchanging Christmas gifts wasn’t about anything extravagant. With too many people, we agreed to prepare only one gift each.

It would work like a lottery. If your number was picked, you’d put it back and draw again—simple enough.

And what I ended up with was—

“Oh, that’s mine!”

Alice said with a smile.

“Oh really?”

I had number three.

As I unraveled the modest wrapping that looked like it had been done by hand, a small keychain emerged.

“I bought this last time we were here. I originally intended to take it as a souvenir, but since we returned, it feels like giving it to someone else will turn it into a memory.”

It wasn’t anything fancy—it was a small keychain shaped like a puppy.

But it was cute.

“Thank you! I’ll cherish it.”

“Don’t mention it. I just picked it up on the street.”

Alice still looked delighted.

“Ah, it’s my sister’s gift!”

Claire, in charge of ceremonies, held up the gift labeled with my number one.

“What’s inside… oh?”

Claire’s eyes sparkled when she saw what I had put inside.

“A necklace!”

“It’s not anything expensive.”

I pondered a lot over what could be liked by both genders and ended up choosing a necklace.

To be honest, after all that deliberation, it wasn’t even that pricey.

“No way, thank you, Sis!”

Claire immediately wore the necklace around her neck.

The crescent-shaped ornament sparkled as it dangled.

“How does it look?”

“It suits you well.”

I smiled and commented, watching Claire proudly puff out her chest.

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