A Touch of Mistletoe (9 page)

"Good luck with Nationals," Ash replied, disengaging his hand when Yuki proved slow to release it.

He could have stuck around and watched the rest of practice; he was still badged for it. Ash turned before Yuki could, and left.

*~*~*

"Ugh, you've been sloppy and absent-minded ever since you got back from the Hanabishi job," Surumi complained, setting a stack of thin boxes on the counter with a thud. Her fringe of bangs had gone from neon-green to magenta overnight, and her dark hair was bound up in two pigtails that stood out like raven wings to each side of her head, but for once her clothes were relatively conservative. The white blouse looked oversized enough to be borrowed from her boyfriend, and the houndstooth skirt over slashed black fishnet leggings wouldn't stand out in a Shinjuku shopfront.

Ash jumped, elbow slipping on the counter and phone almost escaping his hand. "What are you talking about? My work ethic—"

"Is usually impeccable," Surumi allowed, tone too sharp for a compliment. "But lately even though you come in on time, you spend more time texting than
I
do. Have you got a sex friend, Ash? No, I don't think so... you'd be leaving work early instead of staying every night to close up shop."

"Why would you… of course I don't have a sex friend!"

"You've stopped trawling for cases," Surumi continued right over his sputtering objections. "Not that I blame you; we'll be slow through the New Year. What is going on, Harmon?"

"That's 'boss' to you," Ash said without heat. Surumi was the right combination of friendly and direct to work the counter and deal with Ash, and she treated him more like family than employer, which suited them both. She was a believer, someone without psychic powers of her own but steeped in paranormal traditions, and her application interview—"I want to learn about
vaudun
"—had caused Ash to hire her on the spot.

"You should blow off early once in a while." Surumi made a shooing gesture. "Whatever's been unresolved, go resolve it. Find a hobby. Get a pet. You need something to occupy your time outside this store and your involvement with the otherworld, Harmon."

"Actually." Ash straightened up from the counter and pocketed his phone. "I
am
leaving early today."

"Really?" Surumi's round face brightened. "Finally got a life?"

"I have a life, and it's a good one," Ash said for what had to be the hundredth time. "I am not obsessed with the otherworld to the exclusion of my own. And I do, too, have hobbies."

"That doesn't matter when you spend all your time here!" Surumi called after him as he headed out the door.

Ash flapped an irritable hand at her before he let it swing shut. She said that often, too. He was off to catch the Japan Nationals with Keisuke, not that he'd tell Surumi. She'd heckle him more about the sport than the fact he was going with Keisuke. He and Keisuke had zero chemistry, anyhow—if Ash knew him better, he might hazard Keisuke was asexual.

"We're off to see your figure skater, then?" were Keisuke's first words when he greeted Ash at the bus stop.

"He's not
my
—you know what, it doesn't matter." Ash buried his hands in his trench coat pockets. Tokyo winters were mild, but that often meant rain rather than snow, and the air was chilly enough extra layers were needed.  He looked at Keisuke.

Short and stocky, Keisuke was a second-generation psychic with not one specialty, but three. He was somewhat reclusive and didn't go in for field work, which was how Ash got some cases referred his way. "But you'd like him to be." Keisuke wasn't going to let it drop.

"You're a psychic, not a matchmaker," Ash grumbled.

"Pity. If I turned this amount of talent to that trade, I'd be rolling in riches by now." Keisuke put a hand to his chin. "You're not a sports fan, Ash. Would you even be going if Hanabishi-senshuu hadn't personally given you tickets?"

Ash shook his head, not bothering to ask how Keisuke had known. "Why are you pushing this?"

"Why aren't you?" Keisuke asked, but said nothing more on the matter as the bus arrived. He switched topics after they settled in their seats. "My latest is a ghost on the 'net."

"I thought that kind of thing only happened in anime." Ash was intrigued. He'd never come across a spirit that fixated on something intangible. "How would you even cast a spirit like that in place?"

Keisuke slanted a look of mock irritation his way. "If you'd let me tell the story, you'd know."

They talked shop for the rest of the trip, and Ash's shoulders relaxed. In truth, he had it bad. He and Yuki had been texting back and forth since they'd said their goodbyes. Yuki had already brought up seeing him again after Nationals several times, and if hard-pressed, Ash would admit he wanted to. Problem was, he wanted it too much. Even if it turned out Yuki only wanted a friend, Ash couldn't afford to go there. He'd already been badly burned by one-sided infatuations.

The Super Arena was so crowded that people barely gave Ash a second glance. He and Keisuke found their seats, gratifyingly close to the action, passing several homemade banners with Yuki's name, face, or both plastered all over them. Keisuke's elbow nudged his ribs when they settled in their places.

"Shut up," Ash muttered before Keisuke could even say it.

The moment Yuki took the ice, he was all that Ash could see. The music started up strong and confident, a frenzy of violins that set a quick, demanding pace. Yuki rose to it, twisting around in a graceful spin before skating off like a shot. The roar of the crowd surged around Ash as Yuki threw his entire body into his first jump, a difficult one Ash had seen him attempt so many times in practice and fall each time.

He nailed it.

"Yes!" Ash punched the air, his own yell lost in the general exultation. After seeing Yuki try and miss it so many times, it was satisfying to see him make the jump. Yuki's anxieties had been resolved along with Maya's peaceful dissolution.

The rest of the performance was equally on point, and Ash lapsed back into his chair with a grin as Yuki left the ice. His image appeared on the arena's screens in the waiting area where the skaters received their results, and Yuki grinned and waved and mouthed 'thank you so much' at the camera. When he got his scores, he leapt up and punched the air, and the crowd screamed again.

"He broke a hundred," Keisuke said beside him as they clapped. At Ash's blank look, he shook his head. "That's the first time anyone's broken a hundred for a short program."

"I'm not sure which is more embarrassing: that you know that, or that I need you to explain that to me."

"Oh, shut it."

The rest of the performances passed in a haze for Ash. He was still thinking over Yuki's standout skate, the exultant look on his face the moment his score had been announced, and the response of the crowd like it was a living creature that existed to give Yuki its support.
There's a lot of people depending on me
, Yuki had told him. The impact of that statement was manifest in the entire afternoon. Ash wondered how many people had come exclusively to see Yuki.

It was a stinging reminder that he was just one small part of a very large number.

"You're quiet," Keisuke said once they'd boarded the return bus.

"Hm?" Ash shrugged. "Yeah."

"It's Christmas next week…" Keisuke said.

Ash blinked at the sudden shift. "You're not inviting me over."

"God, no." Keisuke's brows climbed. "Handsome as you are, Harmon, I don't see you that way."

"Huh?" Ash didn't bother to hide his frown. "Wait, is this another one of those cultural difference things?" Keisuke was one of the few people he could outright ask.

Keisuke gave him an enigmatic smile. "Christmas is a special time."

"No argument here." Ash rubbed his face. Though he could ask, Keisuke wouldn't always give him a clear answer. Ash wasn't sure if that was because he considered it better for Ash to discover it himself, or if it simply amused Keisuke to make him jump through hoops. Probably both.

"Got any plans?"

"Why are you—" Ash began, and cut himself off. Of course Keisuke had his reasons for asking, and probably even knew he was the second person to ask, after Yuki. He was clairvoyant, after all. "No, of course not."

Keisuke nodded and shifted his attention to the streets beyond the window.

Ash sighed and gave up.

Congrats on your win,
Ash sent the tentative text after the Japanese Nationals proclaimed Yuki the reigning champion of Japan's men's figure skating for another year. He got a response back faster than he would have thought possible.

Thanks!! It was possible with your help, I really appreciate you.
No less than three smileys accompanied the statement.

Don't see how that's possible when you were the one skating out there,
Ash replied after a moment of scrutinizing the three smileys. Don't flirt, he reminded himself.

But I was able to do it with a clear heart thanks to you.
More smileys, some that Ash had never seen before, broad and happy with upturned eyes.

There were a lot of things Ash wanted to say in response to that, but far less he felt he could let himself. He kept it limited to,
Glad if I was able to help. J
His sole emoticon looked sparse below the plethora of Yuki's.

The next morning, he woke to no less than three texts from Yuki.

Good morning! How is work now that you're back to it?
Kitten smiley emoticons followed.

I'm still working, kind of... lot of follow-up interviews until training for Worlds starts
, came next.

Let me know if I'm bothering you,
was the third, with a cutely grimacing face that Ash hadn't known a phone could produce.

You're not bothering me at all,
Ash texted back. He couldn't remember the last time something had made him smile before his morning coffee.
I said you could text any time, right?
He spent a moment locating the emoticons on his own phone, debated over a wink, and settled on one with a broad smile.

Work's been slow
,
but it should pick up after Christmas,
Ash concluded.

The next reply from Yuki took several hours, but was no less enthusiastic.
Oh no!! It must be frustrating when work is slow. I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
A cheeky emoji stuck his tongue out at Ash.

I'm about the same,
Ash replied, as he pictured Yuki himself making that face. He didn't tend to be an emoji kind of guy, but it seemed wrong not to reflect the expressive icons back at him. That time he let himself send the winky emoji. It was innocent enough in context.

Still no plans for Christmas Eve?
Yuki asked him around the time Ash was about to close his empty shop for the day.

Nothing outside of work,
Ash replied after considering and discarding a few self-pitying replies involving no one to spend it with.

Yuki must have caught onto it anyhow.
Sounds lonely
.

I'll get by,
Ash replied with a smiley face.
Might pick up something extra special for a treat that night
.

There's a really popular bakery near Shinjuku!!!
Yuki texted him back almost instantly.
It's called Lovely Sweet. I've been wanting to check it out.

Maybe I'll do that and let you know
. Again Ash dared the wink.

In the days leading up to Christmas Eve, he received a Christmas card in the mail from Keisuke that brought Keisuke's enigmatic words on Christmas back to mind. It amused Ash all over again how different psychics were able to tune in to something so specific.

The card from Keisuke was standard Christmas fare, a sprightly wreath ornamented with enough glitter to coat Ash's hands without his even touching it.
Go for it,
Keisuke's hand-scrawled note said beneath the phonetic katakana spelling 'Merry Christmas.' Tucked inside was a coupon to a bakery in Ash's neighborhood.

"You'd better close shop early to get one," Surumi advised on her way out the door. "Lovely Sweet sells out fast."

"Will do." Ash touched two fingers to his brow, still staring at the coupon. Keisuke didn't do anything without good reason. Perhaps he was referring Ash to another case? "And have a Merry Christmas."

"Of course I will! Ryuta has the day off, too."

Confused, Ash closed the store early, tucked the coupon in his pocket, and went to buy a cake.

Lovely Sweet had a simple storefront awning and window displays to either side. It was decorated for the Christmas season with landscapes featuring Santa, reindeer, boughs of holly, snowmen, and the usual fixtures. Ash found himself smiling as he went through the door, and the scent of cake and pastry on the air was enough to make his mouth water.

"Hello, are you here for cake?" A skinny young man in a Lovely Sweet apron greeted Ash. He wore a harried expression. When he took in Ash's appearance, his eyes widened and he attempted a switch to English. "Ah, um, hello... uhhh..."

"It's okay, I speak Japanese." Ash dug the coupon out of his pocket. "A friend gave me this?"

The shop clerk took the coupon and grimaced. "We're sold out of every cake but one. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Ash assured him. "I'll take whatever you've got."

The clerk nodded and strode around the counter, gesturing to the case beside the register. "It's this one here. Is it all right? If not, I'm sure we can write you up an IOU."

Ash peered through the case at a red-frosted cake adorned with sprigs of mistletoe and pearly white dots meant to represent the berries. The leaves were so artfully drawn, it would be a shame to eat it. "It looks great." If that was the leftovers, he wondered about the top-tier cakes.

The clerk rang him up and brought a cake box out of the back, wrapping it in festive gold paper embroidered with holly and silver bells before placing it into a white paper bag with the Lovely Sweet logo. Ash thanked him and set off for his apartment, swinging the bag and gazing at the street decorations. It was equal parts comforting and disorienting, the way traditions were similar but so different from all the things that spelled Christmas back home.