Santa School
Red Mobster: Tie everyone up and blindfold them. (points gun at Zhurong)
Zhurong: MC...!
MC: Dammit... / (don't resist) / (reach for your sword)
---
(C) Ryouta: No, you can't...
---
Red: Don, we got everyone inside under control. You can come in now.
Simurgh: Thanks... Sorry to give you guys some trauma just because you happened to be here, but I promise no one gets hurt if you stay quiet. Now on to my demand: gimme your artifact, Santa.
White: Why? Christmas is over so--
Simurgh: I don't have to answer. Shame what would happen if you said no to me.
MC: (sit quietly next to Yule) / Ryouta, you okay? / Zhurong, you feeling okay?
(A) Yule: It'll be okay. Ded can figure something out.
(B) Ryouta: Thanks, I'm good. I'd be crying if I were alone, but I need to hold it together to not upset Zhurong.
Ryouta sounds tough, but there's a hint of fear in his voice.
(C) Zhurong: I'm okay. I'm not afraid since they haven't really done anything to me. I think I'll be fine if I sit still. Their aura colors don't really look like bad people.
White: (sighs) Sorry, but there's no proof you won't abuse Santa's bag, so I can't just give it to you...
Simurgh: Are you stalling? Got an emergency police button at your desk?
White: >:(
Simurgh: Heh, I could see it on your face. Don't worry, things won't get that bad. But we can always paint this room red if you like. For Christmas!
...
White: ...fine, but you best leave immediately after.
Simurgh: I'm glad you understand. We'll be done quick with it.
MC hears Simurgh leave on the wingbeats of many feathers and distant cawing. Once the noise goes away...
White: It's okay now. They left now that he's done.
MC: Sorry we got taken hostage... / Will the bag be okay? / Ded, I'm scared!
(A) White: Don't worry about it. As Santa, I don't want children to be endangered on my account.
(C) White: It's okay, I'm glad you're safe now.
White: There's no need to worry about my white present bag artifact. It's just a bag when held, so he can't abuse it easily. (Also if I had really let it go, I'd have disappeared.)
Door slam!
Tajikarao: Police, open up!
Magami: Woof! Where are the criminals!?
Tajikarao and Magami: ...uh?
MC: Too late / Hey you gut punch! / Tajikarao, I was so scared!
---
(A) Tajikarao: The perps are gone already!? But we turned the police sirens on and everything!
(B) Magami: OOF, thank you very much! And I'm sorry we didn't make it in time...
(C) Tajikarao: Oof! W-w-what's wrong!? My kouhai is watching, we can't do this in public!
---
White: I'm sorry. I wanted to stall longer, but I thought it would endanger the children to try.
Tajikarao: No, you haven't done anything wrong!
Magami: I realize you just went through a fright, but will you help us to catch the criminals?
A quick interview later
Ryouta: I hope they're arrested and the bag returned quickly.
Yule: Yeah, but Tajikarao said there wasn't much evidence left behind...
Ryouta: MC, I can go back for our guild Christmas party, but...I might not be able to go.
MC: You staying to help? That's so like you. I'll call and ask if they can put it off a day.
Ryouta: I'm sad I'll miss out on the cake, but I can't sit back when a friend needs help.
Yule: ...hey where's Zhurong? Wasn't he talking to the police? Did he just go afterwards? I wanted to ask him more about Arakawa.
Ryouta: Okay later MC! Sucks that I can't make it, but tell them they don't have to delay the party for me!
Ryouta and Yule leave. MC leaves too, then finds someone by the the gates with an umbrella.
Bertro: Hey, I came to see you.
MC: Bertro!? Thanks for coming so far, but why are you here?
Bertro: I was contacted by a comrade, so I came to hack the Santa School cameras and check things out. Looks like you got involved in another incident! In other news, we got lots of snow tonight, so want this umbrella?
MC: But it's clear out? That's what the weather report said... / Oh, well hopefully it doesn't.
Surprise snow!
Bertro: Ha ha, take that weather report! Take this umbrella. Also I contacted your guild to let them know what's happening. I predicted you wouldn't go to your guild Christmas party, so I informed them of that. They're going to make the party some other day, after you finish up with all this.
MC: Oh, have you seen Zhurong? I figured we'd go home together since it's getting late.
Bertro: The short boy who talked to you like an old friend? The Shinjuku Elementary student from Old Ones and their Entity of the Outer Realm abilities and who once terrorized Tokyo in the past--
MC: Yeah yeah yeah, have you seen him
Bertro: Nope! I can predict where he is though. He's probably following the criminals who attacked the Santa School.
MC: THEY TOOK HIM!?
Bertro: No I just said he followed them. He made a decision to chase them.
MC: WHAT!? / That's not funny / (stare suspiciously)
Bertro: Sorry, I'm for real right now. You couldn't tell? He wasn't blindfolded or tied up back there, though maybe it's because they thought he was a kid who couldn't do anything and left him. I doubt it though since he was breathing calmly. Boy didn't react to having a gun pointed at him, so he must've been in contact with them.
MC: No way...but why?
Bertro: That'd take six hours to explain. Would you prefer if I checked the traffic cameras instead?
Confusing sepia wipe!
Fuxi: Oh, I thought as much. And I was so excited to see my sister... We just barely missed each other! And now the party I got invited to got pushed back!
Bertro: MC was supposed to come back at that time in that loop, yes. But haven't you said yourself that their unpredictability was what made them interesting?
Fuxi: Not when it messes with my plans instead of my predictions!
Fuxi and Bertro are playing poker by the way.
Fuxi: If someone changed what was supposed to happen, then they must also have the ability to predict what that was. Even if I consider the time before the rules between the World Representatives were put in, I don't know of that many people capable of such. Brings back memories of when we Representatives were friendly with one another instead of harsh rivals.
Fuxi folds this hand.
Bertro: Haha, we saw each other as hostiles back then. You guys had supernatural prediction abilies on par with us Academy geniuses. History sure is fearsome.
Fuxi: We thought the same of you. Your personal-- oh excuse me, categorization as a scientific threat is a slight difference from that sort of predictive accuracy.
Bertro folds the next hand.
Bertro: Ha ha, thanks for the consideration! I guess you still didn't see us as human back then. We could walk without assistance and scientifically were still similar to people. And it sounds like our human efforts haven't been in vain.
Fuxi stops for a second as he narrows his eyes before folding.
Bertro: ...yeah, when two people with equal predictive powers compete, it really just comes down to luck.
Fuxi: But that makes it fun with it not being a contest anymore. And isn't it nice to talk about the past and forget about the present troubles? With Christmas being so close, how about we send MC a present together?
Bertro: ...no, I shouldn't. I'm MC's friend now, but not a comrade in sentiments.
Fuxi: ...how about we finish this game then? All in.
Bertro: ...all in.
Somewhere Else
Cat A: Message from the don. The Simurgh family got Santa's bag before us.
Cat B: Bitch! That was our ticket on up in the world...
Cat C: Nooo, this is not as planned at all!
The mobs are on a radio to their mafia gang leader.
Cat A: Change of plans now. You know what to do, right?
Cat B: Hehehe! Crush the Simurgh Family!
Cat C: For the Pete(?) Family!
End of Episode half
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