When Haseyama saw Kei walking onto the stage, his lips twisted into a smile. The owner of Starless had prepared a gift worth enough to bring the arrogant leader down. He became so lost in his thoughts that the elder man failed to notice Kei standing a few feet away.

“Whatever your planning, I can assure you, it won’t work.”

Kei’s deep and callous voice dragged Haseyama back to reality. Frowning, he handed the younger man a thin gift encased in blood-red wrapping paper, and in exchange, accepted a navy-blue gift bag.  

“Why don’t you do the honors first?” Though his words were polite, Kei’s tone was anything but.

Wanting to get it over with, Haseyama curiously opened the gift to reveal a book titled “How to Act Like an Adult. For Beginners”.

The owner’s lips fell, but before he could bare his fangs, Kei took out a lighter from his pocket. Wordlessly, the team leader flicked open the top, revealing a bright flame, and held the gift Haseyama gave over the fire.

As the red paper burnt to a crisp, Kei’s eyes narrowed, his famous smirk dancing on his lips, “You said we had to purchase presents from each other, but you never said we had to open the presents.”

The corners of Zakuro’s lip curled up as he saw Gui walking towards him, displaying no emotions on his face. “Oya Oya, you actually purchased me a gift. Who would have thought a clueless puppy like you could manage to shop for gifts. Ah, wait, did one of your team members help you?”

Without reacting to Zakuro’s words, Gui held the gift bag out and waited patiently for his ex-team member to take it.

“Not in the mood to talk? No matter,” the singer chuckled and handed the silent man a neatly wrapped box. “Why not go first?”

Nodding, Gui unfolded one side of the wrapping paper and pulled out the box-like present. “A…dictionary?”

“Yes. It contains definitions for every word in our language. Since you don’t seem to understand anything, reading a dictionary might help your feeble mind.” Though Zakuro’s words were laced with poison, Gui kindly thanked him for the gift.

“Oya Oya, such a lackluster reaction. Then again, that’s expected from you. My turn,” Team C’s singer snickered, gradually taking out his present from the bag. “Ara…? What is this?”

“I can’t understand what you say…your Japanese is like your smell…confusing. This book will help improve your Japanese…,” Gui innocently explained. Zakuro furrowed his brows, his lips twitching as if his muscles couldn’t decide what emotion to display.

“Hey, Gui,” Sotetsu called out from a few tables away, “that’s not what Zakuro asked. He’s asking ‘what’s this’ referring to the item in his hand. Do him a favor and look up the word ‘book’ for him in your new dictionary.”

A small laugh escaped Sotetsu’s lips when he saw Team B’s second strolling closer to him. “Taking your time coming here, aren’t you? Scared to see what gift I got you?”

“Scared? As if.” Rico mockingly replied, “You can’t scare anyone, even if you tried.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” The brown-haired man carelessly tossed a small box towards his ex-teammate. “Open it or not. Your choice.”

“Why don’t you go first?” Rico tried his best not to sound irritated as he dropped a dark gray bag on Sotetsu’s lap.

Shrugging, the taller man took out a ceramic coffee cup from the gift bag and examined the pink letters on it. “Little miss drama queen nominee?”

“Perfect, isn’t it?” Rico’s voice dripped with satisfaction, thinking he finally managed to shut Mr. Drama Lover up.

“Yeah, perfect for you,” Sotetsu laughed, “What’s with the frown? Thought you got me? Speaking of a frown, why don’t you open your present?”

Rico gritted his teeth and ripped open the wrapping paper, and without reading the label, the red-haired man rolled his eyes, “A jar of cream? What kind of gift is this?”

“That’s an anti-wrinkle cream. Keep bitching about everything, and your skin is going to suffer.”

Seeing Rico’s expressions, Sotetsu got up and walked away, his laughter echoing through the restaurant.

Kokuyou leaned against the wall and quietly watched Akira and Sinju’s interaction as he waited for Nekome. A toy and socks with capes? How stupid yet sweet.

“Some of the cast members really went out of their way to buy gifts.”

Team W’s leader shifted his gaze to his ex-friend and smirked, “They did, but unfortunately for you, I am not one of them.”

“You wound me, Kokuyou.” Nekome dramatically rested a hand on his chest. “But, I got you a thoughtful gift.”  

Their sharp gazes locked as the two men exchanged gifts. The newest member of Starless immediately forfeited the glaring contest as soon as he felt the weight of the gift box.

“My. Such a light gift.” He curiously opened the box with one hand to find…nothing. “Kokuyou, did you forget to put my gift inside?”

“No.”

“So, my Christmas present is an empty box?” Nekome opened his eyes fully and questioningly looked at the red-haired man.

“A box as empty as your soul. You straight-up disappeared, leaving everyone, including your brother,” Kokuyou frowned, his eyebrow slightly twitching, “and now, you show up out of nowhere.”

“How sweet! I had no idea you missed me that much.” Nekome snickered, “Your turn.”

Team W’s leader wanted to toss the gift aside and walk away, but out of curiosity, he reached into the gift bag and took out a book titled “Stop Overreacting: Ways to Control Your Emotions”.

Before Kokuyou could lash out, Nekome turned his back to his old friend and began walking away. “I almost signed you up for meditation classes but then thought, the poor instructor doesn’t deserve to die.”    

Takami politely accepted his present from Kasumi before handing him a small black, velvet gift box. Though both men were displaying cordial expressions, the air about them was frigid.

“Kasumi, please go first.”

The dark-haired man thanked him as he slowly opened the gift, not in a hurry to see what was inside. Team C’s member knew the gift inside would not be thoughtful, nor was it going to be pleasant. “Hm? What is this?”

“A mini earpiece used to secretly communicate,” Takami whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear his words, “in case you need to transmit messages about Starless to the people who sent you here.”

Kasumi bit down on his tongue to hold back the bitter words brewing in his mind; instead, he offered Team W’s member an indifferent smile, “Ah, I see. Thank you. Please, open your gift.”

“A pen? A rather simple gift…,” Takami chuckled, but something told him the present was not as straightforward as it appeared to be.

“It’s a pen,” Kasumi spoke in a low voice, “with a built-in camera. One can never be too careful of their surroundings. Some people consider themselves sharp, but in reality, they lack sharpness.”

The two men stood in silence, their eyes boring holes into each other’s skulls as the air around them grew colder and colder. 

Mokuren’s eyes widened when they saw Mizuki walk into the restaurant area with a large crate. Their shock slowly turned to disgust as they examined the poorly gift-wrapped box. Did he use newspaper…are those barbed wires? Who uses barbed wires to wrap a gift?

“Is there a day in your life where you wake up and don’t choose violence?” Mokuren sighed, watching the younger team leader slam the crate on the table.

“Here!” Mizuki grinned and handed them wire cutters. “Use this, and gimme my gift.”

Not wanting to ruin their mood any further, Mokuren handed the gift bag to the younger boy before turning their attention to the box. As Team C’s leader struggled to open the box, all eyes in the restaurant were on them.

“Havin’ fun?”

“Yes, I am. Isn’t it obvious?”

The moment they opened the box, Mokuren’s eyes lit up upon seeing the words “Gourmet Snacks” engraved on a smaller box inside. Right as the team leader opened the lid, the brightness in their eyes diminished. There were no snacks…just empty wrappers that once contained cheeses, cookies, meats, popcorn, and chocolates.  

“Your face,” Mizuki busted out laughing and fell to the floor, dropping his gift in the process. “What’s this? A…set of coupons for an all-you-can-eat buffet?”

He started feeling a little guilty for pulling a prank on Mokuren until he realized the first coupon expired fifteen minutes ago, as did all the other 19 vouchers. Both of them wordlessly stared at their gifts, a sense of despair crawling into the air around them.  

A crooked smile found its way onto Ran’s lip as he saw Menou approaching him. He couldn’t wait to see the actor’s reactions to his gift, but much to the boy’s surprise, Menou had no gift bag or box in his hand. Was that a plastic bottle in his left hand?

Though Ran found this odd, he ignored it for the time being and handed Team P’s member a small ebony gift bag. “Open it!”

Menou placed the bag on a nearby table and reached inside with his free hand. “Caffeine pills?”

A smug expression overtook Ran’s face as he said, “If you continue sleeping, you’ll miss seeing Team B destroying Team P.”

“I see.” The orange-haired man didn’t react to the threat; instead, he tossed an empty plastic spray bottle toward the hyper boy. “For you.”

“Huh? This is my gift?”  

“You don’t like it?” Menou asked with a hint of teasing in his voice. “Then again, the gift is more for Kongou than you. Tell Kongou to use this spray bottle to train the misbehaving puppies on his teams.”

As he said those words, Menou mimicked the wan-wan dance step.