Since I didn't specify Kallen's, I think either Suzaku or Nina would be the best next choices. I kinda think it might be cute to have Shirley give Lelouch's present. Though I'm not certain what anyone else is getting anyone at this point.
Milly blinked and rubbed the side of her head, feeling rather tremendously confused. How strange. The last thing she remembered was standing in the club room. Lulu had been positively darling, taking the time to set up a game of Secret Santa. Knowing him, he would probably excel. She’d never met someone so adept at keeping secrets. Oh, but she would love to peel back the layers to see the real him underneath! What a treasure vault he must contain of juicy, fascinating -
“Rivalz?” she said, blinking as the council’s secretary suddenly dashed right past her. “Hey! Wait a minute! Slow down!”
“Huh?” he said, stopping to turn back to look at her. “Oh! Madame President, I didn’t see you there. Did you, uh, find something appropriate?”
“Find something - Rivalz, what is going on? I don’t remember going to the mall! Mind filling me in?”
“Maybe later!” he said, backing away just a little bit. “It’s my turn to get something. Wouldn’t wanna spoil things, right? Catch you later! Oh! Keep an eye on my bike, too!”
And off he ran, waving cheerily without answering any damn thing at all. Milly took a step forward to chase after him - then found herself walking in the other direction. She tried to turn around, but only found herself picking up the pace in the direction she was already going.
Then she was outside and somehow, she knew that it would be just about impossible for her to go back inside. How thoroughly unnerving. There wasn’t really anything else for it. She found Rivalz’s bike easily enough, the sidecar loaded up with wrapped gifts. How strange. Why would he abandon this in such a manner? And why would he brush her off like that? This whole thing stunk of… something. It took a fair amount to unnerve Milly Ashford, but this - Oh, yes. This was certainly fast approaching that point.
<hr>
Gift. Gotta get a gift. Kinda wish it had been for Milly, but that was the random nature of the game. Still. Kallen was certainly cute enough. A sickly beauty, bit sheltered for his taste, but still hot enough to merit attention!
Which led him to a certain point. He didn’t really know all that much about her. She was often sleepy in class, but hadn’t quite mastered Lelouch’s ability to pretend to be awake. She’d missed half the year so far, which must have really bitten into her social life. Then again, if the rumours about her and Lulu were true, there were probably other reasons the two of them were sleeping in class. Because they weren’t getting that much sleep at night, if you catch his meaning. Which, as Rivalz was thinking to himself at the moment, meant that the meaning was caught rather deftly.
A word caught his eye as he passed by the shops, stymied by his lack of knowledge for his gifting target. He didn’t know anything about jewelry, had no idea about Kallen’s sense in fashion outside of school, didn’t know her hobbies, didn’t know her interests and couldn’t really give her candy in case she was allergic to one of the ingredients. Rather badly cut down on gifting ideas.
But he had seen a sign in the window of a shop as he ran by. “Miracle Pills,” it had said in large print. Much smaller and beneath it, the sign continued in smaller font. “Tired of being tired? Stand up for stamina! Take our non-addictive pills for a boost of energy that will carry you throughout the day!”
“Alright! Woo!” Rivalz punched the air in celebration. Several other shoppers began to avoid eye contact and took great pains to give him distance. “This is exactly what I’m looking for!”
And so, Rivalz dashed inside the shop to purchase a box of these miracle pills, not particularly noticing the smallest of small print at the bottom of the box that read “Our product has been officially labeled a placebo, and effects may vary as according to the beliefs of the person taking them. Side effects are entirely dependent on what it is believed they may be, and so are not listed here for the sake of public safety.”
The ironic thing about the last part, of course, is that people just don’t bother with small print nearly as often as they should.
<hr>
Kallen checked the time, and felt tremendous gratitude that she could get out of that ridiculous uniform and into her real identity. The Black Knights had a meeting tonight. Funny thing about Christmas time was the number of deaths and suicides that tended to happen around the season. Depression sets in as people succumb to the costly pressures, crime spikes through the roof. It was just in the nature of Britannia. Even when they weren’t actively trying, their culture was having extremely harmful side effects.
Sometimes it was the side effects that resulted in the most tragedy. You couldn’t see it in the nearby streets because the family she was staying with was pretty wealthy. But then, when you wandered into the ghettos like she was doing…
You could see them gathered in the snow, blowing into their hands and trying desperately to keep warm. Some of them wearing Santa outfits and trying to force themselves to be cheerful. They were out of work, but trying everything they could to scrape money together so their family could at least try to forget how much they were suffering. If only for a day. Side effects of the rich taking the chance to show off how rich they really were.
Her mind cast back to the student council meeting. A stupid Secret Santa game. How could anyone think of anything like that when there was such suffering going on in the streets? No. Not this year. This year, the Black Knights were going to do something. Even if it was something like suicide watching over the more common locations - Bridges, train tracks and the like - Then they would at least keep this particular side effect from being anywhere near as terrible and soul destroying as it usually -
As it usually -
Usually when Kallen reeled, it was either because she was pretending to be sick or her ears had been rung by a nearby explosion. Neither was the case today. She was almost at the arranged meeting point, but for some reason that just didn’t seem important. Shopping. She needed to do a spot of shopping. She had brought some change with her in case she needed to spend some money in the least traceable manner possible. It would mean missing the meeting, but -
“Wh-what am I thinking?” she clutched at the side of her head. “I- I can’t miss this meeting! I can’t just -”
Except she could. And in point of fact, her feet were already carrying her off in the right direction. Wrong direction. Except it felt right. She had to get a gift for that person. She had to buy them something, right now. Above all other things she needed to do tonight this absolutely had to take top priority.
Up above her on the roof there was a man in a mask and a green-haired girl. “Still think there’s nothing strange about that hat?” the first asked.
“Hmm,” the other replied, staring in amusement as Kallen began to skip happily down the street. “Possibly, possibly. I wonder…”
<hr>
<b>Gifts gathered</b>
Milly to Rivalz: Groping Gloves.
Rivalz to Kallen: Placebo Pills, which magically induce whatever the expected effect is upon ingestion.
- Kallen buys a gift for a certain person, who is then compelled to buy their own gift.
- Rivalz returns to his bike, and finds Milly there. They’re both confused by what just happened to them.
- The Black Knights have a meeting. But Lelouch didn’t realise he’d brought the hat with him until someone suggests they play the game…
- Shirley is actually buying her gift already, without being compelled to do so. Bit out of order, but the hat doesn’t mind too much.
- Suzaku mentions the game to Euphemia, and realises that he somehow wound up with the hat in his possession.
- Something else
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