Did you have a cheerful holiday season? I do hope so. Happy New Year! The December holidays are my favorite season: everything is full of lights and the song. And isn’t December sort of the cheat weekend of the year? Christmas cookies, mulled wine, gingerbread… Everything is glorious.
Now, the Twelve Days of Christmas will be over on Sunday, but maybe you want to hold on to some of that holiday cheer to keep you warm through the chill of winter, which has only just begun. Fortunately, your favorite Ikemen have you covered! To start, some of the light holiday fluff I promised in my impressively long-winded introduction to my beloved samurai.
PS: Do yourself a favor and click on the youtube-links. You won’t be disappointed.
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Christmas was obviously not a thing in 19th century Japan. It was brought in with the foreign barbarians, whose incursion threatens the very basis of Japanese society. And yet, as you read how the news vendor’s paper describes this most important festival of the Europeans, you cannot help but imagine what it would be like to have a little celebration in the garrison. When you broach the subject, all but Hijikata are immediately amenable to the idea. Maybe you will even be able to spend some alone-time with your beloved? Deck the halls!
Hijikata is not amused. He (understandably) thinks very little of the foreign barbarians and their traditions and couldn’t care less about this frivolous exercise called “Christmas”. All he knows is that his men are distracted where they should be training instead. And yet, underneath his stern exterior, we know that Hijikata possesses the soul of a poet…
Okita seems to have fully grasped what the whole Christmas thing is about, and he’s decided to play Santa for all the children he’s friends with. This gives you an idea regarding what you can do for him. When one of the kids loses his present, you obviously decide to do the right thing, and Okita will love you all the more for it.
Faced with a courtyard full of snow, Harada immediately has his men build an icy fort in which to drink hot sake. Seeing as he’s occupied, you assume that he won’t spend much of this Christmas evening with you. You’re wrong.
Master swordsman Saito has a heart of gold, and the culinary acumen of a forest fire. Why he would choose his weakest skill to make a gift for you is anyone’s guess, but here we are. Maybe you can salvage something?
Kondo has decided that this Christmas thing will be a great way to boost morale on the compound. Having read up about this foreign tradition, he has even acquired a tree for the base, that is being decorated, tanabata-style, with colorful paper slips. Kondo’s first thought is always for his men. Will he remember to think of you?
Each one of the stories is two chapters long and has an additional chapter for his PoV. There is a story for Takasugi, but I haven’t read it. My favorite story here is Harada’s. He’s just the cutest, that big oaf.
Pretty Boys All in a Row 