Fountain of Growth Christmas Story (Part 1 up)

[Silver Spoon]

To get into the mood of Christmas, I decided to have our two heroines of the well-received story of mine, "Fountain of Growth", their own Christmas story. Here's a bio of the two girls if you're not familiar with them.


Kiseki Sunohara: A somewhat reclusive, but intelligent 16 year-old girl who lives with her father, who recently got divorced from his wife. However, he's often very busy overseas and such, so Kiseki is typically watched over with care by her grandmother and grandfather from her father's side. Her physical attributes include her long, flowing brown hair (which she often keeps in a blue ribbon to make one long ponytail), green eyes, and a skinny, flat build. She is about 5 foot 2 in height, and her best subjects include art and history. Maki is her best friend.

Maki Kurosaki:

A cheerful, active girl who's on the school swim team, she's Kiseki's best friend. With her long, red-brown hair, green eyes, and modest sized chest, she is quite popular with the male students in the school. Her only possible fault is her size, which is a measly 4 feet and 10 inches, and she was a little self-conscious about it. She has known to tease her friend at times, but only for fun.


And now, without further ado..


A Fountain of Growth Christmas Tale



Chapter 1: Maki's Gift

It was December 20th now for young Kiseki. The girl had her hair down for an ice change of pace, and she was writing out a list of presents for herself, her parents, and her friends at a little past 6 P.M.

"Let's see...I already got Mother and Father's gifts, but what about my friends? Hmm... Chikara is fairly rich, but she did hint a while ago that she wanted to get a nice jacket for winter to take to and from school. Miyabi's spending Christmas Eve with her boyfriend, but told me that showing up to her party on Christmas Day is good enough. I'll have to think of something for the both of them, like a DVD or a video game. As for Maki..."

Kiseki stopped writing for a moment as she wondered what to get her best friend in the world. The friend that she's known since elementary school.

"What to get Maki....what..to..get..Maki...?"

Kiseki kept tapping her pencil on the left side of her head as she pondered in thought of what to get her. Kiseki remembered how her earlier Christmas presents were disastrous at best, and yet Maki always got her something wonderful in return. One year her parents even bought her a PlayStation 2! That's how good a friend Maki was, and she saved up most of the money herself for months!

"Aaarrrggghhh!!" Kiseki whined as she threw her pencil across the room. "I can't think of anything! Maki's my best friend and yet I always get her junk!"

Frurstrated, Kiseki got out her laptop and began surfing Amazon for gift ideas. Maki didn't care for fashion, so that was out. Makeup did nothing for her, so scrap that. She typically DVR'd her shows, so a DVD of a series she liked wouldn't be worth it. She thought of video games, but Maki commonly bought them at a rate of one a week with the part-time money she made as a waitress at the restaurant her older brother ran, which she worked part-time at.

"Dang it, Maki! You're so hard to shop for!" Kiseki groaned as she smashed her left hand on her bed while surfing Amazon.

Kiseki opened up AIM and noticed that the friend in question she was shopping for was on. Her username was "coolgirl4293", a reference to her both birthdate of April 20th and her date of birth, 1993. Kiseki's name was "miraclew0nder", as miracle was the English translation of her first name. Almost instantly a message for her popped up from Maki, which read:

<coolgirl4293: Hey, girl!>

Kiseki quickly replied with:

<miraclew0nder: Hello, Maki *sigh*>

The conversation continued for a little while.

<coolgirl4293: What's the matter? =(>

<miraclew0nder: I'm having a hard time shopping for someone for Xmas..>

<coolgirl4293: Let me guess...me? ^^;>

<miraclew0nder: Well...yes, actually.>

<coolgirl4293: Kiseki, you don't have to do that. We're friends. Just seeing you on Xmas Eve is enough to make me happy. = )>

<miraclew0nder: But you always buy me really nice things every year! I feel like a jerk buying you crap!>

<coolgirl4293: LOL>

<coolgirl4293: Kiseki, I buy you nice things because you always treat me. Almost every time we go the movies, or the beach, or the mall, who pays for my food and drinks? Who records my shows for me when my parents and I go on vacation? Who helped me raise my Pokemon in Diamond when I needed them to level them up so I could beat the Champion in that game? You did, Kiseki. That's why I go all out for you on your birthday and Xmas.>

Kiseki paused a bit as she read Maki's message, tears coming from her eyes.

<miraclew0nder: ....>

<miraclew0nder: Maki...I..I didn't know..>

<coolgirl4293: You're my best friend, girl! Friends do these kinds of things! You're like a sister to me! Plus, it was YOU who saved Japan many months back, remember? I think you're entitled to a great gift!>

<miraclew0nder: But you're always out looking for me. When we turned into giantesses, you were the one who helped me find fun in that. If not for you, I'd probably have cried like a baby.>

<coolgirl4293: Kiseki, if you REALLY want to get me something for Xmas, join me in the school play. One of our lead performers got sick, and we need a replacement really quickly.>

<miraclew0nder: Oh yeah. You're in the drama club now.>

<coolgirl4293: Too cold to swim, girl. Plus the school pool is getting cleaned for next year. Need something to bide me over until April.>

<miraclew0nder: Sure, Maki! I'll help. What do you need a role for?>

<coolgirl4293: Well, it's a romantic comedy that takes place on Christmas. A man meets a woman on Christmas Eve. The two are total strangers who've never seen each other before, but fall in love under the beautiful winter night sky. It sounds a little girly, but it has a few musical numbers, plus dancing angels!>

<miraclew0nder: Sounds cute! ^_^ What role am I playing?>

<coolgirl4293: Well, there are two narrators. I'm one of them, and you would be the other.>

<miraclew0nder: You...you mean...?>

<coolgirl4293: Yep. We'll be on the stage several times throughout the play.>

<miraclew0nder: ....>

<coolgirl4293: Pleeease, Kiseki! Do it for me? ^_~>

<miraclew0nder: ......>

<miraclew0nder: I'll do it. For you, Maki.>

<coolgirl4293: Cool! Thanks a million! XXX>

<miraclew0nder: So when is the first performance?>

<coolgirl4293: Two days from now.>

<miraclew0nder: !?!?>

<coolgirl4293: Don't worry. I'm leaving right now to come over to your place to rehearse the lines. You don't talk as much as me, so don't worry.>

<miraclew0nder: But I've never even been in a play before!>

<coolgirl4293 is offline.>

"Now what!?" Kiseki worried, her eyebrows high up on her face. "I'm not good with large crowds of people! Until a few months ago I barely even talked to boys!"

Kiseki got up and spun around in the chair in her room, wondering what to do about her current dilemma.


Chapter 2: Rehearsing

As she promised, Maki later came over, scripts in tow. Unlike most of her appearances over at her house, she was her regular height of 4'10". She was wearing under hew black winter jacket a plain, red shirt with long sleeves, along with a pair of blue jeans. Kiseki, meanwhile, was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue sweatpants.

"You wear sweatpants?" Maki asked, smiling at this once unknown fact of her friend.

"Well..yeah. I don't to school because it's not something I want to confess out in the open, but yeah. I've worn them for quite a while, actually."

"Fine with me", Maki said as she took off her jacket and hung it in the closet near the front door. She then took her shoes off and left them near Kiseki's. Before she entered any further into her friend's house, though, she noticed a mistletoe hung up above her.

"My parents put that up", Kiseki explained, blushing red. "They kiss each other especially often during the Christmas seaso.."

Before Kiseki finished her sentence, Maki planted her lips on her friend's face, surprising her greatly.

"M-M-MAKI!!" the girl screamed in shock.

"Well, it IS a mistletoe, is it not?" Maki asked, winking at her friend.

"Well, yeah...but...never mind! Let's go read in my room!!"

Maki then ran up the stairs ahead of Kiseki, who was still confused by the earlier kiss. Maki didn't seem very hesitant in kissing her..could it be that she liked her more than as a friend? Kiseki denied it as she headed up the stairs behind her energetic friend, who jumped onto her bed and smiled as she stood on her bed waiting for her.

"Here's your script", Maki said as she handed her friend a copy of the script. "Your parts are highlighted in pink, and mine in blue. This way we'll know when to fill in for each other."

"There's a lot more than a few lines!!" Kiseki noted as she flipped through the play's script quickly. She had to have at least 100 lines or so across at least six scenes.

"Well, yeah, we're the narrators. Without us the story falls apart", Maki grinned as she stepped closer to her friend, standing up as she sat next to her. Kiseki scooted to the opposite side of the bed.

"Let's keep our distance, shall we?" Kiseki asked with a grimace on her face, still blushing from the kiss.

"Is this about the kiss?" Maki teased her friend. "Why? Did you want another one?"

"No!! I'm just confused why you did so without hesitation!!" Kiseki finally demanded her friend to explain.

"It was a joke, silly", Maki admitted as she hugged her friend. "Not the first time I kissed you under the mistletoe, you know."

"True...but it feels so different as a teenager than as a kid.."

"Kiseki. Read my lips: I'm straight", Maki swore, pointing to her face. "Don't think too hard about these things."

"O-okay. I trust you, Maki.."


Kiseki took about 10 minutes to read her parts in peace. As she did so, Maki read a few of her manga while she waited for her friend to read over her lines. When she finally finished, she informed Maki that she was ready to read her lines from the top.


" 'Hello, audience!' " Kiseki began,

" 'Welcome to Hinoshi High's 85th Annual Christmas Play! This year we're presenting a play called 'One Couple, One Night', about a couple who meet on Christmas Eve night. The two people are total strangers who've never met, but find themselves growing much attached to each other under the beautiful moonlight sky. The part of the male lead, Hiro, is played by fellow Drama Club member Ato Kobayashi. The female lead, Mariko, is placed by Miyabi Toniguchi.' "

Kiseki paused as she read who was the female lead. It was the girl that helped her stopped Mizuno months ago.

"I didn't know Miyabi was in the play", Kiseki gasped.

"Yeah. Like me, she had nothing else to do with the pool closed, so she joined the Drama Club. Like you, she's a stand-in, so she was worried at first to do this play. But I convinced her to help us out."

"Is Miyabi good around crowds?"

"Sort of. She doesn't mind them, but she's not exactly the greatest actress. However, she is a fast learner, and she remembers things very quickly, which s why she got the part."

"I'm interested to see how Miyabi performs.."

"Me too. But enough of that, Kiseki! Continue reading!"

"Y-Yes.."


Kiseki had to retrace her position that she had from earlier due to her being distracted by Miyabi's role in the play.


" 'The part of the two narrators will be performed by two newcomers to the Drama Club. Narrator #1 will be played by Kiseki Sunohara, and Narrator #2 will be played by Maki Kurosaki. The roles of the angels will be played by...' "


Kiseki read off the rest of the actors/dancers/singers, as well as the technicians, lighting director, and music composers.


" '...based on a script written by Maki Kurosaki.' What?!?"


Kiseki gasped in shock over the writer of the play, watching Maki blush a little.

"Yep! I wrote it!" she replied with a perky nod.

"Why do I have the feeling that you planned to have me be the narrator from day one..?"

"That obvious, huh?" Maki giggled. "Well, I did honestly have someone else originally up for the role, but things came up and you ended filling in."

"But why me? I'm not a good actress, my looks are mediocre, I have stage fright.."

"Because with us doing the narration, we're going to use our size-changing abilities to our advantage..."

Kiseki automatically closed her eyes, now realizing why her friend asked her to participate.

"I'm guessing that the original narrator.."

"Yeah. She wasn't comfortable with seeing me grow and shrink in spurts around her", Maki confessed. "But you're used to it, so that's why you're runner-up."

"I'll do it, but next time be more honest, okay? You know I'm staying having a hard time with size changing.."

"No problem! I'm sure you'll do fine by the time the time comes!" Maki grinned a toothy grin at Kiseki. She then hugged her best friend in a tight embrace.

"M-M-Maki!" Kiseki shouted, embarrassed once more by her friend's behavior.

"Not my fault you're so darn huggable", Maki informed her. "Let's continue reading over the lines, shall we?"


The session ending up lasting for a few hours. By the time Maki was done rehearsing with Kiseki, she had to go home to sleep. Kiseki was relieved to find the practice session over, what with her having quite a bit more dialogue than she thought she would at first. Maki informed her that they would practice some of the growing/shrinking required of them tomorrow after school. They would have one chance to practice before the play, so they had to get it right the first time. There weren't too many mishaps, though Kiseki still had a few problems with her height adjustments.


To be continued..


Next time I'll get to part one of the play, and with it the process begins.