As he walked home on Christmas Eve in the cold wintry streets of the tower-zone, he made a small wish to the orphans back at the group home that they have the happiest Christmas possible and hopefully a year less miserable than the last.

It was a humble wish, but Max knew that those who lived at that orphanage with Mr. Grimes found a lot of joy in the humblest of circumstances.

What Max was not expecting was the level of Christmas cheer at the apartment with Sakura.

She had done up a Christmas tree, she was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, and seemed to always have a cup of mulled wine in her hand.

On Christmas morning, she woke Max up early.

“Wake up, Max! Come open your present!”

Max grumbled out into the apartment’s main area and saw that a few wrapped boxes of presents had been placed under the tree.

Sakura clapped her hands. “Open! Open! Open!”

Max opened up a present and saw that it was an ugly Christmas sweater with penguins on it wearing other ugly Christmas sweaters themselves. He thanked Sakura and put the sweater on straightaway.

“I actually got you a gift as well,” said Max, handing her a wrapped box.

Sakura shook it. “What could it be? A new dress? Diamond rings? Box set of my favorite romance series!?”

She opened the box and her eyes shined out brightly.

“Even better,” she said.

Inside the box was the most premium ramen noodles available on the market along with the most organic and immaculately raised eggs. Max hurried over to the fridge pulled out the most prized bacon slabs in the city.

“Are you ready to have the most delicious bacon and egg ramen of your life?” Max asked.

“Ooooh, this is the best Christmas ever!” Sakura squealed.

Max cooked them each a bowl of bacon and egg ramen and they dug into it.

When they were stuffed and finished from the hyper salty meal, Max said, “So what should we do for the rest of the day?”

Sakura smiled. “I actually invited a few guests over for dinner. I picked up everything you need Max to cook a brilliant Christmas feast!”

“Wait, who did you invite?” asked Max.

So that was how later that day, Casey and their instructor from the climber academy were in Sakura’s living room, laughing and celebrating Christmas together.

Max wasn’t celebrating as much as the rest of them as Sakura had left him to cook the entire Christmas meal. He had to keep an eye on the roasting turkey and vegetables in the oven, the gravy boiling over on the frying pan, and everything else.

It was all worth it in the end as Sakura and the guests all wolfed down their Christmas dinner and asked for more. They gave the highest compliments to the chef.