Mikan arrives with guests and problems.

"P-please relax, everyone, I'm back!" As if on cue, Mikan had stumbled back into the room, wearing a Christmas getup instead of her ordinary nurse's outfit. The red cap with its fluffy trim on her long, dark purple hair was a standard Christmas look, but the shoulderless dress she wore, with a white lining at the breasts and high-cut skirt, drew much more attention. Along with matching long gloves and high boots, she'd be the picture of holiday cheer if she wasn't tearfully begging for forgiveness. "I'm sorry I took so long, please forgive me! I-it took me a little longer, because... W-well, I found our guests outside, so I guided them here..."

Mahiru would have preferred to greet her guests elsewhere and have them lay eyes on the backdrops for the first time when the photos were ready to be taken... That aside, though, she had more pressing concerns. "Mikan, that's alright, you don't have to ask for our forgiveness-"

"I don't even get to ask? So you're not even thinking of forgiving me?!" Mikan cried in response.

Before Mahiru could correct that mistaken impression or ask her burning questions, another figure stepped into the doorway. It was...

"Santa Claus!!" "Enet Tripis!!" Two different blondes shouted their realizations at once.

"Ho ho ho!!" the mythical holiday figure laughed, his belly shaking like a bowl full of Jello, just like in the story. Surely, the others must have recognized him as the figure straight out of the stories...

Mahiru was the only person who could recognize Mr. Santa Nicholas as the patron of the Santa's Hope for Troubled Tots Foundation. Certainly, he went to lengths to cultivate his association with Santa Claus, and in terms of features, was nearly the spitting image: great white beard, big round belly, thick forearms. Considering all that, it almost seemed like a desecration of the character that he was dressed in an open coat, suspenders over a dress shirt, and professional khakis, along with thick spectacles.

The Santa lookalike straightened his bow tie and grinned at the class. "You must be the Ultimate students Mahiru has told me so much about! With such lovely, fresh young faces, I've got no worries at all. It'll be my pleasure to work with the Ultimate Photographer on such a meaningful project and raise money for charity."

"Of course, Mr. Nicholas," Mahiru agreed, taking a photo of the three people who'd entered the auditorium for documentation on reflex. "I'm happy to get to that, just give me one second... I've got some questions for my friend Mikan. Would you mind waiting outside while we finish preparing? It won't be but just a moment."

Mr. Nicholas smiled in response. "Well, don't keep me waiting out in the cold too long, young Ms. Mahiru!" The man gave a jolly laugh again before clearing his throat and taking out his phone. "I'll just be on a call outside. You can ask my spiritual advisor here if you have any questions about our arrangements."

The 'spiritual advisor' was definitely another point Mahiru wanted to get around to discussing. She nodded and waved to the benefactor's broad back as he left, then immediately whirled to the 'spiritual advisor' she hadn't been expecting, hissing at him in a whisper. "You! What the heck are you doing here, Yasuhiro?!"

"Hey, that's a weird way to say 'thanks!'" The spiritual advisor was no stranger to Mahiru: even if he wasn't wearing his regular school outfit, she would have recognized him as Yasuhiro Hagakure, one of her upperclassmen. He was hard to miss with his enormous brown dreadlocks.

"'Thanks' for what? Thanks for showing up to ogle my friends during a charity photo shoot? 'Thanks' for peddling your phony psychic mumbo jumbo on a distinguished philanthropist?"

"How about 'thanks for the recommendation?'" Yasuhiro put a hand to his stubbled chin and gave a cheeky grin. "How do you think you landed this gig so easily, anyway? When I heard you had an offer on the table for Mr. Nicky to consider, I helpfully nudged him in the right direction. Yep, I gave him the prediction that this was a golden goose project that he couldn't afford to turn down!" Realizing what he'd said, Yasuhiro hastily added, "Well, of course, that's just what the prediction came up as! Not like I have any control over what I predict, it's just both of us bein' favored by Andromeda today!"

"Ah... I'd kinda assumed it was just his generosity, my talent, or, y'know... The holiday spirit," Mahiru muttered, feeling embarrassed. "I guess I owe you an apology... Wait a sec, so what's the catch? You're expecting a cut of what we sell, right?"

"Not at all! What I'm gettin' paid with is comin' from a completely different income source."

"Is it so hard to understand that if you're taking payment from a philanthropist for a sketchy scheme, that's money that's not going to one of his supported causes?" Mahiru sighed. "It's almost like you're taking money from orphans. Geez... Okay, well, I don't think I owe you an apology for what I said, but I guess I do owe you a 'thank you.' Still, if you're done putting in a good word for me, you've got no reason to stick around."

"Uh, nope, I sure do have a good reason to stick around. So, dude, my prediction said you'd knock this outta the park, guaranteed-"

"Your famous '30% accurate' prediction said that? For Pete's sake, it's like you're cursing us!"

"-But I'm also here to see it happen with my own eyes! It's kinda rare that one of my predictions is somethin' I can actually follow up on and help make happen, and this guy is rich enough- I mean, this cause is important enough that I really wanna follow through. So I'll be hangin' around to cheer you on, if that's all right!"

"It's not. Take a hike."

"... Seriously?! C'mon, that's so cold! Well, uh, I've actually got a contract to be here with Mr. Nicholas now, and you know how that guy is about contracts. You signed one too, right? So if he says I'm here, I'd say you're stuck with me..."

Mahiru had to admit that was true, and she also had no more time to waste with her upperclassman. She'd just have to tolerate his presence for the shoot. There was another important thing she needed to deal with, anyway...

Turning on her heel, Mahiru headed over to Mikan. "Say, so, um, Mikan! That outfit looks so good on you, great job picking it out!"

"R-really? Eheh..." Mikan giggled and turned in place to show it off. "It's nice to be told nice things! I was afraid you were m-mad at me, so I'm happy..."

"Oh, no, I'm not mad, I'm just... concerned." Mahiru knew how volatile her friend could be, and was trying to approach a serious matter as delicately as possible. "I didn't see Yasuhiro or Mr. Nicholas carrying them, so, um... Where are the rest of the costumes? Did I miss you putting them down somewhere? Mikan?"

The nurse continued to look at her with a smile for a moment, which immediately fell to a deer-in-the-headlights look of terror. "The rest? I don't... u-understand what you mean. Everyone got their own, right? Oh!" She tried on a smile. "I'm sorry, yours is cute too! I'm sorry for not saying so before, ehehe!"

That wasn't placating Mahiru's mood. Even though she was still smiling, her eyes were wide and her hands were clutching her camera hard. "Mikan... The note I gave you? Did you buy every costume on the list?"

Mikan's face fell once more as she met eyes with Mahiru. "That note was... Wasn't it just to r-remind me if I forgot what my own costume was? I th-th-thought you gave the same note to everyone... I b-bought exactly what you wrote for me, the gloves, hat, dress, belt, and boots... I didn't screw up, did I?"

"... I'm sure I told you that your job was to buy a costume for everyone on the list. Everyone else has been here helping me. I don't understand how you could-" Mahiru started in frustration before realizing Mikan was on the verge of tears. "No, no, my bad. I must not have been clear enough. This puts me in a tricky spot, though... Only you and I have a costume. I have to think. It's not ideal, but I could just have people appear in their regular outfits if you change back."

"Aah... I'm sorry for being so useless... I don't have my regular clothes here," Mikan sobbed, pushing her fingers together. "I'll stick out like a sore thumb in this outfit... Oh, oh, but I can still be helpful! I still have an idea! Mahiru, for your photos, isn't it true that no scene has more than two people?"

"That's right... But we only have your single costume."

"Forgive me for disagreeing, but that's n-not true! You have a costume too, Mahiru. What if... we traded that costume between each of the photo setups?"

Mahiru thought about it. She had some serious reservations. First, this wasn't a costume she'd intended to be photographed. It was more of a cheap party costume than a photograph-ready outfit. Second, she didn't like the idea of each of the girls wearing the same two costumes between every shot, especially considering those generally Christmas-y getups wouldn't fit some of the scenes. Third, the costume swapping would add time to the operation, and that meant more waiting for Mr. Nicholas. But fourth, and probably most importantly... "I wore this from my dorm. I didn't bring my own clothes to change into, either. So, if I hand off this outfit to somebody..."

"Oh gosh, you'd have to take the photographs naked!"

"So it's out of the question, right?" Mahiru shrugged, then tapped on her camera thoughtfully. "Aah, it sucks, but I'm not sure what to do right now. Maybe one of the other girls has clothes I can trade for until we're done? But we'll have to work it out later. For now, I can't keep Mr. Nicholas waiting, and your shot'll be up first, anyway. We only need your one costume for it. Can you go get into position like we rehearsed? I'll think about what I want to do while we set up."