Yasuhiro offers a crazy explanation.

Whereas Mahiru had been mourning the beginning of her photography career in her head, Yasuhiro was quietly muttering his own concerns below his breath. "H-holy crap... I told Mr. Nicky this was a sure thing... Oh crap, what am I gonna do if he requests refunds for all the talismans I sold him?! Am I gonna have to live on the run from Santa Claus from now on?!" Running one hand through his huge dreadlocks and biting the nails of the other, the spiritual advisor tried to ignore the panicked part of his brain that was imagining all of the fine print in those contracts he'd signed and hadn't read. "Think, man, think...! Aha, I got it! Thank you baby Jesus, baby Santa, baby Buddha and whatever baby Sonja thinks was born on Christmas, too!"

Yasuhiro loudly cleared his throat, then clapped his hands together. "Well, well, my dudes! Looks like everything's finally, totally intentionally set up for the real moneyshot of your Embarassed Nude Pinup shoot! Amazing work, Mahalo, you sure know your stuff! You're like the Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Leonardo of your generation!"

"... Mahiru..." the photographer corrected her own name. She couldn't say anything more, looking at Yasuhiro with a mixture of outrage, disbelief, and confusion.

Finally, she turned to Mr. Nicholas, whose face was no longer surprised or jolly. Instead, it was nearly a stone mask as he brought it close to Mahiru's, so close she was **** to look him straight in the eye. "Young Ms. Mahiru. You seem like a talented straight shooter, so please explain this to me. Is this what you brought me to see?"

Mahiru simply stood still with her mouth gaping, her eyes traveling from Mr. Nicholas to her friend's struggle, then back to the man before her. She answered slowly. "Is... is Mikan, the Ultimate Nurse, stuck upside down and butt naked in a chimney... Are photographs of that... What I brought you here to see...?"

"That's the question," the older gentleman confirmed, cracking no smile.

"... Would that be okay? If it was?" Mahiru asked automatically, trying to catch her brain up to her words.

"Let me rephrase the question in your own words. Do you believe that photos of your friend, stuck upside down and butt naked in a chimney, once printed and marketed towards responsible adults, will sell photobooks and help support my causes during this holiday season?"

Mahiru couldn't answer, so she looked past Mr. Nicholas to where Yasuhiro was desperately banging his head for her to affirm. Finally, she glanced back to her client, speaking in slow motion. "... Yes...? I mean... Yes... Guys... love... butts. Sir."

"I'd buy fifteen!" Yasuhiro helpfully added. "Healthy guys like me can't get enough of a bared butt, dude, I love 'em!"

Mr. Nicholas continued to bore into Mahiru's eyes with his own. He had to know she was lying, so what he was searching for now must have been weakness, some admission that what she was saying was crap she wouldn't follow through on. When he didn't find it, he backed off and got out of her personal space. "Very well. I need to have a smoke and make a phone call. By all means, please use your expert photography to capture some winning photos of your friend's predicament. I'll be back in a moment. Young Mr. Yasuhiro will remain here as my contracted representative." The older man turned, walked, and began heading for the exit.

Yasuhiro didn't even wait for him to get out the door before pumping his fist and jumping into the air in excitement. "Duuude! I can't believe I just rescued that! Ol' Yasuhiro comes through every once in a while, eh?!"

Mahiru stormed towards him, putting her finger in his face and working not to yell. "Are you kidding me?! Do you have any idea what we just did? I... I have to take the photos, but once I'm done, I'll... Well, I'll ask Mikan if she's okay with them, and if she's not I'll burn them." Mahiru had a policy to hold onto every photo she took, but that was because nearly every photo she took carried a sentimental moment she considered an important part of her life. That policy absolutely did not hold for whatever she was about to be doing now.

"C'mooon, this is Micky we're talking about! Her ass oughta be our school's mascot, we see it so much. I'm sure she'll be okay selling them for her two good buddies and all the little kids Mr. Nicky's gonna help out. Please, dude, you have no idea what my bank account's gonna look like if you blow my prediction and I lose this guy! Less 'The Nightmare Before Christmas,' more 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' ya feel me?!"

"I can't believe you're making this about you," Mahiru growled, heading over to the rooftop where Mikan was still imperiled. "You're seriously the worst...! Ugh..." Even as she chided him, Mahiru felt she was projecting some self-loathing. She cleared her throat and called down the chimney to her friend. Doing so required her to put her face uncomfortably close to the other student's up-ended rear end, bringing a colorful flush to Mahiru's freckled face. "M-Mikan! Hang in there a sec, we'll help you out in just a sec. I just need you to stay still."

"M-M-Mahiru? Is that you?" Mikan's relieved voice could finally be understood from Mahiru's position. "I'm so sorry for embarrassing you, but I'm okay! Please get Akane to pull me out... N-no, um, maybe have Peko do it..."

"In just a second," Mahiru reassured her, unable to get right to the point. "I need you to stay perfectly still, okay?"

"All right... I'll try and stay calm..." The nurse finally stopped thrashing, her legs hanging in the air at awkward angles and her jiggling body finally coming to rest.

"Calm and still, good. And I'm gonna take your boots off, okay?"

"S-sure, that makes sense. Of course, the boots have to come off..."

"Good, that's good. Then I'm just gonna take a couple of photos, super quick. You'll be out before you know it."

"I understand, you'll just... Wait, huh? Ph-ph-photos of what?!"

"Oh, right, um, you're okay with me taking a couple of... super tasteful artistic nude shots, right?"

"You're kidding!" Mikan's legs started thrashing again to demonstrate how she felt about that. "This is bullying, huh?! You're mad at me for screwing up, I get it! I'm so sorry, Mahiru!! You can take photos of everything, and you can write on me, too! Just please, forgive me!!"

... Getting Mikan to agree had been surprisingly easy, although Mahiru didn't like how it had happened. Resolving to apologize and speak clearly to her friend later, Mahiru began peeling the boots from Mikan's long legs. "I'm not mad at you, don't worry about it! The situation just got a little crazy out here, you're doing me a huge favor. Just hold still, please... Hold that pose, with your legs akimbo... Good. That's perfect. I'll... get a good angle that hides as much as I can..."

Mahiru had said that, but it wasn't much of a promise. In a way, this could be called the shot that most clearly captured Mikan's essence: that is, her completely bare ass and legs sticking pitiably out of a fake chimney with a disheveled sack of toys left abandoned beside her. With the new, closer vantage point, Mahiru was able to notice a small band-aid that had been stuck onto the side of Mikan's upper right hip, possibly a place she'd injured herself earlier that day... In an effort to hide that, along with as much as possible of Mikan's exposed slit, Mahiru opted for another side shot. Mikan's pale legs against night sky backdrop gave the impression of someone paused mid-motion, in a **** bicycle kick against the air.

She'd never been an erotic photographer before, but she thought she might be charting a new field here... The photos she took had the same expert quality as any of her others, the only difference being the human emotion she was capturing here was clearly humiliation at being stuck exposed in a chimney. Still, every detail seemed to pop, from the beaded sweat on the legs from panic and exertion, to the flush that had spread throughout her body as the predicament worked up her excitement. "These... are good," Mahiru declared objectively, reviewing the quick-developing photos she now held in her hand. "Yeah... if they're marketed right, I'm confident people will buy these. Still... to think I'd be using my talent this way. I feel sick..."

Yasuhiro was desperately trying to get her attention to find out how the shots went, but that was hardly important right now. The more important thing...

Mahiru gulped and looked at her classmates, who'd been having their own conversations until now.