Yuki Rurikawa/Winter Workers

The Plushie That's Constantly Laughing

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Employee	Have you decided on your order?
Yuki's sister	I’ll have an iced coffee. What about you, Yuki?
Yuki	I’ll have the same.
Employee	Alright. Now if you’ll excuse me.
Yuki's sister	…So, have you been doing well lately?
Yuki	Yeah, pretty much.
Yuki's sister	That’s good to hear.
Yuki	What did you want to talk about?
Yuki's sister	Ah, that’s right. Are you coming home for Christmas?
Yuki	For Christmas? I wasn’t really planning on it.
Yuki's sister	Come home this year then. Me and my husband plan on coming over.
	Yuu’s coming home too.
Yuki	I see.
Yuki's sister	I’ll get you a gift as thanks for helping me with my wedding dress.
Yuki	Depends on what you’ll get me.
Yuki's sister	You’ll have to look forward to Christmas! Isn’t it more exciting that way?
Yuki	I guess.
Izumi	(Whew, today’s meeting dragged on a little too long…)
Yuki	Director.
Izumi	Oh, Yuki-kun. What were you up to?
Yuki	I met up with my sister.
Izumi	Yuu-san?
Yuki	Nah, I met up with my eldest sister Yume. She told me to come back home for Christmas.
Izumi	Is that so? I hope you have a fun Christmas.
Yuki	I will. Are you working? You seem busy lately.
Izumi	A bit, but things should be settling down soon.
Yuki	Hmm…
	Don’t push yourself too hard. The guys in our troupe will get worried if you pass out or something.
Izumi	Thanks, I’ll be careful.
Yuki	I'm home.
Yuu	Welcome back.
Yume	I was waiting for you with my gift like I said.
	Here you go.
Yuki	You’re the one who raised the bar by saying things like “look forward to Christmas”. Lemme see it.
	…A stuffed animal?
Yume	Yep, it’s all the rage lately! I saw it at the store and I bought it since it was so cute!
Yuki	Heh, it’s pretty cute. Looks like you can change its clothes too.
Yume	Do you like it?
Yuki	Yeah, thanks.
Yuki	I'm back.
Izumi	Welcome back! How did things go at your parent’s? You guys had a Christmas party, right?
Kazunari	Yukkii’s family partied it up for Christmas? Nice!
Yuki	It wasn’t a party or anything. We just had a family gathering for Christmas.
Kumon	But Christmas is all about giving gifts and stuff! Did you get something, Yuki?
Yuki	Yeah, it’s from my sister.
Homare	How wonderful! What did she give you?
Yuki	This.
Izumi	A dog plushie! It’s so cute!
Kazunari	Hey! It’s the plushie that’s been trending on social media lately!
Yuki	Oh yeah, my sister said something like that too. What’s so special about this stuffed animal though?
Kazunari	When you talk to it, it’ll impersonate you and then laugh hysterically!
Homare	Is it like a lachsack?
Yuki	I have no idea what that is.
Kumon	Look! There’s a switch on the back of the plushie!
Yuki	You’re right. Here?
	*flips switch*
	What now? Should I talk to it like this?
Plushie	“What now? Should I talk to it like this? Kyahahahahaha!”
Izumi	Woah! It really laughed!
Yuki	Ack…

Izumi	It’s laughing harder than I thought…
Kumon	Wow! It’s so funny!
Plushie	“Wow! It’s so funny! Kyahahahahaha!”
Yuki	It’s laughing way too loud… Don’t you think it’s really weird that it looks like this but laughs like that?
Kazunari	The weirdness is what makes it so popular! The gap between its cute appearance and its wild laughter is so endearing!
Plushie	“Its wild laughter is so endearing! Kyahahahahaha!”
Homare	How marvelous! Hand it over, I have a poem…
Yuki	No way. We don’t need more noise.
Homare	How could you say that, Yuki-kun!
Plushie	“How could you say that, Yuki-kun! Kyahahahahaha!”
Izumi	Well, it’s certainly something you have to get used to listening to…
Yuki	You think?
Kumon	I wanna talk to it next! I wonder what I should say~!
Izumi	Haha, it looks like everyone’s having fun.
Yuki	…I guess that’s fine.
Izumi	I’m home! Ugh, today was exhausting…
	(Today wasn’t my lucky day, that’s for sure…)
Plushie	……
Izumi	Oh… It’s Yuki-kun’s plushie.
	(I’m sure it’ll laugh away regardless of what you say to it.)
	…Actually, maybe I could have it comfort me a little.
	Today, the limited-time curry I wanted to try was sold out right in front of me, and then my shoelace snapped while I was tying it. My day was terrible…
Plushie	……
Izumi	Huh? It’s not talking? Did it already break…?
Yuki	It’s just turned off. Here.
	*flips switch*
Izumi	Yuki-kun?!
Plushie	“Yuki-kun?! Kyahahahahaha!”
Izumi	Woah!
Yuki	Why are you surprised? You wanted it to comfort you.
Izumi	It was just so sudden… Wait, how did you know I wanted to be comforted?
Yuki	You said it yourself, didn’t you? “Maybe I could have it comfort me.”
Izumi	Since when have you been listening in…?
Yuki	Since you started talking to a lonely stuffed animal all by yourself.
Izumi	So you heard it all from the start?!
CHOICE 1: It's kinda embarrassing [+] Izumi That must’ve been strange to watch. It’s kinda embarrassing… Yuki Well, I didn’t expect you to do something like that. Izumi Ahaha… Perhaps, but I was complaining pretty hard. Yuki That’s what you’re worried about? It’s no biggie. Sometimes, you just wanna complain to someone, right? …And I’d get worried if you ended up pushing yourself too hard and collapsed.
CHOICE 2: You should've come in [+] Izumi You should’ve come in if you had something to do in the lounge. Yuki It’s not like I had anything to do here. I just thought you didn’t want to be seen like that. Well, I panicked and ended up saying something because I couldn’t bear to watch. Izumi I see. …Well that’s embarrassing. Yuki Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Our director wasn’t crying and clinging onto a stuffed animal… Izumi T-that’s not what happened!
Izumi	You know, I talked to it because I wanted to laugh it off, but I’d probably feel really bad if it actually laughed at me.
Yuki	……
	Well, it’s one of those days.
Izumi	Huh?
Yuki	I’m willing to listen to you during times like these. I’m sure it’s better than talking to a stuffed animal all by yourself.
Izumi	Yuki-kun…
	Thanks! Your words just now really cheered me up! I’ll do my best tomorrow too!
Yuki	…You’re so simple.
Izumi	I'm heading off to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow!
Yuki	Good night.
Plushie	……
Yuki	(…I should take the stuffed animal back to my room.)
Yuki	Zzz…
Tenma	Urgh…
	What time is it?
	(Guess I’ll go get some water…)
	*thud*
	W-what was that?
Plushie	“W-what was that? Kyahahahahaha!”
Tenma	GYAAAAH!!
Yuki	Ugh… You’re too loud. What now?
Tenma	Y-you… What’s that voice?!
Yuki	Oh shit. I forgot to turn it off.
Tenma	What’s with this stuffed animal…?! Hey, do something about it!
Plushie	“Hey, do something about it! Kyahahahahaha!”
Tenma	E-eep!
Yuki	I can’t believe you freaked out over some stuffed animal. This is why you’re such a hack…
Tenma	Why are you making me the bad guy here?!

Mae