Summary
After being informed that her parents will be working overtime on December 24th, Yukio complains and points out that her promised her last year that this time they would have a homemade cake, a lot of presents. After realizing it can't be helped she gets runs to her bedroom after being scolded. She reports the events to her friends Midori and Seiko the following day at school and they admit to understanding her feelings, but they're not nearly as upset. Last year they pretty much just ate cake with their siblings and watched television.
Not wanting to let this go Yukio suggests they hold their own party, but none of the girls are sure how this would work. It's then Noelle Kurusu, a girl who recently moved there approaches them and mentions the Christmas Party being held at her place. Since she overheard them, she'd like to invite them. However the girls aren't sure since they don't normally speak to her, but they did overhear of her families wealth, and as she describes the fancy menu her mother has planned out they quickly come to a decision and accept.
On the 24th the three friends get together and head to the Kurusu household, expressing awe over the splendor of the decorations and home. Yukio laments over her own home being unadorned with anything special, but as they head inside to meet Noelle's mother she decides not to linger on it.
Noelle shows them around when one of Yukio's friends notices a door nearby. Noelle stops her from entering the room and claims it's only storage, and she leads them into her living room as Yukio curiously notes her unusual behavior. But she says nothing and soon they sit down to enjoy the extravagant Christmas meal Noelle's mother prepared.
Upon finishing she excuses herself to the restroom, Yukio finishes and washes her hands when she spots Noelle heading into the storage room. Curious, she quietly trails behind her and prepares to speak out when she hears Noelle greet someone...
An old rag doll named Emily.
Noelle casually converses with Emily as if talking to an old friend, and she promises to see her the next day too. Yukio -startled by this- decides to leave the room but before she can, Midori and Seiko alarm her when they suddenly appear and yell out, alerting Noelle to their presence. She quickly covers up Emily and suggests they return to her living room to play video games and they agree, but Yukio remains silently stunned.
Eventually, Noelle's father arrives home from work. Watching the family interact so lovingly causes Yukio to feel depressed as she recalls her own family dynamic and how she wanted to spend time with her parents today, and she excuses herself to the restroom again. She shuts the living room door behind her to find Emily laying on the floor. She is momentarily startled but leans down to rub the old doll, noting how dirty she is for something Noelle seems to really cherish. But thinking about how lucky Noelle is, she admits to being envious of her and wishes her own family was like hers.
Soon bed time arrives and the girls turn in for the evening. At one point throughout the night Yukio awakens hearing a sound, but she drowsily falls back to sleep unable to identify it.
The next morning, Yukio wakes up to see Midori and Seiko have vanished. She is informed that they have already left, leaving her confused as she finds the Kurusu family eating breakfast. Noelle explains that something came up and they had to go, and because it was so early she offered to let Yukio know what happened to let her get more sleep. Noelle's mother suggests that Yukio wash her face before she joins them and she agrees, heading up to the restroom. But while there she is once again suspicious and checks her phone to see if her friends left a message and finds nothing. She attempts to call one of them and she hears the ringtone nearby, being led to the storage room.
Seeing the door open Yukio steps inside. With the light of day now shining partially into the room she notices many scratches surrounding the door that she didn't notice before, and she is drawn to the lock while wondering what or who could have wanted to get out so badly until the ringtone snaps her out of her thoughts. She calls out for her friends as it gets louder, and she freezes after kicking something: a blood-covered corpse with a sheet over it and the ringing phone!
Yukio collapses in fright as Noelle walks into the room. She brings up that Midori and Seiko came by the room earlier and Emily went missing afterwards. As she explains how silly it is for her to still play with dolls, Yukio is shocked by her overly calm response. She explains that growing up she was very lonely due to how frequently her parents worked. Then one day she Emily at the shopping market one day, and she felt so happy to finally have a real friend; and somehow the more she played with Emily the better things became. Her fathers company had major success and slowly they became wealthy, and he was able to come home earlier than he used to. Her mom also quit working.
As she tells Yukio how happy she is now she is joined by her parents, pointing out that she warned the girls to stay away from the room. Emily discovered them because they were snooping, and she is easily jealous. Her parents chillingly laugh and mention how nosy all of Noelle's previous friends had been and how much trouble it caused. They tried very hard to keep it from happening, but it still does.
Everything slowly begins to sink in as Yukio recalls everything that went during the evening, wondering if it was really possible for an old doll to do these things. Noelle remarks on how sad she is because she was convinced this time she made some good friends. Suddenly, they are joined by Emily and she happily greets her before pointing out that now she has to kill Yukio for finding out the truth, causing Yukio to cry as she thinks about her parents again. But to everyone's shock, Emily turns her large kitchen knife towards the family. Noelle asks her why she's become angry and Yukio recalls hearing Noelle say that she was too old to play with dolls and realizes that Emily must have overheard them. She eagerly uses this as a chance to escape when Emily leaps at the Kurusu family.
Yukio runs for home as fast as she can through the snow until she arrives home, where she tiredly sees a note has been left by her mother. She is relieved to know she escaped alive, but reading that her mother had been called in early for work causes her to break down in tears until she stops to notice Emily is now in front of her. She watches as she holds out her hand towards her, and after thinking about Noelle and how things changed for the better, she slowly reaches out for her hand...
Since that day a few months have passed. Two women are shown chatting outside of Yukio's home regarding how prosperous the family had suddenly become. They wonder if Yukio's father got a promotion and how her mother became a housewife who baked cakes all of the time. But strangely the daughter has gone missing. The last time anyone saw her, she was going to a friend's house.
As they wonder what happened, Yukio is shown resting peacefully with Emily on a couch within a home, with corpses laying before them.
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Yukio got the Christmas she wanted- at the cost of her friends' lives and a doll who will continue killing people, or her if she betrays her.
- Christmas Episode: The very first in the series, also doubles as the second doll episode.
- In the animated 1-minute long webisode version, the holiday is Halloween.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday
- Creepy Doll: Emily-chan, a very old rag doll who is said to bring good fortune to her owner as long as they play with her. She also wields a knife.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Hearing Noelle say she's too old to play with dolls causes Emily to kill her and her parents.
- Failed a Spot Check: Subverted. Yukio noticed right away that the storage room door was opened and finds scratches around it on the inside of the room, two things that weren't like that before.
- Here We Go Again!: Yukio takes Noelle's place as Emily's favorite and she's enjoying her time with her- surrounded by corpses and living in a wealthy home.
- Yomi also offers Emily to the Reader in the epilogue.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Noelle explains that she grew up very lonely, which is why she was so attached to Emily. But now she doesn't value her the same way because she isn't lonely anymore, the only problem is the new friends she keeps making are so nosy that they get themselves killed.
- Kids Are Cruel: Noelle acts a bit too casually and happy regarding Emily killing people. But it might just be that she's become used to it.
- Yandere: Emily doesn't like anyone who gets close to her owner, but being pushed away by them makes her lash out at them instead.
