The Curtain Rises! Saint Saint X'mas!!

is chapter 179 of the Beelzebub manga.

Summary
On Christmas Eve, a majority of the students from Saint Ishiyama Academy gather in the gymnasium for the year's final event, where several of the couples mingle with the others before the competition commences.

Oga learns that Yamamura and Azusa are competing together though he initially believes that Yamamura is too young for the "real" Santa Claus. Nearby, Aoi also notices that Kanzaki and Yuka have entered as a pair which slightly embarrasses her. The two end up telling her why they are competing in the tournament: apparently, Yuka told Futaba that Santa Claus is still real and promised to let her see him for the holidays. As they then start arguing, Aoi remarks that they are a good pair. Izuma and Shizuka turn a competitive leaf over each other during the competition, with Aoi being a factor in the conflict. Also, it is revealed that Furuichi and Nene have entered the competition after the former blackmailed with a chance to meet the Red Tail's founder, much to the latter's chagrin and embarrassment.

All of the couples later set up for the first event of the competition. After the explanations are given, Saint Saint X'mas official starts and the couples all start the race.

Izuma and Aoi quickly speed off before the others while Kanzaki and Yuka end up dead-last in the event. During the race, Oga suddenly slows down and uses a Zebul Blast to crisp a majority of the other couples, granting his pair easy access within the tournament lineup. Eventually, all the other couples proceed to the finish line and enter the actual tournament itself. Kanzaki and Yuka are also surprisingly able to advance due to the other opponents being incapacitated from Oga's attack. With their place as the 16th pair, all of the couples who finished the race now advance to the tournament.

Characters in order of appearance

 * 1) Taeko Furuna
 * 2) Ryōko Asuka
 * 3) Chiaki Tanimura
 * 4) Beelzebub IV
 * 5) Tatsumi Oga
 * 6) Hilda
 * 7) Hajime Kanzaki
 * 8) Yuka Hanazawa
 * 9) Aoi Kunieda
 * 10) Kaname Izuma
 * 11) Hidetora Tōjō
 * 12) Shizuka Nanami
 * 13) Kazuya Yamamura
 * 14) Azusa Fujisaki
 * 15) Futaba Kanzaki (flashback)
 * 16) Takayuki Furuichi
 * 17) Nene Ōmori