DECEMBER 31 2005
"Tachibana-san, maybe wearing a kimono was a bad idea." You covered your front half with the sleeves of the [colour] garment. You were too shy to walk into the gates of the shrine being dressed up like this.
"We promised with Emma-chan that we'd all wear kimono's today! You can't chicken out now. Takemichi-kun, tell [name]-chan she looks great." Hina tugged her boyfriend towards you.
"Y-Yeah! You look good, [last name]. I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you like this."
"What's that supposed to mean? Does no one feel happy when I'm around them in normal clothes?"
"No! That's not what I meant at all!" How did he mess up the one job he was assigned? "Hina... sorry." She waved it off before she started to pull you into the shrine.
"[name]-chan, more people will start to come in and fill up the space if we don't hurry. We don't want to keep the others waiting, do we?" Inconveniencing people on New Year's Eve was the last thing you wanted to do. You were supposed to meet up with the rest of the Toman members soon, but being so fancy like this made you all shy.
"Okay... okay." You let Hina drag you into the shrine, looking around for any familiar people. "Oh, Tachibana-san, you're wearing the hair pin I got you."
"It's really pretty, so I wanted to wear it."
"Takemicchi!" You heard Mitsuya's voice call out from the crowd. The three of you stopped to wait for him to catch up – seems like he didn't come alone though. Mitsuya's sisters, Hakkai and Yuzuha had joined along. "Looks like you're all dressed for Shichi-Go-San!"
"'Sup!" Hakkai greeted.
"[name]-nee-san!" Luna ran up to you, "You're here! You're here!"
"Luna! It's another pretty lady!" Mana played with Hina's hand. "Hold me?"
"Sure thing!" Hina grabbed onto Mana's hand and swung it around a little.
"Luna-chan, hang out with the pretty big sister, okay? I... want to say hi to your brother." The girl nodded at your instructions and ran off with Hina and her sister closer towards the Shinto bell.
"Hey! Hey! That's my Hina!" Takemichi shouted as the girls left the area, "There goes my date..."
"Takemichi-san, how can you let your girlfriend go for the second time this week? You're pretty lame." You covered your snicker with your hand, causing him to tear up at your words. "Sorry, that was out of hand. Also..." You looked over to Mitsuya, "I found out what happened earlier on Christmas night with the oldest Shiba sibling. I see that most of your injuries have healed up."
"Yeah." Mitsuya opted to rub your shoulder instead of ruffling your hair – conscious that you probably spent a while styling it. "Thanks for worrying, [last name]-chan. I'm just glad you weren't involved in this fight this time. The MVP of this battle was Takemicchi himself. A strong one he was."
"M-Mitsuya-kun... no need to go that far." Takemichi was floating in all these compliments. "But you're right. I'm glad that we got it resolved without getting you involved like the other battles."
"Is that so?"
"[last name]!" Yuzuha stepped forward to interrupt the conversation. She had a few things to talk to you about. "It's nice to see you again in a different scenario." You nodded, "About your advice... I'm sorry I didn't take it."
"Don't worry about it too much. I heard about the reason why you chose to take those measures. It wasn't your fault. Don't apologise for it."
"...I was really thankful for getting the chance to talk to you that day. You said some really good stuff that I still think about. Thanks, [last name]." She was making your cheeks red. "Oh, um, this is my brother, Hakkai. You've probably heard about him a hundred times by now."
"It's nice to meet you, Shiba-san."
"Aw, you can call him Hakkai! You call me Yuzuha after all! He doesn't mind!" The girl smacked your back and went on her way with Takemichi following her.
"It's nice to meet you, Hakkai-san." He frowned at your greeting. Were boys his age always so rude?
"[last name]-chan, don't worry about his behaviour too much. He's shy around girls." Mitsuya placed a hand on your shoulder and led you down the path where everyone was. "It's nice seeing you again, too. Your face is my bright light in this dark world."
"Mitsuya-san, you're... too sweet."
After catching up to the others, all of you had bought ema's to write your New Years wishes on. It was a bit difficult to think of what you wanted next year. You read Mitsuya's – he wanted to be a better fighter. "I guess... I want to smile next year. That's a good one– Ouch!" Something made of wood had smacked itself into your temple as you finished writing your wish. The last letter now was all wonky.
"Sorry, [last name]-san! I accidentally threw my ema into the air!" Damn that Takemichi ruining the happy mood. Just out of spite, you 'accidentally' threw it up in the air once again.
"My bad, Takemichi-san, my hand slipped." He didn't even blink when it left your hand; he was too concentrated in getting it back. The gang found it funny that he was doing so much for this one ema so you found yourself joining them in chasing after him.
In the end, basically everyone from Toman had appeared in the scene. You all stopped when the countdown for New Year's officially began. "Ten!"
"[last name]-chan! You're here! I was wondering when I'd see you again. You look lovely!"
"Thank you, Chifuyu-san."
"Nine!"
"[name]-chan, I still have that charm of yours!"
"Glad to hear it, Keisuke."
"Eight!"
"[last name]-chan, stay close to me after the fireworks begin. I don't want you getting lost in the crowd."
"Thanks for looking out for me, Mitsuya-san."
"Seven!"
"[name]-chan! I get to spend another year with you! I came wait to see what's in store!" Emma quickly lifted up your hands to shake them before getting distracted by the countdown.
"Six!"
"Ouch! Look where you're stepping, [last name]!"
"Draken-san, that was Emma-san's foot."
"Five!"
"Hey! Careful with that arm!" Nahoya smacked some stranger's hand away from the group, making sure you weren't being bothered by them.
"Four!"
"[name]cchan~ Let's spend our entire year with each other."
"I'd be happy to, Mikey-san." He pressed a long kiss onto your cheek, causing the other boys around him to smack him around.
"Three!"
"[name]-nee-san, hold onto our hands!"
"Hold tight then, Mana-chan, Luna-chan."
"Two!"
When was the last time you've been surrounded by so many people like this? You can't even remember the last time you've had so many friends. You were so lucky.
"One! Happy New Year!"
Takemichi was still worried about his dropped ema, but he was luckily able to catch it before anyone could see what it had said. He breathed out a sigh of relief and looked around to see if anyone had caught a glimpse of what he wrote – but it seemed like no one did.
What he did notice from his quick glance around, was your face looking up to the fireworks in the sky. Why did you seem... so sad? The longing in your eyes told him you desired more – or perhaps less in this world. An air of melancholy surrounded your figure; it was something even he could see. "I have just over a year to save her... I better make it count. [last name]-san, don't give up on me, or yourself now."
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