CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
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the inarizaki boys stayed over the night until the morning at miya's house. they were huddled up together in the living room, aside from kiiro and reimi, who were separated and slept in the guest's room. when the morning sun greeted the world, they all had a fulfilling breakfast made by the two girls before they went ahead to visit the nearest temple.
usually, having osechi ryori, the first breakfast on gantan, was supposedly celebrated with the relatives before heading to the shrines and temples, even shopping for special sales. all of this has been a tradition for japanese families, but the group of teenagers decided to spend the new year's eve and half of the first day of january with one another.
(note: osechi ryori consists of traditional japanese foods in a bento box called "jubeko" which is shared with family or friends. also using iwai-bachi, a special type of chopstick that has sharp ends, is a must because of a buddhist belief. meanwhile, gantan refers to the new year's morning, while ganjitsu is the tradition of eating osechi ryori on gantan, then visiting a temple or shrine and buying some products on special sale.)
"akemashite omedeto gozaimasu, minasan!" with a warm hug engulfing everyone, smiles reaching their ears, and laughter resonating throughout the entire place without sparing a damn to anyone who was giving them weird looks. as long as their new year is all good and happy, any means of negativity are revoked.
"we'll see ya' at the tournaments, kii-chan and reimi-san!" the rest of the boys bid their farewells to the other five, who also sent them off with a farewell.
"yosh! let's go to ta' park!" atsumu faced them with the biggest grin on his face. knowing his look, osamu already knew, as did suna and kiiro, but reimi was left confused when she was practically dragged by the blond miya.
"w-wha... chotto atsumu!" reimu squealed, almost tripping on her shoes. her eyes were all wide at how fast this boy was sprinting. she turned to the others for help, but seeing them fade out of her sight gave her the utmost fear of being left alone with miya atsumu.
"should we follow 'em?" suna muttered, but the other two beside him cleared him clearly.
osamu shrugged his shoulders. "meh, rei can handle him," he replied.
on the other hand, kiiro sighed to herself as she contemplated what she should do. she just couldn't leave her best friend alone because we're talking about the miya atsumu here—the very childman existing on the face of the planet earth, but she also had enough shit from the blond to even deal with him.
in contrast, the trio found themselves in the park, watching reimi and atsumu play in the snow. there were a few snowmen and evidence of snow angels, which were both made sloppily. the weather was freezing, yet the three teenagers are obliged (by no one) to watch over the other two, or else who knows what destruction they'll cause.
"i see that ya' also came, eh?" atsumu smirked after noticing their presence, and at that moment, they regretted even coming along as it was merely a second when a snowball hit osamu square in the face.
needless to say, suna, reimi, and suna were surprised, while the culprit was laughing his ass off. kiiro scrunched her nose at the scene before grabbing a handful of snow, molding it into a ball, and throwing it towards atsumu—as always, square in his face. some of the snow even managed to get in his mouth and down his throat, which made him burst into a series of coughs.
"serves you right," kiiro muttered, her lips forming into a smirk as she witnessed betrayal paint his face.
atsumu brushed off the snow off his face before forming a snowball, smirking back at the raven-haired. "oh, we're on, iro. tis' is war declaration!" he proclaimed.
reimi furrowed her eyebrows, turning to the blond. "war what?" she asked him, but then got hit by a snowball from suna. her eyes were all wide as she glanced at the boy, who gave her a teasing look.
"you're gonna regret that, suna rintaro!"
their snowball fights went on for hours and hours until all of them were lying on the snow breathless. none of them won the said fight, aside from kiiro as their two against three formations later turned into four against one because kiiro is way too powerful.
"tas' it, we can't defeat the snow queen herself," the blond miya stated, earning the agreement of the rest.
"ro-chan has always been good with everything. no doubt." the other miya twin added, glancing at the said girl beside him.
and in a snap, kiiro ruined the entire mood with a statement of, "too much flattery will get you nowhere." though none of her friends retorted back since they knew all too well that the latter just couldn't handle compliments very well.
a comfortable silence filled their surroundings as a loud sneeze captured their attention. their heads turned to reimi, who now has a bright red nose, like meerkats.
"are ya' alright, reimi?" suna asked, worry evident in his voice as he stood up and went towards the pinkette before helping her get up.
reimi smiled and nodded, opening her mouth to say her response, but was then cut off with a sneeze once again. at this time, suna knew she wasn't doing well at all, so he took off his brown scarf and wrapped it around her before turning to the others.
"les' go home now," he said, walking off with reimi, while the other three followed them after.
throughout the entire journey back to the miya residence, kiiro was rather silent compared to the twins arguing beside her. her golden eyes staring ahead at the pair, who were having their own conversation. her silence was odd enough for the miya twins to halt their petty argument and check up on her.
"what made you think that i'm not okay?" she muttered, raising an eyebrow at them.
atsumu returned the same expression, folding his arms. "ya' space out all the time, but not like tis'." his forefinger pointed at her face, which confused the latter.
kiiro rolled her eyes and shook her head. "you're imagining things, tsu-chan," she denied, but the blond said otherwise, leading yet to another petty argument as neither of them wanted to back down since it would only mean that one agreed with another.
meanwhile, osamu, who was merely observing and listening to their conversation, eventually came to a realization as his eyes shifted towards the brown-haired boy accompanying reimi before his gaze went back over to kiiro beside him. it wasn't a long walk back to the house, and as kiiro was about to head in after the others, osamu called out to her.
"i've got something ta' say ta' ya', ro-chan." osamu started as his hands, hidden in his pocket, fiddled with one another.
kiiro tilted her head and nodded her head to signal for the latter to continue. "sure, spill it," was her response.
osamu looked anywhere but her eyes, noticing a lot of things around them in the process. the snow was showering from the heavens, conquering the paved roads and skinless trees just as it did the house roofs and even the roofs of the cars passing by. for a moment, osamu felt like they were somewhat involved in a drama.
"i..." he trailed off, his eyes glued to their shoes, still refusing to meet her eyes.
kiiro sighed, but it wasn't a fed-up one. "samu, look at me," she said, which he did with some reluctance. "whatever you say, i'll listen to it. take your time," she continued with a smile.
"would you still have the same exact smile for me after i tell you?" osamu heaved a deep breath, mustering up all of his courage with his eyes closed before staring deeply into her golden ones as he let himself get entranced by how her eyes sparkled like the stars in the midnight sky.
"i like ya', kiiro, ever since the first time our eyes met."
it was january first, in the middle of a snowfall, when i first received a heartfelt confession. despite the frigid breeze kissing my skin right now, it still felt like drinking a cup of hot chocolate by the fireplace, wrapped up in a blanket.