A New Year
Just before the new year came around, Asami comes home as Hikigaya is in the living room watching TV. She places a couple of bags on the counter.
"So, Hikigaya, got any plans for new year's eve?" She asks.
"Not really. Probably just hangout here with you, like usual." He responds casually.
"Oh good, good."
She says while looking at the bags, just standing there. His mother's tone makes Hikigaya feel like something is up so he turns to face her with a questioning look.
"Why do you ask?" He questions.
"Huh? Oh, no reason. Just making sure you could join me with the Inabi's for a new year's eve party to celebrate the new year." She says.
"What!?" Shiori complains, shocked. In Shiori's home, Hamasaki tells her the same news.
"You mean I have to start the new year with him?!" She complains more.
"What's wrong with that? I thought you liked him.." Hamasaki says innocently.
"Absolutely not! I mean, I do but he's, it's that, I… Ugh! I don't know! He gets on my nerves so much, I want to strangle him but he… tries really hard to make sure I know my friends care about me…"
Shiori fidgets a bit, trying hard to be more open to the idea of friends. Hamasaki just smiles warmly at her.
"So it's complicated?"
"...He's a good friend but he's very annoying." She clarifies.
"Well it sounds like you two have a lot to talk about. It'll be good for you to spend more time with him." She says while turning around to do something.
"More than I already do?.." Shiori grumbles.
"Besides, I haven't seen you so happy in years."
Hamasaki adds with a smile, looking at her from over her shoulder. Shiori pouts a bit about it but despite her complaints, her eye shows an unfamiliar emotion.
Only a few days later, as New Year's Eve comes around and the Oshiro's get ready to head on over.
"Make sure you don't drop that fruit tray, Hikigaya."
"I know, I know."
They walk over with a couple bags of movies, games, snacks and drinks while Hikigaya holds the tray. Once Hamasaki answers the door, Asami and her both do a soft scream, excited to see each other as Hikigaya puts the fruit tray down next to the other snacks. Shiori comes over to him.
"Hey." She says blankly, staring at him.
"Hey." He responds equally blank while adjusting the tray. He turns and they look at each other for a moment.
"Want to hangout in my room for a bit before the New Year's events start?"
She asks softly, but still directly. Hikigaya's face then lights up a bit as he smiles.
"Sure!"
He answers, excitement in his voice. She blushes, a bit embarrassed having someone over. She usually hangs out in his room, but she hasn't had him over to her room yet. They go inside and Hikigaya looks around. He notices her desk covered in different notebooks and papers.
"Well, welcome to my room. Not really anything special."
She says, lifting her arm to the room before dropping it unenthusiastically. He peers around a bit but pays more attention to the desk.
"Hey, Shiori. I see you writing all the time. I thought you were just always taking notes but, what's all this?"
She sees him looking at her desk.
"Oh, it's just a bunch of ideas I've had, I guess. I want to be a professional writer."
He looks at her, quite interested in it.
"Really? I definitely wouldn't have pegged you for a writer type."
"Yeah, well, there's lots you don't know about me."
As she says this, turning around, Hikigaya walks closer to her desk and picks up one of the open notebooks, then reads it out loud.
"Two childhood friends… who turn out to be neighbors.."
As he reads a bit of the notebook, she gets a shocked look on her face and dashes in front of him, grabbing the notebook out of his hands.
"Why are you reading my story!?" She asks, more embarrassed than angry.
"I was just curious."
"Well, maybe ask next time!"
"Okay okay, I will! But Shiori, are you into… romance novels?"
She blushes as she slams the notebook down on her desk, turning away from him.
"N-no! It wasn't what you're thinking! It was just…" She pauses, looking down, embarrassed, contemplating, before turning and yelling at him. "None of your business!"
He just sweats and smiles a bit.
"What are you so embarrassed about?.."
Shiori sighs in defeat and blushes, looking away from him.
"It's embarrassing… others finding out that I like to read and write romance…"
He notices her getting self conscious about it so he tries to cheer her up. He pats her on the back, harder than he should.
"Hey, it's not so embarrassing! Someone like you fantasizing about a love story! Makes perfect sense!"
"You're not helping at all. And would you stop hitting me?!"
She bonks the top of his head down, then huffs.
"Why do I have to start the new year with a dumbass like you?"
Hikigaya stops rubbing his head. His expression drops a little before he looks slightly away from her.
"I bet you'd rather be here with Ryuji, wouldn't you?"
He mumbles. Shiori looks down at him with a look of confusion. He stands up.
"It's whatever. That's pretty normal. Let's just go back and hangout with the others."
He turns and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Shiori stands there for a moment, confused. She thinks about her words and regrets saying them a bit. Hikigaya stands on the other side of her door with his head lowered.
'Why do I even care so much? I should be glad she's getting so comfortable with the others. Yeah, it's a good thing! ...Still…'
He strains his face a bit before sighing and stepping away as Shiori comes out of the room too.
"Hey you two! Check these out!"
Asami exclaims. She pulls out a bag filled with different fireworks with an excited look on her face.
"What do you say we head to the roof and light these bad boys up right at the start of the new year?"
Everyone gets excited and agrees. Before they head out, Asami pulls Hikigaya aside for a moment with a cheerful look on her face.
"Look what your sister just sent me!"
She pulls out her phone happily and shows him a text. Hikigaya reads it and gets an excited look on his face.
"When did she send this?"
"Just a bit ago! My baby is coming back home!"
Shiori looks over, interested in their conversation.
"Who's coming back home?" She asks.
"My big sister. She left for college a year ago. She writes to me now and then, but she's coming home next week!"
She smiles at Hikigaya, who looks so happy to be seeing his sister again.
"Well, I'm happy for you."
She pats him on the back, and he nods, the troubled emotions from before seemingly gone.
Later, on the roof, they set up the fireworks while Riku rides on Takanou's shoulders, laughing happily. There are a couple of other families with the same idea here as well. Shiori and Hikigaya sit a little away from the others, next to each other. They sit in silence for a moment. Shiori looks over at him and watches while he looks ahead, gazing at the stars and distant fireworks firing off early. She thinks and struggles with herself for a moment before deciding to talk.
"I'm sorry Hikigaya. For earlier."
He looks at her with a bit of a surprised look as she continues.
"You know I'm not the best at communicating what I'm thinking. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.."
She leans forward a bit in her cross-legged position, looking down. Hikigaya just looks at her for a moment before smiling softly.
"I know, Shiori. It's okay. It happens. Let's just start this new year off better than before, okay?"
He tilts his head to the side while he smiles at her. As she blushes, the others begin the countdown for the new year, cheering together.
"3… 2… 1!"
As soon as they reach the last number, Asami and Takanou light the fireworks and they shoot into the air, exploding in beautiful colors.
"Happy New Year!"
Everyone cheers and waves their hands in the air while they watch the show. Shiori looks back at Hikigaya, who has a large smile on his face as he watches the fireworks. Shiori blushes a bit.
'I guess he is kinda… cute…'
She shakes her head a bit to get the thought out as she looks back and punches his arm playfully.
"Ow! Haha, what was that for?"
He rubs his arm, smiling. Shiori shyly says,
"Happy new year…"
He smiles at her warmly.
"Happy new year to you too."
They both turn their heads to see the many fireworks across the city. The colors lighting up the night sky, the sounds vibrating through their bodies as, for once, Shiori feels as if nothing is wrong in her world. They stay up all night, enjoying the company and the feeling of a new year.
When the morning comes around, they are all asleep in the living room together. Hamasaki and Asami share the long couch, Takanou and Riku are in a comfy lounge chair and Shiori and Hikigaya are sleeping on the floor, in opposite directions but their heads right next to each other.
Shiori slowly opens her eyes as the softest beams of early morning light start to shine through the curtains. She sits up, rubbing her eye sleepily, as she looks around for a moment before smiling softly and laying back down to sleep.
Back at school, a couple weeks later, it is before noon. Ms. Samuel is handing back graded tests to the class. As she comes around, Hikigaya has his head down with his hands covering his head. Shiori, who is sitting up proudly, looks at him.
"What's going on, Hikigaya?"
"I am not looking forward to seeing my grade on this test…" He groans, muffled by his arms.
"I understand why."
Ms. Samuel says with hints of disappointment in her voice. Hikigaya shoots his head up to look at her staring down at him. She places the test on his desk and he sees it has a C+ on it. He sweats as he lowers his head again, nervously.
"I expected more from you especially since you're supposed to be on your best behavior." She lectures.
"Yeah…"
He responds disappointedly. Ms. Samuel turns her head away as she comes to Shiori.
"You on the other hand."
She gently places the test down. It has an A+ on the top. She smirks as Hikigaya gets a shocked look.
"Well done Ms. Inabi. I expect you to keep this up."
Lucy starts laughing out loud.
"Hahaha! You should see your face, Hiki! It's priceless!"
Ms. Samuel then slams down her test in front of her. Lucy gets a nervous look on her face as she slowly turns to look at Ms. Samuel.
"I'd be careful laughing at your friend there as your score isn't much better."
Her test reads a B-. They both get depressed about their scores as Chizuru shares her A- with Shiori and giggles. Ms. Samuel continues down and hands Ryuji, Haru and Sugawara's tests. Ryuji got a B+ and Haru got a B-. Haru looks over to Sugawara who is calm and simply begins to put it away in his binder. Haru notices his score. 100/100 A+.
"Woah, Sugawara. You're like a genius like Shiori!"
He quickly gets embarrassed and looks away.
"N-no, I just study a lot. I don't have anything else to do so I study, that's all!"
Haru laughs as Ryuji smiles watching Sugawara get embarrassed. After she finishes passing out the tests she goes back to her desk and sits with a sigh.
"I'll be honest with you guys, I'm rather disappointed with the overall test scores. Many of you did worse than I thought you would. Although, a couple of you did excellent."
Shiori smirks even more at Hikigaya while he clicks his tongue and looks away.
"It is over with now though so there's no point in worrying over it. Just remember that there is lots more work to do so don't start slacking now. I know Valentine's is right around the corner but don't let that be another distraction for you."
The class begins to talk amongst themselves remembering that Valentine's Day is coming up. Ms. Samuel sees this then droops a bit.
"Why did I bring it up?.."
She grumbles. Shiori perks up.
'That's right, Valentine's Day. This is the first time I'll even have a crush on Valentine's… Maybe I should…'
She looks over to Ryuji who is writing down something in his notebook. She blushes a bit as suddenly Chizuru gets loud.
"Oh I know! We should all make chocolate together! You could give it to the person you like.~"
She teases as she elbows Shiori a bit and giggles while she blushes.
"Yeah I'm gonna have to pass on that. My sister said she needed some help with some stuff." Hikigaya says, leaning back in his chair.
"What kind of stuff, Hiki?" Haru asks, obviously trying to bait if this is a fake excuse or not.
"Stuff that's none of your business, that kind of stuff."
He responds, annoyed while he shoves Haru's face away from him.
"Yeah, I can't either. Sorry."
Ryuji adds. Chizuru pouts a bit.
"Don't worry Chizuru. At least Suga and I will come, right?"
Haru says happily as he turns back to Sugawara smiling while he blushes and embarrassedly answers.
"R-right.."
"Yeah, I might as well come too. Not like I have much else to do."
Lucy says with a smile as she puts her arms behind her head and leans back in her chair. Chizuru turns her attention to Shiori.
"What about you, Shiori? Join us, it'll be super fun!"
She looks at her and leans closer with her big round eyes. Shiori nervously sweats for a moment and hesitates to answer.
"Mmm… Fine, I guess I'll come.."
She folds.
"Yay!"
Chizuru cheers happily. She hugs Shiori a bit making her blush.
"Oh yeah? Gonna make me some chocolate as thanks for being such an awesome friend?"
Hikigaya teases as he leans over and pokes her.
"Oh shut up, like you even deserve them. They're not for you, you dumbass." She bites back.
"Oh, I know who they're for." He smirks at her as she gets embarrassed. "But don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
"It better be because if you say anything…"
She puts her thumb under her neck and prepares to slide it across her neck before Ms. Samuel interrupts.
"Okay, I've given you enough time to get it out of your system. Let's get back to work."
The class returns to normal class work and the rest of the day goes by as normal as any other day would.
Ryuji and Hikigaya wave goodbye and begin to head home while the others stick around and wave back. Before they leave however, Haru runs up to Hikigaya and stops him for a moment. They are a bit away from the others and he talks quietly so they can't hear them.
"Hey Hiki, I wanted to talk to you real quick about Chizuru.."
Hikigaya looks confused for a moment but he looks at Haru's face and sees him blushing nervously. He realizes what he means and laughs a bit.
"Don't worry Haru. I think I don't…"
He looks past Haru a bit to see Shiori getting spooked by a lizard that randomly crawled up her leg. She jumps back and cries a bit to Chizuru who is laughing as Sugawara picks it up. He smiles warmly, watching Shiori.
"Yeah… I don't like her like that anymore. Go ahead."
Haru's face lights up and he hugs him.
"Thank you! You're so awesome for this, you have no idea!"
He nods in response as Haru rejoins the group and Hikigaya continues on his way.
They decided to go to Chizuru's house since she has the space and supplies for all of them. They all gather in the kitchen, aprons on and sleeves rolled up. Chizuru claps her hands together excitedly.
"Okay! How many of you have made chocolate before?"
No one raises their hands. Chizuru sweats a bit.
"Heh… Well that's okay. I guess we'll start from the ground up! It should be simple enough! Let's get started!"
They begin working and Shiori's first batch doesn't come out very well. She looks quite depressed about it. Sugawara struggles with the mixer causing a little mess. As he cleans up the cream and goes back to mixing by hand, he looks over to see Haru's already cooled. He puts them down and begins cutting them into little heart shapes.
'So cute!'
He thinks as he notices Haru really focusing and putting lots of effort into his.
"Who are you making yours for, Haru?"
He asks innocently. Haru is surprised for a moment and turns to Sugawara. He smiles and places his finger to his lips.
"It's a secret."
He smiles at him and goes back to his hearts as Sugawara looks at his bowl and keeps mixing. He blushes a bit and smiles.
'Maybe it could be for me…' He thinks, hopefully.
After Shiori finishes mixing her batter and rolling it out, she places it in the fridge to cool. She wipes her forehead with her wrist and looks over to see Lucy sitting in a chair with her arms behind her head, happily watching.
"You're not gonna make any, Lucy?"
"Nah."
"So why did you agree to come?"
"I like to watch you guys struggle."
She smiles at her while Shiori sweat drops a bit. She then softens her look as she gets interested in Lucy.
"You don't have anyone you want to make chocolates for?" She asks genuinely.
"Well, not really. Besides, I don't do chocolate making."
Shiori's interest is peaked by her comment.
"Ryuji and I have always had this thing since we were little where he'd make the chocolate and I'd take it since he doesn't give it to anyone else."
Shiori is surprised by her words as Lucy leans forward a bit, dropping her arms.
"Although I never understood why he chose me. He's always been popular with the girls and the boys and usually gets quite a bit of chocolate each year. He could give them to literally anyone and they'd thank him for it. I guess it's just our tradition."
Lucy looks to the side a bit, looking like she's had this exact thought many times before and is almost upset by it. But then she smiles as Shiori in her usual cool fashion.
"If I made chocolate, it'd just ruin the whole thing! Besides, he really likes making them so who am I to say no?"
She smiles and places her hand on her chest sarcastically. Shiori laughs a bit aa she turns away, to the fridge. She pulls out her chocolate and places it on the cutting board. She stares at it for a moment.
'I guess getting chocolate from me wouldn't be that special… I don't know why I thought he wouldn't get any. He's cute, tall, smart, and way more popular than the rest of us. Unlike me…'
She thinks as she looks at Lucy talking with Chizuru and laughing with Haru. She looks down at her chocolate again.
'And I don't want to ruin their tradition.'
She thinks about Ryuji giving Lucy chocolate in a much more romantic fashion than she described. She strains her face a bit before stopping and thinking about Hikigaya. "Oh yeah? Gonna make me some chocolate as thanks for being such an awesome friend?" His words play in her head.
"I guess I could give it to Hikigaya…"
She says in a quiet, soft voice as she continues making her chocolate. She looks over to see Chizuru making a slightly more advanced chocolate and much faster than Shiori is.
"Who are you making chocolate for?" She asks.
"Me? Nobody. I just like to eat the chocolate."
She answers innocently while eating some of the chocolate leaving some crumbs on her cheeks. Shiori droops.
"A-Ah.. I see."
After they finish up, all of them end with cute little bags decorated and filled with chocolate they are proud of. Soon, they all head home, ready for an upcoming, exciting Valentine's Day!