It was New Year's Eve, and Ibuki had thrown a massive party. Everyone in the Hope's Peak main course was there, no matter what year they were in. Hajime, being a reserve course student, felt honoured to have been invited along with Sato and Natsumi. The crowd was so big that Hajime could barely find his way to the kitchen.

He knew he'd drank a bit too much when he found Fuyuhiko practically holding him up at the bottom of the stairs.

"I told you not to drink this year," the tiny Yakuza sighed. "You always go too far. Come on, let's get you some water."

Hajime allowed himself to be led into the kitchen and let Fuyuhiko gently help him drink water. Nothing was sticking in his brain and the whole evening had become a blur to him.

Somehow he ended up wandering away from Fuyu, and before he knew it, the countdown had began. The noise of everyone counting was so loud, so... so loud...

And then he was on the floor. He raised a hand to his face and felt tears.

"Three!

Two!

One!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Oh god, it was so loud. And they were all so happy, all so delighted for the new year...

All so absolutely overjoyed that not a single one wished him a happy birthday.

He could hear glasses clinking and people kissing. He saw Fuyu run out of the room, his face bright red, and Peko collapse into giggles. He saw Sonia slipping away from both Gundham and Kaz, making the two fall together. He saw Kokichi running away from a blushing Kaito, and kissing Kiibo, Shuuichi and Rantaro as he went. He saw Gonta lean down and kiss Ryouma on the cheek. He saw Leon and Yasuhiro laughing and kissing happily. He saw how happy all of them were. And he felt a crushing sadness in his chest.

Within half an hour, everyone was passed out around the house with the exception of Hajime. He was staring into the bathroom mirror, his eyes red from crying, and remembering that no matter how many friends he claimed to have, he was and always would be utterly alone.

BONUS (for if the angst hurt too much)

He stumbled back into the living room, just wanting sleep to take his cares away and collapsed into the corner. While he thought about how much his head hurt, he became aware of a presence. Mainly because that presence was in his lap.

Nagito was clearly very, very drunk as he kept laughing through his words and his speech was very slurred. Yet Hajime still managed to pick out what he was saying before he buried his head in his chest and started snoring;

"Happy birthday, Hajime-kun."

Now he was crying for a completely different reason.