The sun shone through the slightly dim room giving the only light source of the room. The rays of light hits the girl's eyes making it uncomfortable for her to stay asleep. So she turns onto her side to hide from the sun but can't because she bumps into something; or rather someone.
Her eyes open, jolt open even, as she feels a body next to her. The blurriness of sleep subsides after a few seconds and it takes her more than a minute to recognize the face that is right in front of hers.
A gasp escapes from her as she covers her mouth with her hand. She studies the face closely and she knows exactly who it is; Yato.
His eyes are closed and lips pursed. His features are relaxed, vulnerable, and smooth. It is like looking at something so angelic, so heavenly. As if it would be wrong to wake him up, like it could be a sin.
Then Hiyori's eyes look down to his lips. A realization hits her and a memory forms from the night before. Oh how could she forget such a thing.
It was last night. 2016 was rolling on it's way, only one more hour, and everyone was gathered at Kofuku's place. She was serving alcoholic drinks for the older ones and apple cider for the younger ones.
So everyone was drinking something and gathered around the small table in the living room.
"Oh, Yatty, let's play a game! And the loser has to do whatever the winner says, yeah?" Kofuku started, as she finished drinking some of her champagne.
Yato leaned back a bit, holding himself by one arm as he held his drink in the other. "Ah, what kind of game? Don't you always beat me at those."
The pink haired girl giggled and nudged Hiyori. "Well then, how about Hiyorin plays, hm? It's only a game of twenty questions." she said, leaning her head onto the other girl's shoulder.
"I'd like to play with you Kofuku-san." Hiyori answered with a smile. She wasn't really particular on saying no. Plus it would be a good chance to spend the time until the fireworks would start up.
Kofuku clapped her hands together as she said, "Great, let's start then, Hiyorin. Remember, loser gets to do whatever the winner says."
They proceeded to play the game over the course of forty minutes. During this time, they had played two rounds in which both times Hiyori lost. The third round would be the final for them and Hiyori was starting to get nervous because of the 'punishment' at the end.
"Uhm, is it a boy or a girl?" Hiyori asked, sitting there trying to think of more questions to ask.
A slight giggle escaped from Kofuku. "You've already asked that, Hiyorin." she says, her voice happy as her expression. Which was that of a large smile with mischief filling her eyes.
"Uh, uh." Hiyori tried to think of another one. She counted in her head how many questions she had asked and it was coming up onto her last question. She sat there sweat forming on her forehead and she tried to think if she should guess or ask another question.
"Is it-Yato?"
A moment of silence before Kofuku laughed and tightly hugged Hiyori. "Sorry, Hiyorin. You lose again. It was actually Ebisu this time!"
Hiyori sighed and acted as if losing didn't bother her. Usually it wouldn't, but the chance that Kofuku was going to make her do something just gave her a sense of anxiety. She didn't know what was going to happen, but luckily she didn't have to think about it until much later because after the game was over Kofuku went back to trying to get the others to play with her.
After a while of playing twenty questions it became eleven fifty nine at night. Almost close to midnight and almost the start of the new year. They were all gathering outside to see the fireworks.
As Hiyori was excited to see the fireworks that excitement turned into nervousness when Kofuku decided to get everyone's attention. She smiled widely while she told everyone what Hiyori's punishment was going to be for losing the game.
"Hiyorin, since you lost the game, you shall kiss Yatty-chan as your New Year's kiss!" She said, which subsequently made Yato furious.
"Kofuku! Hiyori doesn't want to kiss anyone and you can't make her do it!" Yato argues. In his mind Hiyori is still pure and innocent. He doesn't want to taint her with a kiss. In his mind it would seem selfish and inappropriate, but his mind washes that away when he hears her answer.
Hiyori grabs his hand as pink hues sparkle towards him. Her smile shows her as happy, but her eyes seem sad. "No, it's fine, Yato. It's just a kiss." Then her eyes turn a bit happier than once before and she closes them as her smile grows bigger. "You can be my New Year's kiss."
A slight blush appears on Yato's cheeks as he sees her smile and so happy about doing something like that with him. He doesn't complain nor does he fight back either because deep down he knows he wants to. He's been wanting to since the first time he truly saw how genuinely happy she makes him.
So as that had been settled everyone turns to look up at the sky. The stars shining bright since there were no lights around. And everyone in unison counted down until midnight came.
"Five….four….three...two….one!" They all screamed in unison.
As the clock hit midnight, Hiyori turned to look at Yato as he did the same. Her eyes glowed with excitement and anticipation. She leaned close and got onto her tip-toes. Her lips pursed together and pressed against Yato's. Her eyes closed slightly and she acted as if she were kissing a parent. Just as the fireworks in the back boomed and clapped.
But Yato was having none of that and soon turned the kiss into a passionate one. His tongue went into her mouth searching for every crevice. His hand lifted up to caress her burning red cheek. And his eyes went to a close.
She shot open her eyes as she realized what was exactly in her mouth, but she dared not to move away from the kiss. Instead, she encouraged it on and continued it.
It was her first time kissing someone like this. Her very first kiss wasn't as passionate and as long as this was. Besides, it was new and she wanted to try this.
Her eye peaked open and she could see Kofuku, Daikoku, and even Yukine staring. Her cheeks burned from embarrassment and realized that they were kissing for far too long. So she put her hands onto Yato's chest and pulled away from him.
His eyes widened with shock until he noticed everyone watching too. Then he relaxed and pulled Hiyori close to him into a hug with one arm. He smiled widely. "Some New Year's, huh?"
Hiyori smiled sheepishly, but couldn't help to not fully pretend that something hadn't happened. Yet everyone else just smiled and also pretended that they hadn't seen anything.
So she looked up to the sky watching the firework after firework cross the darkened sky. The colors separating from each other and sometimes mixing together only to go apart. The sky looked so colorful and exciting, but it didn't last long since it would only disappear.
Soon the finale came and colors rocketed through the sky one after the other until the final one cracked for the night.
Everyone clapped excitedly. Yato and Kofuku even shouted a "Woohoo." once it was all over. Hiyori, however, just clapped a little. She couldn't really enjoy the fireworks without thinking about the kiss.
It wasn't bad, but the fact that she had enjoyed it made it feel weird. Especially since Yato was a friend of hers. A close one, but a friend nonetheless.
Later on, after a couple minutes of waiting to see if that was really the finale, they finally went inside. Switching from super cold winter weather to cozy warm inside temperature.
Yato sat back down and finished off the last bits of champagne he still had in his glass. All the while staring at Hiyori. Who didn't pay any attention of who was staring at her.
"Hey, Hiyorin, how ya like the fireworks, hm?" Kofuku was the first to ask, clasping her hands around Hiyori's hands and smiling widely.
Hiyori smiled in reply. "It was nice, I always like seeing fireworks." she replied with an honest answer, but somehow she could swear that, that's not what Kofuku was really wanting to ask.
A mischievous look overcame the pink-haired girl's features. "Oh, so did Hiyorin like the kiss too?" she said.
"Uh," Hiyori struggled with what to say. How could she say anything when Yato was only a few inches away. "I-"
"Hiyori, where you going to sleep tonight?" Yato soon interrupted, now standing right beside Hiyori. He walked over to Kofuku and put his arm around her shoulder. Surprising her. "Hiyori has to sleep somewhere right, why not with me on the futon?" he asked, trying to convince them both of the answer.
"Yeah, there's no room for Hiyorin down here on the floor. So that's a good solution. Is that alright with you, Hiyorin?" Kofuku asked, smiling with that mischievous gleam.
Hiyori looked around with her eyes. She couldn't say no because it'd be dangerous to go back home at this hour of night. And she also didn't want to sound too eager either. "S-Sure, I guess that's alright." she said, giving a defeated smile back.
Kofuku smiled, "Great, now we can go to bed, Daikuko-kun!" She said, letting go of Hiyori and walking her way over to Daikoku who looked pretty worn out.
As they went to their respective bedrooms, the trio all headed up to the attic to sleep. Hiyori was a bit nervous to sleep next to Yato. Not only because he was a bit more older than her, but because of the kiss they had shared not even twenty minutes ago. Although there was no room for complaining or even backing out now.
Yukine got into his small sleeping bag on the floor. His nearby lamp on the side turned on so he could sleep properly. Yato basically fell onto the futon and rolled over to make room for Hiyori.
She only stood there. Usually she slept alone with warm pajamas so this would be very new to her. It also felt just as weird sleeping with a boy who wasn't exactly her own age.
So, without her warm pajamas, she slipped into the futon underneath the one single sheet. She bet that night it would be cold, but surprisingly it wasn't. Plus, if it were, then she would have had her jacket to warm her up.
They slept soundly that night; she remembers. So now that she was awake and several inches away from Yato's face, her heart beat furiously against her chest. It wasn't until the second thought of the kiss they shared came into her mind that a slight blush appeared on her face.
Immediately, she got out of bed. Embarrassed, flustered, and, worse of all, lovestruck. She shook the thoughts out from her head, but the physical symptoms of said thoughts were left behind still. There was no way she would get rid of these feelings.
As she walked into the living room, the only person she saw was Daikoku. He was sitting at the table and drinking what seemed to be coffee. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles and his expression overall seemed to be dark, tired, and everything else that seemed to say that last night was rough for him.
"Daikoku, what's wrong?" Hiyori asked, only assuming that he wasn't feeling one hundred percent.
He looked up at her, a little sluggish, and smiled anyway. "Nothing really, Ms. Kofuku wouldn't go to bed so easily last night. She wanted to stay up more. That and this awful hangover." he answered.
She nodded a little and smiled. She was glad that she wasn't allowed to drink. Otherwise Yato would have pressured her to drink one after the other. Or at least she guessed knowing how Yato had been pressuring Daikoku and Kofuku last night.
Sitting down next to the man, she asked, "What are hangovers like? Are they really that bad as everyone says they are?"
Her question went unanswered as a loud groan sounded from behind them. Hiyori looked right away and saw Yato. The same dark features that Daikoku shared except on a paler complexion. He also looked a bit irritated as he came around Hiyori to sit next to her at the table.
Soon his head went laying on the table. Another, quieter, groan came from him before he said, "Oi, Daikoku, give me some coffee."
This seemed to irritate the other man since it was written all over his face. "You, why don't you get it yourself?" he argued back.
Although before Yato could retaliate, Hiyori got up and smiled brightly at both of them. "Don't worry, Daikoku, I'll get the coffee for Yato." She said as she walked herself into the kitchen.
While in the kitchen, she kept thinking how attractive Yato looked. He hadn't been wearing his normal tracksuit. Instead he was only wearing a white shirt and dark sweatpants.
As she poured the coffee from the pot and into the mug, she thought more about how she liked his hair like that. All disheveled and untamed. She could touch and play with his hair for hours if she really thought about it.
Just as the blush from her face disappeared over five minutes ago, it came back now a brighter color as she kept thinking. Her heart raced as well and now her hands were shaking as she put the coffee pot down.
She walked back into the living room. Taking small deep breaths and trying to will away the blush that found it's way onto her face. She didn't want this, but she couldn't help herself.
With a smile and a pinkish hue on her face, she set down the coffee mug in front of Yato. "H-Here you go." she didn't mean to stutter a bit, it just came out. And now she was feeling more embarrassed.
Yato grabbed the mug and sipped at the coffee. As he pulled the cup away from him, he looked up at Hiyori. A bright, goofy smile on his face as he said, "Thanks, Hiyori." He then proceeded to put his head down again on the flat surface of the table.
But at that moment, Hiyori's heart pounded rapidly. Her blush getting ever so brighter and her pink eyes glistening with amazement. She knew, and it upset her, that she had a crush on Yato. She liked him alot and that kiss that was stuck on her mind made her want to kiss him more. She didn't want to admit it, but she really couldn't stop it. She liked him in the more as of a friend way. At least in this moment, that's what she had thought.
So she sat down, quietly and flustered, and tried to talk normally about things. All the while, her heart beating only for Yato.
