So I only just realized that art cannot be used within the actual story, so I decided to go ahead with uploading my second chapter! My third chapter will take a bit longer to upload, as I've decided to push for chapters 3k words on average, and I write about 200 a day. I hope you all look forward to it!

I notice Kushieda and Kitamura-kun have already begun walking back to our old classroom. Our other friends haven't yet noticed Taiga's return. I excuse myself from the sea of adoring fans I made over the course of our last year of highschool. I suppose behaving like myself has finally paid off, I ended up becoming far more popular than I thought I would be. I call to Maya and Nanako, Hisamitsu and Haruta follow after.

"Hey Amin! Guess who's back!", Kushieda called out to me, I acknowledged and continued my way over, bouquets of flowers in hand. We join up, and begin walking up the empty hallways. I notice Hisamitsu and Maya holding hands. Kitamura and Kushieda lead the front. Haruta jokes about walking into the room and seeing Ryuuji on one knee. I walk behind, Nanako decides to give me some company. Over the past year we got closer, as Maya and Hisamitsu began spending more time on their own.

"Are you excited Ami?"

"Hmm? Oh, of course!"

"I didn't talk much to Taiga before she left, but the fact that she took the time to text all of our classmates pushed me to try harder. I messaged her fairly often while she was gone. It took me a while to realize how much we all misunderstood both her and Ryuuji, but when I saw how worried you, Kushieda and Hisamitsu were for them, and how much you cared for them, I realized they couldn't be all that bad", she laughed lightly, "How about you? Did you talk with her much while she was away?"

"Just once after the first time. She sent me a photo of a magazine that was doing the rounds at her new high school. I was on the cover. 'Idiot Chihuahua is pretty popular even out here! Hate to admit it but I miss you', all I wrote in response was I missed her too. That was about two months ago now."

"That's surprising. I thought you and Taiga got along better?"

"It's complicated, I don't hate Taiga or anything, a lot happened last year is all."

We walked up the flight of stairs and turned the corner. I hear Kushieda shout with glee. A part of me does not want to step in to that room. I recall how much time we all spent together last year, and how much of that time was spent in the now undisturbed seats.

I gather the courage to step through the door however. Inside I find Taiga surrounded by her ex-classmates, excited, smiling, exchanging gifts. Ryuuji stands proudly behind her. I look around the room. The windows are partially opened, and I can feel a light wind blowing through them. The slight chill wraps around me, and I bring my arms close in response. I left my winter coat at home, the skirt I'm wearing hardly protects me from it. I notice everyone else seems unfazed by the breeze however.

"It's been a while hasn't it?", are the only words I can think to muster. Oddly enough, seeing the energetic head of long brunette hair on that comically short body is comforting.

"It has, Ami-chan." I step back slightly.

"Ami-chan? What happened to idiot Chihuahua?" I'm surprised by the friendly tone of her voice.

"I realize how rude I was to call you that even when we became friends, and I'm sure it must have been really annoying."

"I'm surprised by much you've matured Aisaka-san."

"You better watch it, I won't hesitate to start calling you that again.", everyone begins to laugh.

After a few minutes, the excitement simmered down, and I noticed Ryuuji call everyone to attention.

"I think we are all thankful for Taiga's return, and are grateful for graduating. So I wanted to ask you all if you guys wouldn't mind coming over to my place for a celebration?", I notice Ryuuji blush as he smiles and scratches the back of his head. Taiga looks up to him and grabs him by the sleeve suddenly.

"Ryuuji, there won't be enough room". For a moment it seems Taiga wants Ryuuji to herself for the rest of the afternoon, before she spins to face us all again, "let's do it at my place!"

"Sweet, we get to have Ryuuji's cooking!", Haruta comments. "It's been such a long time!".

"The condo is still yours?", Kitamura asks.

"My useless father wasn't so useless after all. I never told him I left, so he kept paying for the place this whole time." She held her hand to her face, no doubt trying to contain the smirk growing across her lips.

"That's great Taiga! I'm so glad to see everything is back to how it used to be! Let's go!", Kushieda bolts outside and signals for us to follow her along.

"Wait Minorin, I'm so tired right now, do we have to run?", Ryuuji and Taiga begin to walk after her, hand in hand.

"This is Minori we are talking about, she never walks, at minimum she hops", Kitamura jokes as he follows them out the door.

Maya walks up to me, dragging Hisamitsu by the arm, Nanako following along, the three of them are beaming with radiant smiles, all of them seem incredibly happy to see Taiga has returned, "Ready to go?"

"Of course", I smile, "let's go." I find it out however. Maya, Nanako, Hisamitsu, and Haruta rarely hung out with Taiga even while she was around. Why are they so happy to see her return? As I ask that question to myself, I notice Ryuuji spin around.

"So what do you guys have in mind? I want to see if we should pass by the grocery store for any ingredients I might not have right now.", I notice beads of water not quite large enough to roll down his cheeks, and a smile on his lips that could never be broken.

"Oh! Oh! How about some yakisoba?", Haruta excitedly asks.

"That sounds delicious!", Kitamura notes.

"We think thats a great idea!", Maya responds, answering for Nanako and Hisamitsu.

"But I wante-"

"Shh, everyone wants yakisoba riiiiight?", Maya cuts off Hisamitsu.

"Fine fine. Yes yakisoba sounds good", he responds dejectedly.

"Good boy, she spins and kisses him on the cheek. His face flushes pink instantly, before she winks and sticks her tongue out, almost exactly as I used to.

Ryuuji let's go of Taiga's hands. "In that case I just need to get some fresh vegetables, you guys can head over to Taiga's place, I won't be long".

Taiga switches to grabbing Ryuuji by the sleeve, "Idiot, are you really going to leave us after I've been so long?", I realize she hasn't really changed all that much already.

Ryuuji blushes at her statement, "alright alright, we'll be back. You guys can hang out for now."

"No problem", notes Kitamura.

Without a thought, I stand up and start walking towards the two.

"Oh, want to come along too Kawashima?", his question surprises me. I'm caught off guard, not realizing I was moving automatically.

"Why don't we join Taiga and Takasu-kun? Taiga's right, its been such a long time since she's been around. It seems silly for us to wait for them here doesn't it?", Kushieda bounces up, and begins charging towards her tiny friend.

"She's right, it's rude of you to just leave us like that you two", Haruta jokes.

"Well actually", Taiga interrupts. "I, kind of… wanted to go with just Ryuuji for now…". A bright red flush blooms across the faces of both Taiga and Ryuuji.

"Aww how cute, alright then. We will wait here after all! Come on Amin, give the lovebirds some room!"

"Oh, right, of course. Excuse me", I sit back down on the floor, wondering how it is that I ended up halfway to the door without even noticing.

The door locks behind us, and an awkward silence passes over the usually empty space that is now packed with Taiga's friends.

I shift my eyes from face to face, attempting to figure out what must be going through their minds. I notice Kushieda seems to be the most uncomfortable of us all. I start to see her lips tremble, as if she wants to say something but isn't quite ready to yet.

"My my" I decide I will be the one to break the silence, "what a boring crowd you are!". I stand up and start over to Taiga's closet.

"Hey Ami-chan? What are you doing? This isn't your place!", Kitamura objects.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll want us to hang out for a bit after dinner, I'm trying to find some board games to keep us entertained for the rest of the night. It's our graduation party after all." After pulling out a few boardgames kept neatly in the corner of the closet, I walk back to the center of the room, set the games down and walk to the kitchen.

"I hope those should be fun. Can you guys pick which to start with?" Hisamitsu and Haruta excitedly begin to open up the boxes laying before them. As they do I proceed to Taiga's refrigerator, expecting it to be empty as this place hasn't been occupied for an entire year. And yet, to my surprise, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator my eyes catch a shiny reflection. I kneel down, and reach for it. In my hands is a bottle of fine champagne, and behind it I notice that there are two more. They must have been left here by Taiga's father perhaps. I begin placing the bottle in my hand back into the fridge before its yanked out of my hands by, "Kitamura?!"

"Ohoho. Now the real fun begins!", I'm surprised by his actions for only a minute, and soon realize it isn't really out of character for the self proclaimed Patron Saint of Broken Hearts. "Are you sure about this? None of us are of age yet".

"Hey!", he calls to the crowd gathering around the board games, "anyone want some champagne?"

Haruta's face immediately brighten up, Maya tries desperately to keep Hisamitsu calm. Nanako blushes and can't seem to decide whether to shake her head in denial or nod in approval. For a moment Kushieda also seems troubled by Kitamura's suggestion, but she builds her resolve and leaps in a single bound over to Kitamura and pops the bottle open with her own hands.

"Amin! Get us some glasses, let the party beg-", at that moment we hear the door open up.

Taiga stares in confusion at the scene so different from what she left only minutes earlier. Ryuuji lifts his right hand and up to his face, groceries still hanging from his arm. Taiga begins walking to Kushieda, and once again an awkward silence falls over all of us. She quietly pulls the bottle away from Kushieda.

'"Hey Taiga, I'm sorry we should have-"

"Arghhh!" She yells loudly before emptying half the bottle in her mouth! What on earth are you doing Taiga?

"I'm glad we got back soon enough, I was worried this was the last bottle!" Hisamitsu and Haruta begin cheering at Taiga's surprising act. Ryuuji simply stares in confusion. Soon enough Taiga joins Kushieda in pouring everyone a glass of the sparkling brown liquid. Hisamitsu and Haruta excitedly take the glass, while Maya and Nanako stare at it in confusion. Kitamura smiles as Kushieda passes him a glass. I notice Taiga has a glass in her free hand. She walks towards me.

"This is for you Ami-chan."

"Oh. Uhm, thank you.", that is all I can say without muttering unintelligible mumbles.

"Hey, don't use all of it, I need some to cook with! We don't have any cooking sake!"

"Oh come on Ryuuji, I trust in your abilities!", Taiga marches proudly into the living room, bottle of champagne still in hand. "Alright!", she proclaims, "whos ready to get their butt kicked!".

Hours passed, and everyone was having genuine fun. I recall the last time we all spent time together like this, before the ski trip. We were supposed to get together to work on brochures for the trip but were all quickly distracted. A tinge of sadness passed over me, realizing it couldn't last forever. And yet, over a year later we are together again just like before. To my surprise very little has changed, aside from the alcohol this time around.

"Hahahah! I won! I won! Wahahaha!", Kitamura begins running laps as he relishes in his monopoly victory. Whether through shear luck or manipulation of his drunken colleagues, he had managed to take a whole side of the board, hotels on each property. I had barely managed to get a rail road.

"WAA! That isn't fair!", Kushieda starts bawling, she fared only just better than I did. She starts chasing after Kitamura as he continues running his victory lap. Hisamitsu and Haruta are both laying face down on the floor, after only a few glasses of the champagne. Maya and Nanako's faces are both clearly flushed, yet they managed to keep clear enough heads to share a side of the board. Ryuuji and Taiga both controlled themselves apparently, and I too decided not to go crazy, I can only imagine what I must be like when drunk.

"Alright, its past 1 in the morning already. We should be going home", I stand up and walk over to the purse I set aside by the door.

"I agree", Maya clearly regrets having partaken in the drinking, "I need to get home, I think I'm getting sick", she stands up haphazardly and stumbles to the door, Nanako follows closely behind.

"Wait!", I turn to see Taiga standing in the middle of the room.

"You guys can stay here tonight! It probably isn't safe for you all to stumble your way homes. I have plenty of spare blankets and pillows so please make yourselves comfortable!"

"We really shouldn't intrude Taiga", Kitamura says as he scratches the back of his head.

"I insist", she runs to her closet and starts pulling out blankets and pillows. She tosses a pair onto Hisamitsu and Haruta, who barely stir as the blankets fall onto them.

"You're right Taiga, I'm not so sure I'll even be able to find my way home right now", Kushieda notes between hiccups.

Ryuuji stands up and begins helping Taiga, "it's best for everyone to stay the night. We made a mess of the place anyway, we should help Taiga in the morning".

My hand is already on the door knob, when I hear footsteps behind me that come to a halt.

"You too dumb Chihuahua", my grip tightens for a moment, "What happened to no longer calling me that?", I take a deep breath and decide to let go.

You're right", I surrender and turn around, taking the blankets Taiga has in her hands. I walk to a corner and spread them across the floor.

"Shouldn't we probably sleep in a separate room?", Ryuuji asks. A slight blush is visible on his cheeks as he asks the question.

"What do you mean?", Taiga asks.

"Well there's four guys sleeping in the same room as five girls.", Taiga noticeably blushes too.

"R- right right. Of course. Erhm, well the girls can sleep in my room. The guys can sleep in the living room. I don't think we will be able to move Hisamitsu and Haruta anyway.", she turns and marches straight to her bedroom, leaving the door open for her temporary roommates.

After some shuffling about, everyone has picked a spot. I lay down, and close my eyes, knowing for a fact I won't be getting a wink of sleep tonight. "Why on earth am I staying in Taiga's bedroom?" I ask myself.

Sure enough, each passing minute feels like an hour. Enough time passes that the moonlit clock on the wall denotes 3:35 in the morning.

I can't take this. I run to the bathroom, and after a few minutes step out into the apartment hallway, just outside the living room. Its cooler out here than it was inside. I hear the A.C. whirring in the background, and look down one length of the hall. I see the blinking lights, sitting below a closed window by the stairway.

I sigh and sit down. Out of the corner of my eye I notice an imposing shadow. I'm about to shout in terror. Hold on, I know that figure. Its Ryuuji? What is he doing out here? It seems he hasn't noticed me yet. I start to crawl over to him, hoping to scare him, before he turns to face me.

"Oh, Kawashima? What are you doing up?", I suppose that means he wasn't asleep out here.

"Damn it, I thought I had you. I couldn't sleep, wasn't at all comfortable". I move closer to him and sit down, knees laying to one side.

"Oh," he pauses for several seconds, "you too?". Ryuuji sits to my right side, legs crossed. One of his hands rests on his lap, the other is held up to his chin.

This night hasn't turned out at all as I had expected. "I suppose", I inhale deeply, "you wouldn't mind talking for a bit would you?", I hope he can't see the hot flush I know is burning across my face right now.

"I don't mind. I doubt I'll be able to sleep much anyway, even with the champagne".

An awkward silence fills the otherwise empty hallway.

"You know…" I begin, "I thought we weren't ever going to hang out like this again", I recall my thoughts from earlier tonight. "All of us having fun together. I guess I have to thank Taiga for the opportunity. I don't like admitting it though". Finally I begin to feel the exhaustion get to me, I struggle to keep my eyes open.

"I thought the same. I always figured we would go our separate ways once we were seniors. I told myself it couldn't last forever, but I suppose I made peace with it."

"Are you glad Taiga is back?"

"Eh?", he seems surprised by the sudden change of topic.

"Why wouldn't I be?", I hear him chuckle, and while I can't see it, I can feel the radiant smile that only once was for me, even in this darkness its warmth burns like the sun. "If I had to wait much long I think I would have lost it. It was only thanks to you that I could ever admit I loved her. I told you before I ever confessed to her, isn't that stupid?".

I feel tears well up in my right eye, and for a moment I think I feel a wet streak cross down my cheek.

"Yes, it's very stupid', I can fight no longer. My eyes slowly shut, and everything goes black.