X December 15th X

There was no small amount of confusion when everyone woke up, as no one immediately remembered the previous day's events. "My first sleepover with all my friends..." Naomi seemed embarrassed when she remembered. The memories- good and bad- came back to them after that, but so did a feeling of accomplishment and relief. There was a slight sense of urgency afterwards.

"What time is it?" Yoshiki rubbed his eyes. Naomi reached across her desk for a watch.

"10:21 in the morning." She told them. Yuka squealed and clung to Satoshi.

"B-big Brother! Mom's going to be mad at us!" She said fearfully. They'd been gone close to twenty hours by then, and Mrs. Mochida was very strict about their curfew.

"Don't worry, Yuka." Satoshi patted her head. "I'll say it was all my fault."

"Man, school better be closed today." Yoshiki stood and stretched.

"Oh, it stopped snowing? Oh..." Naomi was looking out her window, sounding awed. "Come look at this." She motioned for the others and pulled open the curtains so they could come see.

"Wow. Big Brother, look! It's so pretty!" Yuka pressed her face against the glass. Both Satoshi and Yoshiki made awed sounds. The weather forecast may have been right about snow storms yesterday, but they were wrong about it continuing afterwards. It looked absolutely beautiful outside. The sun was out in the clear sky, and the snow below, high but flat and undisturbed, seem to shine under the rays from above.

"Well, at least we can finally get home." Satoshi pointed out.

"Yeah. You guys probably should get going as soon as you can.." Naomi smiled. "I'll be fine now."

"We'll continue later, alright?" Satoshi offered.

"Ok." Naomi nodded. "I looked forward to it." After that, it was a rushed morning. Ms. Nakashima had been up for a few hours already, but hadn't woke them because she didn't want to disrupt how peaceful they all looked. The power was still out, so she couldn't offer them much in terms of breakfast. They could all eat when they got home anyway. Thankfully, she told them she'd heard from their neighbors that school was cancelled due to the power being out there as well, and that the weather was much warmer today.

So only twenty minutes after waking up, Satoshi, Yuka, and Yoshiki were preparing to leave. Fortunately, they didn't have to pile on all the cold weather gear they'd brought, just carry what they didn't need. Satoshi, lacking his mother's forcefulness, had to bribe Yuka with promises of sweets in the future to make her put on at least part of the clothes she'd been stuffed into. After that, with the rest in hand, they got ready to leave.

"Thank you all for coming." Ms. Nakashima bid them farewell. "Really, I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you all." All of them, especially Naomi, were embarrassed at her gushes.

"Thanks for doing this guys." Naomi looked like she wanted to say so much more, but she clearly couldn't with her mother there. "I hope we get to spend a lot of time together now."

"Count on it." Yoshiki nodded.

"Yeah! We can come visit again!" Yuka suggested. "Or you can come visit us!"

"And we'll always see each other in school." Satoshi reminded her. Naomi smiled and nodded.

"That's enough. You all have the rest of your lives to talk. I bet your parents are worried, so you all better get going." Ms. Nakashima suggested.

"Bye." Naomi waved.

"We'll see you soon, Naomi."

"Bye!"

"See you around." They turned and headed out after that. The snow outside was easily a meter high. That didn't stop Yuka from shouting and jumping into it and needing help to get back up. They'd have to push through to get to their destinations, but it was manageable now.

"Mission accomplished?" Yoshiki asked.

"Yeah." Satoshi nodded. "We did everything we set out to, didn't we?" They'd gotten Naomi to finally open up to them. They'd found out what happened to her and Shinozaki. They'd agreed to help her with the rest of her issues. And they'd all agreed to get together and do something for Shinozaki. That was all they'd hoped for, and they'd accomplished it. Naomi had been the worst casualty of Heavenly Host, and they'd overcome it, which meant they could overcome everything else.

The rest of this December might just turn out alright.

"Wait a minute!" Yoshiki shouted, causing Satoshi and Yuka to pause. "Come here!" He grabbed the back of Satoshi's coat and started pulling him forcefully back towards the house.

"Wha?! Hey!" Satoshi stumbled as Yoshiki dragged him back onto the porch. "What?" Yoshiki stopped and let go of Satoshi so he could hammer on the door a few times. After a moment, it was opened by a very confused looking Naomi.

"Oh, did you guys forget something?" She asked. "Hey?!" Yoshiki grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the porch.

"Yeah, Satoshi did." Yoshiki pointed at him as he set the two up to face each other.

"Huh?" Naomi looked at him expectantly.

"I did?" Satoshi wondered.

"Yeah, you did." Yoshiki told him as he backed up to give the two space. As a parting gesture, he held up fingers on both his hands: two of his right hand, four on his left. Satoshi was still confused. He didn't think he'd forgotten anything, so what did Yoshiki mean? Two and four? Two four. Twenty four.

The 24th!

"Gah!" The realization hit Satoshi like a ton of bricks: He still had to ask her out, and here was a chance! He was frozen in place, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.

"Satoshi?" Naomi hadn't noticed Yoshiki's gesturing. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Satoshi gulped and tried to think of something to say. Naomi had crossed her arms across her chest and seemed bothered by the cold, so Satoshi didn't want to keep her outside for long.

"Uh." It was the first thing to a coherent sound he made. He was at a loss. He'd completely forgotten. He had nothing planned, at all. And now Yoshiki had thrown him right in front of her? He might as well thrown him under a bus. How could he ask her here and now? She was still looking at him curious.

I can do this. He tried to tell himself. Getting dropped into surprising situations and having to react was something he was use to, although this was obviously the most terrifying one yet. And he'd talked to Naomi about difficult subjects just yesterday. How hard could this be?

"Uh...Satoshi? What's with your face?" Naomi asked. Satoshi broke down into sputtering after that till a snowball, point of origin unknown, hit him in the side of the head. It cooled him off and helped him focus something he needed since by then Naomi was looking more then a little confused.

Just say it. He told himself. Just open your mouth and start talking. And he did.

"Naomi, Iwaswondering, if you're feeling better, I mean...if youwanted t-to goouton the 24th with me?" He stuttered and said some of the words too fast, but he said it. He waited for a response, his hands trembling in his pocket and his legs trembling beneath him. The moment of truth...

Naomi still looked confused at first till she realized just what he'd said. When she did, her eyes widened and her face turned a dark shade of red very quickly and she stumbled back a step. "Y-you mean like a date?" She stuttered. Satoshi nodded nervously, struggling to keep upright against a sudden wave of light headedness.

"O-oh." She said, and Satoshi felt a stab of panic then. Was she going to say no? "Umm...O-ok then." She stuttered. "I'd love too!" She looked up and then at her feet again.

"Th-thank you." Satoshi was really running on any sensible thought right then, just knee-jerk reactions. But he did realize Naomi really did look like she was going to pass out then and there, so he considered wrapping it up. "We can talk... about the details... l-later." Satoshi stuttered. Naomi nodded excitedly.

"Ok." She was still blushing furiously. "We'll talk about itlater." She nervously moved back and forth on her feet. "Well...bye Satoshi!" Clearly too flustered to stay there a moment longer, she rushed back inside and closed the door behind her. Satoshi just stood there, his mind processing what had just occurred. When it did, the corners of his lips moved.

A big grin was plastered on his face as he walked away from the porch and towards the gate. He'd done it! She said yes! He could hardly believe it, but it was happening. This had to be the best day of his life!

"Well, what'd she say?" Yoshiki asked him once he joined them out on the street. "She said yes?" He guessed from the smile on Satoshi's face, though the brunette still didn't say anything. "Oh, congratulations!" They exchanged a high five.

"Good job!" Yuka said excitedly, then turned serious. "Don't mess it up! Or Naomi might not come visit us!" Satoshi had to laugh at her priorities.

"Thanks, Yuka."

"Well, let's head back home." Yoshiki cut in. "You probably got a lot to prepare for." Satoshi nodded and they headed out. He did have a lot to plan and organize: What to wear, when to pick her up, a schedule for the night, back up plans incase something happened. And probably a few other things he was forgetting at that moment. But he was actually planning for a date with Naomi!

As they were walking, something else occurred to him to ask.

"Did one of you throw a snow ball?" Satoshi asked his two companions. Both of them averted their gaze, Yoshiki whistling nonchalantly and Yuka was bent over clearly trying to hold a fit of giggles. "You know what?" Satoshi smiled. "Never mind."

He had a date. Next to that, nothing else really mattered.

XX A/N XX

Satoshi really is dense when it comes to women; he couldn't realize there were three chasing after him even with blinking neon signs. Fortunately, he has a best friend/ wingman to back him up.