"What the hell do you want now?" Yukimura kept the door carefully ajar, ready to slam it shut if necessary.

"Look, I'm not going to ask you if you're coming to the New Year's party," said Kodaka. "The school gates will be unlocked. You can come if you want. Or not if you don't."

"So, what do you want?" said Yukimura.

"I don't know. Can I come in?"

Yukimura's better judgment told him to slam the door.

"Whatever." Yukimura swung the door open.

Kodaka glanced down at Yukimura's clothes. He was wearing loose, baggy jeans and a hoodie. They looked strangely inappropriate on him.

"Now, what do you want?" said Yukimura again.

"I got cuckolded," said Kodaka. "My girlfriend cheated on me."

"Oh, I know how you feel," said Yukimura icily.

Kodaka turned away and scratched the back of his neck. "She did it in front of me."

Yukimura raised his eyebrow. "Mm, NTR? This ought to be interesting."

"With Sena."

Yukimura widened his eyes. "O-o-o-o-h-h."

Kodaka crossed his arms and stared at the floor. "You can laugh at me if you want. I just want someone to talk to."

Yukimura shook his head. "Just sit down."

Kodaka slumped down on the couch. Yukimura left the room. Kodaka looked up a minute later to see Yukimura with a hot cup of tea.

"Just like old times," muttered Kodaka.

"So, what do you want from me?" said Yukimura.

"Just to talk. Rika would try to have sex with me, Kobato wouldn't understand, and I can't exactly talk to Sena and Yozora."

Yukimura nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"The club's falling apart," said Kodaka.

"I'm not surprised," said Yukimura.

"Yozora hasn't been doing stuff as much. I've been running things more lately," said Kodaka.

Yukimura nodded.

The two of them then sat and said nothing. Kodaka shook his head. This was starting to feel a lot like the club.

"I don't care if you insult me," said Kodaka. "It's better than silence."

"I don't want to make fun of you, easy as that would be," said Yukimura. "In fact, I don't even hate you, despite what you think."

"So, why are you ignoring me and skipping club?" asked Kodaka.

"I don't hate you," said Yukimura. "I'm just waiting."

"Waiting for what?" said Kodaka.

"Waiting for the moment you can acknowledge me Yukimura and not your little brother," said Yukimura. "Even though it's been months since I've called you Aniki."

"I don't think you're my little brother," said Kodaka.

"You don't know that you still think of me as your little brother," said Yukimura. "But you're wrong."

"So, you'll make up with me after I realize that," said Kodaka.

"That's right," said Yukimura.

"Will it take long?"

"I hope not."

"Are we making progress right now?"

"I don't know."

"OK," said Kodaka. He got up and put his jacket back on. "Well, it was surprisingly helpful visiting you again."

"You visited me two days ago, too," said Yukimura. "Is this going to be a trend? Will I see you again tomorrow?"

"Do you want me to visit you again?" said Kodaka.

"I don't really care," said Yukimura.

…

Yukimura sat in his living room the next day, making frequent checks out the window. Kodaka didn't come today.

Yukimura lay across his sofa. He didn't think Kodaka was going to come today. But still.

Yukimura stared at the clock. Today was December 23, the last day of school. Tomorrow was the start of the winter break. He had skipped out on every club day for the last three weeks. As much as he could not bear to be in the club room, Yukimura found it incredibly boring going home straight after school every day.

"Eight days…"

…

"Geez, we really are meant for each other or something."

"Maybe we'll still be spending our sixtieth anniversary giving each other matching, crappy gifts."

Kodaka and Yozora held up their Christmas sweaters. They had both bought the same exact design to give to the other.

"Hey, did you change your ribbons?" said Kodaka.

Yozora was startled by the question. She lifted up a lock of her hair to check and then remembered.

"O-Oh, yeah. Of course I did!"

Kodaka smiled. "That's a really beautiful combination for today, red and green."

"O-Of course!"

"Merry Christmas," said Kodaka. He kissed Yozora on the lips.

"M-Merry Christmas."

…

"The oven's beeping, An-chan!"

"Great! Go ahead and get the cookies. I'll get to you in a second!"

Kodaka blew up the last of the balloons. The bunting was already up, and the furniture had all been moved. In the middle of the room was a large table, where everything was set up. The cakes, cookies, and other desserts were off to one side, while in the middle of the table were onigiri, sushi, and even Western foods, like chicken wings.

The window that looked out into the courtyard was frosted with ice. The sky was already turning a deep dark blue, and the ground, while not layered with snow, was thinly lined with frost. It was almost eight o'clock. Everyone was supposed to come in then, and they would hang out in the club room, eating and talking and watching the New Year's Eve specials on television, until midnight or even later.

"Is everything done, Kobato?"

"I think so, An-chan."

"Are you sure?" Kodaka surveyed the room. All the food had been set up, and the plastic cups and utensils and paper plates were all displayed and ready to use.

"Good. Let's take a break, Kobato. We deserve it."

"When should everyone be arriving, An-chan?"

"It should be soon." Kodaka pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "Rika just sent me an e-mail. It says that she should be coming up here soon…"

The door burst open, and Rika rushed in. "Good e-e-e-evening, everybody!"

Rika smothered Kodaka in her arms. "Did you miss Rika, sempai?"

"Um, hello to you too."

Kobato sat to the side, her cheeks puffed and flushed in disgust.

"Everyone else should be coming over soon," said Kobato loudly. "Including Yozora…your girlfriend."

Rika didn't register Kobato's words. She stuck to Kodaka's side until the door opened once again.

Yozora and Sena stood at the door. Yozora's arm was held awkwardly in mid-air, as if she had just been holding onto Sena, but had pulled away.

"Yozora, Sena!" said Kodaka. Under his breath, he added, "You came together."

"Hello, Kodaka," said Yozora. She hugged Kodaka and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, should we get started?" said Kodaka.

The five of them stood around, politely waiting in line to get the food onto their plates. The room was eerily quiet for the next ten minutes as everyone failed to come up with a topic of conversation.

Kodaka uttered a low sigh. There was plenty to talk about, like the fact that two of the club's members had completely disappeared over the last month. However, he couldn't come up with anything cheerful to talk about. The last eight months of the club's existence, rather than lifting everyone's spirits, was starting to weigh down on everyone's back. It seemed that for all the good moments the club's members shared, there had been a recent fight to erase it.

There was a soft knock on the door, so soft that Kodaka and the other members did not notice it at first. When it grew louder, Kodaka walked over to investigate.

Yukimura stood at the entrance to the club room, his hands held behind his back. He glanced up at Kodaka and nodded. Kodaka swept his arm toward the room and bowed with a smile.

"Welcome back, Yukimura," he said.

"It certainly looks different now," said Yukimura.

Sena and Yozora nearly dropped their plates. Both girls rushed up and hugged Yukimura. Rika clapped her hands together and tried to kiss Yukimura on the face.

"I ought to kick your ass," muttered Yozora. "You've missed at least four weeks of club meetings."

She smothered Yukimura in her arms, holding him until he began to flail.

Sena seemed to forget about everything that happened between her and Yukimura. She wrapped her hands around Yukimura's waist, squeezing him.

"I missed you, Yukimura! It seems weird saying this, but I really missed you!"

"All right, guys, all this hugging's good and all," said Yukimura. "But where's the food?"

"How typically boyish," said Yozora, blithely unaware of the truth about Yukimura.

Kodaka tapped the table. "It's all here!"

Yukimura's arrival dispelled all of the bad karma that lingered in the room. Everyone assumed that the fact he came meant he had chosen to leave the last month behind him. Naturally, everyone else followed.

"Here's to the last eight fun, crazy months!" said Kodaka. He lifted his plastic cup of non-alcoholic apple cider.

"And here's to twelve more!" said Yozora.

"Kampai!" Everyone clinked their cups and took a swig.

"You came after all," said Kodaka in a low voice as everyone began to spread out into little clumps. "You could have told me beforehand and saved me all that trouble worrying."

"I didn't decide until the last minute," said Yukimura, shrugging.

"Great!" said Kodaka. "So, what have you been up to lately?"

"Not much," said Yukimura. "It's been extremely dull without the club."

"Then, why don't you come back?"

Yukimura beamed. "That's exactly what I'm going to do after the new year."

Kodaka's mouth opened into an "O" shape. "I see."

He grabbed Yukimura and shook him by the abdomen.

"Well, you've got balls messing with all of us like that, huh?" Kodaka laughed and punched Yukimura in the arm.

Yukimura shrugged. "Remember our talk the other day?"

"Yeah?"

"I told you we couldn't fix things up yet until you'd changed."

"And…?"

"That's still true. We're not going to go back to normal yet. But I don't think me staying away from everyone in the club will help speed things up. So, I'm not going to mope around anymore."

Kodaka shrugged. "Good for you, Yukimura!"

"Yes, I decided that about five minutes before I came in the door. Now, I've got to tell everyone else about it."

Yukimura stood up and tapped his cup with his fork. Both were plastic and made little noise. Giving up on the endeavor, he decided instead to shout.

"Hey, everyone!" said Yukimura.

The entire room quieted down and turned its eyes toward Yukimura in the center.

"I'd like to make a speech for the New Year," said Yukimura. "New Year's is supposed to be a time to make changes, and I think I'm long overdue for some. When I came into this club, I was obsessed with changing myself. There were so many things wrong with me, I thought, and I came in to try to fix them. Because of Kodaka-Aniki…"

Everyone in the room giggled. It had been months since Yukimura had used that title on Kodaka.

"I got better. He helped me get to this stage, a normal, well-adjusted…boy…with friends both inside and outside of this club. But this isn't the end. I want to tell all of you right now that I'm not finished growing, and I intend to continue to grow into the New Year."

Yukimura nodded, and everyone clapped. Kodaka stood up, too, and began to make something up.

"Yukimura's right. I think a lot of things have happened to me since the club got started. I'm a different person from before, and I want to continue changing after the New Year."

Everyone began to murmur in agreement. Soon, everyone was clamoring to stand up and make a speech.

"OK, everyone, that's enough!" said Kodaka. By this time, Yozora and Sena had both spoken, and Rika and Kobato had both made at least three speeches. "Come on, we still have stuff to do, like traditional New Year's games!"

"Seriously?" said Yozora. "That stuff's boring."

"Really? I love playing them every New Year's," said Sena.

"OK, let's play, then!" chirped Yozora.

Kodaka pretended not to notice Yozora's sudden shift in tone.

"OK, just to refresh everyone's memory, I put them all face-down on the floor. You pick one up, and it'll have half a poem written on it. You have to flip it back over and find the other half. Whoever collects the most poems wins."

"Yeah, yeah, just start the game already!"

Kodaka didn't know who said that. It was probably more than one person. He lifted his right arm and swung it down in a chopping motion. "Go!"

Everyone scrambled on the floor, resulting in chaos. Rika in particular took the opportunity to grope everybody. After less than five minutes, however, all the cards had been picked up, almost all of them next to Yukimura.

"This is really fun!" said Yukimura. "It reminds me of all the classical Japanese training I went through as a kid."

"That's cheating!" growled Yozora. "Who studies classical Japanese anymore?"

"He can't help it if he knows the poems already," said Sena.

"I guess it's OK, then," said Yozora, beaming.

"Good work, Yukimura," said Kodaka. "I've got a whole bunch more stuff we can do."

"God, these games are cheesy," said Yozora.

"But they're tradition," said Sena.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

The entire club was aroused from their activities by the sound of popping and exploding outside their windows.

"That's right…they're having fireworks over the city park," said Sena.

Everyone crowded at the windows to take a look.

The first few fireworks were all boring yellow. However, the next few had more color, and they began to get bigger, brighter, and more spectacular.

"What's the big deal? What's with fireworks? I can't see behind everyone! An-chan!"

Kodaka lifted Kobato onto his back. He didn't remember what the New Year's fireworks were like over here. He only knew that every other city he had lived in didn't have them, and that this town was almost unique in that respect.

"So pretty…"

One firework burst in a blazing red and green. Three long, spouting streams of blue and yellow followed next.

"An-chan, look! It's so pretty!"

"Come on, sempai! Rika wants you to see it from this angle…next to me!"

Kodaka and Yukimura exchanged smirks.

"Nice fireworks," said Yukimura. "Great way to start the New Year."

"Uh-huh." Kodaka suddenly felt pressure on his right hand. He looked over and saw that Yukimura was squeezing his hand.

Yukimura gazed at the fireworks. He had decided long ago that he would rejoin the Neighbor's Club. However, he had originally decided against coming to the New Year's Eve party, preferring instead to make a quiet reappearance after school started again.

What had changed his mind was what he felt was his obligation to the other members, especially Kodaka.

His speech that night was not made up on the spot. In fact, he was going to change for New Year's. This party was going to be the last time Kodaka, Sena, Rika, Yozora, or anyone else would see him like this again, and he wanted to make sure that their last memory of him was positive.

"Goodbye, Kodaka," whispered Yukimura.