Trigger warning… strong language and mentions of death or something idk how this works but I'm not taking chances.

· · ·

I tossed a coin into the offering box in a shinto shrine here in Tokyo before doing the whole ritual I've been doing every new year. You know, bow twice, clap twice, they pray. I turned around after I'm done, looking around my surroundings to the people in here before I saw Koutarou waiting for me in a corner.

"Are you ready to go take a fortune?" He asked as he rubbed his palms together from the cold air. I narrowed my eyes at that action. I told him to wear mittens or something but he didn't listen. I hope he doesn't get cold hands later...

But anyways, he was referring to the Omikuji, where we get our fortune for the year every new year.

"No." I muttered. "I'm not. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a curse again or something. I always get that every year."

It's true. Somehow, I've gotten all the worst options possible in the miserable, 18 years I've been alive.

"Come on," Koutarou encouraged me, lightly pulling me to the direction of the Omikuji. I took a quick glance at the people there- There were a lot of them gathering there. Some are smiling in happiness and some are frowning from getting a bad fortune. "It can't be that bad."

"Yeah. Sure sure."

· · ·

I made a small offering again before randomly choosing a paper from the box. I slowly unfurled it, as if it was something that would explode in my face but stopped to look at Koutarou when I heard his noises of happiness from the side.

"I got chuu-kichi. Out of all 12 options, that's the one I got" Koutarou laughed while showing me the strip of fortune. His laugh, as contagious as ever, of course cheered me up. He was probably happy, as chuu-kichi or middle blessing is the second highest possible fortune you can get, but I suspect he's not only happy because of that. Anything related to middle or something that is roughly pronounced similar to my name became a little inside joke between us. "Isn't that adorable?" He asked as he turned to me curiously, head slightly tilting like how an owl would.

He just looks so smiley that I want to pinch his cheeks. So of course I did.

Tiptoeing slightly, I gently grabbed his cheeks from the layers of the scarf he was wearing and pinched it. He's the adorable one, with how he acts. I swear, he sometimes resembles an owl, especially with that hairstyle of his and when he does that thing where one eye is wide open and the other's only half opened. I think he really has too much school spirit, since owl is the animal of Fukurodani.

Though sometimes, he resembles an overactive dog- those golden retriever ones, with how hyper he goes at times. I feel like if he has a tail, it would be constantly wagging in happiness.

"Yeah yeah. It's adorable alright. But you're more adorable than that." I said casually, bopping his nose before letting go of him. I then ignored his sudden blushing face on the side as I slowly unfurled my fortune.

"What did you get?" He asked once he calmed down. He looked over my shoulder as I blankly stared at the words on the paper.

"...I got dai-kyou."

And of course I got the worst possible fortune strip. Out of all 12 possible options, I somehow Dai-kyou, or great curse. It's the worst curse out of the 5 available curses in the pile. How the hell...

Who even put these kinds of fortune strips (or misfortune in this case) in here? If an old woman got this, she might have a heart attack from the shock. Great curse? Really?

"Er, it's just a fortune strip." Koutarou attempted to cheer me up as my expression darkened along with the paper slowly crinkled in my arms from my tightening grip. "I'm sure your future year literally won't mean... cursed..."

"You do know that curse is literally my middle name, right Koutarou?" I snorted before folding the paper in half and looking at him. "Anyways, let's leave my misfortune on a pine tree. Are you gonna tie yours too or are you going to keep it?"

"Hm, I think I'll tie it. Why would I keep with me for good luck when I already have you?" He smirked as he folded the paper.

...I kinda hate it when he says things like that so suddenly and easily. Not really.

I buried my cheeks from the scarf I was wearing so he won't need to see my blushing face. It cheered me up from getting a misfortune earlier. He didn't say anything else, but I know he's grinning mischievously as he let himself be dragged by me to the huge pine tree, where the rest of the blessing and curse-bearing fortunes were gathered. I tied my misfortune along with those on the branch of the tree as Koutarou tied his beside me. We then backed away and looked at it contemplatively.

"Don't you think it's more likely luck that I got cursed fortune ever since I started going to shrines?" I asked him.

"That's a bit morbid for a new year thought, Chuuyou." He scrunched his nose in confusion as he stared at me and back to the pine tree.

"But think about it." I insisted. "Consistently getting bad luck in the 12 option draws every year? Probability speaking, that's rarer since there's 5 bad luck and 7 blessings in the lot. Let's mentally calculate it. That's..." I mentally calculated the probability. The formula is the number of favorable outcomes over the number of total outcomes, so it's 5 over 12... 0.42. "42% chance of me getting a misfortune. Think of it like this. I'm lucky since I got the rarer options in the pile, yeah?"

Koutarou looked at me weirdly, unsure of what to say in my entire speech. "...I'm not good at math but I'm pretty sure that's now how it works?"

To be honest, I'm just making myself feel a lot better from getting a "great curse" cause what the hell is up with that fortune. I know I consistently get a curse every year but it still sucks.

"I never, ever, got a good- is that the others?" I interrupted myself when I saw Konoha, Washio, Sarukui, and Komi. I guess they also took their fortunes at the same time. The three of them seemed to be teasing Konoha, who looks like he's about to explode in anger as he crumples the fortune strip he's holding.

"Let's go and greet them." I muttered as I pulled Koutarou in their direction.

"-I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! FIRST, THAT BAD NEW YEAR DREAM AND THEN-" Arriving there, we didn't interrupt Konoha who was in the middle of a rant about his... bad new year dream? Whatever. I don't want to know.

Washio's face, who was previously annoyed, lit up in relief once he saw us. Well, as possible as he let it. He usually has an apathetic expression like Keiji, and on the rarer times he does show emotions, it's pretty obvious. Though Keiji has a better apathetic face if you're asking me. And he's more… expressive too whenever he's surprised with whatever Kou has cooked. I swear, I think 10 years of his life disappears whenever he sees whatever thing Koutarou planned. Man's just look so lost and don't know what to do.

"Hey, Ishi, Bo." He greeted us. I can feel the relief in Washio's voice from that three words alone.

"Hey." I greeted him back. "Why does Konoha look so mad?" Before Washio could reply, Konoha's booming voice interrupted him.

"IT'S BECAUSE I GOT A CURSE!" He slightly shouted as he shoved the crumpled paper in my hands. I unfurled it and after seeing it, I gave it to Koutarou, who immediately gave it back to Konoha once he took a peek.

He got a kyou, or just "curse". It's literally the least curse out of all curses you could possibly get. Why's he mad about that?

"Really?" I deadpanned at him. "You're mad about that? I literally got a dai-kyou." Upon hearing my words, konoha slowly calmed down and looked at his paper contemplatively before grinning.

"Yeah. Now I don't feel so bad about this now since it seems like you have worse luck than me. I think you're the only person I know who actually got a dai-kyou."

This rude motherfucker. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. No. I will not commit murder in a new year.

"Did you tie it in the pine tree yet?" Komi suddenly asked me seriously, a frown in his face. I turned my attention from Konoha to him, as I ignored his celebrations in the background

"Yeah don't worry." I waved my hand dismissively. Is his superstitious nature coming out again? If it is, the. I'll have him know that I was consistently getting curses and I'm still alive. Komi accepted my answer, albeit a little unsurely before his expression morphed into a shit eating grin.

I don't have a good feeling about that.

"By the way, what are you two doing here? Are you by chance on a date?"

The others also stopped their banters to look at us teasingly. I already got used to them doing that, but Koutarou isn't yet.

"YEAH!" He puffed his cheeks at that, on the outside, he seemed proud and confident. But from the way that he suddenly held my hand tightly, I can tell that he's a little embarrassed deep inside for that remark of theirs.

We aren't too public of a couple anyways. Maybe some hand holding here and there- maybe a quick smooch in the cheeks too. But we can't bring ourselves to be that sweet when others are watching than if we were alone. For one, if it's only the two of us, we're all over each other. It's a little embarrassing to think that we'd be like that when anybody can just stop by and watch us. It's been like a month for us and we're still not used to... Yeah.

"Aw. I ought to send this to Kuroo." I snapped out of my inner musings when I heard a clicking. Glancing at Konoha, he had his phone out and seemed like he was texting someone. Maybe Kuroo, based on what he said earlier.

I think they have way more couple pictures of us than me and Kou at this point.

Slightly weird to be honest... But it doesn't hurt us in any way whatsoever so eh. I don't really mind. Though I don't get why they are compiling those pictures if I'm being honest.

We decided to stay with them and walked around the area, talking about the incoming spring nationals tournament. Luckily, that's in Tokyo this time.

It's actually happening in 4 days. The spring tournament I mean. It's set on January 5th to 9th.

Unfortunately, I can't attend the first two... Since the girls and I decided to accept the offer from Mono, the contract's gonna be finalized on that day. It's a 4 year contract (that can be renewed later of course). Mono will become our manager- they will be in charge of organizing concerts, gigs, and all the other things and they will take a portion of our earnings 60-40. It's Takara's mom who overlooked the contract, since she was a lawyer and deemed it a fair one.

I also made sure it had none of the ridiculous "no relationship" clause in it. I get the necessity of that rule, but I still don't want it.

Though, it's dependent on if mom lets me go. I mean I still haven't told her about that... Yeah... I probably should now. Hatsukou and Keizo already know about that, and are pushing me to tell mom and dad. I'm pretty sure he's okay with it. Mom's gonna be the problem with how overprotective she gets.

But I just can't keep depending on them for the rest of my life, you know? Like, whoever said this quote, baby birds need to fly out of the nest someday or something to start their own ones. I'm grateful to my parents for raising me in such a privileged life without asking for anything back but...

I shook my head before my thoughts got even more serious. It's a new year. I should be enjoying it, not thinking about this kind of stuff.

Focusing my ear on the ongoing conversation, it seems like Konoha is dramatically retelling his new year dream. With actions, tone changes, all that stuff. He could have been a good member of the acting club with how dramatic he gets. If volleyball fails for him, at least he has another skill to fall into.

Anyways, his dream was apparently... he dreamed that when he got into the volleyball club room and started practicing with everyone else, he noticed a sudden sweet smell in the air but ignored it at first. Then when he spiked the volleyball, it didn't fly like it used to. It smashed into his hand because it was... A fucking cake apparently. Then when he looked at all the other people there- they started melting and falling apart since they were cakes too. Specifically, they were a chocolate cake with green buttercream... Way too specific if you ask me. A giant knife then suddenly cut the gym in half, making everything and even him be split into two, and revealed that everything was all cake all along. Then he woke up.

Looking at Konoha- he's shivering, but not from the cold. That... dream must have really left an impact on him. What a weird dream that was.

What the hell is he consuming anyway? Cake? Really? If he's on some crack, then I won't be surprised. That's a really detailed dream about cake of all things. Now him thinking he was cursed still doesn't make sense. It just sounds like he's got on some weird drugs.

The other's expressions- even Koutarou, is looking at him in a mix of perplexed and baffled. Not that I blame them. Again, that's a weird dream for a new year, alright. Definitely not a typical bad dream, nor a dream that would be likely thought of as bad luck for a new year, but a weird dream nonetheless.

Actually, it sorta counts as a bad dream too? Waking up and realizing that everyone and everything was just cakes- yeah that's terrifying to think all right?

Shit. Now I'm gonna think about that for a long while...

· · ·

We bid our goodbyes to the guys as we walked to the other direction. We decided that for the new year, we'll be going to Nerima park. There's a lot of stray cats over there, since it's a popular place for people to abandon pets.

I still hate those types of people. How dare they abandon cats just because they don't want them anymore. How vile...

These poor cats. They're shivering in the winter cold and have nothing to eat except for what they could scrounge up in the trash or what people would give them... If only I could take all the strays in the world to live with me.

The cats probably recognized us, as they started meowing loudly and circling us when we hadn't even brought out the cat food yet.

I'm in cat paradise!

"Whoa, slow down." I watched Koutarou laugh at a particular cat who jumped on him. "It's here." Koutarou then brought out the cat food out of his bag. Before long, he was surrounded by cats. It's not fair... Like, I adore Kou and all, but I want the cats to be on me! I want to be surrounded by cats too!

I was slightly feeling a little pouty right now, since there were really more than 5 cute cats surrounding him. One of the cats, nudged into Kou's hand until he paid attention to it. As if on cue, the cat rubbed its head on him, like he was personally thanking him. (The cats should thank me too. The cat food is literally half of my money.)

Seeing Koutarou interact with them makes this paradise look… well, more than a paradise? If that makes sense at all. But damn... I think if possible, I fell even harder for the man in front of me.

Kou, who already looked so lovely before, seemingly got even more enchanting to look at. I was a little jealous of him earlier (again, because of the cats), but it seems like I had forgotten that momentarily.

He just looks so fucking ethereal I don't even care anymore. He was laughing as the cat continued being affectionate with him, his face slightly flushed from the cold. The ground where he was sitting was covered in white snow. Along with that, the snowfall descends from the blue sky, as if it was dancing charmingly, conducted by the soft, winter wind.

I don't know how long I have been staring at him, nor how he never noticed that I was staring at him. But when he looked up from the cat- from the moment that his golden irises met mine, I seemed to have recovered from my earlier trance.

"Do I have something on my face?" He asked, blinking in confusion as he raised a hand to his face and tried to wipe it.

Heavens, I ask you, is it possible for someone as young as me to feel this intensely for someone?

After those cute hours with the cats, we decided to have lunch in minato-ku. It's a bit crowded, but eh, it's new year so understandable.

Navigating along the huge number of people, my eyes caught on two guys standing in the middle of the street. One guy, specifically Kuroo, was covering the other guy... Daishou was his name wasn't it? He was covering that Daishou guy's eyes from behind him.

Did they somehow get along? Is this the new year miracle people keep talking about?

Nevertheless, I lightly poked Koutarou to grab his attention and gestured to where Kuroo was. We then walked to where they were. As we were getting nearer, Kuroo let go of Daishou, who looked beyond pissed at seeing Kuroo.

Ah. So that's what this is. Kuroo is messing with Daishou again. And on a new year too.

"-did the voice not give it away?" I heard Kuroo ask. "Anyways, do you have some wipes?"

...why would Kuroo ask his rival for fucking wipes in the middle of the streets? Honestly, Kuroo is sometimes so fucking weird.

Koutarou and I looked at each other confusedly as we watched them. We're unsure of how we should time our greeting to them as they seemed to be in the middle of something there.

"GO WIPE YOUR HANDS AND DIE FOR REAL. OR GO PRACTICE BLOCKS ON A NEARBY BUILDING AND FALL TO YOUR DEATH." Daishou's fist was clenched as he angrily yelled at Kuroo, who at the moment, looks like he could care less. Though I know he's inwardly laughing. He somehow gets bursts of energy whenever he pisses someone off. Especially if that said someone is Daishou. And currently? Daishou is beyond pissed. The death threats are a testament to that.

Other people are looking at them weirdly like we do. I mean, shouting what sounds like a string of death threats in the middle of a bustling street at a new year? A supposed to be joyous occasion? Yeah, that's bound to turn some heads.

"Rude much?" Kuroo snorted. "I'll borrow a handkerchief from Kai then- oh hey Ishi, Bo." Kuroo finally noticed us so we went to their direction. "Do you have some wipes?"

"Uh, no. But I do have some tissues here..." Koutarou mumbled. He let go of my hand so that he can feel around his pockets more. Finding the pack of tissues, he gave it to Kuroo.

"Ah, thanks." Kuroo nodded. Daishou now walked away from us- probably to get away from Kuroo, but we can still see where he was standing.

Then a girl came to approach her, shouting "sorry to keep you waiting." with Daishou shouting back angrily before changing his tone to a sweet one.

He must have thought it was Kuroo again before realizing it's someone else.

We watched them talk for a bit before they walked away and went somewhere. Once they were gone from our sights, I looked at Kuroo.

"You bastard." I muttered to Kuroo, who snickered upon hearing me. "You really like messing with that guy, huh?"

"Of course. By the way, did you two have lunch yet?" He asked us. We shook our heads in denial, so Kuroo hummed thoughtfully. "Why don't you go with us? I'm meeting Kai and Yaku in a fast food restaurant today. I'm sure they won't mind if you join us for a bit."

· · ·

Daishou and Mika finally arrived at the fast food restaurant for their lunch, his earlier ire at Kuroo still unforgotten. He inwardly cursed Kuroo as they walked around the crowded place for a seat.

"Oh, we can sit here Suguru."

"Great!" Daishou replied to Mika as he watched her pull a seat. Even if at the moment, the fast food place was loud and full of people, for Daishou, it was just him and Mika on a romantic date together.

He desperately wanted the day to end well. Maybe even get a kiss from Mika when the day ends, then he'll watch her run away in embarrassment from what she just did.

That is, until what he saw completely shattered the romantic atmosphere he was imagining.

'AND NOW THERE'S 5 PEOPLE TOO?' Daishou inwardly screamed as he looked at the 5 people in the seat next to the one Mika had chosen.

The five people (namely Kuroo, Kai, Yaku, Koutarou, and Chuuyou) were surprised at the coincidence, as they were not expecting this to happen at all.

'WHY ARE YOU HERE?!!' Daishou inwardly screamed. 'GO EAT SOME FISH FOR YOUR DAILY DOSE OF DOCOSAHEXAENOIC ACID OR SOMETHING!'

'HEY,' Kuroo mentally screamed back. 'WE WERE HERE FIRST!'

'GO TAKE A LEAP OFF OF TOKYO TOWER AND DI-'

"Suguru," Mika's soothing voice began as she looked at Daishou worriedly. "Do you not like this place?"

"No, no, Mika-chan." Daishou answered awkwardly as he felt beads of sweat form in his forehead. "I was just wondering why we can't have a world without conflict..."

"Pfft."

Daishou quickly turned his attention from Mika to the source of the small laugh (Chuuyou) and glared at her quickly before turning to Mika again.

"You're thinking about that in a fast food restaurant?!!"

· · ·

"WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?" Daishou yelled as he pushed Mika out of the doors of the fast food restaurant, glaring at Kuroo who followed him with the most bored expression he could muster.

"You forgot your scarf, so I reluctantly delivered it to you..." Kuroo shrugged lazily as he handed him the said scarf. Behind him, all other 4 followed and watched the scene unfold silently.

"THANKS BUT PLEASE DIE. FALL FROM THE SKY TOWER AND-"

"Suguru, was today's date boring?" Mika asked, tone and expression displaying a perceivable upset as she stared at Daishou. Before Daishou could give a reply, she decided to walk away with a huff as all of them watched her walk away.

"Hm, I think I'm just gonna go follow her for a bit... She seems really upset." Chuuyou said. She was feeling slightly guilty over what happened, as she felt that she had a part on the ruined date for not stopping Kuroo and just letting him do as he pleased. Before Koutarou could utter a word, she quickly kissed him in the cheek goodbye, promising to come back as soon as possible, and hopefully, with Mika in tow.

'Wait, but we're supposed to be on a date? Don't leave me here!' Koutarou inwardly pouted.

Back to Daishou and Kuroo, Daishou looked at where Mika was previously standing, as if he was preventing the tears of frustration from falling and his hand outstretched. Next to him was Koutarou who stepped forward in a vain attempt to chase Chuuyou, also looking at the direction where she ran off to.

"Hey, cheer up, man." Kuroo attempted to comfort Daishou from behind, feeling a little bad for what happened to him. As if on cue, the two now girlfriendless men looked at each other determinedly, then scowled as they turned to the source of the problem.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" They both said to Kuroo simultaneously, startling him because of their synchronization.

"IF MIKA-CHAN BREAKS UP WITH ME AGAIN, THEN IT'S YOUR FAULT! DIE A MILLION TIMES FOR IT AND I STILL WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"

"WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON A DATE RIGHT NOW, KUROO. IF SHE DOESN'T COME BACK I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!"

"Wow. Kuroo just ruined two dates at the same time, huh? And on a new year too." Kai whispered to Yaku as he watched the three argue. Yaku nodded back without a word, feeling disappointed but not surprised at what's happening.

"You two really snapped huh." Kuroo shook his head disapprovingly. "But well, this is half my fault so I guess-"

"HALF?!!" Daishou interrupted but Kuroo ignored him and continued talking.

"-I'll give you a plan to make up with her." Kuroo walked so he's in front of Daishou and Koutarou. He wrapped his arms loosely to himself in demonstration, as Daishou watched him intently. "Wrap your arms around her shoulder, and whisper gently, 'Idiot, you're the only one I love,' like that. A dumbass couple like you two should make up just like that."

"ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME? AND THE HELL WAS THAT? THIS ISN'T A SHOUJOU MANGA!"

Kuroo ignored Daishou as he focused on Koutarou. "As for you, you don't need to do anything. Just call her, tell her you miss her so much. Make sure to make your voice quiver and bat your eyes on her prettily. That'll make her come back running. I'll let you two practice on me first. Go on. Whichever of you two." Kuroo then turned around and gestured at his back to both Daishou and Koutarou.

· · ·

"Ah!" Mika shouted as she kicked a pebble off on the road frustratingly. "Why am I getting irritated on a date..."

"Excuse me." She turned around as she spotted a person coming after her.

"You're..." Her mind flashed to the fast food restaurant, recognizing her as one of the people on the table besides them.

"I'm Ishinomori Chuuyou." She greeted and straightened her back. "And I feel like I owe you an apology."

· · ·

"And that's what happened." Chuuyou shrugged as she let Mika process what she had just told her. Within five minutes, she explained everything to Mika.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about my friend again. Him and Daishou-san have a long term rivalry that started when they're in middle school? And that rivalry is not just something that's volleyball related, so they kinda... are always on each other's throats whenever they encounter each other."

After giving it much thought, Mika stood up from the bench they retreated too, looking determinedly to where they stood up before. "I should go back to him and apologize."

"Yeah. Let's go back. My date is also back there." They started walking back, with Mika asking little questions on the way until they reached where they were previously at.

"-I CAN'T DO THAT, EVEN AS A JOKE!" They heard Daishou yell from far away. Since they were coming from behind Koutarou and Daishou, and with Kuroo too busy arguing with them, they didn't notice them approaching. Only Yaku and Kai, who were still awkwardly standing on the side. They visibly released a sigh of relief as they saw them, glad that the nonsense was finally over.

"JOKE OR WHATEVER, JUST HUG ME AND SAY THE LINES!"

"EVEN IF IT'S NOT TRUE, I DON'T WANT TO SAY 'I LOVE YOU' TO ANYONE OTHER THAN MIKA-CHAN!" Daishou declared confidently, making Mika halt in her steps as she blushed in happiness. As if he felt her, Daishou turned around and immediately changed his tone to a begging one. "MIKA-CHAN! PLEASE LISTE-"

"You have a good man right there." Chuuyou whispered to Mika teasingly, who blushed even brighter at her comment. "Don't ever let him go, yeah? Now go on." She lightly pushed her to where Daishou was before making her way back to Koutarou and immediately intertwined their hands together.

Koutarou immediately responded to what she did, giving her hand a little squeeze, but his mind was elsewhere. He has a lot of mixed feelings he doesn't really know how to describe because of Daishou's declaration. It's like, guilt? But he's pretty sure it's not guilt. Maybe wistfulness? Yearning? No, those aren't the right words at all.

He wondered, if he said those three words to her, what would her reaction be? Seeing Mika who looked so elated from Daishou's declaration- would she react the same? Would she be speechless from happiness? Would she blush in embarrassment? A bit of both? Or maybe something else?

In his mind, he can't bring himself to say those three words out loud. I mean, isn't it too early for that? He definitely feels a strong feeling for her- so strong that he's willing to drop anything for her. He can admit to himself that he already loves her, but he still has some doubts if it is really love that he's feeling.

Isn't love much deeper than that? What is love actually is anyways...

He doesn't want to say anything that he's unsure of yet, since it could potentially cause a heartbreak later on. Intentionally hurtful words are painful, but words carelessly said even if the intention is nice also could cause pain to someone.

For the barely 1 month they've been together, and the past months they've known each other, the one most valuable lesson Koutarou learned is that things should not be rushed for it to turn out good. While he was slightly miffed that they could have been together way earlier, he wouldn't change a thing even if it took time for them to finally happen. There were too many secrets between them in the earlier times, which was just uncovered later (he would literally be mad at her if she had some kind of sickness and didn't tell him when he was her damn boyfriend and that might cause... a huge argument between them down the line). Now, they have nothing to hide from each other, both their families are supportive of them together, their school life and college life (or what they plan later on after highschool) and beyond that is already coming together that them being in a relationship anymore won't hinder anything at all in themselves.

But still-

Koutarou slightly glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as she watched Daishou and Mika contentedly as they made up. She... Well, she looks the same. He already has a clue on all her range of emotions, and he's quite sure that she's just feeling glad for both Daishou and Mika. She doesn't seem to have been thinking the same thing as what he was worrying about, but he couldn't be sure.

He pondered on those thoughts as they rode the train and walked to the familiar streets of their home. Of course, he went with her first to assure himself that she'll get home safe. As they were about to say goodbye to each other, Chuuyou seemed to have a different idea.

"Wait... You're my boyfriend now, right?" She asked with an impish look on her face.

"Yeah?" He asked confusedly.

"Then can I do this?" She asked as she hugged him tightly while burying her face in his chest.

"Of course. You can always hug me if you want! No need to ask." Koutarou happily said while hugging her back, slightly even lifting her up from the ground, making her hug tighter so she won't fall down.

"Then can you like, squeeze me? Like, make it super tight." Her voice was muffled from being buried in his chest as she refused to part away from him.

"...WHAT? NO! I could choke you!" Koutarou said concernedly as he looked down, only seeing the top of her head as she continued hugging him. That action completely made him forget about his earlier thought and was replaced with unsureness and amusement about why she was asking that.

'She's... I love her and all but... Sometimes, I don't understand her...'

'That would be a great way to die, yeah? I mean... IT'S KOU!'

"But anyways." She pouted as Koutarou dropped her and let go of the hug. "You go home safe, alright? I still want to see you tomorrow. And the next days, weeks, months, and years after that, yeah?"

"I will."

· · ·

It was now dinnertime. After going home from a long new year date with Koutarou, I have some business to tell my parents. Mom made some great dinner for the family tonight

There's some katsu, shrimp, and soba along with the desserts. She also looks like she's in a good mood.

Time to ruin that good mood.

Coughing to grab their attention, dad, mom, and my siblings all looked at me, eyebrows slightly raised questioningly. How should I break it to them... I should be careful. It's a delicate issue, and should be handled with care.

"Our band got a contract offer from Mono in Osaka, which we decided to accept since it was a good offer. We're signing the contract at 5 and moving to Osaka in April after graduation."

Damn it.

I suddenly blurted everything out.

Mom, who was chewing on a pretty big shrimp, suddenly choked on it. She aggressively patted her chest with one hand and made grabby motions in the air with the other. Dad immediately handed her a glass of water, which she quickly drank. After getting the shrimp unclogged in her throat, she lightly glared at me.

"Do you have to say that right when I am putting food in my mouth?" She sternly said before going off on a lecture I didn't bother to listen. When she noticed I was getting bored, she sighed heavily.

Kinda made me feel a little guilty, but well, to be honest, a parent's lectures are kinda boring. Especially if it's the same old thing...

"What would I do with you, Chuuyou." She muttered before shaking her head. "That aside, I already know. I was just waiting for you to tell me."

"Huh?" I dumbly blinked at that remark. How did she already know...? I'm pretty sure I didn't give anything away? Unless they were specifically stalking my phone.

Shit.

That's a scary thought. I hope they didn't. I literally want to disintegrate if they ever see me and Koutarou's piss poor attempt at flirting. While there's nothing explicit in our chats, I still don't want anyone seeing those...

"They told us." She said, gesturing to Hatsukou and Keizo, who can't seem to meet my eyes and looked away guiltily. I glanced at my father, and he too, nodded in agreement.

I'm just relieved that they didn't see the texts to be honest.

"Why do you think we gave you that car for your birthday?" He asked.

...I thought that's just because I became 18 and now legally an adult. First 'adult gift' if you could say so.

"And you're okay with it?" I asked hopefully, the food in front of me momentarily forgotten as I listened to mom's words intently.

"I admit, at first I wasn't okay with it." Mom said, gently laying down her chopsticks on the table and looking at her lap shamefully. "But after thinking about it for a while, and a few words from your father and siblings," she then glanced at them one by one. "I decided to accept it. As much as I want to keep you with me forever, I know I can't."

I'm kinda getting emotional now from mom's statement. I can feel tears building up in my eyes before they rolled down on my cheeks. It's happy tears though, so it's definitely okay.

"Aww, don't cry, Chuuyou-nee." Keizo said before latching on my arm. I dropped the chopsticks I was holding in my other hand and leaned on to him, lightly hiccupping.

"Such a somber atmosphere. And on a new year too." Mom suddenly said jokingly as she wiped her face with a napkin and took back her chopsticks. I didn't notice that she also teared up. "Let's talk about it more when we're done eating, alright? How about you tell us what happened on your date with Koutarou earlier." I nodded as I also picked up my chopsticks and shoved a shrimp in my mouth.

I'm so glad to be blessed with such great people around me.