It wasn't the first New Year's Eve that Amon had spent outside of Japan and while he wasn't particularly given to the trappings of ritual, it still felt strange. The church bells at midnight just sounded wrong, and they certainly didn't go on long enough. Then there was the pasta dinner Robin made when he had commented on the lack of soba. He appreciated the gesture but the meal tasted flat, the thin western noodles somehow traitorous.
He took another sip from the chill glass, at least the sake was right. With a guilty wince, he turned his head slightly to glance at Robin, asleep in the bed. She'd simply been trying to do something nice for him, to repay him for Christmas Eve, and he couldn't even be properly appreciative. He exhaled deeply, mentally adding that to the list of shortcomings and regrets he would have to leave behind now that he was starting fresh.
Amon drained the last of the sake in his glass and looked out the uncharacteristically open blinds at the brightening of false dawn. Suddenly sure of what he needed to do, he rose silently and padded his way across the small room to the bed. Robin woke to his touch, bleary eyed and confused. "Come on," he said in a flat tone that belied his earlier confusion. "We're going to go celebrate the dawn of a new year."