She Comes And Goes As She Pleases (Part 55)
by BrDPirateMan

The calendar stuck on the fridge was down to its last page. I reached out to take the thing down, but my hand was slapped away.

"No!" snapped the slapper. "How many times do I have to tell you? It stays on until the final second!"

I sighed. "What difference does it make, Eri? It's gonna be New Year's Day in a matter of hours anyway."

"No means no." With firm movements, she spun me round and marched me away, out of reach. "Now stop messing around and help me prepare the food!"

It's a quirk of hers to leave the calendar up until the very last moment. She simply won't allow you to take it down. Not until the old year had officially passed.

"Why do you hate it so much, anyway?" she said. "It's just one page."

"That's just it. We already know it's December 31, so why bother leaving the damn page there? We already have a shiny new calendar. Our old calendar is practically begging to be taken down. Can't you see where I'm coming from with this?"

"I don't care what your reasoning is; it's not the new year until it is the new year. So it stays on until midnight. Capiche?"

"Oh god, fine. I get it."

Time flies when you're having fun. Heck, I'd go so far as to claim it accelerates. One moment we're in our swimsuits, playing at the beach. Next thing you know, we're cooking supper in preparation for the new year. The speed at which it goes is uncanny.

We had the kotatsu taken out and the TV left on. The festivities of Kouhaku – an end-of-year show televised annually – provided some welcome background music. A young woman was belting out a soothing rendition of an enka song.

I took a break from laying some of the food on the kotatsu to see how Eri was coping with the soup. She was stirring it with a ladle.

Peering into the pot, I asked, "Well, how is it?"

"One sec." She poured some soup into a tiny saucer and took a sip. "Perfect."

"Heh, you look like a master chef already. By the way, when's the last time the gang gathered together for New Year's Eve?"

"When?" She took a moment to think. "That was way back when we were in high school. Think it was during our final year."

I smacked a fist into my open palm. "Oh yeah, now I remember. We were all at the Bitos' house, the five of us. Beat brought out the Blehstation, and he and I had a blast duking it out in Alley Brawler 3."

"I don't remember what video game it was you guys were playing, but you two were so annoying with your Bruce Lee noises."

"It's a fighting game!" I protested. "You gotta channel your qi when you play a game like that!"

"Not when others are in the same room as you."

"Hmm, well, maybe we were too loud. Anyway, good times."

"It's too bad they can't make it this year."

"Everyone's spending the eve with the families. They probably got called back home. Can't be helped. In my case, however…"

She giggled. "Yeah, I know. Still, your aunt and uncle outright forbade you from visiting them just so you can spend time with me? That's awfully generous of them. They must really want something good to happen between us, huh?"

"Whatever it is they have in mind, it's not happening. I'm not ready for kids." Then I asked, "What about your parents? Did they say anything?"

Her smile reflected a hint of sadness. "When I called them up to tell them I was spending the eve here, they didn't sound especially pleased with me, but let me do as I wanted anyway. Still feels like a guilt trip though."

"They weren't happy, huh? I… I can't say I'm surprised…" Suddenly I felt bad for being the reason she wanted to stay here, as opposed to celebrating the new year with her parents. "But they didn't insist on you going back or anything?"

"No… I'd always been a wild child, particularly during my teenage years, just before I came to Shibuya. And after having to deal with the crud I put them through, I guess they just kinda gave up. Not completely, of course, but… I guess I disappointed them…"

"Sorry to hear that… I just – "

"Hey, no apologizing here!" she said, bouncing back absurdly quickly. "This was my choice, so I have no regrets. I'll visit them one of these days though, I promise. Actually, yeah, perhaps I should do that within the next few days."

"Yeah, you should. They're still your parents, after all."

The soup was finally done and it was time for dinner. The aroma had been making my mouth water for way too long now and it was high time I sate my growing hunger. I scooped the soba into two bowls and poured gravy into them; in the meantime Eri brought the soup out for both of us. Everything else was laid out beforehand and when we settled down we had a king's meal waiting for us.

We uttered a short prayer and tucked in with gusto. The soba was chewy, but still retained a little of its hardness, which was just the way I liked it. Everything else had a simple but effective taste, fitting for the quiet mood of New Year's Eve. And the singers of this year's Kouhaku were real pros too. It was a comfortable setup, and one I was glad to have for the next four hours till midnight.

"You know," said Eri, "a lot of things sure happened this year. What're your favourite moments?"

"Oh man, there's too many to count. Where do I even start… okay, I got one. Personally, there was something about going on the hunt for a new apartment that I found to be quite interesting."

"The haunted apartment with the giant bear mascot was scary!" She ran a hand up and down her arm. "Gave me goosebumps all over… hmm, I wonder if that realtor managed to get it sold?"

"I wonder if he even made it out of there alive in the first place. Teddy was bad news."

"Talk about zero job satisfaction," she quipped, words dripping with black comedy. "Well, one of my absolute faves has got to be Kariya getting together with Uzuki. They're so cute together!"

"Real awkward though."

"Yeah, that adds to the charm. Heh, the two are bigger noobs in romance than a couple of middle schoolers."

"Ironic, considering they're the ones who used to give me dating advice."

She rubbed her palms together like a conniving villain. "Hee hee… I'm looking forward to the day when they come to us for advice. First thing I'll tell 'em is which position to best use when they have s– "

"Okay, moving on… Can we take a minute to talk about our summer vacation?"

"Oh my god!" Her eyes lit up like mauve lanterns. "That was non-stop fun! Remember the volleyball match with Kariya and Uzuki? We girls utterly destroyed you!"

I laughed at the memory of it. "It wasn't a fair match at all. Wearing that bikini counts as cheating."

"Just admit it: you guys suck at volleyball. We'd beat you fair and square even in full winter gear."

"Hey, if I wore a thong you'd be distracted too."

Her grin grew wider, cheekier. "Then I'd just strip naked and out-distract you. I'd still win."

"And then you'd get arrested for indecent exposure."

She puffed out on cheek in mild indignation. "Must you ruin every hypothetical situation that comes your way?"

I chuckled. "Hey, you win some, you lose some. Besides, you were the ones who up and left in the middle of the game to go nuts over some J-pop star."

"The Prince," she insisted, "is not just some J-pop star. He's the only true J-pop star. Period. Therefore leaving in the middle of a game to greet him is perfectly fine."

"No it isn't. You freaking left the playing field! You broke the rules!"

"Anything concerning The Prince is universally regarded as an exception to the rule. We continued as normal afterwards, didn't we?"

"We let you back in the game because we were being nice."

She puffed out her chest, like she had an advantage. "Yes, you willingly let us back into the game even after we 'broke the rules'. Do you see? We could continue playing in a legal capacity. So no actual rules were broken."

I clutched at my head, trying to stop it from spinning at this outrageous example of loophole abuse.

"You know what, Eri? I give up. You win."

"Heh, I always win." Pleased that she had won this battle of wits, she popped a mouthful of soba into her mouth and sucked it up with a loud, victorious slurp.

"Oh well, even with that horribly unbalanced mess of a game, I still enjoyed our summer vacation. It's easily the highlight of the year. I enjoyed myself thoroughly."

"What, no mention of the red-hot sex we had afterward?"

I gulped. "Th-That too. …Especially that."

She giggled. "I'm glad we're both on the same page here! That makes us birds of a feather."

"Don't lump me in together with you."

"Heh!"

We compared stories of places we've been, the things we've done, our accomplishments and setbacks. My contributions to the conversation tended to be of a more mundane nature, like our first swimming lesson together or the time I decided to jump ship from my friend's bakery to WildKat. She liked it wild and outlandish; highlights included her meeting my crazy foster parents and the birthday party she threw for me. All in all, this year has been a treasure trove of memories.

I nursed a smile. "Let's you and me make more memories for the upcoming year. I don't know what's in store for us, but I'm sure whatever it is, we can handle it."

"It'll be tough trying to top this year, but top it we will!"

I was more than certain her words would come true.

"Alright," I chuckled, "I'm taking the last fried tofu. Yoink!"

She gasped in outrage. "Wha – no fair! I wanted that one!"

But it was too late for her. I chomped it up good and down the hatch it went. "Heh heh… You snooze you lose."

There was a glint in her eyes that spelt danger. Her lips curled into a determined grin. "So that's how you want to play? Then I'll have this for myself!" And she scooped up the last two fishcakes for herself, earning a yelp of dismay from me.

"No! Not the fishcakes!"

She laughed and ate one of the two in her bowl. Seeing how hungrily I was eyeing the last one, she cheekily made a proposal.

"I'm not a cruel person, you know. I suppose we can share this last one…"

"You really mean it?" Overjoyed at this news, I almost leapt off the floor. "Great! Let's go halves on – "

Then I saw that she stuck half of the fishcake between her teeth, leaving the other half to dangle like a banner.

Grinning through the fishcake, she mumbled the equivalent of "Here. Half."

I snorted at her cheekiness. "Don't mind if I do."

I leaned forward and sank my teeth gently into the freely hanging part of the fishcake. Our faces were close, merely inches apart. Deep within my ribcage, my heartbeat grew slightly at our little spot of intimate eating. Ah… barely two years ago I might be horribly embarrassed to do this, but this was nothing out of the ordinary for me now. We've come a long way –

"Aah!" she cried, when I bit my half of the fishcake off. "That's my tongue!"

Out of reflex I let go of it and it plopped into my soup, making a mess of the tablecloth. As she doubled over in laughter, I narrowed my eyes at her, pretending to be massively mad. To be fair, I was a little annoyed, but her little trick was actually pretty funny.

I speared the fishcake out of the soup and offered it to her as she was still laughing. "Sorry I bit your tongue off. Here, you can have it back."

XOXOXOXOXO

It was ten o'clock now. Dinner was long over, but the long wait till midnight was taking its toll on us.

We were listless and it wouldn't be long before we got to yawning. Ryoko*L and the more memorable singers had already shown up and done their numbers, and the ones who were left just weren't interesting enough to carry the weight of the show. Other than the background music, the living room had descended into a silent lull.

"I'm so bored!" groaned Eri. "I've been playing rock-paper-scissors with myself for the past ten minutes… and I keep losing!"

"Tell me about it. Two hours more… Do you want to take a quick nap? I can wake you up later."

"Nah, I'm good. Besides, if I nap and you end up dozing off yourself, and we miss the moment it becomes the new year, I'm going to be quite… displeased with you."

"I could set an alarm for just before midnight…"

"Yeah, but what if it wakes us up and you hit the snooze button and we go right back to sleep?"

"O-Oh… uh…"

"We're staying up till the last second and that's final."

She held up her head with one hand while lazily pawing my arm with the other like a cat. Fiddling with my cell phone, I let her be.

"Any ideas on what we can do to pass the time?" she asked. "Apart from being bored."

"If you had HoZ on your phone," I muttered, "we could have a blast playing the New Year event together."

"I don't like video games…" She peered at my cell phone screen, unimpressed with the flashy battle that was taking place. "Gaming sounds like a lot of work, and it's not my cup of tea anyway… and your character looks like a chicken."

"It's a headdress," I corrected her. "A tribal headdress. A piece of equipment I bought some time back."

"A tribal chicken headdress?"

"No, it's made using the feathers of a hippogriff. And it's awesome. It gives me +300 to attack – "

"Spare me the gaming mumbo-jumbo, Neku," she said, holding up her hands. "You're wearing a chicken headdress, I get it."

"No. Again I say, it's made from hippogriff feathers – "

She waggled a hand on top of her head, doing a poor imitation of a cockerel, "Buck-buck-buck-kaaaawk!"

"Oh wow, that's really mature."

"Sorry, cut me some slack. I'm dead bored."

"I know. I can forgive that. Just don't call it a chicken headdress again."

I ran out of energy in-game and could continue no longer, leaving me to twiddle my thumbs together with Eri. Stupid wait timers…

"Hey Neku," she said, "I got a really stupid idea that'll entertain us for exactly five seconds. Wanna hear me out?"

"Five seconds is plenty," I replied snidely. "What've you got?"

She outlined her grand plan to which even I was accommodating – surprising even to myself. And since there wasn't much else to be done, I was all for it. Boredom does weird things to people, apparently.

"Ready, Neku?"

"Sure… let's do it."

She jabbed a fist high into the air and called out, "Gimme a B!"

My turn. "Gimme an O!"

"Gimme an R-E-D!"

"What's that spell? BORED!"

The resulting silence was awkwardness incarnate.

She sighed, "What the heck are we doing?"

"Hey, this was your idea, not mine."

"But you went through with it, so that makes you just as much of an idiot as I am."

"And that helps you feel better about yourself?"

"No, but at least I'm not alone in this."

At that moment, I felt like my IQ had dropped a few notches. This was a sad world we were living in.

Out of the ashes of stupidity rose an idea which I felt was actually good. I shared it with Eri without hesitation.

"I know! Why don't we exchange stories about ourselves?"

She cocked her head to one side. "What kind of stories?"

"Anything will do! It can be a happy story, or a funny one… anything at all. You could talk about a trip you went on, or something weird that happened to you… whatever suits your fancy. At least we won't be bored. What do you say?"

"Oh, now that sounds like fun," she said with a grin. "Alright, I'm in!"

Now we had a means of keeping ourselves entertained. And this was a good chance to get to know each other even better.

Excited to get her lips flapping, she said, "Okay, I'll start! Which story do you wanna hear? I can tell you about the PE lesson in middle school where my class went swimming… I dive-bombed into the water to show off and somehow lost my swimsuit in the process."

"Huh?! Um… n-no…"

"There's the one sleepover I took part in with a bunch of friends and somehow I took off all of my clothes while I was asleep…"

"You do that all the time! Old news by now…"

"Oh, okay! I'm certain you haven't heard of this one though!"

"What's that?"

"I made a bet with a friend but lost, and the deal was for the loser to run three laps around the local park…"

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"…without my clothes on."

"Okay, stop."

"It was at night, don't worry! And we checked that no one was around, so I don't think anyone saw – "

"No, seriously, stop." I steadied my head to stop it from spinning. How does one get into so many clothing mishap-related misadventures in one's life? There's no end to excitement when you're a happy-go-lucky person like her…

"Ooh, I know! I've got a really good one for you!"

"Does it involve you in a state of undress?"

"How did you know? Are you psychic?"

"Just a wild guess."

"Ah, I see what's happening," she chuckled. "If you're in the mood for PG-rated stuff you should have said so. Right then! I'll tell you a story which shouldn't have any gratuitous nudity in it. Hopefully. I think."

She's probably going to be naked at some point, then. Yup, that's a given.

"One time when I was in middle school – I was around 12 at the time, I think – I paid a visit to the pet shop. You see, Mum and Dad would not let me have a pet of my own, so I made do by drooling over all the cute animals on sale."

"You a sucker for dogs?"

"Yeah, I absolutely adore puppies!" she gushed, ready to hug the nearest thing to death. "Oh, but I like cats too. And, well, everything else that isn't an aardvark."

I scratched my cheek. "What's your beef with aardvarks?"

"They remind me of this sci-fi horror film where aliens arrive on Earth to suck out our brains. And they look just like aardvarks."

"Um… right… go on." Brain-sucking alien aardvarks? Whatever will those wacky filmmakers think of next?

"Anyway, I was there to check out a litter of new calico kittens that just arrived. They were so cute and fluffy and pretty… like mini living patchwork quilts or something! I didn't actually get to touch them or anything, but I still had a lot of fun just watching them go about their business. Then when it was time for me to leave, I accidentally collided with the pet shop owner who happened to be standing just outside, working with a new shipment of catnip…"

"Uh-oh."

"We were both fine, but I lost balance and plunged both of my arms into the open sack of catnip. Fortunately the catnip didn't spoil or anything. The smell got on me, though."

"I think I can guess where this is going."

Her smile grew as the story continued and occasionally a laugh would pepper the air. "Now smelling like catnip, I tried to head home. I say 'tried', because I couldn't take three steps without being accosted by cats. I mean, it was cute at first, having these kitties pop out of nowhere and be my friend.

"But I haven't even reached the halfway point during my journey home and I already had an army of cats at my beck and call. It sounds funny, and it kinda is, but at that time it got old fast. It's like one of those stupid fan clubs at school whose members follow you around, except more tolerable since my 'fans' were cute and cuddly as opposed to creepy and making weird breathing noises from the mouth. Silver linings, you know?"

"Hey, anything's better than a sweaty fanboy. But Eri, the effects of catnip don't last long. If you wait a while, they'll wear off."

"Yeah, it wore off for some of the cats, but then more kept coming. For every cat that left another would take its place. So I still had a lot of cats on my tail."

"Oh, boy."

"Really, I just wanted to go home and take a bath to wash off the smell. Those cats wouldn't leave me alone, though. And I didn't want them to follow me back. Everyone at home would throw a fit. I needed to get rid of them. At first I tried distracting them with the age-old trick…"

The two dozen or so cats continued to follow young Eri without the slightest hint of giving up.

"Okay, guys," she sighed, "you're cute and all, but you got to go. You can't come with me, alright?"

"Meow." They didn't listen.

"Oh, fine. Well then…"

Suddenly she spun round and urgently pointed somewhere in the distance behind the cats. Then she shouted:

"Look! An all-you-can-eat fish burger buffet! First come, first served!"

"Meow?!"

As soon as the felines' backs were turned, Eri made a run for it like a cartoon character.

"I can't believe that actually worked," I said. "I find it amazing they actually understood what you were saying to be tricked like that in the first place."

"Yeah, but you know how cats are like. It was only a matter of time before they caught up with me. No matter where I went to try and lose them, no matter how fast I ran, no matter how much I tried to scare them away, they just wouldn't quit. Their determination was admirable, to be honest."

"That's tenacity for you."

"I had to go visit a friend of mine who's a total dog lover and she keeps, like, three dogs at her home. I explained my situation to her and asked if I could borrow them to use as temporary bodyguards. The cats hanging around made it super-easy to convince her. She lent them to me and walking home after that was a snap. The cats gave me a wide berth. I mean, they still followed me, but at least they did it at a distance. Ain't no cat gonna get near when Poochie's in the house!"

"Wasn't it difficult to keep them in line? Dogs chase cats, don't they?"

"Not these ones, nuh-uh!" chuckled Eri. "My friend's like the Dog Whisperer or something, so they're very well-behaved. I bet they sip tea from teacups all posh-like and play the violin in their spare time."

"Nah, that's pushing it," I snorted. "Not having opposable thumbs makes both tasks impossible."

"Of course, it'd have been great if she was a Cat Whisperer too, but this was the next best thing. Once I was home, I took a shower, and when I sure I was catnip-free, I went back to my friend's house to return her dogs and promised to treat her to lunch as thanks. Of course, the kitties never bothered me again, and there you have it! Happy ending for everyone!"

"Sure gives a whole new meaning to the term 'animal magnetism'… but hey, there's a moral behind this story, right?"

"Yeah, don't do drugs. Especially catnip."

"That, and I was hoping you'd say 'you don't need gratuitous nudity to tell a good story'."

She laughed. "That too. Sex sells, but not all the time."

"That aside, not a bad story at all. I'd have loved to see the whole Pied Piper bit in action myself. Think you can do a recreation some time?"

"Oh, you can do that yourself. Just carry around some catnip and every cat out there will cling to you like you're sex on legs. Go on, I dare you."

"…When you put it like that, it sucks away everything about it that could have been cute."

A brief discussion about catnip followed and then it was time to move on.

"Alright, your turn!" said Eri. "And may I do requests?"

"Requests? You have a particular type of story you have in mind that you'd like me to tell?"

"Well, it is a good opportunity to know more about your history. So let's hear about… your first love!"

I gulped hard. "Y-You mean Shiki? But you know her better than I do…"

She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. "No, no, not her. She can't be your very first love. There's got to be someone else, someone you were madly in love with for a time before Shiki came along… and I wanna hear about her! So go on, slide me some details!"

Eri was in a giggly mood as she waited for me to get started with my tale. I, however, had lost my enthusiasm all of a sudden. I felt like a dark cloud had passed over and was raining on my head.

"Oh, that first love," I muttered. "Yeah, okay, let's talk about her or something."

"What's wrong, Neku? You look like you're about to faint."

"My first love was a living nightmare. For now, let's call her X… because saying her real name leaves me with a bad taste in the mouth."

"She can't be that bad, can she?"

"Why don't I tell you all about her, and you be the judge."

It was time for a walk down memory lane… a memory lane filled with bramble, dog poop, land mines and potholes so big you need a bridge to cross.

"My childhood," I said, "was actually kinda stagnant, in that I went through much of it without liking anyone and vice versa… and then, just before I turned 14, I saw her."

"You saw your first love?"

"I saw X. Big difference. I refuse to call her my – okay, fine, I suppose I was smitten with her right from the start, because she was pretty and seemed like a nice person. So you could say that yes, she was my first love. But she was one of those unobtainable types: always surrounded by her girlfriends and hard to approach. And then my idiot friends found out that I liked her and the rumours began flying all over the place. Needless to say, X got wind of them and that's when my life went to hell. She called me out to the back of the school… where I thought she was going to confess to me."

A million thoughts went through my head like gnats. The girl whom I secretly liked called me here to talk. She even arranged our meeting by way of the classic method of dropping a note in my shoe locker. I didn't know what plans she had, but I was happy to see her all the same. Hey, maybe she liked me too?

Her hair swished in the spring wind, long and black and pretty. And on her lips was a smile that made my stomach do the cha-cha.

Hands all clammy, I said, "Y-You wanted to speak to me?"

"You don't need to be so scared around me," she reassured kindly. "I just want to confirm something."

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. She probably wanted to see whether there was some truth to those rumours. But then that would mean I was practically confessing to her…

Just as I suspected, she asked, "Let's cut to the chase, Neku. I heard it going around campus, about how you like me…"

I felt my insides clench. Yup. I was right on the money with this one.

"Tell me then," she continued. "Is that the truth? That you like me in a romantic sense? Please, be honest."

I was scared to admit it, fearing even more rumours at the hands of my tactless classmates. Maybe she'd be okay if I told her. She seemed nice enough. And maybe something good could come out of this, and we'd be dating by the end of the week… Okay, maybe not dating, but hanging out is cool too! Who knows? And then I could laugh at all of my friends. This could be the chance I was looking for!

So, without further ado, I said it.

"It's true. I'm… I… I like you a lot! Um… it's been that way for quite some time now…"

She smiled at my confession so sweetly. My heart rose with hope. I might just get lucky today after all!

"So Neku, you're saying you wish to go out with me?"

It took me a second or two to calm my tongue. It refused to work and I had to force myself to speak intelligibly. "O-Only if you're okay with it… I… I don't want to be a bother or anything."

"It's fine!" she said with that amazing smile. "I think we'll get along just fine. Gosh, having a boyfriend makes me nervous! Does this make us an official couple?"

She's so cute! "W-Well, yeah, I guess we are going out now!"

"Great!"

I was so happy. I thought we could have so much fun together. Just think… sharing ice-cream after school, going to the movies over the weekend… oh, wait, the aquarium sounds like a cool date spot too! And let's not forget –

"At least," she added, "that's what I'd like to say."

"Huh?"

Her smile turned into a smirk. A smirk that looked – I couldn't believe it myself – unkind. I was confused, to say the least. As my mind raced to understand what was going on in her head, she broke into a giggle which crescendoed into a nasty laugh.

"Oh, what a joke," she sniggered. "You? Go out with me? You gotta be kidding."

"Huh? Wh-What're you – "

"Stop." Just one word… but it was so coldly spoken that it froze the words in my throat. She placed one hand on her hip and looked at me with a sneer. "I'm just pulling your chain, okay? I'm never going out with someone like you. You and I are so different it's not even funny."

Was this her true self? This horrible, venomous person?

Stupidly, I stammered, "Y-You're not… going out with me?"

"I won't even give you the time of day," she spat. "What makes you think I'd lower myself to your standards so I can hang out with you? Pathetic."

"Y-You don't need to be so mean about it," I said, still bewildered by the sudden change in her personality. "Just tell it to me straight that you don't want to go out with me. That'd have been a lot simpler for both of us."

"What, and miss out on the opportunity to crush your soul into a million bits?"

"Wh-What the heck are you going on about?"

"Ha! Are you confused? Scared? Angry?" Never before had I seen such a horrible smile… "Yeah, go on, get mad all you like. But make no mistake, in this school I'm untouchable. My parents are influential people in this city, and everyone's on my side. Even if you try to take me down, no one's gonna believe you. So I'm free to do whatever I want. See how important it is to have friends, dear Neku? Oh right! I don't suppose a loner like you would know."

Ugh. Why couldn't I fall in love with someone normal like everyone else? I had to pick this crazy person with the sadistic streak. I was disappointed, of course, but more than anything, I hated how she had to ramble so much. I spoke up and interrupted her.

"Hey, can I just say something?"

"Shut up, I'm not done talking. If I'm going to – "

"You shut up. I'm tired of this, okay? You're really annoying with that attitude of yours. I'm outta here."

Taken aback, she found herself unable to say anything. As I turned to leave, I heard her mutter spitefully under her breath. "No one talks back to me. Do you even know where you stand? This isn't over."

"And that was how it went," I said. "Figured she wasn't worth my time anymore, so I left."

"That's nuts," muttered Eri. "If she had no intention of going out with you in the first place, she should just turn you down with a simple 'I'm sorry' or something. Why go to all the trouble of being so mean? Isn't that, like, more work than it's worth?"

I shrugged. "She's a bully and she's just messed up in the head, that's all there is to it. But it wasn't over yet."

"There's more? Oh god, wasn't it enough for her to put you down like she did?"

"Apparently not, because right after that incident, a new set of rumours went around claiming that I tried to harass her and make her life difficult and that kind of crud. X started them, of course. It's so obvious."

Eri shook her head. "She's got a lot of time on her hands. I hate people like her."

"People started gossiping behind my back again, this time about how I was the 'bad guy' and X was the 'victim' that they should all sympathize with. She held a lot of sway over the student body, so I was quickly ostracized thanks to her lies. I mean, whose words are you more likely to believe: the popular pretty girl's or those of the awkward chap whom few people seem to care about?"

"Man! You sure have it rough."

"Eh, I managed. Just barely. But when you get used to it, eating alone on the rooftop isn't so bad. It gets boring, though."

"Didn't you tell the teachers?"

"I had no proof it was X who did all of that. And the rumours were so widespread that even if I went to them, what could they do? Worst case scenario, they might even think the rumours were true and start to get suspicious of me."

Eri was livid at my mistreatment, which was comforting in its own way. "Who does she think she is, getting everyone to gang up on you like that? It sucks that you had to get the short end of the stick. Sorry to hear your 'first love' was a total psycho."

"Yeah… it wasn't fun. Thanks for your concern though."

"What happened next?"

"Well, I only had to deal with the hate for a few more months. I was due to transfer to another school soon, so when I did, I left everything behind and that was the last I saw of X and those worthless classmates of mine."

"Good for you! Sure, it was a bad experience, but at least now you know who your real friends are, huh?"

I smiled. "Damn straight."

"Man, I'd deck her one if I were you!" she said, cracking her knuckles. "And I'd slap her boobs nine ways to Sunday… like, bam bam bam!" And she swiped her hand in the air like she was whacking someone's face stupid.

"Good luck with that. She's kinda… lacking in that department."

"Aha! A weakness! You should have totally taken advantage of that, hit her where it hurts, with your words!"

"Nah, I think that'd have made things worse for me."

Eri… I'm so glad you're on my side most of all. You truly are a great friend. That's why I do my best to be a pillar of support for you too.

Feeling refreshed, I said, "Okay, enough about me. It's your turn. Now, tell me something cool!"

"You got it! And don't worry. No catnip. No aardvarks."

"No nudity?"

"Heh heh… no promises."

The next hour was spent swapping anecdotes about our past. It was a swell way to keep ourselves entertained…

…and when we next looked at the time, it was already ten to midnight. The guys and gals over at Kouhaku were close to wrapping up the show, revealing the winners to be the red team. But that mattered little now.

Eri was as excited as a pot of soup frothing on a stove. "Don't wanna miss the big moment now! Better get ready!"

"Get ready? All we need to do is wait…"

She rose to her feet. "You don't want to do a New Year's countdown on a full bladder. Trust me. It's like your bladder is reacting to every second that counts down and it'll burst at the last stroke of midnight. The last thing anyone wants is a potty failure on New Year's Day."

"Y-You mean that's happened to you before?"

Her frame stiffened. "…Let's just leave it at that and never bring it up again."

"Oh… um, sorry."

Our bladders emptied, we waited in anticipation as the new year approached. The hosts of Kouhaku were talking about all sorts of unimportant filler topics such as how the new year would fare and reminding people to wear their best for the shrine visit tomorrow. All of it went over our heads. We cared only that now there were five minutes left… no, four.

I tried to suppress the big yawn that was welling up in my mouth. I'd been awake way past bedtime waiting for this moment, and I was on my last legs with Eri faring no better. The urge to sleep was overwhelming, but I didn't want to miss the new year rolling in. The adrenaline in my bloodstream was the only thing keeping me awake, and even that was failing.

Now it was just a couple of minutes more. The air was crackling with electricity. Eri sat right next to me, practically bouncing on the spot.

"The last thirty seconds is my favourite part," she said. "Watching that minute hand tick away sends shivers down my spine!"

"Yeah, it's so surreal. Really, I don't know what to think right now."

"Don't think, feel! Just charge headlong into the new year!"

I grinned at her wit. "Heh, race ya."

"Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"It's been one heck of a crazy year, Eri. I hope next year will be just as memorable."

"You bet it will! There are still so many things we haven't done yet. One year isn't enough for all of it!"

Now we were down to the last fifteen seconds. Kouhaku's hosts were about to start the countdown, and we were ready to join in the fun.

Hands balled into fists, Eri squealed, "Here it comes!"

Then it began. Everyone on TV shouted, "Ten! Nine! Eight…!"

I felt my stomach clench, as each subsequent word was yelled ever louder.

"Seven! Six!"

Eri had this huge grin on her face as she mouthed the countdown together with them.

"Five! Four!"

And I could almost hear my own heartbeat.

"Three! Two! One!"

Right on the dot the TV screen exploded in a shower of confetti and everyone cheered. The long wait was finally over, and with that came the celebrations.

"Happy New Year!"

The two of us put our hands together in a praying gesture and bowed to one another.

"Happy New Year!" she said. "Please take care of me this year too."

"Happy New Year," I replied in kind. "I'll be in your care as well."

"Whew! Well, that's that! Time to… hit… the sack… finally…"

Suddenly all of the tension that had built up in my body like a coiled spring just vanished, and with my adrenaline gone the drowsiness quickly took over. With her legs still buried underneath the kotatsu, Eri lay down on the floor with a pillow under her head and promptly fell asleep without another word. Too lazy to get up, I followed suit.

Ah… it's warm in here.

XOXOXOXOXO

It's now eight in the morning and we were up and about, getting ready for our visit to the local shrine. Our friends may not be able to make it to last night's New Year' Eve supper, but they promised to show up for the shrine visit at least. Shiki, Beat, Rhyme… The whole gang will be together again.

And Eri in a kimono was another thing to look forward to. It's just too bad I didn't have one of my own, otherwise we'd have gone out in style.

I rapped my knuckles on her door.

"Are you done dressing in there?"

From within came a cry of "Almost!"

"I'm getting a serious case of déjà vu here. Is this the part where you admit you have problems getting dressed and then I have to come and help you out?"

I heard her laugh. "Kimonos don't have zippers, Neku. I'll be fine."

"You sure? There're a lot of things to put on."

"You won't even know what to do with half of them. I've been putting on kimonos by myself since I was a kid. Granny taught me the secret, you see."

"I'll let you do your thing, then."

When Eri was finally done changing and she showed me how she looked, I was awestruck. Wrapped up in that beautiful cocoon, she was a breath of fresh air. The getup was demure with nothing in the way of outright titillation, but it worked like a charm all the same. She twirled round to show me her back. Her hair was tied up in a bun, so the nape of her neck was clearly visible. And it was a nice nape. She glanced over her shoulder, biting her finger seductively.

"How do I look, Neku?"

"I can't think of enough adjectives to describe you right now. Can I use a numerical score instead?"

"And how much would this ravishing damsel be worth?"

"Ten out of ten."

"Only ten?" she sighed. "Really, Neku… of all the numbers you had to pick, it had to be ten?"

Unsure what she was getting at, I reasoned, "But ten out of ten is full marks…?"

"I thought for sure you'd say something like 'eleven out of ten' or 'a quadrillion out of ten'… or even 'stack overflow'. Have you no concept of exaggeration, Neku? It helps with relationships, you know, especially when it comes to giving compliments."

"Maybe I should have just stuck with the adjectives after all," I laughed. "Come on, let's hit the road."

Clinging onto my arm and flashing me a wink, she giggled. "It's time to paint the town red!"

"You said it."

When we arrived at the shrine, we found it to be teeming with people. Some of them – men and women alike – were dressed for the occasion, while the others were in casual wear like me. Whole families were present. Young couples too. It wasn't exactly crowded to the brim, but there was a good number of people.

"Stay close," I said. "Don't wanna get separa– "

"Oh look!" she said, pointing somewhere. "There they are!"

"Who? Whoa, wait up!"

I rushed after her. How does someone in a kimono run so fast? Following her led me directly to our friends. Shiki… Beat and Rhyme… They were waiting for us near some benches, and when we made eye contact we were all a mess of arms waving hi in the air. Once again the gang was complete.

Greetings for the new year were exchanged heartily. One thing I noticed was that out of the five of us, only Eri was in a kimono. The rest of us were dressed normally. She did not approve.

"You know, guys," she muttered, unimpressed, "there is a thing called fashion. And you're clearly not into it right now."

Shiki laughed. "We have our reasons for not bringing out the kimonos this year…"

"Let's hear them, then."

Our three friends looked at one another, and then in one voice they simply said:

"Moths."

"Huh?"

"We had a moth infestation not too long ago," explained Rhyme. "Ruined our clothes like nobody's business."

"Same here," sighed Shiki. "It's more fishnet than kimono now."

Eri could only gape at them. "Haven't you guys heard of mothballs? They're a thing, you know."

That's when Beat very stupidly said, "Really? I didn't know moths have balls, yo."

The air became very quiet all of a sudden. He just gave us all a mental image we would take to our graves.

Rhyme discreetly grabbed Beat by the arm, snarling, "We need to talk."

Desperate to clear up the awkward atmosphere, I said, "Well, we're all here, that's what matters. Let's go and pray, shall we?"

As per Japanese customs, we had to first wash our hands and mouths with water at an ablution pavilion. Only then we were fit to pray at the inner sanctum. There was a rope affixed to a hanging bell that we had to pull to make it ring. Then, after tossing some coins into a wooden box as a donation, the five of us started our prayers.

My eyes were closed, and in the darkness I wished for various things to weather the trials of the new year, such as good health for my folks and a generous dusting of luck across the board.

But most importantly, I prayed that my relationship with Eri would continue to grow and stay alive. I bet Eri was praying for the same thing…

Then I heard her muttering to herself under her breath like she was praying with all of her might, "Bigger breasts, bigger breasts, bigger breasts…"

An irritated-sounding Rhyme hissed at her. "Quiet, dummy. I can hear you."

The quest for greater self-confidence never ends…

I rounded up my prayer with a few more odds and ends, and when I was finished and opened my eyes, I saw that my friends were all done with theirs. Our prayers complete, we left the inner sanctum.

Eri's question before the house was, "So what did you guys pray for?"

"Amongst other things," replied Rhyme, "good grades in my upcoming exams."

My answer was, "For my aunt and uncle to stay healthy."

Beat's was simple. "Curry."

I snorted. "Is that really your number one priority above all else?"

"Huh? Hell no, whatchu think I am? Some kinda addict?"

"Yeah, that's the impression I get from you…"

"And Shiki?" asked Eri. "What about you?"

The bespectacled girl simply gave a mysterious smile. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Oh, come on. Surely you can spare your best friend a secret or two?"

After a moment's consideration, she relented. "I might have asked for someone cool to come along, sweep me off my feet and become my boyfriend."

The other girls liked the sound of that. A chorus of squealing and whooping filled the air.

Eri was all giggles. "That's what I like to hear! We all need a great guy in our lives, don't we?"

"Whoa, not me!" spluttered Beat, missing the point. "I ain't goin' down that road, man. I still like girls!"

I sighed, "She didn't mean it that way…"

Eri turned to Rhyme. "What about you?"

"Ah, no rush. I'll take my time in the romance department."

"Then when are you gonna start looking for boyfriends?"

"Um… when I'm in college?"

"Ha! Good luck with lasting that long," laughed Eri goodnaturedly. "You're thick in the middle of puberty. You'll never make it past spring with craving human contact of the opposite sex. Listen! Do you hear that?"

Bemused, Rhyme stitched her brows. "Hear what?"

"That's the sound of every hormone in your body screaming at you to get a guy already. Heed their call!"

"I'll heed it later."

Beat scratched his head, not quite able to comprehend their girl talk. Ever so literal-minded, he turned to me and whispered, "Uh, Phones? Did you hear 'em? The hormones, I mean, 'Cuz I don't hear a damn thang, yo."

"Don't worry," I said, failing to rein in my sarcasm. "I didn't hear anything either."

As usual, he didn't get it. In fact, he was glad that now he wasn't alone in "hearing nothing."

One of the last stops to make during our shrine visit was at the omikuji shack, a place to have your fortune told. These omikuji – strips of paper one which your fortune is written – are housed in a longish hexagonal dispenser. After making a small donation, what you did was to shake it until your omikuji dropped out of a slot at the bottom. I guess you could compare this to fortune cookies.

Eri went first. There was a cheeky smile on her face as she shook the dispenser. "I'm gonna win big… big!"

"This isn't some casino, Eri," I said. "Calm down."

"Seriously," chuckled Rhyme.

The end result of all the shaking and all that praying was an omikuji that read 'small blessing'. Additionally, it also read that while Eri would enjoy pockets of good luck now and again throughout the year, she should be careful with regards to her love life. That last bit sounded a tad ominous, considering her love life was also mine by extension. But it wasn't too shabby overall and she was fine with it.

"Not the windfall I was hoping for," she said, "but I'll take it!"

"Again, Eri, this is no casino."

Shiki snagged herself a 'small blessing' as well; while there was no mention of the future love life which she prayed for earlier, it did say that her academics would not be bad at all. Rhyme, on the other hand, got 'curse' which basically meant bad luck. Her face fell when she saw her fortune or lack thereof, but snapped out of it in a second.

Eri did her best to console her friend. "At least it doesn't say your boobs will deflate."

"Believe me," sighed Rhyme, "I'd be happy if they did, a little."

"You ungrateful thing!" gasped Eri in shock. "That's blasphemy! I'd do anything for bazongas half that size!" And she poked her in the chest, which the latter ignored.

"You must be a masochist to want to have back pain 24 hours a day. Anyway, I gotta go tie this somewhere."

And she wandered off to do just that, following the belief that bad luck could be anchored to a spot instead of attaching itself to the bearer. There was a shrine rack not too far away, filled with dozens of omikuji with less than desirable outcomes. I hoped I wouldn't need to go there…

Beat drew 'curse' too. As he was busy regretting his bad luck, I peered over his shoulder to see what his omikuji read. It was just one line, but a line that was enough to render him catatonic.

All the curry you eat this year will taste bad.

I couldn't make this up myself. The shrine maidens who kept this place running must have bored or something to write up omikuji like that. He sauntered off to join Rhyme, and in his dazed state, he almost walked into a lamppost. That's the last thing you want to do to a curry enthusiast…

Now it was my turn. I grasped the dispenser in my hands till my knuckles turned white.

Eri was cheering from the sidelines. Give her a pair of pom-poms and it'd be perfect. My very own kimono-clad cheerleader.

"Get a good one, Neku! You're the hopes and dreams that we live for! …Or something. Hey, Shiki! You cheer him on too!"

"Whuh… m-me?"

"Yeah! C'mon, let's do the ol' sis boom bah – "

"Girls," I said flatly. "No cheering. I'm concentrating."

It took a great deal of time to shake my omikuji loose from the dispenser. With clammy hands I unraveled it, and then my eyes were greeted with the unwelcome sight of 'great curse' written at the top. Eri and Shiki took a look from over my shoulder, with the former reading the details out loud.

"Be mindful of scams," she uttered. "Beware of dogs. Watch out for falling objects. You might suffer a terrible injury sometime this year. Money will be scarce. Almost nothing will go according to your plans. People will try to take advantage of you. Don't leave the house. And the sky will be cloudy on your birthday."

Shiki gulped. "'Don't leave the house'? Well then, see you next year, Neku!"

I shrugged, making light of my misfortune. "Yeah, catch you next year."

"You sure are optimistic for someone who has to be a hermit for a whole year."

"I'll just tie it somewhere and everything will be right as rain. Be back in a sec."

Eri called out as I marched away, "Watch out for falling objects!"

"And dogs!" Shiki added.

"Scams too!"

I laughed it off. "I'll be careful."

The nearest shrine racks were already too full to hold anything more, so I had to seek out one that was a little further away. I folded my omikuji into a long strip and tied it in a knot around one of the wires in the rack. Satisfied that I had been freed from bad luck at last, I stepped back to admire my handiwork.

A voice came from behind me and took me by surprise.

"Well, well, look who's here. It's been a while… Neku."

That voice… no way, you gotta be kidding me.

I turned around, and sure enough, it was her…

X… Why, of all days and all people, did I have to bump into her? Was this my bad luck catching up to me?

After all those years, she hadn't changed much. The pretty face and silky long hair were intact. And she had all those years to cultivate a nice figure, even if she was still kinda flat in the chest area. But to none of my surprise, her nasty personality remained the same, if not worse.

"Remember me, lover boy?" she drawled, her figurative fangs bared. "Your first 'girlfriend'?"

Trying to annoy me again? If she thought I was still the same stupid kid I was before, she had another thing coming. I'd met lots more people since then, dealt with my fair share of nasty characters, and altogether acquired a great deal more smarts. I could handle her. But I knew I had to keep my anger in check if I wanted to defeat her. Blowing up was exactly the reaction a bully like her would want out of me.

"Have you been trying to avoid me all these years?" she asked maliciously. "Too bad. I'm here now. This is the time for you to cry." Then she sniggered her head off.

I chose a direct approach to try and put her in her place. Coolly, I said, "Grow up. And fix that attitude problem of yours."

Unfazed, she just laughed some more, driving her immaturity home. "Sounds like something that applies to you! And what's with your hair? Seriously? Dyeing it orange? Eew."

I shrugged. "It's a nice colour. Do you have anything else to add? I don't have time for this."

"Oh? And what do you have time for?"

"Friends. And a girlfriend."

This made her laugh so hard she was slapping her knee. "A girlfriend? You? That's rich!"

Just then, a quartet of girls appeared by her side. Her posse, I was guessing. Notably, all of them were fashionistas like Eri. Their attention to makeup and accessories gave them away easily. I have to admit the one with purposely tanned skin and pale lipstick looked scary.

"Oi," one of her friends said to her, "who are you talking to?"

"The shrimp who confessed to me back in middle school."

All of them directed their eyes at me. And in those eyes I saw the need to put down someone they thought was beneath them. Makes sense X would befriend people like them.

"Oh, I know!" said another girl with a cruel smile. "What's his name again? Niko or something?"

"It's Neku," corrected X. "Weird name, by the way. Definitely not cute at all."

The third girl, the tanned one, took her turn deriding my existence. "You don't say! Whatcha doing here all by your lonesome, boyo? Got no friends?"

The fourth and last girl thought it'd be fun to join in. "Don't be silly. At least he has his imaginary girlfriend with him!"

X and her gal pals laughed uproariously like a pack of hyenas. Hmmm, this wasn't a good situation I had found myself in. I was outnumbered five to one; it'd be hard to beat them. And I didn't want this to devolve into a trash-talking competition; that would be way too ugly. Walking away would be my best option.

"Listen," I said, with a bored tone in my voice, "maybe you lot have time on your hands, but I don't. My friends are waiting for me."

"Friends?" snickered X. "What, in your head?"

Amidst more laughter, I walked away without another word, but before I could take two steps, I was stopped in my tracks by a hand on my arm. X's hand. When I looked back at her, she had a very unkind smile that transformed her face into a caricature of its already unpleasant self.

"I'm so sorry," she giggled, completely insincere. "I know we've been absolute jerks towards you…"

"You got that right," I grunted. "Now screw off."

"…but from the bottom of my heart, I really want to apologize."

No she didn't. "Get lost. Seriously, just go away." I tried to jerk my arm away, but she held fast.

Just as I thought, she had no intention of making amends. "I'm sorry you're still a pathetic little nobody who can't find friends or love. Really, I cry myself to sleep thinking about how unfortunate you are."

Her fellow hyenas tittered uncontrollably. They must think she told the best jokes ever. While I had enough ammo – actual friends and a girlfriend – to derail her stand-up comedy act, I didn't want to sound desperate. They wanted to see me struggle to prove them wrong, but I had no wish to give them that pleasure. Even if I showed them how wrong they were, then what? Would that make them like me better? Would X treat me decently for once? Of course not.

"Once again, I'm truly sorry," chuckled X, finally letting go of my arm. "Run along now. Your make-believe fairy tale girlfriend is waiting for you."

"Who are you calling a 'make-believe fairy tale girlfriend'?"

That wasn't me, by the way. I turned towards the source of the voice, and there was Eri, arms crossed with a twitchy smile that could give people nightmares. Maybe she came to look for me and instead found the predicament I was in. Whatever the case, I sure was glad she stepped in.

X glared at her. "What's your problem? And who the hell are you?"

Eri walked over, each step firm and resolute. I feared she'd slap X on the face and make a scene, but to my relief she simply hooked her arms around my right one, saying, "I'm Neku's girlfriend."

X was momentarily stunned to discover that her assumption of me being single was dead wrong. As she struggled to regain ground and come up with something, her gang was lost in a confused murmur.

"That's not possible," X blurted. "Oh, ha ha! That's it… You're just someone he hired to pose as his girlfriend! So sad… am I right?"

Eri heaved an annoyed sigh, like she was talking to an idiot, which was exactly what it was. "Do you listen to yourself, girl? Look, Neku and I have been dating for more than a year."

Her assumption had been shattered to pieces, but now those pieces were ground into a fine powder.

Eri said to me, "So, who's this?"

My confidence rising, I replied, "This is, uh… X. Remember that story I told you last night?"

She gasped. "That's X?"

X wasn't amused. "Wh-Who are you calling 'X'?! Who do you think you are, anyway?!"

"Y-You don't know who she is?!" This time it was one of her lackeys that spoke up, and her friends buried a surprised X with a stream of excited quips.

"That's Eri Tanikawa!" said one. "Have you been hibernating? She's famous!"

Another squealed, "She's that up-and-coming 'rookie model' who keeps popping up in magazines!"

"I went to the expo at Akihabara last year and she was cosplaying as GAL-AXY and it was so cool!"

"Me too, I was there! It was freaking dope, I tell you!"

One of them ran up to Eri, prompting the rest to follow suit like a herd of bison, bumping X aside in the process.

"Please, c-can I shake your hand?!"

"Can I take a selfie with you?"

Suddenly surrounded by a gaggle of star-struck hyenas, Eri could only smile at them awkwardly. "Um… s-sure?"

"Yay! …Hey you!"

I pointed at myself. "M-Me?"

"Yeah, you!" They shoved a phone into my hands. "Help us take our photo! And make it nice, okay?!"

"Uh… right."

X just stared in total shock as her groupies had a photo taken with Eri (whose look of confusion was pretty funny). They effectively forgot all about their leader. As she was the type to crave company and power, being left alone for someone more popular than her was something she was not used to, and not something she liked very much.

The photo turned out well, which delighted them to no end. They showed off the photo to X, who was still livid from being abandoned. Then one of them hammered the final nail in her coffin by suggesting to her, "Hey! Why don't you should take a photo with Eri? She's awesome!"

Eri seemed to welcome the idea, if only to help me get my sweet revenge on X. The latter, on the other hand, was stretched to the end of her tether with jealousy and would have none of it.

"Shut up!" she stormed. "We're leaving!" And she turned on her heel, about to walk off in a huff.

"H-Hey, wait!"

One of her friends tried to grab her by the arm, but clutched onto her sash by mistake. It came away in her hand and the momentum carried by X as she was moving away caused the latter to spin out of control. By the time the sash unraveled all the way to the end, she was dizzy beyond help… and then her kimono fluttered open. She crumpled to the ground, quite naked.

Her pals panicked and scrambled to help her, but ultimately were too late. Curious shrine-goers had already whipped out their phones and immortalized the moment on video. And it'd probably end up on the internet.

X gave an almighty scream when she looked down at her exposed body and hastily covered herself up. Then with a red face she sped off with her gang in tow, losing a slipper in the process.

Eri and I simply looked at each other, amused at the ludicrousness of the situation. This probably wouldn't teach X to be a better person or anything, but heck if that wasn't catharsis at its finest.

"Heh… karma. Hey Neku, you said her name was X, right?"

"Her placeholder name, anyway, yeah. Why?"

"I think after this she should be called X-rated!"

"Heh, X-rated it is."

"Oh, and she needs a Brazilian wax. Badly."

"She needs a freaking lawnmower," I said, shuddering. "Can't say she didn't have it coming though. I'm just sorry she hates you now."

"Eh, no biggie. She doesn't scare me."

"Hey, thanks for showing up when you did. I meant to just walk away and be done with her, but thanks to you I got a little revenge out of it. I mean, revenge isn't always the answer to everything and all that, but – "

"She got what she deserved," she said, still seething a little. "Don't feel bad about it, Neku. People who put others down for their own sick enjoyment are scum. Deep down inside, she knows she can't stack up to a lot of people, so she looks for victims to bully in order to feel good about herself. Really, she's not even half as good as you are, so don't be scared of her."

"I'm not scared, and I don't feel bad either. But if I never see her again, it'll be too soon."

"Tough luck on that, Neku. She'll be an internet sensation, just you watch."

"God, I hope not. I'd hate to be reminded how badly she needs to cut the grass, if you get my drift."

"Ha ha ha! Anyway, it's all okay now, so let's go back to the others."

"Right. Oh, speak of the devil…"

Just then, our friends came running up to us.

"We heard screaming," said Shiki. "What happened? You guys alright?"

I chuckled knowingly together with Eri, leaving our pals confused. Beat became slightly cross.

"What's crackin' you up, yo? I's thinkin' maybe you guys got brained or somethin'! I was real worried-like, you know."

"Thanks, man," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "But we're fine. There was a girl whose kimono opened up… She's the one who screamed."

He gasped. "Really?! Man, I shoulda been there to see it happen! Whatta waste…"

Rhyme grumbled. "Beat…"

"Sounds like you owe us a story," said Shiki, "seeing as we missed out."

I was more than happy to share my story as we left the shrine. "Yeah, sure. Buckle up, it's gonna be a long one. So I was here to tie up my omikuji…"

We spent the next hour at a café chatting about the incident as well as my backstory with X… uh, X-rated. She was the scourge of my childhood, but now I didn't feel so bad talking about her anymore.

XOXOXOXOXO

All in all, my New Year's Day at the shrine went well. I was in high spirits for the rest of the day.

But there was one nagging issue that needed to be taken care of.

"Eri," I said, "I need your permission for one thing. And please, for the love of all things good in this world, say yes."

"Wh-What's this about?"

I pointed at the old calendar which was still hanging on the fridge. "Can I toss that out now?"

She laughed. "I had no idea you were waiting so anxiously for this moment."

"You haven't the slightest idea."

...

Author's note: The parts that I felt were the most challenging to write were Neku's flashback and the part where he and Eri talk about the year's moments. The flashback scene was a bit hard to write because I kept making changes to X's personality. I wasn't sure if she was being too absurd getting off on Neku's misery. In the end, after a few tweaks I went for it anyway, but even now I'm not sure if X as a character is ridiculously unrealistic. She certainly is over-the-top...

The section where Neku and Eri talk about the year's moments was actually supposed to be them competing to see who can create the better resolution in 30 seconds. I had it all written down already, but upon closer inspection I saw some details that would spoil some minor plot developments that I intended to leave for later chapters. I made the hard decision of rewriting the entire thing. It's too bad; there were a few good jokes in there.

The rest was of moderate difficulty to write, but man was this chapter long! Anyway, I'll see you in Chapter 56. Thanks for stopping by to read my story and I'll catch you later.