A/N: I believe this note is going to be quite long, so if you're willing to read it, bear with me. I don't really know which part to cover first, but I'll take the happier part first. I have my oral exam in two days, and it wasn't even surprising that I found the inspiration to type of this chapter exactly the one day I have much more important things to do. But I did so anyways, so yeah. Here it is. It's quite rough, I just... needed to get it out there. Long wait, obviously. Didn't proofread because of a violent urge to sleep. Bad news incoming. Or well, I don't know if it's bad or just bittersweet. I don't know how many of you feels like it matters anymore, but here goes: This story is coming to an end. There are a few reasons for this. The most obvious one is the decline of chapters. Hell, maybe even the decline of content. I've wandered a perpetual journey through my mind for so long to keep this story running, but it's beginning to get difficult for me. Inspiration and all that. It's been ages since I last updated, and I have a feeling it's as frustrating to me as it is to the ones of you who are still following this story eagerly. I've opened plot devices that I don't think I can finish. Not like this, anyways. Therefore, the story is coming to an end. I hope I can make it worth your while. I hope it won't be a disappointment. I hope I can give you a satisfying ending, because it's what you deserve for keeping up with me for this long. I have a rough plan for how the story is going to end, so what I need to work with now is how to lead up to that point. It will take a few chapters, so don't think this is the last one. I will not, I repeat, I will not go into much detail on their movie project. It would derail me completely, and it's sad to just leave a plot device like that, but I have to do it. I might make a few time-skips, stuff like that. I'll end the story when I've managed to build up to the end. And honestly, I think that's it for the bad news. There are some good ones. This fanfic is actually quite big. From what I understand, it's been the second or third most favourited Toradora story on here, so I suppose it has kind of a broad readership. That's why I've opened my mind to the idea of new stories. One-shots, drabbles, short stories all based on the universe in this fic. I have one planned out so far, and that's the movie. I will make a fic, probably just a chapter or two, depicting the movie that they are currently making in this fic. Maybe also the process of making the movie. Who knows? I might also take requests, if anyone bothers to give me some. I can go back in time. I can go forwards in time. The important part is that I will not let this story end unfinished, and I want to keep it alive after it's finished too. It's been with me for a long time. Sometimes I feel alienated from it, and other times I feel like it's one of my greatest friends. Either way, I will not let it die. And wow, this note is probably half the length of the actual chapter, so here's a few side-notes before you begin reading. 1: This chapter is not mainly about our favourite couple. This is about another odd pair. Felt like it may be fun to focus a bit on the other characters too. I hope you don't mind the giant imaginative leap I've taken with this. 2: Huge parts of this chapter is inspired, and broadly based on the song and music video "Jackpot" by the Korean group; "Block B". There are characters in this chapter who openly performs this song, but there is no mention of the name of the song in the actual chapter, so if you want to get a better understanding of the chapter, you might want to check out that music video. I do not intend for this to be a hidden reference or a stolen idea, I intend for this to be characters who actually made something based on a song they liked. Without further ado... I bring you the latest chapter in "And it happened on a christmas night".

Regret. So much regret. Why? Why?

"Whyyyyyyyy," Minori groaned, shoving her face into her pillow. Her head was pounding, and her body was aching. Drinking had been fun when it was happening, but she had never imagined the morning after to be that bad. Upon opening her eyes and looking around, she realized Taiga was nowhere close. Maybe she'd woken up and gone to the toilet to throw up or something. That's definitely what Minori felt like doing, after all.

Luckily for Minori, everything was quiet. Nothing to worsen the pounding in her head. Little did she know it was just the calm before the storm. Because what felt like a good idea when under the influence of alcohol didn't feel like such a good idea once sobriety hit.

Just as Minori started struggling to sit up on the futon, she heard some commotion from inside Ryuuji's room. Her eyebrows perked up as she turned towards the door to his room. She crawled towards the door and put her ear against it.

"Ryuuji," she heard, though the voice was kind of muffled. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ryuuji groaned. Minori wasn't completely sure what was going on.

"Feels like there's a breeze," Taiga mumbled.

"Uh, the windows are closed, Taiga."

"Then why would I feel a breeze?"

"That's… oh."

"Huh?" Taiga piped up, confusion showing in her voice.

"Uh…"

"Oh."

Minori wrinkled her nose, curios as to what was going on. And then she heard the scream. She registered inside of her head before she even realized that it was Taiga screaming. She barely even managed to move away from the door before Taiga burst out with a blanket wrapped tightly around her body as she ran.

"Pervert!" She screamed, frantically running around the living room. She stumbled over the table and tumbled onto the floor. As she looked up, she saw Minori sitting on the floor looking more confused than ever, while Ryuuji came into the living room, jumping on one foot to finish pulling on his pajama pants.

"You know," he started, wincing and grunting as he struggled. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who came into my room looking like that!"

"You took advantage of me!" Taiga retorted, burying herself completely in the blanket where she lay on the floor.

"Oh, really? What about the bath, then? Whose idea was that?!" Ryuuji yelled, practically tearing out his own hair.

"We were about to catch a cold! And I made sure you looked at the wall the entire time!"

"Oh, I looked at the wall! What a lifesaver!"

"Ok, that's enough!" Minori shouted, hands clasped tightly onto her own head to suppress the throbbing pain. "What's the problem here?" She growled.

"Ryuuji saw my… my… Ryuuji saw my b-b-breasts!" Taiga yelled, blushing furiously under her blanket.

"Okay… why?" Minori asked, this time eyeing Ryuuji curiously.

"Taiga said you took up all the space last night, so she came to sleep with me, and she was… well… almost, you know…" Ryuuji coughed. "Naked."

"Well, that does make sense," Minori mumbled, thinking about her typical sleeping positions. "But you're a couple, right? Surely you can handle something like that?"

"But it's embarrassing!" Taiga exclaimed as her head popped back out of the blankets. "Ouch," she suddenly mumbled, her hands clasping at her bare stomach.

"What's wrong? Headache?" Minori asked, but Taiga shook her head.

"No… well, that too, but… uhm…" She mumbled.

"Oh, right," Ryuuji sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Maybe you should go to the bathroom, Taiga."

"What's going on?" Minori asked, practically shooting to her feet. She somehow got the feeling something was wrong. "Taiga, are you-"

"I'm having my, uhm… my week." Taiga mumbled, pouting childishly.

"TAIGA IS A WOMAN!" Minori yelled, and the first reply she got was Yasuko kicking the wall in the room next door. "Oh, right, sorry. Oh my god, though!"

"Don't make a fuzz, please," Taiga groaned as she stood up, keeping the blanket around her body. "It's embarrassing enough as it is. I'm going," she said and left for the bathroom.

"This is so exciting!" Minori said to Ryuuji, earning a little chuckle in response.

"Yeah, I guess," he huffed as he moved on to make some hangover remedy and some breakfast. Once Taiga returned from the bathroom, she pulled Ryuuji aside so that Minori couldn't hear them.

"Sorry about before," she sighed.

"No, I'm sorry," Ryuuji said, but Taiga just shook her head.

"I overreacted. And we're boyfriend and girlfriend, so… you can… you can look at my breasts… whenever you want." She mumbled, her face growing increasingly more red.

"Oh. Uh. Thanks?" Ryuuji gulped, looking properly and utterly confused. "As long as I get to see your face, I don't really need anything else."

"Tsh, silly," Taiga huffed, but Ryuuji could easily hear the giggle in her voice.

"Guys," Minori said, having suddenly appeared with a magazine in her hand. "There's a festival in town."

…

"Cotton candy, let's get cotton candy!" Taiga exclaimed excitedly as they made their way through the crowds of people.

"Yes!" Minori replied, bursting into another fit of energy and excitement.

"Sure… though I don't really get how you guys can even stomach that stuff after last night," Ryuuji said as he rolled his eyes. They proceeded to go to the cotton candy stand, where they met a person whose entire face was hidden behind a huge, fluffy mountain of cotton candy.

"I know those legs!" Minori exclaimed, standing only inches away from the person in front of them.

"Me too!" Taiga shouted. Their energy almost gave Ryuuji another headache. Taiga crouched down and bounced back up under the cotton candy. "Amin!" She smiled, grabbing the girl's cheeks and pulling them in every possible direction. "Gimme some of your cotton candy!"

"H-Hey, get your own, you idiot!" Ami shouted back, trying to shake the little girl off without losing her candy.

"Oooh, so you're going to eat all that by yourself?" Taiga grinned mischievously as she let go of the cotton candy. Ami huffed and moved the fluffball away from her face so that the others could see her face.

"It's not like I'm trying to get fat or anything. I'm here with someone." Ami said with a stern expression on her face.

"Oh? Who?" Ryuuji asked curiously.

"Yo!" Yukuri grinned, walking up next to Ami. "Oh my god, you got the biggest one! You're the best!" She yelped, hugging Ami so hard they almost fell over.

"H-Hey, careful!" Ami stuttered, doing her best to save the cotton candy.

"Hey, Yukuri!" Minori beamed, flashing a thumbs up that was returned in plenty from the blonde girl.

"Minori!" She exclaimed back. "Nice seeing you guys. You recover from my party last night?" She chuckled.

"Barely," Ryuuji huffed, a smile playing at his lips. "We had a great time, though."

"Yeah, I have a picture of you two that would agree with you," Yukuri grinned, her eyes shifting between Taiga and Ryuuji.

"You get rid of that right now!" Taiga shouted, but Minori held her back.

"Oh no, she would never. Would you, Yukuri?" Minori laughed.

"You're right. I wouldn't." Yukuri smiled cockily.

"Hmpf," Taiga mumbled, pouting.

"Anyways, maybe we'll see you later," Ami said. "Yukuri and I gotta head over to this fun-house she was part of making. Come check it out too, if you wanna!" She smiled.

"Why don't we just come with you?" Ryuuji asked, perching an eyebrow curiously.

"Oh, no, no, no," Yukuri started, waving her hands a little. "It's… important, that, uh… there's a surprise for… like… yeah." She mumbled, as if she was trying to hide something.

"What?" Ami asked, confused.

"Nothing! Nothing! Hahahaha!" Yukuri laughed, pulling Ami away.

"That was weird," Minori said.

"Really weird," Ryuuji continued.

"Too weird," Taiga finished, scowling in suspicion.

…

"So, here it is," Yukuri smiled as the approached the big tent. It was colorful and nice looking.

"Oh, my god, this is a lot bigger than I had expected," Ami said with big eyes, trying to take it all into her view. "You helped with this?"

"Yup," Yukuri beamed, placing her hands on her hips in a proud fashion. "Wanna go in?"

"Definitely," Ami grinned. They walked to the entrance, where there was a little sign. "Hey, Yukuri… it says it's closed between 2 and 3. It's 2:15." Ami said, looking at Yukuri questioningly.

"Oh, yeah, no, that doesn't count for us." She smiled. Ami figured that Yukuri got some perks considering she helped set it all up. "Just… whatever happens in there… just play along with it, okay? There are some arrows on the ground that show the way, and never spend too much time in one area… there's kind of a system in all of this."

"But you'll be there to lead me through it, won't you?" Ami asked, suddenly looking a bit nervous.

"Well, yeah, in theory I will," Yukuri giggled. "But people tend to get split up unintentionally in here. It happens sometimes."

"O-Oh… Okay." Ami gulped, nodding weakly. "I'm sure I'll survive."

They slowly started making their way inside the first area of the tent. Ami wasn't really sure what she was expecting, but she definitely wasn't expecting a glass casing with extremely creepy looking clowns inside. "Woah," Ami muttered, approaching the glass slowly. With a jolt, one of the clowns crouched into a creepy position. "Oh my god!" Ami yelled. "This isn't a horror house!" She exclaimed as she turned around, but Yukuri wasn't there. Instead, there was another clown standing right behind her.

"Hey there," it said with a cocky voice. It was a boy. "Follow the arrows, girl," he laughed, and Ami abided without missing a beat. She sprinted full speed towards the next arrow, completely terrified. It wasn't easy to scare Kawashima Ami, but this did it. She opened a door and entered a room that was painted red with mirrors in the ceiling. The room was full with people wearing weird suits and the likes of it. One of them was playing a track on the piano, and then suddenly, the sound of the piano was ominously playing over speakers. "What is this?!" Ami shouted, and the boys in the room smiled at her.

She was led to a table by one of the boys, where he gestured for her to sit in the chair. She nervously did just that, and a boy with purple eye-shadow and a wacky costume jumped onto the table and grinned at her. The music suddenly changed to something different, and the boy started rapping in a language Ami couldn't quite identify.

"Why are you rapping?!" She guffawed, completely and utterly confused by what was going on. What kind of fun-tent was this? Freaky costumes? Boys who rapped in a foreign language? It didn't make any sense. Ami figured it was time to move on, and she stood from the chair and ran to the other arrow in a hurry. She opened a door and entered a dimly lit hallway with a green spiral covering the walls and the doors. From the shadows came yet another weirdly dressed person, but Ami couldn't really tell if it was a boy or a girl. She was too focused on the fact that this person jumped from the shadows and squatted right in front of her with a completely terrifying grin. "AAAAAH!" Ami roared, damn near kicking the offender in the face, but decided against it. She ran down the hallway, hearing the person behind her singing along to the music that played over the speakers.

The arrows led her to another door, which again led her outside into some sort of a lot. Was this the backside of the tent? There were carousels and everything. "Is that a… merry-go-round?" Ami questioned under her breath, but was quickly startled by sounds coming from behind her. There were thugs. On tiny bikes. Thugs with masks and chains in their hands.

"No!" Ami yelled almost angrily as she followed the arrows further. They pointed towards a car, and on a little note on the windshield she could read one word: Hide. She ducked behind the car and waited, trying to block out the creepy sounding child song the thugs on the bikes were singing as they cycled past her. She felt safe now, but then the music turned into something that sounded something like the music that played on a merry-go-round, and when she turned around, all she could see was a spiral umbrella. It spun a bit before the person holding it tipped it up and leaned it on their shoulder. They, too, started rapping. "Yukuri?!" Ami guffawed as she recognized her. She was wearing a weird costume too. Ami wasn't too surprised by that part.

Yukuri smiled widely as she rapped, which was even kind of impressing. That's not a skill Ami had expected from the girl, who looked so pretty and careful. She already knew that wasn't all true, though. Before Ami could try to say anything else to Yukuri, two boys grabbed her from behind and carried her to some sort of wheel that they tied her to. It looked like one of those things they used in circuses to throw knives on. And there was Yukuri. With a knife.

"Great," Ami whispered, frustrated at the lengths they'd go to, only to scare her. There was one part she wasn't prepared for, though. As Yukuri kept on rapping the verse of a song in a language Ami almost remembered what was, she threw the knife. Ami didn't even had time to scream. She could only stare in horror as the knife impaled the wood 3 inches from her head. Not a sound. Her mouth was wide open, and she couldn't breathe. She was completely frozen.

"Well, that was fun!" Yukuri exclaimed happily as the music stopped. She went over and untied Ami, who immediately attacked the girl.

"Are you out of your mind?!" She yelled, fists trying to slam into Yukuri's chest.

"Ami!" She started, unable to help herself from laughing as she fended off the punches. "Ami, the knife wasn't real!"

"It impaled a wooden plank, so yes, it was real!" Ami retorted, not calming down in the slightest.

"That knife was already there!" Yukuri exclaimed, making Ami stop suddenly. "It's a visual trick, dummy."

"Oh," Ami mumbled, letting her arms fall to her side. She still looked pretty pissed, though. "That doesn't change the fact that you did all this. Why, huh?! Do you do this to all your customers?!"

"No, the guys helped me set this up for you," Yukuri chuckled, standing only inches away from Ami who was not only shorter than her, but also still cowering in fear and making herself even smaller.

"Why would you do that? I was terrified." Ami mumbled pettily, suddenly seeming much more childlike than she was when she was angry. "Did I do something to deserve this?"

"It's a… psychological experiment," Yukuri said carefully, suddenly seeming less sure of herself.

"What?" Ami uttered, looking up at the blonde girl, the rage seeming to build up in her. Yukuri was prepared that Ami would get mad, but that look was almost scary. "You used me as an experiment? For what?!"

"Just listen to me, okay?" Yukuri started in a rushed manner, wanting to explain herself before she took a punch to the face. "I had this idea that kinda made sense, right?"

"Okay, and that is?" Ami said with a low tone to her voice, her neck rolling intimidatingly.

"I thought… if someone's scared… to the point where they're almost afraid of dying… and I know this sounds totally manipulative, and it probably is too, but I tend to be overdramatic, okay! I need to make things exciting!"

"Get to the point!" Ami exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Yukuri said. She suddenly looked very nervous now. Ami was confused. In the short time she'd known Yukuri, she'd always been composed and almost a bit too confident. "So, like… if you're… scared, right? Like, you almost died scared… you'll want to seize the opportunities you are given, right? Maybe even say yes to completely crazy because, hey, what if you do actually die?"

"Continue?" Ami nodded, now more confused than angry.

"And I realize now that getting a positive answer from you is going to be hard after I just pulled this on you, but I'll do it anyway. You just felt like you were going to die. And I have an opportunity for you." Yukuri said, trying to seem confident but unable to hide her absolutely shaking composure. Ami looked at her face. Was she blushing?

"I said get to the point."

"Hang out with me one day." Yukuri sputtered, suddenly sounding completely frantic and terrified.

"But… we hung out today." Ami said with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean… go with… you know, like… a movie, or coffee, or… like a… and then, like, kinda…" Yukuri stuttered, not being able to say anything that made sense. She tried to calm herself before taking a huge breath. "Okay, I got this. Ami. Yes. You. Ami. Blue hair. Beautiful hair, really. Yes. Date. With me. Go on a date with me. And yes, I mean that kind of date. You know, the cute kind, the whole 'hey babe, how you doin' today?' thing, the whole jazz, and-" Yukuri kept babbling, unable to even notice the expression that registered on Ami's face. She wasn't really sure how to respond. She wasn't really sure of anything.

Ami wasn't sure if it was because of what Yukuri exclaimed with the fear factor, or if it was because of her own common sense, that Ami said: "Yeah."

"Huh?" Yukuri snapped up, finally freeing herself from her mindless babbling. "You… you will?"

"Yeah. I will go on a date with you, Yukuri." Ami said, and now she was smiling. Yukuri, on the other hand, was trying not to lose her balance.

"O-Oh… okay… good." She stuttered, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Very good."

Meanwhile, the palmtop tiger was hurling into a trashcan while Minori held her hair.

"Taiga, are you okay?" Ryuuji asked worriedly, for the fourth time in sixty seconds.

"Don't look!" Taiga exclaimed. "Aaaah, cramps," she whined, clutching her stomach with her hands.

"She's great, Ryuu-tan!" Minori exclaimed with gusto. "She's finally experiencing what it's like to be a woman!"

"I wish I could just stay a child instead." Taiga mumbled, and then she hurled again.