Hisako was the type of person who could pull up her sleeves and get things done in a cinch when the situation called for it. It was part of her job as a personal assistant after all, and whatever task was handed to her, she completed with the utmost of care and swiftness. Needless to say, some of that hard-working attitude translated well into the immaculate state of her shared apartment. Dirty dishes were next to non-existent in the kitchen, the small living room was always free of clutter, and everything managed to stay dust-free. Everything was absolutely perfect in her modest little abode.

Or that's what she tried convincing herself, at least.

The pink-haired woman found happiness in simple pleasures- her clean apartment, for one. If she had to choose one though, it would be the blissful feeling she'd get moments before she slipped into some well-deserved sleep. What more could she ask for? She was a responsible adult! She payed her bills and made sure to take care of her good roommate even after a grueling day of office nonsense! So why...

'Who in their right mind holds a wrestling match at 3 in the morning?!'

"Hisako..." And then came the pained groan from the other side of the door.

Knock-knock-knock. Whump-bump-thump.

"Hisako...!"

...couldn't she have been blessed with courteous neighbors?

She inhaled through her teeth and let out all the air in one slow, tired exhale. She shoved her covers aside and left the cushy bed that was calling her back to its warm comfrot so desperately. Sending it a remorseful once-over, she fumbled for the switch on her lamp and finally went to answer her door. Usually she and Erina would ignore the routinely ruckus and block it off with pillows over their heads, even earmuffs(but that was only because Erina was overreacting one time). Some part of her had to give them props; despite the trouble caused by the people upstairs, they have managed to start at the same time on the same day every week without fail. Even so, Hisako had to get ready for work in the morning, and she wouldn't let anybody mess around with her sleep schedule.

"We have to do something!" Erina declared once they settled at the dining table for an emergency meeting.

Hisako blinked slowly, "I agree with you, but..."

"Yes?"

She sighed, "Erina, I don't think we can do much. Not now, anyways. As much as I'd like to file a noise complaint, I'd rather go back to bed." Her plea was met with a startlingly loud palm to the table, giving her sleepy mind a quick jump-start.

"But now is the perfect time! While they keep making noise, we can call someone over and finally get them kicked out!"

"I'm not going to bother the landlady at this hour." Hisako sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Erina seemed to deflate a bit after that, but the determination in her eyes came back to life not even a second later. Hisako briefly began to wonder if the sleep deprivation was getting to Erina, because it sure was taking a toll on her own patience.

"Fine. Then we will just have to take this problem into our hands."

"Well then, how do you propose we do that?" She asked, her voice dipping dangerously close to snappy.

"Simple. We just have to confront the neighbors and request them to stop. I'm sure the other neighbors upstairs will be grateful."

Hisako's shoulders sunk lower. Even if they could pull this off, their neighbors probably wouldn't care either way- not at this hour. If they haven't done anything around the time all this racket started, what made Erina think they would take action now? Honestly, she would much rather slip back under her blanket and forget she even bothered to wake up.

Sighing, she told the blonde, "I'm afraid to tell you this, but you'll have to do this one on your own. I think I've already cursed myself just from being up right now."

"But Hisako-!" Erina lunged at her, but as she had miscalculated how easy it was to knock down a drowsy person, the two ended up sprawled painfully on the floor. When she could feel her senses coming back to her, Erina lifted her head and looked down at the pinkette with pleading eyes. "You have to come with me! What if these people happen to be dangerous?"

"I don't think those type of people would be allowed to live here in the first place. Can you get off of me now?" Came her muffled grumbling.

"Not until you come with me!" Hisako sighed as best as she could with a weight pressing down on her entire body. Where in the world did she muster the energy to be so restless?, she thought. There was only one way to settle this matter quickly, but it was too risky and she could end up losing any hope for sleep in one fell swoop. In the same way, it would be a waste not to do it. Drastic times called for drastic measures, after all.

And that was how Erina was pushed out of the apartment after having lost a best of three match of rock-paper-scissors (in her pajamas too, as if her loss didn't sting enough already).

"I won't be letting you in until you fix your problem. Sorry!" The lock clicked shut and, once again, Erina was reminded that this was her fault and her fault alone. She hmph'd and turned on her heels towards the staircase. If she wanted things done, it was only fitting that she be the one to do them. The thumps and the muffled music got louder the moment she set foot on the floor above, and it would only get worse the more she inched towards the source.

When she thought she was at the right door, she took a moment to toughen herself up. Many deep breaths and several false starts later, she finally found the courage to knock at the door. Or bash on several times, as she came to realize that her weak taps wouldn't get anyone's attention.

The door finally opened and Erina was enraged. Not only did she have to come up here on her own, but she had to bruise her poor hand too! The cocky grin on the finally-revealed source of commotion just made her downright livid. She was sure she heard a blood vessel burst the moment her sights set on it.

"You! I have a right mind to-"

"And you are...? Never seen you around here before!" Yelled the redhead over the noise.

"I happen to live on the first floor, and my roommate and I can't get any sleep because of you- Hey!"

"Hold on just a sec!" He slammed the door in her face in an instant, and opened it up in the next. Before Erina could try to bite his head off, he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into the fray. "I'm sorry we can't have a proper housewarming party, but my name's Souma! Welcome to my Friday night get-together!"

"Get-together? Really?"

"Let me introduce you starting with her," He pointed to a girl with braids and gradually progressed around the room. "That's Megumi, Yuki, Ryoko, Shun, Zenji, Daigo and Shoji. We've all known each other since high school. Everyone this is-"

"Erina. I live on the floor below." She crossed her arms and sent Souma a pointed look. "Now then, I have to-"

"Here, just take a seat on the couch. We were just getting started with another poker match. So far we've managed to play through 5 games straight without stopping!" Boasted the redhead.

"But I'm not-"

"Here you go!" A red plastic cup was suddenly pushed into her hands. "That right there is courtesy of Ryoko. We also got snacks if you're feeling hungry."

Erina's well thought-out script soon became nothing but useless and empty words. She was supposed to be having a serious one-on-one discussion with this party maniac, but instead she was being brought into it like some guest of honor. She didn't even know how to play poker for crying out loud! When she heard the words "strip" and "poker" and "money" being brought up in the room, she knew she had to leave, or it would be her end. However, she could not get one word in, not even to get Souma's attention.

"D-do we really have to?! I'd rather not take off any of my clothes!" Megumi protested as she hesitated taking the cards being deal to her.

"Looks like it won't matter anyways..." Erina uttered to herself at the sight of Daigo and Shoji already shirtless without the game having even started. She was willing to bet that those two, along with her redhead neighbor, were the ones guilty for her lack of sleep. As they set up the deck and the table, Erina managed to slip out of the apartment unnoticed and made a run for her own. However, upon arriving she found that the door was still locked. No doubt Hisako was expecting her to keep her side of the bargain. She rapped the door and tried calling out for Hisako, but she got no replies, much less the click of the lock becoming undone.

"Locked out?"

The blonde begrudgingly turned her head towards Souma, who was leaning on the wall with a cup in his hand.

"What's it to you? You're the reason why I'm stuck out here, after all."

"Really?" He took a sip. "Then why were you knocking at my door so late? I don't suppose you were looking to borrow some milk at this hour."

"About that. You have the nerve of being so loud and annoying so late into the night that my roommate and I can't even get back to sleep. I'm seriously wondering why I haven't called the police already and filed a complaint!"

"Not like they would take you seriously in that get-up anyways." Souma snickered. Erina choked on her words, her face getting warm from total embarrassment. So what if she was in the middle of the hall wearing flannel sleep pants and a worn shirt that said "I donut understand food puns"? It wasn't like she had much of a choice at the moment.

She clicked her tongue in disdain and scowled. "Why don't you just head back to your stupid poker game? I'll get in faster that way."

"You've been knocking on that door for five minutes. I don't think your friend is even awake." He said before downing the rest of his drink. "Why not come up to mine and have some fun? You can crash there until the morning if you're so hellbent on getting some sleep. It sure would beat being stuck in here." She thought for a moment. On one hand she could sleep in the cold hallway floor, but on the other, she could sleep on the floor or on one of his couches with a blanket. Her choice was pretty clear, but that didn't make it any easier to accept.

From that night on, Hisako made sure to take extra cautionary measures every Friday night before turning in. Erina didn't even notice that her pair of emergency earmuffs mysteriously went missing.

A/N: Finally met the "under 7 days" deadline! Unfortunately, this is going to have to be the last oneshot I post for this series. The story I want to write is still in the planning stages so it won't be out for a while yet. I really want to focus on working out the plot and all that, so please be on the lookout for the first chapter in the near future.

Anyways, thank you all for the support you've all given me throughout these oneshots. All the messages, reviews, favorites and follows made this experience well worth the time and effort. I started this as a stress-reliever from school, but I'm glad I was able to turn it into something bigger. For a first little project, it was a pretty fun warm-up! So without further adieu, see you all in the next one!