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Everyone is sitting around at the table and accounted for. Each one who used to represent a year now represent themselves among friends and family rather than casual acquaintances. The clock ticks closer to midnight, but everyone is too busy enjoying themselves to care nor notice. Cups clink against the wood surface and chopsticks tap against bowls within the cacophony of voices all around the table. A light, breezy laugh cuts through all the noise as the source tilts her head back over a joke one of her table mates told. The noise dies down slightly to catch a snippet of that laugh and a glimpse of that smile—the same one that brightens any room and lightens any heart.
It takes her a moment to catch her breath and calm herself before the conversations start up again—this time including her.
“Tohruuuuu!” Momiji exclaims, elongating the last syllable in his typical Momiji-style way. Even after all these years, he still retains some of his youthful, childish personality. “The food’s delicious! How did you have time to make all this?”
She chuckles softly. “I had Kyo-kun’s help in preparing everything. It’s thank to him that it all got done on time.”
“Oi, don’t give me all the credit. You did most of the work.” Kyo replies with a slight smirk on his lips siting to the right of her.
“But you really did help a lot!” He lightly taps his knuckles on her temple softly reprimanding her but mostly teasing.
“I’m kidding.” He lets out a soft chuckle before turning back to the table. He catches the sly look on Yuki’s face as he watches the scene unfold. He keeps a hand on his face to mask his amusement which doesn’t go unnoticed by Kyo.
“What’s so funny?” Kyo asks with a small upturn of his lips.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” He doesn’t let up his hand from his face, still hiding his amusement. “I never knew you could be so modest.”
“And since when I haven’t?”
“I seem to recall a few instances from when we were teenagers.”
“Oi, why bring all that up now?”
“No reason.” His smile peeks out from behind his hand which doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Now you’re playing with me.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Oi, wanna take this outside?” Kyo taunts without any real malice; he just wants to see how far Yuki wants to take his teasing.
“Aren’t you supposed to be adults? Why are fighting like children?” They both turn and see Hiro with his hands up shaking his head disappointingly.
“Oi, kid. A re you trying to start something?” Kyo asks, wanting to see how far the little brat will go.
“Aren’t supposed to set an example for us kids? Why are trying to pick a fight with a high schooler? I get it—you miss the glory days of when you were a teenager so you let out your frustrations on us. Such a nasty habit. You should probably see someone for that.”
“Hiro-kun, stop picking on Onii-chan.” Kisa chastises him for starting unnecessary fights. She turns to Kyo and apologizes for his behavior.
“Ah, it’s not that big of a deal.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Kisa-chan! How’s high school been?” Tohru asks.
“It’s been a lot fun. Sometimes, it gets hard but then I remember you, Onee-chan, and I feel stronger. Like I can do anything. Despite that, I have a lot of fun.” She smiles softly as she relates her experience. It’s much better than her middle school days but there have been times where the stares that linger a little too long bring back those old ghosts.
Tohru squeals and runs over to give her a hug. When she sits back down at her spot, she turns to Yuki and asks how he’s been. “How’s college Yuki-kun?”
“It’s been an experience.” He then recounts a few stories from university. She listens with rapt attention with a smile never leaving her face. (Until Machi brings up the time he collapsed from lack of eating and then she starts to worry).
Y uki was about to ask how she, and by extension Kyo, had been when he gets interrupted by the sounds of a baby crying from h is far left. The entire table turns and face Hatori and Mayuki whose their daughter currently wailing in her mother’s arms.
“Oh boy, someone’s tired.” She says as she rocks her baby girl trying to soothe her. Hatori hovers next to her ready to take over if needed.
“Do you want to her to bed?” He suggests to his wife whose still attending to their daughter.
“Kinu, what’s wrong? Are you tired?” Mayuki coos to Kinu as she keeps crying. “You must be tired if you’re still crying that much. It’s okay you’ve had a long day.”
Mayuki turns to Hatori and states, “Yeah, she’s tired. She told me herself.”
He stands up and turns to grab his daughter from his wife as she hands her over, careful to make sure he holds onto right. She trusts him but still, it’s the principal of the thing. Hatori leaves the room to put Kino to bed in an adjacent room easy to get to in case something happens.
Mayuki shakes her head and takes a sip of her drink. “ S he’s just like her father—quiet and doesn’t cry at night. But when she’ s tired or really upset , she starts wailing like her life depends on it. I don’t know where she gets it from.”
“She gets that from her mother.” Hatori re-enters the room and sits back down next to Mayuki whose face is flushed bright red.
“Don’t bring that up!”
Hatori grabs his tea cup and chuckles lightly into the rim. Mayuki scratches the back of her neck embarrassed.
“A-anyway, what have you kids been up to since graduation?” She directs this question to the Kaibara High graduates. They all perk up at the question and start contemplating their happenings throughout the year.
Momiji starts off, “Well, I recently got into a music conservatory a few months ago. Momo was super happy for me and really excited to hear me in concert. Tohru! I’ll send you tickets for my next performance soon!”
“Yes please! If it’s not too much trouble.”
“ Unsinn ! It’s never too much trouble. I’ll send them as soon as I prepare for my next concert.”
Haru stares into his cup as he says before taking a drink, “I almost got fired from my last job.”
Kyo almost chokes on his. “How???”
“He picked a fight with one of the customers. The police almost got involved.” Rin interjects.
Yuki sighs, his palm rest on his forehead. “Why?”
“They kept trying to return an item with an outdated receipt and wouldn’t leave without their money. So I took the receipt, tore it up, and said, ‘What receipt.’ You should've seen the look on their face—it was priceless.” Haru relays with a wishful look on his face as if he’s retelling a fond memory rather than a work story.
“That’s no excuse!” Kyo and Yuki shout simultaneously.
“How’s art school, Rin-chan?” Tohru asks, wondering how her friend has been. She had heard from Haru that she had gotten in, and while she didn’t show it, she was ecstatic over the opportunity.
“Fine.” She picks up her chopsticks to take another bite.
“She loves it and wants to show you her latest work when she gets the chance.” Haru translates as he places his cup back onto the table. Rin slams down her chopsticks.
“She doesn’t need to know that!”
“But she’s your friend.”
Rin seethes in embarrassment as Uo goes next. “Well, living in the countryside has been a lot more lively than we’d had expected.” She then goes on to tell the story of how she almost picked a fight with a chicken that had gotten loose.
“—so I’m staring i t down hoping it would just leave when the owner comes around and asks, ‘What the hell is goin’ on here?’ And, without taking my eyes off that bird, I say back, ‘Sir, this chicken almost pecked my boyfriend to death so it’s going to be tonight’s dinner.’ And so the owner gets pissed and yells back, ‘Just try it you bitch!’ ”
T he entire table is erupt ing in laughter as she continues, laughing with tears in her eyes, “Needless to say, that chicken would’ve been fried if he hadn’t shown up and ruined it .”
“I appreciate you defending me from that chicken.” Kureno chuckles as he takes a sip of his tea.
“That chicken deserved to be fried!” Uotani shouts and grabs another piece of fried chicken from the table. Hanajima giggles and interjects with her own piece of news.
“ I’m still working for Kazuma-dono as his chef. He really is helpless without me.” She places a gloved hand on her cheek lamenting.
“ You’re still working there!? I thought you quit!” Kyo yells, shocked she has still been working there for this long. He honestly thought she was just pulling one over him when she first got the job but now—
“Oh you’re so silly, Kyo-kun. Of course I’m still working there.” She gives him a closed-lip smile. “In fact, we’ve recently gotten engaged.”
“Ah, congrats Hana-chan!!” Tohru’s face lights up at the news and doesn’t hesitate to offer her congratulations. Uo smirks at the news and joins in the celebrations. Kyo stares in front of himself wondering what he’s done wrong to deserve this.
“Oi oi oi. When did this happen?” She asks, a bit miffed she wasn’t let on it sooner.
“Not too long ago. We had been waiting for the right time to tell everyone and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
Uo throws an arm onto Kyo’s shoulder . “Isn’t it great? Hana-chan’s going to be your new mom.”
Kyo tips his head down in shock, still processing the whole situation, and stumbles out, “Look here. There’s no way I’m letting Hanajima be my mom!”
“But Hana-chan would be a wonderful mother!” Tohru chimes in, hoping it’ll ease his concerns.
“Please tell me you’re joking.” Kyo turns and looks at her utterly betrayed. She keeps smiling as if she’s proud of him.
Tohru then looks around the room a s if she remembered something . “Oh speaking of Kazuma-san, he doesn’t seem to be here. Was he not able to make it?”
“ Yes, he was busy and unfortunately, could not make it to share the news a s well .”
“That’s too bad. I would’ve loved to give him the shovel talk.” Uo chimes in, punching her hand.
“T-t-that would be really bad.” Tohru’s face pales at the thought.
Kyo chuckles shakily. “You’re messing with me. I just know it.”
“Whatever do you mean, Kyo?” Hanajima asks innocently.
“You’re not really engaged to Shishou are you? You’re just trying to pull one over me.” He states smugly.
She only smiles and moves onto asking Tohru what she has been up to. Kyo slouches dejectly with Tohru comforting him. She pauses for a moment before answering Hanajima, “I’ve been working at my local nursing home, and it’s been wonderful! Each day is more fun than the last. I really enjoy it there.”
“I’m so proud of you! Working hard to earn a living. I think I’m going to cry.” Uotani sniffles a little before turning her attention to Kyo.
“How about Kyo over here? Has he been pulling his weight with the income?”
“Yes, he has. He brings in more than enough for us to live by.” She smiles softly, proud of Kyo and the effort he puts in everyday. Her heart sings as she thinks about it.
“Working at a dojo has added a new perspective to how it’s run. And Master Kai doesn’t pull his punches either.”
“ What do you do there?” Uotani asks, curious as how he makes his living.
“Small odd jobs around the dojo though I do teach a couple kid classes.” He then adds, “ Sometimes he likes to add in spontaneous training sessions.”
“ Like that one time he threw you so hard you went flying passed me!” Tohru interjects.
“ I’m surprised I came out unscathed as I did. I could’ve sworn I would’ve ended up breaking something.”
“That’s because Kyo-kun is strong!”
He chuckles. “I guess. Strong enough to not break a bone at least.”
“Ah, the folly of youth.” Shigure chimes in from the far end of the table. “You have all grown to be fine adults.”
Kyo and Yuki look over with distaste.
“I don’t want to be hearing that from you!” They both shout simultaneously.
“Ah, such cruelty. Is this how you treat your elders?” He mocks offense as he turns his attention to Ritsu and Mitsuru, oblivious to the happens around them. He watches them with a keen eye waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
With a small mischievous upturn of his lips, he announces loudly to the table, “I have decided to start writing again.”
Mitsuru pauses in her movements and turns slowly to face Shigure. “I-i-i-is that so?”
She’s not going to let him have the satisfaction over her again. If he wants to write again, so be it—as long he stays far away from her and her publishing company. The nightmares of working with him have only just stopped recently.
“Why yes. In fact, I already decided I want to work with you again, Micchan. You were so good with me the first time.”
If this were an anime, Mitsuru would have turned straight white with only an outline defining her.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” She screeches out and starts sobbing loudly into Ritsu’s shoulder. “I thought I was free! I thought the evil has been defeated but no, the evil has returned! Probably tenfold! No a hundredfold! No, probably a thousandfold!!”
“Actually a millionfold.”
“Sensei! Please I beg of you, please reconsider!”
“Yes, Shigure-nii, please reconsider.” Ritsu defends his girlfriend. He remembers the horrors of what Misturu went through as Shigure’s editor and wishes she doesn’t have to go through that again.
“ But I already sent in the manuscript.”
“You’re joking!?”
“I am.”
Her face drops as she realizes she had been played. She curses his name as she punches his arm in fast repetition with each insult .
“Sensei, you jerk. Idiot. Bastard. Meanie. Son of a bitch.” She keeps going adding more creative insults as she goes. Shigure laughs it off paying her no mind. Akito sips her tea as the commotion is happening to her, knowing he fully deserv es it.
“ Akito, how you sit there and let me be abused by this woman?” Shigure whines, hoping she would defend him.
“ You know fully well this is the price of your sins.”
“Though I am surprised, G ure-san , that you w ould announce such a thing.”
Ayame sits in dressed what he called his ‘New Year’s ensemble’ that only a handful of people (namely Tohru) were impressed with. Mine sits next to him dressed in her usual maid uniform that makes one wonder if she wears anything other than that.
“ Well, what can I say? I had to end the year on a good note.~”
“You call torturing me a ‘good note’???”
“See, she gets it.”
“ When you announced you were going to be writing again, my heart jumped in shock! Did something happen between you two? Do I need to intervene as a relationship counselor Gure-san.”
“No no. There’s no need really. Besides, I’m plenty busy at the main house already.”
“ Like lazying around and bugging me when I’m trying to work.” Akito confesses not wanting him to have his way—not this time.
“I do more than that.”
“You’re right. Sometimes you read when you’re supposed to be filing paperwork.”
S higure slumps in defeat, knowing he can’t win against her.
Tohru watches around the room, at the smiles on everyone’s faces and the laughter that rings in her ears. She has never felt more blessed than this evening to be surrounded by friends and a new makeshift family she found herself stitched in. She offers her prayers to someone above that there will be many years to come just like this night.
“ Akito-san!” She shouts out from her end of the table. “Thank you so much for arranging this reunion!”
Akito almost chokes on her tea when she hears that but expresses her appreciation for the gratitude.
“ It was no trouble at all.” She replies honestly. When Tohru had requested a reunion for New Year’s, she had all but dropped everything to prepare. (Shigure was impressed at how fast she made the arrangements but she would never admit that.)
T he clock ticks closer to midnight. With each second passing, the gathering anxiously awaits the new year. When the minute and hour hands strike the final hour, it rings out across the room, welcoming in the new year. Cheers erupt as each occupant raises their glasses and chant out:
“Happy New Year!”