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It would soon be the new year in this dimly lit apartment, crowded with rowdy students from college. Shuichi isn’t usually one to attend such events, since the sounds and conversations that people strike up with him tend to be too much for him, so he thought about inviting a close friend, Maki, hoping she might turn him down (and he could then decide that they not attend this party together).
But to his slight dismay, she had said yes. Shuichi wonders if Maki has an ulterior motive, as they would usually bond over their shared displeasure at big social gatherings.
He finds out her goal the moment she shrugs over her shoulder.
“That guy with the spiky purple hair, over there, do you know him?”
Shuichi glances over to where Maki had gestured.
“Him? Oh, n-not really,” he replies, “he’s in one of my classes. We haven’t talked much…he’s kinda cute.”
“Pfft, I guess. If you like dummies.”
Shuichi smiles. “You find him cute too, huh?”
Maki punches Shuichi’s shoulder playfully as her answer, and he chuckles at that. He leans in closer to Maki, topping off the drink in her hand with more booze for liquid courage, just in case. “Y’know, maybe, you could go talk to him.”
“Maybe I could.”
Maki strides over after taking a sip off her cup, for good luck, Shuichi supposes.
If they hit it off tonight, Shuichi thinks he would be happy to see it. Two pretty people who look good together…they seem like a good match in his eyes. He doesn’t know very much about the purple boy in his class, but with what little he’s seen of him, with how carefree and confidently he carries himself and how anyone around him always left with a bright smile, he knows the boy would treat Maki well.
How would Maki treat someone she loves, Shuichi wonders?
He wouldn’t know for sure, but if it’s anything as kind as how she treats her close friends, like him, he feels assured for the guy she’s hitting on now.
There is a minute left to the year in this apartment, yet each second seems stretched out by the drowning noise of partying college students. Shuichi would normally want to be anywhere else, but he can’t take his eyes off Maki and the purple boy now. They seem to be getting along surprisingly well. Maybe the drink was helping Maki open up better than usual to strangers. Maybe she liked him more than he first thought. Shuichi should be happy for her.
A tightness begins to form in his chest, and he can’t quite place a reason for it.
Some students start chanting a countdown from twenty.
Shuichi stands in an awkward corner as the countdown continues. He downs the rest of his drink, eyes fixated on Maki and her crush as they lower their drinks and lean in closer, deep in discussion. The guy puts a hand on her shoulder, and Shuichi feels his stomach sink.
The countdown goes to ten. Nine. Eight.
Maki leans in closer to the guy, laughing. Shuichi’s rarely seen her laugh so heartily. It must be nice, being the recipient of that.
He hopes they would never catch him staring at them.
Five. Four. Three. Two.
Shuichi’s eyes widen as Maki tilts her head up, forehead meeting with the other man’s. Noses touching. One.
Their lips meet. She’s done it.
The cheers of a happy new year resound around him. It’s almost too much.
Shuichi opens his mouth, pretending to cheer too, but his voice drowns out in the others. He turns to face the drinks table, hoping for a distraction. Maybe more alcohol would help numb the misplaced emptiness he’s suddenly feeling.
But he’s stopped before he reaches for another bottle. A firm hand pulls him back from his shoulder, spinning him around. It’s the purple-haired guy again.
His face looks better up close.
Where’s Maki?
“Hey, you,” he asks, chuckling voice a little tipsy, “you with that girl from earlier, Maki? The one in red?”
“Y-yes?” Shuichi sheepishly replies.
“Okay good. I kissed her earlier, s-so I have to kiss you now, too.”
“You what ?”
“It’s only right,” he says, mustering up all he can to sound determined. It makes Shuichi fluster.
He’s pulled in closer by him, and tastes whiskey as their lips meet for a shy kiss. For a kiss so short, it feels like an eternity to Shuichi. When they part, the softness of the guy’s lips and the tickle of stubble from his chin is all Shuichi can feel, pinpricks lingering on his skin. His face is probably a bright shade of red now, not that anyone can see in the dim lighting of this room. Everything is too warm.
“I should go,” Shuichi says, turning away from the guy he just kissed, only to bump into Maki.
Firm hands grab him by the arms to stop his unceremonious fall. Shuichi looks up, seeing Maki’s face in amusement and disbelief. “Wow, he actually did it. How was it?”
The kiss? “I should be asking you,” Shuichi blurts out. Maki chuckles.
“I was right, he’s a dumbass.”
Shuichi turns around to glance back at the guy who just kissed them both. The same guy is now passed out on a nearby couch.
“His name is Kaito,” Maki says, “and he thinks we’re dating. So, you get a kiss too.”
Shuichi doesn’t know what to process first, so he asks, “you didn’t stop him?”
“I couldn’t,” she shrugs in reply, “he’s too fast. The empty head space makes him lighter.”
They laugh for a bit.
“I’m surprised you didn’t correct him either.” Maki teases.
“He made it hard to!”
“Too smooth?”
“He’s so…driven.”
Maki’s eyes meet Shuichi’s, and she lets out a small giggle. “So, you find him cute too, I see.”
Shuichi sighs. He can’t deny that.
Kaito wakes up on his friend’s couch at 11 AM in the new year, with a pounding in his head.
The first thing he does (when he is able) is to reach for his phone.
The second thing he does is try to recall what happened last night, as he opens the notifications that had built up while he was passed out.
He had been added to a group chat at around 1 AM, with a number he doesn’t recognize, and a contact with the name ‘Maki Harukawa’. The first text in there, from Maki, reads:
Hey Kaito, hope you feel better when you wake up. It was nice meeting you.
It is followed by a photo of two people posing in front of Kaito, passed out on his friend’s couch. A smirking girl in red, and an awkward boy in blue. Kaito remembers now.
He’s kissed them both. What was he thinking?
Not much beyond the fact that they are both pretty , the voice in his head chides, before another thought pushes for him to text them back.
They could all talk about it and laugh together, and he gets the chance to meet them sober, and perhaps start over.
It couldn’t hurt.