A/N: I felt like this story needed a better cover, so that's that...Also, there have been some changes to the story summary, whether you noticed or not.  If not, there is some sad news...This is the second to last chapter of this story, meaning the next update will be the last.  I really hate to end such a popular story so suddenly, but it has to happen because I've been lacking ideas and inspiration for this story.  That being said, I really hope you'll take the time to check some of my other works out.  Enjoy!

     Yuichiro arrived on the scene early.  Not because he really wants to help Shinoa set up for her stupid party like she had asked him to, but because he needs to scope out the place for good hiding spots and make sure that none of the decorations were too offensive.  Yuichiro huffs, looking past Shinoa as she opens the door for him and scanning the decorations.  Shimmering ribbons in all sorts of dark reds, blues, and greens line the ceiling and floor and everything in between.  It looked as if a tired rainbow had thrown up all over the tiny room.  "Not too horrible," Yuichiro mutters under his breath.

     Shinoa smiles with false innocence, playing with the hem of her skirt as she bows in gratitude.  "I'm glad you think so."  She holds the door open wider for him.

     Yuichiro snuffles as he scoots inside, kicking his shoes off somewhere by the door.  Mitsuba is still adding decorations, standing atop a chair as she tapes more ribbon streamers to the ceiling.  Shinoa's desk had been stacked recklessly on top of Mitsuba's to make more room, and its chair pushed to the side in the dark of the corner.  Yuichiro hesitates to sit in it, seeing as it was right in reach of any toppling desks, but decides to just take a seat.  "So," he starts, "who, exactly, is coming to this little party of yours?"

     Shinoa puts a finger to her lip in thought.  "Well, basically, just the whole gang.  Guren, Shinya, Yoichi, Kimizuki..."  Yuichiro barely pays attention to what she's really saying, just waiting to hear her say just one certain name.  "Oh, and our special guest, Mika!" she adds at last with a smirk in her voice.

     Yuichiro grumbles at the last part, the part he had been waiting to hear.  He almost has to ask Shinoa to repeat herself because he hadn't been paying too much attention to anything else she just said.  Wanting to save himself from that embarrassment, though, Yuichiro just safely assumes that it would be their usual group.  No more, no less.

     There's a knock on the door not a second later.  Shinoa leans off of the wall she had been using for support when talking to Yuichiro, sliding towards the door.  "I got it."

     "I guess I didn't come all that early after all," Yuichiro mumbles to himself.

     Shinoa swings the door open, revealing Yoichi, who had jumped slightly at Shinoa's slightly violent welcoming, and the hot headed Kimizuki.  He and Yuichiro may have been slight friends by now, but it was more of a love hate relationship, so Yuichiro still clicked his tongue when Kimizuki entered.  Shinoa dismisses Yuichiro's behaviors.  "Welcome to the party!  Did you bring any food?"  Shinoa studies their empty hands dramatically, as if searching for even the smallest morsel of food.

     Yoichi nearly starts panicking, frantically explaining that he hadn't known he was supposed to bring food.  "No, we didn't," Kimizuki snaps, shutting Yoichi up.  He's not in the mood for Shinoa's games.

     Shinoa sighs, her lilac hair swishing back and forth as she shakes her head in disappointment.  "What a shame.  Luckily for you, I have a lot of chips stocked up in the drawers of that desk stacked over there."

     With that, Kimizuki turns to look at the dangerous looking tower of desks in the corner by Yuichiro, who isn't nearly as important to ridicule as this monstrous skyscraper.  How is Kimizuki supposed to get up there and get anything out of those drawers without making the whole dresser come crashing to the ground?  That, and Kimizuki also had to wonder about one other thing.  "Where do you keep all of your clothes if all of your drawers are clogged up with junk food?"

     Shinoa sniffs agitatedly.  "Under my bed, usually.  And if you haven't noticed, I have a pretty simple sense of fashion, so it's not like I need to own that much clothing, anyway.  Besides, I usually just do my laundry every other day so I don't have to worry about it."

     "It's true," Mitsuba validates, taking a seat in the chair she had been standing on previously.

     "How can you even afford that?" Yuichiro mutters.

     A loud thud comes from outside the dorm that could have been excused as a knock, but it was really just Guren trying to bust in.  He yanks the door open, Shinya beside him.  The white haired man is holding two white plastic bags that look pretty heavy.  "We're here!" Guren announces loudly.

     Shinoa looks at Shinya's bags curiously.  "Oh, somebody did bring food?  What do you have?"

     Shinya sets the bags on the bed, tearing the plastic bags away from the contents inside.  "We brought drinks!"  Revealed to be inside the bags are two cases of some sort of alcohol inside glass bottles.

     "For the older people," Guren adds matter-of-factly.  

     Shinya rolls his eyes playfully.  "Oh, but Guren!  Silly us!  Only we're old enough to drink this!"  The whole thing sounded like a staged skit.

     Yuichiro rolls his eyes at the two hysterical adults.  "Oh, please.  It sounds like you two already had quite enough."

     The last one to arrive on scene is Mikaela, poor guy.  By the time he gets there, the party is already in full swing.  When Shinoa answers the door, she's shaking her body to the beat of the music playing inside and hollering noisily.  Kimizuki and Yoichi are low key cuddling on Mitsu's bed, and Guren and Shinya are getting wasted away on Shinoa's.  Mitsuba is dancing around the chair in the middle of the room.  One of their laptops is stacked at the top of the mountain of desks, playing the live New Year's celebration.  Tucked away behind the desks is Yuichiro, glaring grumpily at everyone, while also trying to ignore the fact that Mika is at the door.  Mikaela just watches dumbfoundedly as streamers fall down from the ceiling and add to the collection.

     "Well, what are you waiting for?" Shinoa asks loudly.  "Come join the party!  Woohoo!"  She's about to walk away when she remembers something else.  "Oh, you did bring food, right?"

     Mikaela's whole face turns bright red with embarrassment, almost just like Yoichi's had.  "Um, I-I'm really sorry.  Was I supposed to?  I-I guess it just slipped my mind."

     Shinoa rolls her eyes.  "So rude.  Don't worry about it, though.  Nobody else brought anything, either.  Just poor Mitsu and I to take care of all you fat, hungry pigs!"

     "You're the fat, hungry pig here, Shinoa," Mitsuba retorts spitefully.

     Shinya lifts up a bottle of whatever he had been drinking.  He giggles like a little child, his porcelain skin tinted with drunkenness.  "We did!  Guren and I brought something!"  He breaks out into a fit of childish laughter, all of his words slurring together.

     Guren hits Shinya on the head lightly with his own glass bottle.  "You get drunk too easily," Guren points out agitatedly between hiccups.

     Mikaela finally takes a hesitated step inside, Shinoa slamming the door closed behind him.  He automatically heads towards the back of the room, as directed by his antisocial instinct.  Yuichiro's face grows to be a bit red as he realizes that Mikaela is coming closer.  Mikaela blinks in surprise when he sees Yuichiro hiding in the back corner.  "O-Oh, so you are here."

     Yuichiro shrinks back reflexively.  "Yeah...Sorry," he apologizes for no apparent reason.

     Mikaela cocks his head to the side in confusion, looking down at Yuu in his little wooden chair that he hadn't left all night.  "Sorry?  Why?  I mean, I've been meaning to apologize to you...Yuu.  Uh, I'm sorry about what I did...earlier."  Mikaela twiddles his thumbs awkwardly as Yuichiro looks off to the side, trying to decipher what Mikaela meant by that.  Mikaela bites his bottom lip unsurely.

     "Oh!"  Yuichiro's head perks up in realization, a blush spreading in darker colors over his cheeks.  "You mean this?"  With that, Yuichiro gets off of his chair and plants his lips on Mikaela's.  Just like that, it's as if all else has stopped.  Everything is quiet, and the universe is focused around nothing but those two.  Though, at one point, Yuichiro could have sworn he heard Shinoa saying something about midnight approaching.

     "Oh~" she coos in awe, everyone stopping and looking Mikaela and Yuu's direction, as if his face couldn't be any more red.