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People bustled around making the most out of the last week of December. The night is young, and so are the children playing tag along the streets of Sagiri Village. Their smiles are innocent and pure, in contrast to the one of full of mischief lacing Kochou Shinobu's lips.
The girl around her twenties has situated herself in front of a fairly sized home inside the village. When talking about decorations, the house is anything but bare. However, she couldn't hear any sounds coming from inside. No party, no blaring music. Just nothing. Normal people would say they're missing out the holiday spirit, thinking nobody's home.
But Shinobu isn't normal. She knew better than to leave in peace. And so, she starts pressing the doorbell with her finger and breathes in air, as she prepares herself for another attempt of a Christmas sing-along session.
"ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, THE BARMAN SENT TO ME, A LARGE LONG ISLAND ICED TEAAA~"
Shinobu, in her naturally calm yet sinister voice, sings in a high pitched tone made to intentionally annoy people within the vicinity. Clasped firmly by her right hand is a plastic bottle with a few coins inside, used to hit her left hand to create a sound accompanying her singing.
"ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, THE BARMAN SENT TO ME, FOUR FREAKY TEQUILAS, AND I TELL YOU, THEY TASTE AWESOME!"
Shinobu strikes the bottle once again and carried on with her singing. Fifteen minutes has passed and she's on her fourth song after Silent Night. Yet, the target she's aiming for hadn't released himself from his hiding place, and she's getting impatient.
"You're not getting out, huh?" she mutters, completely pissed off.
Her butterfly harpin glistens under the beautiful moon whose witness of her lifting her leg up to reach the top of the gate. Lucky for her, it's not that tall, and climbing it is a piece of cake. Of course, she didn't abandon her beautiful song number.
"ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, THE BARMAN SENT TO ME SEVEN GIN MARTINIS, FIVE CASES OF SOJU , A BOTTLE OF JOHNNY WALKER, OPEN THE DOOR YOU M*TH*RF*CK*R!"
Swinging her arms backward to gain additional force and jerking it forward, Shinobu lets go of her oh so precious musical instrument bottle as soon as the house's front door opened hitting the one person standing by the door right in the middle of his forehead.
Kochou Shinobu smiles. She succeeded. Right in front of her, watching her sitting comfortably on top of the gate with legs dangling, is Tomioka Giyuu, in all glory of his poker face and a cloth similar to a blanket in thickness draped around his shoulders.
"Oh, you finally decided to come out of your worm hole, Tomioka-san!" Shinobu chirps at the man who continues to stare at her wordlessly.
"... Kochou, you should stop singing about alcohol. There are kids around. It's not even Christmas."
The girl merely ignored the advice and leaps, landing in two feet on the ground perfectly. Her footsteps were muffled in the grass as she walks toward him with an 'innocent' smile.
"It made you open the door, so I don't really have a problem with it. Now, aren't you gonna let your pretty girlfriend in?"
"... You're not pretty?"
There are times when Shinobu thought Giyuu's stupidity reached its limit that she has to give him a quick slap. There are also times when he does stupid things purposely just to spite her. Tonight is one of those times.
"You didn't open the door until fifteen minutes later. You had me waiting while straining my ankles and legs, Tomioka-san. And now, you can't even compliment me? My, my you sure are cold-hearted. No wonder nobody likes you."
"But you do."
"Quit it."
Seeing Giyuu has no desire to let her get inside, Shinobu decides to welcome herself into the house and pushed past him. Giyuu, no other choice but to go along, closes the door behind him and trots his way to the living room where he had been curling since morning.
"Have you taken your medicine already? What about dinner? You can't eat medicine while your stomach is empty," Shinobu starts to interrogate.
While she's speaking, she kept herself busy with looking for useful ingredients in the fridge that she can use. Five years of being together with Giyuu taught her that aside from being the girlfriend (or boyfriend sometimes), she has to act as a mom as well, especially when he gets too irresponsible with his health.
"How did you know I got sick?" Giyuu calls out from the living room.
"I'm not blind, Tomioka-san. I can see you looking like a dead fish over there," she answers, grabbing a bowl and starts cutting dices of the pre-cooked chicken she miraculously found inside the freezer. "You didn't come to the reunion party, and Shinazugawa-san told me. I can't belive you two became textmates when you basically just wanna rip each other's throats back in high school."
"Things change, Kochou."
"And you still can't call me by my first name."
"Because you would turn red and start slapping me, which is the same result you'll get when you call me by my first name. Or could it be that you like my last name so much?—What the heck? Stop throwing knives. I thought you want to nurse me. Why are you trying to kill me?"
"You talk too much the moment you start, Tomioka-san."
Shinobu's positive her whole face is burning red to the tips of her ears. She tries to focus her attention on the soup she's making but somehow she always get distracted. She wasn't supposed to be like that. Kochou Shinobu is the woman who lets others get affected of her presence, not the other way around. But Tomioka Giyuu had sent her world spinning.
They had known each other since middle school—the girl with a scary smile and the guy with no smile at all. Fast forward to high school, they're the same duo but with different set of friends. Giyuu went with his best friend, Sabito, and Shinobu with upperclassmen she hung out with as part of the student council, Mitsuri and Sanemi. But even so, she never fails to give him a daily dose of her 'nobody likes you' phrase. Strangely, it made them closer than anyone else.
University made life a living hell for them. Shinobu pursued her pharmaceutical degree somewhere in the city. Sabito went abroad to pursue his studies there. Mitsuri took over her family business. Surprisingly, Sanemi and Giyuu, two guys who were regulars at their high school's detention room, built good friendship and even lived together as roommates. It was tough. College life was never easy, and not being able to see each other like they usually, do is very odd, almost too odd to add pain to something inside them. They're miles apart.
And so, they wrote to each other. They sent mails, had midnight calls that lasted until 4 am, and met as much as they can.
"Kochou, do you wanna be with me?"
"Hmm, that depends. Can you call me by my first name, Tomioka-san?"
"I don't know. Can you, Shinobu?"
"..."
"Does that mean yes?"
"!!!!!"
"..."
"I wanna be with you."
"So I have to get punched first?"
"No pain, no gain~"
It has been five years since then. A lot has changed, but he's still the same Giyuu who annoys her and who she wants to annoy so much.
*****
The empty bowl rests on top of the coffee table. The television switches from one program to another in one quick press on the remote buttons.
"Why are you so indecisive? Just pick any show you want."
"I need something that'll keep you awake until 12."
Shinobu continues to press on the remote, slowly getting irritated at the lack of interesting programs reflecting the small box.
"I'm okay already. I just have to huddle close to you and no more medicine needed."
A vein mark popped on the young girl's forehead and she elbows the man beside her.
"You'll give me the flu, Tomioka-san. And stop being so stubborn, or I'll leave and let your corpse rot in this abode."
As Shinobu goes back to her business of looking for shows to watch while squatting on the sofa, a question is thrown to her direction a almost threw her off the edge of the furniture.
"Kochou, do you like my last name?"
"What kind of question is that, Tomioka-san? Are you suddenly having name insecurities now?"
When she notices the male did not answer, Shinobu sighs and sets down the remote, facing him completely afterwards. A completely serious look etched on his face and his gaze piercing through her, it made her chest feel tight. Suddenly, she feels it's hard to breathe.
"Do you like my last name?"
Deciding it's pointless to leave the question since he's just gonna ask again anyway, Shinobu swallows every bit of embarrassment she has. She can sing out of tune in front of people for all she care, yet here she is, cowering.
"Yes, I like your last name. If I don't, why would I always address you using it?"
"Then, would you like to use it forever?"
Silence.
The silence is deafening. Or was it her heartbeat thumping, as if wanting to escape from her ribcage?
"Why are y-you suddenly offering your last name to people, Tomioka-san?"
An awkward laugh came out from her lips in an attempt to cover the stuttered words. Yet, she can't even find the voice to speak when he starts to reach from behind him, showing her a box of deep violet color. It was the same color as her hair, and the gem that glistened as he opens it resembles her eyes so much as everytime it sparkles under his gaze.
Tomioka Giyuu is proposing. To her.
Never did Shinobu ever thought of this day happening. Though she may never admit it, she had dreamed of it. In those five years, she had always wished for it to last forever. She continues to crave for more days to be with him, more words to say, more moments to share, more Christmas to celebrate, more songs to be sung, more and more chances for her to call his name.
".. Shinobu?"
His usually ice cold voice sounds so warm, and it made more of her tears fell, even after he has enveloped her into a hug. She felt safe, in place, at home. He's her home.
"Tomioka-san, I wanna marry you, if that's what you're asking," she says in between sobs, and she felt him stiffen.
He pulls away, taking her hand in his and slowly slipping the ring in her finger. He's shaking, she thought.
"My, my, Tomioka-san. Proposing days after Christmas while you are sick, and you even asked the wrong question so you'll get the answer you want. You sure are bad with words," she chuckles, gazing at the ring on her finger with a smile, this time, a genuine smile out of pure happiness.
"This way, you can have my last name, the name you like so much."
Giyuu goes back to his curling position on the sofa and leans to her. Shinobu couldn't help but smile.
"Who says I'm gonna take your last name when we get married?"
"So you want me to take your last name instead?"
"Kochou Giyuu. It has a nice ring to it."
"It sounds weird."
"And this is how you assert dominance, Tomioka-san. Now, how about that glass of martini?"
"I thought were staying up until 12 for my meds. You really just wanna kill me. Also, you're tone deaf."
"I might just kill you right now, Tomioka-san."
In the end, they both fell asleep in each other's arms, waiting for the new day to come, a new day to celebrate for it is one step closer the dream of being together 'til eternity.