422 Chapter one, 2018, Hatsumode: 7 (1/2)

'So he caught up with us in he end.' Yukio grinned. 'Man, that was outright evil of you!' He wondered how long Ryu had waited outside the restroom by the stairs before he understood Kuri wouldn't appear there.

Between bites of food Yukio looked at where Ryu and Kuri stood talking. He felt Kyoko's hand squeeze his and by now he knew her well enough to know how her smile threatened to spread into a grin without having to turn his head.

”He looks happy,” she said, and Yukio heard how it already had.

He swallowed what he had in his mouth. ”Don't you think he's had enough?”

Yukio felt Kyoko shake her head through her grip on his hand. ”Urufu's your best friend. Ryu needs to learn to stay away.”

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'But Kuri's your best friend. What about sabotaging their date?' ”Kyoko, I'm good for now. I believe Ryu got the message.”

Kyoko pulled his hand, forcing Yukio to turn and face her. A smidgeon of an ice cold gust gripped his neck when his muffler came loose for a moment. ”He hasn't. Maybe he never will.” Her voice held a hardness Yukio wasn't used to hear.

”Give them a break, will you?” Yukio pulled Kyoko along with him and made some distance between them and Ryu. While Kyoko and Noriko were bound to come up with something sooner or later, Kuri and Ryu could at least enjoy the company of each other for now.

They caught up with Tomasu and Jeniferu and joined them in the queue to the shrine. Yukio glanced at Tomasu to see what he thought of the Japanese customs. Two years together with Urufu made Yukio look upon what was considered normal with new eyes. To his surprise Tomasu seemed perfectly unperturbed, but Jeniferu was giddy with excitement.

'Strange.' Yukio knew Tomasu hadn't lived in Japan during his previous life. 'Ah, of course!' He had, however, worked as a professor teaching Japanese in Sweden. It made sense that kind of work included learning about Japanese culture as well as the language. 'Urufu says the New Year's celebrations is the big event for fireworks in Sweden.' Apparently it was in most of the western world.

”You done this before?” Yukio asked the couple ahead of him. He didn't direct the question to any of them, but given how Jeniferu bounced up and down in the queue he could guess about her answer.

Both of them turned and shook their heads. ”I spent last year back home,” Jeniferu said. ”And you?” she added and looked at Tomasu.

He smirked and looked back. ”What do you think?”

'Now that's oddly cold, man!'

Jeniferu didn't look taken aback at all. ”With your personality I think you'd rather read about Hatsumode than taking part in it,” she said.

He blushed.

'No, you didn't!' ”Man, really?”

He blushed some more. ”I didn't want to look like a foreign buffoon,” Tomasu admitted. ”Then I found out you were supposed to go with friends and family.”

”So why didn't….” 'Oh, now that's just sad.' ”Sorry I said anything.”

Yukio watched Jeniferu cuddle up closer to her boyfriend. ”You're among friends this year,” she said.