A/N: I really have no excuses (lol). Just got caught up in other fandoms and lost inspiration in this fic. I kind of looked at my profile and realized 'wELL SHIT IT'S BEEN MORE THAN A YEAR' and decided to write more. Rip.

This is based loosely off of Chapter 65 of the manga (shoutout to Yuri Ronova Dev for recommending it, I have quite a list of manga chapters to go off of thanks to you and everyone else :D). Although, you may note that the ending is all noncanon.

You may note that my writing style has changed a bit, and this'll be less canon-heavy and more...story-like?

Thank you, you dorks, for continuing to read this fic! You're the only reason I'm still writing this lmao.

"Ruri-chan, hurry up!" Maiko called, waving at her approaching figure.

Ruri scowled, tugging at her flower-patterned kimono (a furisoude, to be more exact) and glancing at her companions. "I don't see why I need to wear my hair up," she commented dryly, the statement immediately being met with several protests.

"B-but, Ruri-chan, you look pretty!" Kosaki protested, pouting slightly as she smiled at her friend.

"It's tradition! After all, what kind of girl doesn't wear their hair up for New Year's greetings?" Tachibana laughed, covering her mouth slightly with her hand. Thoughtfully, the red-haired girl added, "You probably should've worn another hair ornament, Miyamoto-san. I think that's gold hairpin would've suited your outfit quite exquisitely."

"We're not as rich as you are, Tachibana-san," Ruri deadpanned. Eyes flickering to Chitoge, who was fiddling with her obi as a fussy Tsugumi looked on, she amended, "Most of us aren't as rich as you are."

Chitoge, having finally stopped messing with her obi, looked up and grinned, slapping Ruri on the back cheerfully. Ruri inwardly winced: the blonde didn't know her own strength, sometimes. "Well, I'm not wearing any fancy hair ornament either, so I guess we're in the same boat. Besides, you look pretty cool, Miyamoto!"

The sincerity in the girl's voice made Ruri pause for a moment before inclining her head in acknowledgment. "Thank you, Kirisaki-san."

"It's not Kirisaki, it's Chitoge," The girl corrected, ribbon bouncing in the air slightly as she whipped her head around. "Ah, look, we're here!" Immediately, all the girls (except for Ruri) became a bundle of nerves, each glancing self-consciously at their attire to make sure it was in prim condition. Ruri watched the scene somewhat amusedly.

"They're way too obvious, aren't they?" Maiko commented, his own amusement seeping into his voice. Ruri made no outward expression to show that she had heard the comment, her face staying extremely placid.

"They are," she admitted in a monotonous voice, although there was a fond glint in her eyes that belied her true emotions. As annoying and loud as the classroom could be sometimes, with Raku and his harem (Ruri refused to call it anything but a harem), it was also much more lively and friendly. Before, Ruri had only had Kosaki as company. And as lovely as the girl was, it was refreshing to go to the nearby temple with a group of friends, rather than just Haru and Kosaki. "Remind me again, why did we want to meet at Ichijou's?"

"Raku has no idea about this meeting," Maiko confided with a grin. "I just figured that if we were all going to drop by to greet him for New Year's, we might as well all do it together."

"You just wanted to see how this played out, didn't you?" Ruri deadpanned, rolling her eyes. Although she got no response, the shit-eating smirk on Maiko's face said it all. "You're extremely immature sometimes, Maiko."

"It's Shuu, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah."

The door opened, and immediately all of the girls who were fiddling with their kimono looked up and smiled. "Happy New Year!" (Ruri didn't even bother chiming in: their voices were too excited for her taste.)

"Hey, Raku. Happy New Year!" Maiko greeted the shocked looking black haired boy. Ruri could tell that Maiko was basking in his best friend's stunned stammering. The other girls began adding their own personalized greetings. "Happy New Year, Raku-sama!" "Happy New Year, Ichijou-kun."

"Wh...wh...wh…" Ruri could hardly blame Ichijou for looking so shocked. "Why is everyone here? And in kimonos.."

"Hahaha….well? Shocked you, didn't we?" Chitoge said somewhat smugly, coughing awkwardly. Maiko must have already told the girl to cover him, for the blonde lied, "I was talking to everyone, and I thought it'd be better if we all came so we could visit the shrine together."

"...you and her planned this together, didn't you?" Ruri muttered under her breath. Maiko laughed awkwardly, refusing to reply.

"Hey, now...it's not like I have enough food for everyone…" Raku looked inside his house reluctantly, still hovering awkwardly at the threshold of the house.

One of the men from inside Ichijou's house popped out. "Sir! The missus called beforehand, so we have enough food for everyone!"

"Hey, hey, hey! You're in the cahoots with them?" Ichijou protested, sounding betrayed. Chitoge ignored him, strolling right past the shocked black haired boy and declaring that she was coming in.

"Ah~ I'm so jealous of you, Raku. You have a beautiful troop of girls coming to see you at your place on New Year's Day! How nice~" Maiko commented, flashing Ichijou one of those idiotic grins of his. Although Ichijou protested, Ruri noted that his cheeks were slightly red. After calming down, the black haired boy turned to Kosaki.

Immediately, the two turned a fierce shade of red. (No matter how many times Ruri saw it, that would never get old.) "Do I look weird?" Kosaki asked. Inwardly, Ruri nodded in approval: the girl was doing something right, at least. She had been telling her friend to be a little more forward in her advances (it wasn't like Ruri was blind: she could see how the atmosphere between Ichijou and Chitoge was changing).

"No...not at all," Ichijou stammered, and at this, Kosaki smiled and laughed.

Sighing, Ruri followed Maiko into the house, observing it somewhat critically. It looked different than how she thought a yakuza base would be, but then again, there must've been quite an interesting environment for Ichijou to end up the way he was. Sitting down in one of the rooms besides Maiko (to her displeasure, the other girls had purposefully sat in a position that left only the spot next to him open), Ruri sighed.

The tension in her shoulders alleviating slightly as she determined the house as a non hostile area, Ruri blinked as Chitoge came bounding into the room with a basket of chocolate sweets. "Here, everyone, take one~" the blonde offered. As proper Japanese etiquette dictated, Ruri accepted the sweet, nodding her head in thanks. Chitoge made her way around the room, handing a chocolate to each of them.

Suddenly, Tachibana got to her feet and declared, "Let's play karuta!"

"Uta-garuta or iroha-karuta?" Ruri questioned immediately, and she surprised herself with the amount of interest that leaked into her voice.

"Uta-garuta, obviously," Tachibana rolled her eyes, spreading out the cards on the ground. "I'll have you know that I've been practicing."

Ruri simply smirked.

About four rounds later, Ruri sat triumphantly, nearly all of the cards beside her as she watched Maiko dramatically sob and Tachibana sputter in disbelief. "What are you, a competitive karuta player?" Maiko bemoaned, placing his hand to his forehead melodramatically. "Oh, Ruri-chan, you're too talented."

"Shut up, Maiko," Ruri deadpanned.

"This is humiliating," Tachibana wailed, although Ruri could tell that the redhead was only half serious. With a dramatic gesture that mirrored Maiko's, Tachibana unwrapped the chocolate Chitoge had given her earlier and plopped it in her mouth. "Only the chocolate from Raku-sama can comfort me…" she whimpered, grabbing another handful of chocolate bonbons from the basket and eating them at a furious pace.

Ah, right. Ruri had forgotten about said chocolate. Glancing down at the candy in her lap, she unwrapped it and ate it as well. Strange, there was something about the taste that didn't feel completely chocolate... Immediately after she swallowed, Ruri realized what the sensation was. Head whipping around, Ruri called, "Kosaki! Don't eat…" Her warning trailed off as she realized her friend already had a flushed expression.

She grimaced, holding her head. Ruri had never been one for liquor.

"Ah, Ruri-chan...is something the matter?" Maiko asked casually, plopping another bonbon in his mouth.

"Alcohol," Ruri moaned, her head pounding slightly. It was slightly pathetic how fast she had been defeated by one small bonbon. Ruri feared the day when she'd be looped into a drinking outing with friends in the future.

Maiko observed her face with a somewhat worried expression before standing up. "I'll go check with Raku to see if there's anything that can help. You stay here, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ruri waved away the boy, already feeling a bit tipsy. She mumbled, "Just hurry up, Shuu."

The boy stiffened for a moment before sighing and bending down to look at Ruri eye-to-eye. "You know, I always wanted for you to call me by my first name, but I didn't want for you to start in this sort of way, Ruri," Shuu admitted quietly. Then, he stood up and waved. "Don't die in the few minutes while I'm gone, Ruri-chan~"

The door slid shut behind him.

A few minutes later, Ruri heard a crash and a yelp and immediately knew that the boy wasn't coming back anytime soon.

"Stupid Shuu...no, Maiko…" she mumbled before shaking her head. She had to snap out of this. She had to talk about something else, something that could distract her from thinking about that glasses-wearing idiot. What were you studying before this? Ah, that's right, Japan's economy. Think GDP. The stock market. Our rising debt.

The door slid open, but Ruri could already tell from the rather uneven footsteps that it wasn't Maiko. "Oh, Miyamoto! So you're okay. Never thought you wouldn't be, though," Ichijou laughed somewhat relievedly.

"Yes, of course I am. But right now, Japan isn't" Ruri growled.

Think economics. Stupid politicians. Not brown hair, not that infuriating grin, not…

"We are reaching the limits of our ever climbing debt. We can't see the signs with the fall of employment right now. The worsening decline in birthrate and its several side effects are showing in the world. The politicians are just worried about raising taxes even more," Ruri lectured, half to Ichijou and half to herself.

Like any sane, rational person, Ichijou backed away, leaving Ruri to her own devices.

Shuu opened his eyes somewhat wearily. Through his blurry vision, he could see a figure…? His hands reached for his glasses but found nothing but air. Then, he felt something warm slide his glasses into his hands.

Putting on his glasses and boosting himself up, Shuu mumbled, "Wasn't I just over at Raku's? Where...am I?"

"If you can't recognize your own house, then I think I should've taken you to the hospital instead," a feminine voice rang out from behind him. Immediately, Shuu looked to his right, identifying the source of the voice immediately.

"Ruri-chan! It's always nice to wake up in the morning and see your beautiful face-" Shuu would've ranted more, but the black haired girl cut him off.

"It's evening, idiot," she replied scathingly. "And cut the idiotic rambling or I'll make you regret having me lug you back to your house in the first place."

Shuu wisely shut up. "Why are we at my house? How do you even know where I live?" He couldn't help but ask, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "Why didn't we stay at Raku's?"

"Tachibana, Kosaki, Seishirou-san, and Kirisaki all got drunk," Ruri explained. "I figured that we weren't safe if we stayed there."

"So you left Raku and the girls to their own devices?" Shuu summarized. Ruri nodded. He continued, grinning mischievously, "Oh, Ruri-chan, you naughty girl. I knew there was a pervert inside of you-"

He was sent flying with a kick (how the girl did it, he wasn't sure). Landing on the floor with a sharp thud, Shuu laughed, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "But that still doesn't explain why we're at my house."

"You're Ichijou's childhood friend, I just asked for one of the yakuza members to drive us to your house and unlock the door with the spare key you gave Ichijou. You had a slight concussion from hitting the ground, so I stayed here."

"Oh, Ruri-chan, you do care~"

"I wasn't going to be blamed for homicide if you died mysteriously after I took you back to your house," Ruri deadpanned, although there was a hint of embarrassment that leaked into her voice. Unfortunately for the girl, Shuu immediately caught on to it.

"Just admit it, Ru~ri~chan," Shuu purred. "You just wanted for the two of us to be alone, didn't you?"

He was sent flying once again.

"I don't know why I bother with you," the girl huffed, stomping off to the exit of his house. "Just...go get some rest. I'm tired, too."

"Yeah, yeah." Shuu waved off the girl's concerns, following her to the door. He paused for a moment before saying in a lower voice, "And thanks, Ruri."

"...what?"

"I said, thank you for nursing me back to health like a true guardian angel, Ruri-chan~" Shuu exclaimed, tackling her with a hug.

"Okay, okay, I'll accept your gratitude. Now, get off of me."

A/N:
Cultural Notes (because I am a dork, feel free to skip): Japanese are all about New Year's, in the same way that Americans are crazy about Christmas. Everyone always gathers to do a hatsumoude, aka the first visit to a shrine for the New Year (done January first). The characters here all decided to meet up at Raku's place so they could do so, but they're all dorks and so it ended up pretty badly. Girls wear furisoude, a special kind of kimono that has longer arms and is more decorated/expensive. The game they were playing is karuta, and some of you might recognize it from Chihayafuru. It's a card slapping game, and there are two different versions (iroha and uta, which Ruri mentioned). Uta-garuta, the kind of karuta played in professional Japanese karuta tournaments, involves cards lain on the floor. Basically, each card has a famous poem written on it, and there's a reader who reads off what card is next. There are two ways of playing, but the one I wrote Ruri and the others playing is the one where players try grabbing said card asap, and the person with the most cards at the end wins.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D

Thanks for reading/favorite-ing/following/reviewing!

Until next time~