"You don't really mean that, do you?"

"I do. 100 percent."

Hinata's declaration shocked Nanami to her very core. It was like a foreign language to her.

"You don't like New Year's?" she replied.

"Nope."

New Year's Day is quite the holiday. It's a promise of new things to come and a chance to reflect on the past. However, for some it can simply be a reminder of a recurring nuisance.

"Look, New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year," Hinata exposited, "and I get that. But, when you're born on January 1st, it can get kind of annoying."

Nanami gasped. "It's your birthday, too?"

"Yeah, for all anyone cares. New Year's steals all the focus away, everyone's so busy that I really don't get any birthday time."

"That's why you're named 'Hajime'. First of the year, so, 'beginning'," Nanami muttered.

"Umm... were you even listening?" Hinata wondered aloud.

"But, it's okay."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry. We can change your mind," Nanami reassured.

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"My class is holding a Bonenkai on New Year's Eve. I'm sure they'd be okay with me bringing you!"

Hinata took a step back. Spending time with Nanami's class was something she had brought up a number of times before, but Hinata was never sure how to go about it. As a Reserve Course Student, he wasn't sure he'd fit in with the Ultimates all that well. Furthermore, being invited to a party by a girl came with implications. Nanami was nice and all, but...

Oh, who was he kidding? Hinata couldn't help but fall for her the moment he met her. She was nothing less than the sweetest thing he'd ever met, and for some unfathomable reason she felt like spending time with him. But this made it all the more troubling. Without a doubt, her classmates would interpret him as her date. Was that what this was?

All Hinata knew for sure was Nanami was doing that thing where she got so excited she started breathing heavily.

"That sounds great!"

And he just couldn't say no to that face.

When the party came round, Hinata made his way to the classroom, carrying what he'd been told to, and he found himself greeted by a blonde girl in a kimono.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" she spat.

"I'm Hajime Hinata," he replied, taken aback. "Nanami's friend?" He lifted a small bag, clenched in his fist. "I brought the coal?"

The girl smirked. "Oh yeah, that's right." She took the bag from his hands, and handed him a circular plate.

Hinata examined the item. "What do I do with this?"

"Break it. Duh."

"What?!"

The blonde sighed. "In Denmark, you break dishes in front of your friend's house on New Year's to show them you care. Everyone has to break dishes before they come in."

Hinata looked to the ground beneath him. Sure enough, it was littered with the debris of broken plates. "Is that safe?" he asked.

"Dunno, don't care. Just break the plate, you pansy."

Hinata begrudgingly did so, and moved aside. Upon doing so, he found himself greeted by a series of unfamiliar faces. Fortunately a familiar one made his way to him. "Hinata, you made it!" the Ultimate Gamer exclaimed.

"Yeah..." he muttered. "So, what's with the plate thing?"

"Oh, it was Sonia's idea!" Nanami pointed to the girl in question, a blonde-haired foreigner. "She said it might be fun to try other country's New Year's traditions."

"Is that what the coal was for?"

Nanami nodded. "In England, you invite friends over and they bring coal to symbolize good faith in the coming year."

"Oh," Hinata responded, still somewhat confused. "Okay."

Nanami turned back to her classmates. "Everyone, this is my friend, Hinata!"

"Hi," Hinata managed, very nervous.

The responses ran the gamut. Some of the group seemed even more nervous than him, others gave him rather pleasant greetings, others seemed to look down on the poor lad.

"Alright," Nanami began, taking charge as class rep. "Where are we on the schedule?"

The group's teacher, Miss Yukizome, who had volunteered to chaperone the affair looked at a clipboard. "Hanamura's still working on the pig and the lentils for later..."

"We've got someone watching him, right?" Nanami questioned, nervously.

Yukizome flipped through the papers before replying, "Nidai's on point. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of that."

"That?" Hinata questioned.

A shiver ran through everyone else in the room. A guy with pink hair explained with a simple, "You're better off not knowing."

Hinata decided to leave it at that.

"It's still a while before Kohaku's broadcast," Yukizome resumed, "so I figured we'd start painting soon."

"Painting?"

The aforementioned foreigner, Sonia, explained, "In my homeland of Novoselic, everyone paints pictures of someone or something they truly care about."

"We all thought that sounded cool," a redheaded girl with a bowlcut continued, "and that just kind of snowballed into the whole international theme."

"That sounds fun," Hinata said. He was then handed a sketchpad by one of the portlier members of the class, along with a paintbrush. "So where's the paint?"

"Right here!" a particularly loud girl shouted, holding a single can of paint.

"Just one can?"

"Yeah!" she answered, "See, in China, red's a good luck color, so we decided we'd just use red for the paintings, y'know? Challenge ourselves! And Ibuki's gonna smoke all of you!" With that, she dipped her own brush and began to, for lack of a better term, attack her own sketchpad.

Hinata wondered what he would paint. Working with one color was challenging enough, so he tried to ponder if there was anything in particular he liked that was already red.

And then, someone made an announcement.

"It is complete!" they declared.

The person in question was dressed in very dark attire, and was making very certain all eyes were on them.

"I, Supreme Master of the Netherrealm, Tanaka the Forbidden One, have completed my tribute to the wicked spirits of the passing cycle! Behold this sigil of accursed destiny!"

Tanaka's painting was some sort of seal, made to look like it would belong in a book on witchcraft or sorcery.

"The heck is that thing?" the pink-haired guy from before wondered.

"This talisman proclaims it's bearer as one chosen by the Lords of 91 Trials to open the gate of truth! They spoke to me through my brush and have burdened me with the mission of delivering it to a proper candidate!"

"Wow!" Sonia proclaimed. "To think you'd be so lucky, Tanaka! I wish I could receive messages like that."

"WAHAHAHAHA! Fear not, fair maiden," he replied. "For I can think of no better candidate than one of royal blood." He presented her with the painting.

"My goodness," Sonia exclaimed. "I will treasure it always!"

The pink-haired fellow started muttering under his breath. "Where does he get off, acting like he's so great in front of Miss Sonia like that?"

"Are they dating?" Hinata asked him.

"What?! No way! Miss Sonia wouldn't go for a guy like that!"

"Are you sure? 'Cause she seems really interested in him."

"Not a chance, buddy." The other boy smirked, and showed Hinata his picture. "Not after she sees my painting."

The figure displayed was barely recognizable as a human. Assuming it was, indeed, a human. "Is that supposed to be her?" Hinata asked.

"No duh! Doesn't it look great?"

Hinata chose not to answer, and instead focused on his own work.

With the end of that activity came a luscious banquet, comprised of fine delicacies from across the world.

"I didn't know this many cultures had specific food for New Year's," Hinata observed, having gone for traditional mochi.

The cook, Hanamura nodded. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it a great deal. I was gonna make a special Grecian dish, too, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, it's a loaf of bread you bake a coin into, and whoever gets the coin has the best luck of the year, but I didn't see the point," Hanamura explained.

"Why not?" Hinata wondered.

"'Cause we all know Komaeda's gonna get it, so we just gave him the coin to save time," the pink-haired boy from before, Souda, said.

"Is he the guy wrapped in chains?"

Hinata gestured to a white-haired, somewhat disheveled looking boy, who was, indeed, wrapped in chains.

"It's sort of another tradition," Komaeda replied. "See, in Germany, you pour molten lead into water to tell the future and bring luck. But, that was too dangerous, so everyone decided we'd just have me carry lead around, since I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student."

"But why are you chained up?" Hinata asked, returning to the more obvious question.

Souda immediately cut in with the answer. "We're scared of what'll happen if he's not."

Hinata decided it was best not to dig too deep on that one.

The night wore on, and the Kohaku broadcast was singing the closing notes of Auld Lang Syne.

"So, Hinata," Nanami asked, "how do you like New Year's now?"

Hinata shrugged. "It's been a good party, but one good party doesn't make up for everything else."

Nanami took his hand. "Follow me."

Hinata found himself being dragged out of the room. A brief look behind him showed Nanami's classmates sharing knowing glances. His nervousness only increased when the classroom door shut behind them.

"Uh... what's this about?" he asked.

"One more New Year's tradition," she replied, smiling, "and also a birthday present."

"You do remember that lumping those two things together is kind of the problem, right?"

"I know, but it's a risk I'm willing to take." Nanami glanced at her watch. "20 seconds 'til the New Year."

Hinata gulped. "Where's this tradition from?"

"This one's kind of universal," Nanami explained, "10, 9, 8..."

"What is it?"

And as the last seconds ticked away, and midnight struck, the New Year began with Nanami's lips meeting Hinata's.

And as Nanami pulled away, she gave her answer. "You kiss the person you hope to keep kissing."

Hinata felt flushed. "That's a... pretty great birthday present."

"Really?" Nanami said, relief washing over her, "I was scared that was going to be too much. I honestly have no clue what to do in a situation like this."

"Hey, me either," Hinata chuckled.

"Woo! Way to go, Nanami!"

The two turned to find the source of the voice, and found that the classroom door was wide open, and Mioda was hanging out the entryway with the rest of the group trying their best to catch a glimpse of the proceedings.

"You guys were watching us?!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Well," Yukizome defended, "you're supposed to open the door to let all the bad stuff from the year leave, right?"

"I'm pretty sure you're also supposed to close it right after," the rather embarrassed boy deadpanned.

Nanami put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. Let's just get back to the party."

As the two walked in, Komaeda made a point to stop them at the threshold. "Oh? It seems Hinata's our first-footer."

"What?" Hinata questioned.

"In Scotland," Komaede explained, "the first visitor you receive during the New Year is your first-footer. They have to share a prediction of what the New Year holds."

"So, what's your prediction, Hinata?" Nanami asked.

Hinata turned to his maybe-now-kind-of-girlfriend and smiled.

"I think this year's gonna be a lot better than the last one."

A/N: Bonenkai means "Forget-the-year Party." Kohaku is a Japanese music showcase held every New Year's Eve on the NHK. Happy 2017 everyone! It has to be better than 2016, right?