The year is almost over. It was snowing heavily on the street.

Everyone in the class passed the final exam, of course, no one was left behind.

Charlotte when she received the announcement of the class's test scores, she said in front of the whole class:

"Congratulations, everyone! You guys did a great job, I'm very happy. Now, three days to the end of the year, what do you want?"

"Shall we have a party here?" - Tomoyo said.

"In class? If it's hot pot, it's a bit smelly." Genjitsu continued.

"No..."

Kaori hastily interjected:

"We're... we're in the same neighborhood, should we eat there together?"

"Hmm, okay then. But where?" - Mattia said.

Kanryo also participated:

"Looks like there's a restaurant nearby. How about going there?"

"Money..." - Kaori said.

"Oh yeah."

Kiyo spoke up:

"Come on, eat in class, no one is forbidding. The house is tight, the restaurant is expensive, isn't it cheaper to eat here? We can eat hot pot, bring a pot, noodles, meat, and vegetables here, then put them in the pot and boil. Simple, right?"

The whole class thought for a moment, then agreed with Kiyo. They decided to stay at school all day, close to home anyway.

"Miss.."- Sunny said.

"What is it, Sunny?" Charlotte replied.

"Can family members join?"

Is he going to bring Ryota here? Kiyo thought to himself.

"Okay! But each of you can only invite one person, I'm afraid there won't be enough meals..."

"Wow.. that's great! I'll invite my mother over." - Kaori happily said.

"I'll probably invite my cousin." - Genjitsu said.

"I don't need to invite anyone because I already have my brother to play with." - Angie said in a rather haughty voice.

You idiot, you just want to hit him...
Kiyo was a little annoyed.

Tomoyo intends to invite Neon, but she wondered if Preparatory Course students will be able to come here...

After class, she asked the teacher:

"Miss... can Preparatory Course students enter this building?"

"Unless they get the teacher's consent, they won't be free to enter here, just like us, not being able to enter the Preparatory Course building."

"Is that so... I have a friend over there and I want to invite him over to eat in our class, but I don't know if I can..."

"It's okay, I'll allow it. I'll report it to my superiors." - said Charlotte happily.

"Thank you, then."

Tomoyo finished speaking and left the room, going down to the Music Room.

One thing was a bit unexpected: Neon was there.

"Neon.."

"Oh, hi. Am I too early?" - Neon panicked.

"It's fine, I should have been here a while ago, but there's something going on with the class so I'm a bit late..." - Tomoyo reassured Neon.

"What is it?"

"My class is going to have a year-end party, do you want to join?"

"Hey, I'm in the Preparatory Course, and I'm not outstanding, how can I sit with talented people like you-"

Tomoyo pulled Neon's hand closer to her.

"Ah-" - He blushed a little.

"Come on, it's only once a year, we're still the same age, just go ahead."

"It's true that I want to join, but... I'm a bit nervous because I don't have anything..." - Neon sighed.

"It's not a big deal, our classmates don't mind such things, just act like normal." - Tomoyo still begged.

Neon finally agreed. While he was still embarrassed by a girl standing a little too close to him, Neon noticed that Tomoyo's shirt had a small name tag on it: "Class B's class rep."

"Are you the class president?"

"Huh? Yeah, that's right. You've seen this nametag, haven't you?"

That's great, Tomoyo gets to be the class president...

"I'm impressed with you. Now... how about practicing the piano?"

"Damn, I almost forgot about it. Sit down!" Tomoyo chuckled.

When they played four songs, they took a short break.

"Isn't this the time you should go home?" - Neon asked.

"I often come home late. There's no one else in the house besides me."

"So... where are your parents? Do you have any siblings?"

"I'm an only child. But my parents died so long ago, I can't even remember what their faces and voices were like."

Neon was a bit surprised that Tomoyo still kept her composure.

"In that case... do you feel lonely?"

"Hmm.. when I didn't get to the piano, I used to feel like that. But now that there is music, there is a piano, and the three of them are together, how can it be called lonely? Music always helps me keep hope and optimism, simple as that."

The more attentive Neon listened, the more he felt admiration for Tomoyo. He couldn't hide one thing: He wanted to know more about her.

"What about you, Neon?"

"Huh? Well... my family is also middle-class, nothing outstanding. But.. looking at you guys there's something outstanding, and then looking back at myself, I feel so anxious, I don't know where I'm going, and I also see that the future is very bleak, only focus on the present."

"Is that so... But hey."

"Hm?"

"Everybody has their own characteristics, they definitely have something that stands out. You too Neon, I'm sure. That's why I find comparing myself to others often doesn't work. So instead, you should compare the present you and the past you."

"The present and the past..." - Neon thought for a moment.

"Isn't it less burdensome? Instead of forcing yourself to be like that person, you develop yourself from past experience, can't you?"

"That makes sense..."

"Now, now try to tell me what you think you're good at."

Neon tried to recall from childhood to now, then said:

"I can take care of children."

"What else?"

"I can play the piano... Not as good as you."

"Anything else? What subject are you good at?"

"Not the best, but I think I'm good at History..."

"There, now look, can everyone do that?"

"Maybe no..."

Tomoyo smiled slightly.

"So now you're saying you're incompetent?"

"Then why can't I get into the Main Course?"

"I don't know. But in conclusion: Even though you weren't accepted, you're still good at some skills. Are you saying you're useless now?"

"No! I don't say that anymore!"

"Not saying that, but still thinking?"

"It's going to take a long time to change that mind... Can you help me?"

"..Okay, no problem."

Neon thanked Tomoyo again, then left with her.

***

At home, Ryota was drawing something, when suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder:

"Ryota.."

"Ah! Sunny?"

"Oh god, have I bothered you?" - Sunny realized he did something wrong.

"No, it's okay. But what's matter?"

"The thing is... my class is preparing for the year-end dinner, will you go?"

Ryota was silent for a moment, then thoughtfully said:

"I think... I shouldn't have gone. An ordinary kid like me would have been better off not participating."

Sunny saw that Ryota was in the same situation as him, so he thought: How should Ryota not be embarrassed to come to his class?

If I were Kiyo and Ryota was me, he'd definitely tell me I'm not incompetent and just play around comfortably. Now if I say the same thing, how will Ryota feel?

But the question is, does Ryota want to go or not?

"Ryota... do you want to come with me?"

"Yes. But... I'm nervous."

"My class is very friendly, it's not as discriminatory as you think! They're easy to get along with... well, except for Angie, she's a bit gruff, Genjitsu I'm not that close.."

"Angie is your sister?"

"Yeah, right. But in short, most of them are easy to talk to, if you don't say anything bad to them then they won't say anything to you, really!" - Sunny is excited.

Ryota made up his mind for a moment and then said:

"Hmm, my class doesn't have a year-end party this year, so I'll go with you."

"That's great. Thank you, Ryota keep drawing." - Sunny left the room, let Ryota continue drawing.

Sunny went to the yard to look for Kiyo and saw him fixing something.

"What are you doing?"

"Fix the plumbing. It's leaking."

"Ah... then I'll wait inside the house."

Afraid to disturb Kiyo, Sunny went straight into the house.

Take advantage of the other two who are busy with their own affairs, he will clean the house again, the year is almost over, it must be tidy.

Sunny took the broom, swept it twice to wipe the dust, then used a mop to clean the floor.

While waiting for the floor to dry completely, he lay on the sofa.

I hope both Kiyo and Ryota are happy to focus on the things they enjoy..

I shouldn't bother them.

When he finished with the two of them, he turned to think about deeper things: like how the country's technology would change when he contributed his talents to it, or the meaning of his life.

At that point, Sunny recalled the cynical words Angie said to bring him down. If before, he would believe those words and think he was bad, now, he doesn't anymore. Because when he has a future direction for himself, no one can stop him.

"Sunny?"

He was startled because Kiyo was unexpectedly looking down at him. He quickly sat up.

"What is it Kiyo? By the way, the floor is slippery."

"Nah, it's dry."

"Then let me get up and arrange my things."

"Okay, let me do it. Have you asked Ryota yet?"

"He said he would come with..."

"Alright."

Kiyo entered the room, tidying up his bookcase and desk, Sunny's place was neat enough.

The two tables were adjacent to each other, so it was possible for two people's books to be mixed together, so he had to keep an eye on the labels.

Suddenly something fell from the pile of books he was unloading.

"What is this?"

He picked it up. It was a brown, hardcover notebook with the word diary  written on it.

"This is quite similar to Sunny's handwriting, is this his diary?"

Should I open it? Maybe I can understand him better...

But then Kiyo immediately dismissed it:

No, I can't. Sunny has a right to privacy, I shouldn't read it without his consent. If he found out, he would definitely be angry.

So Kiyo put it on Sunny's bookshelf. That diary is Sunny's and only he can see it.

After tidying his desk, Kiyo came out.

"Ah, Kiyo! Come take a look, I have this book, it's really good, I brought two of them, the other one for you." - Sunny took two books.

"Where did you get it?"

"Um... it's next to the TV. Come on, sit here and watch."

Sunny pulled Kiyo in, and read together.

It is a short story, of the murder mystery genre.

The plot is based on a real murder in this country that took the life of an entire family.

The main character is a detective, twenty-seven years old, two years into his career.

He narrated the case he investigated. As he described it, this was the most complicated case he had ever encountered, within two years of working - a case of murdering an entire family.

The scene of the incident has been described very realistically and carefully, even how expressionless of the corpses.

He and the investigative agency have gradually clarified the incident, from the artifacts at the scene to the witnesses nearby. The process took six days.

In the end, they found the main suspect. But that person had a knack for argument, so he gave proof that he wasn't the killer. But then, two days later, he was arrested again.

Among the victims there was the culprit's ex-lover, whose family had a conflict with him - they despised poverty so they forbade both, causing him to generate hatred for the whole family and kill all of them.

Sunny was reading that part. Kiyo just read up on the part of the test in the house.

But as he continued, his face was a bit pale, because he had seen faces like this before.

Looking back, he really feels terrible. Perhaps it should be said that only people who have been through situations like his can fully understand.

Why do I have to kill people? What would that be for? Does the authority not interfere? Do they just let dangerous things happen as usual? They let people die unjustly like that?

An expression of fear and bitterness was evident on Kiyo's face. Sunny saw that and asked in surprise:

"Are you okay?"

Kiyo didn't answer. I mustn't let him know. It would be very dangerous if I was exposed.

"Nothing."

"You looked worried just now. Is something wrong?" - Sunny still doesn't believe it.

"I told you it's nothing, stop asking me!" - Kiyo snapped.

Seeing that Sunny was suddenly a bit shocked, Kiyo had to calm down:

"Sorry. I'm fine, you don't have to worry."

"Alright..."

Kiyo let Sunny hug him from behind, he could clearly see the sadness in Sunny's voice:

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Then I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked so much.."

"No, I'm the one at fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Sunny mumbled "yeah," then ran his hand through Kiyo's hair, touching the excess, curving part from the top of his head.

"What?"

"I was just playing around with it. How did you make it curl out?"

"I don't know. I've had it since I was a kid."

"Black hair isn't much in our country. Where do you get it from?"

"From mom."

"Your mother isn't from our country, is she?"

Kiyo nodded. It had been ten years since he last saw his parents. He couldn't remember their voices anymore, but thanks to a photo of the three of them, Kiyo still remembered their faces.

Sunny was bolder, leaned down slightly, and kissed Kiyo on the cheek.

"So cute.." - Kiyo tried to hold him in his arms.

"Hey, how much do you weigh to carry me?"

"49 I think..."

"Weighing 5 kg more than me."

Kiyo noticed that Sunny was less skinny than when he first met him. Maybe now that he's eating more, he's less thin.

Kiyo poked his face into Sunny's brown hair. What shampoo does he use to smell so good?

He suddenly felt his face heat up, maybe because of his boyfriend's cute appearance.

Wow, from whom did he inherit this cuteness?

"Kiyo..."

"Huh?"

"I feel like Ryota is looking..."

He released Sunny, turned around and saw Ryota standing in front of the room door, his face red, he couldn't help but being surprised.

"I'm sorry.. but I was going to have a drink when I saw this..."

"We can explain..." - Kiyo reluctantly stood up.

First, Kiyo asked Ryota which scenes he caught both of, and he replied that it was from two minutes before Kiyo snapped, and then he stood there watching.

Kiyo and Sunny take turns explaining why the two are closer than friends to Ryota, and Ryota finally understands everything from the time in town to the present.

"So that's it... you guys just relax, I won't do anything. But brother, don't let Sunny cry, or I won't forgive you." - Ryota said sarcastically.

"Okay, I know! I won't make him cry, alright??" - Kiyo is a bit embarrassed.

"That's good."