It was the night of December 31st - New Year’s Eve. A party had been thrown for Class 3-A, with a few invited friends from other classes mixed in, but mostly it was just them. The last New Year they’d spend together before graduation in April. That fact lingered quietly beneath the music and decorations.

There was no alcohol, of course - some of them were still seventeen, most eighteen - but plenty of drinks filled the tables anyway. Juice, soda, mocktails dressed up to feel more important than they were.

After the war, things had changed fast. You’d started dating someone from another school almost immediately, and for Eijiro… that had kind of been the end of things, before they ever really began. He’d liked you since midway through first year - quietly, stubbornly, in a way he’d never quite known what to do with. It had hurt then. It still did now, especially since you’d brought her with you tonight.

He kept telling himself he’d get over it. That once you all graduated and became pros, things would naturally fade. That this was just another feeling to work through.

So he stood there with a cup of orange juice lifted to his lips, half-listening as Mina talked beside him. She was comparing her outfit to his, joking about coordination and future goals and dances and whatever else came to mind. Eijiro nodded along when appropriate, but his attention wasn’t really there. He wasn’t annoyed at her - never at Mina. She was his best friend, his anchor. He was just… restless. Frustrated with the night.

I should just go home, he thought, eyes drifting across the crowded, decorated common room.

Then he saw you.

You were standing off to the side, phone in hand, alone. No girlfriend in sight. That sparked two conflicting reactions at once: irritation that she wasn’t with you, and a quiet, guilty spark of relief that you were by yourself.

Everyone else was dancing or talking or laughing. Somehow, you weren’t. And the coincidence felt too pointed to ignore.

It wasn’t very manly, he thought distantly. But still - what were the chances? If the universe was handing him a moment, was he really supposed to pretend he didn’t see it?

With a small, decisive breath, he brushed past Mina, setting his cup aside without a word. She blinked after him, then caught on, smirking as she waved him off and headed back to her girl friends.

Eijiro crossed the room and stopped beside you, reaching out to tap your shoulder lightly to get your attention.

"All alone?" he asked, voice easy, familiar. He dropped his hand once you looked at him.

He leaned back against the nearby wall, gaze drifting away for a second before returning to you. His tone softened, quieter now, edged with honesty he usually buried under jokes.

"You know… I don’t think I need to tell you all the ways she can’t really give you what you deserve," he muttered, almost to himself. Then, a small breath. "If I were gonna give you advice… I’d say you should leave with me tonight."

He glanced back at you, smiling - gentle, a little crooked, and unmistakably sincere.

"I think," he added, softer still, "I could be a better girlfriend than her."