Disclaimer: I do not own Corpse Party.

Hey! This story is a Christmas present for my sister, RedRoseKitsune! Ayushiki is her favorite Corpse Party pairing, and because of all of the terrible things that happen to them and the rest of the Kisaragi Crew, I feel like we need some happiness.

Spoilers for Blood Covered: Repeated Fear, Book of Shadows, and Blood Drive due to some references.

Normal life AU (in other words, Heavenly Host does not and will not ever exist here).

Hope you enjoy!

Drawn to You

Chapter One: What to Do

Yoshiki Kishinuma loved Ayumi Shinozaki.

There was never any question of that.

Ever since Ayumi had essentially saved Yoshiki from getting kicked out of school, he had felt a great respect for her. She was kind and cared for everyone, but she had a stubborn streak and could take care of business if necessary. She was never afraid to say what was on her mind.

It hadn't started out as love, but over the course of several months, Yoshiki realized that his respect had turned into admiration, which consequently evolved into liking, which had then finally blossomed into love.

Shocked to say the least, Yoshiki considered what all of this meant. He loved her, sure, but what did that mean for the future? Yoshiki and all the rest of his classmates were almost seniors and would be graduating soon, with most going off to college. He had no plans of that himself, but he was pretty sure that his friends did, and that meant that they would soon be separated. Not forever of course, as all of them were just a phone call away, but they couldn't just meet up every day at school like they did now.

So, like it or not, Yoshiki decided that he had to let Ayumi know about his feelings, just to get them off of his chest if nothing else. The only problem was, the feelings were not exactly mutual.

At all.

It was obvious to everyone with eyes that Ayumi had a major crush on Satoshi Mochida. Yoshiki's best friend.

Luckily, (though mostly on Yoshiki's end), Satoshi had finally confessed his feelings to Naomi Nakashima, and she had accepted. The whole scene had been extremely awkward to say the least, though everyone congratulated them when they could finally decipher his confession and her acceptance.

Yoshiki was proud of his friend for finally spitting it out, but his heart had dropped into his stomach when he saw Ayumi's reaction. Though on the outside she had been happy and congratulatory, Yoshiki noticed that for the rest of the day, she would steal furtive little glances at the couple and then quickly look away with an upset expression on her face. After the third or fourth time, he stopped watching, too heartbroken to observe any further.

She obviously still liked the timid boy, and that brought up a confused jumble of emotions for Yoshiki. He was angry that Ayumi still had feelings for a clearly taken guy, but he was also sad because that meant that she held none for him.

Though discouraged, Yoshiki was still determined to let Ayumi know how he felt. He couldn't stand the thought of her moving away to college and dating some other man before he confessed to her. It was the principle of the thing.

There was only one problem. He had no idea how to go about confessing.

He wasn't a feelings type of guy, and it seemed that everything that he did made Ayumi angry or irritated in some way. But there had to be something. Something that he could do or say that would truly convey how much he cared for her.

At the moment, however, Yoshiki was at a loss. It was currently the week before Christmas, and he figured that he could somehow incorporate his plan into a gift. He knew what she liked. His entire friend group always knew what to get for each other, but he wanted the gift for Ayumi this year to be special.

"She likes illustrations," Yoshiki thought to himself as his homeroom filed in. He himself was currently sitting at his desk, absentmindedly doodling on its surface with a pencil. "Maybe something to do with that? A drawing pad… or pencils…? Ah, I don't know…" He furiously scratched at his head with his free hand, ruffling his hair.

"Something wrong, Kishinuma-kun?" A voice blurted out from behind him.

"Ack!" Yoshiki ceased his little movements and turned around in his chair, the concerned face of Mayu Suzumoto staring back at him.

Mayu's presence itself was somewhat of a miracle. Her entire family had been planning to move due to her father's work, and all of her closest friends had spent the day of the Culture Festival wishing her well.

Ayumi had even tried to use a friendship charm that would connect them as friends forever, but that idea was quickly shot down by Satoshi because it looked like a 'creepy cult thing that would send us all to Hell.' Though Ayumi mocked him, Yoshiki was somewhat glad on the inside. There had been something off about the paper doll that Ayumi had been holding.

As the day came to a close, there were a lot of sad tears and hugging (mostly from the girls), and Mayu was only cheered up with the promise that they would come visit her over the holidays.

It was therefore a huge shock the next day when Mayu appeared at school with a huge grin on her face. It had taken the friends ten minutes to calm down, but when they finally did, Mayu explained that her father had taken one look at his dejected daughter's face and had called his boss, asking if there was any way that he could stay in his current location. Mayu had chuckled at the recollection, and said that his boss was somewhat relieved, for he was actually going to call her father the next morning to ask if he could stay. It turned out that the branch Mayu's father currently worked at still needed him and would have been in serious trouble if he had left.

The friend group had all laughed and sighed in relief, and even the boys joined in the hugging this time. After all of this, the friends realized how much they had taken each other for granted, and they vowed to always appreciate their ties.

However, her appearance was still something to get used to, and Yoshiki tried to calm himself down from his initial panic.

"Ah, Suzumoto. N-not really." He watched as her concerned expression slowly shifted into one of puzzlement, before it settled onto a type of determined frustration. "Oh no," he thought, preparing himself for the worst.

"Kishinuma-kun," she lectured, crossing her arms. "You're obviously upset about something."

"Ah." Yoshiki knew that he should probably just give in. Mayu was similar to Ayumi in the respect that she had a stubborn streak. In fact, all of his friends did. It was one of the many reasons he thought that they could put up with each other. Clearing his throat, he murmured, "It's Shinozaki."

Mayu grinned slightly. "Gotcha. Having a lover's spat?"

Yoshiki sputtered slightly, his face darkening to an almost maroon color. Waving his hands in front of his face, he whispered, "K-keep it down, Suzumoto!"

"What's this about a lover's spat?"

Yoshiki slapped a hand to his face and slid it down slowly. "Dear God, kill me now."

A chair slid over next to him, and a rough pat on the back made him cough slightly. Knowing the voice but turning to look anyway, he saw Seiko Shinohara smiling at him, her eyes wide in a slightly crazed look. The girl was always butting into his love life, almost to the extent that she had done with her best friend. But it seemed that, since Naomi and Satoshi were now together, all of Seiko's matchmaking energy was directed at Yoshiki. Even worse was that she was still high on her victory of getting the two oblivious people together, which made her all the more confident.

"Hey, Shinohara-san!" Mayu looked over at the girl and smiled. "We were just talking about Kishinuma-kun's crush on Shinozaki-san."

"Please, guys!" Yoshiki gripped both of their shoulders in an attempt to make them stop.

But Seiko was having none of that. "Oh ho ho. I knew it! Kishinuma-kun is head over heels for our resident occult gal! He must be into all of that strange stuff." The two girls giggled.

"For the last time, stop!" Yoshiki squeezed their shoulders.

"Okay, okay. We really should stop, Shinohara-san." Mayu gently pried Yoshiki's hand off of her, patting it slightly with her other hand. "He's so sweet. His feelings for her are really pure."

"Gah." Yoshiki snatched his hands away from his two friends, facing forward and picking up his pencil again to scribble just to distract himself. "It's not sweet or pure… it's just… ya know."

Mayu sat down on Yoshiki's other side and watched him carefully. Seiko on the other hand whipped out her own pencil and started to draw in the free space.

After a while, Mayu chuckled. "Speaking of our class rep, you better not let her catch you guys doing that. Friends or no, she'll give you detention for vandalizing school property."

"Ah, no she won't." Seiko scribbled. "I've drawn on half of these desks and she hasn't so much as given me a second glance. She's even joined in a few times and made it like a hundred times better!" She continued with her drawing. "We've kept all of the drawings on the desks too. I think the students want them personalized."

"Well except for that one time." Yoshiki looked up and smirked, hoping to get some payback for their teasing. "Shinozaki and Yui-sensei yelled at you when you drew that… um… X-rated scene of Satoshi and Nakashima."

"Ha! Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Seiko chuckled, reliving the memory. Yoshiki sighed inwardly, forgetting that his friend had no sense of shame. "To be fair, they did get together the next week. I like to think that I gave them some… ideas." At this, Seiko wiggled her eyebrows and laughed.

"That aside, what exactly about Shinozaki-san are you worrying about, Kishinuma-kun?" Mayu asked, not letting the group stray too far from their original conversation.

"Well, it's almost Christmas, and I… want to get her something special." Chuckling nervously, he decided to put it all out in the open. "I'm gonna confess to her, and I want the gift to help with that."

As soon as he finished his sentence, both girls froze. Wondering what was amiss, Yoshiki mumbled, "Guys?"

His word seemed to snap them out of their trance, and, in unison, they squealed, "That's so cute!"

Hissing slightly, Yoshiki's face flushed at their dramatic outburst. "If you guys don't stop screaming, I will literally –"

"What's cute?"

At this point, Yoshiki slammed his face down onto the desk. "This morning could not get any worse."

He heard the sound of two chairs being pulled in front of him. Looking up from his mini fit, Yoshiki saw Satoshi and Naomi looking at him with interest.

"Ah, Naomi! We were just listening to Kishinuma-kun confess his undying love for –"

Yoshiki lifted up his pencil and aimed it threateningly at Seiko's throat. "Say one more word and I'll do it."

Seiko chuckled. "Do what? Draw me to death?"

"Before we get violent, why don't you tell us what's really going on, Yoshiki?" Satoshi grabbed his friend's wrist and pulled it down towards the desk, shaking him until he dropped the pencil.

"Well, ya see… I'm… gonna confess to Shinozaki, and I want to get her the perfect gift to go along with it." He decided that spitting it all out would save everyone time.

Naomi smiled. "I see. Congratulations, Kishinuma-kun! That's really brave of you."

Satoshi patted Yoshiki on the shoulder in a much gentler way than Seiko had. "Congrats, Yoshiki. She's a lucky girl."

"Hey guys. Not that I don't appreciate all of the sentiments, but there is a reason that I haven't confessed to her yet," Yoshiki said impatiently due to being slightly flustered.

"Oh, yeah?" Satoshi tilted his head.

"You're just nervous right?" Mayu smiled kindly. "It's always kind of nerve-wracking to confess. Just ask Nakashima-san and Mochida-kun."

"Ha! They were so nervous that they couldn't even form coherent sentences!"

"Seiko…" Naomi blushed and growled warningly at her friend. "Anyway, Suzumoto-san's right. It's pretty scary, but once it's all out in the open… it just kind of… works."

"Yeah… I mean, that's definitely part of it, sure. But, there's one other thing." Yoshiki paused. He wasn't sure whether or not he should reveal what he knew. If Satoshi and Naomi found out that Ayumi had a crush on the former… things could get ugly quickly.

"Like what?" Mayu asked, blinking.

"Well… I could always just say that she doesn't like me. I don't have to tell them about her crush." Sighing, he murmured, "Shinozaki… doesn't really like me in that way. It's not that she hates me… but I don't think she's interested. Ya know… romantically."

There was a silence at this. Confirming for Yoshiki that what he said was true. "Damn," he thought, looking down at the scribbled-on desk. "I really don't have a shot with her at all. Even my friends think so…"

A firm hand grasped his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that Satoshi was looking at him with determination in his eyes. "Yoshiki… you shouldn't think that way."

Surprised, Yoshiki exclaimed, "What do you mean? You guys know it's true. That's why you didn't dispute it right away."

"Kishinuma-kun," Mayu placed a hand on his arm. "We were just shocked that you feel that way. Shinozaki-san cares about you. More than you probably think."

Yoshiki scoffed. "Uh-huh. Has she told you that?"

Looking down, Mayu murmured, "No…"

Feeling bad for making her sad, Yoshiki put his hand on hers. "Hey, Suzumoto. I didn't mean it that way. It's just… she doesn't…"

"Kishinuma." A new voice had Yoshiki look up and to his left. Standing next to Mayu (almost seemingly appearing out of thin air) was Sakutaro Morishige. The bespectacled boy was peering down at Yoshiki with one hand on Mayu's shoulder. "Mayu and Mochida are simply stating that you should not lose your determination so easily. Confessing is surely an endeavor, but the cost of avoiding it is just as high, if not more so." Straightening his glasses, Morishige concluded, "Shinozaki is not a cruel person. There is more to gain than to lose, as she will not outright reject you. She's more likely to accept than to reject in any case."

"Uh… thanks, Morishige. But one question." Yoshiki gave him a strange look while slowly removing his hand from Mayu's. "How long have you been here?"

"For a while."

"Not gonna elaborate on that, huh?"

"Kishinuma-kun," Naomi called out, bringing his attention back to the group at large. "What we're saying is, though we tease and joke, we want you to be happy with the class rep. She cares about you, and even though she's never said it outright… well… we think it's worth giving this a shot."

"Yeah. So don't lose hope, buddy." Satoshi squeezed his shoulder before letting go.

"Yeah, Kishinuma-kun! Confess the crap outta her!"

"What exactly does that mean, Shinohara –?"

"We're behind you all the way, Kishinuma-kun!" Mayu looked up again, happy and bubbly as always.

Yoshiki was touched. He really was. All of his friends were smiling at him, and they all really believed in him. His negative thoughts could not have been farther from the truth. They really did bring out the best in him. This was why they were his friends. They accepted him unconditionally, and they always knew just what to say to cheer him up.

Not wanting to show too much emotion, Yoshiki simply grinned and murmured, "Thanks, you guys."

"No problem! In fact, we can brainstorm later –"

"Hey guys! What's going on here? Are you hanging out without me?"

And finally, the circle was complete.

Yoshiki looked up to see that the girl in question had finally arrived. Ayumi was currently looking around at all of her friends, a smile on her face with her hands on her hips. She looked beautiful as always, and Yoshiki had to remind himself not to stare too hard. Her gaze eventually fell on his, and her smile brightened slightly. He nodded back at her.

"Not really anything, Shinozaki-san," Mayu chirped. "We were all just talking and waiting for you!"

"Really now?" Ayumi giggled. "Are you sure it wasn't to have a group art session on Kishinuma-kun's desk?" She pointedly looked down at all of the scribbles on the surface.

"Ah… well…"

"It was Kishinuma-kun and Shinohara-san!"

"Suzumoto!"

"Suzume-chan!"

"Ah! Don't hurt me!" Mayu quickly stood up and hid behind Morishige's back, the latter sighing slightly at the childish display of behavior.

After everyone in the group chuckled, Ayumi said, "Well, there's no point in disciplining you now. It's basically tradition to have Shinohara-san draw something on your desk. Although," she gave Yoshiki an interested look, causing him to shuffle slightly, "it is unusual for you to join her, Kishinuma-kun."

Feeling all eyes on him, Yoshiki stuttered, "A-ah. Well… it looked interesting, so I thought I'd draw with her."

"Oh?" Ayumi suddenly came around behind him and leaned over, looking at the desk. Yoshiki's face heated up slightly as he felt one of her ponytails brush onto his shoulder. "She's… really close…" Yoshiki didn't know what to do with himself. Hoping that just acting casually would be enough, he did nothing as Ayumi continued to look over his shoulder.

"What's this?" She pointed to the spot where Seiko had been scribbling, and, as the whole group looked to see what she was indicating, Yoshiki blushed even more.

On the desk, the words 'Yoshiki and' were clearly etched onto its surface. The words were encased within an ornate heart, and there was enough space to fit another name into it. Luckily, Seiko had put his name first, or this situation could have gotten much more awkward.

Realizing he had to say something because this obviously involved him, he responded, "J-just… uh… planning ahead."

As soon as he said these words, Yoshiki wanted to slap himself in the face. "Planning ahead? What the hell does that mean? You sound like a total loser…"

As Yoshiki spiraled into these thoughts, he felt Ayumi stand up suddenly. He realized that, now that she was farther away from him, she had had a pleasant aroma that was now missing. He couldn't quite place it, but it had been very comforting.

"I see. Well then," Ayumi walked around to the front of the group, which had surprisingly gone silent. "We should all get ready for class. Let's go, everyone!"

There were assorted shouts of 'yes class rep' and other related things, and the group of friends quickly scurried away and returned chairs to their proper places. During all of the commotion, Ayumi bent down to look at Yoshiki in the eye.

"W-what's up, Shinozaki?" Yoshiki tried to regain some of his cool demeanor, lest he fall apart completely.

Suddenly, Ayumi reached out a hand and gently placed her thumb on Yoshiki's cheek. Spluttering slightly, Yoshiki was too shocked to move, and he merely sat there, frozen, as Ayumi began to rub.

After a few moments, she pulled away. Straitening up, she exclaimed, "You had some graphite on your cheek. Probably from your 'planning ahead'." With that, Ayumi smiled and headed over to her seat in the front of the room, leaving a shell-shocked Yoshiki behind.

& After School &

Yoshiki was still in a small daze as he packed up what he had brought to school today. As he shoved his empty lunch container into his bag, he thought back to this morning and what Ayumi had done.

"She… touched my face. Pretty gently too. Maybe even… caringly? Gah, I don't know…"

Pausing in his actions, Yoshiki lightly touched the spot on his face where Ayumi had rubbed it, and he could feel a slight warmth there. Whether or not it was him blushing or residual heat from the touch was debatable to him.

But he was still confused. Ayumi clearly liked Satoshi. He had seen her jealous looks the day that he and Naomi got together, and they seemed pretty intense. Her actions today could've been seen as flirtatious, but she had a crush on his friend. The other implication could be that she… liked them both. But Ayumi did not seem to be that type of person.

"Still," Yoshiki thought, "it's not like you can control your feelings. She could have a thing for both of us for all I know. But… she hasn't given me those lovesick glances." He sharply removed his hand from his face, the familiar sensation of jealousy creeping up from his stomach. "It's probably just your wishful thinking. She's close with all of us… I just notice more…"

Hanging his head, Yoshiki finished his preparations and walked out of the classroom, wondering what he should do.

"Well, it's Monday today. I've got until Friday before all of us get together after school to exchange presents."

As Yoshiki pondered his possible gift options and how he could incorporate that into his confession, he walked past a group of people who were blocking the hallway somewhat. He bumped into one person, causing him to distractedly murmur, "Sorry."

"No problem, Lover Boy."

"Huh?" After this statement, multiple hands grabbed onto him and started pulling him back into the school.

"Oi! Let go of me!" His indignant cries were ignored as he was continuously dragged back into the classroom that he had just vacated. Looking at his captors, he saw that it was (unsurprisingly) his friends with large grins on their faces.

"You guys! Stop it! What are you doing?" He was completely ignored until he was taken over to his desk and forced down into the chair. Slightly ruffled but knowing he wasn't in any danger, he straightened up his uniform jacket that was now askew due to the struggle. Regaining his composure, he muttered, "You're all idiots, ya know that?"

He looked up at his friends that were all standing around him, their grins not fading in the slightest. Satoshi and Morishige each had one hand on his shoulder to prevent him from getting up, while Naomi and Seiko suddenly turned and ran towards the doors of the classroom, presumably, Yoshiki assumed, to lock them and prevent anyone from intruding. Mayu pulled up a seat and sat down in front of Yoshiki, giggling slightly.

"Don't be like that, Kishinuma-kun. We're here to help."

Yoshiki was not buying it. "Uh huh. Then why did you kidnap me?" Noticing the absence of one member of their group, he asked, "And where the hell is Shinozaki? She's not involved in all of this madness?"

At this point, Seiko and Naomi had returned to the group and stood on either side of Mayu. "Why would we spoil the surprise for Shinozaki-san?" Seiko exclaimed, feigning shock.

"Wha –?"

"What Seiko is trying to say," Naomi took over, shaking her head, "is that we're here to help you plan your confession."

"And why exactly –?"

"Because we said we would, remember?" Satoshi chuckled. "Besides, you probably need all of the help you can get."

"Oi!" Yoshiki threw off the two boys' hands, standing up furiously. "I don't need your damn help! I'll work it out on my own!"

"Uh… no, you won't." Satoshi looked at Yoshiki seriously. "We know you like to do things on your own, but this is important. We just wanna make sure it goes well."

"Weeelll," Seiko drawled slightly. "We also just wanna tease you too. Kill two birds with one stone." She chuckled.

Yoshiki sighed in defeat. He knew his friends only wanted the best for him. They had proved as much this morning. Still, he felt slightly awkward needing help from others to confess to the girl he loved.

His pride made him want to do this on his own. But his friends knew Ayumi just as well as he did, and six brains were better than one. Plus, as he thought about the possibility of Ayumi accepting his feelings and being his girlfriend, his heart started to throb.

"It's completely ridiculous and humiliating, but if it means that I can finally be with Shinozaki… then I'll do anything… I'll put up with anything… just to see her smiling face…"

"Uh, Kishinuma-kun?" Mayu's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Huh? Uh… yeah. Fine, I'll do it."

"Alright then." As Mayu said this, Satoshi and Morishige gently shoved Yoshiki back into his chair, but this time, they didn't hold him down.

"First things first." Mayu stood up and walked over to the front of the classroom where the chalkboard was located. She picked up a piece of chalk and tried to reach up to the top of the board. "We… need to…" She continued to strain in vain. Pouting, she asked, "Hey, Shige-nii? Could you write out our list please?"

Morishige nodded quickly and crossed the classroom over to Mayu. As he did so, Seiko cooed, "Aw! Suzume-chan, you're so short! I just wanna put you in my pocket!"

The girl in question blushed slightly. "S-Shinohara-san! That's not nice."

"Besides," Yoshiki snorted, "you're like an inch taller than her. That's pretty tiny yourself."

"He's got you there, Seiko!" Naomi laughed, pinching her friend's cheek.

"Anyway! Don't we have a list to develop guys?" Seiko blushed and made a face at her taller friend's teasing.

"Of course." Morishige took the chalk from Mayu and wrote the words 'Operation: Kishinuma Confession', and then drew a line underneath. He wrote out the number one, then turned to face the group. "What are some of our ideas?"

"Hang on. I just thought of something." Yoshiki looked at the closed doors. "You guys never answered where Shinozaki was. How was she not with all of you?"

"It was good thinking on Suzumoto-san's part," Naomi answered, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "She told Yui-sensei about our plan, and she agreed to distract the class rep with something related to school. Class events for after the holidays."

Upon hearing this, Yoshiki's face exploded in red. "Wha –? You guys even told Yui-sensei about this?" Putting his face in his hands, he muttered, "What a mess…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Yoshiki looked up to see Seiko pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Naomi, grinning. "Yui-sensei already knew." She winked.

Yoshiki sighed. "I don't know if that makes it better or worse."

"Anyway. Back to our plan." Mayu pointed dramatically at the board. "We need some ideas, stat!"

"Oh! I've got one!" Seiko bounced in her seat. "Kishinuma-kun can –"

"Before Shinohara says anything else," Satoshi interrupted, pulling a chair up on Naomi's other side. "We should establish that the plans are… PG."

"Come on, Mochida-kun! I wasn't gonna suggest anything that bad! That's reserved for people who are already together… if ya catch my drift." She wiggled her eyebrows at the couple. The two in question blushed and coughed, looking away from each other.

"Guys! This is getting us nowhere. We've only got a few minutes for this. Yui-sensei can't distract Shinozaki-san forever, and she'll wanna walk home with us." Mayu tapped the chalkboard impatiently.

The group calmed down and grew silent as they began to think. Yoshiki looked at everyone pondering deeply and felt another wave of appreciation run through him. "These guys… they really are my best friends…"

After another minute or so of relative silence, Mayu spoke up again. "I've got an idea! Kishinuma-kun could watch the sunset with Shinozaki-san." Her eyes lit up. "That would be super romantic!"

Morishige nodded and wrote out the idea. Thinking of something, Yoshiki joked, "Hey, Morishige. You might want to take mental notes of what Suzumoto is saying. Ya know… just in case."

Morishige stopped immediately in his writing and turned around slowly to face Yoshiki. "Are you implying something you should not be, Kishinuma?"

Leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head, Yoshiki chuckled. "Not so much implying as actually stating – ah!" A piece of chalk was flung directly at his face. In his haste to avoid it, Yoshiki leaned back too far and ended up tumbling out of his chair. He groaned slightly as everyone laughed. "Guh. You guys… are so heartless…" He started to pick himself and his chair up.

Mayu, meanwhile, had a red tinge on her cheeks. "Heh. H-here's a new piece of chalk, Shige-nii." She picked up a piece from the teacher's podium and handed it to him.

Morishige looked back at her and smiled slightly. "Thank you, Mayu." As he went to take it from her, everyone saw their two hands brush together, which caused Mayu to giggle nervously, and for Morishige to push his glasses up with his free hand and look away.

"Oh my god!" Seiko rolled her eyes. "You guys are worse than Naomi and Mochida-kun. Just kiss already!"

"W-we are here to help Kishinuma with his confession to the class rep. Stop prattling on about ideas not related to the topic at hand!" Morishige stuttered, completely losing his trademark composure.

"Heh. Alright, Morishige-kun." Seiko winked, causing everyone to either sigh wearily or laugh at how ridiculous this situation was becoming.

Mayu's face had returned to its normal complexion as she pointed at the chalkboard again. "Okay, guys! Let's focus again. What else can Kishinuma-kun do to reveal his feelings to Shinozaki-san in the most romantic way possible? Oh! And don't forget to tie a gift into it!"

After hearing Mayu's choice of words, Yoshiki flushed in embarrassment. "G-guys…" He could feel his tough and cool demeanor fading by the second.

"Oh! I know," Naomi interjected. "He could give her a drawing of her. It'll incorporate her love of art, plus it can be a physical manifestation of what the class rep looks like to him."

"Nice, Naomi!" Seiko raised her hand for a high-five, which the girl gladly returned. Meanwhile, Morishige quickly wrote the idea down on the board.

However, Yoshiki felt like he had to bring something up. "Uh, guys? I can't really draw. Like, at all."

"What are you saying?" Satoshi looked at his friend with a confused look on his face. "I see you doodling all the time."

Yoshiki scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. But that's just what you said. Doodles. I can't really draw people… and not like Shinozaki can. If she doesn't freak out that I have a portrait of her, which in all honesty, is probably what she'll do, she'll probably throw up at the sight of it."

"Well… I'm not sure about the freaking out part, but I'm sure you can draw a decent picture of her, Kishinuma-kun." Mayu smiled encouragingly at him. "Besides, you have the rest of this week to do it."

Yoshiki thought about it for a moment. "They have a point. Plus, if Shinozaki was gonna freak out, she'd freak out at the confession anyway. Might as well incorporate her thinking of me as a weirdo into a gift idea." He looked up at the board, refusing to make eye contact with his friends. He didn't want to make their heads too big by admitting that he liked all of their ideas. ""Hmpf. Fine. I'll get started on it today."

"Well alright then!" Seiko bounced in her seat excitedly. "Then here's some fancy paper and art pencils for ya to use!" With that, the girl bent down to reach into her bag and produced a few sheets of paper, along with a packet of artistic colored pencils and a few drawing pencils.

As she handed them to him, Yoshiki was slightly alarmed. "Where did you get all of this art stuff, Shinohara?" He took them from her gently, not wanting to damage any of it and consequently ruin his present.

"Not important!" Seiko laughed. "Just think of it as an early Christmas present from yours truly." She saluted him.

Yoshiki chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Heh. Thanks, Shinohara. I'll make good use out of this." He bent down and gently placed everything in his bag. He was much more careful then when he had packed it just a few minutes previously. However, once he had secured everything into place, he shot up, a sudden curiosity hitting him.

"Hey… how did you know that I would need this drawing stuff for a Christmas present? We just thought of the idea now." He looked at Seiko pointedly, waiting for her answer.

Seiko didn't miss a beat. Smiling at him, she replied, "To be honest, those were for Shinozaki-san. But when we came up with the idea, I figured you needed 'em more!"

"Ah. I see. Thanks again, Shinohara." Yoshiki grinned.

Before too long, there was a slight knock at the door. Everyone in the room froze at the sound. It had been so quick and quiet, Yoshiki wasn't sure if they had all just imagined it. As this thought passed through his mind, a second, louder knock sounded. All heads snapped over to the door.

When everyone continued to sit or stand in silence, a voice rang out. "It's Yui. Open up!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Mayu ran over to the door and unlocked it. She then pulled it open to reveal their assistant teacher, who smiled as soon as she saw their faces.

"How's the plan going, everyone?" Yui strode into the room, quickly closing the door behind her and locking it.

"Great, Yui-sensei!" Mayu chirped running back over to the board. As she pointed to it, she continued, "We've got a few ideas now. We just haven't quite figured out how they'll go together."

Yui read over the board thoughtfully, a hand on her chin. She nodded a few times before turning to the group at large. "I see." She then directed her gaze at Yoshiki, who was having a hard time keeping eye contact. "Shinozaki-san will love it!"

His embarrassment levels rising, Yoshiki merely stuttered, "Y-Yui-sensei…"

"Oh!" Yui jolted as a thought struck her. "I almost forgot. I had Shinozaki-san deliver some papers for me on the next floor, but she'll probably be back soon." She clapped her hands. "Let's get all of this cleaned up everyone! We wouldn't want her to figure out our master plan, now would we?"

There were various exclamations of agreement, with everyone moving around to get the room back in order. Satoshi hurried to rearrange chairs and desks. Mayu grabbed the eraser and, in her adrenaline-fueled excitement, attempted to erase the words from the chalkboard. She jumped up multiple times, erasing bits and pieces on each journey. Eventually, Morishige tapped her on the shoulder and wordlessly took the eraser from her, doing the job himself.

Seiko and Naomi went about unlocking the doors to the classroom and opening them in order to get rid of suspicion. Meanwhile, Yoshiki merely stood up, not having any other job to do.

After the room was back in its original form, Yui sat down at her desk and slung off her bag, dropping it at her feet. She bent down to rummage through it, saying, "Alright, everyone. It's time for all of you to go home." She straightened up, holding a stack of papers in her hands. "I've got some assignments to grade."

"Oh hey." Seiko ran over to her, looking over her shoulder. "Is this the English homework we just did? How'd I do?"

Yui merely shook her head and laughed. "I haven't even graded them yet, Shinohara-san. But I'm sure you've done just fine."

"Good! Oh yeah. Ignore the brown smudge." She grinned sheepishly. "I was chasing one of my brothers around the house to get him in the bath, and I had to tempt him with chocolate."

"Uh huh. That's totally what that brown smudge is," Naomi teased, walking up next to her.

"Naomi! What else would it be?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Besides," Satoshi interrupted, walking over to stand in front of Yui's desk. "Why were you carrying your homework around while you were chasing your brother with chocolate? Wouldn't it have been easier to just put it down?"

Seiko laughed. "I never back down from a challenge!" After this, she rubbed the back of her head. "Plus, we'd just spilled juice all over the table, and I didn't want it to get on my homework."

Morishige shook his head. "It seems as though you're living in a perpetual state of entropy."

"Wha –?"

Before Seiko could finish her question, a knock on the wall sounded. Just as before, everyone turned to look at who was interrupting them. This time, it was Ayumi, who currently had her bag slung over her shoulder, and was looking at the group with a raised eyebrow, foot taping impatiently. "Are you guys all ready to go home? I figured you would be dragging me out the door by now. Instead I find you arguing about homework." She rolled her eyes. "I had no idea that grades meant so much to all of you!"

"Excuse me, class rep –"

"I know, Morishige-kun. I was surprised about everyone except you." Ayumi giggled.

"Are you implying something about the rest of us, Shinozaki-san?" Seiko huffed sarcastically, crossing her arms in a failed attempt to look angry and intimidating. Satoshi and Naomi chuckled at her behavior.

Ayumi rolled her eyes playfully. "Not so much implying as actually stating it." Her expression turned into one of confusion as everyone around her gasped slightly. When her friend group started to look between her and Yoshiki with shocked looks on their faces, she spoke up, "What's going on, everyone? Did I say something strange?" She seemed to realize something. All of a sudden, she waved her hands in front of her face. "I-I never said that Kishinuma-kun was dumb or anything close to that! Why are you looking at him like that?"

Yoshiki himself knew the reason, and he was slightly stunned as well. "She said the same exact thing that I did just a few minutes ago… I wonder if that means anything… Maybe something like… us being connected somehow…" At this thought, Yoshiki's face began to redden slightly. "Gah! I really am hopeless sometimes. I've got it bad…"

Finally, Mayu spoke up to disrupt the somewhat awkward silence. "Hey, Shinozaki-san. You didn't happen to overhear a lot of our… argument over homework, did you?"

Ayumi tilted her head. "Not really. Why?"

Yoshiki decided to step in before Mayu unintentionally gave away their plan by acting suspicious. She was already playing with the hem of her skirt slightly, and Ayumi was eyeing her suspiciously. "Again," He thought, mildly surprised, "just like me with Shinohara. I wonder if it's always been like this, or if I'm just noticing a lot now." Yoshiki cleared his throat in order to get Ayumi's attention, as well as to calm his own nerves to return his face to a natural color. "Shinozaki. We… just find what you said odd because I said something similar to Morishige a couple minutes ago." He scratched the back of his head. "In the same way too. It was just kinda… shocking."

Ayumi looked over at him with a peculiar expression. Her face resembled one of curiosity, with her blue eyes wide and her mouth open in small 'o' shape. All of that combined with her still-titled head gave her the appearance of an interested puppy, not quite comprehending what was going on, but looking adorable anyway. That puppy-dog look alone sent Yoshiki's heart into overdrive. "Gah… everything she does is just… so… cute!"

However, this look only lasted for a few seconds before she regained her normal expression. Ayumi smirked at Yoshiki and quipped, "Oh. So now I'm sounding just like Kishinuma-kun? That's not weird at all."

The friend group seemed to let go of a collective breath in an unnoticeable sigh that no one had any idea that they had been holding. Everyone chuckled at Ayumi's remark, all of the earlier tension gone.

"Ah! Shinohara-san. I just finished up with grading your assignment." Everyone looked over to see their teacher holding up a slightly crumpled up sheet of paper with a red grade at the top. Yoshiki was surprised. He had thought that Yui had been interacting with the rest of them, but she had apparently been grading papers this whole time.

Seiko jumped a bit, clearly anxious and excited to see what she had earned. "Ah! What did I get?"

Yui smiled and handed over the paper to her eager student. "Well… you were between an A and a B, but I figured it's almost Christmas, so I went ahead and gave you the A." Yui winked at her. "Let's just pretend that you didn't spell cat with a k."

As Seiko took her paper, speechless, Naomi looked over her shoulder to see the assignment as well. "Geez, Seiko. You really can't spell at all. That's not even a difficult English word!" She knocked her head into her best friend's slightly. "I don't even know how you got an A. You practically spelled everything wrong!"

Before the inevitable argument could begin, Ayumi clapped her hands to get her classmates' attention. "We can discuss Shinohara-san's abominable spelling on the way home, you guys. We won't get home until midnight at this rate."

Yoshiki grinned, seeing a chance to tease her. "Actually, Shinozaki, it's only 3:30. We'd have to walk pretty slowly to get home at midnight."

Ayumi turned to him, a slight glare on her face. "You know what I mean, Kishinuma-kun! Geez…" She turned away with her back towards him.

Yoshiki chuckled at her behavior. Her irritable looks and tones never upset him and usually brought a grin to his face. All of her reactions were adorable to him, and the more annoyed she got, the more he wanted to tease her to continue getting those reactions.

"Heh… Shinozaki…"

"Alright! Let's go, everyone!" Mayu ran to the door next to Ayumi, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

As everyone more or less followed Mayu and Ayumi out of the door and into the hallway (with the group saying a collective goodbye to their teacher), Yoshiki adjusted the bag on his shoulder and grinned to himself.

He looked from the bag to Ayumi, who was currently in front of him and therefore still had her back to him. The art materials were securely stored inside with the rest of his school supplies, but he still walked more carefully than he usually did to prevent any damage. In his mind, he began to imagine just how he would go about drawing a picture of her, and the thought made him both nervous and excited.

"Shinozaki…" Yoshiki looked up again at Ayumi, who was currently laughing and talking with a chipper Mayu beside her. "I hope you like your present."

And I hope you liked this story!

Now, according to my own master plan, this story (which will be a two-parter) will be updated tomorrow on Christmas. I figured having the preparation up on Christmas Eve and then having the actual resolution on Christmas Day would make the story seem like it was happening in real time.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!