Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I said I'd get back into it, but I kinda didn't, my bad. To be fair though, I've had reasons, my comp crashed, had to get that set up, I've been building a shed in the backyard with my dad, large sucker too, 12 foot by 16 foot with a 1/3 pitch roof that goes up to 12 feet or about 4m x 5.3m x 4m for those who prefer metric. Also, I've been training like crazy for the USAF, 6.2 miles every other day and strength training on the other days. So, I've been busy. But this also brings something else, I'm heading down to the MEPS center on Monday, Oct 15th and officially active duty on the 16th, so this will be the last chapter, and long, too, and it will probably be the last for quite a while, try not to forget me if I come back, Fuji. Umm, so, yeah, let's rock.

It was now officially the dead middle of winter, Touma hated every bit of it, too. He looked to his right, and Tsuchimikado was in a friggen' short sleeve Hawaiian shirt with shorts, Aogami was a little more sensible, wearing at least a long sleeve hoodie with jeans, Touma was in a scarf, hat, ski jacket, and even went so far as to get thermal underwear.

"I hate winter, It's always too damn cold, you can't swim in the ocean, no girl in her right mind would wear a bikini, you always get sick..." Touma kept going on and on about the things that he hated about winter.

"Dude, just calm down and breath slower, that makes me feel warmer." Tsuchimikado interrupted.

"Shaddup." Touma was not pleased.

"Here, how about we switch topics, you know get your mind off the cold." Aogami tried to help.

"Fine." The spiky haired boy grumbled.

"Ooh! How does your girlfriend look underneath everything?" Tsuchimikado asked.

"Shaddup, no." Touma answered in a weird way.

"'No' as in you're not answering or you haven't seen?" Aogami pressed the matter.

"I think it's the latter of which." Tsuchimikado followed up.

"It's not that important, why would I even care, anyway?" Touma started to get angry.

"Uhh... Because you're a straight male, correct?" Tsuchimikado asked, aiming straight for the vitals with that question.

Come to think of it, Touma really hadn't ever thought of her like that, I mean, even when they were alone in his apartment, they had never done anything of that sort, just watched movies and tv, played games and sometimes just talked. There was that time where Ruiko had pushed Mikoto into Touma, who had put his arms up to grab her, and well... grabbed her. Kuroko lit up, Mikoto got angry, and Touma felt terribly embarrassed. That time was it, all they usually do is kiss and hug, and he was perfectly content with that.

"Hello~, Touma~ Pay attention, man!" Tsuchimikado snapped Touma back to reality.

"Huh, sorry, what?" Touma asked, dumbfounded.

"Jeez, don't take it so seriously man, it was just a joke." Tsuchimikado actually sounded just the slightest bit worried.

The rest of the conversation home was rather eventless, only culminating in a discussion about which curry house was best.

After taking about ten minutes to undress out of the cold weather gear, Touma sprawled on the bed behind Index, who was sitting on the floor watching her magical girl series. He pulled out his phone and checked a message from Mikoto.

Index looked over and made a pout-y face and asked, "Jeez, all you ever do is talk to that brown haired girl all day now, if you like her so much, why don't you marry her?"

Touma smiled at the small nun, "Maybe someday, Index, I don't know, I hope it will be a Happy Ending."

"Eep!" The little nun let out and thought, 'Oh man, did I just put up the wrong flag, and unlock the bad end for myself?'

Touma looked back at his cell phone display. 'Hey Touma, my school just opened up tickets for the winter ball, would you care to accompany me?'

'Why of course M'lady, I'd gladly escort you, but I'm afraid I lack the funding for the Horse drawn buggy.' Touma replied to Mikoto's text.

'Then I'll have you give me a piggyback ride.' Their quick responses showed just how comfortable they were with each other now.

'Haha, you know I'd do that, right?'

'Yeah... in hindsight, it was kind of reckless giving you that idea.' Mikoto said in realization

'Alright, so when is this winter ball?' Touma asked.

'It's coming up withing a month, I've got a dress all picked out, so you would just need to get a suit or tuxedo, it doesn't matter which.'

'Okay, I guess we should set aside a day for that, then, huh?' Touma replied.

'Yeah, and thanks, for going with me and stuff.' Although her face wasn't there, Touma knew Mikoto well enough that she had to be blushing by now, having typed something like that.

'Well, of course I'd go with you, I love to make you happy.' Touma's next message sent.

'Alright, I've got to go hang out with Kuroko now, so talk to you in a while!' Mikoto sent a polite farewell.

'Yup, yup. Tell her I said hi, or on second thought, for my health, you might not. Hehheh.' Touma broke off the conversation.

Touma sighed and left his arms plop on the bed, he stared up at the ceiling, not sure what to do now. That was the only downside he saw to having a girlfriend, he wished he could have her at his side forever, oh well.

Mikoto stood outside the movie theater, waiting for someone. However, it wasn't Kuroko like she had told Touma, it was Tsuchimikado.

"Oh, hey, there you are, jeez, you're short." Tsuchimikado poked fun at her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why did we have to come here again?" Mikoto asked.

"Well, this movie is new and I want to see it, and you wanted to see me, so I figured, hey, kill two birds with one stone, right?"

"Okay, fine." Mikoto accepted his reasoning, and the two headed inside.

The next day at school, Touma had already started his day on the wrong foot, someone with coffee bumped into him, and blamed him for it, a dog on a walk decided to take a chomp at his ankle, and the vending machine ate his money. Things quite honestly sucked. He tried looking for a bright spot in this day, but that was rather difficult. At least he had his friends at the end of the day, and even better, a wonderful girlfriend. Aogami stood up and walked over towards him in the down time between periods.

"Dude, how was that movie? I thought it was pretty awesome." He posed the question to Touma.

"Huh? Movie? What are you talking about?" Touma was thoroughly confused.

"Oh, you weren't there? Because I saw Motoharu and Mikoto there, so I figured you'd... uhh." Aogami didn't realize the implications of his words before he said them, he tried to stop, but it was already too late.

"Wait, What?!" Touma's confusion leapt to anger as he made sense of what Aogami said.

"Well, I don't know, either, don't shoot the messenger, bro!" Aogami put his arms up.

Touma put his hand up to his forehead, trying to calm down out of his rage.

Luckily, Tsuchimikado wasn't there that day, otherwise he might have gone through the window and met his end. Apart from the news, the rest of the day was pretty mundane, perhaps god figured Touma had received enough punishment. Upon arrival to his apartment, he didn't even text Mikoto like he usually would.

At about 5pm, his phone's message tone sounded, it was from her.

'Hey, Touma, what's up?' Her message was rather simple.

'Uh, nothing much, I just heard something today that shocked me.' Touma tried to stay as calm as he could.

'Oh yeah? What was it?' Touma wasn't sure if she was trying to play dumb or what.

'Uh, well, it was about you, I heard from someone that you were there with Motoharu, that's all.' Touma denied it as much as possible in his head.

'Oh shit, I'm so sorry, I knew I should have told you! Damn it, why didn't I think to do otherwise?' Mikoto unraveled at the seams. Touma couldn't believe it. He was in such a fury that he couldn't see straight, his hands were trembling, his mouth was just gaping wide open. After about a minute, he calmed enough to move, and picked up his phone and typed his message to her.

'What do you mean? You guys didn't do anything, did you?' He asked, typing on his phone as hard as he could, as though the strength of his keystrokes would add extra meaning.

'No! I swear! I just wanted to talk to him, I mean, you and I haven't done anything, why would I ever want to do something with someone like him when I have you?' The conversation went from zero to 60 in just a short matter of time.

Touma read her text, he felt that it was honest and heartfelt, but he wasn't sure about much now. He even pondered on the thought of whether or not he should end what they had. He decided that Mikoto was important enough to him that he didn't want that outcome, no matter what.

'Why didn't you tell me that, besides, what is it that you couldn't talk to me about?' He pressed this painful conversation forward.

'I'm sorry, you might suspect me of something still, but I have to keep it secret. As for why I couldn't tell you, it falls under that same reason.' Her message came back.

Touma didn't know what to think of it, He wanted to trust her so bad, but he wasn't sure about much of anything, he was so confused, that the direction up was nowhere to be found. But, she's still someone close to him, so, he can't completely abandon her.

'Fine.' Was all his text said, nothing more, nothing less.

'Touma, please just trust me, okay? I know it might be hard, but please.'

Touma didn't want to talk about that anymore, and decided to switch the topic.

'When do you want to go get my formalwear?'

"Uh- soon, I suppose. Maybe this coming weekend?' Mikoto answered.

'Okay.' Touma's responses became short.

The next few days in school for Touma were intensely awkward and aggravating, He was right there in front of Touma, and yet Touma couldn't do anything but shoot angry glares at that bastard. Tsuchimikado felt like there was constantly a dagger pointed at his back and felt an intense aura of anger coming from behind him, so he was always on edge.

Whenever the evenings came, Touma and Mikoto's discussions were always brief, a few not extending past the greetings and asking how the others' day was. Even Index was getting worried, he usually spent hours attached to the hip with that phone or Mikoto herself.

"Touma, are you okay? You seem so indifferent about everything now? Did you have a fight with the brown haired girl?" Index asked.

"You could say something like that." Touma's stare was blank and his voice almost expressionless.

"Well, as much as I don't want to say it, fix things with her! I can't stand to see you like this!" Her words were true, even though she still had a few feelings for the spiky haired boy, seeing him so self-destructive was just depressing.

"Yeah, maybe." Touma pondered on Index's words, maybe she was right, he figured he'd try to be happier when he went out to the formal wear store with her.

Soon enough, the weekend came and they would have to meet up. He waited on the corner until he saw her figure approaching slowly

"Remember, be happy." He exhaled as he quietly muttered to himself.

"Hey..." She said in a down sort of tone

"Hey." His tone was brighter, almost back to his loving tone.

"Huh?" She was slightly confused at this.

"Uh, you see, Index said something to me earlier this week; about how sad I looked, and it kind of sank in, and I realized, I can't stay mad at you, I love you too much for that." Touma said, scratching the back of his head.

Mikoto almost knocked Touma down she hugged him so hard. "I'm so sorry, I still can't tell you about that, but please trust me..."

"It's okay." He said, stroking her hair with one hand and embracing her with the other.

Even though it was only supposed to be a simple trip to get Touma some formal wear, it ended up being a lot of fun. They were definitely back to being on speaking terms. Touma had even managed to sneak a few kisses in every now and again when nobody was looking. He figured it was best to live without being angry at her.

"I missed this feeling." Touma said with a warm smile during one of their embraces.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one." Mikoto said, relieved.

The days passed by smoothly until the winter ball, Touma was still on edge about Motoharu, but he didn't feel ready to kill him like earlier, so that's a start. The weekends were back to how they were, Mikoto and Touma became aware how much they needed each other to be happy. The dates came often, and were always fun, no matter how boring the activity should have been, even rewatching a movie was fun for the couple.

The night of the winter ball came, Touma was nervous as could be. He had never been to an event like this, let alone with a girl. He paced around far more than necessary and texted Mikoto questions about little things that she barely knew about herself.

He stood in front of the mirror perfecting his tie, adjusting it for several minutes at a time, only to undo it soon after and restart the process.

The little things that normally never phased the young man suddenly became national emergency level to him. He just wanted everything about this to be perfect, if not for the two of them, then for her for sure. Touma constantly ran back and forth checking the time on his phone, to make sure he would leave on time. As the minutes drew nearer, his pulse heightened. His hands were shaking again, but it wasn't like last time. He was happy this time. The little digital number on his phone switched to the appointed time, and he summoned his courage and walked out the door.

The walk to her dorm was a bit awkward at first, but once he saw a few more people in dress outfits, he felt a little more comfortable. Special permissions were granted by the staff to let guys come and pick up their dates from the dorm, Touma navigated the halls to the room number Mikoto had given him.

"Well, here we go." He whispered quietly. Knock! Knock! Knock!

Mikoto wasted no time in becoming flustered, her face was already flushed just from the thought of the night. She looked to Kuroko, who gave a simple thumbs up and rushed her to the door.

The door opened to reveal a cute girl, who had her brown hair tied up in a ponytail, with two small locks up front, and was wearing a light blue dress that matched his tie and vest. Touma wasn't sure about what to say, he doesn't normally see anything so beautiful.

"Stop staring so much, idiot." She said in a trademark tsundere fashion.

"Ah, sorry." Touma looked away, blushing as well.

"Well, shall we get going, then?" She asked

"Nah, I thought we'd just stand right here for the night."Touma said, fooling around.

He felt a sharp pain coming from his ribs, and looked to see that Mikoto's elbow was planted right there.

"Haha, jeez, you don't have to take it so seriously." He coughed.

They chatted casually along the way to the restaurant they had reservations at. When they arrived, Touma wasn't sure how even Mikoto could afford this place, it had large ceilings, ice sculptures, grand chandeliers, the works. He looked around at this place and felt guilty that she was going to pay for them, considering how the suit alone drained his savings.

The couple sat down, after getting their drinks, they had some pleasant conversations, and Touma couldn't help but smile at her.

"Hey Touma, I think we should talk about that." Mikoto switched the conversation's track.

Touma knew exactly what she meant when she said "that". He couldn't help but think for the worst considering his misfortune. He didn't want it to end like this, but he figured he'd at least hear her out. "Ah, okay."

"Well, I can finally tell you about that night." Mikoto continued.

"Yes?"

"Well, I had Motoharu do some digging on your past, for info about you and such, like your birthday."

At that moment he heard many footsteps coming in the door to the restaurant. The voices attached to the footsteps were all familiar and singing. He turned around to see, and when he turned back, Mikoto was right there near his face.

"Happy Birthday." She said softly before kissing him.

"Oh my god." were the first words out of his mouth once they separated. Although he didn't ever remember having one of these things done at a restaurant, he knew he hated it already, it made too much of a scene.

"Hey bro, I'm sorry we had to put you through that, hope you still don't want to kill me." Tsuchimikado said, patting Touma on the back.

"I'm not going to kill you for that, but for this whole shenanigan, I might have to again." Touma joked around.

Index came and set a cake down in between the couple. "A few of us girls baked this for you. Try to save some so that I can eat it later!"

Many people came by to give him birthday wishes, even people who didn't seem like the type, including Stiyl, Accelerator, and even a good number of the clones, everybody saying it in quite honestly socially awkward ways. After everyone went through saying their greetings, Touma turned to Mikoto, whose chair had been dragged next to Touma's for when extra tables were brought in to seat everybody.

"I hate you so much, but I love you even more." He said putting his arm around her.

"Jeez, you're such a tsundere." She joked around.

Motoharu beckoned Index over to his seat. "Tonight, try to find somewhere to spend the night, okay?"

Dinner came to an end fairly quickly a few people had to pick up and leave early due to personal reasons, but many people stayed for a bit to chat, Touma and Mikoto waved goodbye to the group as they made their retreat to the winter ball. Before the couple could get out of the door, Motoharu handed Touma something in a small plastic package.

"In case you need it."

Touma and Mikoto walked out a bit. "What was it?" Mikoto asked.

"I don't know." Touma commented, even though he quite obviously knew what it was.

In comparison to dinner, the dance was rather boring, there was a bit of punch in the corner, and a few candies in dishes near the punch. Touma looked around, but there really wasn't much for him to do, he knew nothing about how to dance, and the people here were Mikoto's friends, but he enjoyed being in her company, at least.

After a few hours, the amount of people began to thin, and even Mikoto was starting to get bored, no matter how funny it was watching Touma awkwardly try to dance.

"Everybody, we'll have to call this dance over short, the snow outside is starting to get close to blizzard conditions, and we don't want you to walk home in that, so have a nice evening and stay safe!" A PSA came over the loudspeakers.

"Oh, thank god. I didn't know or really like any of those songs." Touma stated.

"Haha, are you ready to get out of here, too?" Mikoto Asked.

"A tad bit." Touma responded, with a hint of sarcasm. With that said, the couple made for the door, and with a touch of haste.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" Touma asked.

"I don't know, do you have anything planned?" Mikoto returned fire with another question.

"Other than hanging out with you, no."

"Well, I want to beat your high score on that game, the one we played last time." Mikoto gave a suggestion.

"Okay, sounds good, besides, my apartment is closer to here, anyway." Touma liked that suggestion. "Let's just hurry up and get out of the damn cold." He added.

The snow was coming down just as hard as the DJ said it would be. Touma's door had to be forced open due to the snow piling up in front of it.

"Jeez, you know how bad it is when the wind blown snow piles up under the awning." Touma said, taking off his suit coat.

"At least we're finally inside." Mikoto followed up, taking off a jacket she had brought along.

"Uh, do you want something to change into, dress clothes aren't the most comfortable." Touma asked sheepishly.

"If you're insisting on making this like every cheesy romance manga out there, sure." She said with a smile across her face.

"When you put it like that..." Touma saw what she meant. But still passed her a T shirt and led her to the shower.

After a few minutes she came out, wearing his T shirt and her trademark shorts. "Why do they make guys' clothing infinitely more comfy than girls'?"

"I dunno." He was freshly changed as well, wearing a shirt and jeans.

"Alright, let's get cracking!" Mikoto said, stretching her hands out before picking up the controller.

About half an hour and a few retries later, Mikoto was getting so close to his high score. She had her everything set on it.

The lights shut off. Mikoto stared at a blank screen, and only expletives came out of her mouth.

"What's going on!? Why did the power shut off?" Mikoto asked frantically.

Touma opened the window to find the power cables snapped, and a yellow haired figure running away. "Well, there's your problem." He said pointing at the dangling power cable. "The weight of the snow must have snapped it."

"Ugh, well what do you want to do now?" Asked Mikoto.

"I'm not terribly sure, how about you?" He turned the question back on her while lighting a candle so they could see.

"I don't know, I'm pretty tired, and we can't do much entertainment wise, should we catch some sleep?"

"Uh, sure, you can take the bed, I'll go grab the futon from the closet." Touma explained.

"Um... You'll get cold or sick down there, and we have no heating anymore... so we can share your bed." Mikoto said, obviously nervous.

"Oh my, how bold!" Touma said with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up! Do you want to or not?" Her Tsundere tendencies were showing.

"Okay, okay." Touma gave in.

He climbed in next to her. The bed was pretty small, so they were pressed tight together. Mikoto turned to face Touma, and kissed him.

"Good night, Touma."

"Ah-... um..." He paused to clear his throat. "We don't have to sleep yet." Both of them were blushing furiously. "Or we could go to bed." He tried to pick up what he thought were the broken, awkward pieces.

"Um, ok, I really wasn't too terribly tired." Her face was practically glowing red. Touma could nearly use it as a light.

The sun came up and woke Touma up, and Mikoto was still in his arms, It wasn't a dream after all. He accidentally nudged her trying to check the time.

"Huh...? Oh, Hey, Touma, how are you?" She asked groggily.

"Good, good, especially after everything yesterday." He answered her.

"That's good." She said, only barely awake.

"Hey Mikoto?" He began.

"Yesh?" she managed through a yawn.

"I want you to stay with me longer." He finished his statement.

"Well, there's still snow everywhere, so I think I can manage that."

"What about when the snow has melted?"

"Well, then it will start to be rainy, and I don't want to get soaked, so I guess so."

"Ok." Touma finished the conversation, and they resumed sleeping.

Alright errybody, I hope that will keep you happy, I kind of wished I had that ending, but it's all cool, it's just a learning experience. I was actually lucky enough to have my birthday line up on prom, and I had some fun. Thanks to everybody again, especially Fuji, and the other reviewers, now I've got to go pack for BMT. Thanks and see you later, space cowboy.