Christmas Mixer - Tenimyu - Oneshot

“A goukon? But it’s Christmas!” Ueda Yuusuke complained when his fellow Tenimyu actors had told him that they had arranged a goukon with some of Mitsuya Ryou’s friends.

The word ‘goukon’ sounds alien to his ears. To him, girls who went to goukons are just looking for some fun with the guys. They usually have no class and in his eyes, they just look desperate.

“It’s not like you have any plans for Christmas, right? You might as well join us,” Mitsuya tried to persuade him. The words went through Ueda’s heart like a knife.

“But I am not desperate to look for a girlfriend! What’s wrong with spending Christmas by yourself at home, accompanied by good food and a movie marathon?” he shot back defensively. MItsuya glanced at Aoki Tsunenori who only shrugged and shook his head. Not wanting to give up, Mitsuya decided to use a different approach.

“Think about it this way, if you don’t go, we won’t have an equal number of boys and girls. Think about the girl who won’t have a partner. Don’t you feel sorry for her?”

“I don’t see why you can’t ask someone else.”

“Everyone else had better plans to spend Christmas that doesn’t involve them being alone at home… with good food and a movie marathon,” Aoki added pointedly.

“So you will join, right?” Mitsuya asked again.

“I shall think about it,” Ueda replied, but Mitsuya keeps looking at him hopefully. He sighed, “Alright! I’ll go!”

“Yes!” Mitsuya and Aoki fist pumped each other.

“Sensei, you should really go,” Kuririn whined at her mentor when she had heard from one of her senpais that Rie had refused to go to the mixer. “A Christmas mixer will be fun, look, even I am going!”

“And I don’t see why you would want to go, they’re probably all old and desperate men,” Rie told her, “They probably don’t have guys your age.”

“Senpai told me she had asked her friend, Mitsuya-san, to arrange that. I mean, senpai went all through the trouble to arrange the goukon so everyone could have fun. Don’t you feel bad for the person who won’t have a partner later on if you don’t go?”

“But…. I had plans to sleep at home during the day,” Rie argued lamely and Kuririn shot her an ‘are-you-even-serious’ look. “Fine, I will go, happy?”

“Yes, yes I am,” Kuririn beamed.

“Who are we waiting for?” Ueda asked Mitsuya when he met him in front of the train station.

“Yutaka, Tsune and Seiya-kun,” Mitsuya told him and glanced at his wristwatch. It was almost 3, the time of the meeting, but those three haven’t arrived yet.

“Even Seiya is coming? How old are the girls we are meeting?” Ueda asked, feeling a bit uncertain.

“My friend requested I bring someone young, I am not sure what for,” Mitsuya explained and looked past Ueda’s shoulder, “Oh look, they arrived!”

“The guys are late…”

“Are you sure you got the right time, senpai?”

“Of course I did… I’ll give Mitsuya a call. Wait here you guys,” with that, she disappeared outside of the Christmas-decorated café. Kuririn watched her dial somebody through the glass windows.

“How can they be late? Some guys they are. Don’t they know it’s not right to keep girls waiting?” Rie said out loud to no one in particular.

“I am pretty sure something came up. They’ll definitely be here,” the girl sitting on Kuririn’s left said.

“Yeah, I am sure,” Kuririn agreed and turned around to look out the windows again. Her senpai walked back into the café.

“They’ll be he here in five minutes,” she said cheerfully and beamed at everybody.

Rie sighed again. She so doesn’t want to be here.

“We are late,” Kobayashi Yutaka pointed out.

“You don’t say…” Mitsuya sighed as he closed his cell phone.

“-zu ni ikou,” Aoki continued and everyone shot him a weird look.

“You don’t say-zu ni ikou? Get it? It’s like a pun of ‘Yudan Sezu ni Ikou’… Ah, why isn’t Kuma here? He would get it.”

Everyone decided to ignore him.

“Okay, since everyone is here, let’s go,” Mitsuya said and led the way.

“Nice to meet you, Konishi-san… Ano… I am Kuririn… Merry Christmas to you,” Kuririn shyly approached the young man known as Konishi Seiya. The mixer had gone on for some time and everyone else is enjoying themselves. Mitsuya and Kobayashi smirked in satisfaction when they saw their fellow young actor finally hitting it up with a girl.

On the other hand though, they were worried for Ueda who still stayed silent and politely refuses to talk to any of the girls. Mitsuya’s friend, who was currently sitting in Aoki’s lap and flirting openly with him, told him that one of their friends, Rie, is also not mingling so well. It’s then that they knew they will do anything to set Rie and Ueda up. The first problem is though… they’re sitting on opposite ends of the table.

 But Mitsuya Ryou isn’t Mitsuya Ryou if he lets such a petty problem hinder his plans. And everything has to be in perfect sync with Kobayashi’s scenario.

“Sensei… nee, Sensei…” Kuririn persisted despite the annoyance on her mentor’s face. “Just give it a try. I am sure you won’t regret it.”

Rie firmly shook her head, refusing to listen to Kuririn. On the other side of the table, Mitsuya sat next to Ueda, both of them deep in conversation.

“You’re already here anyway; why not give it a try. It might lead to something much better. She looks like a nice girl. Even Seiya-kun is with somebody, how could you lose to him?”

“I… It’s not about losing or winning! I just don’t feel comfortable with these kinds of setups.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. Just give it a go,” Mitsuya is at the end of his ropes. He is really on the brink of giving up if it wasn’t for Kobayashi who is as equally, if not more, persistent as him.

“If you miss on this chance, you might not get another one,” Kobayashi said and Mitsuya just agreed readily.

“Nee, Rie, this is a chance you don’t want to miss. It was sort of hard for me to arrange this goukon. Don’t let my efforts go to waste,” Mitsuya’s friend told her. Rie can already see that between Kuririrn and this girl pestering her, there wasn’t much choice.

At the other end of the table, Ueda realized the same thing.

“Hello, my name is Ueda Yuusuke. Nice to meet you,” he said, feeling shy and self-conscious in front of the cute lady he was currently forced to accompany. Not that he really minded now that he looked at her up close, she was pretty cute and adorable.

“My name is Rie, nice to meet you too,” Rie too, felt a bit awkward in the presence of a guy like Ueda. She really likes the way he smiles and well, sort of everything about the way he looked. Rie wasn’t normally materialistic when it comes to her partners, but with Ueda, it felt like an added bonus. Of course she would still be turned off if his attitude was that of a stick. She just hoped it wasn’t.

The two of them are totally aware that there are other pairs of eyes on them, especially from Kuririn, Seiya, and Mitsuya who are currently exchanging gleeful looks.

“So, what are some of the things you like to do?” Ueda ask, trying to strike up a conversation. It won’t do for him if he knows the girl he’s with is not enjoying herself. And he’s pretty sure sitting around and fidgeting awkwardly fits in that category.

“How old-fashioned,” Kuririn whispered to no one in particular and the two guys she’s with is trying hard not to giggle too much. They watched in amused silence as the two exchanged small conversations. It was apparent after the first five minutes that both of their awkward outer shells are crumbling apart as they warmed up to each other and able to speak more freely. Satisfied with how much the two got along, everyone else decided to leave them alone.

“Konishi-san and I are leaving,” Kuririn announced out of the blue once the night had worn off. Everybody looked at them curiously.

“Don’t overthink, we’re just going for a walk,” Seiya told everybody who quietly sighed in relief. They do not want to be responsible for any accidents two hormonal teenagers might make. As they walked out the door, Rie turned back to Ueda.

“Would you like a walk too?” she asked and Ueda nodded.

“Guys, we are going for a walk too,” Ueda announced out loud and before anyone could react, they’re both out of the café and into the chilly but warm Christmas air. “Anywhere you like to go in particular?”

“Not exactly,” Rie replied. “I was thinking that a nice walk would suffice.”

“I see…” Ueda said and started walking aimlessly, Rie by his side. “To be honest, in the beginning, I didn’t really want to attend this mixer. Especially since it’s Christmas. I hope I don’t offend you though, it was nice meeting you. You weren’t what I expected.”

“Really? I hadn’t really wanted to come either,” she said and Ueda smiled a little, glad he wasn’t the only one.

“I am glad I did though,” he continued and stopped, turning around to look at her.

“Me too,” she whispered softly as their eyes met. Drops of something white, soft and cold landed on her nose. “It’s snowing, it’s so pretty!”

“Yes it is pretty,” he said and looked up into the sky with her. It was a white Christmas. Slowly, they both faced each other again, “You are also pretty.”

“What?” Rie asked, dumbly, feeling her own face going hot… and even hotter as Ueda leaned over her and she realized what’s going to happen next. She quickly shuts her eyes and awaits the sensation. As her lips met his and the snow kept on falling over them, they both realized this is one of the most memorable and meaningful Christmases they will ever live through, all because this is a start of something new. And it all happened because of some random goukon they were forced to attend on a lonely Christmas night.