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Ichika lets out a sigh as she watched the snow fall over the New York skyline. Her breath fogs up the window, making things blur together even more. The snow was perfectly romantic- the slow, soft drift that was present in every cliche holiday movie out there. She was sure that she could turn on the old TV in her hotel room and catch any one of them, all the same as each other.
It wasn't that Ichika wanted to be so bitter about this time of year. But while couples and families walked through the streets below her, hurrying home to celebrate Christmas Eve, Ichika Hoshino was stuck in a mediocre hotel room, with everyone she loved celebrating back in Japan. It was her fault, admittedly, for offering to sub in on tour for a band that she had met a few years ago. But even though they were all cordial, Ichika wasn't really close with them. She had a feeling that they were probably all piled into one room together, or perhaps out on the town. She couldn't fault them for not inviting her if that was the case- they had all gone out together a few times anyways, it wasn't like they were excluding her out of a personal distaste. It was just different with your actual bandmates than it was with a touring guitarist.
Either way, whatever the rest of the band was doing didn't really matter to Ichika. She didn't really want to be doing anything with them at the moment anyways, her thoughts faraway from the peeling wallpaper of her room. It was getting late, the streets mostly lit by the lamps lining them. With the clock hands pointing to just past 8 o'clock, that meant that it would be around 10 in the morning back in Tokyo. The rest of her band was probably just getting up, the excuse of Christmastime and a missing guitarist giving them all a proper break this winter. She wondered, had Shiho taken the excuse to stay in bed a little longer for once, not rushing to get to band practice or work for once? Or had she gotten up early to make herself breakfast in the quiet morning before the rest of her family could get up, savoring the little peace before the rest of the Hinomori household came to life?
Christmas Eve in Japan was supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year— yet Ichika found herself spending the 24ᵗʰ of December mournfully looking out over the streets of a foreign country, alone and away from the only person she wanted to be with. And the worst part of it was—
Well, the worst part of it all is that even if she was back in Japan, Ichika doesn't know that she'd actually be celebrating with Shiho.
Leo/need would do a gift exchange around New Year's, of course, as a precursor to the big party that Saki loved to host (and Ichika didn't even want to think about how much it would suck to miss that this year, knowing that she would be busy playing a show in Boston on the 30ᵗʰ). But her and Shiho weren't really anything, not yet. Last year Ichika's Christmas Eve was spent watching all the music videos for Snow Miku theme songs from throughout the years, the sound echoing through her underfurnished apartment.
Then again, something had felt different lately. Ichika and Shiho had been drifting closer again lately, and she swore that she wasn't imagining the soft blush the dusted Shiho's cheeks whenever their hands crossed. Ichika had picked herself up from last year's awful winter, and she had bought some cool art and an extra set of couches for her apartment, and she had tried her best to invite Shiho over alone more than she had an actual reason to.
But here she was anyways, half a day away from the girl she loved, still nothing more than friends to her. Maybe if Ichika had been there for December, she might've had the courage to ask Shiho out on a date, and they could've spent the night together.
But tonight, Ichika would fall asleep with only the city lights and her own thoughts for company.