Otanjoubi omedetou
April 8th, year 2042
Tsukino let her forehead hit the window with a soft ‘thud’, looking out at the passing cars, she smiled to herself. She was on her way to school, on the bus. Her family had called this morning to tell her happy birthday and she was excited. Her mom was back home and would be staying for the whole week.
Her blissful mood was ruined by a sudden chill running down her back. Someone was touching her hair. She whipped around to face the person, not surprised to see who it was.
“Good morning, Kasugawa-kun” she said coldly and Yoru pouted, pulling his hand back. Using his last name was one of her few defenses, sadly it wasn’t always effective.
“Good morning Tsukino-chan~” he replied gleefully, she cursed his good mood.
“Look if you’re going to sit there, would you at least not sit on my bag?” she asked and Yoru glanced down to the bag that was under his knee.
“Sure” Yoru put the bag on the floor and sat down. “So, I heard it’s someone’s birthday today” he said, playfully pinching and tugging on Tsukino’s ear. What was his deal with her ears?! Tsukino shook her head to make him stop, he let go and rested his hand on her shoulder instead. “Happy Birthday!” he exclaimed, Tsukino rolled her eyes at him before turning back to the window.
“You know, I took a detour just for you.” He continued.
“Oh, you shouldn’t have” Tsukino replied sarcastically, refusing to look at him. Ignoring him never worked but she didn’t want to encourage him by paying attention.
“I wanted to catch you before school, I have a present for you!”
“Whoa, as much as I appreciate gifts I do not want one from you” Tsukino protested and turned to face him. Yoru’s hand was off her shoulder, his knuckles brushing against her cheek. “Would you stop touching me? It’s making me really uncomfortable…”
“Oh come on, it’s not a big thing. I just want you to come with me to my favorite piercing place and get your ear pierced” Yoru told her, completely ignoring her protests.
“No.” Tsukino planted her hand right in his face, pushing him away from her. He was being absurd. She pushed past him to get off the bus. They had arrived at school.
“It’s just the one ear, you’d look pretty with a piercing, come on” Yoru insisted as they got off.
“Tsukino!”
They both looked up, seeing Mayura waiting at the gate. Because of her long commute Mayura was always early. Yoru ran ahead of Tsukino and quickly threw an arm around the fox girl’s shoulders, waiting for Tsukino to catch up. Mayura’s face was flushed red and she stared at the ground.
“Say Tsukino” Yoru began as Tsukino watched him with narrowed eyes. She knew what was coming, and she also knew she wouldn’t be able to say no now. “What if I gave Mayura-chan here a piercing as well? Would you accept my gift then?” he suggested, smiling smugly.
Tsukino closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, taking a moment before looking to her best friend who was still staring at the ground. “Why don’t you ask her?” she told Yoru, who immediately turned to Mayura and leaned closer, putting his mouth right up to her ear.
“What do you say Mayura-chan? Wanna go get your ear pierced after school?” He offered in a low voice. Mayura didn’t say anything, instead she rapidly nodded over and over. He could’ve asked if she wanted to jump off a building, she would still have said ‘yes’.
“Well that settles it, I accept your gift. You happy now?” Tsukino asked, but judging by Yoru’s grin he really didn’t have to answer.
“Tsukino-chan, you’re the best!” Yoru laughed and yanked her closer, hugging her around the neck so tightly Tsukino felt as if she was being strangled.
“I can’t breathe” Tsukino managed get free, stepping out of Yoru’s reach this time. He still had his arm around Mayura’s shoulders and Tsukino saw him lean closer to her again.
“Of course, I can’t forget to thank you…” he whispered. “You, are the absolute best, for never failing to help me win Tsukino over” he added before kissing Mayura on the forehead.
“Meet me here at the gates after school okay? Don’t forget now!”
Tsukino and Mayura watched Yoru as he headed towards the school building. Tsukino glanced at her best friend, who still seemed to be in a state of bliss.
“You know he does that be-” whatever she was about to say was lost when Mayura shook her head.
“I know… and it’s dumb that I let him but… I like the attention. Even if it means nothing” Mayura sighed, still smiling.
“Do you think he’ll ever stop bothering me?” Tsukino asked as they headed inside.
“I don’t know, maybe when he’s won you over? Or you get a boyfriend?”
“So he won’t stop is what you’re saying?”
Well… what do you think? Hasn’t it just escalated?”
“It has…” Tsukino replied. She had kind of liked the attention in the beginning. It was cute… but she had quickly realized he wasn’t going to stop and for a year now it had honestly just gotten worse. Yoru had no boundaries and it was starting to scare her.
They entered their classroom, hanging up their jackets before going to their desks. First lesson after homeroom was English so Tsukino started picking out her textbooks from her desk.
“Hey, Tsukino?” Mayura said leaning over her friend’s shoulder.
“Mmm?” the other girl replied, gathering up her books in a pile. Mayura dropped a small velvet bag on top of the books on the desk.
“Happy Birthday” she said and Tsukino turned around a smile plastered on her face.
“Thank you! Can I open it?” she asked picking at the ribbon.
“Sure!”
“This is actually the first gift I’ve received today so-” getting the bag open and turning it upside down, a leather bracelet fell into her hand.
“Oh. My. God. Are you insane?! This is worth a fortune!” Tsukino told her friend who just gave her a cheeky grin.
“Well every time we passed the jewelry store you’d look at it and go ‘I want it’, so now you have it” Mayura laughed, helping Tsukino to put it on. It was a red and purple leather bracelet, with flat, diamond shaped studs.
“Oh, I love you!” Tsukino almost shouted hugging Mayura tightly.
● ● ●
Yoru sat on top of the wall just by the gate. He was looking up towards the school, waiting to see Tsukino and Mayura come out of the building. Leaning against the wall below him was Kazu.
“How did you get Tsukino to agree to this adventure?” Kazu asked as he watched Yoru.
“What do you think? I was lucky enough to have Yabuki-san waiting for her this morning so I simple offered…” Yoru made an offering gesture with one of his hands “and Tsukino accepted” he finished, leaning back with a smug smile.
“That’s not how you get someone to like you Yoru” Kazu told him disapprovingly.
“It’s working, isn’t it? She agreed”.
“Sure, she agreed but… look, we’ve had this conversation before, whatever interest she had or could’ve had in you died the first time you didn’t stop when she asked you to” Kazu said with a frustrated sigh. At this point he was serving as Tsukino’s bodyguard as well as Yoru’s conscience when they were in the same room. “Using Mayura-san to, it’s not gonna win you any points, admit defeat already” Kazu remarked, but when he looked up at Yoru he could see he was ignoring him, pretending not to hear.
“The piercing thing isn’t the gift, right? You made her something” Kazu moved on, Yoru was too stubborn to argue with, with any success. As little as he wanted to encourage his behavior, he also loved Yoru’s jewelry.
“It’s in my bag if you wanna have a look” Yoru answered watching as his friend pretty much dived for his bag. Between studying and hang outs Yoru also made jewelry in his spare time, it was a well-paying hobby. He even had a brand, Night K.
Kazu had found the little red box and opened it carefully. Inside was a very beautiful piercing topper, shaped like a moon, covered in black onyx stones with a single diamond near the top. “Oh man, this is beautiful. You know if Tsukino-san doesn’t want it, I’ll gladly take it” Kazu suggested, closing the box and putting it back where he found it.
“Haha, dream on. I’m not letting her give it back” Yoru said jumping down from the wall.
“How many times will I have to ask before you’ll make me a ring?” Kazu muttered handing the bag over to Yoru. He had been begging for a ring for almost two years.
“I won’t make you one. Think of the rumors that might start” Yoru fretted dramatically.
“Pfft, like you’ve ever cared about rumors. You know what they say about you and Tsukino-san.” Kazu snorted, knowing Yoru was joking. “I’ll pay for it. Just make me a ring, please” he continued but Yoru shook his head.
“Forget it, I don’t want your money.”
“Then what do you want?” Kazu demanded. He knew he could go buy a Night K ring from one of the stores that carried the brand but he wanted a custom one, one that was made just for him. It would make it so much more special, it would mean something.
“For you to stop asking? Geez…” Yoru was visibly irritated now, scratching at his neck. “Fine, I’ll make you one… just not now.”
“Is that a promise?” Kazu was never quite sure with Yoru.
“Okay yes. I promise I’ll make you a ring, at some point” Yoru confirmed as he started walking away, Tsukino and Mayura had finally appeared outside the building.
“I guess I’ll wait then. But that ring is not the only thing I want from you, you know!” Kazu yelled after Yoru who waved at him over his shoulder before joining up with the girls.
“Took you two long enough, did you hope I’d forget and leave?” Yoru asked.
“If only there was a god with that kind of mercy…” Tsukino whispered as Yoru led her and Mayura out to the parking lot.
“Come on, my driver is waiting!” he said eagerly.
● ● ●
Tsubasa stood by one of the large windows on the second floor, seeing as Tsukino and Mayura left school with Yoru. He hadn’t had any classes with them today, besides homeroom. Tsukino didn’t like hanging out with Yoru though so he was curious as to why she was leaving school with him.
He headed downstairs, meeting Sigma at the shoe-lockers. He liked Sigma, she was very nice and they’d been taking English together since he transferred to Shura.
“Hi Sigma-senpai!” he called to her and she looked up with a bright smile.
“Hi there Tsubasa-kun” she replied before continuing to put her shoes on, his eyes drifted to her bag sitting next to her and the English textbook sticking out of it.
“English homework? I thought we didn’t get any?” he asked pointing to the book.
“Oh, no just me. I got extra exercises again. Language just isn’t my thing” Sigma let out a sigh of defeat. She had failed English last semester so she was retaking it with the second-year students.
“Good luck! Let me know if you want help?” Tsubasa offered.
“Thanks, walk with me to the bus?” Sigma replied as she stood up.
“Sure! Hey, I saw Tsukino and Mayura leaving school with Yoru-senpai earlier. Do you know anything about that?”
“Not much, it’s Tsukino’s birthday today so Yoru has some big plans for her I bet. He probably offered to do something for Mayura to, to get her to agree.”
“Oh, I see…” Tsubasa nodded. If it was Tsukino’s birthday he wanted to get her something. He had given Mayura a present to for her birthday back in January. The girls had both been super nice to him when he first transferred to Shura, so he felt like it was the least he could do to show his appreciation.
“I’ve tried talking to Yoru about how he treats Tsukino, and Mayura for that matter but, well you know…” Sigma trailed off.
Tsubasa nodded absently in reply, he hadn’t had many interactions with Yoru, but he seemed like a scary person. How he treated Tsukino like a possession and the rumors going around school didn’t help the impression either. He didn’t really understand how people could fawn over Yoru the way they did.
“So, what are you giving Tsukino?” Sigma asked leaning closer to Tsubasa.
“What?” Tsubasa felt a blush grow on his face.
“A present, for her birthday, you’re getting her one right?”
“Well I thought- I mean- … I got Mayura a gift for her birthday but I didn’t know when Tsukino’s was- I don’t know what I should get her-” Tsubasa stumbled on his words as he tried to make up a valid reason to give Tsukino a gift.
“Haha, take it easy Tsubasa-kun. I didn’t mean to make you all flustered” Sigma laughed and patted him on the shoulder in a try to comfort him. “Give her something you like, Tsukino isn’t picky, for her it’s the thought that counts”
“Hmm, okay…” Tsubasa replied, embarrassed about how he reacted, but that had caught him off-guard.
● ● ●
“I’m starting to regret this…” Tsukino sighed. She and Mayura were waiting in the car as Yoru talked to the store owner. The car was ridiculously fancy, he had a personal driver to, who was eyeing at them through the rearview mirror.
“I thought you regretted this from the start” Mayura laughed.
“Yeah, but I’ve always wanted to try having earrings, so I thought I could use this as an excuse… I wish I had more say in this, Yoru-senpai is making all decisions…” Tsukino muttered, picking at the hem of her uniform skirt.
“He does this because he thinks you’re interesting, ojousan.”
Tsukino raised her head to see the driver looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“Excuse me?” she asked and Mayura also turned her eyes to the front of the car.
“Yoru-dono thinks it’s interesting that you don’t adore him like everyone else. He has challenged himself to win your heart by any means, ojousan” The driver said, Tsukino could see that he was smiling. She wondered if the driver knew that ‘any means’ was literal for Yoru.
A minute later Yoru came to get them, he had asked the shop owner to close for half an hour, just for them. Tsukino hoped it wasn’t causing them too much trouble.
The shop was small and Tsukino and Mayura had a look around. Tsukino was looking at one of the displays when Mayura called for her.
“Tsukino come look!” she said and Tsukino hurried over. One of the walls was covered in polaroids pictures of all the people who’d gotten tattoos at the shop. Mayura was pointing to a specific polaroid on the wall.
“Sigma-san and Epsylon-senpai got their tattoos done here!” She exclaimed.
“That’s cool, I guess the owner is a bit of a do it all” Tsukino pondered.
“You girls ready?” Yoru called from the back of the shop.
“Coming~” Mayura called back, Tsukino chimed in halfheartedly. The owner was quite a character, she had pitch black hair with neon green accents and she was covered in tattoos and piercings. Her entire left arm had a space them going, staring in nebulas at her shoulder and ending in a classic alien abduction of a cow at her wrist. Her long rabbit ears were packed with studs in various designs.
“Hi girls, my name is Keiko and your wish is my command” she introduced herself. Tsukino smiled, the name of the shop was ‘Your wish is my command’.
“This is Tsukino-chan and Mayura-chan” Yoru said gesturing to each of the girls.
“Well, Yoru told me we’re doing piercings so who is going first?” Keiko asked.
“I’ll go first…” Tsukino hurried to say, she wanted this over and done with.
“Don’t worry honey, it’s not that painful” Keiko hummed as she prepared her tools. Tsukino just nodded, Keiko-san obviously didn’t know why she was tense. She sat down on the small chair letting Keiko pull her hair back fastening it with a few hair pins.
“She’ll have a stud, Keiko” Yoru announced before Keiko could hand her the sample chart.
“What?! Wait, I wanted a ring!” Tsukino argued and Keiko glanced at Yoru.
“Her ears are pretty thin, a ring is the better option” Keiko agreed with Tsukino but Yoru pouted and shook his head.
“Find a place” He reaffirmed.
“How fast does a piercing heal after you remove it?” Tsukino asked between gritted teeth. She didn’t know if she should scream or cry, or both. She was so angry right now, she thought she’d at least get to choose. But who was she kidding, it was Yoru who had offered, of course she wouldn’t get to have a say.
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to” Keiko told Tsukino who just shook her head.
“I can refuse to do it.”
“Thanks… but he won’t shut up about it till I get it done…” Tsukino appreciated Keiko trying to help her out.
“Are you sure?” Keiko was still not onboard.
“Yes, please just do it”
Keiko just nodded as she sat down. A short minute later they were done and Tsukino got to get up and have a look in the mirror.
Next it was Mayura’s turn and she eagerly sat down, getting to choose exactly what piercing she wanted. Tsukino thought it was so unfair as she looked at them through the mirror.
“Keiko-san do you have TeddySIR jewelry? I would like to have one in silver” Mayura requested.
Tsukino shook her head. No, it was okay. Mayura was really enjoying herself. She was receiving a gift from her favorite person. One she had picked out. It was okay. Tsukino looked at herself in the mirror again seeing Yoru come up behind her.
“What now?” she asked.
“Just stand still and I’ll give you the present” he said and Tsukino widened her eyes. The piercing wasn’t the present? Yoru grabbed her ear and removed the piercing topper, replacing it with something else.
“Ow!! That hurts damn it, I just got it pierced!” Tsukino yelled and hit Yoru on the arm when he had let go of her.
“Oh don’t be like that, look” Yoru said pointing at the mirror. Tsukino looked and saw the new jewelry, it was quite sparkly. She stepped closer to see what it was. It was a moon.
“It’s my design, what do you think?” Yoru said and Tsukino gritted her teeth. The nerve of this guy, he didn’t have a single ounce of consideration in him.
“It’s dumb” she spat, heading back to Mayura who just got up from the chair.
“How does it look?” she asked, Tsukino looked at her piercing. It really suited her, a small silver teddy bear, at the top of her left ear.
“It looks great Mayura” Tsukino answered smiling, at least Mayura was happy.
“You two can head out to the car, I’ll be right out in a minute” Yoru said and Tsukino and Mayura did as they were told. When Mayura had closed the door behind them Yoru turned to Keiko with a grin that disappeared once he saw her expression.
“Forcing a girl to pierce her ear… what is wrong with you?” She asked bitterly. She had her arms crossed over her chest, disapproving.
“I don’t need your scolding, how much for the piercings?” Yoru asked.
“The one I did on Mayura-san is free, for the one on Tsukino-san I want twenty Night K. designs, and you won’t be getting the profit from them when they are sold” Keiko explained.
“Man, you’re pissed” Yoru said laughing.
“Yes, I am. I’m not in the business of dealing with people who treat their friends like that. Now get out of my shop… Don’t do things like that. You don’t force that girl, or anyone else, to do anything. You got it?” Keiko said as Yoru left waving at her when he closed the door. She would’ve refused to do the piercing on Tsukino, if Tsukino hadn’t been right. He was stubborn and wouldn’t have let it go.
Yoru had his driver drop Mayura off at a shuttle station that could bring her home. Tsukino did not like being alone with Yoru, his driver was up front, but she wasn’t sure which side he was one. As soon as they turned onto her street she called to the driver to stop.
“You can drop me of here” she said and he nodded to her in the rearview mirror and pulled up to the sideway.
“There you go, ojousan” he said as Tsukino opened the door.
“If I ever ride with you again please just call me Tsukino” she said and swung her legs out of the car.
“Tsukino-chan” Yoru called softly and she turned around, regretting it as she did because a soft kiss landed on the side of her mouth. Yoru was smiling at her, expectantly and she felt blood rush to her face as she gritted her teeth.
“Don’t ever do that again” Tsukino growled and got out of the car slamming the door shut. Yoru was quick to roll down the window and yell after her, “You know you love me!”
Tsukino just ignored him, she was too tired to argue anymore. She walked around the corner and up the driveway to her apartment building. As she climbed the stairs she spotted a small package next to her door. She picked it up before heading inside.
After kicking off her shoes she headed into the kitchen, on her way there hitting the play button on her phone’s answering machine.
“You have one message from ‘home’, playback?” the machine’s digital voice asked.
“Yes” Tsukino answered loudly and it went into play mode. Tsukino sat down at the table and listened to her family singing ‘happy birthday’. She read the card that came with the package.
I hope you like Strawberries
From Tsubasa
She raised an eyebrow. It felt a bit odd getting a present from him but when she thought about it, he had gotten one for Mayura as well.
She unwrapped the package and opened the box, in it stood a small strawberry plant. She smiled and carefully lifted it out of the box, putting the small plant on the windowsill in the kitchen.
She pulled out her phone and typed up a quick ‘thank you’ text to Tsubasa before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. It was the last thing she had to do before heading how to her family’s house to celebrate her 16th birthday.