Heibon Days
Summary: Azami plus Hiyori plus train.
Disclaimer: No, no, no.
A/N: I posted this on fb for Kagerou Day... now I'm posting it here.
Even as the train rattled on, Azami didn't move or make a sound. Her red eyes disappeared for a moment when she blinked.
"...it's August 15." The gorgon mumbled as she looked at the scrap of paper in her hands. Before Tsukihiko died, he had always marked out Azami's birthday on the calendar, year after year, without fail. After he left, Azami just stopped caring about her birthday altogether.
The paper she held now was the last calendar page Tsukihiko had marked.
"Look, Azami~ I drew a heart! Look! His finger had jabbed at the clumsily drawn heart on the fifteenth of August box.
Azami had rolled her eyes back then, but underneath her curtain of hair, she smiled.
"Well, it's not like anyone cares anymore." Azami shut her eyes and prepared to go to sleep.
A faint rapping on the window behind her startled her. She twisted around on the plastic seat and stared. It was a girl with pigtails.
The girl smiled and waved back at her. Azami only continued to stare. Through the window, she could only see the inside of another train, in another world.
Again, the pigtailed girl rapped on the glass, puffing out her cheeks a little because Azami wasn't paying attention to her. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink marker.
The gorgon watched curiously as the pink marker traced out on the window a huge heart, and then writing some words in its center.
With a satisfied smile, the girl capped the marker and plopped back down on her seat, still facing Azami.
Azami twitched in annoyance. The words were IN REVERSE for her, how was she-
Suddenly, the train screeched to a halt. As Azami toppled off her seat, the doors opened.
"Mama? What are you doing?" A sweet voice enquired.
Standing at the doors was... Shion. A small, child-like Shion. And behind her was a tall, white-haired man.
"Azami? Are you alright?" Tsukihiko pulled her up.
"Tsu... Tsukihiko?" Azami could hardly believe her eyes. "How...?"
"Come on, Azami, or you'll be late for your own birthday party!" The man scolded. Azami allowed herself to be pulled along by him, still bewildered.
"Mama, can onii-chan come too?" Shion tugged at her mother's coat.
"Onii-chan?"
"Yeah! Onii-chan!" Shion pulled on Azami's sleeve and pulled her towards the door.
Standing there, was Kuroha.
Azami then realised what Shion meant. "Kuroha..."
The boy stared back harshly. "Hello, Aruji."
"Kuroha, you-"
"You abandoned me for them!" Kuroha spat, pointing at Shion and Tsukihiko.
"Onii-chan," Shion said timidly. "Would you like to celebrate Mama's birthday with us?"
"That's right! We should, since we're one big family!" Tsukihiko cheerfully swept Kuroha towards him.
"Onii-chan! Will you carry me?" Shion ran towards the boy, holding out her arms to him.
Kuroha looked absolutely disgusted by all this affection, but his eyes were just a tiny bit wet. "Aruji... this is what you left me for? It's gross."
"Shut up. I'm your mother." Azami smirked.
Kuroha's mouth opened once or twice soundlessly, before he numbly bent down and picked Shion up.
Azami turned towards the window again, looking at the pink heart on the glass. She knew what those words were now.
The pigtailed girl was now walking away from the window, following a brown-haired boy to the doors. Azami remembered now. She was the girl who had been killed by a pole. In fact, as she watched, the other train's doors opened to reveal every single child that had passed through the Kagerou Daze on August fifteenth - the Mekakushi Dan.
Hiyori turned back, just once, to smile and mouth the words written on the window:
"Happy Birthday."
A/N: Azami needs more love.