"Seiichiro, honey, there's something in the mail for you!" Aoki's wife kissed his cheek as approached her, morning coffee in hand.
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A small box flashed in the corner of the screen. Satsuki frowned, annoyed at the interruption and paused her video game for a moment, zombie's head halfway exploded, to check the email.
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"Ah? What's this?" Yuuto smiled and casually strolled a few cubicles over.
"Hey there." He leaned casually against the doorway and flashed a suggestive smile, appreciating the jump and blush it earned. "Mind if I borrow a letter opener?"
The young woman stammered out a yes and rifled through her things, looking for it. Yuuto reached around her, temporarily enclosing her in his arms as he pulled it out of a pencil holder.
"Ah… yes, there it is." Her blush deepened.
"Allow me to thank you for it by taking you to dinner?" He flashed the same "come and get me" grin, knowing the answer was yes.
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"Hurray! Mail!" Sorata hastily ripped open the envelope, bits and pieces of it scattering around him like Christmas wrapping paper. "Ah… oops." He muttered as he realized had accidently ripped the envelope's contents as well and scrambled about, trying to find all the pieces to tape it back together.
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Nataku pulled the card out of the envelope, wondering how the mailman had even managed to find him with no address and no last name. It was quite admirable, he decided, and wondered if postal work was something he should look into…
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Arashi stared at the card in her hands, wondering what kind of strange joke Sorata was playing this time.
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"You are invited" Yuzuriha read. "Ohmygosh! You hear that, Inuki? We've been invited somewhere!"
"Mommy, why is that girl talking to herself?" a little boy asked.
"Hush, honey, it's not polite to point." The boy's mother grabbed his hand and quickly led him away.
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"Invited?" Karen wondered if this was Nokoru's way of hitting on her yet again but quickly realized that he would have found a much flashier way of asking her to an event than with a mere card. She sighed, remembering the time he had hired acrobats to show up and her work and spell out the invitation. Half of them wound up in the hospital, having not realized that the floor was slick from water and soap and slipped.
Then there was the time he tried airplane banners but one of the planes crashed into Tokyo Tower, leaving the Japanese government to believe that this was a terrorist attack. Somehow they had even believed Nokoru's letter to them that the small island nation of uhatakanoru-e was angry with the Japanese government for having ripped off Hello Kitty from their own Hello Komodo Dragon and declared war on the fictional country.
She wondered if maybe he had just given up this time and wearily opened the card.
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Subaru picked up the slip of paper that had drifted out of the card, thinking for a second that it was an ofuda but quickly realized it was not. He stared at it for a long moment, confused, then turned to read the card's contents.
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"A murder mystery party…?" Kamui wondered what on earth that was.
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"A week from now?" Kusanagi read over the card while doing another set of pushups. "Hmm, I wonder if I could really get time off of work for that sort of thing… Is this for missy's birthday party or something? He sat up and wiped away the sweat dripping from his forehead, wondering what he should get her. "Well, where is it, I don't even know where she lives, now that I think about it…"
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"Ah well that explains the plane ticket." Seishirou said to himself, amused.
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"YES!" Fuuma cried. "I have always wanted to hit up Vegas and see the Statue of Liberty and…" He ran off to pack.
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"'Costumes required'? Oh my god. This is going to be the best party ever!" Hokuto declared.
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Kakyou shook his head. Well next week was going to be interesting at any rate.
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Author's Note: More on the way! :P Stay tuned for chapter 2: the plane ride over.