A/N: Written as a Femslash Ex 2018 exchange gift for Ethereally.

-()-

Certain things never changed when Mari was concerned. The one that never changed the most for Kanan and Dia was Mari's ever-abundant supply of zeal and charisma even while they were alone in Kanan's house.

"Kanaaan!" Mari chorused. She clung to her leg and looked at her with puppy dog eyes which clearly held mischievious intent. "C'mon, let's do something fun! I'm so booored!"

Kanan sighed regrettably, and she patted her girlfriend on the head. "No, I can't always give in to you. I'm busy right now." She pulled her laptop higher up on her knees.

Mari pouted. She wrapped both arms around her knee for extra effect. "But I love you!"

"I love you, too, Mari. But work doesn't get done on its own." Managing to keep her voice cool, she did her best to keep Mari out of her thoughts; thiswas the third interruption in the past hour and she needed to stomp her feet down on the boundaries. Kanan's gaze turned away from her and glued to the screen.

Mari grumbled. She grabbed at Kanan's laptop, but she yanked it away, keeping it away from Mari snatching it from her.

"Mari!"

"Okay, sorry~" Her tone was playful, and she switched to English, but Kana didn't budge.

Switching tactics, Mari moved on.

"Diaaaaa!" Mari turned to her second girlfriend. She lounged across the room to the desk and Dia's paperwork hot spot. "Don't you know I love you too? Kanan doesn't want to spend time with me! And I need something to do because I'm really bored, and you – "

"I'm busy, too, you know," Dia said, her tone even more clipped than Kanan's had been. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked from behind her stack of student council work.

Mari dived under the desk and tried to attach herself to Dia's leg just as she did with Kanan. Dia was quicker and grabbed the collar of Mari's shirt before she did so. Realizing when she was pathetically bean, Mari dramatically fell to her knees and pounded at the floor.

"You're both so mean to me." Mari sniffled. "I just want to spend time with the people I love the most. You can do that every other day."

Dia gave her a once-over. Guiltily, Kanan scratched back of her neck, not knowing how to handle Mari when she was like this. Despite that they had known each other for years Mari descended into particular moods.

"You're not fooling me. You want to goof off," Dia decided, giving her a steady death glare. Like Kanan, she was tempted to give in, but she had principles that kept her motivated.

Mari smiled. She got up and tried to snatch away the piece of paper in Dia's hand, but Dia expertly pulled it away from her grasp.

"No, no!" Mari said. "Not at all! I'm not up to anything. You have to believe me, no?"

But Dia didn't crumble on her stance. Agitated, Mari shuffled her feet. If they were going to be that way, fine then! Mari went to pack up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"In that case, good night!"

She raced out of the room. They heard her feet race down the hallway, and the front door slammed behind her as she ran out.

Kanan and Dia frowned at each other and ultimately shrugged. It was awkward. They wanted to spend time with her, but they had other responsibilities they had to keep track of. Every day was similar with Mari, but today had been rather stressful and exhausting and they didn't know what the trigger was.

"I feel kind of bad," Kanan muttered.

"Yeah," Dia agreed.

Briefly, silence fell over the room.

"Lately, she's brimming with energy, hasn't she?" Kanan returned to her laptop and continued typing in the word document.

"Too much," Dia answered. She rearranged the paperwork, picking up a piece of paper Mari had knocked over with her exit. "She's been all over us lately. Not that I mind she wants to spend all her time with us, but – "

"It's a little acted," Kanan filled in the blank.

Despite that Mari was an anomaly most of the time for the rest of Aqours, they understood her the best. Even now it was a bit baffling.

Separately, they judged the situation. Usually, the worst of it passed, but they were worried.

Dia circled the list of names on her paper. Then, she signed her name and wrote the date. Her body seized up at the realization. "Her birthday is coming up," she said. "I can't believe I didn't remember that sooner!"

Kanan blinked. Her head fell back on the couch headrest. Dia and her both. "Oh, so she's desperately hinting, isn't she," Kanan said. "What is she hinting for, I wonder?"

"I mean, if she's been nagging us this entire time for our individual attention, and she is reminding us to we should be together. . . ." Dia put her chin on the palms of her hands. "I see. What present do we get her this year?"

"We got her those expensive chocolates last year." Kanan put her finger to her chin. "Ah, that's difficult. Something that's different."

When their girlfriend was already filthy rich, that reality does put a damper on whatever they choose. Obviously, Mari appreciates everything they do and she won't hear that anything is a waste, but they still had that little bit of resolve to top themselves.

The sound of something muffled resonated in the air. Kanan put aside her laptop and dug in the couch cushions. She pulled out Mari's cell phone. The grating, blaring of metal and a guitar riff scoffed the speakers. Kanan turned it up, and the muffled lyrics were audible.

"I recognize the rhythm. She's been listening to that band lately," Dia said. "In fact, I think it's been nonstop. She really likes that song."

"Oh! You're right." Kanan looked at the band's name. "She's been listening to this song on repeat. I hear the rhythm when she passes me in the halls, or she's just spacing out."

Now that she had everything she needed to go digging for more, Kanan searched for the band's name for information on the Internet.

"Oh, look at this," she said. She walked over to Dia's seat at the desk and pointed at the screen. "A brand new album of theirs will be coming out a few days before her birthday."

"Nice timing." A perfect plan brewed in Dia's mind. Mari may have an advantage over them for most things, but they had this one now. "In that case, let's do something with that."

"Yeah." Kanan smiled fondly. "She's stubborn, but I'm sure this will calm her down."

-()-

Once she was home, Mari flopped on her bed and snugly buried her face in the frill edges of pillow. She rolled on the bed, trying to find a good position, still irritated but mostly sad.

Kanan and Dia were impossible! Didn't they see that she just wanted to spend more time with them after they had done so much work lately? The beginning of the school year had been hectic. Three months into it left things extra crazy. Love Live sucked the other half of their energies. Well, her affections were a bit overdone, but sometimes they needed the shake-me-up she could only give them. Dia was serious. Kanan was down-to-earth. Mari knew when they a good, old fashioned break was important. Yet they didn't take her bait.

How else was she supposed to get their attention, though? A girl could only last so long without having girlfriends realize they were the ones that needed her guidance!

Mari dug her nails into the pillow. She would have to keep trying if this kept up and think of something else. She didn't know how she may accomplish that, but she supposed the answer would come to her eventually.

Sullen, Mari stayed away from them during practices a few times that week, but Dia and Kanan didn't take it into offense. It was Dia who visited the store and bought the CD the moment that it came out and wrapped it up.

Finally, they cornered her in the club room.

"Here," Kanan told Mari. She held out the CD for her to take. "It's a little bit early, and we could have waited . . . but here's something for your birthday. Happy birthday, Mari!"

"Happy birthday," Dia added.

For a moment Mari's eyes shone. Then, she huffed at Kanan, turning her back on them. She didn't like doing it because she wanted to tackle them and never let them go. But she had to put on some kind of show for them.

"You know you aren't supposed to open presents before your birthday," Mari scolded. She crossed her arms her chest, nodding deliberately. "That's bad luck. It must be!"

She wasn't doing that under Dia's watch. Dia pinched Mari's cheek. Mari gasped, and then she giggled, swatting away Dia's hand.

"Just open it," Dia chided.

"Okay, okay," Mari said. "So bossy."

Mari took the small packaged item in her hands. Despite her protests, her face was eager, and she started to unravel the red ribbon and glossy blue wrapping paper. She popped open the brown box and gasped.

"The newest CD for NightMARE Scream!" She clutched the CD against her neck, wide-eyed. "I haven't even gotten a chance to buy it."

"It's the special edition version," Kanan said, pleased to see the pink glisten to Mari's face. "We thought you'd go for that one, at that."

"Since you're so hardcore about these kinds of things," Dia said. "Go big or don't at all."

"That's my girl! You bet," Mari said. Despite herself, happy little tears well in her eyes.

Kanan and Dia were equally flustered to see how happy Mari was. They knew their gift would be easily accepted anyway, but she was practically over the moon and stars.

Unable to contain herself, though, Mari peeled the plastic wrap surrounding the dark CD cover away. Moments later, she cracked the case open and dug around inside, examining the contents of the special extra. But she stiffened and her mouth went into an "o".

Mari paused. Her eyes bulged in surprise, and she covered her mouth. She pulled out three pieces of golden paper. At first her expression was calm, but her face went emotionless.

Puzzled, Kanan didn't know what to make of that. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, you. . . ." Dia began, not sure how to summarize her sudden weirdness in detail.

Mari didn't respond immediately. In fact, they wondered if she actually fainted standing up.

"Oh . . . oh my god." Mari wobbled. She glanced at Kanan and Dia, then wildly back at the CD case. "Oh my god," she repeated, loud, a near screech. Her tone continued to rise, and she leapt away from them. "Oh my GOD! I can't believe it! I can't believe this at all!"

Mari proceeded to race around the room. In her wake, she left a befuddled Kanan and Dia gaping at her display of unbound energy, the outbreak of cheerfulness too much to take in.

"W-what!?" Dia yelped. She backed away from her and bumped into the chair several paces behind her. "What did we do now?"

"I don't know," Kanan admitted. "I guess the extras are better than she imagined?"

Something about that conclusion woke Mari up from her daydream. She zoomed over to Kanan and looked at her with determination.

Mari grasped her hands and squeezed them. "You have the lucky hands, Kanan! You're magical! My lovely, magical Kanan-chan!"

Kanan laughed nervously, but the amusement on her face revealed her happiness for praise. "I really don't think I'm that lucky, Mari."

"You are! If I didn't love you before, I love you three times as much!" Mari enveloped her in a hug and kissed her on the cheek.

Dia looked around Mari's hand. Now, it was ime to get to the bottom of her giddiness. She spotted the red trim of words on the tickets in fine print that read "Winner."

"Oh, they're lottery tickets," Dia said. "Wait. You won something? What did you win?"

"That's right!" Mari said. She looped her free arm around Dia, drew her against her side, and she held the tickets up for them to see. "Lottery tickets that are super, super special! Limited seats for the concert that'll be a few days after my birthday! Can you believe it?"

Vaguely, Kanan remembered reading something about the upcoming concert. But she had skimmed it while searching for the rest of the information about the CD.

"Please, please, please come with me!" Mari begged. She crushed the both of them in a hug. "There's three tickets here, and it's absolutely perfect, and I need the two of you with me, my two favorite people in the whole wide world for my birthday celebration – "

Dia and Kanan wheezed in her vice grip. Squirming, they tried to pull away, but Mari's arms were too strong for them to resist.

"If we promise we'll go with you, will you not choke us to death?" Dia breathed.

"Promise!" Mari sing-songed.

Mari released them. She twirled around in a circle, thoroughly elated once again, holding the CD and tickets above her head.

"I'm the luckiest birthday girl in the wide world," Mari said, grin hearty. "Dia and Kanan are the best! I love you both so, so much!"

Dia and Kanan exchanged glances, blushed harder than they had been previously, and shook their heads. Mari was hard to handle but they wouldn't have it any other way.

-()-

"Let's goooo!"

The first thing Mari did was throw her arms around Dia and Kanan once she saw them the morning of the concert. Aqours had made her birthday a success, but Mari had been the most pumped up for the concert, and they were thrilled to be a part of that with her.

The train ride to the venue site out of Uchiura went smoothly. Getting inside the hall took a while, and Mari bought so much merchandise, and they thanked Mari for her patronage. Dia and Kanan were exasperated with this, too, but Mari's overwhelming glee was a balm to running literally everywhere to check things out. Finding their seats was simple enough.

"So excited, so excited~ So shiny!" Mari squealed. She bounced up and down in her seat and arched her neck to see the dimly lit stage a handful of rows in front of them.

Kanan seated herself and examined the atmosphere. Fans piled into the seats around them and chatted at a reasonable level. Dia went on the right side of Mari. Luckily, their seats were fairly close to the front, and Kanan guessed she might be lucky after all.

"Wow, it has a different energy from Love Live," Dia noted. She placed the bags she had been carrying for Mari down at her feet.

"Yeah, it's kinda . . . I don't know how to say it." Kanan's head tilted. The air buzzed with something exotic she couldn't place her finger on. "Love Live always has tension and rivalry, but everyone feels so . . . electrified?"

Half-offended, Mari turned towards her. She cracked the light stick in her hands and the green light glowed directly in Kanan's face. Kanan flinched in her seat, gulping in fear.

"Of course it does!" Mari said. "This is the type of music that makes you happy! Super special and ready to rock'n'roll! It's not like anything else, but –" she waved her hands –" it makes you get up and do cartwheels!"

Mari started to stand as if to follow through on her threat, and Dia roughly grabbed her shirt sleeve. "There's no room for that."

Mari laughed and fell back into her seat.

Soon, the lights on the stage went bright and colorfully dizzy and the band appeared out of a cloud of smoke. Dia and Kanan had gotten used to the type of music Mari listened to than the first years, but they jumped at the sound as the instrumentals reverberated off the walls and rattled their ears, the lyrics vaguely recognizable in the din of insanity. The guitar riff and synthesized growls of the speakers rang throughout the arena. People cheered and waved their glowsticks, which was exactly what Mari did. Kanan and Dia didn't have quite the same love for the band Mari did, but they mirrored her actions.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Mari yelled, headbanging back and forth, raising her hands high. "Oh yeah!"

Kanan and Dia were surprised when Mari grabbed them both around the middle after the first song and pulled them against her side. She kissed them both on the lips, not caring about the people around them, the brass beat pounding around them.

"I've never had a better birthday."

Kanan and Dia swelled with pride at that. Neither one of them thought she could get sweeter, but Mari just did anyway. Like this, the swirl of noise and light were beautiful.