"Happy birthday, dear nii-san-"

"-Choromatsu-"

"-Fappymatsu-"

"-Shitbag-"

"-Happy birthday to you!"

Choromatsu laughed, placing his hands endearingly on his cheeks.

"Thank you guys! Happy birthday to you all, too!" His smile was as bright as the sun that was beating down on their shoulders, those of them that were wearing heavy church outfits slowly cooking inside their clothing. But they didn't complain.

Todomatsu, with a bounce in his step, bounded to the very end of the dock, latching his toes onto the edge and sticking a leg out; carefully, he stretched his body as far as he could, trying to reach his big brother, who was further out into the lake.

"Blow it out!" He laughed, a green cupcake in his palm with a single pink-striped candle stuck into the top. Choromatsu blew out a puff of air, distinguishing the flame, and hurriedly took his present from his brother's hand before he fell into the water.

"Thanks, Totty," The goddess grinned, popping a thumb into his mouth to rid of the stray icing that got onto his fingers. "Don't you guys have cupcakes too?"

"We ate ours back at the church." Ichimatsu mumbled, squatting down onto the ground to pet ESP Kitty. Karamatsu put his hands in his pockets, his mirror (the glass held together by glue that had managed to stick for years so far) slipped comfortably under one of his palms.

"Do you like it, brother?" The three other brothers that weren't currently in the water cringed at his sparkling bi-shounen eyes, the youngest mumbling a sincere sounding "please die".

Choromatsu bit into the cake, bright green frosting left behind on his lips, but he licked them away with a satisfied hum.

"Karamatsu, this is delicious!" The water boy peeled back the paper on the treat, biting into it again. "Did you make this?" He asked, mouth full, but pushing the cake to one side of his mouth to try and be a bit polite.

The second eldest nodded proudly, hands on his hips; Ichimatsu could've swore he saw the ego pouring out of his ears and let out a grumble, focusing more on playing with his cat. Jyushimatsu fluttered his wings excitedly.

"Nii-san woke up at three in the morning to be able to bake them so he could surprise us all before Ichimatsu nii-san woke up!" Sunshine smacked his lips in memory of what it tasted like. "They weren't half-bad! They were yuuuuummy!"

"They were, actually," Todomatsu reluctantly admitted, "I was impressed."

Karamatsu rubbed the back of his neck, an appreciative chuckle coming out of his mouth that already was dripping painfulness. They all braced themselves.

"Ah, thanks, buruzas," Kara spouted, everybody else groaning- save for Choromatsu, who was too busy working on his cupcake, "Your kind words make my heart beat a million miles, just for you... This is the best birthday I've had in awhile, and I'm honored I get to spend it with such wonderful brothers with such smiling souls-"

"-Okay, okay, stop before we take it back." Todomatsu put a hand on his shoulder, giving him an evilly honest look, Jyushimatsu nearly keeled over to the side in a painful overload. Ichimatsu shook with pent up annoyance that he would've taken out on Kara's stomach if he had kept going for a couple more seconds.

The brothers were met with an awkward silence, ESP Kitty's purring the only thing heard save for Choro sloppily licking his fingers. Todomatsu wrung his hands, his standard cat face returning.

"Karamatsu nii-san's cupcake had goddamn glitter in it."

Choro flinched. "Ah, Totty, shouldn't you watch how you use the Lord's name, being a religious choirboy and all?"

"It doesn't matter."

The goddess tossed the wrapper onto the dock, Jyushi exercising his wings by taking off to go get it.

"Oh... well, alright then. Was it the edible sugar glitter?"

Jyushimatsu scooped it up, flying straight into the air with a whoop, the gust of wind from his wings threatening to knock Choro's leaf crown off. The older brother swept his hands up to grab it before it tumbled into the water.

"Huh...?" Totty's lip popped out in confusion. "There's non-edible glitter?"

The angel, floating above the lake, pulled out his metal baseball bat kept hidden away inside his halo, materializing in bright golden light. Smile wide on his face, he tossed the wrapper in the air.

Choromatsu crossed his arms, concerned, frog mouth in a triangle. "Uh, yes?"

Todo and Kara exchanged glances.

"Oh. Well, then, we just used regular blue glitter. That stuff's not the edible stuff, is it?"

"No, it's not!"

"Hustle, hustle!"

Jyushimatsu swung his bat as hard as he could, the cupcake paper making contact with the metal, but its weight didn't carry it much further than a couple of feet before sailing a little more in the wind, silently falling into the water.

Choro scratched his head, smiling tiredly. "Jyushi, please don't litter in my lake."

The angel let out a yell, diving back down to get it. "Sorry, Choromatsuuuuuuu!" Jyushi cried as he swiped it out of the water, flying up again after throwing it towards Totty. Totty caught it and held onto it, the green icing leftover on the paper melting onto his hands.

"I don't feel 26," Ichimatsu said, not looking up from his cat. The orange kitty plopped over onto his side with a mew, and Ichi sat down completely, scratching his belly.

"Man, me either!" Totty threw a hand behind his neck. "I still feel like I'm in my teens."

"Well, you look like you're twelve," Ichi snickered.

"Wow, Ichimatsu, it would be great if you learned how to shut the fuck up every once and awhile."

"Okay, okay, brothers, that's enough." Kara intervened, pulling at the collar of his shirt.

For the past three years, the four brothers that weren't condemned to the lake went out to visit Choromatsu every day in order to make sure he still had contact with them. Jyushimatsu would go during morning mass, Totty would go after mass, Kara would go in the midday while Todo was off in the market and Ichi was elsewhere, and Ichi would come after dusk. Every so often, they would all come collectively to spend time as a family. Kara had missed the closeness they all shared, especially since ties had been staggeringly severed by the sharp scissors of death.

He watched his little brothers converse and laugh with each other as if no time had passed. Connections were remade in the past couple of years and it was refreshing to witness. Until the sun was nearly completely down, Kara sat on the dock alongside the others and enjoyed their birthday doing nothing except talk with one another and share stories of when they were little.

They bid their farewells and Todomatsu clung to Ichi's arm in the dark as they made their way back to the church, eyes weighing a million pounds with fatigue. They were all too exhausted to say much else to one another, heading straight into their rooms to change into pajamas. They could go to the bath house tomorrow.

Jyushi took his place in the Yellow Yard as always, and Ichi and Todo lazily wormed their way under messy covers that they had forgotten to put away earlier that morning. Kara sat at his window, peering at the stars.

The constellations weren't currently aligned so he could watch Orion's Belt, but he liked to examine the night sky anyway. A silk sheet of a number of dark blues, pin pricked with white light and home to the moon.

Due to their circumstances, Kara hadn't been able to give his brothers anything more than cupcakes for their birthday, but he was overjoyed to hear that they liked them. (Even if they didn't, they were great at hiding it.) He knew it had to pain Ichi and Todo that they had to give up their normal life that they had lived in their childhood home - because it hurt him dearly - but they were wonderful at trooping through and dedicating their lives to God. Sure, they weren't nearly as into it as he was (he often cried during sermons), but the fact that they tried at all warmed his heart.

He was a proud older brother.

He froze, ice shooting down his spine. His eyes flicked down to the sill.

He had almost forgotten something.

...

At two in the morning, Karamatsu was trying to quietly shuffle things around the kitchen without making much noise. He nearly had to hold his eyes open with his fingertips to keep himself awake, but he didn't go back to bed. Instead, he scraped together the ingredients he had used early yesterday morning, kneeling down to grab the icing out of the fridge.

After shoving the pan into the oven to bake, he scooped the leftover frosting into a bowl, letting out a groan as he realized he had to rummage for food coloring again. Kara dug out heaps and heaps of pots and pans, finally reaching the back of the cupboard, grabbing a single container of dye. He squeezed a couple drops into the icing and whipped it, head bobbing as he tried not to fall asleep.

The beeping of the oven jolted him to full-consciousness as he raced over to shut it off so he didn't wake his brothers. Taking the pan out, he frosted the single cupcake that was in the tray with the vibrant red icing, loading it until there was hardly any left in the bowl (less to clean up later). The glaze dripped down the sides onto the wrapper, making it hard for Kara to take the warm cupcake out without either squishing it or getting it all over his hands, but he managed. Pacing down to their bedroom to grab a jacket, he went back to the kitchen to retrieve it, the treat more solid after having more time to cool.

He made his way down the hallway quietly, reaching their bedroom door and marking the start of Todomatsu's candlelit area. Very quickly he was out of that area and down the mirror's corridor, the sounds of his heels clicking echoing off of the glass.

"Nii-san."

Kara whirled around, flinching at the sudden noise, but was met by a glowing Jyushimatsu, the good and holiness he gave off bringing literal dim light to the dark.

"Oh... Hello, Jyushimatsu."

"Where are you going?"

"Ah..." Kara hesitated, glancing down at the cupcake, the shiny frosting piled on top looking like paint. Jyushi observed it before nodding once and catching up to him.

"Wherever you're going, I'm going with you!" He bulged his 'muscles'. "Because I'm your guardian angel! u!"

"Okay, okay, okay, shush, be quiet!" Kara rustled the angel's hair, who had gotten overexcited about his job like he had a tendency to do. The shining boy slowed down, breathing heavily in halcyon.

"S-Sorry," Jyushi inhaled.

"It's alright." Karamatsu looked him over. "Should you bring one of our coats? It's kinda chilly out, little brother."

Jyushimatsu made a face. "Nah, I'll be okay." He smiled, pulling his bangs out of his eyes. "Promise."

"Well... okay, then," Kara looked back down at the cupcake, but started towards the door. "Come on. I wanna get there and get back."

...

Jyushimatsu grabbed his older brother under the armpits, fluttering his wings to lift them both over the spiked gates. He set him down gently, choosing to remain hovering in the fear of stepping on something in the dust. He noted to himself that he should probably start wearing shoes of some sort.

The second and fifth sons overlooked the cemetery for a minute, taking in the pillars of tombstones, the neatly organized rows eerily empty. The graveyard in Akatsuka Ward was highly familiar to them- they didn't even have to think twice of where to go.

Wind roughly blowing their hair, Kara tightened his grip on the tiny cupcake so it didn't fall. Jyushi was close behind, watching in all directions to make sure that nothing was going to creep out of the shadows to try and hurt his big brother. He had his fingers lingering on his halo in case he had to pull his bat out.

The cemetery was almost lost in time, the atmosphere exactly the same as it had been when they were kids, even though everything around them had changed entirely. Skyscrapers towered where favorite playspots used to be, trash littering the beach they'd spent entire days at, their old home completely paved over to provide space for a parking lot.

Yet in this cemetery, the spirits of everyone danced, children crawling out from under their tombstones to waltz with one another to the moon's song until the sun trickled onto the horizon.

Kara turned on his heel robotically down one row, stopping in front of a tombstone that looked exactly the same as the others, but had its own distinctive differences. There was a chip out of the second box of stone where Ichi had accidentally dropped his bookbag on the corner one day after school, the small symbol for 'Matsuno' was carved into the concrete in front of it, and it was already visited twice that day; roses rested gently in front of it.

Jyushi and Kara exchanged glances. They both wondered who it was, but it didn't matter. It was probably old, forgotten childhood friends who happened to remember his birthday. They sat in front of the marker.

The blue brother softly set the cupcake on top of the chipped stone box and plunged his hand into his pocket, shoveling around for a crinkled plastic bag and his lighter. Wordlessly, he took out a single, red-striped candle and stuck it through the icing, flicking the flame on and lighting the taper. The tiny fire wavered in the wind, but didn't distinguish.

The two men exchanged sullen glances and opened their mouths, breathing in at the same time.

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear nii-san,

Happy birthday to you..."

Their sentences trailed off as the wind picked up, blowing their big brother's candle out for him. A tiny stream of black smoke was carried away with it.

Kara let out a sigh, not even realizing that he had grabbed Jyushi's hand for support. He felt emotions rise up his throat, but he held them in. He peered up at the words carved into the stone - "Matsuno Osomatsu" - and forced himself to smile. He felt his little brother squeeze his palm.

"Hi, Osomatsu," Kara swallowed, "Happy birthday."

The wind howled in response. He cleared his throat.

"You're 26; can you believe it?" He laughed half-heartedly. "I can't believe it. It's crazy."

Jyushimatsu was holding himself together well, but Karamatsu didn't seem the same. He breathed through his nose, clearing his throat again.

"I miss you, Osomatsu nii-san," Kara murmured, leaning forward to place a hand on the stone. His other still remained in Jyushi's, who watched him with somber eyes. The angel scooted forward.

"It's okay," Jyushi whispered, resting his head on Kara's back, wrapping his arms around his chest in a hug. "You can let it out if you wanna. I won't say anything."

The warmth of the light his little brother gave off was comforting to the man who was so used to trying and keep it together for his family, adopting the role as the eldest but sure as hell not wanting it. He wasn't oldest-sibling material.

The wind carried a tear a foot over, splashing it next to the cupcake.

"It's not fair, Jyushimatsu." Kara's voice crackled, his lip quivering. "It's not fair."

"Eh?"

"He was a child. A little boy. He didn't deserve this..." Karamatsu began to sniffle, not bothering to touch his eyes as the tears fell. He let them flow freely. Jyushi rubbed comforting circles into his back.

"I know, nii-san," He agreed, "Life is cruel, isn't it?"

The painful brother didn't say anything, memories flooding back from that horrifying day.

Nobody had heard him come downstairs over the sound of their mother's wailing. He was sent as the current eldest in the room to scout out what had been happening; reluctantly, he went. They hadn't even seen him or heard his bare feet sticking to the floor. Kara had hurried over and managed to make it right next to Matsuyo, getting a full view of the dead body she cradled and the bullet hole that covered a good portion of its face with thick blood. His eyes were glazed and wide open in terror. The face that stared back was his.

Their father had noticed him just a second too late and nearly ripped Kara's arm off when he grabbed him, trying to shield him from seeing it, but the damage was already done. The boy went into shock, gripping tightly onto Matsuzo's shirt, wide eyes staring over his shoulder at nothing in particular. He carried Kara away from them, hoping to bring him into the next room over where it was quieter, but that was when the situation at hand had really hit him; tears welling almost immediately and a rock-sized lump in his throat, he began to howl too. Sinking into the wall, their father stayed there not only to be able to offer a crutch for Kara, but to make sure that if any other brothers attempted to come down the stairs (because he knew they would), he would stop them to prevent similar scarring that Karamatsu would have for the rest of his life. At a loss for words because even he had no idea what to do, Matsuzo rested his chin on top of Kara's head, letting him scream and cry until he had nothing left.

The angel didn't cry at all, resting his head against Kara's back and feeling it rise and fall rapidly as he inhaled deep and low. The wind combed through their hair rather roughly - and Jyushimatsu was admittedly freezing - but the blue brother was completely ignorant to it all as he hesitantly slid his palm off of the smooth stone, letting his fingers linger on the name carved into it before finally pulling away. Jyushi lifted his head up, unwrapping his arms from around his brother, giving him space. Kara sat back, his throat raw.

"Jyushi, do you want to pray with me?" He asked, glancing over at the golden boy. The younger of the two smiled, adjusting himself so he would be able to comfortably clasp his hands.

"You lead, Father Karamatsu!" He giggled, Kara's priest jacket looking awfully funny on top of his pajamas. The elder grinned tiredly before bowing his head and folding his hands. Jyushi calmed himself and did the same, closing his eyes, listening for the deep voice.

"Heavenly Father, we pray here tonight in the early hours of the morning for our older brother, who was taken abruptly from us in childhood. In the past years, You have gifted us the lovely presence of two siblings who had been previously dead, but our precious Osomatsu still remains a wandering lamb. Lord, we pray for wherever he may be, he is nothing but happy and is spreading the joys that he did in life. May he forever be a smiling, gentle soul, and enjoy his twenty-sixth birthday up in the Golden City. Please let him know that his brothers all love ."

"Amen!" Jyushi echoed.

Karamatsu yawned; his tears had dried a long time ago. He ran a hand through his hair.

"Ready, Jyushimatsu?" He practically whispered.

Jyushi nodded, standing up and offering a hand. Kara took it, pulling himself up, and they both swept the dust off of their legs with their palms.

"Ah, Karamatsu?"

"Yes, little brother?"

"You said in your prayer that 'we' were given the two dead brothers."

"Yes."

Jyushi laughed awkwardly, leading his older brother out of the row. "Nii-san, I'm one of the brothers!"

Kara couldn't help but smile at the man's childish happiness and shrugged. "God will know what I mean. Let's just get home; I'm exhausted."

The spirits peeked out of their rows as they watched the two siblings walk past, their waltz put on hold to be able to see them. The angel lifted the other over the gate again, and once the light that was given off by the guardian was no longer able to be seen through the bars of the fence and the thick darkness, the ghosts grabbed each other's hands and picked up where they left off.

...

Choromatsu received it.

But he frowned.

He had no choice but to discard it. For some reason, he was always unable to locate Osomatsu in heaven. Perhaps he was still in purgatory somehow?

He hummed disappointedly.

Scrapping Karamatsu's prayer, he moved on to another one.