Preparing a Surprise Birthday

Akira woke up feeling pressure on his chest making him look down and sees Ann snuggling tightly against his chest making him smile. He tries to reach his phone to check the time but was unable to because of how tightly Ann was holding him; "Man, she's strong when she wants to be." Even though he wouldn't mind falling back to sleep like this. He had to get ready for Shiho so he had to wake up his sleeping beauty; "Hey Anki, it's time to get up."

After a bit, he hears her speak; "No…comfy…"

He chuckles; "What? You act like I don't want to stay like this."

"Well you're trying to get me to let go of you, so there."

"Well if she doesn't want to let go then I will have to do some tickling." Akira slowly puts her hand to her sides.

She snuggles closer to him thinking he was going to let her sleep; "There...that's better..."

He smirks; "Are you sure?" He quickly put his hands under her pajamas and started ticking her sides a little.

She jumps a little but is still able to hold on to him only loosen her grip lightly; "Don't you dare." She warns

"Don't I dare what? Oh? You mean…this?" He started to tickle Ann's sides even more.

And soon, it became too much for her and she lets go of him, laughing and rolling around; "Hahahaha, stop, haha, it, haha, now, hahaha."

He stops tickling her but notices that her pajama top was hiked up enough to see her whole midriff; "You might want to fix your pajama top."

She was slowly trying to get her breath back from laughing so much. After she catches her breath, she looks down seeing the same thing that Akira saw making her smirk; "Well maybe instead of tickling me. You should have kissed me instead. Then we wouldn't be in this position."

He smiles at her; "Well I can still do that. But we need to get ready." He was about to get up and grab his phone from the floor but she puts her right leg around both his legs.

"We can wait a few more minutes to get ready; you didn't give me a good morning kiss."

He rolls his eyes; "Oh please, you just made that up. But if you insist." He leans towards her lips while she closes her eyes waiting for him. But stops and smirks then he then starts leaning down to her exposed midriff and starts laying small kisses on it.

Ann's eyes shot open feeling the new sensation which she instantly loves; "Akira…" She lightly moans.

He was afraid that he went too far but Arsene did tell him to start exploring her body but to keep away from her lady parts unless she gives him permission to, to make her feel wanted; "You have such a beautiful body, Anki…"

Ann was definitely getting turned on from his kisses and compliment. So she lightly grabs his chin and slowly pulls it up. He knew what she was signaling and he pulls his head up to her and once he they were face to face, she instantly captures his lips. And after a minute, she pulls away then sits up and she starts unbuttoning her pajama top and was slowly taking it off.

"Yes…keep going Arsene…make me your woman…release yourself inside of me..."

Akira's eyes go wide while blushing knowing exactly what she was dreaming about; "Uh…"

Ann sighs and buttons up her top; "Of all times to have her Arsene dreams…" "Well she just ruined our moment again…" Carmen! Wake up!" "Huh…Wha…Oh! Good morning dears! I didn't know you two were up." She then notices Akira blushing; "Why are you blushing Akira dear?" She then gasps; "Did Ann finally get naked for you!?" She growls; "No…somebody doesn't know how to keep her dreams to herself so she ruined the moment…again." "Oh, sorry, dear! it felt so real!"

"Don't worry about it Carmen, I'm sure that Arsene does the same." Arsene yawns waking up from their talking; "What do I do the same?" "Have sexy dreams about Carmen." "Well, uh, not a lot..."

That piques Carmen's interest; "Oh? What else do you dream about with me?" "Actually, I'm interested as well."

"Well, I, uh, dream of us being human again and having a child…" Akira smiles; "Wow, that's really beautiful, Arsene."

"Aw, that's the most adorable thing ever!" But Carmen was crying. "Carmen? What's wrong?" "I'm just so happy and sad at the same time." "Sad?" "I'm happy that you want to have a child with me Arsene but we can never have one…"

Arsene sighs; "I know Carme…that's why I didn't want to say anything…"

"I'm sorry Arsene, I didn't know." Carmen went to just sobbing.

Akira quickly grabs his phone to check the time hoping to change the subject. But he notices that it was close to 11 and realizes that Shiho would be coming soon; "I got to text Makoto." He texts Makoto to text Ann to see if she was ready to hangout.

A minute later, Ann's phone goes off making her grab her phone and sees that Makoto texted; "I should get going; Makoto asked me if I'm ready yet." Carmen was still sobbing.

Akira smiles; "It's alright. We can always hangout again."

She gets up and grabs her backpack; "Um...do you mind if I go take a shower here? I'm going to meet at Makoto's apartment. So I don't have time to get back to my house."

He nods; "It should be fine. I think Sojiro is at Leblanc and Futaba's probably still playing her game. But I thought you only grabbed your pajamas?"

"Well I was hoping to hang out with you today but Makoto texted me. Anyway, thanks for letting use your shower." She leaves.

Once she leaves, Akira quickly grabs his phone and texts Shiho

[Ann is going to meet Makoto at her house so we should be safe. Did you already tell Ann's parents about what's going on?]

[Good to hear and yeah, her parents know that we're going to plan a surprise party for her, so they're not going to tell her.]

[Alright good. Where are we meeting?]

[Let's meet at the diner. I'll have a disguise on…somewhat.]

[Sounds good, I'll see you soon then.]

{Yeah, I'll text you when I'm close. See you soon.]

Akira put his phone on the bed and gets up to search for his usual winter clothes; "Man, I should buy some more clothes…" After not hearing Arsene's response, he started to worry; "Arsene? You've been kind of quiet." "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about stuff." "Is it about what happened earlier?" "Yeah, I didn't want to tell her because I'm sure she was thinking the same thing." "I'm sorry Arsene, I wish we can help you." "Its fine, we should be grateful that we get to somewhat live again." He didn't respond because he honestly didn't know what to say.

After a few minutes, Ann walks into the room wearing a red blouse and white loose fitting jeans; "That feels a lot better. Are you going to take one?"

"Yeah I was just waiting for you. By the way, you look great."

She smiles from his compliment; "Thank you."

He grabs his clothes and heads towards the door but he turns around grabbing his phone; "Just in case Shiho calls or texts, she would instantly misunderstand like she did with Sadayo."

She laughs sitting on his bed seeing him grab his phone; "Wow Akira, I know I looked through your phone once but it was a good cause or are you hiding something from me?"

He laughs back; "Maybe because it involves your birthday present."

"Why would your phone involve my birthday present?"

"That's for you to find out next Sunday."

She pouts; "Fine then."

"Loooovvvveee youuu." He then leaves.

"Hmph, meanie." She just sits there for a minute till she finally realizes that Carmen wasn't talking even when she took a shower; "Are you still upset about not being able to have children." "What do you think?" "You don't need to be snarky with me." She sighs; "I'm sorry dear, it's just…I never knew what it was like to be a mother and now that I found someone that I will always love and I can't be one...You don't know how much it hurts…" She looks down because she was right; "Carmen…I'm sorry." What else could she say, she would be the same way if she found out she couldn't have children.

They just sit silence for a few minutes till Akira walks in wearing his usual winter casual outfit; "We should go to the clothes store sometime, I need new clothes."

She looks up at him; "No kidding! You just have the same outfits!" She then gets up; "But yeah, I do want to see you in something else. Anyway, are you ready to go then?"

"Yeah, let's get going."

Shibuya

Diner

Once Ann got on the train, Akira heads straight for the diner to wait for Shiho. After a couple of minutes, his phone goes off and he notices that he got a message from Shiho that she was on her way to the diner. He texted her that he was in the far end of the diner in the corner.

"You think we can ask Igor if you and Carmen can become human?" "Hmm, we could ask but then we will lose our powers though." "Well maybe when we finish with our work, we can ask him." He chuckles; "Don't get my hopes up."

But that's when a girl with black hair that went to her back who was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans walks to his table. She was also wearing sunglasses but she takes them off once she gets near the booth; "Hey there Akira! I can already see you've been good."

He quickly looks up hearing Shiho's voice; "Shiho?" "Well she's wearing an interesting outfit and why is she wearing black glasses? Can she even see out of those?" "They're called sunglasses. They're supposed to block the sun from you eyes." He smiles seeing a completely different Shiho from the last time he saw her; "You look definitely better than the last time I saw you. I'm glad."

She smiles while getting into the booth; "Thanks! It's all thanks to you and Ann of course."

"Well we do make a great team." He says chuckling

"Oh I know! All she ever does is talk about your greatness."

"Yeah, she does that a lot. Anyway, what do you like to do first for Ann's surprise party?"

She puts a hand on her chin thinking aloud; "Well for a party we need to find the place first. You said you already have a place?"

"Yep, we can head there now if you want."

She nods; "Sounds good."

They both get up to leave the diner and start heading to the train for Yongen-Jaya.

Shiho was looking around reminiscing about living here; "It feels like forever since I've been here. Ann and I used to come here for karaoke, movies and sometimes the arcade. Ann always wanted to watch her romance movies; I always thought they were cheesy and lame." She looks at Akira; "Let me guess, she still watches them?"

He laughs; "I don't have to tell you that but I only had to watch one with her surprisingly."

"Well that's because she has her prince charming in real life. Oh yeah, you owe me one, I'm the reason why Ann was able to confess to you on the rooftop."

"Actually no, it was because of my charms from comforting her because you left."

She smirks; "That may be true but it was because of me leaving that you were able to comfort her. Maybe that was my plan all along."

He scoffs; "Oh yeah, so you just happened to know Ann was going to confess her love for me because I was going to comfort her sadness of you leaving?"

"Of course, you should know by now how emotional Ann is. She's basically the stereotypical teenage girl except she loves food and doesn't watch her weight."

"Okay, yeah, I can't deny that." He says chuckling. "She did get you there."

She smiles feeling proud of herself; "See, so I win."

"Okay, you win. You're actually one of the first people to outsmart me."

"Well yeah, it's because I'm awesome." She walks up to him; "Because I was able to outsmart a phantom thief." She says quietly enough for only him to hear.

He looks at her in complete shock from her knowing that; "You know!?" "Well this is surprising."

She gave him a blank look; "Really Akira? Kamoshida all of a sudden confessed his crimes after what he did to me. Ann even said that you and her were able to get him to confess his crimes. Besides, what does it matter that I know?"

He nods; "Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just surprised."

She starts thinking aloud; "So how do you become one of the 'you know whos'."

"Why? Do you want to join?" "Shiho a phantom thief? That sounds like an interesting idea."

"It would be cool and I get to hang out with you and Ann. But I live too far away so I wouldn't be able to. So how do you guys do it anyways? Change people's hearts?"

"Should I show her or should I ask Ann first?" "Yeah, we should as Ann first." He smiles; "I'll have to ask Ann first."

She just flicks her wrist and makes a whip sound.

He looks at her in shock; "Hey! I'm not whipped!" "Yeah you are." "Like you're one to talk." "I'm not scared to admit it, Carmen is worth it. It's not like she takes advantage of me."

She starts laughing; "You know, when someone is in denial, they're usually shocked about the person guessing it, making them nervous enough to yell out their denial."

"Okay fine." He says sighing; "I may be a little bit whipped but Ann doesn't take advantage of it."

"There you go, doesn't it feel better to accept the truth?"

He rolls his eyes; "Yeah, yeah." He then smiles; "Man, you really are something else, Shiho, I like the real you."

She puts a hand on her chest in fake shock; "Did I just get a compliment from the great and charming, Akira!?" She puts another hand on her forehead; "I think I'm going to faint!"

That makes him laugh; "You should be honored." "You two act like you've been friends forever." "Yeah, it's weird but cool."

Yougen-Jaya

They get off the train and Akira starts leading her to Leblanc.

"You know, I've been thinking. This is our first time having a conversation but we've been talking like we've been friends for a longtime."

He smiles because he was thinking that eariler; "I've been thinking that as well, not that I don't mind it."

"I don't mind it either." She laughs; "Look at us, Ann's best friend and her boyfriend already becoming good friends."

"Yeah, usually the best friend would be jealous that the boyfriend took all the love from them."

She laughed again; "Why would I be jealous? I should be more jealous of her having someone as great as you."

He looks at her in shock; "That's nice to hear." "She's falling for your charms." "Again, I'm not doing anything."

She smirks; "Weren't expecting that now were you?"

"To be honest, I wasn't." As they were getting closer to Leblanc, Akira sees Futaba walking out of the small store near their house; "Hey Futaba." "Hello, Necro." "Actually, where's Morgana? Isn't he following you now."

Futaba turns towards Akira's voice; "Hey guys. Morgana's in my room; he overheard you and Ann this morning so now he's sulking in my room." She then notices 'Shiho'; "Who is she?" Necro gasps; "Are you going behind Ann-chan's back with another girl!?"

"You better tell them Akira." He puts a hand on Futaba's shoulder; "Don't tell Ann but this is her best friend, Shiho. She's here because we're going to give Ann a surprised birthday party next Sunday but Ann doesn't know that so she's going to surprise her at the birthday party."

She nods trusting Akira; "Understood, I won't tell her." "I'm sorry Akiree; I should have known you were doing something for Ann-chan." She walks up to Shiho; "Hello, I'm Futaba."

"Hey there Futaba, as you already heard, my name is Shiho." She says smiling

Futaba looks over at Akira; "Are you going to ask Sojiro to have the party at the café?" "A party filled with curry and coffee? That doesn't sound very fun…"

Shiho looks at Akira with disbelief hearing his idea; "Are we really going to have the party at a café?"

He shrugs seeing nothing wrong with it; "Well, we all come here for our hangouts and the boss is my guardian."

"Guardian? You don't live with your parents?"

He sighs; "I'll tell you later." He looks over at Futaba; "Do you want to come along?"

She shakes her head; "I'm good, I want to keep playing my game before we have to do that thing." "Aw, but I want to hang out with Akiree and Arsey." "We'll have plenty of time to hang out with them later. I have a game to beat."

He nods; "Alright, I'll see you later then."

Leblanc Cafe

The two walk through the door and sit at the counter while Sojiro was reading the newspaper as usual.

"Hey Sojiro, still reading the newspaper this afternoon I see."

Sojiro chuckles; "Says the young man who didn't get up till around eleven with his girlfriend." He smirks behind the paper; "So were you two up all night doing something…interesting?"

Shiho smirks at Akira; "What's this about you two spending the night together?"

He shrugs smiling; "Go ask Ann, she's the one who keeps insisting on staying over."

That surprised Shiho; "Wow I didn't think Ann would be the one to do that."

Sojiro puts down his paper hearing a different females voice and looks at her; "And who might you be young lady?"

She looks over at him; "Oh! Sorry about that! my name is Shiho; I'm Ann's best friend."

"She must be the girl Akira was talking about that was molested by that teacher." Sojiro smiles; "Nice to meet you, name's Sojiro Sakura, but most people call me boss."

She smiles; "Nice to meet you too, Boss."

Akira coughed nervously worried about asking too much from him; "Actually Sojiro, were going to be throwing a surprise party for Ann. So I was wondering if we can do it here?"

Sojiro nods; "Alright, I'll let you have it here. When do you need it by?"

He was surprised he was able to get it so easily; "Just like that?"

He chuckles; "You guys already study and hangout here. I might as well let you have a party here. Just make sure you guys aren't too loud."

"Well thank you. I promise we'll keep the noise down. We need it by next Sunday." "He really changed after the argument."

"Alright, I can do that for you."

"Thanks again." Akira looks over at Shiho; "So, what do you want to do next for the party?"

She starts thinking aloud; "Well we need decorations. Maybe we should go to the department store in Ikebukuro and maybe see if we can check out the cakes as well."

He nods; "Yeah that sounds good." He brings out his phone; "Let me just text Makoto to see where they are at." He texts Makoto the message and after a bit; he gets a text back saying that they're at the movies in Shibuya; "We're good, they're at the movies right now."

She smiles; "Alright, then we should go now."

Ikebukuro

Akira and Shiho were walking to the department store in the city.

Akira looks around; "I've only been here a couple of times. It's always busy around here even in the fall. But, while we're here, I need to get Ann something for her birthday."

"Just get her a doll or a calendar with pictures of you."

He laughs; "Maybe I should buy her a necklace or bracelet."

Shiho smiles; "Ooooo, getting fancy huh?"

"Of course, I only offer the best to who I love."

She rolls her eyes because of how cliche that was; "Geez, they can make a romance movie out of you two."

But unbeknownst to them; Ryuji and Hifumi were walking out of a clothing store when Hifumi notices Akira and 'Shiho'.

Hifumi points towards the two; "Um Ryu-kun, isn't that Akira but he's with a girl that I've never seen before."

"Huh?" Ryuji looks over to where she was pointing; "Oh crap, you're right! It isn't any of our three girls in the group either!" "Calm down matey, cap'n can hang out wit' other lasses." "When was the last time you see Akira with a girl that's not Ann, Makoto, Futaba, or Haru!?"

She sighs; "Maybe you should ask Ann if she knows that Akira's out with another girl?"

"Yeah, definitely." He hurriedly takes out his phone and texts Ann if she knew if Akira was with a girl friend.

Movie Theater

Ann's phone vibrated making her confused at first but takes out her phone noticing Ryuji texted her; "Why Ryuji's texting me? Did something happen to Akira!?" "I hope he did make Akira do anything ridiculous." Carmen whispers. But what Ann reads instantly makes her upset.

[Hey! Did you know Akira is hanging out with another girl!?]

Ann's heart broke seeing this message; "W-Wha…I thought he was hanging out with him!" "M-Maybe him and Ryuji are playing a prank on you!"

[No…he said that he was hanging out with you!]

[I'm with Hifumi right now…]

Ann was close to freaking out right now and tears were starting to form in her eyes; "W-We have to go M-Makoto…" "Akira…why…"

Makoto turns to her confusedon why she was crying; "Why? Wait, what's wrong? We haven't even gotten to the sad parts yet." "What do you mean Akira why, Carmen?"

"R-Ryuji said that A-Akira is with a-another g-girl…" "After your parents accepted him too…"

Makoto's eyes go wide, "Of course, Ryuji just had to be at the same place, at the right time…" "Quick, make an excuse!" Anat whispers harshly. "Maybe Ryuji is just messing with you ha…ha..."

Ann shakes her head; "I t-thought the same…but he's with Hifumi, I know he wouldn't lie about that…" Carmen starts crying.

Makoto sighs; "I can't come up with anything else… I'm sorry Akira, I failed…" "Use that phone thingy and warn Akira!" Anat whispered. "Of course, I can at least do that!" She hurriedly texts Akira, warning him.

Ikebukuro

Akira hears his phone go off and looks at it seeing that Makoto texted him. And upon reading the text, his eyes go wide; "Uh…we have a big problem."

Shiho looks at him in worriment; "Let me guess, Ann wants to come here?"

"Somewhat…Ryuji is here and thinks I'm with another girl and he just told Ann."

Her eyes go wide; "What!? Don't just stand there!? Find him and tell him to lie!"

"Don't worry, I got this." "Arsene, call out Kidd." "Hey Kidd! I think I found some booty!"

"Where, Cap'n!?"

He looks over to where he heard Kidd's voice; "They must be over there!" He starts running towards Kidd's voice; "Follow me!"

She rushes after him; "You could have warned me before you took off like that!"

Soon, Akira makes it to the two and looks over at Ryuji; "Alright, we need to talk. This is all a misunderstanding."

Ryuji crosses his arms looking at him in disgust; "Dude…how could you do this to Ann?" "Maybe ye shall listen t' 'im first lad."

Hifumi looks down in disappointment with Akira; "I didn't think you would do something like this Akira."

Shiho finally catches up to Akira; "Geez Akira, I didn't think you can run so fast and I'm on a sports team!" She then looks over to Ryuji; "You better text Ann that this was all a misunderstanding!"

He at her in shock; "Wha…how do you know Ann!?"

She then takes off her sunglasses; "Maybe because I'm her best friend!"

He looked at her closely; "Suzui!? What are you doing here with Akira!?" He looks at Akira; "Dude! Are you cheating on Ann with Shiho!?" "Don't be accusin' the lad!"

Shiho was about to snap at him but Akira stops her then walks up to Ryuji; "Alright, first, no. Second, the reason why Shiho is here is because we're going to throw Ann a surprise party for her birthday next Sunday."

Ryuji looked at both of them surprised; "For real!? Why didn't you just say something!" "'cause ye tend t' nah keep secrets lad..."

He sighs; "Yeah, I should have told everybody...that was my bad." "Well Kidd's right, Ryuji isn't good at keeping secerts."

Shiho scratched her head; "Now that I think about it. This was kind of last minute…"

Hifumi coughed nervously; "I know that I'm not part of this group. But wouldn't it be better to do it today? I'm sure Ann would just be happy with just you guys being together for her birthday, nothing fancy." They all look at her; "Did I say something weird?"

Akira laughs; "No, far from it."

Shiho laughs as well; "I guess we've been trying too hard."

"I have an idea." Akira looks over at Ryuji; "Tell everyone except Ann and Makoto to meet in the attic at Leblanc."

He nods; "Got it. Shouldn't I tell Ann that we were joking?" "I be pretty sure she'll kick ye in the poop deck if ye didn'."

He smiles; "Nope. I may get slapped or hurt but this will be worth it." He then whispers in Shiho's ear. "Yeah, you're dead." Arsene says hearing him

Shiho smiles and nods; "Yeah, you're right. You definitely might get slapped."

Ryuji sighs; "Alright man, just tell her you forced me into this if she starts going after me."

"No promises. Anyway, we'll see you two at Leblanc. I got to get Ann something and get the cake."

Ryuji and Hifumi nod then leave to Leblanc.

Shiho looks at Akira; "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He smiles back; "Oh yeah, like I said, I may get hit but it would be totes worth it in the end." "I see you like to live dangerously..."