A/N: Forty chapters, and 150,000 words later, here we are. This is one of the most fun things I have to write at the moment, so you'll forgive me if I've indulged a little more in this wind-down to the arc than I have others. It's a milestone!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
"You think he's figured it out yet?"
Mizore looked up from her phone. Ruby smiled down, a roll of bunting looped around her arm.
"Not a chance," she said, "He's smart, but he's not sharp."
"Mm, you're not wrong. Hold this?"
She pinched the end of the bunting. Ruby navigated to the other end of the lobby, stringing it up by slinging it over the rafters. "You think this is a good idea?" Mizore asked.
"Why not? It should be fun."
"He's not really talked about it," she said, "Maybe he doesn't like them."
Ruby sighed through her nose, hopping down from her stool. "Maybe. Or maybe he's never had a chance to enjoy one before."
"You think?"
"Well, he's moved around a lot," she suggested, "His parents don't seem all that interested. That doesn't lend itself to this kind of celebration."
Mizore fidgeted with the end of the bunting. "It's kinda sad when you phrase it like that."
They looked up to the large banner, the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' painted on. The bunting Ruby held framed the white cloth, giving it colour and life. "Besides," said Ruby, brightening, "It's not the only one this week. We've got Kurumu's and Fangfang's, too."
She shrugged. She wanted to say that those two saw it coming, that Ikko was the only one they'd decided to properly surprise, but it didn't seem to matter. Everyone had taken to the plan with gusto; there'd be no stopping it now, at the eleventh hour. "Then we'll just have to make it as fun as we can."
Her dulled voice made Ruby grin. "Don't sound too excited."
"Parties aren't really my thing."
"I haven't forgotten, don't fret. You'll get your turn."
"And what does that mean?" Mizore huffed.
"Nothing! Nothing at all, Mizore. Can you help me put this up, or are you going to stand there sulking?"
She pulled a face. "Yes, mother."
The memory of his shorn locks covering the floor followed Ikko as they left the hairdressers. He regretted wearing some of his new clothes out of the store, as the back was now dusted with thousands of tiny pinpricks. He rolled his shoulders, trying to dislodge them.
"What's up?"
"Nothing," he grunted, rolling them again, "You ever shaved your hair before?"
She shook her head. "Always had it long-ish."
"Okay—imagine tiny cacti all over your back."
"Oh." She winced. "Gross."
"Yeah." Ikko scratched the side of his head, feeling almost smooth skin for the first time in years. Lacking a clear idea of what he wanted, he and Kia had spent the initial twenty minutes poring over style magazines. Eventually, after much debate—and no small measure of nerves—Ikko decided. They'd shaved the sides of his head short, and cut the dead weight out of the top, allowing him to shift and change his style with a bit more flexibility than 'mop' or 'brushed mop'. At the moment, he had the hair pulled back in a ponytail. "You sure it looks good?"
"Too late to change it now," Kia teased, "Unless you're thinking of going even shorter?"
"Not a chance."
"It looks good," she said, easing off, "You look good, to be clear."
Ikko stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You think?"
"Yeah! You look way older now."
"That's a good thing?"
"Well, t-shirts and messy hair tend to age you down. You just… I don't know. You look like you care about yourself, I guess."
He frowned. "Reckon they'll be surprised?"
Kia's face split into a broad grin. "Let's find out, shall we?"
They found Etsuko and Su chatting in a food court; their conversation ended as soon as they saw the pair approach. "Who's that with you?" asked Su, smirking.
Ikko looked over his shoulder, to the mirth of all gathered. "Oh, you mean me. Ha. I don't look that different, do I?"
"You could have fooled me until you opened your mouth," Etsuko noted, "Looking sharp."
"I can't take the credit," he said, staring at his feet. His shoes, worn black trainers, was the only thing not new about him, "This is all you."
"Fine work, ladies," Su cheered, "Hungry?"
"Starving!" Kia cried, throwing herself into the seat nearest to Etsuko.
"Don't eat too much," she crooned, "You're gonna need space for tonight."
"Tonight?" Ikko asked, "What's tonight?"
All except him exchanged a glance. He could have asked how to best skin a cat, for how the mood immediately chilled.
Su was the first to pick up the ball he'd slapped out of their hands. "Marin tends to go overboard near the end of the trip. Doesn't like us going."
He narrowed his eyes, taking the pieces of her hasty excuse and Kia's emphasis on what he wanted to do and clicking them together. Oddly enough, that left a space for Mizore's request for them not to be back too late, a space not entirely explained by responsible concern. "You're planning something."
"We're not!" Kia squeaked.
He squinted, hard. Each of them stared back. "Promise?"
"I promise you that we're not planning something," said Etsuko, "Now—lunch? I'm also starving."
His suspicions not quite allayed, Ikko tried to distract himself with food. Increasing his exercise from near-zero had led to a corresponding increase in his appetite, a development for which there were no complaints except financial. Assuring himself that he'd go back to home cooking as soon as they returned to Yokai, he ordered himself plenty.
As food arrived, conversation turned to the future, both immediate and distant. "You're graduating this year, right?" Ikko asked Su.
"Mm." She finished a sip of her drink. "Yep. Figures my last year would be one of the most exciting."
"What're you gonna do?"
"Teaching, probably. There's a lot of kids out there in our world who don't get a proper education, for one reason or another. Figure it's a good way to give back."
"Are there other academies besides Yokai?"
"None with their own Borderlands. A lot of them isolate geographically or operate strict screening processes, but more often than not kids are just left to whatever school they can get into—or none at all."
"Sounds rough."
"Well, just look at Haruhiko. He's human, but without someone to teach him, he's been left to fill his head with all kinds of terrible ideas. Just reverse that, put a monster in his shoes…"
"That means you'll be getting a teaching qualification," Etsuko mumbled through her ramen, "So university?"
Su nodded. "Probably Aichi. Lets me stay close to the pulse of Tsukune's work, given that they both study there."
"A human university…" Kia's voice trailed off. "That sounds so scary."
"There're no monster universities, so if you wanna get qualified, you'll need to get used to it." Su explained, taking on the tone of a proper senior. "You've got Ikko as a test case. Living with him is as much experience for you as it is for him."
"Him being present for this conversation." Ikko snarked, waving his hand.
Su laughed. "What about you three? Any ideas?"
"I hadn't really put much thought into it," Kia mused, "There's my father, wanting me to get a career and as normal a life as I can manage, but… I'm not sure what that means, or whether that's right."
Etsuko's answer proved the most predictable. "Journalism for me. Straight into uni, straight into UM."
"And you, Ikko?"
"I—well. I don't even know where I'll be next year, so…"
"What?" Kia gasped. "You're not staying?"
"I want to! Don't get me wrong, I want to. But it's not up to me, is it?"
"Sure it is." Su said, matter of fact. "You wanna stay, you stay."
"That's not how it works," he complained, "I'm here because it's easiest for my parents whilst they work. If that changes, I'll go wherever it changes to."
Su sipped her drink, hitting the bottom. It turned the noise into a loud, pointed slurp. "Have you ever told them you wanted to stay somewhere?"
He opened his mouth, but the answer shied away from him. He worked his jaw. "Have I…?"
She smiled. "Maybe try that if you wanna stay so bad."
"We'll back you up!" Kia exclaimed. "No way they're lifting you out of school if you don't want it. It's your last two years!"
"Never stopped 'em before," Ikko mumbled, "They already held me back a year and a bit because of how I've missed lessons."
"Seriously?" Kia gawped. "Man, your parents suck."
He didn't have it in him to argue.
"You're not going anywhere you don't want to." Su assured, finally. "Just make sure you say so."
Nodding, but not convinced, Ikko threw himself into his food. Checking her phone, Su looked to Kia and Etsuko. "There's an arcade nearby," she announced, "Should we go after this?"
Both agreed, surprising him. Maybe they felt bad for him. "We don't have to," he assured them, "We can go back if you guys are done."
"We've only just got out. I'll just have to help them with dinner when we get back," Etsuko admitted, grinning sheepishly.
"Ikko, not wanting to play games?" Kia quipped. "Now I have seen everything."
He shot Kia a look, suspicions rising again. As they wrapped up their meal and gathered their things, Ikko sent a quick message back to the inn.
Mizore held the shirt up to her chest, frowning into the mirror. She blew strands of hair out of her face. "Hmm."
Ruby's head popped out of the bathroom. "Struggling?"
"No." She set the shirt down on the bed, then sat on the edge. "Maybe."
"Trying to catch an eye? Kurumu's fond of buttoning down."
"Kurumu has the balloons to burst out of whatever she's dressing down from." She looked at her chest. "And whose eye would I want to catch, anyway?"
"We're not still playing this game, are we?" Ruby rolled her eyes. She mouthed two syllables which made Mizore tense, a reflex quickly dispelled by the recollection that it was Ruby who sent Ikko her way on the beach.
"I don't need to catch his eye."
"Of course not," she agreed, playful, "That's his shirt you're about to put on, after all. I'd say his eye is pretty firmly in your grasp."
Mizore pushed it off the bed. "Since when did you get so bold?"
"I'm not allowed to have any fun?" Ruby stepped out from the bathroom. They were both in the process of picking outfits, so the door was locked to afford them privacy and, consequently, allowed them to talk openly. "I might be 'momma' Ruby, as Kurumu says, but I enjoy playing as much as the rest of you."
"How come it's always me you want to play with?"
"I can stop," Ruby offered, crossing the room. She perched where the shirt had lay moments ago, "Does it bother you?"
Mizore flopped back, covering her eyes with her arm. "No. It's fine. I'm still figuring all this out."
"Figuring what out?"
"Oh, like you don't know?"
Ruby's voice chimed with laughter. "I can take a hint. You two are spending more time avoiding each other's eyes."
"Plus, you seem to magically know what's going on in Ikko's head, huh?"
"I don't consciously spend my time reading it if that's what you think. I have a bit too much on my hands to waste my days like that."
Mizore huffed.
Ruby tipped her head. "What are you figuring out?"
"How this works. How I'm supposed to behave."
"Hm?"
"I know how I want to behave," she continued, "If this were easy, or simple, there'd be no questions. But there's… so much in the way. His friends, my friends. Not to mention, you know. Work."
"Ah."
Mizore sat back up, drawing her knees up. "It's frustrating. When how it should be butts up against what I… we… want."
"The Kawamoto Inn isn't exactly renowned for its privacy." Ruby observed. "I'm sure Tsukune and Moka are feeling a lot of what you're feeling, even if they're not having to hide it quite so carefully."
"Why couldn't have this happened over Golden Week?" she complained.
"Could have, would have, should have," Ruby soothed, "Give it time. You'll figure it out."
Mizore sighed. She looked across to Ruby, pushing her fringe out of her face. "Have I ever told you you're my best friend?"
Ruby blinked. Pink dusted her cheeks. "Never so directly."
"You are," she continued, "This past year's been… hard. But you've always been there, even when I've been an ass about it. Even when things got so hard I just wanted to shut everyone out, you've been there to remind me what's worth fighting for."
"Mizore…"
They lingered for a long moment. Soothed, Mizore spoke. "What do you think I should do?"
"Well," Ruby ventured, "You might call me bold, but wearing a guy's shirt so soon after getting together might send the wrong message to the people you're trying to hide it from."
"I don't have much else for parties," she added, "I… kinda forgot."
"I should have something," Ruby assured. She looked between them. "We're not that different in size."
"Do you mind?"
"Never." She beamed. "And listen. Summer's still got a couple of weeks after we're done here."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… privacy might not be so much of a problem when we get back, if you don't mind a bit of a wait."
Mizore hummed. She stood up, brightening. "You're not wrong. Okay. Do your worst!"
Ruby clapped her hands together, setting about her appointed task. Neither of them noticed Mizore's phone light up with a notification.
Summer held the sun aloft well into the late afternoon, such that it was still as bright as midday when the four of them left the arcade to head back to the inn.
The venture had done nothing to calm Ikko's suspicions, now threatening to manifest as full-blown paranoia. Su's announcement that she was tired seemed oddly timed, given how just minutes previously she was the one pushing them to keep playing. Kia and Etsuko's ready agreement only cemented the matter in his mind. Scenarios played out in his head, one after the other. Was there going to be an intervention? An interrogation? Had they, all of them, figured out what he and Mizore were doing?
Laden with anxiety and with the physical burden of his new wardrobe, Ikko trudged at the back of the otherwise happy group. He checked his phone, and the unread message that haunted it, and sighed.
"Need a hand back there?"
"No, I'm good," he grumbled, sulking, "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on," Etsuko said, laughing disbelief, "We already told you, Ikko. We're—"
"We're not planning something, yeah, yeah," he parroted, "Doesn't mean they're not."
They carried on in silence for a while. As they reached the construction site, Etsuko's phone rang. "Oh, I gotta take this. Go on without me."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. Actually, Kia?"
"Yep!" Kia skipped back, leaving Ikko and Su to carry on. She urged him to keep step before he could dawdle to keep the conversation in earshot.
"You've been acting weird all day." Su said.
"That's my line!" Ikko rebuked. "Picking my clothes, helping me with my hair, those were fine—but the arcade? Keeping me from heading back? What aren't you telling me?"
Su answered without answering, "Look, we haven't lied. We're not planning anything; and even if they are, it's not gonna be anything bad, right?"
Ikko let loose an uncomfortable groan. "Su…"
"You'll find out soon," she said, pressing her hands together in a pleading gesture, "Bear with me, Ikko, please. It's nothing bad, I promise."
"Mm…" He grumbled. "Who told you to keep it a secret?"
If he couldn't find out what it was, he could at least try to infer it from the who.
"Tsukune," answered Su. Unhelpful; he didn't know him at all well.
"Fine." Ikko gave up, letting the issue drop.
As the Kawamoto Inn came into sight, his curiosity piqued once more. Normally at least a few of their group worked outside, either helping with advertising the inn's restaurant or helping with the operation of the inn itself. Now there was no-one—weird for the late afternoon, when vacationers tended to pick up their last snacks before packing for the day.
People still milled around the area, enjoying the end of the week and no doubt mourning the end of their vacation, the same as he did in the quiet spaces between activities, but not one soul paid the inn any mind. It was as if a hole had opened up to swallow the building, replacing it with a box of boring, featureless sand for them to stare through.
Stepping off the pavement and onto the beach, the details of the building came into focus. Ikko saw a square of white tacked to the door, different to the usual closed sign. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, but stopped at drawn curtains, or spilled into rooms darkened by inactivity. The barriers obscured any notion of life in the inn. For all intents and purposes, it was abandoned, or simply still, holding its breath for their return.
He checked Su's response to these observations, finding her wholly unconcerned. Part of the plan, he surmised.
They hopped onto the decking surrounding the inn and stopped at the front door. Ikko looked behind him, finding no sign of either Etsuko or Kia. Their part in this didn't require them to be here, apparently.
"Why don't we go in?" Su asked.
Ikko narrowed his eyes. "You first."
"Fine," she said, shrugging as she did so. The door opened. Closed.
He waited. Nothing. Part of him entertained the idea of waiting outside for the rest of the evening, childishly stretching the limits of everyone's patience. Just how long could they stall what they were planning? One hour? Two? How long before someone opened the door just to pull him in?
It wouldn't be fair, he decided. They'd put effort into something, and that something was something they hadn't wanted him to know about. It would be silly to spit in the face of that. He took the handle and slid the door open, sidling into the dark.
For the first few seconds, he couldn't see. The sun at his back cast the half-lit lobby into deep shadow, made worse by the thick curtains draped over the windows. Ikko blinked rapidly, a vain attempt to force his eyes to adjust. He called out. "Hello?"
No response. Dropping his shopping by the door, he shuffled into the lobby properly, scraping his feet across the floor lest he accidentally trip on something. "Hello? Su?"
His eyes began to adjust, picking up on the light fighting its way past gaps in the curtains, opened by the occasion gust of ocean wind. The lobby seemed empty. No—the lobby was empty. Completely. Not just the people, but the tables and chairs, too. Everything was just… gone, right down to the receptionist desk and cash register.
"Anyone?" he shouted, "Hello?"
His eyes couldn't quite believe what they were seeing, in part because the rest of his senses did not agree with them. He heard the soft shuffling of fabric. Smelled the collected scents of life, of perfume and wood and food, and cushioning that smell was a comfortable warmth, entirely unlike the cold, dead room his eyes wanted to see.
He closed them, breathing in and centering himself. His magic had recovered enough to reach out, he figured. A ripple in the air confirmed his expectations. Ikko held out his hand—
"Okay, that's enough. Before he hurts himself."
A swell of light blazed on his eyelids. Ikko opened them in time to see the empty lobby melt away, revealing banners and bunting, lights and food, and so, so many people, all of whom yelled something at the top of their voices. He winced, sparking a chorus of laughter. As it calmed, Ikko rubbed his ear. "What?"
"Happy birthday!" Ruby repeated.
He blinked. "Whose?"
"Yours, you idiot." Su grinned. She had squeezed herself in between Ruby and Gin.
"Mine?" Ikko reached for his phone, checking the date. "Oh, so it is."
"You forgot?"
"No!" he exclaimed in a sudden rush of defensiveness, "I've just—we've just—" His stammering faltered into awed silence. Ikko looked around again at the full crowd smiling his way. "This is for me? Seriously?"
"Well, not just for you," Tsukune said, "We've got a couple of August babies, so we celebrate them all together, but they know it's coming. You're the first surprise we've had in a while."
All the energy he'd spent winding himself into a paranoid sulk dispersed, becoming a current discharging from the pit of his stomach to his face. He smiled before he could stop it, laughed before he realised it. "This is so cool… I've never—"
"Oh, this is just the warm-up." Tsukune grinned. "Ruby? Yukari?"
"With pleasure."
The pair broke ranks, each brandishing a wand. A joint flick of the foci dispersed the light concentrated near the roof, fracturing it into a thousand specks of starlight. They filled the room, some swirling in constellations over the main tables, others hovering in place, forming paths of light from one place to the next. Music started playing over speakers rendered invisible by the dark corners of the room, drowning out what little remained of the world outside the inn.
A light exploded behind Ikko as Kia and Etsuko, and a full tower of pizza boxes, struggled inside. "Aw, we missed it!"
"Only barely," Ruby replied, "Sorry, girls. Let me help you with those."
Her movement breathed life into the party. Everyone began to disperse and mingle. For his part, Ikko hurried to help his friends with their charge, taking some of the pizza boxes from Kia. "This is what you were hiding from me?"
"Cool, right?" Kia said, visible only by the top of her head over her share of the burden.
"Very cool," he agreed. They set them down in the middle of the largest table.
At Etsuko's prompting, and having completely forgotten about his bags, Ikko hurried back to the front door, swiped them and took the stairs two at a time. He slung the shopping into his room. In the process of spinning to hurry back, he nearly bumped into Ruby.
"Careful," she said, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder, "It's not going anywhere. You've got the whole evening."
"Sorry," he chuckled, "Guess I got a little excited."
"It's your birthday. You've every right to be."
Ikko warmed to her smile. He reached to scratch the back of his neck, surprised when he met the shorn back and sides. "What are you doing up here?"
"Looking for you," she answered, "Keep your phone close tonight, okay?"
"Why?"
"You'll see," she said, with a conspiratorial wink.
"It's all secrets tonight, isn't it?"
"All for a good cause."
"Fine. Not like I go anywhere without it, anyway."
Ruby's smile broadened. "I like the look, by the way."
"Yeah?" Ikko stepped back, looking himself over. "Kia says it makes me look older."
She agreed. "In a good way. It suits you."
"Never heard that before," Ikko murmured, "Couldn't have done it without help."
"Rarely can we do anything without help," she said, sagely, "Shall we head back down?"
At some point in Ikko's life up until now, he had reached the decisions that parties just weren't for him. They were too loud, too busy, too crowded, too messy. Too this or too that, he would answer so readily, despite never having been invited to one to measure any of these quantities himself.
How swiftly he revised that opinion now that a party bore his name. Squished between four people onto a sofa designed for three, he laughed at a story Tsukune told from the opposite chair. "And then, just as all hell's about to break loose, Nurari—that's the bus driver—shows up on a massive frog, asking if we've seen a mirror!"
"A frog?" Ikko balked.
"Yeah, like an actual frog. Huge."
"That mirror wrecked the school." Moka finished. "They had to end our first year early to rebuild."
"No way…" Kia gasped, pushed into Ikko's left side as Etsuko reached to claim another slice of pizza. "All that over a mirror?"
Kurumu, having heard the conversation, swayed over to join in. "It's more what the mirror was doing. Magic items tend to stir a bit of chaos into anything they get involved with. Don't they, Yukari?"
"Hm?" Sat on Ikko's right, but deep in conversation with a nearby Fangfang, Yukari's posture shifted as she swung back from leaning over the arm of the sofa. "What do you require, Kurumu?"
"Nothing. We were just reminiscing about our experiences with magical items. You know—the Lilith Mirror, Yukari Sendo's voodoo dolls, Yukari Sendo's Mr. Love Love…"
She yelped, throwing herself up from her seat. "N-now, see here! Just what kind of experiences are you discussing, lumping my experiments in with that thing?"
"Mr. Love Love?" Ikko parroted.
This seemed to deepen Yukari's embarrassment. She pulled the hem of her hat down over her face, pointedly returning her attention to Fangfang with a loud. "As I was SAYING."
Kurumu cackled, her goal achieved. "So, Ikko. My fellow August baby."
"That's me," he replied. He, Kurumu, and Fangfang were the three for whom the party was thrown.
"Seventeen," she declared, "Sneaking up on that drinking age."
"Eighteen," Ikko mumbled, "So it's more like I'm tumbling towards it."
A sharp smack marked Kia's hand clasping his shoulder. "Hold on, hold on—you're eighteen?"
"I told you I got held back. Did you not figure that out?"
"Yeah, but still!"
"You never asked!" Ikko rebuked, "Besides, I don't enjoy parading the fact that I'm behind everyone else."
She pouted, pushing her lips childishly outwards. "Man… I thought I was older than you."
"You're out of luck there."
"Since you're so old," Kurumu interjected. She held out her wine glass. "Fancy a sip?"
A collective cry disrupted them, first of outrage from Kia and Etsuko, complaining that they should also be allowed a taste, second of disappointment from Tsukune and Moka, who accused her of being a bad influence. Kurumu shrugged, giggling, "It's just a sip. It's not gonna kill him."
"I-I'll pass, thanks," said Ikko, holding up his can. "I'm plenty watered."
Thoroughly chided, Kurumu also found a pout. "Right answer, I guess."
Gauging his can with a wiggle, Ikko found it empty. "I could use some more, though. 'Scuse me!"
He wrestled out of his seat on the sofa, stepping out and over. The ambience of the room made it impossible to know the time. His legs rebelled at the movement, though, stiffening, he surmised a fair while must have passed. He circled around to the back room, where the fridges were, passing the older members of their group as he did so. Ruby, Marin, Lingling, San, Gin and Haiji arranged themselves in a loose ring, chatting contentedly. "We're watchin'!" Gin barked as Ikko went through, "Don't think I won't see a beer missing!"
"Yeah, yeah," he waved a hand. Out back the warm light of the witches' magic surrendered to a single harsh bar of halogen, making it easier to navigate and also, pleasingly, casting the main lobby in darker shades when one returned, making it seem more comfortable. A curtain draped over the cutout of the wall that dishes were passed through, isolating it entirely.
He opened the fridge, perusing for a moment. A buzz in his pocket snapped him out of his contented haze.
Mizore S.: Think you can get upstairs?
She didn't need to ask twice. Ikko picked whatever can was in reach with his free hand and nudged the fridge closed with his foot, exiting as nonchalantly from the kitchen as he could. Sure enough, he did not find her in the lobby.
"Everything alright?" asked Marin, noticing Ikko lingering in the door frame.
He started, flashing her a smile. "Sorry—yeah. Little blown away, is all. This is incredible."
"Thank the kids," she said, opening her arms out to those gathered, "I just gave you the space."
"I'm grateful even for that, Mrs. Kawamoto," he bowed his head, then moved as quickly as a natural walk would allow him to the opposite corner of the lobby. Once more, he took the steps two at a time.
203's light shone through the crack between door and threshold, the only illumination on the upstairs landing. Not even a mote of the magical light reached up here, designed to encourage everyone to stay where most people were.
He placed a finger on the handle, his breath tightening into a knot at his chest. Anticipation coursed like static over his fingertips. Slamming his eyes shut, he gripped and twisted.
Unlocked. Opening his eyes the slightest amount, Ikko slipped into the room, closing the door slowly, silently behind him.
A voice sang like wind whispering through a glacier at his back. "Get the light?"
He flicked the light switch by the door, casting the room into almost darkness. Surprisingly, it was not his breath that shuddered nervously. "Okay. Turn around."
He followed her direction, shifting slowly. Once hidden by the main light, he now saw a small gathering of Ruby's magicked orbs drifting lazily in the air, their warm glow creating a bubble not dissimilar to the warmth downstairs. There, in the half-light, she stood.
Mizore. She fidgeted nervously with the hem of a black dress he'd never seen on her before, its short skirt ending just above the knees. A dark purple top, cropped to the midriff, covered shoulders normally exposed. The sleeves dangled loosely, wide like those of a robe or gown, softening her silhouette and making it trail like the wisps of a spirit in the dim glow. "Hi," she exhaled.
"Hi."
She looked down, then back up. "Ruby's idea," she started, gesturing to her outfit, "I, um. I didn't pack anything for this, so…"
Pushing aside the admission, by garb and by ambience, that Ruby knew about their relationship, Ikko moved away from the wall and approached. "You look good."
"Thanks," she said. Then, after a moment, "You look different."
"Is it the hair?" Ikko said, poking the shaved sides. "I'm still getting used to it."
She replied, "It's all of you. I've never seen you so… dressed up."
"Should I not be?"
"No. Only…" She trailed off, worrying the hem of her skirt.
"Only?"
"Maybe the others'll start seeing what I see in you."
"O-oh."
Not sure what to say, feeling his cheeks burn, Ikko clasped his hands together. "I—"
"This is kinda awkward, huh?" Mizore interrupted, a breath of laughter puncturing the stiffness between them.
"Only a little," he agreed, "How. Uh… how long do we have?"
"Not long," she murmured, forlorn, looking to the door, "Maybe twenty minutes, if everyone's distracted."
"Thirty, if we have a really good excuse," Ikko suggested.
"All night," she finished, "If things were simple."
"I like simple."
"You and me both."
Ikko breathed. Squeezed his hands together. "Thirty minutes."
"Clock's—mmf!"
Possessed, Ikko swept across the room and clutched her hands, pulling Mizore into a frantic, clumsy kiss. In the instant, where there was no space for even a single, surprised gasp, everything clicked together. Her hand snaked over his neck. His closed around her waist. Every space between them was squeezed out, by embrace or by the blossoming warmth kindled between them.
Ikko's lungs ached when they broke apart. He took a deep drag of the air, holding it like cigarette smoke before pushing it through his nose. "You look great." he whispered.
Glistening lips rounded into a smirk. "You already said that."
"Not properly."
"I had help."
"Remind me to thank her," Ikko chuckled.
"Remind me to thank them," Mizore returned, "Which one talked you into the haircut?"
"Kia picked the style."
"Suits you. It all does."
"So does this." Ikko leaned forward, stealing another kiss.
"Smooth."
"I'm learning. Gotta put all that writing practise to use somewhere, right?"
Their foreheads touched, settling into each other's silence. In the back of his mind, Ikko counted the seconds.
"I'm sorry."
He caught the scent of mint on her breath. "For what?"
"We're gonna have time limits for a while."
"It's not so bad."
"No?"
"For starters, I'm not gonna have long enough to screw things up."
She giggled. Ikko's heart thumped louder. In the space of a few days, whatever edge remained to their closeness had disappeared. She'd let go of a shard she kept pinned to her chest to better hold onto him. "Who said you'd be the screw-up?"
"I've got no idea how this works."
The hand at his neck swept down, tangling their fingers together. "We've got thirty minutes to start figuring it out."
"And then?"
"Then we find the next thirty minutes to steal."
"We'll have to get really good at stealing time."
"Lucky for you, I've got some practise there." Mizore grinned. She led him over to far wall, where one of the many futons had been rolled out, and they settled together. After a short delay, the lights bobbed over to follow them.
Ikko sat. She placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back to lay down, and settled over him. He swallowed, rigid as she lay at his side, nestling into the crook of his neck. He rolled to face her more properly, the glow of the light casting her icy blues in melting shades. "As far as birthdays go," he sighed, "This is pretty good."
"We'll plan something proper for the next one."
He shooked his head. "This is fine. Maybe book a room next time, but… I couldn't ask for anything more."
"In that case," Mizore nudged up to meet his gaze. She blinked slowly, rhythmically, in time with the rise and fall of her chest, "Happy birthday, Ikko."
Ikko smiled. His mind wandered through ambrosial syrup, not thinking of the words that followed. "You too."
Mizore closed her eyes. "Nice."
"What—oh, God. I told you!"
They laughed, curling into each other as the party rumbled on beneath them.
