I think this is my favorite chapter so far. I had way too much fun with writing Ava's reaction to the sudden oddness of Ephemer's love for her. Imagining Ava's flat 'what' will always get a chuckle out of me. That being said, shout out to Girls' Generation and their song 'Kissing You' which was partially used in this chapter. The original video is from 2008 x_x

Thank you for reading!

Ava gave a sullen sigh as she looked over the list in front of her. There were a little under 1,400 students actively attending Daybreak Academy, and over the past week she had narrowed it down to seven. It honestly felt like she was giving up, what with Ephemer's name being the first she wrote down and later on adding two of his friends. She had even written down a pair of siblings. How lazy was that?

Just make sure that your new student council can work well with each other, or it'll all fall flat.

The Vulpes headmaster absently reached for her coffee cup and took a slow sip. As far as she knew, all seven of these kids had met each other at least once. They were also among the most exceptional students as well- Ava had done enough checking and rechecking of their grades and teacher remarks to feel like she could justify it.

None of us wanted five headmasters.

But that was then, and this was now. No one had expected her and Gula to sign on after graduation- with Luxu and MoM, there were five headmasters already running the place. Never minding Gula, there was such a tremendous age gap between her, Invi, Ira, and Aced. So much so that those three had been considered senior staff for years; Gula had only just passed his fifth year, and wouldn't be considered senior staff for only five. There was only one name on this list that caused the biggest gap in age -roughly 8 years- but it was still a far cry from the 16 years between Gula and Aced.

A small creak at her door made Ava immediately look up, immediately flipping over her list as if it contained something more scandalous. But no one was on the other side of the door. Before Ava could question what was going on, a song started to play, almost making her jump in surprise. It was a pretty bubbly pop song with a slightly distinct disco-like backing to it.

'Dudu dududu, kissing you baby~!'

A flat "What." escaped Ava's lips as she stared at the doorway.

'Dudu dududu, loving you baby~!'

As if to answer her confusion, Ephemer's head peered through the door. "Happy birthday Ava!" he declared, before leading what could only amount to a small parade into her office.

Ava's eyes widened as multiple people came through her office door; Ephemer was holding a boombox playing that K-pop song, his friend Skuld was holding a two tiered birthday cake, one of his friends was holding a rather large present, another was holding a much smaller present, and then there was Gula. Of course Gula would join in on this madness. As everyone piled in, Ephemer continued to let the song play as he set it down on the visitor's chair.

'Geudaewa, bareul matchumyeo geoto; neoye du soneul japgo. Ni eokkaeye pidaeyeo malhago shipeo; Gomaweo saranghae haengbongman julkkeyo! Kissing you, oh my love~!'

Thankfully, he did turn the volume down quite a bit as his black haired friend, Skuld, set down the birthday cake in front of Ava.

"Happy birthday Ava!" Ephemer then cheered again, this time being backed by everyone else at a slight delay. Ava was still in so much shock that she only stared at him.

Eventually, her eyes started to trail from the boy to the rest of his entourage. There was Skuld, who Ava had no doubt had made the cake. There was another girl with short strawberry-pink hair carrying a large present. Looking over the girl's tanned skin and emerald green eyes, Ava realized that this was the Anora that Ephemer spoke of every so often. Ava then turned her attention to another boy, his hair was unruly like Ephemer's, but shorter and colored a beautiful golden yellow. He was also holding a present, but his was much smaller. And then there was Gula, who looked awfully pleased as punch about something. She was afraid to know of what.

"This… is a surprise." Ava finally admitted, looking them all over. "I don't know what to say."

"Say yes, obviously." Gula smirked. Anora and the golden haired boy took it as their cue to give Ava their presents.

"O-oh!" was all the female headmaster could muster. "Th-thank you."

Each child gave her a bashful smile before backing away a bit. With all eyes on her, Ava looked from the small group to her presents. Warily, Ava started to unwrap the biggest present, picking the wrapping off as if she planned on preserving it. She tossed the wrapping paper on the floor with a small flinch- she'd have to pick that up before the custodian came in. The look on her face became mixed when she revealed what the present was. She looked at Ephemer, even more confused than before.

"A fish tank?"

"That was my idea." Gula spoke up, smirking at her in a way that always sent a chill up her spine. "I've noticed that it always bugged you that we don't allow certain pets on school campus. Mostly mammals, like dogs and cats, with the occasional denial of birds. But it doesn't say anything about fish, small reptiles, and amphibians."

"After the dance and play are over, we're gonna go pet shopping!" Ephemer joined in, unable to hold back his happiness. Again, Ava was speechless.

"You guys..." she tried to say, but the words failed to leave her lips. Instead, she looked down at the other present, and started to reach for it. She gave them all a wary look before she started to unwrap the smaller present. It was revealed to be a velvet jewelry box.

Ava opened the box up to see what was inside, and almost gasped in astonishment. Inside was small die cast charm; decorated to look like a key-like sword that held a gradient from white, to yellow, to pink, and back again. At the base of the key sword was a very small, very detailed fox head with even tinier sapphire eyes. It was absolutely beautiful.

It was Ephemer that knocked her out of her surprised with a cheerful, "It's for your charm bracelet!" And just like that, a sudden wave of sadness washed over Ava.

"Oh… Oh, Ephemer," she softly said, a thin smile on her lips as she set the charm back down in the box. "You know I don't wear that thing anymore..."

"I know." the boy admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "But that doesn't mean we can't still add on to it, right? They're kinda like memories."

Despite herself, Ava gave him a smile. "Of course." she agreed. With that, she turned her attention to the others. "Now, what happened to that cake? We can't have party without the best made cake in the world!"

And so, Ava's small birthday party began. It was a fun time, she had to admit. Ephemer formally introduced Ava to Anora, and even casually introduced the boy with golden hair (Ventus was his name) like an old friend. Ava wondered how much she and Ephemer thought alike before shaking the thought away. The party went on for a good two hours before Ventus decided that he should leave. Skuld was quick to go soon after, as if she was waiting for an excuse to go. Ephemer and Anora stayed behind for a bit longer, and even helped clean up a bit before they left.

This only left Ava with Gula, and she could feel the temperature rise as he looked at her.

"That was a nice little party." the Leopardus headmaster grinned as he sat down on Ava's desk.

"It was." the Vulpes headmaster agreed, trying not to look at Gula and his smug expression.

"Too bad it's not quite over yet."

Ava immediately looked up at Gula- her face was a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked before she could stop herself. To her absolute fear, Gula only shook his head and put a finger to his lips.

"It's a surprise." he insisted. "But… meet me at 10 at our dorms."

"10?"

"Yeah," he smirked. "It's after curfew."

"Why would you need me after cur-"

There was no stopping the flirtatious smirk on Gula's face, and the heat rising in Ava's cheeks.

"Happy birthday Ava." Gula wished her, giving a small kiss on her temple before he started to leave. Ava refused to look at at him or even respond.

Once Gula left, Ava needed to clear her thoughts again. Sighing, she flipped over her student list and started to comb through it again. She lightly bit her lower lip and rabidly tapped her pencil on her desk. Her thoughts were mixed between the list and Gula's promise- they both gave her butterflies, but for two completely different reasons. After some consideration, she finally decided to cross a certain name out. The student was still far too new to have that kind of burden placed on them. However, for some reason, Ava almost couldn't justify it. Giving one more sigh -this one a bit more thoughtful- Ava put her list away and tried very hard to not think about Gula.

Happy birthday to her indeed.