Happy Birthday, Yumi!

Yumi

I had no idea what was going to happen during the summer, beyond that I was staying at the same summer house that Haruhi was working at.

So imagine my surprise when the Host Club turned up!

I didn't really pay attention to what they were doing, beyond that they all – or at least most of them – wanted to stay here with Haruhi, and so were having a Refreshing Contest or some such thing. I remember continuously catching Kyoya-senpai looking at me. (Say that five times fast: continuously catching Kyoya!)

Like I said, not a whole ton going on around me, or at least, not until about a week after that crazy contest.

About a week after the contest, I came down the stairs to…

The craziest party I'd ever seen outside of the Host Club!

Though, when it came right down to it, the party had clearly been arranged by the Host Club, so what do you want?

The most noticeable thing about the party – after I'd recovered from the confetti guns, that is – was a big banner strung up across the room that read "Happy Birthday, Yumi-chan!" Clearly, Honey-senpai had written that.

I glanced across the room at Kyoya-senpai. He was pretending that he had nothing to do with the party. RIGHT…Like I was going to buy that – I hadn't said a word about what day my birthday was!

Oh, I was excited, all right: I'd never had a birthday party in my life because my parents have always been too busy!

I ran around the room and hugged both twins and Honey-senpai. I even jumped into Mori-senpai's arms! I didn't hug Tamaki-senpai because, frankly, even with the Cats cosplay they'd had in school, I wasn't entirely comfortable around him. I didn't hug Haruhi because she wasn't there, and I wasn't going to make Kyoya-senpai drop his notebook.

Most of the party went without a hitch. We played child's party games, had – of course – cake, and Haruhi came back in. Then Tamaki-senpai handed me his present. I looked back and forth between him and the present. Is he expecting me to open this to his face?

"Go on, open it!"

Okay, he wants me to open this to his face. I plucked carefully at the wrapping. He must be extraordinarily sure that I'll like it. Normally I stick to the custom of not opening a gift to the giver's face, because it takes away the pressure of telling them that I like it even if I don't.

If I don't like this, he's getting it back.

In the box was a dress. At least, that's what I assumed was in the box, when it was all folded up like that: a pink dress.

My eyebrow twitched at the thought of giving this back to Tamaki-senpai. Would he feel compelled to wear it himself?

I looked up at them, and then pulled the dress out of the box. The box fell to the floor at my feet with the hem of the skirt following it. It shimmered like silk, meaning coming from a rich boy it probably was, and it was a near-shapeless length with barely any distinction at the waist and no sleeves, just bare ropes.

Those, um, stand-ins for sleeves gave me pause. Then again, how was he to know I didn't have any strapless bras?

The twins both looked enthused by the thing, so I rolled my eyes, slung it over my shoulder, and walked off to find a quiet place to change into it. Then I glanced back. "Just so the rest of you know, I usually avoid opening presents in front of the giver."

I closed the door behind me and heard something clatter. Probably either Honey-senpai or one of the twins had dashed for a different door and tripped over a chair.

Once in a quiet room without any windows, I studied the dress a little more carefully. It looked similar to a dress that Haruhi had worn once since coming here. Virtually there were only two differences between the dresses: the waistline and the thickness of the shoulder straps.

I decided to ditch the bra as well. Who was going to tell those boys?

When I shivered into the dress, I stared down at myself in wonder – it fit! Tamaki-senpai couldn't have gotten that information from Haruhi, because I doubted Haruhi even knew!

Kyoya-senpai? Possibly; it's amazing what you can find on the Internet.

I started struggling to get my hair out of its braided bun. It had been so long since I'd worn my hair loose, but a bun or a braid wouldn't work with this dress. My other problem was that I didn't have a comb or anything.

Then the door opened behind me. "I figured you'd want your hair down," Haruhi's voice floated in, "so I brought you your comb."

"Thanks…um…could you comb my hair out, too? I don't want to leave those boys waiting too long."

"Don't worry," though she did start combing my hair, "you'd only be making Tamaki-senpai wait. Everyone else has left the room, and they won't come back until you've finished opening their presents."

"So I'll – ow! – Be getting several different reactions to how the dress looks on me."

"Yeah."

Finally, my hair was loose and as straight as hours in a braid would leave it, and I went back into the party room.

Sure enough, Tamaki-senpai was the only one sitting there, sipping some tea, but he jumped up almost immediately to sing my praises. I rolled my eyes again as he walked over to me with another present. "This one is from Hikaru and Kaoru together."

That one turned out to be a set of sketch pencils with a pad of white paper. One of them had evidently noticed my art around my apartment.

"Now how did they know that my art supplies were running out?" I set them aside with a smile. "Are they coming back?"

"Yes, now that you've opened their gift."

Translation: they were listening at the door.

Yup: they came in right around then – and stopped cold at the sight of me. Then they spoke as one: "You look stunning!"

I would have said that Tamaki-senpai had put them up to saying that, but there was no faking the look of astonishment fading into impressed delight that was on both of their faces.

Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai had opted to give me the same present also. They'd gotten me a snow globe with a figurine of a tuxedo cat inside. Mister Mistoffelees. Of course.

"It's beautiful!" I said, loudly enough so the eavesdroppers at the door could hear. And when they came in…I think that's the closest that I've ever seen Mori-senpai come to losing his composed, neutral expression! Honey-senpai was less restrained: he outright yelled, "You look amazing, Yumi-chan!"

Then Kyoya-senpai's gift was handed to me. I honestly didn't think it would be much; it was obviously a book.

Then I opened it and came to a full halt.

The Glow of the Darker Realms, read the title, by Kazeriu Mystery.

Kazeriu Mystery…was my penname. The Glow of the Darker Realms…was the book Kyoya-senpai and I had been working on together for about a month.

Hesitantly, I opened the cover and flipped to find the acknowledgement page.

There it was. Written on it was:

Many thanks to all who gave me inspiration, and to my co-writer, Kyoya Otori.

All I could say out loud was, in a near-whisper, "Senpai's got a lot of nerve to write that. I don't even refer to him as…"

Then I spoke up louder. "You can come in now, senpai."

As he walked in, he was talking. I could tell the exact moment when he looked at me, and readers, you will see it, too. "I hope you won't mind that I took the liberty of publishing your book. It was little enough for me to do, and it's already becoming quite a hit. You hadn't written an acknowledgement page, so I – Yumi, you're beautiful!"

I walked up to him – running wasn't an option in that dress, though I dearly wanted to – and hugged him. "Thank you, senpai!"