Chapter 11: Day 7: Exchanges Come in All Forms
After making the gift for Yuya, Mitsuki was so tired out that she almost fell face first into some glitter glue. Luckily, Hiyori was there to catch her head. She giggled as she picked up her passed out friend up bridal style and placed her on the couch.
"Poor, poor Mitsuki-san…" the orange-haired ghost girl whispered in a sing-song voice.
She pulled up the covers so she wouldn't be cold. She then petted her purple-black hair comfortingly. She then looked over at the craft that Mitsuki had made for Yuya. She smiled softly and half-lidded her eyes. She knew that Yuya was gonna love it. It may not have been Mitsuki in an erotic cosplay outfit ready to receive some pleasure, but it was thoughtful just the same. Hiyori looked back at the still sleeping Mitsuki. She smiled softly at her.
"Well done, Mitsuki Kanzaki… Well done…" she whispered.
She then leaned down and gave Mitsuki a little angel kiss on the forehead.
Meanwhile…
Yuya was still asleep, and Moa was downstairs and awake. She had decided to do something to surprise him on his birthday.
When she was done, she giggled in excitement and moved on to the next part of her plan.
She took her phone out of her sweater pocket and dialed her brother's number. As it rang, she hummed the tune of the
"Happy Birthday" song to herself.
The phone made a noise, signalling someone picked up.
"Hello?" she spoke into the receiver.
"Moa?" a familiar male voice asked.
Moa recognized it as her brother's.
"Hey, can you ask mom and dad to bring you and Mitsuki-senpai over to Yuya's house in a half-hour or so?" she asked.
"But I thought the agreement was to meet at our house to exchange Mitsuki for you at like 6?" he asked.
"I know, but I have something planned for Yuya-senpai's birthday and I need you and Mitsuki-senpai over here, since you're his friend and she's his little sister." Moa explained.
"How come you never did anything nice for me on my birthday?" Shotaro asked in a whiny tone.
"Why don't you ever get me anything for MY birthday?!" Moa retorted.
Shotaro was silent for a moment but then replied with, "Because you irritate me!"
Moa growled.
"We can argue later! Just get mom, dad, and Mitsuki-senpai over here now!" she spat back.
Shotaro groaned. "Fine…"
Moa instantly gained her bubbly attitude and giggled.
"Great! See ya later, baldy!" she exclaimed.
Just as she pulled the phone away from her ear, Shotaro yelled, "I'm not bald!"
She pressed "End Call".
Later…
It was now 11:30 and Yuya was awake. After getting dressed, he went downstairs to start on breakfast. He didn't even see what time it was, and he thought it was earlier than 11:30. Plus, when he looked at his clock, he thought it had said 8:30. He had been having occasional vision problems from time to time, and he didn't know why.
When he got downstairs, he saw it was dark in the living room and was about to feel around for the lightswitch when-
The lights went on and everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!~" shocking the navy blue haired boy!
He looked around and saw the entire living room was decorated in blue, yellow, and green ribbons, balloons, and other decorations.
And there was a banner that read: "Happy 17th Birthday Yuya!" in blue letters.
He looked around and saw all his friends standing in a group, smiling at him. Moa, Shotaro, Yukina, Mitsuki, and Neko. Neko was a quiet girl with light, long purple hair, eyes of the same colour, and oval glasses. She also always has the same book with her, but this time, she didn't have it. In fact, she didn't have any books with her.
"G-Guys… What is this?" Yuya asked, still shocked.
Moa giggled.
"I invited them over for a little surprise party. And your mom called saying that she and your dad would be home shortly." she explained.
Yuya's navy blue eyes shrunk slightly in surprise.
"Y-You all did this… f-for me?" he asked in a flabbergasted tone.
They all nodded happily. Even Mitsuki seemed happy! Yuya was speechless at this point… He didn't know whether he should cry, laugh, smile, or all three. He looked down as tears came streaming down his cheeks. Then he stood up and brought his head up. He sniffed and smiled in happiness.
"T-Thank you, everybody! This is so *snf* so nice!" he sobbed and laughed.
Mitsuki stared at him. She had never seen him this happy and in tears before. She looked over at the present table, where her gift was hiding, but safe, among other gifts brought by Yuya's other friends. She just hoped Yuya liked it…
The party was a freaking blast!
There were games, music, talking, and laughs all around!
When it was time for presents, Yuya was forced into a chair by Moa. Everyone laughed at this.
"Oh, oh, oh! Open mine first!" Shotaro pleaded.
Yuya agreed and was passed a box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper.
'Bit early for the holidays.' Yuya thought, rolling his eyes.
He tore through the paper and saw it was an iPad!
"How did you afford this, Torii?!" Yuya asked, observing it.
He chuckled and looked at his nails.
"I'm just that good at saving money." he said.
Moa stomped on his foot, making him yelp.
"Alright… Mom leant me the money… But I picked out the gift!" Yuya laughed.
Next, Neko's gift!
Neko had given Yuya a set of World Encyclopedia books. She noted that they were on sale, and she thought he might like them since he loved to read. Yuya smiled and thanked her. She smiled back.
Next, Moa's gift!
Moa had gotten him some new, casual clothing.
'I thought it was odd when she asked for my clothing sizes.' Yuya thought, looking at the clothes.
Then he noticed something else in Moa's present box. He reached inside and pulled out a pair of black glasses.
"Moa-chan, did you get these for me too?" he asked.
Moa looked over and saw the spectacles in his hand. She shook her head.
"Then… who?" Yuya wondered, looking around.
"Wasn't me!" Shotaro said, putting his hands up.
Mitsuki shook her head.
"Not me, either." she said.
Neko stepped forward and straightened her glasses.
"I'm afraid that was me, Kanzaki. You see, I can sense you are having vision problems, yes?" she spoke in her usual flat tone.
Yuya blushed and nodded.
"But… how?" he asked, unfolding the glasses.
Neko said nothing. Yuya knew Neko had a way of knowing things. It was a fascinating, yet scary skill of hers.
'It's like she knows…' Yuya thought, staring at Neko with a gaped mouth.
Then, he looked down at the glasses. He wondered how he might look in them.
"Don't worry, Kanzaki."
Yuya looked over to his right and saw Neko standing beside him. She then grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Hiyori saw this and was none too pleased about it!
"Hey!~ Stop right there, Neko-Worm! You keep your hands off Yuya Onii-chan!" she snapped, steam coming from her nostrils.
Mitsuki held the ghost girl's hand and laughed nervously.
"Calm down, Hiyori-chan…" she said.
Neko shifted her lavender eyes up to Yuya.
"We all like you no matter what you look like." she said.
Yuya smiled at Neko. He then unfolded the glasses and slid them onto his face. It was weird and different, wearing glasses for the first time in his life, but when he looked around, everything seemed crystal clear. Even clearer than before. Was this how all people felt when trying on glasses for the first time? Everyone was in awe.
"What? Do I look weird?" Yuya asked nervously.
Yukina smiled and blushed, putting both hands on her cheeks.
"You look so cute, Yuu-kun!~" she gushed. Yuya blushed and rubbed his arm shyly.
Hiyori growled. "That's something a girlfriend says to her boyfriend! Does she think she's his girlfriend?!"
She had had it! She then possessed Mitsuki, making her gasp. Yukina looked over and saw the scene. She had always had a sense for the supernatural, and she could see Hiyori. Mitsuki and Hiyori both knew that, but they hadn't seen Yukina for a while.
Hiyori-now in Mitsuki's body-made her way to Yuya, giggling all the while. Mitsuki panicked and tried flying after Hiyori, but then Yukina stood in front of her.
"Huh? Yukina-san?!" Mitsuki gasped.
'That's right… she can see me…' she thought.
"Mitsuki-chan, why don't you let Hiyori-san do it?" the dirty-blonde suggested.
Mitsuki blushed and shook her head.
"But-But-! Se might do something dirty! And I don't even like him like that!" she panicked.
Yukina giggled at that fib.
"Hey, who says they're gonna do anything dirty?" she pointed out.
Mitsuki couldn't find an answer for that. Had she been jumping to conclusions all this time? No! Hiyori had possessed her and done dirty things before! But then again, there were times when she didn't… Was this an example of the latter? Mitsuki shifted her magenta eyes over towards the two. Hiyori was smiling at Yuya.
"Yuya Onii-chan, you look very handsome and smart!" she complimented.
Yuya smiled and blushed even more than when Yukina told him.
'She must be in her friendly mood right now…' he thought.
Mitsuki unclenched her fists and sighed.
'Yeah… I guess she's fine…' the purple-blackette thought, smiling slightly.
"You do look grown up, Yuya-kun."
Everyone looked over and saw a lady with short navy blue hair, raspberry coloured eyes, and a man with light gray hair and navy blue eyes.
"M-Mom? Dad?!" Yuya gasped.
Mitsuki gasped and flew back into her own body. She can't remember the last time she was so happy to see her mom.
"Mom!" she exclaimed slightly.
Kyoko saw her daughter and got tears in her eyes.
"M-Mitsuki!" she ran up to her daughter and threw her arms around her.
Mitsuki was surprised, but she missed her mom as well. She hugged her mom back and buried her face into her neck. Tetsuya walked up to his son and laughed nervously.
"I… don't suppose that just because you're 17 now, you wouldn't want a hug from your old man?"
Yuya laughed and nodded. "Come on!" he said.
Tetsuya smiled and embraced his son.
"My son… all grown up… Soon you'll be able to move out, go to college, marry a nice girl, and have kids."
Yuya laughed and released the hug.
"Hey, you still have one more year with me, dad. Besides, I don't even have a girlfriend, yet." the navy-blue haired teen said.
"Come on! Well, do you have your eye on someone?" Tetsuya asked, elbowing him in the rib.
Yuya blushed, proving to his dad that he did have someone he liked.
"Who is it? Is it Yukina? She's pretty."
Yuya shook his head. "No, Yuki-nee is just Yuki-nee." he added in.
"How about that Neko girl, or Moa?"
"No, Neko isn't really my type. she's just a good friend of mine. And as for Moa-chan, she's kind of like another little sister to me."
"I see… It isn't… Mitsuki-chan, is it?"
Yuya blushed harder and said nothing. Tetsuya chuckled.
"I guess all this time you guys have spent alone have made you guys super close." Yuya blushed and glared at his dad.
"We're just step-siblings! I'm not in l-love with her! That's wrong, right?" he stuttered.
"You're not blood related… Besides, she's super cute. Any guy would consider himself lucky to be with her." Tetsuya said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Any guy, if she'll accept them, is gonna be lucky…" Yuya muttered.
"Oh, well… We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds…" Tetsuya sighed.
Later…
After the party, Moa's parents took her back, and Mitsuki's parents took her back.
"Thanks for everything, Torii family." Mitsuki said, bowing.
They smiled and said it was nothing.
"And thank you for purifying my home with your adorableness!" Shotaro added in, getting close to her.
Mitsuki blushed and said nothing. Moa then lowered her amber yellow eyes. Mitsuki noticed this and whispered something into Shotaro's ear. He was very hesitant to do as she said, but then noticed how sad Moa looked. He then walked over to Moa and petted her gray hair.
"You're… really… c-cute, little sis…" Shotaro stuttered.
Moa blushed and her eyes widened.
"R-Really?" she asked in disbelief.
Shotaro blushed and looked away. Moa smiled slightly and giggled. She then thanked Yuya for his hospitality. He said it was fine and smiled at her.
After bidding farewell, they cleaned up the party decorations.
By the time they finished, it was almost bedtime. Yuya was looking out the window and Mitsuki walked beside him.
"What are you looking at?" she asked.
"I dunno… I guess I'm just looking at the neighborhood I always knew with my new glasses. It's gonna take awhile to get used to them." he explained.
Mitsuki looked down. "I see…"
The two step-siblings sat in silence for a bit before Mitsuki tapped Yuya's shoulder. He looked at her.
"F-For the record, you do look… nice in those glasses" the magenta-eyed girl said, blushing.
Yuya blushed and his navy-blue eyes widened slightly. Mitsuki actually complimented him… He smiled and held out his hand. She looked at it for a while then back up at him. She was a little hesitant but took his hand and grasped it tightly. Both step-siblings stared out the window, watching the last light of day disappear onto the horizon.
"Oh… um… I wanted to give you this." Mitsuki said, walking over to the table where her gift resided.
She handed him a large envelope. He stared at it for a while before opening it. Inside was a card decorated in blue, red, and orange hearts and ribbons.
He opened it and on the inside was a message that said, "Roses are red, violets are blue, that line is cliche, but Happy Birthday to you." -Mitsuki.
Yuya looked up at Mitsuki who was blushing and rubbing her arm shyly. He smiled.
"Thank you… Mitsuki…" he whispered, pulling her in.
Mitsuki was about to object, but fell victim to his charm. She hugged him back and gripped his shirt.
Hiyori watched the two. Even though she wasn't in Mitsuki's body, she could still feel her heart pounding, and that made hers pound as well.
"One day…" she whispered.
What a hectic week!
Done! Now that this story is done, I'm gonna finish "My Time in Hinamizawa", then "I'm Your Friend Even After the End".
Shadow: Yep!
R&R!