It was finally spring time. Rima had lost that sick feeling in her stomach long ago and now it was forgotten. Her birthday was coming up in February and it was January 30th. She mused about it to Nagihiko when he came over. Lately the boy wasn't there every time she came home. Nagihiko told Rima his mother started being more strict recently and Rima understood.
The fights had gotten worse. Rima's Father had stopped blaming Rima and began blaming her mother. Rima's mother in return abandoned the fight where 'it was no one's fault' and blamed it on her father. Rima's Father and Mother couldn't even be in the house at the same time. Rima's parents had almost silently made schedules on when the other one would be home and rotated on that.
The only time they were both home was at night. Father would sleep on the couch and Mother in the bedroom. Recently though, Father had started staying late at work.
Rima could forget all that though but only when Nagihiko was around. He would pull her out of the sticky mess of her life and bring her to a new world.
"I wonder if Mama has anything planned for my birthday." Rima thought aloud. She was laying on her back toying with the flimsy arms of a rag doll. Nagihiko flipped a page in his book.
"Have you reminded them?"
Rima tossed aside the rag doll and rolled over.
"I tried but Mama is always on the phone and if I try to tell Papa, he'll just walk away." Nagihiko scribbled something down and flipped to another page in his book. He set down his pencil and turned back to face Rima.
"Then maybe we can plan something ourselves." Nagi suggested. Rima thought the idea was brilliant!
"Where are we going to get the stuff though?" Rima asked.
"I could bake a cake and bring it over." Nagi started.
"We could also make paper decorations!" Rima continued.
"I'd bring you a super special gift."
"And I can wear a pretty dress!" Rima finished. "I can't wait! Let's get started!" Rima bounced off the bed and looked at Nagi. Whose only movement was to turn back to his paper. "Well?" Rima asked.
"One minute. If I do my homework here I can stay longer." He said furiously scribbling things down one after the other. After about two more minutes that Rima had waited patiently Nagihiko had finished. He shut his book and stood. Then Rima dashed and pulled out lots of different colored papers, some scissors and a roll of tape.
"We can make paper chains first!" The two worked for an hour or two cutting the papers into strips and and taping then into chains.
Finally Rima wiped her forehead and put down her scissors. Her floor was littered with chains of every color and variety along with endless paper scraps. "I think that's enough." Nagihiko taped his last paper chain link and set it down.
"Where are you going to put these?" He asked. Rima gathered them up and stuffed them into her bottom dresser drawer.
"I'll keep them there for now." Rima said.
"I think I should go now." Nagihiko stood and stretched. Rima looked up at him with big eyes.
"You'll come tomorrow too right?"
Nagihiko looked into those adorable and felt his face getting hot. He choked down the blush and answered. "I'll try but-" She stared at him with an unbreakable gaze. The only way he could shatter it, was by saying no. Now how do you expect him to do that?
He smiled down at her. "Of course."
"Pinky promise?" Rima asked holding up her pinky finger.
Nagihiko leaned down and locked his pinky with hers. "Pinky promise."
The next morning
"And so kids, if you use this factor..." Teachers seemed to love making class about as boring as possible. Words only lasted seconds but seemed to drag on for hours. Rima sat in the back of the class next to a window. The teacher had been alerted of Rima having weak and sensitive lungs so immediately she assumed next to the window would be best suited for Rima.
The window did nothing but shine the sun in Rima's eyes, the teacher always kept the window closed anyway. When the window was open it just let pollen in and made Rima sneeze. The window did provide a lovely view. Rima used most of her class time staring at the passing people and green grass.
Returning to the real world Rima held up her hand and waited to be called on. Rima watched the clock, and three minutes passed before the teacher called on her.
"Yes Mashiro-san." The female teacher said with an exasperated tone.
"May I go to the bathroom?" Rima asked.
"Quickly." The teacher replied. Rima hopped out of her chair and rushed out of the room. She quickly made her way to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Rima pulled a folded paper out of her pocket and shook some crayons out of her sleeve. Rima used the stall door as a flat surface and began to color.
Reds and blues, greens and oranges. Intricate (Or at least what 8 year old Rima thought was intricate) patterns around the edges of the paper and Rima wrote her message in bold letters. Finally the picture was almost done when there was a pounding on the bathroom door. In a panic Rima folded the paper in and unlocked the door. Rima rushed past the girl at the door, dashed back to her class room, only seeing a flash of pink as she scrambled out.
"What was that about?" Amu asked. She walked into the bathroom and saw the crayons scattered about the floor.
'A girl locked herself in the bathroom with nothing to do but play with crayon and no paper.' Amu searched the bathroom for any graffiti. Of course she found nothing.
"What could she have possibly..." Amu let her thoughts run wild with lots of perverted and insane ideas.
Finally the bell rang at 3:10. Rima shoved her papers inside her suitcase and rushed to find her mother. Only about a week left until Rima's birthday. What would she and Nagihiko do today? Maybe they could make little origami roses out of the little bit of red construction paper left. Rima still needed a pretty dress though, she really wanted a new one.
"Mama, could I get a new dress for my birthday?" Rima asked shyly.
"Birthday?" Mama asked with amusement. "Your birthday is in months! What are you talking about?"
"My birthday is...next week." Rima said.
Mama paused. "So it is...we'll go real quick." Mama swerved and took Rima to the nearest dress shop. The Mother and daughter got out of the car and Mama led Rima inside by hand.
"Go. Quickly and pick a dress." Mama pushed Rima ahead. Rima felt lost and alone. Mama always helped her pick a dress if they ever went shopping, Rima didn't even know her own size.
"C-Can you help me?" Rima asked sheepishly. Mama sighed and disappeared behind numerous racks full of dresses. About a minute later Mama returned with a bag and dragged Rima back to the car. Mama tossed the bag to Rima in the car and they sped off to the house.
Rima scurried out of the car and up to her room. Nagihiko was there and for some reason she wasn't counting on that.
"Rima-chan! Welcome home!" He said cheerfully.
Rima smiled at him and bounced into his lap.
"Mama bought me a dress today. I don't know what it looks like though." Rima said holding up the fancy bag. "Anyway I thought we could make origami roses."
"That sounds fun." Nagihiko said. They made roses until sunset and as always Nagihiko had to leave then. Rima waited until he was far away. Then she dived for the bag and tried on the dress. Rima couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror. 'Perfect' was an outright insult.