Birthday

"Wow, this is Sawatari's house?" Yuya gaped, gazing in awe at the huge mansion in front of him "This is incredible!"

"Now that's what I call a winter retreat!" Yuzu remarked, her eyes just as wide as she took in the four story building.

"Yuya, this is a mansion, not a house" Gongenzaka corrected Yuya, seeming unimpressed with the impressive show of money "Besides, what made you think he would be subtle about his 16th birthday party? Of course he's showing off his family's money."

"Oh come on, Noburu!" Yuya flailed his arms "You know what I meant! It's all the same!"

"Well, technically, it is not. A house is—Ow!" Gongenzaka cried out after being smacked on the arm by Yuzu's fan.

Yuzu giggled behind the boys "You guys are ridiculous! Gosh, I hope I'm not underdressed!"

She glanced at her short pink skirt that she usually liked to wear. Because of the cold, she was also wearing white leggings and boots.

"You look fine, Yuzu!" Yuya hurriedly assured her, straightening out his white jacket "You look fancier than I do!"

"I really don't think Sawatari will mind" Gongenzaka pointed out "If he invited Kurosaki and Allen."

"Yeah, that's right!" Yuya grinned in a very loud tone, wiping some hair off of his jacket "We'll be fine!"

He slapped a hand on Yuzu's shoulder, making her giggle and dart away from him, almost crashing into a potted plant.

"Yuzu, you might want to be careful where you're walking" Gongenzaka warned, eyeing the potted plant with worry "We don't want to break anything in here and you've almost destroyed three flowerpots just on the way to the front door. No doubt Sawatari will make us pay for anything you break."

"Noburu! Can we do anything else to please you?!" Yuzu complained.

Yuya laughed while Gongenzaka sighed, resigned to his fate.

"We're here for a birthday party, Noburu!" Yuzu laughed as well "Lighten up!"

"Can we go inside?" Gongenzaka shivered "It is cold."

"Sure, let's go!" Yuya and Yuzu charged ahead, eager to check out the inside of this mansion.

Yuzu couldn't believe that Sawataris' owned what had to be the coolest house on this dimension and Sawatari invited them all to celebrate his 16th birthday and a be-latted Christmas, because Sawatari's birthday was the day after Boxing Day. In Yuya's words: way cool!

But little did she know that this night would change their lives forever…

"Yugo, look out!" Rin yelled, reaching her hand out in a poor effort to prevent him from crashing into the glass case behind him.

"Whoa!" Yugo spun around quickly, catching himself before he hit the case full of antiques "I'm fine!"

"Yugo, please, be careful!" Rin began to scold him "Sawatari was nice enough to invite us! The least you could do is try to be courteous of his property!"

"Sorry" Yugo scratched the back of his head, looking down in shame.

"Just please try and be careful. Why don't you go an unpack your things?" she suggested. Yugo brightened up.

"Okay!" he grinned, racing out of the main room into to foyer towards the huge stairs that led up to the bedrooms.

Rin sighed and walked across the foyer into the large, spacious living room where most of the other guests were currently socialising together.

She glanced around the room, beginning to count who all was here but gave up when she realised that there were a few people missing. Ruri, Sayaka, Yuya and Yuzu were conversing happily near the fireplace. Reira was playing Go Fish with Yuto, Shun, and Gongenzaka. Reiji was watching over them, helping Reira out now and again since he wasn't too familiar with the game.

"Allen, Yuri, Dennis, Serena, Sora, Masumi, Hokuto and Yaiba aren't here" she realised.

"Allen is" Sawatari corrected her, leaning against the wall "He's in the bathroom. And Masumi, Yaiba and Hokuto can't make it – they just called."

Rin gave Sawatari a funny look. "I'm disturbed that you knew that Allen was in the bathroom."

"Hey, Rin!" Yuto called to her, waving "We're playing another round. Want to join in?"

Rin decided to join the cards-playing group while Yugo emerged from the foyer and tackle-hugged Yuzu, causing him to be abruptly smacked by a paper fan and everyone to burst out laughing; even Shun and Reiji's lips twitched in amusement.

Yuya turned his head and stared out the large window in the room. "It's snowing outside!"

A few people in the room smiled at the announcement of snow. Sayaka and Yugo jumped up and ran over to the window, plastering their faces on the cold, glass surface.

"I haven't seen snow in so long!" Sayaka's eyes were wide with amazement behind her glasses "It just kinda rain in Heartland in the winter."

"Wow, looks like it's going to be bad out there!" Sawatari remarked "We're probably all going to be snowed in tomorrow!"

It was at this point Sayaka and Yugo noticed a group of people walking up to the mansion.

"Hey, the fusionists are here!" Yugo shouted, causing some people to cover their ears and everyone to scramble to the door to greet them.

"Welcome to the coolest party of the century!" Sawatari threw the door opened and yelled "Man, the temperature dropped fast! It's freezing out here! Serena, you have to be freezing your butt off!"

"Shut up" Yuri barked, pushing past him and into the house "It's freezing out here. Whose idea was it to hold a damn birthday party in the middle of the tundra!"

"It is a little chilly" Serena shivered in her short red dress "But it's fine. We're going to be in the mansion. We're not partying outside, are we?"

"No, we're not" Sawatari reassured her "Welcome guys!"

"Hey loser!" was Sora's standard greeting, twirling a lollipop in his mouth. "You better have candy."

"Happy birthday, Sawatari" Serena said, with a touch of both fondness and irritation.

"We got you a present!" Dennis grinned, holding out a large present that was probably from all four of them. No one would put it past them to give him a giant jack-in-the-box as some sort of prank. "16 huh? Tell me there's cake. Preferably a caterpillar one. I like the caterpillar ones but Yuri doesn't like chocolate so he won't let me get one."

"Infidel" Sora murmured under his breath, probably towards Yuri, as the group gravitated back to the living room. Yuri himself had taken a seat on the far end of the sofa, folding his legs and hands and looking generally like he didn't want to be there.

"Hey Yuri!" Yuya greeted him "How's the Fusion Dimension?"

"A damn mess, no thanks to you" Yuri scoffed, not quite managing to glare at Yuya.

"It's getting better" Dennis reassured everyone who shifted awkwardly "I mean, the rebuilding's going well. We finally got the stains out of the walls that survived."

"Yah!" Allen randomly barged into the room, hoping to scare someone. He succeeded in making Yuzu, Ruri and Reira jump. "Hey guys! I heard the fusionists arrived." He grinned, fixing the hat he was wearing on his head "Dinner's ready! The table's being set now!"

"Alright then!" Sawatari clapped his hands together, several people fixing him with looks of ire "Let's settled into the dining room! I'm starving!"

That they couldn't disagree with.

The group spent the next few minutes pouring into the spacious and luxurious dining room. The dinner table was so incredibly long it could probably fit up to thirty people, plenty of room for all of the guests and then some. Everyone found a seat up towards the front of the room, leaving most of the back seats empty so that they weren't so spread apart.

Plates of food had been placed all along the table. Many in the group were gazing at the food in awe, surprised at how delicious it all looked. Yuya and Sora, both of them with mouths watering, tried to reach for whatever was in front of them before Yuzu dragged them back.

"I'm surprised Yugo isn't trying to attack the food" Serena joked, poking fun at the boy sitting next to her.

"That's because Rin made sure I ate before I got here" Yugo smiled innocently as Serena rolled her eyes "I could still go for more, but I can wait."

"Well you don't have to wait anymore!" Sawatari declared "Let's dig in already!"

"Woo-hoo!" Sora cheered, surging forward for the food, startling Reira who had tried to go for the same chicken drum as he had.

"See, I'm not that bad!" Yuya said to Gongenzaka and Yuzu in an in-your-face sort of manner, both of them sighing resignedly.

"Hey! Hey, everyone! Before we eat, let's say it together?" Ruri 'whispered', trying to be conspicuous but everyone could hear her. Sawatari knew that was the intention and grinned at what came next.

"One…two…three!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAWATARI!"

"HAPPY B-DAY LOSER!"