Author Update: Hi everyone! :P It's been a hot minute. A lot of stuff kept me from posting. The tornado knocked out my power for over a week. My internet was out for a week after that. Christmas came and went. I also had a 4-day event I had to do and then my store was working on inventory. Plus, other things and now my husband has Covid. It's been hectic. Hopefully, it's calmed down some now.

Chapter 67:

Seto's Birthday

Ana drug herself out of bed and got ready for the day. After her "fight" with Seto, and making up, life had gotten busy between school, going to the daycare, training, and preparing for the festival. She didn't have a main roll, but she still had a lot of tasks to help with. Honestly, she wasn't sure how Seto was fairing on his part. He'd, to everyone's surprise, picked out a normal set of songs that wouldn't be too hard to practice. Though she'd heard the practices were extremely hard. A few of the band members tried to get her to come to them and rein Seto's perfectionism in, to which she responded that they got what they asked for and to get over it.

Ana headed downstairs, yawning as she went, when she ran into Aiko. Her sister was talking on the phone and grinning from ear to ear. Aiko jumped when she noticed Ana and quickly said goodbye before getting off the phone. Ana paused. If she hadn't been dating Seto, she wouldn't have understood the look on her sister's face.

"I guess everything worked out with Hoyhi-san." Ana couldn't help but give Aiko a teasing smile.

Her sister scowled at her, but then looked away, embarrassed. "We're dating."

"Congrats." Ana smiled at her, genuinely happy. It seemed like Aiko was happier than before. I guess whatever issue they had, they must have worked it out. Maybe now Hoyhi will stop dressing in highlighter. Ana went on down to get breakfast and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was sitting at the table with her mother. "Auntie?"

Rina looked up at her and grinned. "Hi, Ana-chan. How's festival prep going?"

"Fi-fine. But what are you…" Ana trailed off when her grandpa entered. She tensed up, waiting for harsh words to fly, but nothing happened. Rina just sipped her coffee contentedly, and her grandpa served himself some breakfast. Aiko walked in behind Ana and had the same reaction. When did they make up? Ana wanted to ask, but she decided she didn't want to rock the boat. She got her breakfast and listened to her mother and Rina chat. Hikari walked in looking tired. His reaction was the funniest. He stopped, rubbed his eyes, looked around the room, and then stared opened mouthed at Rina.

"Flies are going to land in your mouth." Rina teased Hikari, who quickly snapped out of it.

Hikari blatantly asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ana and Aiko tensed at the question, but Rina tilted her head and smiled. "Having breakfast, of course. Come sit down and eat."

Hikari paused, but finally left it be and got breakfast. Ana glanced at her grandpa a few times, but he said nothing. She quickly finished up her breakfast and went out to meet Seto, who was waiting for her as usual. He took one look at her face and raised an eyebrow.

"My Aunt had breakfast with us this morning." Ana blurted out to his silent question. Seto smirked at this, but didn't say anything. "Did you do something?"

"I did," he answered flatly.

Ana's eyes narrowed at him. "What?"

Seto looked at her and grinned widely. "Nothing unusual. I was just being a royal ass."

Ana mulled over her response. "Apparently, you can put your assery to good use."

"Only for you… and Mokuba occasionally, but he doesn't need my help too much anymore." Seto rolled his eyes.

Ana blushed as they walked to school. She took his hand as they walked. Glancing up at him, she got the urge to kiss him. No. No. We're out in public and… She scanned the street. No one was around. Seto noticed her look.

"What?" He asked.

She didn't answer with words. Instead, she pulled him to a side road and turned to look up at him. He looked perplexed. Before he could ask, she grabbed his face and pulled him down into a kiss. The wide-eyed look of surprise he gave her would have been laughable, but she didn't want to spit on his face. It only lasted a second. Much to her surprise he placed his hand on her lower back and pulled her in much closer than normal. Her heart raced and even her ears grew warm. Finally, she had to push him away. It felt like her heart might explode. Seto's face was flushed, and his eyes were glistening as he looked at her.

"What was that about?" He asked a little breathless.

Ana took a calming breath. "Well, I'm not sure what you did, but you repaired a ten-year rift in my family. I felt like that deserved a kiss."

"Uh," He looked thoughtful. "I should be a royal ass more often."

Ana pinched his arm, and he chuckled. She waited for him to move, but he didn't. "Um, Seto, we still need to get to school. During homeroom, we're working on the concert."

He looked disappointed, but just sighed and turned back to the main road. They walked holding hands all the way to school. Ana was sure Seto was smirking to himself more than usual. I didn't think he'd like it that much. It was kind of nice. Maybe—Ah! Um, think of something else. I need to work on painting the set and we're getting fitted for outfits today. There's only two weeks until the end of October…. Wait. Isn't October 25th Seto's birthday? Frick! I haven't gotten him a present. Ana panicked, but they got to school before she could think too deeply about it.

When they started homeroom, they went over the list of songs and the order they were thinking about putting them in for the concert. Arata was frowning at the board as he wrote out the song list.

"Seto-kun," Arata turned to him and frowned. "There aren't any love songs in this list."

"Why would there be?" Seto glared at him.

"Well, normally there's at least one love song or one breakup song in a concert, but you didn't pick any." Arata sighed and the other band members agreed.

"I'm not going to sing a love song." Seto growled.

Sanae turned to him and frowned. "Why not?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Why would I?"

Sanae glanced over at Ana, and Ana just shrugged. Her best friend turned back to Seto and frowned. "What? Not confident that you can sing a love song?"

Seto's mouth twitched. "I agreed to sing only if I picked the songs. So, get over it."

Ana shook her head at Sanae, and her friend backed off. Arata sighed and looked at the bored again. "I feel like we're missing something, though."

One student raised their hand. "What if we did something like a love song, but it's ambiguous and could go multiple ways? What if we wrote it ourselves to add originality?"

Ana glanced back at Seto, who rolled his eyes. Arata looked over at him, too. "I think an ambiguous song that could be a love song would be better than not having one?"

Seto frowned as he looked at the bored. Ana had to agree. The flow was off. Seto finally shrugged. "Fine, but no on the original song. I don't write songs. I'll just look for another. Though that means the band members are going to need to practice a new song."

Ana thought she saw the band members' faces go pale, and she held back a laugh. After the discussion was over, Seto went with the band members to rehearse in a music room and the rest of them worked on other preparations. Umiko came over to Ana with a measuring tape.

"Your turn!"

Ana sighed but gave in and let her friend measure her for her costume. While she got measured, her mind wondered back to Seto's birthday present. What do you get for someone who can literally buy anything they want? I guess I could make him something, but I'm really not crafty. In shows and things, the girlfriend usually knits a scarf, but I can't make a straight line with yarn, let alone knit a scarf.

"Ana-chan?" Umiko looked at her, concerned. "Are you alright?"

Ana flinched when she realized her brow was furrowed. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something. Are you done with the measurements?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go get the others now." Umiko shuffled away and Sanae came over to her.

"Alright, spill it." Sanae grinned at her, and Ana sighed.

She kept her voice low as she answered her friend's question. "Seto's birthday is at the end of the week, but I don't know what to get him. He can buy himself anything he wants and making something for him…"

Sanae grimaced. "You suck at that."

"Yeah, I know." Ana didn't need her rubbing it in. Maybe I should buy him something. I just got my allowance, so I could get him something decently nice. Ana could feel a headache coming on. When Seto got back from practice, his band mates looked worn out. Ana eyed him, wondering what she could buy him, but couldn't think of anything. The rest of school and on the way home, Ana mulled over what to buy him.

"Nii-san! Onee-chan"

They both turned and saw Mokuba getting out of a limo. He ran up to them, panting.

"Mokuba?" Seto looked confused at his little brother's arrival.

"It's a week early, but happy birthday." He shoved a box into Seto's hands. "There's a big weekly conference starting tomorrow, so I've got to attend that."

Seto opened the box and sighed. He didn't look very enthusiastic. "Thanks."

Mokuba nodded and ran away back to the limo. Ana could feel her stomach tightening. "Well, that was nice of him to come see you."

"I suppose." Seto's look was something in between embarrassed and happy.

"What did he get you?" Ana asked out of curiosity. He showed her and the color drained from her face. It was a Rolex.

"Same thing as always." Seto seemed even less enthusiastic, closed the box and shoved it in his bag.

Ana's headache was setting in. What can I even buy that he'd like if gifts like that make him exasperated? I guess my only option is to make him something. If I get mom to help me, it might not be too bad. He doesn't really wear scarfs though, maybe a turtleneck? I'll try that!

When Ana got home, she had her mother help her start on a turtleneck but didn't tell her what it was for. Throughout the rest of the week she attempted to work on it in her spare time, but by the end of the week, all she had down was the neck and top shoulder part of the turtleneck down. It was lopsided and wonkily made. I'm screwed. His birthday is tomorrow. When she went out that morning to meet Seto, she felt rather sick.

"Are you alright?" Seto looked at her, concerned.

"Haha, just tired." She walked in silence, feeling stressed.

Should I just not give him a gift? Ana couldn't really focus the rest of the day and she'd forgotten that today was daycare day, too. So, after the visit and when she got home, it was too late to finish more of the turtleneck. In the morning, she looked at the weird turtleneck crop top thing. Should I just give it to him as is and say it's some sort of weird fashion? Like a new type of scarf? Ana looked it over and could see all the stitches sticking out. She'd really bit off more than she could chew. Shoving it into her bag, she headed out to meet Seto in the morning.

"Um, Happy Birthday," she said nervously.

He smiled. "Thanks."

They stood there awkwardly for a second before she started walking to school. I can't give it to him! She glanced up at him and for a second she thought she saw disappointment on his face. It vanished quickly. School was awkward. It felt like Seto was staring at her more than usual. The day dragged on. When the last bell rang, she let out a sigh of relief. On their walk home, it seemed Seto was in a sour mood. Before they got to her house, she stopped.

"I'm sorry." Ana mumbled.

Seto stopped and looked at her, surprised. "What for?"

"I didn't know what to get you for your birthday. I tried making something, but it ended up really weird and unfinished." Ana couldn't look him in the eyes.

"Where is it?"

His question surprised her. When she looked up at him, she found him staring at her intensely. Ana hesitated but pulled out the weird one forth finished turtleneck. She handed it to him reluctantly. He stared at it blankly, then burst out laughing.

"What is this?" He laughed harder.

Ana blushed and snapped at him. "It was going to be a turtleneck, but…"

Seto kept laughing, and Ana pinched his arm in annoyance. He laughed so hard that a tear came to his eye. He wiped it away. To her surprise, he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you, but never attempt to make something like this again." He teased.
"Then what am I supposed to do for your birthday?" Ana asked, annoyed.

He smiled at her. "Spend time with me. Take me on a date."

She was taken aback by this. "Just that?"

"Time is the most valuable asset in the world and not replaceable. So, yeah." He gave her a half grin.

She could feel her face getting warm. "Alright."

He chuckled and looked down at the weird turtle scarf. She was shocked when he put it on. It only covered down to his shoulders. Ana laughed at how ridiculous he looked.

"Laugh all you want. You're the one who made it." Seto teased and pulled out his phone. "Take a picture with me."

She almost refused but agreed since it was his birthday. He took a picture of them together with him wearing her botched gift. When he finished, he grinned at it.

"Do you actually like it?" Ana asked, confused.

He smirked. "I'm never going to let you forget it."

She tried to hit him with her bag, but he dodged. "You're such an Amin-chan."

"Yup, but I'm your Amin-chan."

Yeah, I guess he is. Ana sighed again. "Happy Birthday, Amin-chan."