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You’ve always given me all these things.
The morning began like any other—with the greeting of a cheerful wind chime as Abeno slid the door to the familiar tearoom open, yawning behind his hand.
“Good morning, Itsuki! Did you sleep well? Yesterday’s job ran quite late.”
“I’m fine. Morning.” Wincing slightly at the sound of his own voice, hoarse from sleep, Abeno looked down to see an also familiar white yokai rubbing energetically against his leg. “Morning, Hairball. We have a job today too. Right?” He glanced back to the hanging scroll to confirm, and a mischievously smiling emoji was printed on the white paper in response.
Fuzzy’s head bobbed up and down enthusiastically as if in agreement and the yokai nearly rolled over with the force.
“…Pff.” A small huff of laughter escaped Abeno’s lips as he strode across the tatami mat, making way for the closet to change. “What’re you so excited for?”
When he finished buttoning up the dress shirt that constituted the school’s uniform, Abeno automatically reached for his usual red cardigan next and paused, contemplating the day’s weather. Well into the beginning of summer at this time of year, but not yet the sweltering humidity of the later months. With a shrug, Abeno grabbed it anyway, pulling his arms through the sleeves, and exited the closet. “I’m off.” The routine parting words, spoken absentmindedly to the room at large as he collected his schoolbag and shoes, a mental schedule running through his head. The job after school…
“Have a good day!” The Mononokean chimed at him, words racing across the scroll at the same time his classroom door appeared in a puff of scentless smoke. “And Itsuki, happy birthday.”
“Is it? Thanks,” Abeno mumbled distractedly, with barely a glance back. One job after school—who had the client been, again? Well, he could reconfirm that later. The Legislator had also mentioned the other day, less than subtly, that he was in need of help finishing paperwork again—and at the recollection Abeno could feel a scowl forming on his face, the Legislator’s irritatingly carefree laughter echoing in his ears even without the man’s presence. He slammed the classroom door shut, possibly with a little more force than intended.
The date was no more than a passing thought, slipping from his mind like the brief flicker of a light.
“Abeno-san! Good morning!” Ashiya’s voice rang out at once and Abeno felt his eyebrows knit even more deeply together. Why Ashiya found it necessary to shout across the classroom was a complete mystery and annoyance.
“Pipe down, you five-year-old.”
“What did I do this time!?” But contrasting his indignant tone, an expression of merriment remained on Ashiya’s face, unusually undeterred by Abeno’s peevish greeting. “We have a… job! A job today, right!? A job! Yeah, a job!”
Abeno set his schoolbag on his desk with a soft thud, narrowing his eyes in his employee’s direction. “Stop repeating it like you just learned a new word. Yeah, we do.”
Ashiya beamed. Suspicious. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Why?” He pulled out his chair, heedless of the metallic squawking as the chair leg dragged across the floor, and sat down, propping his chin into his palm at the same time Ashiya turned, sitting backwards in his chair to face Abeno.
“Oh!” The other boy waved his hands frantically, nervous laughter accompanying the movement. “No particular reason. It’s just really nice weather for a… job! Don’t you think, Abeno-san?”
“You don’t even know what the client wants yet.” And neither did he, Abeno was reminded, but brushed it off with a sigh. “For all you know, it might not be something that requires going outside.”
“I guess so,” Ashiya replied, nonchalant. “But it usually is, right?”
“…Well, I guess.”
“See!”
“Wipe that smug grin off your face.” Abeno slouched forward in his seat and dropped his face into his arms even as Ashiya let out a yelp of protest, before shooting off one last remark, not caring if it came out muffled. “Both you and Hairball are weirdly hyper today.”
“Oh, Fuzzy’s excited too? Heheheh.”
“Do something about it before we meet the client.”
“Roger thaaat. …Sleep well, Abeno-san.”
“Mononokean, come.”
The faint rattling that always preceded the Mononokean’s arrival went unnoticed by anyone else, despite Ashiya’s apprehensive glances over his shoulder. No matter how many times Abeno had told him only others with an affinity for yokai could see the tearoom, it didn’t seem to stop Ashiya from reflexively checking.
“Welcome back, Itsuki! And good afternoon, Hanae!”
“It’s good to see you too, Mononokean!” As Abeno stepped aside to make room for Ashiya to enter, Fuzzy darted towards them both, launching his whole body into Ashiya’s arms before Ashiya even had the chance to take off his shoes. “Fuzzy!”
“I’m going to change,” Abeno announced, dropping his bag in the corner. “Mononokean, who’s the client and where are we meeting them?”
“Ah! Abeno-san!” Ashiya hastily interrupted, gesturing for Abeno to stop. “You won’t have to change today.”
“Hah?”
“You don’t have to change into your kimono,” Ashiya said pleasantly, standing back up with Fuzzy perched on his shoulder. Fuzzy blinked in Abeno’s direction, tails wagging. “In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t.”
Abeno folded his arms. “And why do you know that?”
The bravado from a few seconds ago seemed to deflate from Ashiya’s countenance under the chill of Abeno’s unamused gaze. But Ashiya grinned nevertheless, placing his left hand on his hip and stretching the other arm out in a V-sign.
“Because the client who requested the job today… is me.”
“Hah?”
“W-Wait! I’m against violence!!”
And so was the Mononokean apparently, judging by the alarmed ringing of the wind chime, while from Ashiya’s back, Fuzzy shook his head in panic. Abeno lowered his hand with a deep sigh, resigning himself to whatever outrageous idea Ashiya had cooked up now. “Explain yourself.”
After ascertaining that Abeno did not intend to follow through with his fists, Ashiya sheepishly dropped his arms from a self-defense position. But Abeno was half-tempted when Ashiya grinned again, this time undeniably smug. “I made this request to the Mononokean last month, because I knew it was the only way to guarantee you would make time for it.”
“You’re just an employee,” Abeno hissed, his eyes darting to the hanging scroll. “You don’t get to just arbitrarily use the Mononokean’s services. Mononokean! You allowed this?”
An emoji with an expression of utter innocence appeared on the scroll. “I did! It’s Hanae, so I didn’t have a problem accepting it! And I know you’d never turn down something I allowed, right, Itsuki?”
“See, Abeno-san? The Mononkean didn’t mind!”
“You’re completely missing the point.” Abeno nearly threw his hands up in frustration and sighed again, irritation coursing through every line on his face. “Well? For what pointless reason would you go behind my back to make a job request, Ashiya-dono?” Ashiya’s ears went slightly pink. “Did you get possessed by a new yokai or something?”
“Of course not!” An indignant outcry, but more indignant still were Ashiya’s next words. “And don’t call it pointless! It’s your birthday, Abeno-san! June 21st, right!?”
Abeno blinked, taken aback. Of all the inane arguments Abeno had expected, that was not one of them. Certainly, it was summer, and certainly, it was June… It was already June? The 21st? “…Is it?”
“Itsuki!” Insistent ringing made them both turn towards the Mononokean, where a comically enraged face floated on the paper. “I even told you this morning! Well, I expected this though!!”
“Ah… Maybe… you did mention something about it…”
“So there really are people who forget their own birthdays.” Ashiya’s incredulous tone of amazement made him click his tongue. “Abeno-san, I know how much of a workaholic you are, but that’s just too depressing.”
“I’m not a workaholic,” Abeno snapped back.
“Yes, you are!”
“Am not!”
“Are too! And you’ll never convince me otherwise!” Ashiya plugged his ears as Abeno opened his mouth again in raging protest. “I guess it’s thanks to that fact that I could keep my plan a secret though.”
“Fine, so it’s my birthday,” Abeno replied hotly. “Then what’s all this about?”
“Huh? You still don’t get it?” Ashiya fired back, eyes growing wide. “We’re going to celebrate!”
“Hah?”
“Don’t give me that!” Ashiya fished something out of his pocket and in one, two steps crossed the distance between them, holding out a long strip of black cloth. “Here, tie this around your eyes.”
Abeno regarded the blindfold with a dubious glare, but Ashiya shook the cloth impatiently. “Abeno-san, please put it on,” he repeated, low and quiet, reassurance as much as it was a gentle command.
Something told Abeno that there was no refusal to be found here, and he reluctantly took up the cloth with what felt like his hundredth sigh of the day. “You’re not off the hook for this yet, Ashiya,” Abeno grumbled, his vision going pitch black as he placed the band over his eyes and groped with the ends, fingers fumbling in the attempt to tie a knot. “You have some nerve trying to carry this out by posing it as a job. What a waste of time.”
Footsteps pattering on the tatami told Abeno that Ashiya had moved behind him, and Ashiya’s hands suddenly caught his. “You know, Abeno-san,” Ashiya began evenly, taking over the knot-tying in one quick motion. “I don’t think your birthday is a waste of time.”
Abeno remained silent.
“I know you’re annoyed that I used the Mononokean like this, but if it wasn’t a good idea, the Mononokean wouldn’t have played along with me. Right?”
A chime of what was clearly agreement.
Expressions should have been invisible to him, but Abeno had no doubt that Ashiya was smiling. “I know that Abeno-san is hardworking, and kind, and hates when I go do stuff on my own because he gets worried.” Perhaps that irritatingly sun-bright smile, with his eyes sparking in simultaneous mischief and smugness. “But I also know Abeno-san is a workaholic, takes things way too seriously, and has no sense of spontaneity.”
“I’ll seriously hit you.”
“I said I’m against violence. There!” The cloth tightened, not uncomfortably so, but just enough to be secure. “So, for the Abeno-san who hates having his plans messed up, I put this down as a job.” Ashiya’s hands on his shoulders, turning him to face another direction—presumably the wall to which doors were summoned. “And for the Abeno-san who should live and let loose a little more, I kept it a secret.” Tiny paws crawling over his feet—Hairball was surely scampering around there. “Heheh, Fuzzy was looking forward to it too. Mononokean, let’s get going!”
“Stop using the Mononokean as you please,” Abeno growled, even as a chime of defiant cheeriness rang through the air.
“It’s not just as I please.” But the self-satisfactory tone in Ashiya’s voice belied sheer amusement. “I’m the client today, Abeno-san. So for me, you should stop being so grumpy and give it up already. We’re going to celebrate your birthday whether you like it or not. Your job is to just enjoy it.”
“Easy for you to say. And where are we going?”
“That’s part of the surprise!”
The customary puff of air, the sound of a door sliding open, warm sunlight spilling over him and into the room. Even without vision, it was clear that just as Ashiya had said in the morning—an entirely beautiful day. Ashiya patted his shoulder, urging him forward. “The Mononokean says ‘Have fun, Itsuki’.”
“Tch.”
“He says he will.”
“I did not.” Never minding that the Mononokean would have heard him in the first place.
Abeno took a slow step out of the tearoom, and under his foot, the springy sensation of grass. No sooner had he taken another step, a weight collided with his midsection and knocked the air out of his lungs even as he nearly stumbled backwards if not for Ashiya’s panicked support from behind. “Haruitsuki! Happy birthday!!”
“Yahiko?”
“Yahiko, that was dangerous!” Ashiya yelped. “You almost made him fall over!”
“But he didn’t!” Yahiko retorted snidely, short arms—his human form, then—wrapping around Abeno’s waist.
“That’s because I was there!”
So even Yahiko had been in on the surprise. “I told you to stop jumping on me like that, Yahiko,” Abeno said halfheartedly. “But thanks.” He frowned then, reaching up to ruffle through what he thought was Yahiko’s hair. “Are we at Zenko’s place?”
The nervous gulp he heard was more than enough. “H-How did you know?”
Exasperation took over and Abeno wrenched the blindfold off, balling it up and hurling the cloth into Ashiya’s face. A quick glance of his surroundings confirmed that they were indeed standing in the yard of Zenko’s temple, the Mononokean’s door fading into wisps from the garden wall. “Yahiko is evidence enough. And what was even the point of blindfolding me? You’d get the same effect from just keeping your mouth shut.”
“It’s because you’re too smart, Abeno-san,” Ashiya grumbled.
“A three-year-old could’ve figured it out. And now you’ve gone and dragged Zenko into this—”
“That’s not true, Abeno,” a calm voice called, and Abeno whirled to see his female schoolmate peering out from behind the sliding door of the temple. “Hanae didn’t drag me into anything, I offered to help.” The corners of her mouth quirked upwards minutely. “So don’t worry about it. Happy birthday, Abeno.” Without further ado, she nudged the door further open with her foot, revealing a modestly-sized cake topped with fruit resting on a plate in her hands. This was all entirely too much.
“…Sorry for the trouble,” Abeno found himself saying automatically, with a quick bow of his head. But to his surprise, Zenko pursed her lips instead.
“Abeno-san,” Ashiya cut in, crossing his arms imperiously in exaggerated disapproval. “Today, we planned a surprise party for you. We, as friends, wanted to celebrate your birthday, because we’re friends.” And don’t you deny it, Abeno could nearly hear the unspoken shout as Ashiya pointed accusatorily at him, eyes sparkling. “Don’t you think there’s something better you can say to us?”
A simmering heat was rising in his face—Abeno looked aside, bringing his hand to the back of his neck and feeling heat radiate from that spot as well, at a loss for any retort he could make.
He hated that Ashiya was right. That there was a word for all of this, for the way Ashiya was smiling expectantly—in that insufferable way of his, while Fuzzy wagged his tails furiously in obvious elation. For the way Zenko was holding the cake platter proud and steady despite her stature and never once turning away. For the way Yahiko gripped at his sleeve, crimson-gold eyes narrowed in impish amusement at his discomposure. For the way the heat—the warmth, rushing through him was something he thought he had long since deemed unnecessary, but now overwhelmed his every sense and thought.
So despite himself, a strange, strangled noise that might have been between a laugh and a scoff—or perhaps something else entirely—escaped him, and it was then that Abeno knew the futility of suppressing the saccharine, sentimental lump in his throat.
“Thank you.”
They beamed.
“Abeno-san!”
At the sound of Ashiya’s voice behind him, Abeno turned, only to find himself nearly nose-first into a cluster of something sweet-smelling, ticklish, and colorful thrust in his face.
Ashiya peeked out from behind the bouquet, grinning broadly. “Happy birthday, Abeno-san.”
For a long moment, Abeno could only stare, wide-eyed, his eyes flicking back and forth between Ashiya and the flowers in bewilderment. Eventually, at last, and with great reluctance, he sighed, the feeling of utter defeat permeating every motion as he held his hand out. Some battles just weren’t worth starting.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“About what?”