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It’s been a week and a half since the passing of the Hinata’s family pet, Mia. Hajime was devastated, he raised Mia ever since she was a small, newborn kitten. It was almost like losing one of his kids to him. Chiaki also loved the cat, the two had a lot in common: not very active, taking lots of naps, being quiet and reserved. Even Akumo was saddened by this, although he wouldn’t show it to others.
Sayuri seemed to take it the worst however. She never dealt with loss in her family before and it was accurately taking its toll on her. What was once the optimistic, carefree teenage girl was now a silent, sullen girl. Sayuri dazed out a lot in conversations and during class, but just left it at that.
Sayuri was the extra joy giver when they needed it the most, but now there was nothing. The days were normal, almost too normal one could say. When asked what was working she gave the same response:
“Oh, nothing. I’m fine, honest”
She never was a good liar. Her attempts at smiling were always hollow. Her friends noticed this, and wanted to help however they could.
————-
Sayuri walked to the front door of Kuzuryu’s bakery. Se had gotten a text from Nadashi to meet him here after school for something but she wasn’t sure of what or why. So here she was, looking down at the ground with her face riddled with melancholy, as she gripped the door and walked inside. The lights were off with nothing but the orange, afternoon sun glare to illuminate the store. She took a few more steps in when-
“SURPISE!” Various voices called out and the lights flickered on making Sayuri’s head jolt up and let out a light gasp. Before her were all her friends. Nadashi, Shiki, Garu, Mikasa, Opal, Satoshi, Tetsuya, Iwanko, Jenna, and even Mitsuru. The bakery was decorated in cat balloons, cat plushies on the counters and tables, and even a few posters here and there. Her friends were also cat themed, as they all wore…“interesting things”. They had cat ears, cat tails, some had face paint of whiskers and a cat nose, Iwanko was in a blue cat suit for goodness sake, but that didn’t stop there.
“Nya! Why hello there, Sayuri!~ Welcome to your cheering up ‘paw-rty!’~” Mikasa spoke as she posed like cat and emphasized the puns.
“We saw you feline-ing down, and wanted to cheer you up” Shiki added, her face becoming red as she spoke.
“We’re not ‘kitten’ you with this, It is ‘fur-real’” Garu said, as his eyes avoided Sayuri.
“We’re your ‘fur-ends’! We don’t like seeing you so pup-set” Satoshi smiled widely
“That was supposed to be a cat related, but we’ll ‘purr-n’ the other cheek” Iwanko said, a bit muffled from his cat head.
“Yeah, come have a look at your ‘wonder-pur-ful’ cake that Nadashi made for you” Tetsuya added
Nadashi held in his hand a cake on a silver plate, he raised it torward Sayuri “It’s delicious I ‘purr-omise’ you!” He grinned
“Purr was used three times in a row for puns” Mitsuru said under her breath “So...turn that ...‘fur-own’... up down...and give us a smile…” Mitsuru’ eyes avoided Sayuri as she spoke slowly
Then there was a pause, a moment of complete silence. Sayuri who was still standing with her mouth agape, and her friends still holding on to their grins. With each passing second of silence the smiles begin to quiver and lower slowly until finally...
“GODDAMMIT NADASHI!” Mikasa roars as she takes off her decorative ears and hit Nadashi’s arm with them. The silver haired boy still held onto the cake and platter. “I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! WHO THROWS A CAT THEMED PARTY A WEEK AFTER THEIR PET FUCKING DIES?!”
“You said you liked the idea when I brought it up!” He countered her
“AND LOOK WHERE THE FUCK IT GOT US! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TALKED ME INTO THIS SHIT!” The black haired girl continued to yell
“Can I take these off then?” Mitsuru asked “I feel ridiculous”
“C-c’mon guys we can’t give up so easily” Shiki said “She needs this”
“I think it’s too late for that Shiki, sorry” Garu said as he took his ears off to.
“I told you all that we should resurrect her cat for the day but you all said ‘no!’” Opal scolded the teenagers.
“I thought it was a good idea” Tetsuya sheepishly smiled
“Well I’m taking this off” Iwanko lifted the cat head and revealed his face “It was starting to get stuffy in there anyway”
“I wasted this face paint for nothing” Satoshi said while rubbing her cheeks of her ‘whiskers’. “Oh Jenna, you can...turn that off” The robot girl paused licking her arm as she met eyes with Satoshi, a few beeps came out of her and then she spoke.
“So the Sayuri party is cancelled then. Boo! I downloaded several hundred cat videos to study for this day” She whined
“And still no where close to the real thing, metal-spawn ” The blonde princess glared at the robot.
“I-I just wanted to make Sayuri happy like the rest of us!” Jenna claimed as oil began to drop from her eyes
“It’s okay, we all did” Nadashi sighed “This is all my fault”
“Yeah no shit” Mikasa added
“Mikasa, that wasn’t necessary!” Tetsuya spoke up
“And are you saying that is dressing up like cats, buying all these cat balloons and plushies, and making up all these god-awful cat puns were ‘necessary’?” Mitsuru refuted and the teal haired boy’s face turned pink.
“W-well no but-“
“Guys let’s not fight. Sayuri’s still here-“ Garu began before giggling was heard. The source...was Sayuri.
“Hehehe, heh heh heh, ahaha. You guys looked so ridiculous! Hahaha!” Sayuri’s eyes dripped with tears as she let out a laugh. Her tears weren’t of sadness but of joy. Her smile and laugh were real and not hollow like she had been throughout the week. Sayuri was finally being real again.
“Well, we did this all for you” Mikasa said
“We saw you being so sad ever since Mia died, and we wanted to cheer you up” Shiki added
“So Nadashi thought that throwing you a party would do the trick” Garu gestured to Nadashi who blushed in response.
“So, pffft, so the cat theme was his idea” Sayuri asked as she wiped her eyes.
“Yep!” Satoshi beamed, wrapping her arm around Nadashi’s shoulder.
“The cat balloons, plushies, and the costumes?”
“His idea as well” Mitsuru said
“Even the puns?”
“....’purr-haps’” Nadashi spike while continuing to blush and looking away.
“Pffftt, ahahahaha!” Sayuri laughed once more “You guys are the best!”
“Well, you’re like the best of us Sayuri” Mikasa said as she came close the brown haired girl. Putting one hand on her shoulder, the mechanic ontinued “You give us this spark to lift us up during the day of our kinda crappy lives. And when you feel down, we feel even worse” Mikasa winked “So, thanks for being our bundle of joy”
“Awww, your welcome” The two girls embraced each other.
“Ok, now how about we get into this cake before it melts?” Tetsuya suggested
“Oh yeah right” Sayuri let go of Mikasa and sat down in a booth. Nadashi places the cake in front of her, and it was shaped like a calico cat’s head. “Oh it even looks like Mia”
“Yeah, that was my idea too” Nadashi said as he sat down “I used photos as a reference thanks to Jenna”
“Well you did a good job!” Sayuri exclaimed “Her eyes look like there staring right at me. And I feel like I can just...rub her cheek. And...scratch behind...her ear…”
“So, Sayuri? Do you want the first piece, and which side do you want-“ Shiki began, before soft hiccups stopped her.
“And...and pet her fur. And...and look into her eyes, and….and….I’m sorry” Sayuri tried to get up from the booth but was blocked by somebody, Nadashi.
“Sayuri, it’s okay. Like we said we care about you, so just let it out” Upon hearing those words by the silver haired baker, Sayuri’s lips quivered more and eyes filled with more tears. Until finally buried herself in Nadashi’s shoulders, and let out a cry.
Nadashi wrapped his arms around Sayuri and brought her closer. The rest of their friends soon joined in on the embrace. Sayuri after holding her feelings for long inside, finally let it all out.