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Yoimiya absolutely loves the kids. She loves playing games with them, loves the way their eyes light up as she tells stories of the world. If she weren’t so dedicated to her craft, she’d spend all her time with them.
So it is truly with all her love that she admits that her kids are truly horrible at keeping secrets.
It starts a little like this.
Yoimiya’s carrying crates of test material past the suburbs of Inazuma City when she spots the kids all huddled together by a tree. Matsuzaka seems to be drawing in the dirt with a stick as she approaches them.
“Whatcha up to?” she asks, leaning over Saika’s head to catch a glimpse.
Immediately, all three children jump to their feet, and Saika’s head collides directly with Yoimiya’s crates in the process. The girl cries out, and Yoimiya quickly sets everything down.
“Oh no! Saika, are you okay?” The fireworks maker flutters her hands around Saika’s head, looking for a visible injury.
For a moment, Yoimiya thinks the child is crying until she sees the bright smile on her face. Letting out a relieved breath, Yoimiya joins in on the laughter until everyone there is giggling together. As an apology for startling them, she lets the kids come with her to test the new fireworks.
During the ordeal, she spots Iwao kicking dust over the drawings in the dirt. The only thing she recognizes before everything is covered up is a goldfish.
Of course, that’s not the only suspicious behavior her kids exhibited. Truthfully, if that incident had been the only one, Yoimiya would have never figured out they were hiding anything.
The next incident happens when Yoimiya returns after checking out the Almighty Arataki Great and Glorious Drumalong Festival. She hums to herself on the walk until she hears distinct voices speaking excitedly to the side.
“No, Matsuzaka. She said she does like orange candies. It’s the blue ones she always gives us.”
“But she always gives me the orange ones when I ask…”
“Well duh! She always gives us her snacks when we ask. But it’s her birthday, so we gotta make sure to have her favorites to-“
“Shh! She’s gonna be back soon!”
The kids look around frantically, and Yoimiya quickly starts walking again, as if she’d only just come back. “Oh, hey guys!” she calls, waving at the trio. They wave back with timid smiles. “What are y’all up to?”
“Oh… umm, we’re doing something really cool!” Iwao stutters out while the other two nod quickly. “And um, Saika can tell you all about it!”
Saika gives Iwao a scorching glare before looking back at Yoimiya, laughing nervously. “Yeah! We’re… talking about candy?”
Iwao and Matsuzaka facepalm at Saika’s words, but Yoimiya nods gravely. “A very important topic indeed.”
Matsuzaka coughs loudly. “Anyways, we gotta get home, our parents wanted us back around now. See you later, Yoimiya!” With that, the kids scamper off.
Yoimiya watches them go, bemused. The incident from before comes to mind, and she’s suddenly reminded of her days spent playing secret agents with the kids. Her codename was always Goldfish.
Oh archons, her kids are absolutely terrible at hiding things. In an instant, Yoimiya knows she’ll be surprised the next day with candies and other snacks. The realization also brings back a moment days ago, when Saika’s mother had asked about her favorite type of cake.
In the three days before her birthday, Yoimiya somehow interrupts every single instance of the kids’ planning. She makes an impromptu stop at the general store only to see the trio pushing what she knows to be allowance money on the counter in exchange for a bag of candies. She decides to visit with Thoma at Komore Teahouse, and the kids are at the nearby stall loudly picking out pastries for “Goldfish.” Even her trips out to the plains beyond the city somehow put her in the path of her kids attempting to make a banner.
Each time this happens, Yoimiya smiles and pointedly does not pay attention to the frantic scrambling when they spot her. She’s stopped asking what the kids are doing, instead simply greeting them and moving on as if in a rush. The kids seem relieved that she doesn’t linger.
Yoimiya sits up in her bathroom the night before her birthday, practicing a surprised face. No matter how she contorts her expression, she can’t quite figure out how to make it look genuine enough. What if the kids find out she knows? No, Yoimiya can’t have that. She keeps trying until the moon is high in the sky and her cheeks hurt from the constant movement.
When Yoimiya wakes up the next day, she almost forgets that it’s her birthday at all. She’d had a dream about a firework misfiring and immediately went to check her latest batch upon waking up. It’s only when her dad knocks at her doorway with a special breakfast that she remembers the significance of the day.
She spends most of her day working, making notes and calculating the trajectory for a new shape of fireworks. Yoimiya is so completely immersed in her task that the next knock at her door in the afternoon almost makes her jump clear out of her seat.
Her kids stand by the door, incredibly suspicious smiles on their faces. Even if she hadn’t figured out the surprise days ago, she knows those smiles would’ve made her immediately suspicious of their next move.
“Hi, Yoimiya! Can you come out to play today? We have a really cool thing to show you,” Iwao asks, as the trio employs the most intense puppy dog eyes Yoimiya’s ever seen.
She laughs, ruffling the kid’s hair. “Of course I can. Right now?” A nod. “Alrighty, let me put my shoes on and we can go!” The kids cheer, practically vibrating with excitement as they lead her around the big tree outside the shop.
It’s when they round the tree that Yoimiya finally sees the banner with childish writing, the hastily crafted decorations, and the table with various candies. In the center of it all, there’s a small, single-serving cake with a goldfish design on top.
“Surprise!” the kids chorus at her, blinding smiles on their faces. And Yoimiya…
Yoimiya immediately forgets her practice the night before, breaking into an equally wide grin as her heart swells with affection. These kids went through so much effort to create this surprise for her, and even knowing ahead of time cannot diminish the warmth she feels for these breathtakingly kind children.
She immediately sweeps them up into a hug. “Oh, you guys!” she exclaims, squeezing tightly. “This is so sweet! I love it.” They start wriggling in the hug, so she lets them go to see matching looks of triumph on their faces.
“Did we surprise you? We tried really hard to hide it,” Saika asks earnestly.
Yoimiya can do nothing but laugh at the question, pulling Saika to her side once again, and lies through her teeth. “Of course you surprised me. I had no idea y’all would plan something like this!”
Saika gives the two boys a smug look. “I told you she’d never find out!”
It takes every bit of composure Yoimiya has to keep a straight face at those words. She spends the rest of the afternoon sharing candy and bites of cake with the children she cherishes so dearly.