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Ken Takakura dumped the failed concoction into the garbage bin in his kitchen, coughing as he waved away the smoke. Frowning, he looked up at the calendar pinned to the kitchen wall.
Two days. He had two days to get this right.
The stack of mixing bowls and dirty utensils on his kitchen counter would all have to be cleaned before he tried again.
Thankfully, he had the wherewithal to practice before the real deal.
“I think this one would have been okay if I had taken it out of the oven on time,” he sighed, fidgeting with his glasses. “I have to get this right...”
As he began watching the dishes, he was glad he lived alone. At least, now he was glad. It had been lonely these last few years with his parents overseas, but now that he had friends - a LOT of friends - he actually liked having the place to himself for when his social battery ran dry.
As he finished the last of the dishes, he did a double take at the clock. He was going to be late if he didn’t leave right now! He dashed for the door, grabbing his backpack.
He’d have to try again after school today.
----------
Momo Ayase was the type of person who made the whole week of her birthday an event. And she had a lot to celebrate this year! Not only had Granny returned her to her normal size a few days ago, she had made a buttload of new friends, gained psychic powers....
... had the boy she liked confess to her.
Sure, they were in a life-or-death situation and she had demanded that he do it over again, but you know, it was still something to celebrate.
As she walked to school, there was a bit of pep in her step. Two days until she was seventeen. Two days until she got to celebrate with all her friends. She had already invited everyone over for a party after school, and it was going to kick some serious ass.
“Miss Ayase!”
Her heart fluttered in her chest at the call, and she turned, walking backwards as she looked back at the owner of the voice.
“There you are, Okarun!” She beamed. “I was wondering if you were going to be late again.”
Okarun huffed as he caught up to her, though not as much as he used to. All that working out and fighting for his life had paid off, and she couldn’t help but notice the small changes in his physique. “Sorry Miss Ayase... I know I’ve been late the last few days...”
“Yeah, what’s the deal Okarun?” She asked, leaning towards him as they walked. “You look tired too. You up all night searching the net for UFOs or something?”
“They’re UAPs,” he corrected her, fidgeting with his glasses. “And I just had to get up early to...” He racked his brain for a good excuse - lying to Ayase was not his strong suit, “clean some things. Where’s Vamola?”
“She went ahead early.” Momo smirked. “Who gets up early to clean? You’re so weird.”
He shuffled a little bit as he walked, unsure of what to say. Cute. She thought.
“Well maybe a little weird,” he admitted.
“Don’t start beating yourself up about it,” Momo said, bumping into his shoulder. “I’m a big weirdo too.”
“No, I know,” he said, giving her a smirk. “You’re the biggest weirdo out there.”
“Wha - HEY!” She half-shrieked, smacking his arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?! Since when do YOU tease ME?”
“Oh, nothing,” he replied, holding back a snicker. “Just thought it might be fun to try.”
She put on a fake pout. “You shouldn’t be mean to the birthday girl.”
He blushed and looked away. Cute, Momo found herself thinking again. “Your birthday is two days away, Miss Ayase. You’re not the birthday girl yet.”
“Yeah, and you better be there!” Momo hissed at him as they approached the school.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he said, sincerity in his voice.
“Good.” She said.
She stole a glance over at him, and he looked away.
Their hands brushed against each other, and Momo fought the urge to take his hand in hers. They’d held hands before, but it seemed so different now. She usually wasn’t one to hesitate like this.
Come on, she thought to herself, When are you gonna confess to me for real, Okarun?
Once upstairs, Momo turned to him and smiled. “See you at lunch. Usual spot?”
He nodded. “Of course!”
Ken entered his classroom and took his seat next to Vamola. “Good morning, Takakura!” The alien greeted him cheerfully.
“Good morning, Vamola,” he replied.
Vamola leaned towards him. “Did operation cake go successfully this morning?”
Ken sighed and shook his head. “No. After Aira helps me later today, I have to go right home and try again.”
Vamola beamed - though these days the alien almost always had a smile on her face. “You’ll get it this time, Takakura.”
“Thanks,” he replied in earnest. “I hope so...”
--------
A few rooms down, Momo plopped down at her desk by the window and said, “hey girls,” to Miko and Muko. “Hey Jiji.”
“Hey Momo!” Jiji beamed, giving her double finger guns.
“Sup birthday girl,” Miko said while checking herself in a compact mirror.
“Do you know what your bae is getting you for your birthday yet?” Muko asked, not looking up from her phone.
“He’s not my -” Momo began but stopped. Shit, he might be if he gets his act together and confesses to me soon. She switched gears and instead said, “No, no clue. Everyone keeps asking me what I want for my birthday BUT him.”
The answer didn’t seem to phase either of her friends, both of them continuing to look in their compact mirror and phone. “Okarun seems super thoughtful, I bet he’s going to do something really sweet,” Muko said.
Momo huffed. Not that she didn’t agree, but Okarun hadn’t said a thing about her birthday. Not once had he brought it up on his own. If she said something about her party, he always assured her he would be there, but he didn’t seem too interested in anything else.
Truthfully, she didn’t care what Okarun got her, if anything. It’s not like he had a job right now either. She just wanted to know he gave a crap about her birthday. If he really...
She gulped. Even thinking the words made her blush.
If he really loved her, he’d care about her birthday, right?
Right?
“Your birthday is bout to be hella tight!” Jiji exclaimed. “You’re gonna looooooove my gift!”
Momo rolled her eyes at Jiji’s antics, but secretly, the taller boy was fighting a grin.
He knew damn well Okarun was taking Momo’s birthday incredibly seriously.
----------
A week ago....
--------
“...so that’s why I have to get Miss Ayase the perfect birthday gift.” Ken explained to the rest of the club. “So... I need your help.”
He had gathered all their friends after class on a day where Momo had to work. He laid it all out on the line to them.
Aira folded her arms and huffed. “I don’t see why we would have to go through all this trouble for her, but I’m in.”
“Awwwww yeah!” Jiji cried. “This is gonna be siiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!”
“To give Miss Ayase a perfect birthday, I shall give it my all!” Kinta said with a dramatic pose.
“This will be wonderful!” Vamola cheered.
“I know I haven’t been part of the club long,” Kouki said shyly, “but I’ll do what I can to help.”
“Just let me know what you need me to do, Takakura,” Rin said, holding her fists in front of her dramatically.
Ken smiled at his friends. “Alright. Then I think we can pull this off!”
----------
Meeting behind the school at lunch had become something of a ritual for the Historical Research Club. They all sat up against the school and ate, as Okarun himself did various squats, push ups, and other workouts.
“Hey, Takakura,” Kouki said as she took a bite out of her bento, “Why are you still doing that if you aren’t cursed anymore?”
Ken paused after a squat and looked a bit sheepish. “Well... Seiko said she was going to start training me to be a spirit medium like her soon. I have to keep in good shape for that.”
Momo stole a glance at Okarun’s butt as he did another squat. She really couldn’t help herself - she just really liked his butt. “Hey, are we all meeting today after school?”
Okarun paused again and rubbed the back of his neck. “I uh... have some plans after school.”
“Yeah, me too,” Aira said with an air of nonchalance. “You’ll all have to get along without me.”
Momo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever will we do without our, ‘fearless leader?’”
Aira glared daggers at the gyaru, but said nothing.
Momo shot another glance over to Okarun’s posterior as he squatted once more. She frowned to herself. Every day since she had returned to her normal size, the boy had an excuse to do something after school. Was he avoiding her?
---------
The final bell rang, and not a moment too soon for Momo’s liking. She shoved her things into her bag and stood up. Jiji beamed at her with double finger guns. “Come on, let’s head for the clubroom.”
“Yeah, sure,” she yawned. “We gotta see if that perv’s surveillance thing picked up anything.”
As the two left her club room, she found herself looking towards Okarun’s classroom. She knew he wasn’t coming to club today, but she still just found herself looking for him anyway.
She practically did a double take when she saw Okarun walking the other way... with Aira.
She felt a pit open up in her stomach. Were their plans... together?
“Come on, Momo!” Jiji said, noticing where she was looking. He had been in charge of distracting her, and had already made an error. He grabbed her arm and began pulling her the other way down the hall.
“Huh? Oh... right.”
------------
Aira was feeling rather conflicted. Spending one-on-one time with Takakura was a rarity that she usually reveled in. The boy was hardly ever alone anymore, most of his time out of class was either spent with the entirety of the club or at the Ayase household.
However, this was not her ideal way of spending time with Takakura...
...shopping for a birthday present for Momo Ayase.
“I’m not sure why you asked me and not those two friends she’s always with,” Aira huffed as the two walked into town, side-by-side. “I don’t know anything about gyaru fashion.”
“I had no way of asking Miko or Muko without Miss Ayase around,” Ken replied, fidgeting with his glasses. “And I don’t know them well enough to know if they’d keep it a secret that I asked them.”
“That’s... fair, I guess,” Aira conceded. “But I don’t know how much help I’m going to be.”
“That’s okay,” he assured her, “I just really need to bounce my idea off someone to make sure I’m not being too... well, I guess I’m not sure how to word it. That it isn’t too much or something.”
“Well, I can do that much for that skank, I guess,” Aira replied with her arms folded.
The two stopped outside of a stall and Ken pointed to something. “That. That’s what I planned on getting Miss Ayase for her birthday.”
Aira looked closely and felt a pang of jealousy.
It was a small, silver heart-shaped locket on a chain. It wasn’t flashy by any means, but it would go with just about anything. It was cute... definitely not the sort of thing you got someone who was just a friend.
Then she looked at the price tag and nearly choked on air.
“Takakura, are you sure you can afford this?” She hissed at him.
The otaku rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I saved up just enough... you know...”
“No, I don’t know.” Aira replied, shock still evident in her tone. “How did you manage to save up THAT much?”
“I just... haven’t been buying any food for lunch or any of my paranormal magazines for a couple months.” He answered, avoiding eye contact.
“You...” Aira pinched the bridge of her nose. “...you know Ayase would kill you if she knew you weren’t eating to get her a present.”
“Well, that’s why we aren’t... gonna tell her.” He answered. He pointed to the locket to the vendor, and gave her the wad of cash he had squirreled away. As the vendor put the locket in a small box and bagged it, Aira had to admit she’d never seen such a huge smile on the boy’s face before.
“You really shouldn’t do that.” Aira replied quietly. “You can have some of my lunch if you want...”
“I know I shouldn’t,” he admitted as they walked away. “I just... I wanted this to be perfect. I’ll be able to start getting lunch next week.”
The pit in Aira’s stomach grew. What was this feeling? She’d never experienced anything like this before. Takakura was right next to her but...
She’d lost him.
Despite herself, she smiled at him and said, “Ayase is going to be super lucky to get something like that. You did good. Just... don’t go starving yourself anymore.”
Ken’s grin just widened, not realizing how much he’d just broken Aira’s heart.
---------
Momo Ayase rolled out of bed the next morning with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Club activities had been kind of pointless yesterday. Kouki’s surveillance hairclip hadn’t caught anything they hadn’t already known about. So far Sanjome was the most suspicious teacher yet, but they didn’t have anything concrete.
Vamola was already up and helping Seiko prepare some breakfast, so Momo rolled out of bed to get ready for the day.
It was the day before her birthday! And while she was still giddy, she still had some questions about Okarun and Aira hanging out together yesterday.
Did that damn nerd change his mind or something? I specifically told him not to go thinking about cheating on me, she huffed to herself as she brushed her teeth. I’m gonna kick his ass if he thinks he can go fucking with my heart or anything like that.
She stumbled downstairs and kneeled down at the table to eat the omelet and rice her grandma and Vamola had prepared.
“You could at least say thanks for the meal, ya brat,” Granny said through a mouthful of your own food. “I can go ahead and cancel your little party tomorrow.”
“YOU BETTER NOT!” Momo snapped. “I’ve been looking forward to this since I got back to normal!”
“Then say thanks, damnit!” Seiko snapped right back.
“Fine. Thanks for the meal, ya hag.”
“Thanks for the meal,” Vamola beamed, not at all bothered by the arguing. After all, this was a nearly daily occurrence in the Ayase household.
The teen and the alien got their bags and headed off for school. Not long after they had left did they hear the ever familiar voice call out, “Miss Ayase! Vamola!”
Vamola turned and waved at Okarun as he kept running, but Momo did not break her stride as the boy approached them, huffing once again.
“Good morning, Takakura!” Vamola greeted excitedly.
“Good morning,” Ken returned. He looked at Momo’s retreating back and repeated, “Er... good morning, Miss Ayase.”
“Yeah, good morning I guess, you turd.” She grumbled, keeping a few steps ahead of him and Vamola.
Ken’s eyebrow raised and he felt himself panic a little. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope,” Momo replied, popping the p in the word as she did. “Everything’s just fine and fricken dandy, ya nerd.”
Ken looked over at Vamola, who just shrugged.
As the trio made their way to the school gate in uncomfortable silence, an underclassman ran up to Takakura out of nowhere. “Takakura!” The girl cried out. She was a shorter girl with brown hair. Pretty cute, nothing to write home about, Mom figured.
“AH! I mean - yes?” He asked, surprised to be addressed out of nowhere.
She bowed her head and was practically shouting. “I-I really like you! Please, be my boyfriend!”
Students passing by all snickered as Okarun turned beet red and took a step back. “WHAT?! I-I’m sorry, but do we know each other?!”
Vamola looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
Momo stomped off angrily. She couldn’t be around this bullshit another second. She could hear Okarun apologizing to the girl behind her, but it didn’t stop her from seeing red.
---------
“Girl, why are you pouting so much?” Muko asked as Momo put her head in her arms.
“You didn’t hear?” Miko laughed. “Some freshman confessed to Okarun at the school gate this morning. He, like, shot her down nicely and all, but it was a whole big scene.”
Jiji gulped and sank lower in his chair. That was... bad news.
“Shut up, I’m not pouting,” Momo seethed, not lifting her head from her arms.
“A lot of girls are talking about your bae now that he smoked Hase in that physical fitness assessment,” Muko said. “You better lock him down.”
“What part of shut up don’t you understand?!” Momo growled from her desk.
She stayed like that until lunch.
She reluctantly went down to the usual meeting spot behind the school at lunch, where Aira, Vamola, Kinta, Rin, Kouki, and Okarun were already eating. Well, everyone besides Okarun, who was busy doing push ups.
“Oh,” she said, mockingly, “I’m surprised you’ve graced us with your presence instead of hanging out with your new girlfriend.”
Everyone stopped and looked at Okarun as his arms gave out and he fell on his face. “Oof!” He sprang up to his feet, adjusting his glasses that had been knocked to his feet by the impact. “Miss Ayase, what are you talking about?! I didn’t even KNOW that girl from earlier.”
“What ARE you talking about?” Rin asked.
“What girl from earlier?” Kinta added, practically seething. “Has another lass fallen under your spell, private?”
“Oh yeah she did,” Momo answered before Ken could get a word in, “some little underclassman practically pouring her heart out at the school gate.”
There was an awkward pause over the group. Just about everyone felt like they had stumbled into a very private lover’s argument and a wave of unease hung in the air like a tepid stench.
“I... I turned her down,” Ken squeaked, rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t... ask for that to happen.”
Momo said nothing for a few seconds. Deep down, she knew that was technically true, but she couldn’t stop the rage that was bubbling up just below the surface of her skin. Because if Okarun would just hurry and properly confess so they could start dating, stuff like this wouldn’t happen, but with him hanging out with Aira alone and avoiding her she wasn’t sure how he felt anymore.
And it pissed her off.
“Maybe not. Whatever,” Momo huffed, turning on her heel and leaving.
When she had left, Aira grit her teeth. “That skank! If she knew how hard you were working to make her birthday perfect, she’d eat those words!”
“Yeah, that was like... mega harsh.” Jiji sighed. “You okay, Okarun?”
Okarun looked to his feet. This would get cleared up tomorrow. It had to. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.”
“I hope your plan works,” Kouki said quietly. “She seems really mad.”
-------
The day of Ayase’s birthday, Ken leapt out of bed and slapped on his glasses with a steeled look of determination. “Alright. No more practice runs. This is the real deal.” He put on a deeper voice and imitated his old yokai form, even if he didn’t have Turbo Granny’s powers anymore. “I’m going all out!”
He found the phrase helped him psych himself up, powers or not.
He fled down to the kitchen and got out all of his ingredients. “Time to make the greatest cake to ever exist!”
--------
Momo trudged to school, feeling kind of like a turd on her birthday. She usually was a bundle of energy on this day, the most sacred of special days, but she hadn’t spoken to Okarun since lunch yesterday, and it made her feel like crap.
Vamola skipped along beside her. “Cheer up, Momo!”
“Yeah, yeah...” she muttered. She kept looking behind her. Usually Okarun would join them on their walk to school, but he was nowhere to be seen today.
This continued as they made their way to school, Momo peering over her shoulders every few feet, looking for those round glasses or his unruly mop of hair.
She even peeked into his classroom to see if maybe he had come early, but he was nowhere to be seen.
She went to her own classroom and plopped down, only cracking a weak smile as Miko, Muko, and Jiji all yelled, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” in unison.
“Thanks guys,” she said, lacking her usual gusto.
“So like, what time should we be at your house later?” Muko asked.
“Just come right after school, cuties,” Jiji interjected, “It’s gonna be mega-lit!”
“Yeah, what he said,” Momo mumbled.
“Girl, you’re never this blue on your birthday. What gives?” Miko asked. “Are you still fighting with Okarun?”
“He’s not even here, I can’t be fighting with him,” she muttered back.
Jiji fought back a grin.
--------
“Hey, have any of you turds seen Okarun?” Ayase asked her group of misfits at lunch.
“Private First Class Okarun has been AWOL since yesterday,” Kinta replied with a huff. “I have nary a clue where he’s gone off to.”
“Yeah, he hasn’t been in class today,” Rin confirmed.
“Great. Just great.” Ayase replied. Fucking four-eyed bastard is about to ruin my whole goddamn birthday.
“He was pretty upset after you stormed off yesterday,” Aira said, with only the slightest air of condescension in her voice. “Did you talk to him anymore after that?”
“Of course I didn’t,” Momo snapped. “I’ve had a birthday to focus on.”
After an awkward pause that hang in there over all of them, Jiji added. “Which is bout to be hella siiiiiiick!”
“Hella sick!” Vamola repeated.
“Aren’t we just hanging out at your house to eat?” Aira snarked. “We do that like... all the time.”
“Yeah, but I get presents and there will be cake,” Momo answered, sticking her tongue out at the pink-haired girl. "Which makes it awesome."
“Um... it sounds like a good time to me,” Kouki said quietly.
“Yes, thank you!” Momo said, pointing at the taller girl. “See? She gets it.”
----------
The rest of the day passed with Momo constantly glancing at her phone, hoping Okarun’s name would pop up to say something, anything. Turd could at least wish me a happy birthday if he isn’t going to have the balls to be here.
The final bell rang and she left her classroom, where all of her friends had gathered to walk home with her.
It was a rather... interesting walk home, as Miko and Muko had never really known the various club members that Momo and Okarun had gathered in such a short amount of time. “Like, how did you guys even all meet each other?” Miko asked, gesturing towards where Kinta and Aira were arguing about something.
Momo and Jiji exchanged a glance and realized they had no good explanation that didn’t involve giant house-robots, yokai, and aliens.
“Oh you know,” Momo said, trailing off. “Just... around.”
The group reached the torii gate that welcomed all to the Ayase household, when Momo paused. She could hear arguing coming from inside the house, but that didn’t make any sense. Grandma should be in there alone. She hesitantly opened the door and called in, “Grandma? We’re here - Holy shit.”
Now, there was a very good reason Momo said holy shit. See, she had birthday parties before. They were never anything crazy; she was a simple girl. She usually just had her friends over for some food, some music, and some presents. That was all. Her grandma always made food and a cake, but she never decorated or anything.
This was not the case this year.
The entire living room had been decorated to look like it was outer space. Black paper with stars on it covered the walls, black and green streamers hung from the ceiling. Alien banners littered the walls along the walls.
It was a little childish, truth be told, but it was cool as shit as far as Momo was concerned.
In the middle of the room, Okarun himself had just finished hanging one of the aliens, looked over at the door, and promptly fell off the step stool he was on. “Ah! Miss Ayase!”
“What the - Okarun?!”
As her friends step in, Miko laughed. “Oh yeah, you and Okarun are like super into UFOs and stuff. Gnarly.”
Okarun grumbled something about UAPs under his breath, but sprang to his feet, none the worse for the fall. He bowed formally for some reason and said, “Happy birthday, Miss Ayase!”
“Damn Okarun, you went all out on the decorations,” Jiji laughed.
Momo turned around to see huge grins plastered on the face of all her friends, save for Miko and Muko who were already going for snacks. “Wait, you knew about this? You all knew about this?”
“We were sworn to secrecy by Private First Class Takakura,” Kinta said with a dramatic pose.
“We all... helped him pick out decorations,” Rin added.
Flabbergasted and speechless, she turned back to Okarun, who just gave a small smile. Her heart fluttered in her chest. “You... skipped school to set this up?”
He fidgeted with his glasses slightly. “Well y-yeah.”
“He insisted on it,” her grandmother yelled from the kitchen. “Little brat wouldn’t take, ‘no,’ for an answer.”
Ken blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you... like it?”
For a few moments, Momo was dumbfounded and speechless. She had spent the whole day thinking Okarun had forgotten her birthday or was blowing her off after yesterday but... he’d been here the whole time. A wide grin spread across her face as her heart began to race. “I love it!”
With the tension from earlier in the day thoroughly dashed, everyone began to enjoy themselves. Momo played music over a bluetooth speaker, and her grandmother had made a veritable feast of sushi and fried chicken for everyone eo enjoy.
As everyone sat around eating, Momo found herself feeling incredibly warm inside. She’d had friends over for her birthday before - that was usually her favorite part of the whole thing - but her house had never been this full for the event before. Kinta and Jiji were fighting over a drumstick, and Kinta immediately surrendered it to Vamola no sooner than he had won it. Aira, Rin, and Kouki were all discussing something among themselves, though she couldn’t tell what from the looks on their faces. Okarun was trying to explain something about alien sightings to Miko and Muko, who could not look more lost. She giggled to herself at the boy’s increasing frustration.
“Good birthday so far, kiddo?”
Momo looked over her shoulder to see her grandma getting ready to light up a cigarette.
“The best... thanks grandma.”
“Hey, Four Eyes did most of it. Insisted on coming over and setting up. He even made the cake.”
“He made the cake?” She echoed. “I didn’t know he could bake.”
“Technically we still don’t know. Could taste like shit.”
Momo stifled a snicker. This was true, of course, but she had the utmost faith in Okarun.
As night began to fall, her friends all began to give her various presents, ranging from... awful (Kinta’s signed self-portrait of himself piloting a mech suit) to useful (some skincare products from Aira, allegedly so she could stop stealing them) to awesome (a new phone from her grandma). The only one who didn’t give her anything was Okarun, but she didn’t mind. She assumed the party itself was her present, and it was more than enough.
Towards the end of the night, Seiko carried out the cake and Momo’s heart melted a little bit at the sight of it. It was covered in chocolate frosting, and a UFO and stars had been drawn on it, in great detail, with various different colored icings. She knew Okarun was good at drawing, but she wouldn’t have thought the skill extended to cake decorating. She, being the birthday girl, got the first slice, and dug into the chocolate cake.
It was... good. It wasn’t the greatest cake ever made, but it tasted good. But Okarun had made it, and that made it all that much better. Everyone complimented him on his efforts, and the boy’s face stays red for a good amount of time after that.
Finally, people began to filter out to head home, since tomorrow is another school day. Jiji is one of the last to leave, cracking jokes the whole time...
...leaving Okarun as the last guest. Though for how often he’s usually at her house, Momo couldn't help but feel like he belongs there.
Seiko stands up suddenly and looks to Vamola. “Alright kid, help me clean up in the kitchen.” She rounds on Ken. “And you get all these decorations cleaned up, Four Eyes. You’re the one who insisted on putting them all up.”
“Yes ma’am!” He salutes, quickly retrieving a garbage bag from the kitchen and getting to work.
Momo watched him as he got started pulling the paper off the walls. “I can help you,” she offers. “It’ll go even quicker with psychic power.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Okarun assures her. “It’s your birthday after all.”
Momo rolled her eyes and used her ghost hands to begin pulling down the paper and streamer from the walls. “Shut up. I WANT to help you, dummy.”
“O-oh. Okay.” He replied. “Well, I guess I can’t stop you then.”
“Damn right.”
It’s quick work between the two of them. Before long, the living room is back to looking like normal. The two walk outside where the bag is thrown in the garbage bin. But outside the house, Okarun lingers. Momo turns and looks at him, and he can’t help but be in awe of her as her reddish-brown eyes seem to especially shine in the moonlight.
Alright Ken. You can do this. Go all out!
“Miss Ayase?” He calls, abruptly, voice a little louder than he meant for it to be.
“Er... yeah? What’s up, it’s cold out here.”
Ken gulps, and fumbles in his pocket for something. He hands her a small box, wrapped... well, one would not say he wrapped it well. The wrapping paper is all over the place and frayed, and there is entirely too much tape involved, but it’s wrapped, at least.
“Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything!” She laughed. Still she takes it. “The party and the cake was gift enough.”
“Maybe,” he admitted, “but I wanted to.”
Momo rolled her eyes and muttered, “dork.” Still, she tore into the small gift ravenously, revealing the small jewelry box underneath. She flipped it open and paused.
Glinting in the moonlight was a small, silver locket on a chain. It was pretty simple, all things considered, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Her heart throbbed. This probably had to cost him a decent amount, and she had no idea where he’d gotten any of the money from. Could she even accept something like this? After all -
“Miss Ayase, I love you.”
She looked up, bug-eyed at the sudden declaration. “HUH?!”
He was looking directly in her eyes, a look of determination plastered across his features. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she wanted to look away, but she found herself unable to peel her eyes off his.
“I... I love you.” He repeated. “I know I told you back in Danmara. And I swore to you I’d tell you again when you returned to normal, but I wanted this to be special. Because you... you’re special. To me. And I want to be your boyfriend.”
Her knees shook under her. Every part of her brain was seeming to malfunction. She had been so eager for Okarun to confess to her again that she had... not even begun to think about she would possibly react when he finally did it. Her tongue seemed heavy and uncooperative, unable to form a single word as the boy she loved stood across from her under the glow of the moon.
A million things screamed in her head at once, all the possible reactions she could have if her body just listened to her and would move.
One thought managed to snap her out of her trance. The only reasonable, rational response she could think of.
She stepped forward, closing the gap between them swiftly, grabbed his collar, and pressed her lips to his in one fell motion.
At first, he didn’t respond, but she felt him press his lips back against hers after a moment. His hands snaked their way along her back into an embrace, and their lips parted, allowing their tongues to become acquainted with each other.
A lot of pent up passion and feelings could be felt as their tongues wrestled with each other clumsily. Still, it was pure bliss for the two of them. After a few seconds of intense kissing, they pulled apart and Momo leaned her forehead against his. She shut her eyes, finding herself too afraid to look at him in the moment. “I love you too, Okarun.”
The boy let out a sigh that sounded like a huge burden had been taken off his chest. “I was... hoping you’d say that.”
She let her arms rest on his shoulders and grinned. “Well duh... I mean, I even told you not to cheat on me. How more direct could I have been?”
“W-well it was still nerve-racking,” he huffed.
“Fine fine... hey, one more birthday present?” She asked.
“What is it?”
“I’m your girlfriend now, so you have to call me by my first name. No more Miss Ayase crap.” She demanded.
Ken gulped, and he squirmed uncomfortably. Cute. Momo thought to herself.
“I love you... Momo,” he said.
Without thinking, she leaned in and kissed him again.
Best. Birthday. Ever.
-----------
Normally there was a feeling of melancholy when her birthday passed. After all, it was her favorite day of the year, and the day after meant she had another three-hundred-and-sixty-four until it came again.
Not this year. This year she was all smiles as she headed out the door to school with Vamola.
With no cake to make this time, Okarun was waiting for them this morning. “Good morning Vamola, good morning,” he swallowed, still adjusting to the change, “Momo.”
Momo had to stop herself from swooning. “Mornin’!” She beamed. She immediately took the boy’s hand in hers. “Come on, let’s get to school.”
“School!” Vamola repeated with a fist pump.
Momo refused to let go of his hand as they reached the gate. She wanted everyone to know Okarun was hers. He may as well have been her real birthday present.
In fact, she saw a group of freshman looking at them as they made their way onto the school grounds. It gave her an idea. She stopped abruptly, turned to face Okarun, and planted another big kiss on his lips before he could ask her what she was doing.
Some whistling and catcalls rose up around them, but she didn’t pay them any mind. As she pulled away however, Okarun looked thoroughly shocked. “M-Momo what are you doing?!”
“Just so no one gets any funny ideas about confessing to you,” she grinned cheekily.
He blushed fiercely and adjusted his glasses. “Well... then I guess I don’t mind.”
“Damn straight you don’t.” Momo laughed. “So... what are you going to next year to top this birthday.”
Ken stopped in his tracks.
...he had to top this next year?