Chapter Text
As she fastened the last buttons of her shirt sleeves, Alice Thymefield regarded herself in her mirror. Everything seemed to be in order, symmetrical as could be.
She was doing her best not to be nervous this morning, with mixed success. Belle and Yixuan had introduced her recently to deep breathing exercises, which had actually been very helpful, but a little deep breathing was never going to do away with a lifetime of nerves and insecurity overnight.
All the same, she was extraordinarily grateful for their thoughtful tips, and she smiled reflecting on how many friends she’d made in the last few months, and indeed, how different her life was today compared to her life last year.
It was, after all, a day ripe for reflecting on the year before: it was Alice’s birthday.
The morning had been very sweet. Sitting down for breakfast with Mr. Arnold and her grandfather, they’d each insisted she open her gifts before the meal was served. Happy especially to oblige her grandfather, whose health was in a better state than it had been for weeks, she did as they’d asked.
Her grandfather had presented her with a new watch, one which tracked not only the hours and minutes of a given day, but also the cycle of the moon, the exact moments the sun would set and rise, and a customizable date tracker, counting down the days until a meaningful date of Alice’s choice. With a wink, her grandfather had pointed out that it defaulted to the number of days remaining until his birthday.
Mr. Arnold had handed her a copy of The Naiad and the Knight. Her grandfather had remarked with a chuckle that it was a book older even than he, which explained why Alice had never heard of it. Mr. Arnold had explained in turn that it was a riveting tale of fantastical adventure and romance, his very favorite novel when he was her age, and indeed, upon rereading it last week, a work he still regards among the finest literature he’s ever read.
“Oh, and Ms. Thymefield,” he’d said, “do have a glance at the bookmark I’ve included. I took a great deal of care in crafting it, and I’m rather proud of how it turned out.” Alice opened the book, as suggested, and couldn’t help her eyes going a little wide. Mr. Arnold hadn’t included a bookmark at all, but rather a thin bit of decorated cardstock on which he’d elegantly crafted the words:
For Ms. Alice Thymefield
To be redeemed at such a time as Ms. Thymefield finds herself, or may wish to find herself, in any one (1) situation which may not be entirely becoming of a lady of her stature, and/or at such a time as she may wish for assistance in the actualization and/or obfuscation of such a circumstance’s occurrence.
Alice was very grateful to have come to breakfast before donning her signature belt for the morning, as it would’ve certainly given away to her grandfather what she felt was best kept between her and her butler, a truly unexpected surprise from a man who was no stranger to spunk, but not a man she had ever taken as one who might engage in such a blatant act of deception! She had forced herself to practice her newly learned breathing exercises, and quickly regained her composure, hopefully before either noticed it had been rattled.
Upon receiving each gift, Alice’s face burst into one of the biggest smiles she could ever remember having in her family home. Lately, she’d been smiling much more in general, but she also found herself exceptionally touched by the thoughtfulness of these two gifts in particular, and so she asked of each gentleman for but a moment of impropriety that she might embrace them to express her thanks. Each agreed with a big smile of their own.
After breakfast, Alice had returned to her room to open the gifts she’d received from her other friends. From Wise, she’d received a tape of his favorite nature documentary, about the canines of the old world, which she’d mentioned wanting to watch, but never having time to get around to. From Belle, she’d received a jar of the Proxy’s favorite hot cocoa mix. Alice was new to hot cocoa, but had rather enjoyed the cups she’d had when visiting Random Play in recent weeks, and she was happy to have another option for drinking to accompany her breakfasts and study sessions.
Manato’s gift had come from one of his many odd jobs, one at which he was responsible for distributing hand-woven satchels from their weavers to local shops. As he was helping Reed unpack her order at Good Goods, one of the bags had caught his eye. As he wrote to Alice in the card he attached:
“Since these are all made by hand, they’re all a little different, but this one turned out so symmetrical even I noticed. I bought it off Reed before she put it on the shelves – hope you get some use out of it!
–M”
As it happened, Alice had been looking for a new way to carry books across campus. Her old backpack was on its last legs, and while she was a touch apprehensive that this replacement was going to have to hang off of only one shoulder, she’d resolved to become at least a little more comfortable with asymmetry this year, and this seemed like a good opportunity to start.
Miss Luciana – Lucy, rather – had sent her a palette of eye shadow which she’d thought would complement Alice’s eyes nicely. Alice never would’ve thought to ask for this, but it turned out to be one of her favorite gifts this year: she took great pride in applying her eye shadow every morning, and she couldn’t help but agree with Lucy that these shades were lovely. She’d smiled too reading Lucy’s uncharacteristically honest note saying how much she’d enjoyed reconnecting with Alice, and how they ought to catch up and grab lunch sometime – n-not that it’d be a big deal or anything! Alice texted Lucy right away, and they’d scheduled lunch next Friday, after Alice’s last course let out. Alice couldn’t wait, although she had to admit she had a certain amount of apprehension when she thought about the sorts of cuisine she might be served at a restaurant named “Cheesetopia.”
Alice smiled, thinking over all those gifts. Then her phone lit up with a daily reminder she’d forgotten to cancel for the day, and she remembered that she’d actually forgotten one.
The first gift she’d received that morning had very much been an unexpected one. Not even 30 seconds after she’d risen from bed and begun some morning stretches, she was shrieking, her instinctual reaction to a knock on her window. She’d turned to find Kamanosuke, Yuzuha’s omnipresent tanuki companion, waving from the other side of the glass. With a sigh born as much from relief as it was from consternation, Alice gave went to greet her best friend’s little buddy. After she’d paid his requisite delivery fee (a few rubs and scritches between the ears), Kama presented her with a small jar full of something red, its shade just a touch brighter than blood. Alice went to ask Kama just what she’d been brought, only to spot the tip of his tail vanishing into the night as he hastened back to Yuzuha.
Alice was still very conflicted about how to feel in response to this. On the one hand, any gift from Yuzuha was incredibly sweet, and incredibly welcome! On the other, she didn’t especially appreciate Kama scaring her within five minutes of her waking up – and on her birthday, no less!
Alice never loved being confrontational, and she wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of having to be so first thing in the morning. Sighing, she’d decided she’d say something when she saw Yuzuha later in the day. For the time being, she had a breakfast to get to. Come to think of it... was this jam that Kama had brought to her? Alice summoned a servant to bring it to Mr. Arnold and ask that he confirm what it was, then bring it to their breakfast if that seemed to be its intended purpose.
So it was that after receiving her gifts from Mr. Arnold and her grandfather at breakfast that morning, Alice found that she actually quite enjoyed the gift Kama had delivered from Yuzuha, which was in fact a jar of jam. It was at once familiar and fresh, for while every fruit in the jam was one she’d had before, they’d been combined in a novel ratio, with just a touch of something she wasn’t entirely sure about... She’d have to ask Yuzuha to confirm her suspicions. Whatever the secret ingredient was, the jam was delicious, and it was particularly wonderful on the scones she’d requested for breakfast. She didn’t eat scones often, so to be delighted in two ways at once – by the scones in the first place, and by Yuzuha’s gift spread on top – made her really happy.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t still a little irritated with Yuzuha for not warning her earlier about Kama’s early morning delivery. She took a deep breath, then sat down to text her friend about her gift, whereupon she found that Yuzuha had beaten her to the punch.
Yuzuha: weellll? what’d you think?
Alice: I think you ought to have told me to expect a visit from Kama this morning. I very much did not appreciate being startled mere moments after getting out of bed by a rapping on my window.
Yuzuha: ah shoot, I told Kama to be chill about it!
Alice: This isn’t about Kama, Yuzuha, it’s about you not telling me BEFORE I fell asleep.
Yuzuha: yeahhhh, I realized at like 2AM that I’d forgotten to say something. I just figured that was no reason not to deliver it at all~
Yuzuha: still, I am sorry, milady. I forget that you don’t think surprises are thrilling the way that I do. I’ll do better next time!
Alice sighed. She didn’t want to be mad at Yuzuha, who she knew was being as sincere as she could manage. She supposed she could accept this apology. She was about to say as much when she got another text:
Yuzuha: besides, didn’t I say I wasn’t going to pull one over on you today? I meant that, you know!!!
Alice’s ears drooped. Yuzuha had said that.
It was several weeks ago, at the start of the month. After their summer had ended, and they’d both gone back to school, Yuzuha had insisted she and Alice keep in touch. Obviously Alice had always intended to do just that, but Yuzuha actually had a plan to make it happen. The plan was that she’d call Alice every Wednesday afternoon (when they both had a sizable break between their classes), and that they’d hop on a video call every Sunday evening (as Alice was actually preparing for the week to come, and Yuzuha was claiming she was doing the same while very obviously just playing catch with Kama).
“Alice,” Yuzuha said one Sunday night, after telling Kama to settle down for a moment. She immediately had Alice’s attention, because Yuzuha almost exclusively only used her real name in those rare moments where she was being serious. “Your birthday’s coming up, right?”
Alice was a little surprised by that. “Um, yes. Yes it is. I’m surprised you remembered, I’d forgotten I’d even mentioned it.”
“Of course I remembered it, silly bunny! We’re friends, aren’t we? Gosh, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten my birthday...”
“Hmph! November 2nd,” Alice said, without a moment of hesitation.
Yuzuha grinned. “Aww, you do remember! See, it’s easy to remember a friend’s birthday, so you can hardly be surprised that I did the same!
“Anyway,” she went on, tossing Kama’s ball across the room again, much to the tanuki’s delight, “your birthday is August 30th.” Yuzuha wiggled her eyebrows, as if that were a normal way to emphasize that she knew what she was talking about. “I was just wondering if you had plans.”
“Oh. Well.” Alice paused. She actually couldn’t remember the last time she’d had plans for her birthday, and she certainly didn’t have any this year. “Not especially. I’m sure I’ll spend the morning with Mr. Arnold and my grandfather, and otherwise go on with my day as normal. That’s what I usually do on my birthday.”
“What??? You never do anything special?”
Alice only shook her head, suddenly a little self-conscious, even sad, about that. It had been so long since she had that she’d almost forgotten that most people celebrate their birthdays instead of merely acknowledging them.
“Good news, then!” Yuzuha actually sat up, suddenly more engaged than Alice could ever remember seeing her outside of a Hollow. “This year, we’re going to spend it together!”
“T-together?” Yuzuha’s boldness took Alice aback. “But Yuzuha, that’s a Saturday. Don’t you usually spend those with your family?”
“Yeah yeah, but they’re not going anywhere, they can live a week without me swinging by. Besides, Dad’s always telling me I gotta hang out with people who aren’t Manato. He’ll be thrilled to hear I’m finally doing it!”
Alice started thinking very seriously about Yuzuha’s offer. “Hmm... I don’t know, Yuzuha... I’ve got my first big essay due the second week of September, and there’s an exam the Monday after my birthday, and-”
Yuzuha raised a hand, the polite way she’d learned to tell Alice that she was getting lost in minute details. Although Alice hated to admit it, Yuzuha was right about that once again.
“Milady,” Yuzuha said, “you’re brilliant, and surrounded by other brilliant people whose literal jobs are to help you do your best at everything. Surely you can work out a plan to get all of that stuff done before the 30th, can’t you?”
“Hmmmm.” Alice didn’t like changes to plans, and her brow instinctively furrowed at Yuzuha’s suggestion. While she hadn’t strictly speaking actually had plans, making new plans that interrupted her default schedule still elicited the same discomfort in her mind. Yuzuha wasn’t wrong, it’s just...
It was just nothing, she realized. This was Ukinami Yuzuha, her best friend, offering to spend time with her. She would make it happen. Although on the other hand, this was Ukinami Yuzuha, renowned trickster, and time with her always ran the risk of ending up on the receiving end of one of her infamous pranks...
“C’mon, Alice,” Yuzuha said, drawing her friend in again by using her actual name. “It’ll be fun! We can do as much or as little as you like, whatever you like, whenever you like. Now, of course, I never propose anything without some sort of plan, but.” She paused and looked directly into her camera, a fully sincere smile on her face. “It’s your birthday. I won’t do anything more than make suggestions.”
Alice looked back at that face for several seconds. She’d already made up her mind, but this was the final push she needed. Eventually he smiled back. “OK, Yuzuha. I’ll free up my schedule, and we can figure out what we’re doing. But this had better not be some elaborate excuse to scare me!”
Yuzuha couldn’t help but chuckle, performatively putting a hand over her mouth to pretend she wasn’t. “I promise it isn’t, milady! This is nothing more than an elaborate excuse to spend time with you~”
Back then, Alice had smiled. She and Yuzuha had spent the rest of that night chatting about this or that, and then they’d spent the weeks since ironing out their plans for her birthday. She felt so excited to have birthday plans for the first time in years – and with Yuzuha!
Now the day had arrived, and Alice had let those happy memories be pushed aside during her rush to manage all her responsibilities. Alice felt awful that she’d forgotten, and awful that she’d accused Yuzuha of intentionally startling her on a day when she knew Yuzuha had said she wouldn’t. She pulled her phone back up from her desk, where she’d put it as she’d reminisced on the last month.
Alice: I’m sorry, Yuzuha. You’re absolutely right, you did promise me that. I shouldn’t have had any doubts about it, and I hope you can forgive me for what I’ve said.
Yuzuha: hmm... perhaps I can find room in my heart to forgive you for your crimes... but only if you tell me what you thought of your gift~
Smiles came back to Alice’s face as she read that. She shook her head: she never would understand how one of the most infuriating people she knew also managed to be one of the sweetest, but she was grateful all the same to have Yuzuha in her life.
Alice: It was delicious! I would never have thought raspberries and blueberries would go so well together, to say nothing of the hints of strawberry. And there was a touch of salt, I think? That really ties it all together. I wonder what the science is behind that...
Yuzuha: wow, you figured out the salt??? I’m impressed, milady! this jam’s my family’s special recipe, and we’ve never shared it with anyone. most people just say it’s tasty, but I don’t think anyone’s ever totally nailed all the ingredients like that!
Yuzuha: now stop thinking about the science of it! save that for tomorrow. for right now, just be proud of yourself for making me happy to have a friend with such refined tastebuds~
Alice found herself blushing suddenly. Yuzuha was... happy? Just because Alice had liked her gift? That didn’t... that wasn’t... Alice was supposed to be the happy one here. And she was, it made her happy to eat the jam, it made her happy that Yuzuha was happy... but why was she blushing? What a confusing mess of emotions this all was.
Alice: I suppose I can do that. I’m happy and proud you’re my friend too, Yuzuha.
Alice: Oh, and Yuzuha? I really am sorry that I forgot about what you’d said. And I really am looking forward to today!
Yuzuha: if you mean that, milady, then just promise me you’ll have the best birthday you possibly can~
Yuzuha: you keep that promise, and I’ll keep mine. no pranks today, or my name isn’t Ukinami Yuzuha!