Short Stories

Surprise

Summary: Syobai didn't think his birthday was important.

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Syobai didn't think of his birthday as very important.

In the broker business, there was no use for a birthday. It wasn't like he could get any extra money off of it, as if her were to mention 'hey, today's my birthday' and people would suddenly through cash at him. Which made it useless.

He remembered that when he was a child, he had tried to use his birthday for leverage. To get money, food, whatever.

That never helped.

So Syobai learned to disregard his birthday. It wasn't important, there was no need for it.

So when he woke up and saw that the student handbook was announcing that it was his birthday, he thought nothing of it. Why would he? His birthday didn't matter. He didn't need it.

Besides, he knew from his classmates that all he had to do was type in the class chat that he didn't want a big party or anything, and his class would listen. Sometimes his class could be reasonable like that. At least they knew their boundaries.

So, after he sent the message to the class chat, he began treating the day like any other day. He headed outside to be alone with his own thoughts and lit a cigarette after making sure that Hajime wasn't anywhere around. He didn't need to hear another lecture about how cigarettes were unhealthy and yada yada.

That worked for a little while. Syobai thought about deals he needed to negotiate and how he would negotiate each one. He could predict what each client's reaction would be, based on their personality, so he knew what would work and what wouldn't.

Until he was snapped right out of his thoughts.

"Syobai! There you are!"

Syobai sighed in disappointment and reluctantly turned his attention to Iroha, who had run up to him. "What is it, bubblehead? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Iroha looked up at him, panting from the run she had just endured. "I'm sorry! I've just been looking all over for you and running a bunch as well!"

An eyebrow was raised at Iroha's statement. "And why, exactly, would you need to look for me? You got a deal for me or something?"

"Nope, it's something much different!" Iroha said, shaking her head at Syobai's questions. "I just need you to come with me, please! It's really, really important!"

"...Why?" Syobai asked. "I need an explanation before I go anywhere with you."

"Wh- why do you need an explanation!? I just wanna show you something, and you can't see it if you don't come with me to go find it!" Iroha squeaked, somehow unprepared for Syobai's demand.

Syobai sighed again, this time in annoyance. "Because I don't trust you. Now, are you gonna tell me what's going on or not?"

Iroha let out another squeak at that. "I can't tell you! It's supposed to be a surprise for your-"

"Birthday?" Syobai sked, finishing the sentence and shutting Iroha up in the process. "I thought I made it abundantly clear that I didn't want my birthday celebrated."

"Y-You did! But this isn't a big party or anything, just something small!" Iroha said hurriedly, clearly caught off guard from Syobai easily figuring out the reason that she wanted to drag him off somewhere. "Please? Sora's gonna be there too, if that helps!"

Syobai rolled his eyes and turned away from Iroha. In all due respect, he probably should have seen Sora being involved in all this coming. She did try to spend time with him sometimes, and there was no way Iroha could set anything up by herself.

But, maybe he could go with Iroha, for a small price.

He turned back to Iroha with a small smirk, and the painter had a panicked look on her face at all the events leading up to this. "Fine. I'll go with you..."

Before Syobai finished his sentence, Iroha's face brightened up quickly and a smile formed on her face. "I knew you'd accept! Thank you so much Syobai, now let's go!"

"...IF you pay me." Syobai finished his sentence gloatingly and extended his hand. "Well?"

Both the smile and color drained from Iroha's face quickly. "Pay you?! But I didn't bring any money!"

"Well that's just too bad then." Syobai's smirk didn't leave his face while watching this scene. "Now, if you aren't going to pay me, then leave me alone."

Iroha looked torn for a moment, then quickly turned away. "I-I'll be right back!"

She sped away as fast as she could run, and Syobai watched her go with an amused smirk before turning back to his own thoughts.

It was fifteen minutes before Iroha returned, huffing and puffing, with a wad of money in her hands. "Here you go!" She squeaked, handing it to Syobai. "Now will you come with me?"

Syobai flipped through the money, looking it all over. "Where'd you get this much?"

"I, uh, 'borrowed' it from Mikado." Iroha admitted, gaze trailing down to the floor. "He shouldn't miss it, I don't think..."

Syobai raised an eyebrow in amusement and pocketed the money. "Alright then, let's go."

Iroha's face brightened up again, this time in relief, and she began leading him through the school campus, all the way to the school cafeteria.

Sora was waiting outside there, leaning against the door with her arms crossed. "Finally." She sighed when Iroha and Syobai approached. "I thought you had just given up, Iroha."

"Nope! I brought him!" Iroha said proudly.

"She paid me to come." Syobai said nonchalantly. "Now what's up, I have places to be."

Sora fixed Syobai with a hard stare. "Typical of you, Trashimoto. Come on, let's get inside."

Syobai and Iroha obeyed, and they followed Sora into the cafeteria. There, sitting in plain sight, was a cake on top of one of the tables with the words Happy Birthday Trashimoto written on them.

The broker couldn't resist a small chuckle at the writing. He knew who made the cake, judging from that alone.

"Iroha insisted on doing something for your birthday and got me to help. This seemed to be the easiest thing to do." Sora explained. "Happy birthday, I suppose."

"Yeah! Happy birthday!" Iroha cheered. "Do you like it? Do you?"

Syobai didn't bother pushing down the small smile he got from Iroha's enthusiasm. "Sure, it's okay. Now give me a slice already, I'm a busy man."

Sora let out another sigh and rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she took a knife that laid next to the cake and cut three slices, one for each of them. Iroha happily handed out the cake, and Syobai dug into his own quickly.

He may be a busy man, but he'd never turn down a bit of cake.

The three of them ate in silence for a little while, at least until the furious shout of "IROHA!!" came from outside.

Sora startled at the noise, Iroha let out a squeak, and Syobai smiled and turned towards Iroha. "Looks like Mikado found out about your thievery."

Iroha paled while Sora turned to Iroha in shock. "You stole from Mikado?"

"N-Not too much!" Iroha panickily said. "I barely stole anything!"

In response, Syobai simply took out the wad of money that Iroha had given him and showed it to Sora.

Sora's face turned tired in an instant, and she stepped outside, waving the enraged wizard over to them.

Syobai chuckled and settled back with another slice of cake to watch the show.