Short Stories

Maid and Mystery (Part 1)

Summary: Akane could say that her birthdays in the past had their ups and downs.

Sora couldn't remember her birthdays.

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Sora knew for a fact that Yuki was up to something.

He was definitely hiding something, that was for sure. It was easy to tell, since Yuki is a terrible liar, and she noticed he'd been going out as of recent.

It was a bit suspicious at times, honestly. But Sora trusted Yuki that whatever he was doing was important. She knew he wouldn't betray her, anyway.

It was when she was texting her sister, Akane, when things began to clear up a little bit.

Akane mentioned that their birthday was coming up soon. Well, technically, Akane's birthday. Sora's amnesia prevented her from remembering her own birthday, so when Akane took her in as her sister, she said she could share hers.

So now August 15th was no longer just Akane Taira's birthday, it was Akane and Sora Taira's birthday.

From there, it was easy to put the pieces together.

Fact #1: Her birthday was coming up.

Fact #2: Sora didn't remember most of her birthdays, and Yuki knew this.

Fact #3: Yuki has been keeping a secret and going out shopping, based on a receipt she had found in Yuki's coat.

Fact #4: Sora had thrown a surprise party for Yuki's own birthday.

Conclusion based on facts: Yuki was trying to throw her a surprise birthday party and doing a terrible job at keeping it a surprise.

Sora did applaud his efforts. It was cute of him to try and repay her for his own surprise party for his birthday, and he was trying to make sure she had a good birthday as well.

She humored him for a little while, pretending she had no idea what he was doing. And as time went on, it became clear that Yuki really did have no idea what he was doing.

Eventually, Sora decided that Yuki really did need help, and he was apparently too stubborn to ask for it. She'd have to help him at least in some way.

Luckily, Sora had the perfect person in mind.

It didn't take long to call Yoruko and explain the situation to her, and the hostess agreed to help. Actually, it was two hostesses helping, as Yoruko's upperclassman, Karia Amane, had been eavesdropping on their conversation and offered to help.

The plan was that Yoruko would go up to Yuki and tell him that she and Karia were trying to do something to celebrate Sora's birthday and asked him what he was doing for it. Then, hopefully, he would include Yoruko and Karia in on his surprise party plan.

It was one of her better plans, if she didn't say so herself. So now Sora was waiting impatiently in Yoruko's dorm for the answer.

Sora let her mind wander as she looked around the dorm, which was a whole lot neater than her own. Sora could get careless with her messes sometimes, and apparently that wasn't the case for Yoruko.

She half-heartedly wondered what Akane was doing for her own birthday. They usually spent their birthdays together, but with them being in separate classes as well as having different friends and things going on, they wouldn't see each other too much.

Hopefully Akane didn't run into any walls on their birthday. She didn't need to hear any whining about that over the phone.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Yoruko and Karia entering the dorm, both of them with smiles on their faces. That told Sora everything she needed to know.

"Everything went well, I assume?" She asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Yep, it did! Yuki included us on his surprise party for him!" Yoruko announced, eyes shining from the success.

"Apparently Yoruko's supposed to help Yuki with the actual party, and I'm the one who'll be distracting you while it's all being set up." Karia listed off. "Yuki also told us not to tell you. If only he knew, haha."

Sora let a small smirk appear on her face. "I do feel a bit bad for him. It's not his fault he's a terrible liar."

"Well, maybe he just needs some acting lessons to get better?" Yoruko suggested. "We could always ask Emma to help."

"No, we'd have to explain how we knew he's a terrible liar. I'd wait until he lies about something else." Sora said. "It'd basically be the same as telling him I know about the party."

"Oh, yeah, I guess, that's true..." Yoruko deflated a bit, but quickly perked up a bit. "Do you have any suggestions for the party? I could tell them to Yuki and say that you'd told me earlier."

Sora considered the possibility for a moment, then shook her head. "No, it's fine. I want to see what Yuki comes up with."

Yoruko nodded in understanding, and Karia took that as her chance to cut in. "Sora, why don't you stay a little longer? We can talk about the party later."

It was an easy decision for Sora. She hadn't spent time with either Yoruko or Karia like this in a while.

August 15th rolled around all too soon, and Sora quickly found herself hanging out with Karia in order to 'distract' her from the party she already knew about. Yoruko was off helping Yuki, as she promised, so it was just the two girls.

Fortunately, they had planned activities to do during this time, so they weren't wandering around aimlessly. They went to the library to read a bit, then went to get some drinks at the local corner store.

During this time, Sora and Karia got to know each other a lot better. Karia found out that Sora liked sewing and had made her own blankets and other things before, and Sora found out that Karia once had a pet lizard.

Sora even learned a thing or two about Yoruko, like how instead of being a hostess, Yoruko had at first tried to play the bar's piano.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Karia received a text on her phone, informing her that she could bring Sora back now.

It really was a relief. It meant that everything was done, and that Yuki and Yoruko hadn't messed something up by accident. Which probably would have happened if Yuki was by himself, which made Sora all the more grateful for Yoruko and Karia helping him.

As she predicted, the place where Sora and Karia went to had its lights off. And once Sora flicked on, a small confetti cannon went off.

"Surprise!" Yuki and Yoruko called out as they came out of hiding. "Happy birthday!"

Sora was fortunately a much better liar and actress than Yuki was.

She faked surprise at what happened and looked around the room in a fake wonder. "Yuki? Did you do all this for me? Thank you!"

Yuki was a blushing mess, but he seemed very pleased with himself. "O-Of course! It's your birthday, I couldn't just do nothing! Plus, you threw me a surprise party for my own birthday, so it seemed right!"

"Ah, so that's why Karia here was dragging me around all morning?" Sora said, shooting a quick wink to Karia. "This is quite amazing, Yuki. Thank you, I mean it."

"Um, I mean, I didn't do it alone, Yoruko and Karia helped..." Yuki mumbled.

Sora walked over to Yuki and wrapped him in a hug, as well as gave him a quick kiss. "Still. Thank you."

Yuki didn't respond, he didn't know what to say. Yoruko and Karia ended up getting a small giggle out of seeing his blushing face.

Sora finally separated from Yuki and took his hand. "Now let's enjoy this party, shall we?"