Stitched Together

Bonus Chapter: Happy Birthday

Since today, June 8th, is Juuzou's birthday, I thought I'd contribute with a bonus chapter. This isn't canon at all to anything, just wanted to celebrate in some way.

The typical sound of humming drifts into my ears and I lean back in my chair. I am met with bright scarlet eyes looking directly into mine. "Good morning Juuzou," I say simply, nose to nose with him.

"Morning Reina~" he smiles and stands back up straight. I spin my chair around and face him.

"Hey, so where were you? I came to pick you up but surprisingly you weren't home," I flip a pencil around in my fingers and say.

"Ah oh that, Shinohara got to me first. We went out to breakfast. I would've brought you along but I know how you get when you're woken up," he laughs and flops into his own chair. Before I can ask why, Shinohara enters along with Amon and Akira.

"Happy Birthday Suzuya," Akira hands him a white box and smiles ever so slightly. Wait... today is his birthday?! Why did I not know this! Juuzou opens the box and finds a large cake with strawberries and small donuts decorating it. God they got him food, how can I beat that? I lean on the arm of my chair absolutely devastated. There's no way to recover from this, our relationship is damaged, its all over.

"Reina," my name being called makes me take a small break from wallowing in guilt. "You know, why don't you and Juuzou take the day off? I'm sure he'd love to go somewhere with you," Shinohara suggests. Ah, yes, I can still take him somewhere and buy him things while we're out.

"Really, we can leave? That's great! Let's go Reina!" He shoots to his feet and grabs my hand. I look over to Shinohara reluctantly.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. There's not much to do today. You two go have fun," he chuckles and Juuzou pulls me out of my chair.

"Ah um, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then, have a good day everyone," I quickly say as I'm getting tugged out of the office. "Juuzou slow down, you don't even know where you're going," I stammer. When we make it out the building he stops.

"Hm, oh yeah," he puts his finger to his lips and mumbles. "So where are we going?" He turns with a large smile and asks.

"Ah," I step back for a moment, not expecting to be making the plans. "Well you see, um," my eyes desperately dart around the area for something. That's when a poster on a building catches my eye. "W-we're going to the 21st ward!" I grin in relief.

"What's in the 21st ward?" He tilts his head and looks at me unconvinced.

"Ah, well my dear Juuzou, there is a festival today, and we are gonna attend," I put my hands on my hips and look up.

"Wow really... that means we gotta get dressed up," he says excitedly.

"Wait what?" I lose my confidence and stop. "We don't really have to," I mutter.

"Yeah, it'll be fun~ There's a store in that ward I think that sells yukatas," he giggles and hops on my bike. I sigh and trudge over, it's no use resisting. Once we pull up to a big department store he makes me stop. "Let's find you something really cute!" He laughs. Oh joy, I'm positively ecstatic. I'm shoved into a changing room and he throws a garment at me. "Wear this one, I'm gonna go look for mine." I sigh heavily and hold it up. Cute strawberries and flowers cover the pale pink yukata. Pink, honestly do I have to? I remind myself that it's his birthday and I shouldn't go against his wishes.

"How do you even put this on?" I huff, trying to figure it out. There is a small knock on the door and I pause.

"Excuse me miss, but would you like help? Many of our customers don't really know how to put them on," a soft voice says.