Life is Better (Togafuka)

...When The Ultimate Detective Has Ideas

[A/N] Some Naegiri in this. Once again, keep in mind that this takes place in the same universe as BIMYA. Long, but not as long as the last chapter. Sorry for taking so long, but I swear I'm actually gonna finish a fanfiction.

I didn't want a whole lot for my birthday. I would've been fine if I just got dinner with the Naegi sibs or coffee with Byakuya. But Komaru peer pressured me into throwing a slumber party. And deep down, there's a part of me that's freaking ecstatic. I didn't get to do this sort of thing when I was a kid. Even if I did, nobody would've come. Tonight, though... tonight, people will come. My classmates have already RSVP'd, so I don't have to worry about that. Thank God. I'd be fretting myself half to death if they hadn't.

Instead, I get to fret myself half to death over looking cute. And that's a substantially better thing to be worrying about. I found a flowy copper wrap shirt. And it looks nice with this black pencil skirt I had. The Naegi sibs came over early. Makoto is taking care of the decorations, and Komaru is taking care of me. She's done my makeup, since she's much better at it than I am, and she's currently attacking my hair with the curling iron. I stare at myself in the mirror. My face is so mature. I'm relieved that we were able to recover our old memories; it was extremely disorienting for a while, seeing my face a whole two years older than I remember it looking. The same was true for the rest of them. Even Komaru wasn't free from it, since she was held captive for so long with no real way to know how much time had passed.

Fortunately, the dysphoria's gone away in regards to Jill, too. She used to find the host body so strange. Integration was still a little fuzzy in terms of body image, but I handled it, and now it's all good. And it's weird knowing that at least like... one or two people actually find me pretty. Which is unreal as helllll!

"You're so cuuute, Eiko!"

"Thanks to you," I point out.

"No, no! I'm not responsible for that! Your cheekbones are so nice, and your hair has the best texture! That's not me!" she quickly denies.

"W-Well, you're good at the f-finishing touches, anyway," I insist as she releases the last strand of hair from the iron. My hair is usually somewhat wavy, but Komaru killed it with these tight ringlets. While I'm still admiring myself, the doorbell rings. I dash to the door frantically, practically about to die from excitement.

My heart practically skips a beat and I nearly topple over when it's Byakuya. He's holding flowers and seems slightly taken aback by how quickly I opened up. That and the fact that I'm the slightest bit out of breath. "Hi!" I greet simply with a smile.

"Hello. Happy Birthday, Eiko. These are for you, of course," he responds.

"What? They're n-not for Big Mac? I could've sworn," I tease.

He rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. It didn't really need saying, given that today is YOUR day, but just take them."

"Alrighty! Come on in," I invite.

Almost immediately, Makoto cries out, "Byakuyaaaaaa! I need help with this!" Makoto, who's tied with Hina for the shortest in our group, is probably the least qualified for decoration duty, but he's also the least qualified for makeup and hair (aside from Hiro) and he wanted to be helpful. Byakuya, a whole ten inches taller, groans as he goes to help him with some streamers.

I go to the kitchen and fill a glass vase with water so that I can set the flowers in. The bouquet has white hydrangeas and purple clematises. In flower language, clematises mean mental beauty and hydrangeas represent gratitude for being understood. Now, I know all of this stuff because I'm a romance author. But I have no way of being sure that Byakuya himself knows what they mean, so it could've been an unintended message. And now I'm overthinking. I overthink everything. Komaru strides in and gasps. "Soooooo pretty!!! Is that from—?"