Birthday Wishes

Ren completed the final spin kick of her routine, landing gracefully and closing her fan as she bowed. 

"Very impressive, Queen!" Riku praised, clapping as he approached from the sidelines. "I'm not really that surprised though, even if it is your first time using a weapon."

"What can I say? I had a good 'junior assistant' teaching it to me!"

"I prefer fabulous junior assistant!"

They both laughed as they began to head inside. Class was about to wrap up, so they needed to head in for the end-of-class announcements. 

"Speaking of fabulous..." Riku suddenly began. "I noticed that you hitched a ride with Senpai Natsu today. Did our dear Senpai Sota ditch you without warning today?"

"No, we had already planned in advance. Today is his birthday, so he didn't want to come to class and have us all have to experience a 'birthday workout'."

"That's right, I totally forgot that Sota's birthday was this time of year!"

"Aren't you supposed to be his childhood friend?" Ren teased. "Seems like you're slacking on the job."

"Girl, you best not be giving me all the blame," Riku chuckled. "I can't even remember the last time he brought up or celebrated his birthday. Maybe when we were in grade school?"

"I'm guessing he at least celebrates with his family, yeah?"

"Well, there's always the chance, I suppose..."

Riku chuckled as he made the comment, but it was more hesitant and reserved. Ren picked up on the shift in tone almost instantly.

"I wished him a happy birthday this morning," she noted. "He thanked me, but he has seemed a little more distant today than usual. Not enough to make me concerned, but it did feel like he had something bothering him slightly..."

Ren trailed off at that point, gauging Riku's response. Riku didn't say anything - he simply continued to walk with her as if he intended to let the comment pass. It was a trademark 'Riku feels awkward' moment - which told her everything she needed to know. 

"In that case..." she spoke again, her temporary sadness switching with determination. "If he's not going to make sure it's celebrated properly, then we'll have to be the ones to get it done!"

Riku seemed a bit surprised by her sudden fervor, but then simply smiled. 

"Whatever the Queen commands!" he exclaimed. "I'll follow your lead on this one."

***

 Ren sat down at her computer screen, taking a breath of relaxation as she waited for it to boot up. 

This new daily ritual of playing games at night had already become a big reprieve for her. Around 9pm was the sweet spot. Her mother would be long-gone for a night of clubbing, and the rest of her family would be asleep. It gave her a couple of hours to close up in her room and quietly do her own thing. 

She knew that summer vacation was the primary reason it worked. Without school, she had plenty of time to get her chores done earlier in the day. She would have to figure out a plan when school started back up, but that wasn't today's concern. As her computer finished booting up, she opened her gaming and messaging apps. As expected, Sota was already online and able to receive typed messages. 

[Ren]: Hey Senpai! 

[Sota]: Hey Ren. How did class go?

[Ren]: It went good! Riku started teaching me how to use the plan. Plus, Sensei mentioned that in a month or two, there's a summer camp coming up to attend! 

[Sota]: Yes. Usually it's a weeklong thing where we spend the whole day training.

[Ren]: It sounds like a lot of fun! I'll have to see if I can save up enough to go - but you have to come too :P

[Sota]: We'll see...

[Ren]: Anyway, I'm ready to play now! Do you have your voice chat ready?

[Sota]: Go for it.

Ren smiled and clicked the icon that began the voice chat. After a moment, she heard the click of the connecting being linked up.

"Happy birthday, Senpai!" she called out once she heard him on the other side.

"You said that earlier," he noted, his chuckle coming through the microphone. 

"So what? I can wish you a happy birthday all I want! It's a special day, you know?"

"Is that so? I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"Good! That means you won't argue with me when I tell you that we're planning to do a celebration tomorrow!" 

"What?" Sota's response carried definite surprise. "Like, in a handful of hours?"

"Yes! I mean...that's the plan? You'd be able to make it, right? Riku thought so. I swear, I'll be so mad if he lied to me! I told him it was too short of notice!"

"No, no - tomorrow is fine. I'm just surprised I guess. Isn't it typically hard for you to get permission to be out of the house for things like that?"

"It's not the easiest, but that's okay! Besides...my family is usually busier during the summer working, so I have a bit more free time!"

There was a brief silence after her hesitation. The reality was that her mother had recently found herself a second boyfriend, and so was currently in the 'I'm never home' phase. She wasn't going to say that out loud, though.

"If you say so," Sota finally responded. "So long as you're not getting in trouble on my account."

"Not a problem!" Ren giggled. "We were thinking about starting with lunch, so I figured you could pick me up around 11?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Awesome! Now then, time to start up our game..."

***

The following morning, Ren stood in front of her small wardrobe looking at the clothes available to her. She had never been one to be super picky about what she wore, especially for something like a friend's birthday party. Still, she couldn't help but feel the need to try and figure out something that looked really nice...

"What are you doing?"

Ren's attention turned to her bedroom door. Her grandfather stood there, observing her from just outside. 

"Morning, grandpa. I'm just deciding what outfit to wear for the birthday party today."

"What birthday party?"

"The one that I told you about yesterday when I got home? You said it would be fine since all the chores were caught up."

Her grandfather's gaze narrowed on her, making Ren uneasy. They had talked about it last night, but Ren had purposefully waited until he was intoxicated enough to be off-guard. Getting a 'yes' out of him then was always easiest, since that was when he was half-asleep and not paying full attention. 

"Do you think I'm going to be cooperative this morning after you tried to manipulate me?"

"That's not it, grandpa!" Ren pleaded. "It's just how things played out. I already told Senpai and Riku that we were good to go - it'd be almost impossible to reschedule now!"

Ren's heartbeat had picked up quite a bit. She knew there was a 50/50 chance that this was going to be his reaction come the morning. She was banking on her ability to convince him it was too late to change plans, but it was a harder battle when he was fully sober. 

After a moment, he entered the room and approached her with an outstretched hand. He was waiting for her to hand him something.

"Your phone," he declared, leaving no room for error. "I want you to unlock it so I can check your texts."

"What...why?"

"You've been spending a lot of time with these boys," he declared. "I'm not letting you go until I've seen what you've all been scheming. For all I know, you're running off with them so they can have their way with you."

It took Ren a second to understand what her grandfather was insinuating. After she did, her face became a bright red.

"That's horrible! I would never do anything like that!"

"Then there's no problem. Let me see the messages, or it's a no-go."

Ren's face was bright red - a mixture of angry and embarrassed. There was nothing even close to that going on, but she also felt like her privacy was being invaded. After a moment of glaring and pouting, she finally handed over the unlocked phone. 

"This is stupid..." she murmured, planting herself on her bed. "I would never..."

She sat there and waited, watching him as he clicked around to check through the messages. She tried to determine what he was thinking, but he was much harder to read when he was sober. After a couple of minutes, he tossed the phone back to her and headed out the room. 

"I look forward to our discussion today."

He walked out, not providing context for his statement. Ren looked down to her phone, seeing that the text window with Sota was open. It was mostly as she remembered, but there was one thing different.

It was a message sent by her just a few moments ago, and it made her heart sink.

[Ren]: When you get here today to pick me up, can you please come inside to get me? <3