Yuuya had been avoiding flowers in the past, mostly because of his negative association with them. But now that they’d been dating for some time, he wanted to finally give her flowers. He could just wait for White Day but….doing it on her birthday just seemed more personal. The hardest part was asking Haruna for help.
She was defintely surprised at first, but thrilled once she realized it was a genuine request. Together, they picked out red carnations, red roses, and red camellias.
“To symbolize love~” she’d explained. When picking the centerpiece flower, Yuuya wanted to go with sweet pea, but Haruna was so fervently against it, he finally relented and asked her to explain what some flowers meant. In the end, he went with a white chrysanthemum; the symbol of self-esteem and truth.
When he finally got to the point of giving them to her, he suddenly found himself uncharacteristically nervous. What if this wasn’t the right gift? Maybe he should have gotten her something else…something that wasn’t so ephemeral. But it was too late to turn back now. Putting on his best smile, he held out the bouquet to her.
“Happy birthday Tohko~”
With the exception of some minor bumps and surprises, Tohko’s birthday track record was generally rather positive! She couldn’t remember a birthday where she’d ended it disappointed or sad. This was especially true since entering high school, where she’d gained more special friends, and and an extra special someone as well~ Her birthday was on a Wednesday this year. Annoyingly the middle of the week, so her actual party was going to be on Friday. Today though, stepping out of her house, she was greeted by Yuuya and her second gift of the day (the first being the special and probably rather fattening breakfast she’d gotten from her mother). !!
“Eeee!” She loved flowers, and eagerly took them from him. The temporary nature of them didn’t bother her. Lately, she’d made a few friends that were into pressing flowers or taking photos of the bouquets so the memory could remain. Tohko inhaled the lovely scent and stood on her toes to thank Yuuya with a small number of kisses. "These are gorgeous~“ And this was the first time he’d gotten them for her, wasn’t it? He probably had to buy them from his sister and aaaa, their relationship still wasn’t the beeeesst? ”Thank you, Yuuya~“
She let their fingers brush teasingly as they walked to school, chatting with him about this or that. They had a project to finish by Friday, though hers was thankfully seventy percent done thanks to both Mitsuki and Fukuroi being in her group. Besides that, she was curious what he had planned for later. She knew there was something (he’d had that look about him these last few days), but she wasn’t quite sure what. He was a darn good secret keeper.
“I do” he replied, confirming the reservations online as he did so. “I was thinking perhaps a cabin this time, hm? Just so we have a little more space.” It wasn’t something he could even dream of affording last time they went, but things had changed a bit since then. Ideally, he’d love to hunt with her too, but he hadn’t (as of yet) figured out a practical way to accomplish that.
“Is there anything we didn’t get to do last time that you’d like to try?”
“A cabin? Actually yeah that sounds great!” They’d have a bunch more space, they wouldn’t need to spend time pitching the tent (not that she disliked that part) nor would they have to worry about sudden rainfall potentially ruining their gear if it was nicely tucked away. "If the cabin has a little stove and maybe a fridge we can be a bit more ambitious food wise.“ She thought back to the last time they’d gone camping and considered his question.
”We didn’t get to fish.“ She chuckled. ”We also didn’t get to do the ‘special thing’.“ Which only made sense. They’d never hunted without her father before. Gosh just the idea was nerve wracking. ”It’d be over the weekend, right? When would we leave? Friday night? I’d love to go swimming with you again.“ And a bunch of other stuff too, gosh. Though this was for her birthday, already her mind was swimming for ways to make things romantic.
There was a bit of a wait, but as soon as Kai was told who was waiting for him, he stepped away from his station and peeked out into the waiting area.
“Eyyy, Kirisaki! Glad you could make it.” He gestured for her to come over, and then turned with the assumption that she’d follow. His previous customer, a blonde-haired woman, looked ever-so-slightly dissapointed that Kai’s attention had shifted so suddenly.
“I am not letting you leave until I give you a makeover, I’ve gotten so much better, and I was already amazing before, so…Oi!” Shimada put his hands up when he caught his boss staring at him with a strange mixture of amusement and impatience.
“I gave her a coupon okay? She’s gonna pay for it!”
“Just checking. I know you like to do favors for ladies, Shimada.” With a small grumble, he led Tohko the rest of the way back.
“I’ll pay for it, alright? She’s just mad because this girl forgot to pay this one time. Okay maybe twice but things happen! You know how it is.”
Tohko avoided eye-contact with the woman, not wanting to give them impression that she was competition. Heck, good luck to you! Following behind Shimada, Tohko couldn’t repress her giggles as he was reprimanded.
“’Favors’? Tsk tsk!” It was highly likely that he was hired for his face as much as his skills (or even more so), but if he kept forgetting this was also a business he might be more trouble than his boss bargained for. That said, she definitely perked up at the thought of a make-over. "I know you took classes on make-up in school, but I didn’t know they let you do them here too.“ A good idea struck her.
”Oh! Say, now that you’ve got this job, have you considered taking pictures of the work you do and putting them up on your blog? A man with a beautiful face with beautiful proof of his work could only benefit the salon.“ If you’d told Tohko a few years ago that she’d one day be having such a pleasant talk with Kai Shimada of all people, she would’ve given you such a nasty look.
kizamili-blog‘ ‘ Auntie Tohko Auntie Tohko!! Me and Ren got you something ‘ ‘ Even though Tohko wasn’t Kyouko real Aunt yet she still liked to call her that. She stood next to Ren and held up a handmade bow. ‘ ‘ Mommy helped me and Ren make this for you. ‘ ‘ Ren stood behind Kyouko shyly ‘ ‘ Happy.. Happy Birthday ‘ ‘
Listen. Tohko had exactly zero complaints about little Kyoujko calling her ‘auntie’. I mean hey if things between her and Yuuya keep progressing smoothly…
“You made this for me? It’s wonderful~“ Kneeling down, Tohko removed her own hair accessories and gently inserted the bow the twins had sweetly gifted her. “Ooo~ How do I look?“
That morning, a small package arrived for Tohko from Shimada, of all people. inside was an ornate hair clip with a note folded beside it. Once she unfolded it, a coupon for Asuki’s Hair Salon fell out, and a brief message was written inside.
Kirisaki-san,
Guess who just got a job at Asuki’s? This will look great on you regardless, but it will look even better if you let me do your hair up right! Come on down birthday girl ;)
-Kai Shimada
Oh wow! If there was one talent she couldn’t deny that Shimada had, it was a taste for jewelry. Particularly women’s jewelry actually. She figured it was a natural side-effect of being a model and being surrounded by so many well accessorized people in the business. Lately, it would seem that the man had found his true calling, that of a hair stylist. Privately, she’d always liked the way he styled his hair…
Tohko checked the time on her phone. Today was a day off, so there was nothing stopping her from talking a nice walk down to the salon in question. Just to be safe, she called ahead and asked if they did walk ins…
—
She was sure to grab a smoothie before entering Asuki’s. Stepping past the front door, she was greeting with the familiar smell of shampoos and hair dye. She spotted Shimada over with a customer. She took a moment to appreciate how happy he looked working on the woman’s hair. It was always endearing whenever she saw her friends doing the things they talked about doing back in high school. Tohko was snapped out of her thoughts by a woman at the front desk. Heh, oops.
“Hi there~ Is it possible for me to ask for a specific stylist?” The woman glanced over knowingly at Shimada and looked for all the world like she was trying to not roll her eyes. Haha. "Is he annoyingly popular already? I’m not surprised. I don’t mind if there’s a bit of a wait. I’m not here to distract him. Trust me, we’re just friends.“ She could tell the woman didn’t believe her at all, not that it really mattered. Tohko was directed to a plush couch that served as the waiting area and waited patiently for her turn.
byakudanloner"Happy birthday Tohko! Say, it's been abnormally warm lately, how would you feel about a camping trip this weekend? We haven't done that in a while." He may or may not be a few clicks away from reserving a cabin, but bae's on the phone so she doesn't need to know that yet.
“Thank you!” Eeee~ Tohko plopped down on her bed and grabbed a nearby pillow to snug while she talked to Yuuya. She’d received calls and texts and well wishes all day but his was the one she’d been looking forward to the most. She audibly gasped when he brought up the idea of camping. It had been a while since it was just them, alone in the lovely woods. "Honestly? I’d love to.“ She chuckled softly. ”Remember last time when saw those cute foxes going for a swim?“
