Sun King

Eight members of u’s sat in Kotori’s apartment, waiting for the college student to finish class. While Kotori knew (no thanks to Honoka) that there’d be seven members present, they had kept the surprise of a certain girlfriend’s early return from abroad a secret. With less than an hour left, Maki felt herself dazed, unable to concentrate on much.

The cake had been bought and all the presents (except Maki’s) were gathered on the table. Even though she had counted numerous times, she checked the number of candles again, adding them up incorrectly at first before having to do a double check to correct herself. After doing this boring task for a bit she checked her watch again, but to her disappointment (although it was no surprise) a minute hadn’t even passed yet.

“A watched pot never boils, Maki” Nozomi smiled at Maki, but Maki couldn’t think of a retort besides sighing and a murmur of “I know”.

“You can’t blame Maki for being so impatient, this is the first time she gets to see Kotori in a month. She’s low on her Kotorium dosage and needs some to recharge and maintain being a decent person.” Rin prepared herself for a counterattack but to her surprise, Maki barely even seemed to register the comment.

“Uh, Earth to Maki? Are you still on this planet or has the prospect of seeing your girlfriend sent you to heaven prematurely?” Nico waved her hand in front of the redhead, snapping Maki back in focus.

“Did you need something?” Maki put her hand to her neck, feeling the sweat that seemed to be collecting. “Is it just me or is this room a bit hot?” “Please don’t take off your clothes just yet, leave that for when it’s just you and Kotori.” replied Nico.

“You will not be taking your clothes off around Kotori.” Umi quickly rebutted.

Maki felt her face heat up even more and tried her best to stammer out a comeback but that was interrupted by the sound of a key trying to unlock the door. Everyone quickly ran to cover the corridor while Maki went to hide in Kotori’s bedroom. As the door clicked, and everyone yelled out, “Surprise!”, Maki took out the necklace case she had hidden in Kotori’s room earlier, ready for her girlfriend to enter.

-

The festivities would’ve went as planned with various party games followed by cake and presents. But somewhere through trying to get a higher score than Umi on a dancing game, Maki felt herself light-headed. As the scores were tallied up, Maki could barely concentrate on her number as she tried to catch her breath. Kotori was by her side right away but that didn’t stop Maki from falling, with her consciousness washing away.

-

Maki felt her consciousness returning, a flutter between awakening and sleep before she finally, slowly, opened her eyes. She was in a soft bed, with an assortment of pastel stuffed animals scattered on the bed. There could be only one owner of this room although Maki could not see her present.

Maki sat up, careful as to not disturb the plushies, and checked her phone. A text from her mom stated that Maki should have fun in her sleepover tonight. There were a few texts from the rest of u’s that seemed to be summed up as congratulations. The shared group chat was littered with texts about how Maki was doing. Before Maki could scroll too far back, the door creaked open.

“Oh, Maki, you’re awake.” Kotori pushed the door open the rest of the way, revealing a tray with a bowl in her hands. “Are you feeling any better now?” “Yeah.” Her head burned with the fever still and her body still had sweat but overall she was doing a lot better than a few hours ago when she had passed out. In the middle of her girlfriend’s birthday party.

Kotori smiled at her response and set the tray down next to the nightstand. Tomatoes didn’t go well in congee but the inclusion of salmon was certainly made with Maki’s taste in mind. “It’s still hot so if you want to wait-” “Kotori.” Maki interrupted, trying to collect her thoughts in spite of the heat that clouded her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Did I ruin your party?” There were a dozen of thoughts in her head, trying to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t encourage Kotori to lie but most of them were scattered threads that Maki couldn’t tie together.

“No, you-” “Kotori, don’t give me that. Everyone left early, didn’t they?” Maki didn’t even think about what she said. Usually she would’ve opted for a less roundabout way but this fever was really getting to her.

“ Yes…” A soft voice that fluctuated ever so slightly. Great, not only has Maki ruined Kotori’s birthday party, she upset Kotori as well. Was there any conversation topic that she could bring up to remedy this?

“Were you the one who put all these stuffed animals on the bed?” “Oh, yes!” Kotori giggled, her face softening (if that was possible, Kotori’s face was already incredibly soft) as she reached for a rabbit, using her hands to move its arms up and down. “I thought that you’d might be lonely without your teddy bear so I thought my friends could keep you company.”

Maki watched with amusement as Kotori moved the rabbit along the edge of the bed, attempting to move its very stubby arms in a complex fashion. “Is Macaron dancing?” “He’s just very happy to see you.”

Maki reached her hand out and patted the rabbit’s head gently, eliciting another giggle from Kotori. “Well I’m very happy to see him too.”

With Kotori’s mood drop diverted for now, Maki brought up other conversation topics, chatting with her girlfriend about things that had been going on in her life recently. After a bit of embarrassment and preparation, Maki let Kotori spoon feed the porridge before Kotori left Maki to rest and sleep.

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