Welcome!

I don't know what to say about the Suited revelation, I just know that from today on I'm going to be wary and suspicious of her

She was one of my favorite Clozer characters after Sagan, and I genuinely thought there was nothing wrong with her or that she had any hidden intentions.

Might not be intended anywhere specific in the story, but if was, wonder where. Obvsly past them joining JAKDF. In ch 129 Kafka's kaiju thing is still a secret outside of JAKDF + he's back to that form of No. 8, so could even be post-canon.

(NVM I LIED I CANNOT WRITE! I OVERESTIMATED MYSELF 😭😭😭I ALSO STARTED WRITING ON AUGUST 5TH BUT I COULDN'T MAKE IT IN TIME. This is just a WIP that I SWEAR ON MY LIFE I'LL FINISH AND POST IT ON AO3! Some things might change when I'll finish it... But anyway- Enjoy!)

Today was the fifth of August. Just another day in the Defense Force. Well, today was Kafka's birthday, but for him it was just another day.

It's been like this for quite some time.

Kafka doesn't remember when he started ignoring his birthday. Probably some time after he and Mina stopped talking. Mina was one of his closest friends, they always used to celebrate their birthdays together. But then Kafka kept failing his entrance exam over and over. Mina joined on her first try. It feelt like Kafka blinked one day and he was alone. No happy birthday, no gifts, nothing. Not even a simple message.

It stung. A lot.

His birthdays started tasting bitter. They reminded him of how lonely he was. He had friends... but he couldn't call them close. It reminded him that he was getting older with every year, and it felt like he was getting nowhere. Reminder of how dissatisfied he was with himself when he failed to join year after year. And then he hit the age limit.

It was easier to ignore them. And after years of not celebrating his birthday Kafka just- forgot to tell anyone about it. It just slipped his mind. After all, it was just another day, it wasn't a big deal. And today, it felt like vice-captain felt like making training even more exhausting than usual. Though others laughed that he was being a "dramatic old man" as always.

Kafka was dragging himself back from training to get some rest, and he didn't notice a certain someone’s ire practically trying to murder him.

That is, until he was pulled into a headlock. "Oi! Where do you think you're going! Aren't you forgetting something?" Hoshina's voice held his usual annoyed tilt whenever Kafka was being a dumbass. Kafka helplessly hit Hoshina's arm with no success in getting Hoshina to ease his hold. But also... Kafka was confused. What was vice-captain talking about? Did he mess up something?

But then Hoshina finally let him go- "A 100 push-ups. Now." Hoshina was practically glaring at Kafka, his face turned cold with silent fury. "Wha-?! Vice-" Kafka stuttered.

"Do you want more push-ups?" Kafka shook his head in panic and quickly started doing his push-ups, even though he felt like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. "Thought so." Hoshina's anger slowly melted away as he watched Kafka work through his push-ups. Kafka wasn't suffering as much as he used to when he first joined JAKDF, but after he finished he still collapsed on the floor from exhaustion.

As Kafka started gathering himself off the floor, Hoshina held out his hand to help Kafka up. Hoshina seemed... almost lost in thought. "Vice-captain, what was this about?" Kafka asked weakly, but it was the wrong thing to do as Hoshina once again got annoyed. "Oh, for God's sake, are you always so thick-headed?!" He flicked Kafka's forehead, and before Kafka could react he snatched Kafka's hand and pulled him towards a doorway that Kafka didn't even notice before-

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" Kafka froze as he saw the room.

People. A lot of people. People from the 3rd division, and surprisingly even from other divisions that he managed to visit. Reno, Iharu, Haruichi, Aoi, Akari, Hakua- Even Kikoru managed to come here with her busy schedule at the 1st division- Was that Narumi?!

His batch-mates were here, wearing silly matching birthday hats. His friends were grinning excitedly, some even held confetti poppers that he didn't notice. The room was bright, there were big colorful letters hanging that spelled 'happy birthday', a bunch of balloons everywhere.

Kafka remained silent, staring. As if a single word would shatter this dream. It felt like if he breathed wrong, then he might wake up.

Kafka blinked multiple times, as if to check if he was awake or not. Without thinking, he raised his index finger and pointed at himself, still not believing what he's seeing.

Hoshina, not tolerating his bullshit, gently whacked Kafka on the back of his head. "I know you're smarter than that."

And then it hit Kafka. It was his birthday. They were celebrating his birthday. This was all for him. He wasn't alone anymore. Everyone in this room cared about him and-

When was the last time he had this?

Kafka couldn't hold back tears. He tried wiping them out or stopping them, but they just kept running down his face. He felt so pathetic.

Until he felt something collide with him and knock the wind out of him. "Aw, are you getting all sentimental on us, old man?" Iharu's teasing voice rang out. Kafka couldn't help but laugh through tears at the affectionate teasing. More people approached for a group hug with Kafka in its center. He felt loved.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us that it was your birthday today?!" Kikoru didn't wait to ask the most pressing question, with many agreeing and curious.

Kafka shrugged awkwardly, as much as he could, being smushed in a group hug. "Uh... it slipped my mind?" It was dead silent in the room for a moment. Until the room exploded with noise and arguing that Kafka was being stupid because he couldn't just forget to tell about his own birthday.

"H-how did you guys even find out about it in the first place?" Kafka tried speaking over all of the voices. But he went silent when he saw Mina. She stood a bit farther away from everyone, near a wall with a soft smile.

The truth is, no one knew. The past two years were... chaotic, to say the least. With the appearance of kaijus no.8 and no.9 the Defense Force was busier than ever. And the whole no.10 fiasco and Kafka revealing himself as no.8 sent everyone spiraling. Kafka was... almost glad no one knew about his birthday. It would’ve been heartbreaking knowing it while Kafka was in custody.

Somehow, Kafka managed to avoid talking about it, even when he could barely hide his kaiju secret. He always tries his best to remember other's birthdays, he even marks the birthdays on his calendar. And yet somehow, not one thought about his birthday.

So when one day Mina just goes "Oh. It's Kafka's birthday soon." It made everyone go into panic mode. Because they forgot to about Kafka's birthdays for the past two years- correction, they didn't know about his birthday at all.