Lily’s room in the dorms, early in the morning. Lily and Tarutaru are cleaning and organizing Lily’s stuff.
"Thank you so much, Grass Patch! I couldn’t do this alone!" Lily says while sweeping dust from the floor to a dustpan.
"Don’t worry, Lily. Maybe consider this my birthday present to you, since I brought nothing else, really." Tarutaru says and smiles at her.
"Ah, sure! This is a better present than most other would be anyway, I don’t really even know what I would’ve wanted, but helping and just being my friend, you’ve already given me a lot!"
"Oh, Lily, you’re making me blush!" Tarutaru says and grins at Lily. "Besides, you’ll already be getting a better birthday present than either of us could give, me or Richter."
"Huh?" Lily says and looks confusedly at Tarutaru. "What do you mean? What present?"
"Oh, I don’t know, maybe just a single flower?" Tarutaru answers and laughs at Lily.
"Wha—? Flowe—Oooooh! Uh, uhm," Lily mutters and blushes.
Tarutaru laughs warmly at Lily, and they continue cleaning. After a couple of hours they seem to be done, and they’re just sitting on Lily’s sofa and waiting. Lily turns towards Tarutaru and asks.
"Oh hey, wanna stay here and let Cotton Candy or Aoi in? I’ll go pick up the cake from the shop that’s just around the corner. Just in case they arrive just as I’m out." Lily says and stands up.
"Oh, sure.. you ok at me staying alone here?" Tarutaru asks.
"Well, what would you do meanwhile? Search my room for evidence of my love life?" Lily says, grins widely and points at a large portrait of Rose she has on her bedside table.
"You have a point there, Lily…" Tarutaru says and chuckles, "ok, I’ll stay here and let them in if they arrive. Nobody else should get in, right?"
"Yeah, I’ve not invited anyone else.. and I highly doubt my parents would visit without saying anything before, they live thousands of miles away after all." Lily says and puts on her boots and coat.
"So what’ll I do if they suddenly pop here and ask to come in?" Tarutaru says smiling.
"Tell them to bugger off!" Lily laughs and walks outside.
In the lobby area downstairs, she bumps into Aoi, who had just come in. Aoi is looking around, as if searching for something when she spots Lily. She waves at her and smiles.
"Oh, hello birthday girl!" Aoi shouts and walks to Lily.
"Thank you Aoi-senpai!" Lily says, "You know, Grass Patch is upstairs in my room already waiting for you and Cotton Candy. Just go there, it’s on the 3rd floor, last room on the left hallway. Left from stairs. I’ll go pickup the cake I ordered from the store just a few minutes from here. I’ll be back in just a few minutes, make yourself at home with Grass Patch," She says and walks briskly outside.
The store is only a two to three minutes walk away from the dorms. Lily arrives at the shop and greets the clerk there. She explains to her about her order and receives it swiftly. With the cake in hand, she walks back towards the dorms.
:: This might be a bit large for just the four of us… I hope they’re all ok with chocolate too, I forgot to ask. Oh well, I can probably eat the leftovers tomorrow morning as breakfast. I hope Cotton Candy can make it, I really wanted to see her today! It’s not like I have some ulterior motives or anything, but… what am I lying to myself? I definitely want to jump her so badly I think I’ll burst. I was sooo nervous when I invited her last month, and now we’re going out…!:: Lily smiles to herself so much, she doesn’t even notice she’s walking past the dorms.
She keeps walking for a few minutes, until she notices there’s someone following her, and that this was not the way to her dorms at all.:: Well, crap. I was so out of it I didn’t notice I walked past the dorms.. and now there’s someone behind me? Should I just stop and confront them? What if it’s a robber or something else bad? My only weapon is my cake, which admittedly is not the best for that. What if I just stop and pretend to look at my watch.. will they walk past me, or assault—"
There’s a warm giggle behind her. "Getting so old you forgot where you lived, Lili"? Rose asks behind her.
"Uhh…" Lily says and turns around. Rose is dressed in a lace-hemmed and -sleeved white shirt and a slightly puffy thigh-length pastel pink skirt. She’s wearing knee-length with socks and a pair of shiny black heels. Her hair is nicely done in an updo and she’s wearing a pendant with a shimmering white lily in it. Lily stares at her, with her mouth partly open.:: OH MY GODDESS. I mean her! She’s just like a goddess! She’s soooo beautiful I can’t take it. OMG OMG. Sooo cute! And the pendant…!:: Lily blushes.
"Something wrong with my attire?" Rose asks and looks down at her skirt. "Do you think it’s too fancy? It doesn’t suit me at all, right? I shouldn’t have put it on, I should—" Rose says and fiddles nervously with her shirt’s hem.
"You’re so beautiful.." Lily says without realizing, then she notices and blushes. "Cotton Candy, you… oh my goddess.. You’re the most beautiful... anything I’ve ever seen in my life… It suits you perfectly! How am I so lucky, I don’t understand…"
Rose blushes furiously and casts her gaze downwards. "Lili…" she says, "don’t say stuff like that aloud, it’s embarrassing…"
Lily steps closer and takes her hand in hers, holding the cake with her left. "Cotton Candy…" she says and draws her closer. "It’s true though. I have never seen anything so pretty in my life than you are." She looks at her gently, then kisses her on the nose. "Thank you for coming today. I was really looking forward to this. Come, I got the cake, we should get back to my room, Grass Patch and Aoi are waiting for me to return with the cake already."
They smile and walk back, hand in hand. They reach the dorms in a couple of minutes and go inside. Lily opens the door of her room to see Tarutaru and Aoi grinning widely at them. Lily blushes a bit and just silently goes and places the cake on the table. "I, uh… got lost." She mumbles and picks up a cake server.
"Yeah, we got that. I see you needed help to find your way back. Hello Rosie-chan, you’re dressed up today!" Aoi says to Rose, who blushes and just nods at her.
"You two are so cute together I can’t stand it." Tarutaru giggles at them.
"Anyway," Lily says nervously, "let’s just eat the cake and we can talk about something…"
Rose steps closer to Lily without her noticing, tiptoes as high as she can, and kisses Lily on her neck.
"Uwaaaahh!!" Lily yelps and almost throws the cake server that she was holding.
"Happy birthday, Lili," she says, "I’ll give you your present later," she whispers into her ear.
"Whoa~~! Rosie-chan!" Aoi exclaims astonished. "That’s bold of you!"
"Well, Lily is 18 today…" Tarutaru whispers to Aoi, who grins and nods. "Well, let’s eat the cake quickly then, Aoi, so we can leave them alone," Tarutaru says to Aoi, grinning wildly.
Rose smiles at the furiously blushing Lily, then they all sit down and start enjoy the cake and talk together.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
