[A/N] Some Naegiri in this. Once again, keep in mind that this takes place in the same universe as BIMYA. Long, but not as long as the last chapter. Sorry for taking so long, but I swear I'm actually gonna finish a fanfiction.

I didn't want a whole lot for my birthday. I would've been fine if I just got dinner with the Naegi sibs or coffee with Byakuya. But Komaru peer pressured me into throwing a slumber party. And deep down, there's a part of me that's freaking ecstatic. I didn't get to do this sort of thing when I was a kid. Even if I did, nobody would've come. Tonight, though... tonight, people will come. My classmates have already RSVP'd, so I don't have to worry about that. Thank God. I'd be fretting myself half to death if they hadn't.

Instead, I get to fret myself half to death over looking cute. And that's a substantially better thing to be worrying about. I found a flowy copper wrap shirt. And it looks nice with this black pencil skirt I had. The Naegi sibs came over early. Makoto is taking care of the decorations, and Komaru is taking care of me. She's done my makeup, since she's much better at it than I am, and she's currently attacking my hair with the curling iron. I stare at myself in the mirror. My face is so mature. I'm relieved that we were able to recover our old memories; it was extremely disorienting for a while, seeing my face a whole two years older than I remember it looking. The same was true for the rest of them. Even Komaru wasn't free from it, since she was held captive for so long with no real way to know how much time had passed.

Fortunately, the dysphoria's gone away in regards to Jill, too. She used to find the host body so strange. Integration was still a little fuzzy in terms of body image, but I handled it, and now it's all good. And it's weird knowing that at least like... one or two people actually find me pretty. Which is unreal as helllll!

"You're so cuuute, Eiko!"

"Thanks to you," I point out.

"No, no! I'm not responsible for that! Your cheekbones are so nice, and your hair has the best texture! That's not me!" she quickly denies.

"W-Well, you're good at the f-finishing touches, anyway," I insist as she releases the last strand of hair from the iron. My hair is usually somewhat wavy, but Komaru killed it with these tight ringlets. While I'm still admiring myself, the doorbell rings. I dash to the door frantically, practically about to die from excitement.

My heart practically skips a beat and I nearly topple over when it's Byakuya. He's holding flowers and seems slightly taken aback by how quickly I opened up. That and the fact that I'm the slightest bit out of breath. "Hi!" I greet simply with a smile.

"Hello. Happy Birthday, Eiko. These are for you, of course," he responds.

"What? They're n-not for Big Mac? I could've sworn," I tease.

He rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. It didn't really need saying, given that today is YOUR day, but just take them."

"Alrighty! Come on in," I invite.

Almost immediately, Makoto cries out, "Byakuyaaaaaa! I need help with this!" Makoto, who's tied with Hina for the shortest in our group, is probably the least qualified for decoration duty, but he's also the least qualified for makeup and hair (aside from Hiro) and he wanted to be helpful. Byakuya, a whole ten inches taller, groans as he goes to help him with some streamers.

I go to the kitchen and fill a glass vase with water so that I can set the flowers in. The bouquet has white hydrangeas and purple clematises. In flower language, clematises mean mental beauty and hydrangeas represent gratitude for being understood. Now, I know all of this stuff because I'm a romance author. But I have no way of being sure that Byakuya himself knows what they mean, so it could've been an unintended message. And now I'm overthinking. I overthink everything. Komaru strides in and gasps. "Soooooo pretty!!! Is that from—?"

"Yep, it is, now quiet down. You've g-gotta have some tact."

"Wow, am I hearing that from you of all people?" she sticks out her tongue jokingly.

"Shush! That's not f-fair, I was y-young and stupid!" I laugh, pushing her face away from me as she giggles.

The doorbell rings and I scramble to open up. Kyoko stands there, looking lovely as always. On one side of her rests her suitcase and on the other is a suspicious machine. She's holding a gift. "Hey! I'm g-glad you could make it!"

"Of course. Now that greetings are taken care of..."

"Yeah, what's that thing?" I ask immediately. She clearly knows that it was the first thing on my mind, so she simply smiles enigmatically.

"I won't tell you... yet. But you'll find out soon enough." And with that, she gracefully enters my home and glides off to help the boys. It's becoming quite an escapade; in his frustration at being a shorty, Big Mac's taken to tossing streamers along Byakuya and now Kyoko. Pink and silver streaks glide through the air and cover the two of them as they haplessly try to actually decorate. Their deadpan expressions really make it.

Sporadic and excited knocks sound out and I once again sprint, throwing the door wide open.

"OW!" Hiro yells, having gotten smacked in the side of the head.

"That's what you get for standing so close, you dummy!" Hina jokes, jumping around playfully. "I'm so happy! Party!" she whoops. She gives Yasuhiro's head a sympathetic rub before bounding in.

"Alrighty, alrighty guys!! Everyone's here! So let's get this party started!" Komaru yells out from the kitchen. "I ordered some pizza! We've got drinks of alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties. Also... chips galore!"

Makoto stops throwing streamers and beams. "Anyone got any ideas for party games?"

"I've got that covered," Kyoko says with a confident smirk. She'd look really badass if she wasn't covered in streamers. Not even bothering to shake them off, she gestures to the machine. "This is a polygraph machine. Aka a lie detector. And while of course it isn't the most accurate, I figure it could make for an interesting twist on Truth or Dare. Plus, I'm working on trying to identify lies by visual cues, so it's also a bit of a challenge for myself."

"Leave it to Kyoko to come up with an awesome idea like that," Big Mac grins, scratching at the back of his neck.

She smiles back at him. "This will be a bit more of a private affair. I'll be in a room, and the person asking the question can choose somebody to ask. The two of them will come in with me and ask the question. The rest of you will be in this room here. As long as that works for Eiko," she explains. She looks at me with this sly, almost impish expression.

"That's p-perfectly fine," I nod, seeing where she's going with this. "I'll go l-last, okay guys?"

"Of course! You're the birthday girl. What you say goes. But I do have a quick question," Makoto informs us.

"And what would that be?"

"Can we ask YOU questions, Kyoko?"

"W-Well, yes. Though I AM the one working the machine, so you have no way of knowing whether I'm telling the truth or not," she answers back.

"Lemme go first! Pleaaase?" Hina begs. When Kyoko gives a nod of confirmation, she grabs Komaru's hand and giggles as the three of them enter my bedroom together.

Once Hina's done, Komaru stays in the room and second longer and then whisks me in there ato ask me if Byakuya and I have kissed yet, of course. I explain that she'd been there for practically all of the times we were ever even remotely physically affectionate, so no. She seems mildly disappointed but is nonetheless supportive.

Yasuhiro takes his turn to ask Byakuya something, Byakuya asks Makoto, and then Makoto just doesn't leave for a while. Presumably, he asks Kyoko. Then it's my turn. Kyoko tells me that before I give a question, I can ask about one person's question. Apparently, each person gets the benefit of listening in on one conversation. "Soooo... Makoto."

She sighs a bit, ruffling her hair. "How did I know you were going to ask about that?"

"Spill!"

"You can probably guess," she mentions, a trace of rosy blush surfacing in her pale face.

"S-So what did you say?!" I ask, practically about to fall out of my seat.

"I share his sentiments. Were you expecting any different?"

"No, but I just needed confirmation!! My Big Mac's got a d-date!" I squeal happily.

She can't help herself but reveal an affectionate warmth in her eyes. "Alright. Go get the person you want to interrogate." She waves me away impatiently, resting her chin in her hand. Thrilled to bits, I throw subtlety to the wind. I take Byakuya by the hand, even intertwining his fingers in mine.

But no matter how excited I am, I'm just not a bold enough person to follow Makoto's example. Just flat-out inviting him on a date or asking if he likes me is too brash. So instead, I ask something that's been on my mind. "Byakuya... did you know what those flowers r-represent when you g-got that bouquet?"

Too prideful to look startled or nervous aside from a couple of blinks, he holds his head up high. "Naturally. Though not off the top of my head. I read a few articles on flower language in preparation for it."

I glance at Kyoko. "This says he's telling the truth, and I believe it. He doesn't seem nervous."

"Well... thank you. I appreciate the message." I appreciate you feeling understood by me.

As if to mask the vulnerability that he secretly shared with me, he wears a cocky smirk. "Of course, I had them trimmed from the Togami Estate's garden. Be grateful."

The second time around, Hina asks me if I actually like her now, to which the obvious answer is "Duh." When it's my turn, I learn about how Komaru asked Byakuya if he still genuinely wanted to regrow the Togami Empire to its former glory. Apparently, he tried to lie before admitting that he wasn't exactly sure. For my question, I ask Yasuhiro if he ever tries to secretly read our fortunes. The answer is an unabashed yes.

We go for one more round. From Hina's question to Hiro, I discover that he occasionally acts dumber than he is, but he lied before giving that info and wouldn't tell her why. I ask Makoto if he thinks his work-life balance is healthy. He confesses that he feels overworked a decent amount, so I give him sisterly hugs and offer to help with what I can. He asks me a question right back. With that signature Naegi empathy, he asks which of our deceased classmates I miss the most. I explain to him that of course I feel closer to the survivors, since we've had so many years together, but that it'd have to be Hifumi. I like the fact that this version has so much privacy. I feel like the questions are much more intimate.

When everyone's wrapped it up, we eat the snacks and pizza that was recently delivered. We also drink umeshu and green tea cocktails. The small bit of buzz just makes me feel this warm happiness in the pit of my stomach. Byakuya makes a big fuss about commoner food, but seems much cheerier than he wants to appear.

We play some slightly tipsy musical chairs and the strange disease diagnosis game. Everyone gets beyond hypercompetitive, to the point where there's legitimate (though still loving) rage in my house. After having exerted a significant amount of energy, we get into our pajamas and settle down to watch some old film noirs, like Pale Flower and Stray Dog. I start to get a little groggy and tired despite the high stakes in the movies.

Some of us have started to lie down, me included. I take off my glasses and turn my head. It looks like he's fallen asleep facing me. There's that childish, uninhibited part of me that wants to cuddle right up against him. But he's sleeping. And the word of the day (the word of everyday) is consent. So instead, I trace my finger in shapes on his chest. It starts as random squiggles but eventually turns to letters. "Mental Beauty." "Understood." I giggle silently before letting myself fall asleep.

In the morning, I make pancakes while Big Mac makes miso soup and rice. That way, people can choose whether they want American or Japanese style breakfast. I drown my pancakes in syrup, of course, as the group jovially discusses art from this museum they found on the Internet. It's a good morning for me. Eventually, people start to dwindle as they head back home.

I look down at the bundle of presents and cards in front of me. I try to keep my composure and fail as the most energetic part of me bubbles over with joyful laughter. After reading and opening and admiring everything, I put some of the gifts in my special items box (a new silver-ish one from Byakuya himself) and quickly catch another glimpse of the bouquet.

I want to understand you even more.