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Obi knew he was a little early for lunch, but that wasn’t usually a problem. He’d hover over Ryu’s shoulder, climb the bookshelves, see how long he could follow Suzu around before he noticed, or just sit and watch Shirayuki read. He was an expert at entertaining himself in the Lyrias pharmacy. But today Shirayuki was nowhere to be found. It was his day off, and she’d specifically asked him to come by and get her at lunchtime.
Ryu wasn’t much help. “I sent her to the garrison. With a delivery.” Something about how he said it was a little off, but trying to analyze Ryu’s speech patterns always ended in incorrect assumptions, so Obi just took it at face value. He decided to go see if he could catch her on the way back and divert her for lunch. As the main door closed behind him, he heard an outburst in the library, but in Lyrias those generally involved esoteric and subtle points of contention and Obi barely even registered them anymore.
She always took the same route to the garrison infirmary, and he didn’t find her anywhere along the way. The garrison doctor seemed to think she was going to chat with the new recruits on the way back. Every couple of months Obi had to take someone aside and gently explain about Prince Zen. He’d had his eye lately on a trio of new guards who’d adopted her as a mascot. They seemed harmless enough, but he was watching.
The new recruits said she’d gone back to the pharmacy, and Obi assumed he’d just missed her in making the loop. Now she was probably back in her office wondering why he was late. He took the most direct route back, dropping into the library through an upper window.
Suzu dropped his book when Obi materialized behind him. “I haven’t seen her in hours. Maybe Shidan knows?”
Obi wasn’t about to bother Shidan just to track down Shirayuki, but Izuru knew everything Shidan knew and more, and she was always fun to flirt with. She sent him out to the remote greenhouses to check with Yuzuri, which was probably the first place Obi should have checked. If Shirayuki was distracted somewhere and it wasn’t the library, the greenhouses were the next best place to look.
His stomach growled. He’d slept in and skipped breakfast, and so far everything today was going wrong. Maybe he should just go park himself at Shirayuki’s desk until she showed up, and then she was absolutely paying for his lunch. He’d already hiked all the way across Lyrias once and now he had to go search all the greenhouses.
Yuzuri was, as suited his mood exactly, in the very last greenhouse. Taking notes on a row of beet plants, alone. She, of course, hadn’t seen Shirayuki in a while either, but thought she had something to ask Lata Forzeno. Shirayuki, being fascinated by his work and one of the only people he thought worth talking to, might have gotten hung up there.
Obi groaned, but took off toward the geology buildings. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Yuzuri sprinting back toward the pharmacy. Maybe she’d realized it was lunchtime and was getting something to eat. Lucky girl.
Lata Forzeno didn’t even open his door. He recognized Obi’s voice and just yelled “Go away!” Obi listened for a complaint from Shirayuki, and when there was nothing but silence he accepted that she wasn’t there either.
His stomach said to go get food and apologize later, but no, she’d expressly asked him to spend time with her. There was a perfectly reasonable chance that he was just missing her in passing . . . at least three times . . . by bad luck. So he’d stop running around and go back to her desk and starve. He’d look pitiful and she’d take care of him. And maybe next time she wouldn’t go running errands when she had a lunch date.
The pharmacy was eerily quiet when he swung open the main door. Nobody was shouting orders down from the second floor or accusing anyone else of stealing their ink. It was lunchtime. Maybe everyone was out? Two steps into the room, he heard a scuff and realized he wasn’t alone. He took another step, trying to look casual while listening for the sound again, and he heard a low voice. He planted a foot and prepared to go for his knives. “Hello?” he asked.
More people than he’d seen in the pharmacy at once since the plague came jumping and running from all directions, yelling “Surprise!” in anything but unison. The pharmacists were lucky to be alive. His recruit class, because they were there too, really should have known better. Shirayuki, at the front of the pack, grinning for all she was worth, really should have known better too, but he couldn’t help but smile back. She looked immensely pleased with herself.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked, as Shirayuki bounced up next to him and grabbed his arm. She started towing him to a side room where they’d laid out food and, of all things, a cake.
“We’ve been here more than a year and never celebrated your birthday. So it’s a birthday party for you!”
“And it’s today why?” Obi was still trying to catch up.
“You never answer when anyone asks personal questions so we didn’t think you’d tell us when it is. So we took a vote.”
“You voted. On a birthday for me.” Obi tried to keep a straight face, not knowing just what would come out if he let his lips move. On one hand the entire concept was hilarious. The lopsided cake had “Obi” spelled out on top in mint leaves. That had to have been Ryu’s handiwork. On the other hand, she got the entire pharmacy and half the garrison involved in a surprise not-a-birthday party for him. That was . . . incredibly sweet.
His stomach growled, saving him from saying anything more as Shirayuki towed him to where Suzu was handing out sausages and rolls. “I’m impressed you didn’t let anything slip,” he said, accepting a plate.
“Don’t be,” Suzu replied. “Everybody knows I can’t keep secrets, so I only found out ten minutes ago.”
That was just the last straw. Cradling his plate, Obi sat on the floor and howled with laughter.
He still couldn’t get over it by the end of the day, as he and Shirayuki talked after dinner. “Do you know the best part of all this, miss?”
She shook her head, still smug but a bit bemused by how excited he still was.
“I don’t even know when my birthday is. So this is definitely going to be it from now on. For a first birthday present ever, it was the best birthday present ever.”