Hana's Birthday (Saya)

No school today, Saya thought.

She was still in bed. Saturdays were something special to her when her father was not around. Her room stayed as messy as possible. She never let the servants in to clean. That was her space and hers alone.

She looked at the pink ribbon she ended up buying at the marketplace, a perfect present for Hana. Now all she had to do was wrap it up. Paper, some string and something to cut with.

She raced out of her room in her pyjamas straight to the kitchen.

Okay, paper, paper, paper, Saya muttered to herself. She was ruffling through the kitchen drawers.

No paper here.

She saw Seigen Sensei busy with his morning breathing exercises. Maybe, sensei forgets how to breathe, so he needs rigorous practice, she thought.

She remembered seeing a book inside his living courters that had beautiful pages. She snuck around the garden behind the house toward the detached property Seigen resides.

The place was clean and minimalistic. She spotted the book on the shelf. Finding things was intuitive. Everything seemed so logically placed.

The book was old as she suspected the pages inside a beautiful brown the text created geometric patterns which would look perfect wrapped around Hana's present.

Wait, is this book important?…hmm, Saya thought, well, Seigen sensei is blind, and it's not brailled. That was the extent of her analysis of the situation, the middle pages looked especially lovely, so those are the ones she took.

Okay, now some string and something to cut with.

For the string, she already had a good idea. The Bows in the Armory had the best string. If she was going to wrap Hana's present, it had to be the best. After using a katana, she found in the armoury to cut the bow's string. She decided it was as good as anything else to use it to cut her paper neatly.

She took everything she collected and sat on the front porch to wrap Hana's gift.

Naturally, the result of her present wrapping was akin to throwing a cloth on the dishes and considering them clean.

All done! I can't wait for tomorrow, she said.

Of course, she couldn't just walk into the Hoshikawa residence after what happened at the market the day before. Not that she could have done so if that had not happened anyway.

Now what.

Saya thought both about how she would give Hana the present but also, now that she had finished wrapping it, what would she do with the rest of her day.

She thought about how she would be able to sneak in to see Hana for her birthday, but she had never been to her house. She knew where she stayed, but her father never permitted the visit even before the falling out between him and Mr Hoshikawa.

I'll get the lay of the land and make a plan for tomorrow.

She changed out of her pyjamas and wore black clothing to blend in with her surroundings. She did not consider that the sun was still out and wearing black would do nothing to conceal her presence, but this was not the time for well thought out plans.

She had to sneak out of the house as Seigen wouldn't usually let her leave the manor unless she was going to school.

She used her secret way out through the top-floor window, down the big tree and out the side gate.

To her surprise, she found a servant waiting for her with a packed lunch and her wooden katana at the side gate.

With her head down and her spirit crushed, Saya took the lunch and said thank you.

But she would not let a minor miscalculation which led to a botched escape keep her down. It was clearly a fluke the chances of someone spotting her escape from the window on the top floor down a tree that overlooked the garden as she shimmied down the tree trunk back to the ground floor that she started on was 1 in a million. It just goes to show that even the best of plans can fail.

"Hello, Saya," said an elderly woman from the other side of the street.

Hi, how are the grandkids?

"Causing trouble, as usual. You should come to the store sometime."

I will. Thanks. Have a good day.

"You too, dear."

Granny Tanaka's store sold magical accessories. Most didn't do much, but she would get Epic Grade accessories every now and again. Well, that is what she told me once. Everyone always thinks they have the next epic grade something, but those are weapons used in wars. Most people have never even seen them.

She had finally reached the Hoshikawa residence. The Manor was below a cliffside. She climbed onto the cliff and wormed her way closer to the edge.

"It seems heavily guarded, "she thought." Two guards at the front gate and a few more making rounds around the manor."

She wondered where Hana's room was as she watched her little brother being instructed to use a sword. It seemed so peaceful. Is that Ms Hoshikawa? She looked so beautiful in her kimono it appeared as if they were getting ready to go somewhere.

Oh, there's Hana, she thought. She was also in a beautiful kimono. They were definitely going somewhere, perhaps an early birthday outing. But what about the little brother? Are they leaving him? No, don't leave him by himself, she thought.

She quickly pulled her head back as she thought one of the guards had spotted her.

It's so different.

Saya thought about how different the scene she saw was compared to her own family. She wondered what had happened between her father and Mr Hoshikawa and why he had stripped him of his power.

Oh, wait, I'm supposed to find a way to sneak in tomorrow.

She spent a few more hours formulating the perfect plan after the Hoshikawa family left.

Having gathered as much information as she could, she went home with a full proof plan that could not fail.

And finally, the day had arrived, Hana's 16th birthday. The plan was simple, wake up and casually slip away from the house. Of course, this time, she would boldly walk out the side gate and take her prepared lunch gracefully with her wooden sword and wrapped present in hand.

But once she had reached the manor, the real plan would begin. The two guards at the gate need something to distract them, so she would offer to babysit the trouble-making grandkids and let them run interference while they distract the two guard's at the gate.

She would take advantage of the opening and casually slip in, cutting around the grounds where Hana's little brother was being trained while systematically evading the roaming guards and finally, from there, it was a simple matter of finding Hana's exact location in a manor with 15 or more rooms. How hard could it be?

Wait, what do you mean I can't babysit the kids.

"Saya, my dear, the last time you fed the cat, we had to revive it. Now it may only have one life left."

Okay, but I'm not going to feed the kids.

Everyone in the store snapped their heads toward Saya in shock. Needless to say, the very core of her plan was foiled before it began.

"Saya," Hana said.

Ahh, now I'm hearing her voice. This is going great.

"Saya,"

Will this torment never end?

Hana held her hand. "Saya, what are you doing here?"

Saya snapped out of her downward spiral and hugged her.

Mission accomplished, Saya Said.

"What mission?"

Never mind that I got you a gift.

Hana looked at the gift Saya, seemingly flustered. She seemed to love it. Saya could tell because she held it with her thumb and index finger. She clearly did not want to ruin the packaging.

"Why didn't you put that ribbon in a box?" one of the trouble-making grandkids said.

"Why wrap something if you were not going to cover the whole thing?" the second chimed in.

Saya's blood boiled, and her body tensed up as if it was screaming to say - that is none of your business - but those words did not come out of her mouth.

"I love it," Hana said as she carefully opened the packing.

"Uhm, Saya?"

Yeah, Saya replied, feeling pleased that she loved the gift.

"Why did you use the pages from the book of illusions?"

Saya quickly grabbed the pages and looked at them closely, and they were indeed pages from that book. While it only contained basic mind magic, it was still an Epic grade artefact.

We have two copies at home. She said as she put the pages securely in her pocket.

That could have been bad was the sort of thoughts that echoed in her mind. Crisis averted; no one will notice if I just slip these pages back but what is important right now is.

Happy birthday Hana.