Work Text:
“MAAAIIIII!”
Riri’s voice was unmistakable even before Mai saw her. The fact that she was blubbering was even more unmistakable. When the girl finally rounded the corner to the part of the lounge where Mai was sitting, the girl’s face was the picture of misery. Impulsively, Mai opened her arms wide for the girl, and Riri collapsed into them without even a moment’s hesitation.
It would have been scary, if Mai hadn’t already had a good idea what Riri was so upset about.
“They… Onee-sama...” Riri sobbed. “They canceled the play that I got her tickets to! And Onee-sama’s birthday is tomorrow! There’s no way I can get her a gift that she’ll love! Not in time!”
Mai patted Riri on the head. “It’s not your fault, Riri,” she said as soothingly as she could. “It’s hard not being a Lily, you know? If you ever bump into a Huge, all you can do is run for your life and hope they aren’t faster than you. Not surprising they would cancel a performance after there was an attack nearby. Just to be safe.”
“I knooow,” the girl whined tearfully, her voice muffled as she pressed her face against Mai’s chest. “But it still ruined everything! What do I do now, Mai-sama?”
Mai smiled down at the pink-haired girl. “Listen. You’ve got that crystal collection, don’t you, Riri?” she said. “I know you’ve offered Yuyu crystals before, and she hasn’t taken them, but when it’s her birthday, it’s different. Give Yuyu your very favorite one. Tell her that. Tell her what you wanted to do for her and couldn’t, through no fault of your own, and I know she’ll accept your gift and be just as delighted.”
Riri sniffled. The other Lily’s sobs had finally quieted, but she was far from her usual cheerful self. “I trust you, Mai-sama, but it’s hard to believe that…” she said in a small voice.
“I’ve known Yuyu for years, so you’d better,” Mai said, squeezing Riri gently. “Think of it this way. Say that Yuyu wanted to get you a nice birthday gift, but things didn’t work out. So she gave you a hug instead. Would you be unhappy with that, Riri?”
Riri blinked up at Mai a few times before her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. Upon seeing the look on her face, Mai couldn’t help but let out a warm chuckle.
“You give Yuyu a hug too, Riri. And a heartfelt gift. And I promise you it’ll be the best birthday she’s had in a long time,” Mai continued, then paused. “I don’t even know if anyone’s done something for Yuyu’s birthday in the past few years. Matsuri might’ve... or Misuzu a long time ago, but if they did, it was in private.”
There was someone else who could have celebrated Yuyu’s birthday, even during the other Lily’s year of solitude. But she hadn’t done that. As she realized that, Mai abruptly found herself regretting it.
If Riri noticed Mai’s change of mood, she didn’t react. The girl had turned her head to the side, letting it rest on Mai’s chest. “It’s still so disappointing,” she continued in that small voice. “I’ll only get this one birthday with Onee-sama, and then another, and then she’ll graduate…”
“Well, then, we better make Yuyu’s next birthday awesome,” Mai declared, ignoring the complex feelings welling up inside her. “We’ll save up and buy two sets of tickets, in case one doesn’t work out. We’ll stand guard at the theater day and night. Personally. And if we have to, we’ll put on the darn play ourselves!” She knew very well that some of those things weren’t very realistic, but the two of them had a year to figure it out.
Mai let her arms slip away from the girl. She put her hands on Riri’s shoulders and stood her at a distance, fixing her with a serious look. “In the meantime, Riri, you find the nicest box and ribbons you can, and give Yuyu a crystal she’ll know is full of all your love. And a hug,” she told the younger Lily. “And…”
She paused, suddenly unable to find the words.
“Mai-sama?” Riri asked, with a hint of confusion.
“I’ll, uh,” Mai continued. “I’ll do something nice for Yuyu as well, earlier in the day. So it won’t be just you. Okay, Riri?” She smiled as brightly as she could, and was relieved to see Riri return her smile, the girl’s cheer finally making its return.
“Okay, Mai-sama!” Riri replied brightly. “Thank you so much!” She’d just spent a while in Mai’s arms, but Riri gave Mai another quick hug nonetheless. That was how the girl was. Would be nice if Yuyu was that much of a hugger, Mai idly thought.
Riri skipped off, and Mai felt warm inside as she watched the girl depart. Then she lifted her hand and rubbed the back of her head.
Now what am I gonna do for Yuyu’s birthday?
The answer came to her far more easily than she’d expected.
“Hey, Yuyu!” Mai said as she saw the dark-haired girl emerge from her classroom. She lifted herself off from where she’d been leaning against the nearby wall, trying to make it look natural, and not like she’d skipped her previous class to make sure she caught Yuyu. The two knew each other well enough that Yuyu probably wouldn’t be fooled, but that wasn’t a big deal.
Besides, I would’ve skipped it no matter what. Why do they even make us second-years do drills?
“Mai,” Yuyu said, sounding slightly surprised as she made her way through the small throng of departing students to her legionmate. “What’s the occasion?”
“C’mon, Yuyu,” Mai said, giving her an affectionate slap on the back, to which Yuyu didn’t react. “It’s your birthday! Did you forget?” While she was a little curious if Yuyu actually had forgotten, it wasn’t important, so Mai kept talking. “Got any plans for lunch today?”
“I planned to get the cafeteria special,” Yuyu replied. “Riri mentioned she’d like to go to the summer festival next month, so I’ve been trying to put away some money for that, and the small things add up.” The other Lily frowned. “It isn’t just udon or something today, is it? That is... if you happened to see, Mai,” she asked.
“The special’s never anything fancy,” Mai replied, then smiled brightly. “But that doesn’t matter, because lunch is on me!” She took a deep breath, then made herself say the words. “In fact, I made it myself, Yuyu!”
Yuyu blinked several times. “You can cook, Mai?” she asked, seeming genuinely astonished. Had she reacted that way to anyone else, their feelings might have been hurt. But Mai had never been the type to take things personally, and that was probably why Yuyu hadn’t felt the need for decorum.
“Of course I can,” Mai said, grinning. “You know I like Vietnamese food, right? Who do you think makes it? I’m not Kusumi, but I can throw together a decent lunch, if I say so myself.”
Yuyu cast her gaze down. “So, um... should we go to your room, Mai?” she asked. “For lunch, I mean.”
After a moment’s pause, Mai shook her head. “Nah. I brought it with me,” she said. “Let’s just find a place to sit. And I say we do it outside! There’s a nice breeze today!” Wrapping her arm around Yuyu’s waist, she started walking the other girl towards the nearest exit. Yuyu still looked like she wasn’t quite sure what to think. But Mai knew this would work out.
She’d made it sound casual—at least Mai hoped she had—but it hadn’t been easy, getting Yuyu’s gift ready.
First, she’d needed a recipe. Mai might have spent half her life in Vietnam, but she couldn’t cook just anything from pure memory. (Unless it was bún chả, anyway. Mai made that for herself a lot, but she’d had Yuyu try it before and the girl’s reaction had been lukewarm. She wasn’t going to hope Yuyu’s tastes had changed since.) After the handful of cookbooks in Yurigaoka’s library had gotten her nowhere, Mai had gone to Fumi, who was better with computers than her, and they’d managed to find one on the Internet.
Fumi had helped with the second part of the plan as well. Apparently the Futagawa family bakery didn’t normally sell baguettes, but Mai’s legionmate had talked her family into baking a special order of them, on just this one morning. Since it was a custom order, Mai had even asked them to mix in some rice flour. She’d tasted one first thing that morning, and it was exactly like she remembered. Kaede would probably spit this baguette on the ground and yell nasty nicknames at Fuumin, though… better not let her find out.
After that, Mai had gone around shopping for the vegetables, then marinated them and the meat. She had a few bandages on her fingers from getting everything all ready. Since she was an amateur cook, chopping wasn’t her specialty, and there had been a lot of chopping to do.
But it had all come together, and now all that was left was to see what Yuyu thought.
“It’s a sandwich,” Yuyu said.
“A special sandwich,” Mai replied. “We call it bánh mì. I heard that before the Huge came, it was really popular in a bunch of parts of the world, not just Vietnam. Though it never caught on in Japan,” she admitted.
Yuyu peered at the sandwich in her hands, trying to make out what was in it; she wasn’t so rude as to open it up, though. “Well, I do like sandwiches,” she acknowledged. “What’s special about it?”
“Take a bite and find out,” Mai said. She lifted her own bánh mì to her mouth and lead the way with a big bite. It wasn’t quite as special for her as she hoped it would be for Yuyu; she’d already tasted it, and all of the things that had gone into it, this morning. But it wasn’t bad. Not at all.
For her, it was the taste of home.
After a moment further, Yuyu took a judicious bite—not large, but not insultingly small. She paused again, then chewed and swallowed, looking thoughtful. “It’s spicy,” the dark-haired Lily observed.
“Sure is,” Mai said. “They actually don’t make them this spicy where I’m from. But I remembered you like spicy food, Yuyu.” She took another bite, and so did Yuyu, this one larger.
“It’s not bad at all,” Yuyu said, and the words seemed to lift a weight off Mai—one she hadn’t known had been there. A delighted smile rose to her face. “I’m glad you like it, Yuyu!” Mai exclaimed. “Just let me know if you ever want another… though I might need a couple days, ‘cause I gotta get the bread from Fuumin!”
“The bread’s special too?” Yuyu asked.
“Yup. It’s a kind of baguette, you know, the French bread. Uh, don’t tell Kaede that, though. We make them a little differently in Vietnam,” Mai replied. “Fuumin’s folks baked it for me.”
Yuyu looked at the sandwich in her hands, her expression uncertain. “How much work did you put into this, Mai?” she asked.
“Enough for it to be a decent birthday present. I hope,” Mai replied. “So you better finish it! If not, I’m eating your leftovers!” She hoped Yuyu wouldn’t take her up on the offer; she was feeling a bit full already.
To Mai’s relief, Yuyu took another bite. And another.
Then the dark-haired girl smiled.
Mai had finished her bánh mì. She was stuffed. Next time, I’m gonna make it a day ahead of time… hope it won’t get soggy in the fridge, she thought to herself. Of course, if it’s not for Yuyu’s birthday, I won’t be so keen to taste-test everything.
Yuyu still had a few bites left of her sandwich, but Mai wasn’t going to insist on finishing them for her, not when she’d seemed to enjoy it. She probably just wasn’t very hungry, or was watching her weight. The gentle breeze played around the two of them, causing Yuyu’s long hair to waft in the wind as Mai watched her.
"Say, Yuyu, have you decided what you're going to do after you graduate?" Mai asked.
Yuyu paused, then shook her head. "Not really. I've thought about becoming an instructor here at Yurigaoka, or at some other Garden, but that might be tempting fate," she replied.
"I've got to go back to Vietnam, myself," Mai said. "The Gardens there need me—all the things I've learned here at Yurigaoka.” She turned away, gazing off into the distance. The school building blocked it from view, but past its walls lay the blue sea. Seemingly endless, but somewhere on the other side of that sea was her home. No matter how many years she spent in Japan, it would always be her home.
When Mai went home, she knew there was that left behind which she would miss. But it was still something she had to do.
“You could call it blind hope, but my little brother's still out there somewhere,” the Lily continued. “I can feel it in my heart."
"And, well..." Mai scratched her cheek, unable to stop her embarrassment from showing on her face.
"I thought it'd be real nice if you came, Yuyu. At least for a visit. It's beautiful there, and everyone's got a lot of heart. I think you'd like it in Vietnam," she blurted out. “Uh, you can bring Riri, of course, unless she’s off doing her own thing by then.”
Yuyu gave Mai a long, thoughtful look. Her gaze dropped to what was left of the sandwich in her hands.
"If nothing else, I'm quite sure I'd prefer the food there," she said, with a small smile.