Paradise (Suzu birthday extra)

Anonymous Fri Mar 30 16:27:42 2012 No.2752182
>>2751694
November 4th
Taking the name Suzu and converting it from ASCII to binary gives us 01010011011101010111101001110101
Converting that Binary value to decimal form leaves us with 5469562
Now let's divide out the number of days in a year, 365.25
Now we have 14 974.8446
What's important here is the decimal number, since everything before it is meaningless, given the way that years roll over from December 31st to January 1st anyway

.8446*365.25 is equal to 308; you might call this the remainder

Therefore, Suzu's birthday is on the 308th day of the year, which, in 1989, was Saturday, November 4th



Paradise


“So, hey. You.” I give the girl sitting next to me a nudge, she raises her head a little slowly to blink at me. She does that slowly too. She's obviously dragging, Suzu hasn't gone dark once all day long and it's really starting to get on my nerves.

“What. What?” She mumbles, looking like she's desperately fighting off a yawn. The three of us, me, her and Hisao are hanging out in her room, just passing the time on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The TV is playing some 90's era science fiction movie and Hisao is chilling on the bed and reading something. He's in on the plan, of course, but I wouldn't trust him not to get too absorbed in whatever fascinating piece of literature he's rescued from Suzu's floor this time and forget about our scheme.

Speaking of Suzu, she's still staring at me, her head is getting a little wobbly. Good, it shouldn't be much longer now. “Anything going on today?” I ask her, making sure my expression is blank and innocent.

She gives a shrug that takes so long to execute that I think it would probably fail to qualify as one, and now she's blinking a lot. Almost there.

“We could go get dinner.” She says hazily.

“It's 2 PM.” Hisao chimes in, his words punctuated by the turning of a page. We're sitting with our backs against the bed, Suzu turns to look in his direction but she's grimacing, she's squinting now. She's trying to hold on so hard and it's adorable but c'mon, Suzu, this is happening. Just do it already.

“I meant... I meant later, when it's... when it's dinner...” Nope, she's gone. Suzu sinks sideways, her head landing on my shoulder in a maneuver that we have down perfectly by now, even if she does it subconsciously. Unconsciously.

“Hisao.” I call.

Another page turns. “Hmm.”

“Get up and help me grab her.”

He seems reluctant to part with his book but complies, escaping from Suzu's admittedly comfortable bed and sliding down to crouch next to her.

“Miki, tell me why we're doing this again?” He asks, carefully reaching forward to sling one of the sleeping girl's arms over his shoulder.

“Because she's a gaylord.” I huff, pretending to be annoyed as I take her other arm. We begin to haul her up, luckily for us she's not very heavy, and lucky for her that me and Hisao both have this trick down too.

“I think I could probably disprove that claim.” Hisao mutters sheepishly, oh god, not this again. He can be as blushy as he wants and I'm sure she'd be happy to do the same later when she's up, but for now we have places to go, people to see and narcoleptic girls to move.

“Stow it, loverboy.” I grunt, beginning to move towards the door with our shared burden between us. “Everybody else is probably getting tired of waiting.”

“Is there a reason we had to hold off until she passed out before coming though?” Hisao asks as we step into the hallway. Other students pay us no heed, by now the entire floor is used to the sight of us carting Suzu around. It's actually kinda depressing, but that's how it goes.

“Can you think of a better way to throw a surprise party?” I grin at him before reaching for my phone, holding Suzu's arm in place with the crook of my left elbow. I scroll through my messages, remembering to delete the one that must have been a wrong number--I don't even know what the hell a strelok is, much less why I should kill it--and then finally let Molly know that we're on our way.

“She doesn't even really like surprises.” Hisao is raising an eyebrow when I glance up at him, we're still making our way towards the exit. “Especially the waking-up kind.”

“She can deal.” I shrug, nice and crisp, unlike hers. If you were awake, you could see how it's done, Suzu. But then again...

“She doesn't really like birthday parties either.” I say with a frown.

“Why--” Hisao pauses to step forward and push open the door, easier said than done with our cargo. “--why not?”

“I'll let her tell you herself.” I suck in a breath of crisp November air as we step out and into the daylight. “But it has something to do with cakes and candles and having a tendency to wake up needing a bath and a haircut, in that order.”

Hisao laughs for only a brief moment, shaking his head and gazing fondly at the girl draped between us. Months ago he might have stared at her in horror or with pity as he thought it over, but not now. Now he knows better. Suzu is just being silly anyway, she would have been perfectly fine with spending the whole day with the people she cared about the most and not seeing a single present, but I know she's going to love this. She'd better, and she will. I just hope she doesn't wake up before it's time, but she looks like she's down for the count right now. Good.


We manage to descend the hill without incident, pressing on through the streets and carrying her through the doors of the Beijing. We plant her in our usual booth, it takes her another good hour to wake up, lucky for us that the guests don't seem to mind, they're all happy to sit around munching on snacks and talking about the upcoming winter holidays. Hisao was going to help us make sure everything was ready but Suzu latched onto him in her sleep and wouldn't let go, not that he has the heart to deny her. So he sat there with her, just resting his head against hers until eventually he conked out too.

Like peas in a pod by now, or something like that. Hell, I don't know. And it was cute, but everyone has been waiting and Yuuko is starting to get antsy now, she's talking about how she feels like a traitor being at a rival restaurant and hopes her boss doesn't catch sight of her. Afternoon has turned into evening and it's time to get this show on the road--well no, we were already on the road and now we're here. So it's time to get this party started.

At my signal, Taro brings the cake out from the back. It's massive, decked with dark blue frosting and swirls of bright yellow and white--stars and moons. On a hunch, I had asked him to put them there, since Suzu and Hisao have been spending so many nights outside stargazing lately. Taro knows his stuff, it looks delicious, and I think those are even cream puffs--covered in chocolate? Oh, hell yes--stuck to the sides. With extra care, he sets it down on the table in front of the two sleeping lovebirds, here we go.

I slide into the booth next to Suzu and give her a good shake, then reach behind her to slap Hisao on the head. Boys can handle a rude awakening but birthday girls deserve the best. Hisao is the first to stir, he's yawning and sitting up. But Suzu is coming back now, the assembled crowd trades glances for a moment, I stand up, pumping my fist in the air. Here we go, here we go!

The girl in the booth slowly opens her eyes--

--and here it comes.

“Now.” I give the command, and we raise our voices as one.

“Happy birthday Suzu!”

Her eyes fly open, the wave of cheers and clapping causes her to flinch for a moment, she's definitely still waking up. But then understanding dawns, her head darts back and forth, taking in the sight of so many smiling faces. I'm here, of course, and so are Molly and Ikuno, Taro, Akio and some of her other friends from the literature club. Yuuko is still looking a little uneasy, but she smiles widely, standing next to Shizune and Misha--who has only now stopped lusting after the cake on the table--and flanked by Emi and Rin. I don't really know why those last two wanted to come but why the hell not, there's plenty of food for everyone. I even spot Lezard lurking in the kitchen out of the corner of my eye, his voice wasn't among the roar but he doesn't look like he's in a pissy mood for once.

I glance back at Suzu. Still looking kind of shocked, she gives a weak smile to the crowd and then turns to me, staring at me with--is she angry? Nope, nope, that's awe. Yup.

“Did you do this?” She mumbles, a heavy blush creeping across her face. I grin, sitting down opposite her.

“I might've had a hand in it, yeah.” I reply with a wink. She grimaces at my pun, but she knows I'm only doing it to drive away the last drop of her hesitation. Suzu shakes her head, she's smiling now, but she still looks embarrassed. She's never used to being the center of attention, probably another reason she would have stayed in her room all day. She glances back at the people standing all around, opens her mouth, then closes it and bites her lip. I know just what she's thinking, what does she say, how does she make sure they know she's grateful and blah blah blah. She worries too damn much. Everyone is smiling, everyone is happy. We're here for you, so don't be dumb.

“Cut the cake, Suzu!”

“Yeah, cut the cake!”

Suzu fidgets a little in her seat, looking down at the massive pastry set out before her. From the knowing smile she gives when she sees the design, I'm pretty sure my hunch was a good one, but then her eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise.

“No candles...” She almost whispers, taking in the sight before her. Hisao leans forward, giving her a warm smile.

“Only cream puffs.” He says gently. She turns to him, face scrunching up as if she's going to start--ah crap, she's crying now.

“Thank you.” She sputters. Looking overjoyed, she reaches to hug him tightly, she reaches up to wipe her eyes. Then she looks back at me, at the rest of us, smiling with trembling lips. “Thank you.”

“Stop crying.” I reply. She nods.

“Sorry.”

“And stop apologizing. Just cut the cake.”

She sniffs, then nods again, reaching for a plastic knife next to the dish. She moves to cut down the center and Taro begins handing out ice cream and soda, all paid for by Suzu's parents, but she doesn't need to know that yet, she lifts a slice of cake up and sets it on top of a stack of plates that someone deposits on the table. She looks like she can't believe this is even happening, she can't believe she's here. But she is, and she's totally glowing, her face is still red and she still looks embarrassed but she's so damn happy. Mission accomplished, Miki. A job well done and all that, and, oh hey, cake.

Suzu looks at all the people around, she smiles, and it's real and heartfelt and bright. Only now do I notice that her other arm is linked tightly with Hisao's, he watches her, sharing her smile. She's still crying, if only a little bit, but I don't have a single doubt that she's glad she's here.

She lifts up the plate. “Who's first?” She asks.






“Paradise” is a song by Coldplay.