Persona 3: Never To Leave

Closer

22/07/09 Morning

“Eh? I can’t believe it. You haven’t even told me when your birthdays are coming up yet!” Okaa-san smiled. “Come on. Tell…” That smile of hers turned into a grin.

“Um… the twenty-ninth of February…” I replied sheepishly. “Mine’s on the twenty-second of the same month!” Minako exclaimed. “Oh, I see…” Haruno looked up thoughtfully with a furrowed brow. “No wonder. The twenty-ninth only comes each leap year, and the twenty-second seems to be related to the number of Arcana.” She nodded to herself. “Well, that’s sure special.”

“Oh yeah… this year’s a leap year.” I mumbled to myself. “That’s what I was thinking.” Okaa-san agreed. “But, since onii-chan doesn’t have his birthday date every year, when will we celebrate?” My imoto wondered.

“Why not just hold it on the twenty-eighth then?” I suggested. “Well…Ok onii-chan!”

I woke up to the soft tickle of sunlight on my nose. Man… It’s been a while since I’ve slept like that. It has been a while since I’ve woken up smiling instead of waking up sweating and in pain. Looks like someone has been doing a good job of keeping bad memories at bay…

Well actually, I’ve been talking to one of my son’s friends… Morpheus is his name. You mean the god of dreams? Yes, that’s right. I saw how you were taking those nightmares, so I put in a good word for you.

My mouth upturned into a small but grateful smile, not that she could see it. …Thanks Nyx. It’s no problem. I will do my best to make this as painless as possible. Well, that’s a relief. But, is Morpheus ok with this? Why do you worry?

Well… I’m sure he’s got other people to attend to as well… You really are a strange one. But, Morpheus was more than happy to help you actually. For whatever reason. I wonder why… I really don’t know Minato. Well tell him he has my thanks, yeah? Nyx chuckled. Of course. Thank you.

I was feeling in a pretty good mood, and for pretty obvious reasons. I’m not usually a morning person, but when I’m feeling especially calm and content I don’t mind as much. And it helps that because of this, it becomes harder to make me angry during the day.

I might as well make the most of today, because it’s the last day that we’re going to spend at Yakushima. On that note, I got up from my bed and did my daily routine before heading down to the kitchen and making myself some toast with peanut butter on it. Peanut butter. Only second to… well actually it’s my favourite spread. Never mind. “Hey senpai.”

The familiar bluenette made his way to the table. After which his forehead met the glass that sat on top of the table. “Still tired?” A muffled chuckle came from Minato. “I’m almost always tired in the morning.” I walked over and sat down, munching happily on the piece of toast in my mouth.

Finishing breaking down a bite and swallowing, I grinned to the bluenette. “Happy birthday.” I pushed the remaining two pieces of toast over to him. I make too much toast sometimes. I did not need to make five. Eh, who cares? His hungry gaze met the still warm and crusty pieces of heaven in front of him. They were pretty much begging to be eaten.

The generous spread of peanut butter, the golden hue of the once white bread, the crunch of the darkened crust… Ok, now I’m going into too much detail. “Thanks.” He slowly grabbed one of the pieces of toast… Oh damn. That perfect crunch was enticing… I’m getting distracted from my own. Keep eating dammit.

And a relaxed and happy expression returned to the stoic teen. Moving on from toast and butter… The others came down some minutes later, and eventually, the maids were left to make breakfast for the rest of the crew.