Promise to Sirius (An Utapri / Uta no Prince-sama Fanfiction)

Chapter 43: Sacrifice

Camus

Camus was not one who celebrated his own birthday openly or publicly.

As much as he was royalty, as well as a man of exquisite taste, he had spent all of his birthdays with private celebrations with the company of only himself and his loyal dog Alexander and well, minor interventions from the persistent Reiji and others, and had otherwise treated the day as an ordinary day. Some shatterproof peace and quiet with a good book, cup of fragrant milk tea and delectable sweets such as chocolate and souffle was sufficient to satisfy him on this annual occasion. He did not need loud, incessant "Happy Birthday"s reverberating from every corner of the room and giving him throbbing headaches. He did not need to attend extravagant birthday parties with VIPs in front of whom he would have to keep up with his butler persona. Neither did he need much company or close to any at all. He did not need that. However, after being woken up with one of the most unconventional and incessant of ways - also known as Reiji's infamous bear hugs that had led to Ranmaru's shrieks getting neighbours to file complaints...

He was dragged along by four particular peasants, in addition to his traitorous dog, to what was definitely going to be the most idiosyncratic of all the birthdays that he had had so far in his life.

"Consider it an achievement that Alexander sided with you for the sake of your cause."

Camus heaved out a sigh as he crossed his arms.

"Alexander has more tendencies to act out when all of you, especially you, Shinomiya, are around, it seems."

Ranmaru shot him a victorious smirk and Ai laughed softly as Natsuki and Reiji laughed, with Alexander letting out a few happy barks of agreement, much to Camus' mild chagrin. Camus should have known when he saw the schedules that Ai had arranged for them for the days leading up to his birthday. Every single day ever since their victory at the STARISH V QUARTET NIGHT live had been extremely hectic with interviews, guest appearances, live shows and other kinds of idol work, with nearly all of them being group activities. He had questioned the teal-haired boy if he was planning something, and he merely answered that he was keeping the schedules effective and efficient like he always had. It was only revealed today, the 23rd of January, that this entire day had been cleared from early morning until midnight for all five of them, which was the exact reason that the previous days were necessarily hectic. And they had somehow been able to keep it a secret until this very day.

Camus had insisted that there was absolutely no necessity to go through such lengths for his birthday to be openly celebrated, but the other four had immediately disagreed, stating that they were doing this for their close friend, with a particular silver-haired rocker having no shame in pointing out, I even put a lot of thought into your present, ice king! So well knowing the fact that his traditional private birthday celebrations had been reduced into mere ashes by these peasants, he had resigned to leaving today in their hands for once as he sat in Reiji's outmoded green car between Ranmaru and Ai with his pet dog on his lap.

But if he was being fairly honest...

He did not mind resigning if it were them.

Deep down, Camus did, for once, feel special on this annual occasion that he had treated as mostly an ordinary day. Not because of the extravagance of the places that they had chosen to take him to and the private reservations that had been made. Not because of the mere fact that they were treating him when he felt that it should have been the other way around. Not because of that colossal birthday cake, chocolate fondue or grand roses, clematis and other flowers adorning the ceilings and walls. But because they did it all for him. They cared and had no qualms in expressing it in their own ways, even when his blood family... never said an "I love you" to him, even an insincere one. The four of them sacrificed their time, their savings, and their energy to give him a day to remember, and every single action that they had done for him was nothing short of earnest. It was because of them that he could truthfully confess that he would not have been thoroughly content with celebrating in solitude, even if it did bring him a form of satisfaction.