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“Here we go everyone!”
Saki threw the pillows in her arms onto the pile next to her bed. In less than 4 hours she would finally be 18, a big 1 and an 8, and for this specific occasion she had wished for all four of them to have a sleepover at her house, so she could spend the entire day with her friends. Yeah, friends totally… no hidden feelings towards the one guitarist of their band that she tries to prevent from overflowing by bringing the other two here as well. ANYWAYS. But as much as she looked forward to spending her day with them, it wasn't the only reason she was excited.
Everyone at their 18th birthday gets to spend one morning in the shoes of their ten year older self, getting to see how their life has changed in that time. She'd get to see what she’ll work as (hopefully they are still a band), if she will be together with anyone (she wishes to wake up next to Ichika's adorable bed head). But Saki also knew about the other option that could be in her future, falling sick again and having to go back to the hospital, or worse, dying from her disease. She knew she had gotten better, better than even the doctors expected… but ten years is a long time for things to change and… it was a possibility. And even if she was healthy, her friends could have abandoned her again for other reasons. Either way she’d find out in a few hours, so nothing she allowed herself to dwell on too long.
“Saki, come on, didn't you want to sleep early today?” Shiho’s voice dragged her back out of her thoughts and back to the three girls already sprawled across the blankets on the floor.
“Yeah yeah just one more thing” she pulled the blanket off her bed, also scoring her bunny-eared pillow in the process. She threw the blanket over the others, earning varied protests from the three before crawling under herself. They still talked a little about the upcoming events they’d perform at and the songs Shiho wanted them to learn until the room was completely covered in darkness.
“Saki, are you nervous?” Ichika asked from her side.
“Of course I am! We have no idea what is in our future, I am the first of us after all” Saki turned to Honami, hugging her waist causing Shiho behind her to let out a yelp. In Saki’s defense, Honami has always been soft and huggable, and it allowed her to keep some distance between Ichika and herself, so win-win really. And they were used to her overly affectionate ways as is, so no uncomfortable questions came up either.
“I am sure it will be alright” Honami tried to soothe Saki. “Tsukasa would have told us if he heard anything bad about us”
“Yeah but… what if he just didn't know? I just want us to stay friends… can you promise me that?”
“Of course” the three responded almost in unison, and surrounded by all of her friends – quite literally in Honami’s case – and cuddled up between blankets and pillows from all over the home it didn’t take long until she could feel her eyes close.
“Thanks… guys…”
“Good night Saki” Ichika's sweet voice was the last thing she heard before completely drifting off.
When Saki woke up the sterile smell of disinfectant pierced her nose and she panicked. She pulled her head up, only then noticing the patch of saliva on Honami's shoulder. Great ten more years, and evidently she still didn't seem able to sleep without drooling. Meanwhile Honami slowly roused herself, disturbed by the sudden movement.
“Saki, are you alright? Another nightmare?” Fearing her voice too fragile, she simply nodded in response. Honami mirrored the motion before getting comfy in the chair again and patting her shoulder for Saki to lean on. But instead of taking the offer, Saki looked around the room. Honami was dressed in a simple shirt with a long skirt, not unlike what she was wearing these days, but the black rings beneath her eyes told of the exhaustion she must have been feeling. Saki could see that she had matured over the years, her already motherly nature being even clearer than before. Had Honami become an actual mother, Saki wondered to herself briefly.
Moving her focus away, Saki realized they were in a waiting room, the walls lined with mostly empty chairs. Shiho sat a little away from them, her bass in its bag at her side. Her hair was cut shorter than Saki remembered, but her outfit was pretty much the same. Finally, Tsukasa sat across from Saki, and unlike the others he didn't seem to have changed at all, like he's just waiting for her to return from one of her checkup appointments and not her brother 10 years in the future. Tsukasa’s reddened eyes on top of the eye bags worried her, but she told herself unless something devastating happened he wouldn't let his sister see anything but tears of joy. But there was someone missing.
“Hona, where is Ichi?” she asked with a slight whine.
Honami took a look at her phone, 8:30a.m.
“We should be able to visit them soon” This only served to increase her panic as it confirmed what she feared, this time it was Ichika who was the sick one.
“What do you mean? Is she sick? Will she be okay?” Honami turned her head to her, a slight look of panic and confusion on her face now as well. Saki could hear Shiho groaning from the side, but she didn't care about that right now. “Can I do something to help her?!” She could feel her volume rising, standard trait of being a Tenma.
“Shh Saki, it's alright, Ichika is alright” Honami tried to calm Saki. She quietly complained that Ichika should be doing this before composing herself again.
“I think we forgot something in-between all of this right? Uh, happy birthday Saki” Honami explained shyly.
“Yes but what does that-”
“You're 18 right now aren't you?” Saki nodded slowly and Honami let out a sigh.
“Let me wake the other two and then we can try to explain things to you” They both stood up, and Honami walked over to Shiho.
Shiho woke up with another groan, rubbing her neck to loosen it up a bit until Honami seemed to have gotten the information what was happening through to her, which made her immediately look at Saki with a certain kind of pity. Saki really didn't like this. It felt like the doctors talking above her head about the illness that had her bed bound for so long, giving just enough information to make it clear she was dangerously sick without ever answering her questions. Shiho came over to Saki as Honami moved to wake the other Tenma in the room.
“Happy birthday Saki. Sorry that this is a bit… chaotic, we didn't expect…” Shiho seemed to want to say something more but was interrupted by Tsukasa.
“SAKI! MY BEAUTIFUL SISTER! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” She got enveloped by one of his bear hugs, seeing tears streaming down his face again. At least she was sure these were good tears.
“Tsukasa, Shiho, can we talk first?” Honami asked once Tsukasa released his sister and led them into the other corner of the room. Saki had to concentrate to make out their whispering.
“Should we tell her about Ichika?”
“She deserves to know, it's not like we can avoid it the entire day” Shiho responded flatly.
“Yeah but… do we deserve to tell her?”
“Hmm… I think it would be best for her to find out from Ichika herself” Tsukasa decided.
“But are you sure she can right now?” Shiho added with furrowed brows.
Saki ran between them. “You know I can hear you right? Can't I just see Ichi? Hona please?”
The three looked at each other before Honami let out another sigh and checked her phone again.
“We’re a little early but… I’m going to ask the staff”
Saki counted the seconds as Honami vanished in the distance. She had thought waking up and finding herself back in a hospital bed would be bad but never would she have imagined any of the others trading with her. And then Ichika of all people, the girl who had stayed by her side the entire time. The least she could do is be there for her now when she needs it.
Honami returned with a triumphant smile on her face. 257 seconds Saki noted to herself.
“We’ll need to be quiet on the way there but you can see her, they already felt bad having you sleep outside here”
“Huh? What do you…”
“Come, you’ll see” Honami replied with slight amusement as she already made her way into the main hall again. Saki just looked quizzically at the other two in the room, but they just pointed her to follow Honami, who was now waiting at the entrance.
A minute or so into their walk Saki came across a mirror and stopped. Her eye bags were just as terrible as the others’ had been, and her eyes were red just like her brother’s… It must have been quite the night for all of them. But now with less panic on her mind she could also see that she had grown a bit more since school, probably gained a cup size too if she looked at her side profile. The lounge pants and hoodie weren't really her style though, as comfy as they were. Honami waited patiently until Saki turned back to her again.
“Did my fashion style really become this bad?”
Honami chuckled in response.
“No, you just wanted to be comfy when we stayed here. Shiho and I came from practice when you called”
Eventually they reached a door in one of the side hallways, Saki was pretty sure she had seen a nurse come out of it just before they got here, so at least Ichika should be awake. Honami knocked politely before sticking her head inside.
“Good morning Ichika. Saki wanted to see you”
“Please… let her in” Well this was an unusual tone from Ichika. She was definitely exhausted, although Saki barely registered that at this point, as everyone seemed to be, and Saki almost wanted to call her tone needy and the thought that Ichika was asking for her like that made her heart do summersaults. She ran over to Honami, only stopping when she noticed her not going inside herself.
“Are you not going to come with me?”
“I think, you’ll need some time alone first” Honami replied with a smile though the exhaustion from earlier made its way back into her voice. “I’ll get the others for when you're done”
Saki turned around, stepped through the door, and mentally fell off a cliff. Inside was Ichika, her hair even more of a mess than usual, dark bags under her eyes that probably topped Saki's own, but her look towards the door was filled with unfiltered yearning, and on top of her half exposed chest, was a baby in a pink bundle.
A baby – Ichika had given birth, and by all she heard from her friends and brother outside, this was somehow her fault. Was this even possible? Wait, does that mean they were dating? Scratch that, are they married?!? How did she miss that they were going to the maternity ward?! There were so many questions on her mind that it all turned into static noise in Saki's head, leaving her standing with a blank stare.
“Saki, are you alright?” The question brought enough self-awareness back to her that she could realise she had to take this slowly or her mind would just run away from her.
“No… but I think I should be the one asking you that” Saki tried to look anywhere but the hospital bed. A small Miku themed gift basket caught her eye.
“I’m exhausted… although I think I slept a bit earlier.” Ichika moved up in the bed to lean against the backboard and get a better look at Saki. Saki meanwhile spotted an empty bowl with a little bit of yoghurt left on the side table. At least Ichika had eaten something… unlike Saki now that she thought about it, but she wasn't hungry anyways.
“Are you sure you're okay, you're -” Ichika poked again, before Saki interrupted her with a flood of words.
“Ichi, it's my birthday, I'm currently 18 and I just found out that I have a daughter with my crush of over a year. How do you think I am?”
“Oh…”
Immediately Saki felt bad, she knew Ichika was terrible with conflict. She let out a sigh, finally releasing her head from staring at the cupboards next to Ichika to instead stare at the floor.
“Sorry I shouldn't- you’ve been through a lot, I shouldn't shout at you. It's just… overwhelming.”
“It's alright… I kind of forgot about all of that, the last few days have been a blur”
Saki nodded at that, she couldn't imagine how Ichika must have felt. To her surprise however when she looked back at Ichika all she could see was the loving gaze of her wife(?)
“It’s your day though, so I guess you want some answers”
“Ichi, you… you had a baby less than a day ago, you should rest, I can just ask Honami about stuff.”
“Saki, I'm alright, I promise. And I promised you I’d be here with you when the day comes”
“Fine just… give me a moment”
Saki took a couple of deep breaths trying to get her thoughts in order.
“Was this planned? Her being born on my birthday?”
“I think it was before midnight actually, it should be on the papers somewhere. But no, we tried a few times, but when we knew I was pregnant it just happened to be possible if she's a little early”
“Is she okay?! Will she be healthy?” Saki’s thoughts raced through her mind again as she imagined every single thing that could be wrong with her daughter.
“Saki, Baby, breathe. She's alright, it's just a few days.” Ichika must have forgotten that she was not talking to her Saki right now, as the second word she had used bounced through her head. But it had gotten her to stop panicking.
“Can you come closer?” Ichika asked carefully.
There was that slight whine again, and wow Saki knew she was in love with Ichika before but there was nothing that could make her resist her wishes like that, so Saki walked over to the foot of the bed. Now up close, she could make out the tiny arms of the baby and how she clung onto her mother’s…. Saki had to turn around for a second. Ichika had seen where she was looking and chuckled a bit.
“Saki, it's alright”
“It's not! We aren't even dating yet… it feels… indecent”
“I forgot how shy you used to be about this stuff”
Saki turned back around to pout at Ichika, her knees hitting the patient info hanging from the bed. Curious, she picked it up, reading the name on it out loud.
“Ichika Tenma… We are married? And you took my name?”
“Mhm. You insisted people become Tenmas, not the other way around”
Well, that made sense, considering Toya being part of the family, although unlike Ichika he did not actually carry the name. That brought up another thought too.
“Is she a Tenma? I mean…”
This was the first time she saw Ichika blush today.
“Yes she is… Tsukasa had overheard us talking about wanting children and offered to donate his… genes for us. And he was so enthusiastic when talking about it too…”
Saki only nodded at this. She could see herself asking Tsukasa about it if it came to it. It allowed Ichika to have the baby and it would still be related to Saki. The things this day made her think about.
“What did we call her?”
“You wanted it to be Rise [REE-SEH (麗声: Beautiful Voice) As far as I can tell this name doesn't exist with these specific kanji but some variants of the name use either one so I took the liberty to combine them to create her name], like beautiful voice” This scored another blush for Saki, and she didn't need to ask what had motivated her to choose that name, instead she just smiled like an idiot. But there was one more thing she wanted to ask for, and looking at the clock she would rather do it sooner than later. She stepped over to the side of the bed, getting as close as she could to Ichika.
“Ichi… can I… can I hold her?”
“Uh of course, but wash your hands first”
“Right, on it”
A quick run to the sink later, Saki sat on the small chair next to the bed, while Ichika guided Saki how to hold the baby, keeping a careful watch even as Saki held her stable. Rise was heavier than she expected, her parents had always told her how light Saki was, fragile from the first day, in comparison her daughter was heavy and healthy. It felt nice, feeling the warmth of her. When Saki finally looked up back to Ichika, her wife was looking at her with the most loving eyes she had seen so far, to the point she turned away again, feeling her cheeks warm up.
“Ichi, what's that look for?”
“It's nothing just… I know you're not my Saki right now, but you're just as good of a mother as I always thought you'd be.”
“Ichiii! You can't just say that”
“My Saki liked it a lot when I did”, Ichika teased.
“She also had months to prepare for all of this”
“You're right, I just couldn't help myself” A yawn suddenly interrupted her. “Saki…” she continued, slightly pleading.
“How about you sleep a little Ichi? I can take care of her for now. And if anything is wrong, Hona and the others are just outside”
“Mhmm thanks Saki”
A comfortable silence settled between them as Saki kept being fascinated by the small bundle of life in her arms. She didn't know how much time had passed but eventually their comfortable bubble was burst by a knock on the door, and Honami looked in.
“Ichika, Saki?”
“Shhh, come in Hona”
Honami quietly closed the door behind her, before surveying the scene inside, her face immediately displaying the fondness in her heart when she saw Saki with her baby. She carefully walked over to the bed, taking the space Saki had occupied earlier.
“I figured I’d check on you two, since it's been a while but I see you're doing just fine”
“Sorry, I probably should have called you in earlier. It's just… wow. I can't believe this is my future. I was hoping we'd stay together, I didn't think I’d have a family like this.” Saki looked at Ichika with soft eyes, her wife was still snoozing away after all the stress of the day.
“Mhm, it took a while for you two to actually marry, you never thought you’d need it until you thought about having children”
Another question came up in Saki’s mind.
“Hona, you said you and Shiho came from practice… Are we still making music together?”
“We’ve been on hiatus for a while now even before Rise took Ichika away from her guitar, but we all plan to return once Ichika is able to. I suppose I will have to tell you how that went later this year” She laughed at the idea, her younger self keeping the others up to date on what they would be doing 10 years from then.
“Shindo has been very understanding about the entire situation and we've released some solo vocal versions of some of our older songs to keep us in the news”
Saki nodded along but didn't move her eyes away from Ichika. Overall she was happy with what she heard, even if the hiatus was unexpected, but so was the entire situation she found herself in. Honami followed her gaze when she didn't ask more questions.
“It's good that she's resting. Miku knows she won't get much sleep the next few months, if you're lucky.”
As if Honami jinxed it, Rise started to wiggle around making it hard for Saki to hold her. Saki could only look helplessly at Honami, she already loves this future child of hers, but she's currently 18 and she doesn't know the first thing about how to care for a baby. Thankfully Honami was already on it, waking Ichika with an apologetic face. Ichika, once she halfway got her bearings, took their baby from Saki, settling her against her chest again.
Looking at the scene again, Rise in Ichika's arms, Honami softly cooing to the little one while Shiho and the rest of her family were waiting outside, she could only feel content. 10 years in the future and she had everything she wished for and more, really she couldn't wait for this new chapter of her life to begin. Unfortunately her time here was limited for now, and after all the anxiety and excitement the exhaustion in her body finally caught up with her.
When Saki woke up again, she found herself in Honami's lap. She would have preferred to wake up with Ichika but it was probably for the better, Saki wasn't sure if she could hold back from kissing her right now if she was here.
“Good morning Saki, happy birthday” Saki immediately rushed to sit up, beaming with excitement.
“Honami! We need to get the others”
Honami was slightly startled by the sudden energy from her friend but quickly got up to get Ichika and Shiho. The two had been preparing breakfast with Tsukasa downstairs to surprise Saki with. When they all came back Saki had laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling. She took a deep breath as the three faces of her friends – and eventual wife to be – looked at her in anticipation.
“So first of all… I woke up in the hospital” she ignored how all of them flinched.
“You… were all there and… I’ve just become a mother” now under her own Ichika's gaze, she admitted sheepishly. She would confess her feelings once they had some time alone, maybe another songwriting session. They had time, Saki knew that now.
“Oh that sounds lovely”, Honami cheered.
“I’m sure you’ll be a great mom”, Ichika agreed.
“Well I guess that clears most questions” Shiho remarked, “Sounds like you’ll have a good life”
“Yeah… I got to hold her too! She was sooo cute. She was asleep most of the time though, and when she wasn't I didn't know what to do.” She crossed her arms over her chest, thinking back to Rise cradled in her arms. “I kind of want to learn now though”, she added quietly.
“I'm sure you'll learn whenever the time comes”, Honami assured her.
Weirdly Saki was looking forward to the day she'd rush Ichika into this hospital, when she’d get to see that room from inside again, with her new family by her side. Shaking her head, she wanted to continue telling them about their band but her rumbling stomach caught everyone's attention first.
“I think, it's time you eat something” Ichika wanted to get up, she had brought breakfast from downstairs afterall, but was stopped by a sudden weight around her waist.
“Ichi, can we stay like this for a bit? Being a parent is sooo exhausting~” Saki whined.
“Alright alright” Ichika replied with a giggle. If Saki just wants to lay in bed for her birthday then so be it. Shiho brought the bowl over from the table. Keeping her eyes closed, Saki opened her mouth expecting the food.
“Saki… you can't be serious”
“But Shiho, it's my birthday~”
She felt the weight beside her shift and heard the bowl being handed to another person.
“Open up”, Ichika demanded.
Saki opened her eyes briefly to confirm, closing them as fast as she could when she saw that there was way too little distance between their faces. But she accepted the spoon of miso soup.