Originally written in January 2018.

Dia was used to living in a silent household. The only noise she would hear once in a while were Ruby's squeals when something happened, but even those had gotten less usual as the years passed.

As someone who had her birthday on the first day of January, she was also used to having her anniversary glossed over in favour of celebrations welcoming the New Year. It was routine; waking up and going to the temple, greeting the elders on her way, receiving seasonal postcards from her family all over the country. The only special little thing was that she and Ruby were allowed to have cake for breakfast. It was fine, though. The commemorative aura in the air was good enough for her, and it was not like she was really hyped about turning older. It was fine.

So why, in this beautiful, snowy morning, while the sun has barely held its presence above the Kurosawa household, why there were people running non-stop outside her room?

Dia got out of bed, making her way through a bunch of packages that had been thrown into her room while she was asleep. The student council president asked herself if that was some kind of joke, some prank that Mari and Kanan decided to play on her with Ruby's help. They were the only people who would do that, and her sister was gullible enough to be roped into this tomfoolery.

"What is going on here?" She shouted, opening her room's door, loud enough for her assertive tone to resonate through the house's thin walls. As soon as her question echoed through the hallway, all noise came to halt. Dia could hear some worried whispers, but couldn't make much out of it, let alone the origin or the owners of the voices.

"Ruby, come out!" Starting to march down her way to the living room, Dia heard her sister's characteristic 'pigii' squeal, albeit muffled. Was someone trying to shut Ruby down? "Kanan! Mari! I know you are here!" There was no need to hide, after all, they would be found soon enough.

All of her triumph was smashed when she arrived at her destination.

"Happy birthday, Dia!"

Eight girls were scrambled all over the floor, some trying to hide half-eaten pastries, others trying to fix decorations. Aqours, other than Dia herself, had assembled at the Kurosawa household very early in the morning, in order to prepare a surprise party for one of their members.

"Did we surprise you?" Chika asked, not bothering to wipe off the patches of custard cream spread all over her cheeks. "It was Ruby's idea!"

"She told us that you usually don't have birthday parties." You picked up on where Chika left off.

"So we decided to try doing this for you, zura!" Hanamaru merrily held up a party popper and a cupcake.

"You mean 'tried to try', Zuramaru." Yoshiko shook her head, gesturing to the incomplete setup. "We couldn't even finish decorating the room and serving the table! And half of the cupcakes are already gone…"

"That's why I told you to hold back and keep quiet." Riko sighed. "See? I knew that Dia would wake up with how noisy you were being…"

"What's important is the intention!" Mari gleamed, clapping her hands together. "Even though it's not a shiny party, it's our love for Dia that matters!"

"Riko and Mari are both right." Kanan had a worn out smile, probably from having to handle seven excited girls. "We were excited, but we could have let you sleep more."

"Sorry for waking you up, sis…" Ruby was embarrassed, ashamed that her plan failed. "Sorry for disturbing you…"

"It's okay, Ruby!" Although she didn't want to show it, Dia was moved by her friends' effort to celebrate her birthday. Even if things had gone the wrong way, she was happy and proud of Ruby's initiative. "You've grown into such a considerate girl!"

The sisters embraced each other as their friends watched, smiling at the heart-warming scene. Dia smiled back at them, slightly lowering her head in acknowledgement. "Thank you very much, everyone. Not only for remembering my birthday, but also for having the trouble of coming to my house so early in such a special day…"

"You say as if we'd ever forget your birthday!" Mari interrupted her, leaping forward to hug her best friend. "We love you, how could we!"

Dia couldn't manage to answer, shocked not only with Mari's declaration, but mostly because of the sudden attack.

"Hey, are you really going to leave me out of the hug?" Kanan smirked, diving in to take part of the Dia sandwich.

"Group hug!" Chika announced, jumping forward to hug her senior. Everyone followed suit, warming each other up in the cold morning.

After a couple minutes, they managed to put everything more or less in place, adjusted enough to start the party. The boxes in Dia's room were her birthday gifts, according to Ruby, and so, they were brought to the living room by Kanan and You. While the birthday girl unpacked everything, Mari turned some music on, inviting everyone to sing and dance together. Yoshiko and Riko managed to save a plate of cupcakes from being thrown into Hanamaru's stomach, despite her protests of being hungry because she hadn't had breakfast. Chika had borrowed her mother's camera and tasked herself with being the photographer of the party.

Some of the gifts were easy to pinpoint, such as the book collection or the gleaming red orb "blessed with the powers of a fallen angel", according to Yohane herself. Maybe the Eli Ayase merchandising was from her sister, but what about the bunch of "free pudding" vouchers from the convenience store near the bus stop at school? The giant rabbit plush was probably from Mari, given the size of it, but maybe one of the other girls…?

"Cheese!" Chika captured the moment when Dia was snuggling with the white rabbit, bewildering her. Her reaction made the photographer laugh when checking the picture. "When I met you, I couldn't imagine you had such a cute side."

"Well… when I met you…"

Dia started to think of a comeback, taking a trip to her memories from the last year. When the two of them met, Dia thought Chika was a foolish, simpleminded and naïve girl who didn't knew what she was trying to get into. She didn't strike Dia as someone persistent; rather, she thought that the first reprimand would be enough for Chika to give up on the idea of an idol club. Then, even after she accepted the idea, to drag her sister into her that…! Even though it was Ruby's wish, it was heart-wrenching to think of her little girl going through the same she had to, years ago, with her own group's breakup.

Speaking of it, she also never imagined that Chika would, somehow, reunite her with Kanan and Mari and give her the opportunity to perform along the two girls she loved the most in the world. She couldn't put in words how thankful she was for that, even in a thousand years. And all the fun days that the nine of them lived, besides the ones that were yet to come…

"When you met me?"

"When I met you…" Dia's smile was warm, filled with love and gratitude. "I couldn't imagine you would change my life entirely."

Now Chika was the one taken back by Dia's actions, even if it was only for a split second. Putting down the camera, she smiled back, with the same fondness. "Can I hug you again?"

"Only this once." Dia scratched her mole, pretending to be looking at the rabbit.

"Sorry to interrupt your moment, but Chika, I need you to let go of Dia so she can see her birthday cake." Kanan, who at some point had put an apron on, approached the hugging pair. "Take a look, Dia."

In the middle of the table, a clumsily assembled two-story cake was the star of the buffet. There was no pattern in its decoration, as yellow flowers clashed against pink hearts and ocean waves. Standing out was a line of diamonds near the top, the only part that resembled something near organization.

Yet, despite how amateurish and messy it looked, it was beautiful to perfectionist but loving Dia.

"Thank you for going through all this trouble for my sake…"

"We're the ones who want to thank you!" Once again, Dia was interrupted, this time by Kanan.

"Thank you for always being by our side!"

"Thank you for taking care of us."

"Thank you for being nice to Maru and to everyone, zura!"

"I must thank you for allowing yourself to become my little angel..."

"Yoshiko, don't ruin the mood."

"It's Yohane!"

"Thank you for always keeping up with us…"

"Thank you for being the best sister in the world!"

"Thank you for being so amazingly shiny, Dia!"

"Thank you for being part of Aqours! Happy birthday!"

All that screaming was the perfect recipe for a headache, but Dia couldn't bring herself to mind it. It was the most lovable noise she had ever heard, and she wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world.