What’s more, this was probably the first time I’d had a friend celebrate my birthday with me like this. I hadn’t really had those kinds of friends before. I’d only gotten this close to Maaya fairly recently. We’d started hanging out more after she came over to our apartment, saying she wanted to see Asamura. I’d never expected to receive a gift from her.
“So how was the surprise?”
“Mm. I guess I’m a little frustrated.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Heh-heh.”
Thanks.
But…I wish you’d told me a little earlier.
I regretted not getting to celebrate Asamura’s birthday like this. If I’d known then how nice surprises were, I definitely would have come up with something for him.
The pancakes were delicious.
After work that day, I walked home with Asamura.
As we left the bustling city center, the lights illuminating the street began to thin out, and more stars became visible. Looking up at that great black canvas, I could see three bright stars all in a line, like the notches in a belt. I wondered which constellation they belonged to. Maybe Asamura could tell me if I asked.
I stole a glance at his neck as he walked beside me.
“You’re wearing my present.”
“Of course. It’s nice and warm. Thanks.”
It made me so happy to see him using my gift.
The following day was my birthday. We had our parents’ permission to stay out late, and we’d promised each other to have dinner, just the two of us. It was the first time I’d be spending my birthday with the person I loved, and I could feel my heart speeding up in excitement.
I casually asked him which restaurant we were going to, but it seemed like he was still trying to decide. But he told me to look forward to it.
At those words, I hesitated for a second.
“Oh…?”
I could hear the strange note in my own voice, so I quickly added, “Oh yeah. I’m excited.”
“Look forward to it”?
What an odd thing to say. If he was planning on taking me somewhere nice, he might’ve meant, “It’s a nice place, so look forward to it.”
But he’d said he still hadn’t picked a restaurant. But if neither of us knew what to look forward to, what could he have meant?
Was he planning something special…?
I couldn’t help thinking this over and naturally fell silent. Asamura stopped talking, too, so I had a lot of time to think as we made our way home.
Could it be…
…that Asamura was planning a surprise for me?
In that case, I’d better not press him for any details. That wouldn’t make either of us happy. Just today, I’d learned how wonderful surprises could be, and I wanted to look forward to whatever it was without any spoilers.
Once we got back to our apartment, I ate dinner with Asamura as usual. Then we said good night, and I went back to my room.
I finished studying for the day, took a bath, then slipped into bed.
As I set my alarm, I thought back over the day’s events.
I thought I’d like to surprise Maaya on her next birthday and wondered if Asamura was really planning a surprise for me at dinner the following day.
When it came down to it, he’d only said one thing that sounded a little off. “Look forward to it” instead of “I’m looking forward to it.” That tiny difference was enough to make me imagine he might be planning a surprise.
As I pulled up the covers, something occurred to me: Was my Asamura reading comprehension getting better?
I wasn’t that good at Modern Japanese, so I didn’t have a lot of confidence when it came to the book called Yuuta Asamura. But I was already looking forward to checking my answer the following night.
When I was growing up, my father never came home, and my mother was busy at work. I could never even count on Santa Claus to bring me a present.
Who would have dreamed that, one day, I’d be so excited about my birthday?
As my body warmed the space under the covers, my eyes drifted shut, and I fell into the abyss of sleep.
When I woke up, it would be my seventeenth birthday.
Good night.