Oh, maybe I can do this? I thought to myself, as I pierced one of the balls with a skewer and blew on it gently to try to cool it down. If I do this, it should be fine, right? I blew on it several times, then pointed the skewer toward Yoshin and said, “Say ‘aah.’”
“Aah,” Yoshin let out as he put the entire takoyaki ball in his mouth...and immediately began writhing from how hot it was. Oh, shoot...I guess I cooled the outside, but not the inside— Wait a minute, this is no time for narration! Quick, drink something cold! Cool your mouth!
Yoshin quickly took a swig of his drink, sighed, then looked at me...at which point we both burst out laughing again.
And in that way we enjoyed our two-person tako party.
Yoshin seemed to be the type to get sucked into things; he practiced making takoyaki over and over again until he formed one in a perfect sphere. His goal, he told me, was for me to eat his perfectly formed takoyaki, so of course I opened my mouth for him to feed that piece to me. He tried cooling it down for me, but it was still scorching hot when I ate it.
Even as we laughed at ourselves for making the same mistake again, time passed peacefully, with joy.
Takoyaki balls were small, but eating a number of them really did fill our stomachs, and when the both of us were pretty full, I decided that it was time for the first surprise. I left the room, asking Yoshin to give me a second before I did. I took something out of the fridge that Shinobu-san had let me store there beforehand, and with my heart fluttering in my chest, I headed back to Yoshin.
“And here comes dessert!” I announced.
“Huh? Oh, wow! What is that?!” Yoshin exclaimed.
He was super surprised by what I brought: strawberry shortcake. All right, now I’ve got him hooked.
“It’s my first time making it, so it’s not that pretty,” I confessed.
“What?! You made it? It looks amazing. Like from a bakery,” he answered.
“Yup! It’s homemade shortcake, baked by yours truly,” I declared. “Happy birthday, Yoshin.”
Yes! Yoshin likes it. Tee hee. I placed the cake on the table, and though we didn’t have candles because we couldn’t have open flames, we still sang happy birthday.
It was like we were kids again. I hadn’t been sure if this would be enough of a celebration, but Yoshin seemed really happy.
I cut and served Yoshin a slice of cake, which he studied closely before slowly scooping a forkful and bringing it to his mouth. I watched him chew and swallow, heart in my throat as I awaited his assessment. Did it come out okay? I thought it was pretty okay, even though it was my first time making it...
Yoshin sighed. “It’s super tasty,” he murmured, hushed voice heavy with emotion.
Yoshin scooped more pieces of cake, eating quickly as I clenched my fists in triumph. Oh my gosh, I am so glad it went well.
I should try it myself now. I cut a small piece of my slice and placed a strawberry bit in my mouth. At once I experienced layers of sensation: The tartness of the strawberry, the sweetness of the whipped cream, and the light airiness of the sponge cake spread all throughout my mouth. Hey, this isn’t half bad. With the leftover saltiness from the takoyaki in my mouth, it tastes extra good.
By the time we realized it, we had both completely cleaned off our plates.
“Now that I think about it, I should’ve fed you this instead,” I muttered.
My realization was so late, so delayed, that Yoshin and I just looked at each other and laughed again. How could I have only thought of it after we’d finished eating? Since we were a bit too full to go for seconds, we promised that we would feed the cake to each other the next time we had it.
Our fun-filled celebration passed in the blink of an eye, eating takoyaki, and even dessert. Outside Yoshin’s window it had already gotten dark. I can’t believe it’s so late already. I should clean up now.
“Oh, I’ll help too,” Yoshin said when I started stacking some plates.
“Oh no, you just sit back and relax. I can do it,” I replied.
“No way, I can’t make you do that. I’ll help wash.”
“Really?” I said hesitantly. “Then...that would be a huge help.”
Continuing to refuse his offers didn’t seem right, so it was probably better just to accept. We’d finish faster if we cleaned together—and that meant we’d have more time together.
Yoshin quickly walked to the kitchen with some dirty dishes. We had placed the things that didn’t fit on Yoshin’s table on the floor, so I started picking those up to take them to the kitchen as well.
And then I spotted something unfamiliar. Hm? What’s this? Some kind of chocolate? I picked it up. It was some rectangular box I’d never seen before. Wait, isn’t this...?!
“Nanami, that’s—!”
Yoshin snatched the box out of my hands, tucking it behind his back. But I already knew what was inside; the other girls had told me about it the other day.
Was that why Yoshin was so startled earlier? ’Cause he had this box?
I looked up at him slightly and murmured, “Are we gonna do something sexy today?”
“N-No. I want to, but we won’t,” he replied, shaking his head. Even though I just couldn’t talk about it directly, what I asked was enough for him to understand that I knew exactly what that box was.
“Then why do you have it?” I asked.
“I got it from Hitoshi and some of the others as a birthday gift, and I was hiding it,” he confessed, then added, “I didn’t think you’d find it.”
Ah, he must have gotten it when the girls had cornered me and he was with Kenbuchi-kun and senpai. To tell the truth, the girls had actually given me the same thing.
When they gave them to me, they said, “If he doesn’t have some already, use this!” At that time, I couldn’t say no either and so had simply accepted them.
Which meant...what he was holding now was the exact same thing I had sitting in my room.
Yoshin and I both fell silent, turning red and sitting on our heels. We both had our backs straight, with perfect posture.
Wh-What should I do? I should give him his second present now, right? But I’m not sure if that’s the safest thing to do...?! No, I already decided that I would do it. Make up your mind, Nanami!
“Yoshin, um... I’m going to prep your second present,” I began. “So, can you wait outside for a little bit?”
“Oh, um, yeah, got it. Of course!” he exclaimed, dashing out of the room.
I then slowly prepared his second gift. I mean, this one was meant as a joke present, so I wasn’t expecting things to turn out this way.
I was torn, asking myself whether I was actually going through with the idea while also pushing myself to do it since I already said that I was going to. Though the part that was egging myself on was clearly winning.
I finally made up my mind...and finished preparing the second present.
“You can come in now,” I called out, my heart pounding. Should I have taken more time to get ready? Is this okay? Is he going to be weirded out? A million thoughts raced through my mind.
Yoshin came back—and opened his eyes as wide as they would go.
For today’s second surprise...
“H-Here...you go. I-I’m...your present.”
I invited Yoshin in...with a ribbon wrapped around myself.
With his eyes still wide open, Yoshin’s jaw dropped so far I thought it might fall off altogether. The sight of me must have been truly astonishing.
Quivering, he raised a shaky index finger to point at me and asked in a hoarse whisper, “Wh-What is that?”
“Um. According to Kotoha-chan boys love this kind of stuff,” I tried to explain. “Wh-What do you think?”
As I lay on the bed in my clothes, the ribbon wrapped around me, Yoshin—as though conflicted—shook his head, his fists opening and closing almost compulsively.
For the record, Kotoha-chan said that I should, at the very least, be in my bathing suit like this. Naked, if possible. Of course, that was decidedly not possible, which was why I was still wearing my clothes.
And yet...I was still super mortified!
Yoshin had his head in his hands now, but seemed to have overcome his initial shock; when he finally looked up, he just helped me sit up on the bed.
“Nanami, from now on, don’t believe a word of what that narrow-eyed, pervy little class rep tells you!” he growled, placing one hand on my shoulder and clenching his other hand into a fist.
As a sidenote, Yoshin got his fill of seeing me dressed up as a birthday present...and then his parents came home soon after, throwing us into a complete panic.
And in all the chaos I ended up completely forgetting to give Yoshin his actual birthday present. I shouldn’t have messed around with that stupid ribbon so much...