ai | s. manjiro & m. takashi

さんじゅうろく

"What are you doing?" Hakkai asks, rubbing the back of his head while going down the stairs.

"Baking a cake?" Ai says, more like a question. Lightly shrugging her shoulders as she stirs together the dry ingredients.

"Cake? Who are you-" before Hakkai could even finish his question, a smile immediately paints his lips. "Am I thinking what you're thinking?" He asks

Ai's cheeks started to turn pink in color. Looking away from him as she takes the butter and sugar. "I'm definitely not baking a cake for Mitsuya." she says.

"Come again?" Hakkai teases, his smile widening. "From what I recall, I never said a name?" He says, grinning stupidly at his younger sister.

"This is just...a friendly cake!" Ai says a matter of factly, slightly nodding her head. "You know, as thanks for what happened in the past." She spoke in a little rushed manner, pouring the batter into the cake pan.

"Are you sure it's just a friendly cake?" Hakkai asks, lifting his hands to make an air quotation sign as he mentions 'friendly cake'. "Are you really sure?"

"Positive!" Ai quips, smiling as she places the pan inside the oven. "Don't even think of anything else!"

"I wasn't thinking of anything else!" Hakkai defends himself. "Isn't that you?"

"No I'm not!" Ai says, dramatically placing a hand on top of her chest. "And why are you even here? Don't you want to...like...get some rest or something?" She asks

"I finished my homework already. Because I know a certain someone will scold me if I don't do it." Hakkai shrugs, lightly grinning at Ai. "And I was reading manga when I heard a noise from downstairs. And then I found you." He says.

"That's very cute of you. But this cake is for him." Ai says, pulling out a chair as she takes a seat.

"Can I have a small bite?"

"Nope."

If Taiju is with them inside the house, he would definitely disagree with Ai's idea. But since he isn't here with them, Ai is able to run out of their house - a paper bag slinging in her arm while her hands hold onto the vanilla cake topped with sprinkles inside the cake box. While Ai's briskly walking towards Mitsuya's house, she could hear a number of Taiju's scolding inside her head.

"Can't that wait in the morning? Don't you realize it's late already?"

"What if something happens to you again?"

"Go back to your room"

Ai shook her head, brushing away the voice of her older brother as she walks faster, taking big steps to get there before Mitsuya could even fall asleep. Or worse, he's already asleep. But in less than twenty minutes, Ai arrived in front of their apartment building, slowly she walked towards the front of their door.

Holding the bottom of the cake box in one hand while the other pulled her phone out of her pocket, she decided to call him out instead. Ai silently prayed to herself that Mitsuya is still awake, and on the third ring, he picked up.

"Ai?" She heard him ask on his line.

"I...I hope I didn't disturb you or anything" She says, biting her lower lip

"I'm still up and working on making Luna and Mana their dresses." He says, the sound of moving the materials could be heard on his line. "What's up? What made you suddenly call?"

"If you come out then you'll know" Ai says. Instead of dropping the call, she could hear the pad of his feet on her phone and from outside their door. And as Mitsuya unlocked their door from the inside and swung it open, the ends of Ai's lips curl into a smile.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday...to you" She sang to him both on the phone and in front of him.

"So you snuck out and came here just to greet me?" Mitsuya asks, lightly grinning as he ends the call.

"And if I say yes?" Ai asks, smiling as she opens the box to show him the cake she made. "I made this with all of my efforts." She says, raising her arm a little to also show him the gift she got. "Also this too!" She chuckles softly.

"You didn't have to get me anything...but thank you." Mitsuya says, slowly closing the door behind him. "Mom's home and I didn't want her and the girls to wake up. Is it okay if were out here?"

"Of course!" Ai says, a little quick in responding. "I mean...yeah sure."

Mitsuya sat on the pavement and dusted the dirt away with his hand before Ai could even take a seat. "Can I open this first?" He asks, taking a hold of the paper bag.

"Sure!" Ai beams, with wide eyes she happily watches him tear the wrapping paper open.

"The reason why I got you those is because I'm really fascinated by how you sew and stitch the cloth and fabric. It's like you're making something magical." She says, folding her left knee before raising it up to her chest and leaning her head. "I hope you like it!"

"This is actually pretty cool" Mitsuya comments before placing it inside the paper bag.

The two of them ate the baked birthday cake outside the apartment building with Mitsuya having to take two forks from their kitchen, the cake tasted light, fluffy, moist and full of flavor. Mitsuya would be lying if he didn't say that he didn't love his birthday cake.

At by one in the morning, the finished eating half of the cake.

"You can sleep in my room, I'll take the couch" Mitsuya offers. "I'll text Hakkai that you're sleeping here." He says, standing up from the ground while dusting the back of his pants with his hands.

"No way! It's your birthday and you're sleeping on the couch, I can really take the couch." Ai says, standing up as well while holding onto the cake box.

"Nope. Not letting a girl sleep on the couch." Mitsuya says, shaking his head.

The two of them went silent for a second before Ai parted her lips open to speak. "I...I don't move a lot in my sleep." She says, thanking the darkness or else Mitsuya would see her cheeks turning pink.

"If you say so" Mitsuya says, chuckling softly. The two of them went inside, quietly walking and heading to his room. It was the first time Ai was alone inside a room with a boy older than her, she felt like combusting on the inside. But the sounds of Luna and Mana sleeping soundly somehow calmed her.

"I got you an extra blanket" Mitsuya quietly says

"Thank you" Ai says, sitting down on the foot of the other side of the bed before laying down, tucking herself underneath the warm blanket he gave her. She felt the other side of the bed dip down, Mitsuya laying on the other side.

"Good night and sleep well, Ai" he says, his back facing her.

With her back turned on him as well, Ai lightly gripped on the blanket. "Sleep well too, Mitsuya." she says, closing her eyes before letting sleep consume her.