"Happy birthday to you~"
As your friends sing Happy Birthday, the sense of happiness washes over you. You can't help but be anything besides thankful, and for a moment you forget about how you're destined to leave Japan in a mere two months.
"Make a wish, Y/N," Yasuko smiles innocently at you.
That's easy. I'd wish to be away from home and with my friends for as much as possible while I can.
With that, you blow out your candles. Your friends break out with cheers for you. Satsuki's father hands you the cake knife and you make sure to cut off a big piece for Yasuko as promised.
"This is so good!" Yasuko says excitedly as she tears through her cake.
"I know right!" Mayumi adds with her mouth half full, "I didn't even know I could make cake this good!"
"You used a cake mix, that's why," Satsuki sighs, "and it would have been a lot harder if we didn't."
"Who cares," you grin, "it's delicious and that's what matters!"
"'Specially with the frosting!" Yasuko and Mayumi hum together.
You exchange a glance with Satsuki who nods and smiles along with the girls' statement.
"Bye, Y/N," Yasuko yawns as she waves tiredly to you.
"Bye, Yasuko," you call back to her as Satsuki picks her up. "See you later!"
After saying your goodbyes to your friends and thanking Satsuki's father for allowing the small party that night, you head home.
You sigh to yourself on your walk wondering why your parents even bother putting a curfew on you every night.
It'd be nice to sleep somewhere besides there and not have to deal with all their noise. It's not even like they would notice if I wasn't there, especially on days that I don't have school.
When you finally arrive at your house you enter into a pitch black room. You turn around to lock the door and call out to your parents.
"Mom, I'm home! Dad?" you look over by the television but find neither of them there.
Maybe they're not home yet.
You walk over to the window and peer out to see the car parked in the driveway.
"They're already asleep," you shake your head as you head towards the kitchen.
Opening the refrigerator, you place inside a slice of cake that you've brought home from Satsuki's house. After, you quietly drop your bag and backpack and tiptoe over to your parents' room. Inside, you find them peacefully asleep. That is to say, they aren't exactly quiet sleepers, so as peaceful as they can be.
Once again you gather your belongings and walk over to your room, shutting and locking the door behind you. The main reason for this is that your parents used to have the most annoying habit of walking into your room and turning on all of the lights to wake you up when you were younger, so locking the door was your safest bet. But that was before they had their fancy, new jobs.
Then pulling out your notebook from school, you start some of your homework that's already quite overdue.
The following morning in your class, you can't help but think about how strange that the silver-haired man who sat next to you in class seems to be. At the very least, he's caught your attention.
Halfway through class, you find yourself zoning out, peering past your classmate towards the seemingly forbidden world outside. However, as the thought of him continues to float around in your mind, your gaze does flicker to him every so often.
He's cute. I wonder what made him suggest the zoo to me yesterday.
You smile to yourself, mind now wandering to your day yesterday and how cute Yasuko was when she got her ginormous slice of cake. Before long, your classmate turns his head to you and catches the expression on his face.
You watch, mostly subconsciously, as he gives you the same gentle smile as the day before. When you finally snap back to reality and realize that he's looking back, your eyes widen and you attempt to come up with some sort of explanation.
"Uh, sorry, I was just looking out the window," you whisper as your eyes look from him to the wall.
His eyes follow yours, glancing towards the window before looking back. "If you keep staring out the window you're going to fail this class and won't ever get to go out there."
"Funny," you roll your eyes, "but I've got a solid C in this class so I'll be just fine, thanks."
He laughs, piquing your interest in him even more. "Sounds like you're smarter than most of my friends, then."
"I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not," you narrow your eyes towards him.
"It's-" his smile is cut off by your teacher.
"Quiz time!"
Immediately your head whips over to her, hoping that it was only a joke. Unfortunately, she was dead serious and begins to pass out papers to your class.
"Good luck," the classmate whom you've already forgotten about hums beside you.
You nod half-heartedly. Completely zoning out as dread sinks in.
Maybe it won't be a total failure, I did catch up on homework last night...
Later that day at lunch, you find a spot with Satsuki and Mayumi.
"It's getting so rough," Mayumi sighs after Satsuki asks about her waitressing job. "We're in desperate need of somebody new. The work just keeps piling up."
"Isn't Urby supposed to be super popular? How don't they have applicants rolling in?" Satsuki thinks aloud.
"Don't look at me, I'm just there to get paid. You know I want that car. Hey, Satsuki, think you could help out... pleaseeeee."
"I'm sorry, Mayu," she shakes her head, "but you know it's practically a full-time job taking care of Yasuko. I wouldn't be able to pick up many shifts."
Mayumi then turns to you with a pleading look on her face.
"Okay," you say cheerfully, "I actually think that'd be great. I'd have a place to go besides home on weekends."
"Are you sure?" Mayumi asks, genuinely confused that you agreed so quickly.
"Yeah, why not?" you shrug.
"Yay!" she cheers. "You can stop by sometime tonight if you can! Suzuhara, uh I mean boss, might even have you work a bit to try you out so be prepared!"