Laying the Groundwork for the Celebration

"Ohh… Come to think of it, it was around this time last year when you came to me looking for advice for Shiina-san's birthday, right?"

Knowing that he couldn't make Mahiru's birthday an unforgettable one on his own, Amane caught Itsuki, his closest confidant, after school. Since neither of them had shifts at their respective part-time jobs today, they had decided to hold a meeting at a fast-food restaurant. Amane wasn't one to haphazardly talk to people about Mahiru's birthday, but since Itsuki had helped him out last year and had a rough date in his mind already, Amane didn't hesitate to reach out to him.

"I don't think Mahiru wants people to know when it is, so don't spread it around."

"I know, I know. Who do you take me for?" Perhaps because it was a

slow time of day for business, their fries were stale and soggy. Itsuki, who had picked one up and wiggled it around, narrowed his eyes in a show of exasperation. "I know Shiina-san's way more cautious than you are, Amane.

If anything, she dislikes others…well, not really. It's more that she's

particular. She probably only reveals her personal details to the people she likes."

"…You understand her well."

"Don't glare at me—it's scary. There's no need for the jealousy, man. If you think about it, like, she's similar to Yuuta and I in that way, isn't she?"

"Ahhh… Well, I do see the resemblance."

Although of different nature from Mahiru, both Itsuki and Yuuta had a tendency to present a friendly facade while maintaining an invisible barrier between themselves and others. Beneath his signature light-hearted

attitude and gestures, Itsuki never revealed his inner thoughts, which was a facet of him that Amane knew very well. In Yuuta's case, preserving a gentle expression served to shield himself from the scrutiny his position invited, letting him avoid drawing attention to any strong emotions he might experience.

"Right? So it's easy to tell what she'd dislike. I'm not some kind of petty guy who'd go out of their way to bother a friend's girlfriend."

"I know that."

"Wow! I can feel the trust you have in me!" "You just noticed that now?"

This should have been no surprise, especially considering the fact that Amane would never have consulted Itsuki if he didn't trust him. For some reason, however, Itsuki directed him a look of utter astonishment, his expression even screaming, I'm so surprised!

As always, he's so over the top, Amane thought. As he gazed at the theatrical Itsuki, he noticed a look of bewilderment flash across his face, which then settled into one of mild concern. It appeared that Itsuki was worried about him. Sensing this, Amane asked, "What?" in a tone a few notches deeper than usual.

"…Why the sudden honesty? You're making me worried," Itsuki replied. "Be honest now, what's the matter?"

"Quit looking at me like I'm sick!" Amane retorted. "Yeeaah, well, I mean…."

"Right~?"

Amane, having felt somewhat offended by Itsuki's inscrutable look, glared at him. However, their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of another person who seemed to be on the same page as Itsuki. Curious, Amane looked up to see who had joined them.

As he expected, there stood Chitose. A slight smirk danced along her typical charming smile.

"…You just casually joined us, huh," Amane said.

"Weeell, seeing as I just happened to spot you two sneaking around, I figured I'd join too," Chitose explained.

Amane was aware that Chitose had left school earlier to run some

errands, so her sudden appearance took him by surprise. He glanced at her with a suspicious look.

Chitose being Chitose, she clarified, "I wasn't stalking you guys or anything, y'know?" grinning all the while. She nonchalantly sat in the chair next to Itsuki, picked up a fry, and tossed it into her mouth.

"So, what were you on about?" she asked.

"Making yourself comfortable, huh," commented Amane.

"Wouldn't you have chosen a different place if it was something you'd rather I not overhear? Ikkun already let me know he was going to have a guy's day out, and since he knows that I always pass through this way, you must've initiated things today, right, Amane? And besides, whenever you ask for advice, eight—no, nine times out of ten, it's about Mahirun, isn't it?"

Realizing that Chitose was incredibly sharp when it came to the strangest details, Amane had the urge to clutch his head in his hands. Despite this, Amane knew that she, much like Itsuki, had a vague idea of when Mahiru's birthday was and had already planned to ask her for help, which meant that her arrival actually saved him the hassle of explaining twice. Be that as it may, being read like a book by her made him feel somewhat embarrassed, so he let out a quiet sigh to release the awkward, itchy feeling swirling inside his chest.

Having no intention to hide it from her, Amane declared, "…We were talking about Mahiru's birthday."

"Seeee?" Chitose said with a smug grin. "Okay, okay; I see, I see; gotcha, gotcha. So you wanna make it a surprise."

"Well, not a surprise exactly… I've already gotten her permission to celebrate it."

"That's really considerate of you."

"I want to be cautious, respectful, and supportive when it comes to Mahiru."

Amane knew that surprises could sometimes backfire, depending on the situation. The whole point of this celebration was to make Mahiru happy, so the idea of accidentally causing the opposite was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. Mahiru had her own thoughts about her birthday, which made him even more cautious.

As a result, Amane wanted to cater as much as possible to Mahiru's preferences. He strived to host a birthday that she could genuinely appreciate and value.

"Nfufu, love struck much?" Chitose teased. "Shove it. Say whatever you want."

"*Whistle~* You're totally smitten! So sweet and madly in love~." "Itsuki, shut her up."

"Guess I've no choice. Here—take these!"

Amane, knowing that letting Chitose run wild would only make her more unbearable, asked her boyfriend for assistance. Itsuki, heaving an exaggerated shrug, playfully stuffed a handful of fries into Chitose's mouth to keep her quiet. Of course, she couldn't speak properly with a mouthful of fries. Amane decided to pay no heed to the muffled grumbles coming from her throat despite the piercing glare she sent him.

After chewing for a while, Chitose finally swallowed and immediately complained. "Geez…" Amane once again chose to remain silent.

"So, what were you going to ask Ikkun for?"

"Oh, uh, it's not like I was going to ask him a favor… I just haven't decided on a present yet, so I wanted to discuss some ideas with him."

First and foremost, they had to decide on and then prepare a present. As it might take a while to arrange everything, Amane couldn't deny the nagging feeling that he was already one step behind in preparing Mahiru's birthday gift.

Despite his hands being full getting used to his part-time job, Amane still regretted not starting his preparations sooner.

"Hmm, but wouldn't you know her best? You're closest to her." "You're her boyfriend. Aren't you together pretty much 24/7?"

"24/7 is pushing it, even for us," Amane replied. "But that aside, yeah, you're right. It's just that Mahiru isn't really materialistic… If something catches her eye, she'll carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks before buying it…"

"Ahh… Yeah, Mahirun does have that kind of mindset," Chitose agreed, a slight edge of disbelief in her voice. As a fellow woman and shopping buddy, she absolutely understood where Amane was coming from. "She never tells others about what she wants and instead tries to get things on her own. She might say something when it's for you, Amane, but she rarely says anything when it's for herself."

Mahiru, you don't have to make everything about me, you know… Amane frowned. As her boyfriend, learning about Mahiru's feelings from a new angle left Amane feeling both pleased, and frustrated by her modesty.

"Well, these are all reasons why there isn't much Mahiru wants at the moment."

"You gave her hand cream and a stuffed toy last year, right? Don't you remember anything she said she wanted? Even just a rough idea?"

"Last year… Well, yeah, I guess she did mention something, but…" Mahiru had in fact specified an item that she wanted. However…

"Huh? Then if you haven't already, wouldn't getting that make her happy? It'd solve everything at once, right?"

"I know she hasn't bought one yet, but, uh, it's just that…" "Just what?"

"It's a whetstone she wanted."

""What?""

"A whetstone."

Faced with a word so detached from the world of high school students, Itsuki and Chitose froze in unison. Their minds raced to figure out what this 'whetstone' word could have possibly meant.

Yeah, usually you wouldn't expect a whetstone to come up there…

Unless you spent a lot of time cooking, whetstones would rarely come up as the topic of a conversation. Their confusion was understandable.

After thinking it over for a good five seconds, Chitose glanced over at him and moved her lips, clearly baffled. "That thingamajig you use every night to sharpen knives?"

"Not every night, but yeah, that's the one." Amane was certain that seeing someone silently sharpening a knife in the dead of night would startle anyone, himself included.

Amane had actually seen Mahiru using her whetstone before, and she'd even occasionally brought one over to his apartment to sharpen his knives. The way she honed the knives with a keen, focused gaze made him think of work carried out by professional craftsmen. Every time Amane saw this, he would look off into the distance, feeling as though it was a bit beyond what a typical high school girl would do.

"…She must've focused on wanting something really practical." Chitose too gazed into the distance, perhaps envisioning the very same thing that caught Itsuki off guard, rendering him dumbfounded.

"She said at the time that whetstones are expensive, so she didn't need one right away. They last a lifetime, but she didn't feel an urgent need to buy a new one," Amane explained.

"…Shiina-san can be so bizarre sometimes."

"Well, Mahiru isn't like your average high school girl when it comes to stuff like this."

"On the other hand, Chi is pretty easy to figure out."

"Aha ha, hiya! Just your average high school girl here! I'm good with food, day to day items, or just stuff I can use. Oh, and maybe cosmetics too."

"But you'd feel awkward if I tried to give you some, wouldn't you?" Itsuki remarked.

"As a girl, it's nice to receive cosmetics from others, but it can be a bit of a gamble. They're hard to use if they choose the wrong color, and I don't want others to see me wearing a color that makes me look strange. Since I prefer to choose my cosmetics based on what I like, how it feels, and what I already have, getting them from others doesn't feel that ideal. It's a different story if they've already done their research and really understand what I want, though."

"Now I'm just even more worried about what to get her." Amane already knew that different colors suited different people. However, he was confronted with the fact that choosing a color for someone would be surprisingly tough. This was especially true for him, as he believed Mahiru would look stunning in anything. Since Mahiru had never expressed a desire for cosmetics, Amane hadn't done his homework on the topic. Seeing as Chitose hadn't brought up anything of the sort, it was unlikely that Mahiru had mentioned anything to Chitose either.

Amane didn't bother to conceal his disappointment as yet another potential gift idea quickly fell through.

Noticing his reaction, Chitose sighed. "I guess being naturally beautiful

has its downsides too. To be honest, I think Mahirun would be happy with anything you give her, but that's not really what you're going for, is it?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. I can say without a doubt in my mind that Mahiru would treasure anything I give her…but that's not what I want. She would only be happy and cherish the gift because she got it from me, not necessarily because she desired it deep down. This is a special occasion. I want to give Mahiru something that she would be truly glad to receive. If I do that, she would be twice as happy, right?"

Amane understood just how deeply Mahiru loved him. Without being conceited, he knew that she would be happy with almost anything he chose to give her. Thus, Amane wished to give her a gift she truly longed for, not one she would cherish solely because it was something he had gifted her. He wanted the value of the gift to be in the gift itself, not that he had been one to give it to her.

" …I feel your love runs deeper than the ocean." "Challenger Deep kind of deep?"

"That's still the ocean," Amane retorted. "Also, don't tease me." "Fair point. My apologies then."

After lightly scolding the couple who always seized the chance to tease him, Amane sighed as he dismissed a possible option for Mahiru's present.

"…So, yeah, that's why I'm still stuck on what to do," Amane began. "Like I said earlier, Mahiru doesn't really want material things. She doesn't even mention what she wants to me."

"Y'know, I've never seen Mahirun say she wants this or that. She only says 'This is nice, isn't it?' and even that doesn't necessarily mean it's something she wants, just that she has a good impression of it."

"Yeah, exactly. I'm kind of at a loss… Even when she goes out with you, a fellow woman, it's the same story. Being her boyfriend doesn't mean I can just probe into every little thing about her. And besides…if Mahiru finds something she really wants to buy…or feels like she needs to buy, then she just buys it herself right away."

By nature, Mahiru wasn't one to chase materialistic possessions. She was frugal, yet at the same time, was able to decisively purchase items if she deemed them necessary. Although Amane admired her ability to determine

what she truly needed, it made finding a present for her as her boyfriend quite the challenge.

"Ah… Right, while Mahirun doesn't buy things she doesn't need, when she does need something, she wastes no time getting it."

"Yeah, Shiina-san seems to be pretty firm about that. Hmm, something that she would like to get… What about matching items?"

"Oh, that might be good. She probably wouldn't mind if it's something you can use at home."

"…Thanks to a certain someone's suggestion, we already have matching pajamas, and we've bought dishes and cutlery together. Mahiru isn't keen on having a jingly keychain, and I've already given her jewelry for White Day. That's why, um…I'd like to save any other wearable stuff for next year…"

"Whoops, I forgot you two were living together," Chitose said. Amane replied bluntly. "We're not."

"Not yet, you mean?" "…No comment." "My, my~!"

"Shut up. You're too loud."

"But I haven't even said anything ye—."

"Your face is loud enough. Don't make this exchange a routine." "Aren't you the one talking back, though?"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Now, now," Itsuki intervened. "Don't get so worked up."

There was no denying that the two of them were at fault. Wanting to avoid wasting time on a lengthy, unproductive back and forth, Amane swallowed his complaints and turned his attention back to Chitose, who was sneakily snatching Itsuki's now cold fries.

"Anyway, you still haven't decided on a present yet."

"If it was easy to choose, then I wouldn't be struggling like this. It's in situations like this that I actually regret the way Mahiru can be so decisive and isn't into materialistic stuff."

"Still, a present, eh…? The goal is to give Shiina-san something that'll make her happy, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, does it have to be an actual object?" "…No, not necessarily."

Amane had consulted with Chitose and Itsuki in hopes of finding a tangible gift that would leave a lasting impression. However, it wasn't as though the gift had to be a physical item.

"Then how about this? Maybe you could do something she wants to do, or take her out somewhere she'd like to go. It doesn't have to be an object. Fulfilling a wish or desire she has might be a better gift."

"…True."

Amane's primary goal was to make Mahiru happy on her birthday, but he recognized now that he might have been too focused on choosing an item to give her rather than granting a wish she may have.

I should get a better idea of Mahiru's wishes before deciding, Amane concluded.

Although he wanted to present her with a gift, he realized that he might end up presenting Mahiru with a gift he assumed she wanted, not one she truly wished for.

"So, you two are saying that I should do some digging to find out what Mahirun really wants?"

"Yeah. Please do."

"Heh heh—leave it to me. You just rest easy and make sure you're at the ready."

"Yeah, now I'm all worried." "Harsh, much!?"

"Sorry, sorry. Thanks, Chitose."

"You're welcome!" The proud Chitose seemed pleased to be relied upon, which only increased her high spirits. This led her to pompously encourage, "Ho ho ho, you may depend on and respect me more if you must!" which Amane promptly decided to ignore. He knew from experience that making no comments was the most effective strategy with her.

Sure enough, Chitose began to pout. But what caught Amane's attention was Itsuki, who, with a pained smile, whispered, "You can always count on me too, y'know?" with a voice that seemed to contain something he left

unspoken.

"I'm counting on you plenty already, if you ask me."

"Ah, that's just Ikkun getting all worried 'cause of that thing with your job, so…"

"Wha—? You dum—!" Itsuki stammered.

"It's surprising, but even you have moments like this, huh…"

The expression on Itsuki's face suggested that he was secretly bothered by Ayaka beating him to the punch in offering Amane advice about a

part-time job. Feeling as though he'd been stabbed in the back, Itsuki complained to Chitose in a slightly strained voice, "Why're you turning against me too, Chi?" However, Chitose saw this as a great chance to tease him. Her trademark mischievous smirk, which she would usually show to others, was now turned at Itsuki.

"Oh my, I turned against you? But I was there to comfort you when you were sulking~!"

"Chi…"

"Cheer up, Itsuki. I came to you first for advice this time." "I don't know how to feel about you thinking I'm upset!" "Are you in a good mood, then?"

"No, 'cause you two are teasing me!"

As Itsuki gradually became embarrassed and turned away, Amane and Chitose noticed that his ears were faintly red. They exchanged a quiet chuckle—Amane lightly tapped Itsuki on the forehead, while Chitose gave him a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

"Do you get how I feel now?" Amane questioned.

"Ugh… I'll try to be a little more careful from now on…" lamented Itsuki.

"Not just 'a little', you idiot. Make sure you're really careful." "C'mon, don't get so mad~," Chitose cut in.

"You too, you know."

"*Sniff* You're so mean! Ikkun, Amane's bullying me!" "You betrayed me earlier, so whatever."

"Whaaat!?" This time around, Itsuki was the one to stab Chitose in the back. After seeing Chitose stubbornly grab Itsuki by the shoulders to shake his body, Amane couldn't help but burst into laughter.