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Today was shaping up to be like any other day. After walking the usual route from the shrine to school, Sumire greeted her friends and classmates like she did every day and took to her studies in class like she always did. She ate lunch with her friends at the same times and in the same places, dodged the condescending looks of the music course students in her usual manner and shared the same anticipation for their afterschool activities with her friends like she always did. It was just like any other day.
Except it wasn’t like any other day, and the package hidden inside Sumire’s bag was weighing heavier by the minute.
Sumire studied her friends, who were engaging in their usual small talk like nothing was going on. Chisato and Ren had to keep some distance due to their status of being music course students and as a result it was quite common for herself, Keke and Kanon to spend lunch together. Kanon’s vivid purple eyes were filled with the glow reserved for her precious owl pictures but lacked any of the urgency that came with an important occasion.
However, it was Keke’s expression that truly perplexed her. Why was all her excitement and energy within the bounds of what Sumire would expect of her normally? Why wasn’t she vibrating with joy or crying bucket loads at an occasion like today? The trouble Sumire was facing made all the worries she had confined to her journal seem like insignificant ramblings.
Sumire pondered to herself, wondering how best to broach the subject with her friends. After a few seconds of thought she steeled herself with a smile and went for it.
“Forgive me for bringing up something so suddenly, but do either of you realize what today is?”
Keke looked up from her ice cream, some of which was strewn messily around her mouth, and fixed Sumire with a blank stare. “I am missing an event today?”
Kanon gulped, her once peaceful expression showing traces of anxiety. “Theres something on today?”
Kanon’s ignorance was unfortunate, but after having so many subpar friends in show business Sumire was used to the feeling. On the other hand, Keke’s confusion was truly heartbreaking. It was enough to stir Sumire from her perfect posture.
“Are you both being serious?” Sumire asked. Her words were harsher than she was expecting, juxtaposing her modulated tone. “None of you know what today is?” she continued, correcting herself.
Keke’s expression remained unchanged, while Kanon shook her head hesitantly.
Sumire couldn’t take it anymore. She rose up out of her seat, reached into her bag and pulled out the package which had been weighing on her all day. It was thin and rectangular in size, and its ink black wrapping paper was decorated with the names and diagrams of constellations in the night sky (Though its knowledge of the night sky paled in comparison to her own).
“Isn’t it your birthday today, Keke?” Sumire interrogated firmly, thrusting the package towards her. Sumire’s green eyes sparkled with clarity, determined as she was to right this wrong once and for all.
In contrast, Keke just looked confused. “It is not my birthday today?”
“Oh you poor thing.” Sumire lamented. She lowered herself down while still standing to meet Keke’s eyes with her own. “Worry not, I am more than happy to set things straight. Your birthday is on July 7th, which is today.”
Sumire expected Keke’s face to light up with realization, after which she would be showered with gratitude and things would finally start transpiring as they should have. Instead, she got an amused grin that was growing wider by the second.
“Sumire-chan, my birthday is being celebrated on July 17th this year.”
“Keke please don’t be coy about this!” Sumire half pleaded. “I’m sure you said your birthday was today when we were penning our self-introductions!”
“Ah, that explains it.” After catching Sumire’s attention, Kanon elaborated on her vague statement. “Keke-chan wrote the wrong date on her self-introduction by accident and it took us a few days to realize. I think you went home early on the day we made the correction-“
“Preposterous! I’m sure I have the right date!” Sumire countered loudly. She felt the gaze of other students on her. There was no way she could be wrong. Not after all the preparations she had made.
“No you haven’t! I was born on the 17th of July of 15 years ago!” Keke explained, struggling to hold back her laughter.
Keke’s words had no effect on Sumire, who didn’t think this was a laughing matter. “I’m going to go consult Ren and Chisato. If anyone can set the record straight its them.” she announced. She set her present down on the table in case Keke saw sense while she was away and decided to open it.
“Sumire-chan! You can’t just go to the music course classrooms!” Kanon’s plea fell on deaf ears. Sumire was already on her way out of the classroom, correcting her fast walk into the elegant stroll that was expected of her.
She made her way through the clean and sparsely populated corridors quickly. The confused expressions of the normal course students gradually turned into the more patronizing gazes of the music course students as she traversed her way through the school. Sumire paid these people no heed, only stopping when she reached the classroom she was looking for.
She swiftly flung the door open, the creak of the joints alerting all of the students within. Her gaze went to the far corner of the room, where Ren and Chisato, presumably in the middle of eating their lunch and talking to each other, were now looking at her with confusion.
“Ren! Chisato! Wasn’t it-“
“Excuse me!” The booming voice of the teacher that was suddenly there (Sumire was sure that she wasn’t there when she entered) almost spooked Sumire into jumping out of her skin. “Even if you did have a genuine reason to be here, that is not how you address my class-“
“Please shut up!” Sumire snapped, eager to turn her attention back to the real issue at hand. “Ren! Chisato! Its Keke’s birthday today, isn’t it?!”
“I’m… pretty sure it isn’t? She mentioned the 17th at the end of June, and she put the same date when we did our self-introductions, so I’m pretty sure it’s the 17th.” Chisato disagreed.
“I was under the impression that it was the 17th too.” Ren added. “Though if you got the date from our self-introductions I can understand why got this wrong, since you weren’t there when we corrected the date.”
“The other two were saying the same thing…” Sumire let out a shaky breath, collapsing against the doorframe.
She couldn’t be wrong. Not after all her preparations.
“If you’re finally finished with your business, you’ll be coming with me!” The teacher announced, rising out of her seat. “We’ll see what the principal has to say about your decorum!”
Sumire couldn’t muster up the strength to defend herself or flee.
Against all odds, she was wrong.
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By the time Sumire was able to return to her seat in defeat, it was the end of lunch. She said nothing as she sat down in her seat and sadly placed the present back in her bag, taking any excuse to avoid the gaze of her friends and the students around her.
She hated their pitiable stares. They were just like the audience in the auditions back then.
“Sumire-chan? Did you go and asking them?” Keke asked innocently. At least she wasn’t finding this funny.
“I did. Turns out I had the wrong date.” Sumire lamented.
“Oh Sumire-chan. We did try and tell you.” Kanon scolded sadly.
“I knowwww!” Sumire snapped, prompting a period of silence from the other two.
“You know, Sumire-chan? Even if you were getting the date wrong, it still showed that you were caring a lot about my birthday! That makes me really happy!” Keke cheered.
Sumire said nothing, burying her head deeper into her bag. Keke was right, but she couldn’t be proud of her enthusiasm. She had dragged the Heanna name through the mud enough already.
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When Keke’s birthday finally arrived 10 days later, the fallout of the events prior had pretty much transpired. All the gossip, both the well-meaning and the malicious, had ceased and Sumire stopped getting odd looks in the hallways from students. However, Sumire still felt a surge of embarrassment every time she looked at the present she had prepared for Keke, which was now sitting squarely in her lap. It was only thanks to her galaxy charisma that she recovered so quickly from the incident.
Sumire and her four friends were sat around a table in the corner of Kanon’s café, which had shut early to allow for their festivities. There wasn’t any time to erect any decorations, but Kanon was more than happy to serve them the food and drinks left over from the days service. Kanon was enjoying some baked apples and coffee, Chisato was helping herself to some leftover Takoyaki from her shift at the food truck and Ren was contenting herself with some strawberries. Sumire peeked at Keke over the brim of her green tea. She was eagerly helping herself to the lion’s share of the snacks, vacuuming up biscuits and ice cream, the latter food item coating the area around her mouth. Keke’s enthusiasm was infectious, and even Sumire found herself forgetting the events of the previous week to revel in the celebrations.
After savoring the last of her strawberries, Ren grabbed her present and rose to her feet. “I apologize if I’m being too hasty, but would it be ok if I gave you my present now?” she asked politely.
“Nice idea, Ren-chan!” Chisato beamed. “I think we’ve worked through most of the food now.”
“That’s good.” Ren replied, seeming relieved. “To be honest, I anticipate my present to be the weakest, so I think it would be best to get it out of the way first.”
“Theres no need to think like that, Ren.” Sumire reassured. “It’s the thought that counts, after all.”
Keke nodded her head enthusiastically, quickly swallowing any food she had left in her mouth. “Yeah! Knowing Ren-Ren got me a present makes me really happy!”
Keke avidly accepted the present, which was meticulously wrapped in plain blue wrapping paper. Sumire grasped a basic concept of what the present was due to its form, but Keke paid it no mind as she tore the wrapping paper to shreds within seconds. Keke held a medium sized panda plushie with her outstretched hands, which everyone else only had a second to look at before she drew it into a passionate hug. “Ren-Ren! I love pandas! Thank you so much!”
Ren breathed a sigh of relief as she returned to her seat. “Thank goodness I got an animal you liked. I wasn’t entirely sure on what to get.”
“You didn’t just get an animal she likes, Ren-san. You got the one she likes most of all!” Kanon praised, wrestling her eyes away from the mess of wrapping paper on the floor. “She sleeps in a panda onesie every night.”
“Oh wow. Perhaps I’m better at gift giving than I thought.”
“You really are! I call dibs on going next!” Chisato announced. She reached for a neatly wrapped box resting at the side of her seat. Chisato expended some effort in her attempts to lift it, revealing the weight of the present, but Keke accepted it obliviously, causing her to almost drop it directly on the table. After safely resting it in her lap, Keke quickly tore apart the paper to reveal a tea making machine.
As Keke expressed her amazement, Chisato stood up and explained the machine. “It works for both tea and other drinks like hot chocolate, so you can make those kinds of drinks without leaving your flat!”
“This is the smartest, Chisato-chan!” Keke almost shouted. “Sometimes studying or looking at school idol videos keeps me in my room all day, so now I can enjoy sweet drinks without going out in the night or evening! Thank you so much!”
As Chisato returned to her seat, Sumire prepared herself to give her gift next, grabbing the package and rising up out of her seat.
“May I go next-“
“I’ll go next!”
“Kanon!” Sumire protested.
“Theres no need to rush, Sumire-chan.” Kanon replied innocently, giving her own present to Keke. Through her frustration, Sumire noted that it was even smaller and thinner than her own. “Theres no problem with saving the best until last, right?”
Sumire pouted and returned to her seat in defeat. “Please don’t remind me about last week.”
“Don’t think of it as us reminding you of the last week! Think of it as us acknowledging your enthusiasm in celebrating my birthday!”
“I think that’s a great way of wording it, Tang-san.” Ren corroborated.
An agreement was on Sumire’s lips, but she felt it slip back down her throat after she heard Keke audibly gasp at the contents of Kanon’s present. As Kanon looked at Keke with a hint of smugness, who was now practically vibrating in her seat, the other three were left in confusion at what Keke had just received. All of those doubts quickly evaporated when she pulled out two tickets with shaking hands.
“Are those the right tickets, Keke-chan?” Kanon asked hesitantly. “I remember you talking to me about two idols you were interested in-“
“Yes these are the ones! I’m so happy you remembered!
“I’m sorry I was only able to buy two with the allowance I had. I would have loved to have taken all of us, since it would have been a good experience-“
“Don’t worry about that! You can come with me and we’ll make it a date~!”
“A-A date?!”
“Yep! I couldn’t have any dates with girls back in the Shanghai! Gosh this is turning out to be the best birthday I’ve ever had!”
Kanon shook her head violently as if she were shaking off her confusion. “Date or not, I would still love to go and see them with you!”
“Yay! I am so looking forward to our date!”
Chisato laughed to herself happily, wiping a fake tear from her eye. “Kanon-chan’s all grown up now, scoring dates with girls!”
“Chi-chan!”
Sumire let the round of laugher cease before rising to her feet with her own gift. “Let’s not get too caught up on Kanon’s date. After all, haven’t we saved the best for last?”
“Oooo we have!” Keke agreed with renewed energy, excitedly taking the present from her hands. “Wow! The wrapping paper is really pretty!”
“Personally, I’m very interested to see what Heanna-san was so enthusiastic about.” Ren attested.
“I agree, Ren-Ren! Sumire-chan was so enthusiastic she celebrated early!” Keke replied jokingly.
Sumire flashed Keke with the softest death stare she could conceive of. “You’re on thin ice.” she played along.
Keke wasted no more time in unwrapping Sumire’s present. Sumire felt a great surge of pride as Keke retrieved the folded piece of paper which was inside, which opened out over the table to reveal an annotated map.“
“Oooo! Is this a map of the Harajuku?!”
“Oh Keke.” Sumire started theatrically. “It’s not just a map of Harajuku. Is THE map of Harajuku!” She leaned forward and gestured towards the map as she explained it. Keke listened to all of it avidly. “The center of the map is Yuigaoka, and it opens out to show all of the best cafes, restaurants, high street and convenience stores, stadiums, performance stages, train and bus routes, walking routes and stargazing spots!” Sumire was practically out of breath once she finished, after which she stepped back and allowed the others to bask in her genius.
“This is one of the most comprehensive maps I’ve ever seen…” Ren marveled.
“It really is! Oh! Theres our café, right here!” Kanon agreed, pointing to where her café was marked on the map. (Sumire had generously made it stand out among the other cafes.)
“It even includes the Takoyaki food truck!” Chisato noted. “The only thing its missing are the locations of the other shrines in the city. You’ve only labelled yours.”
“Can you really blame me? I’m the only shrine maiden in the city who’s qualified to solve incidents.” Sumire bragged.
The praise of the others gradually died out as they all noticed that Keke hadn’t said anything yet. As it turns out, this was because she was tearing up.
“Keke-chan?! Are you alright!” Kanon worried.
“You’re all so nice! I never had any friends like this back home! I’m so happy I came here!” Keke cried.
“Keke? We can’t speak any Chinese between us!”
“I’m soorrry!! But the presents you all got were so thoughtful! You all cared so much about me and my birthday! Sumire-chan was so excited, she tried to celebrate early!”
Sumire ignored the joke and the light laughter that followed from the others. “You’re a valuable friend to us all, Keke. You deserve a birthday to honour that.
Perhaps it was easier to accept now than it was a week ago, but Keke was right. Even when Sumire was acting like an idiot, she did it because she cared.