Chapter 204 – Working Together
Amami-san’s birthday party started with Umi and I embarrassing ourselves in front of everyone.
The number of attendees was higher than Umi’s party so it felt a little cramped. Everyone seemed to be having a good time though, so it wasn’t all bad.
Everyone was gathering around the large round table that the Amamis kept in their garage for this kind of occasion.
Next to the star of the day, Amami-san, was Umi and the Nitori-san and Houjou-san duo. Arae-san and Nakamura-san were beside them. Meanwhile the two boys, Nozomu and I were right in front of Amami-san.
Riku-san had left early after clearing up the misunderstanding. He gave Eri-san some souvenirs from Shimizu before leaving.
I knew that he would leave early because he had to prepare for his move, but I still felt disappointed.
“Woah, this cake is so big! Are you really giving this to me, Nozomu-kun?”
“Yeah. My mom is working at a pastry shop. When I told her about your birthday party, she told me to give this to you. Just take it as my birthday gift to you, Amami-san.”
“Thank you! Then, I won’t hold back! It look so tasty~”
Speaking of his gift for Amami-san, his plan was to dedicate his victory in the baseball match for her, but since his team lost, his plan was ruined. He was currently smiling, but I could tell that he was still bitter about losing.
Amami-san and the others were blowing out the candles on the cake and took some pictures of it with their phones. It was a pleasant sight to watch, but I had complicated feelings about it because of the guy beside me.
I could understand his feelings after all. He liked Amami-san a lot and he did his best during the tournament for her, but all his efforts were in vain.
“Maki, I wanna divide the cake so we can all eat, but how many portions should I make? Seki can’t eat sweets because of his diet, right?”
“Yeah. I guess we only need seven portions… What do you think, Nakamura-san? Can we cut this whole thing into seven equal portions?”
“Sure we can, but it’ll be annoying to do it… Well, why don’t we do this? Instead of seven, let’s cut it into six. What do you think, Maehara-kun?”
“Huh?”
Well, I didn’t mind not receiving any. That just meant I’d be joining Nozomu in the no cake gang.
“Ah, sorry sorry, I didn’t explain it properly. We cut it into six, one for each of us, but Umi-chan will share her portion with you.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you guys are going to do this anyway, right? It would be easier for you two if we do it this way, right? Amami-chan, aah~”
“Hehe, yeah aah~ Nom… Mm! These strawberries are big~”
Seeing Nakamura-san feeding Amami-san a strawberry made me realize what she meant. Since we were going to feed each other anyway, it would be better for us to share a portion.
I turned my gaze to Umi to see what she thought. She immediately turned her face away from me, blushing furiously.
Also, she seemed to be unusually motivated.
Well, we were too far apart to do that right now, but we’ll get the chance soon, probably.
I exchanged glances with Umi.
“W-Well, that aside, let’s cut the cake first. C-Can you help me with it, Maki?”
“…Sure, if you want me to.”
I was thinking of asking Eri-san to do it, but she was busy feeding Rocky in the kitchen.
Which was strange, considering that she was among the crowd who took pictures of Amami-san blowing the candles. When she noticed me staring at her, she gave me a thumbs up for some reason.
Since the master of the house entrusted the task to me, I had no choice but to do it myself. I sat down between Umi and Amami-san.
“Ehehe, welcome, Maki-kun~”
“Excuse me… Umi, let’s cut the cake in half first. Then, we can divide it into three equal portions. The one with the most fruit on it should be Amami-san’s portion.”
“Um… Should we cut it over here?”
“Yeah… Wait, it’s off center, move it a little to the left.”
“Here?”
“Mhm. Move the knife down, slowly.”
I put my hand on Umi’s hand and together with her, we cut the cake into six portions. The reason why I did that was because I saw Umi’s hand starting to tremble at some point. I didn’t want that to mess up the cut, so I gave her a hand.
“…Looking at you two pissed me off…”
“Hm? Did you say something, Arae-san? Say it again, I didn’t hear you.”
“I-I didn’t say anything! Don’t mind me, and don’t leave your boyfriend to work by himself, idiot.”
“Shut it.”
Arae-san had a foul mouth, so her reaction wasn’t unexpected. But why did the other girls all have the same expression as her?.
I only did what I always did with Umi, though… Was what we were doing wrong?
…Maybe, everything they told us was true? We looked like newlyweds or something?
Well, whatever. We cut the cakes into six portions without a hitch. After that, we all chatted while eating the food that Eri-san prepared.
Although the food itself wasn’t any different from Umi’s birthday party, the amount was increased because the number of attendees increased.
“Alright, I’m done, I’ll be with Nozomu if you guys need–”
“Wait, Maki-kun.”
“Hm? What is it, Amami-san?”
As I was about to slip away, Amami-san held me back.
“Your precious girlfriend is here, so you have to accompany her, okay, Maki-kun?”
“Uh, are you sure? If I’m here, I’ll be monopolizing her, you know? Won’t I be in the way?”
I knew how much Amami-san loved Umi. She would love to chat with her once in a while too.
Honestly, she should be a bit more selfish and monopolize Umi once in a while.
“Yeah, I don’t mind. I know that I’m not the most important person to her anymore… I’m sad about that, but at the same time, I love seeing her happy face whenever she’s with you, Maki-kun. That’s why, don’t hold back just because of me, okay? You’re free to flirt as much as you want~”
Saying that, she pushed me toward Umi.
Well, if the star of the day said so, I guess we didn’t need to hold back. I couldn’t help but feel that she was a bit too considerate toward us though.
“Don’t mind me, okay? I’m going to annoy Nagisa-chan for a bit, so until I’m done with her, just enjoy yourself~”
“…No, please don’t come here.”
“Huh? If you don’t want me to annoy you, then why are you here, Nagisa-chan?~ You’re actually lonely since I haven’t been paying much attention to you, huh?~”
As announced, she went toward Arae-san.
Looking around, it seemed like two groups had formed among the attendees. The basketball players with the addition of Amami-san, and Nitta-san, Nakamura-san and Nozomu in the other group.
That left Umi and I by ourselves.
“Um… Do you want to get more food, Maki?”
“…Sure. Let’s eat everything before it gets cold.”
Since they left us alone, we decided to focus on the food in front of us.
Naturally, we fed each other while we were at it.
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