Preparation

"I'm actually the worst…"

"You regret forgetting huh."

Akane awkwardly smiled when she saw Haruto place his head on the table in front of her.

The two had decided to meet at a public cafe the next day after Haruto requested that they meet to discuss the message Akane had sent him.

"But it's at least good we found out just a few days before the actual date right?"

"That's true but I still can't forgive myself for actually forgetting."

Haruto rubbed the area between his eyebrows and let out a frustrated groan thinking about Mahiru's birthday.

"How did you even find out anyway?"

Mixing the iced coffee she had in front of her, Akane took out her phone and showed him an email she had received.

"You know how I sometimes go out with Mahiru when I want someone to come with me to buy something."

"Yeah, she tells me all about it whenever she comes home from one of your trips."

"Well, one time we went to a bubble tea shop and there was a deal for some free snacks if we filled out a form so I just had to do it."

Haruto swiped through the email Akane had shown him while he continued to listen to her story.

"Mahiru said that she didn't have the app so I just gave her my phone so she could register and just yesterday I got an email from what I'm guessing is due to her information still being in the app."

"So it was a lucky coincidence…"

Haruto mumbled under his breath and continued to stare at the email while tapping his finger on the desk.

"Was there no instance of her mentioning her birthday at any point recently?"

Akane felt curious and sent her thoughts to Haruto as he was the one person who had been with Mahiru the most.

Haruto took a while to answer as he thought of something before he slowly spoke.

"To be honest I think Mahiru had never really put her birthday in her eyes considering…" 

A slight pause appeared at the end of his sentence and Akane who was listening had a small idea on what he was about to say.

"...her family right?"

"So she told you huh."

"Not to the full extent but I'm able to piece together the snippets from what I heard from her."

Akane looked slightly sad when she spoke but there was also a hint of displeasure within her eyes when she ended her sentence.

Haruto noticed his sister's expression and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Seeing Akane care so deeply for Mahiru made him happy seeing that his lovely girlfriend was being looked over by the other people in his family. 

There was silence between the two and Akane who shook off the thoughts from her head, watched her brother and waited patiently for the eventual reaction she anticipated him to make.

'Hmm… I think there should be more sugar in this…'

Tasting the sweetness of her iced coffee, Akane saw how Haruto gave her phone back and pumped his fist with a determined look.

"Alright!! I have 3 days to prepare something so I must use my time wisely!"

"There he is~"

Akane clapped her hands excitedly hearing Haruto's words and nodded her head.

"So do you have any plans on what you want to do?"

"I have a rough idea of what I want to give as a gift but the problem is I need to think about how to set up the celebration."

Akane tapped her finger on the table before suggesting something that came out her head. "How about ordering a boat load of the sushi I sent you guys last time? I remember hearing that you guys loved it."

"I could probably do that… but I feel like doing something much more though…"

Haruto took her idea and kept it as an option but he continued to think more deeply for more alternatives.

'Maybe something I haven't done before..?'

Thinking about all the things he had done with her, a certain action or act suddenly showed up in his head.

"Akane…"

"Did you figure something out?"

"..How about I cook dinner one time for her…?"

"...."

"...."

Another silence appeared between the two before Akane had to push her iced coffee to the side and looked straight at Haruto.

"My dear brother."

"What's with the formal tone?"

"Let's not bring impossible ideas to the table alright."

Akane showed him a gentle smile but this just made Haruto pop a vein and narrow his eyes at her.

"I can definitely do it."

"When was the last time you cooked?"

"Maybe a few days ago.."

"It was probably a cup of instant noodles right?"

Haruto kept his mouth shut but this silence gave Akane confirmation that her answer was correct.

"Even so now that I think more about it, I feel like this is something I would like to do for her."

"Considering the idea I also think it's nice but are you sure you can do it?"

Haruto sat in silence for a while and the image of Mahiru happily humming to herself in the kitchen popped up in his head.

This very scene was deeply imprinted in his memories which caused him to slowly form a gentle smile.

"I watched how Mahiru puts so much warmth and quality time into her cooking so I feel like I should try to give back the same warmth to her on her birthday."

Akane saw the sweet smile and relaxed face Haruto made when he talked about Mahiru which caused her to steadily listen to his words.

"So even if I can't do so now I can at least put in the effort to learn and at least make something for her right?"

"...."

Akane continued to stare at her brother before she slacked back into her chair and covered her face with her hand.

"When did my brother become so sweet…"

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Haruto leaned closer as he heard Akane mumble something under her breath before she took her iced coffee and started to drink it once more. 

"Are you going to practice or are you going to do it on the day of her birthday?"

"Since I haven't done something like this before I want to at least get some practice in but I think doing it at my place might be bad."

Considering he wanted to make this a surprise, practicing his cooking in his apartment would cause Mahiru to be curious as to why he was learning and may ruin his cover.

"Maybe you can cook somewhere else then."

"But where am I going to find a place to do that?"

"Hmmm…"

Akane hummed to herself before she picked up her phone to check something.

"How about at our house?"

"Our house?"

"Yeah, dad is working at home for the next few days so he will be there with you. Plus you can ask Ms. Aoi to teach you some things about cooking."

"Learning from Ms. Aoi would be a good idea…"

Haruto agreed as he thought about the caretaker he had as a child that helped with many things such as cooking food and helping Akane and him with anything during their time in elementary school.

She was a good cook so learning a few things from her would definitely be something he would gladly accept.

"Also on the day of Mahiru's birthday I can ask her to do something to have her out of the house so you can do your cooking."

"Akane…"

Haruto looked at his sister who was typing at her phone and his eyes shined when he heard her trying to be active in helping him set this up.

"M-My Onee-chan is so kind~!"

"....Say that again.."

Akane's head snapped away from her phone and an intense gaze flew towards Haruto who turned his head away to look outside his window.

"I said that you were so kind."

"No, there was a word you said before that…"

"I don't know what you mean~"

Haruto kept a blank look on his face when he saw Akane try to egg him to say a certain word once again.

The two began to argue with each other but the people who looked at them from the other tables, saw the faint smiles they had on their faces as they spoke.

***

"It's been a while since I've been here."

Walking up to a gate as he exited a taxi, Haruto passed through a door and walked along the gravel path that led to a big house.

There were neatly trimmed bushes and a small pond with a few fountains spewing water from its openings streaming towards the clear water it had within.

Haruto looked at his surroundings and faint memories from his childhood sprung up from his head before he heard a gentle voice reach his ears.

"It's been a while."

"Ms. Aoi!"

Haruto saw a tall middle-aged woman in a long black outfit and a neatly covered apron standing by the door of the house he was approaching.

Her neatly tied black hair was in a bun while her calm and gentle eyes looked up at the boy who she had not seen for a while.

"I'm glad you look healthy. I was worried that you would have a hard time eating when you lived alone."

"Don't worry I luckily have someone who helped me eat well."

"I have heard."

Aoi smiled gently when she saw Haruto who looked healthier and taller compared to the one in her memories.

'I wish I could meet the lovely girl who I have heard a lot about from Yui.' 

Guiding Haruto inside she brought him to the living room where Jiro and another man were sitting.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.