It was only a day away from her birthday, and I was extremely nervous.
She had no idea that me and the club were planning to surprise her at her own home with a party, luckily she would be at work while we worked on getting everything set up for about 4 hours, we had plenty of time. Despite the fact that Hana and I did what we did yesterday our friendship still felt somewhat tame, but we were now fully acknowledging that there was room for something beyond that. I had woken up not even 10 minutes ago when she decided to shoot me a text.
Yamada Hana : [Good morning.]
Sato Masaichi : [Yo.]
Yamada Hana : [My birthday is tomorrow.]
Sato Masaichi : [Are you excited?]
Yamada Hana : [Yeah, sadly my cousin is going to be too busy with practice to visit me this time, but at least you're coming, so that's all that matters I suppose.]
I looked across my room towards my closet, inside it was the small bag that contained her gift.
Sato Masaichi : [Are you sure you don't want anyone else to come?]
Yamada Hana : [Well I mean, I do but who else would?]
Sato Masaichi : [Our club mates?]
She didn't respond again until I was almost out the door, about to walk to school.
Yamada Hana : [I don't really want to bother them, they are all pretty busy people compared to us, we are couch potatoes.]
Sato Masaichi : [More like just I am, you actually have a job.]
Yamada Hana : [Not like we're going to get a new cashier anytime soon.]
Sato Masaichi : [Are you suggesting that I get the same part time job you have?]
Yamada Hana : [No, I'm leaving it up to interpretation, you're the one who brought up having a job.]
Yamada Hana : [But by god that would be so much strain off my back, I hate having to deal with customers alone.]
Sato Masaichi : [Duly acknowledged.]
Yamada Hana : [Since when did you say such fancy words, hm?~}
Sato Masaichi : [Since now and also, stop texting while walking.]
Yamada Hana : [I'm not, I'm sitting right outside my house waiting for you to end the conversation]
Sato Masaichi : [Why do I have to end it?]
Yamada Hana : [Because I suck at ending them.]
Sato Masaichi : [Fine.]
Sato Masaichi : [Ill see you at school, Hana.]
Yamada Hana : [Mhm.]
Hana then sent an image of a cat that looked extremely upset.
Sato Masaichi : [Ok then?]
After that I put my phone back in my pocket. I wasted 5 minutes that I could have used to start walking, so I needed to pick up the pace.
*****
"Boo."
As I was heading through the gates Hana surprised me to no success by jumping out from behind the tall brick walls of the school courtyard.
"Ahh, frightening."
I exaggerated my fear by putting my hands on my head and letting my jaw drop.
Hana put a hand up to her mouth to cover up what looked to be a quiet giggle.
"Sometimes you can be really funny, Masaichi."
"Sarcasm tends to be funny, sometimes."
"So what are we going to do tomorrow, since it's my birthday I don't really want to hang out with you at my house, because my cousin isn't coming."
"What was his name again?"
"Akio, Himura Akio."
"Well, I'll make plans. I'm sure we can go somewhere, I'll wait for you to get off work at your house, and then we can go, alright?"
"Alright."
Little did she know me and the photography club (minus her) planned to throw a party, and surprise her when she entered her home. I had to make sure not to hint at any of that, even if it meant lying to her.
"Class starts soon, right Hana?"
"Yeah, I guess I better get going then."
Hana stood there, staring at me while not moving an inch.
"Uh, you good?"
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something."
She had a sad look on her face, almost as if she was reminiscing about something.
"You ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"You don't look like it."
"My mom won't be able to come."
"What? But she works from home."
"That's the thing, lately instead of working in her office she has being going to work in person, sitting in a cubicle doing god knows what."
I said nothing and let her continue.
"My dad works all the time, but at least he's there, but I feel like my whole family is so distant from how we used to be, the only person who I actually feel closest to in my family is my cousin."
"Oh."
I didn't know what to say, the only person I had really been distant to in my family was my dad.
"My father was forcibly discharged from the military recently."
"What?"
"But before that our relationship was an absolute abhorrent mess, we would barely ever see each other except for holidays, I never felt like I could truly open up to him about most things when he was there, I wish I had a better relationship with him but we don't."
"So what are you saying?"
"You're not alone, and that things don't have to be that way.."
Hana looked around, and took out her phone and her eyes widened.
"Jeez, classes are about to start"
I took out my own phone and saw it was nearly 8:00
"Crap, I'll see you later Hana."
"Wait Masaichi!"
I felt a rough tug on the hem of my shirt, I spun around and saw Hana was the one responsible.
"Thank you, for telling me that."
"I- no problem."
I entered my first period, wondering why I said what I did to Hana, and how I was able to open up to her so blindly.