Matayoshi Masaki : [Hey Sato, we need you to come with us after school to pick up some party stuff]
I was staring at my phone, it was nearly the end of the day. Matayoshi was looking to do some shopping with me, of all people, and Hana was to my right as always, except this time instead of helping me with my word she decided to doze off, so I didn't have to worry about her snooping through my text messages.
Matayoshi Masaki : [Nearly time to get out the gates, you're coming right?]
Sato Masaichi : [But you already got enough stuff, didn't you?]
Matayoshi Masaki : [No, you're coming right?]
Sato Masaichi : [I guess I am?]
Matayoshi Masaki : [Try to show more enthusiasm, this is your girlfriend's birthday.]
I turned my eyes back to Hana, she was still sound asleep, her cheek was smooshed against the desk somewhat smooshing her face, she looked kind of cute.
I turned back to my phone before I let my thoughts wander beyond that.
Sato Masaichi : [Shas not my girlfriend.]
Matayoshi Masaki : [Ok, well it's obvious she has the hots for you, she talks about you all the time to Haga.]
Then I suddenly heard a buzzing noise, as If a phone that was on silent was displaying a notification, I turned back to Hana once again and noticed her phone was tightly gripped in her hand flatly on the desk, and her screen was turned on, despite her being asleep I looked over, half of her screen was uncovered.
Haga Ayumi : [Sato just needs time, he's obviousl-
I couldn't see the full message because the other half was covered by her hand, but I had a somewhat clear picture that they were talking about me.
I'm obviously what though?
I could think of a ton of facts about me that were "obvious", one of them being I suck at doing homework, which was what I should have been doing right now. I looked out the window, and stared at the fountain in the courtyard. I needed to mentally and physically prepare myself for this surprise we were going to throw for her.
*****
This was the first time I truly hung out with Matayoshi one on one, otherwise I had only talked to him via text or in the club room, I mostly spent all my free time Hana with the only exception being when she was busy with work.
"Sato, you're staring off into space."
"Ah."
Matayoshi motioned towards a shelf in the small convenience store we were in, we were browsing for soda, and other things like that.
"What kind of soda does Hana like?"
"Cola."
"Like just the generic kind?"
"Yes."
"Much appreciated."
The bottles were located at the top of the shelf, which would have required me to get on my tippy toes just to barely reach, but Masayoshi being tall, didn't need to do that.
"So why didn't we bring anyone else along?"
"For the sake of convenience, we don't have to get much stuff anyways so more people would just slow us down."
"So why me?"
"Because you know her best."
He quickly picked a soda and lightly pushed it against my chest, by instinct I grabbed it and looked back at him with a confused look on my face.
"I can't grab more if my hands are full, don't worry I'll pay for it."
"It's a party of 7 people."
"Who's the seventh person?"
"Her father."
"I see."
Matayoshi grabbed 2 more large bottles of soda, and handed them off to me, leaving me without any room in my hands.
"Sato, can I ask something of you?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"You're a gamer If I recall that correctly, Do you have any consoles you could bring over to her house?"
"An old one yeah, but I only have 2 controllers."
"That will work, otherwise we will only have boardgames."
"Fair enough."
And then we stood in silence for a while, mindlessly browsing the shelves for anything else we needed.
*****
Thursday, today was it.
After waking up I hastily put on my uniform and left, this was because I had slept in.
I pulled out my phone and saw about 5 unanswered texts sent in quick succession.
Yamada Hana : [Masaichi.]
Yamada Hana : [Masaichi, wake up.]
Yamada Hana : [Please!!]
Yamada Hana : [I'm so excited, wake up.]
Yamada Hana : [Dummy.]
I squinted my eyes, she had sent all these within 4 minutes of each other, was she really that impatient to speak with me?
Sato Masaichi : [Are you trying to annoy me?]
Yamada Hana : [No, sorry.]
Sato Masaichi : [You are forgiven, birthday girl.]
Yamada Hana : [I thought I was the 'Pizza girl' to you?]
Sato Masaichi : [Well that changes today, happy birthday Hana.]
She took 9 minutes in total to reply to that, almost as if she was struggling to comprehend that I had wished her a happy birthday.
Yamada Hana : [Thank you.]
Sato Masaichi : [Your welcome.]
Yamada Hana : [Remember last year when it was my birthday, and how we played video games all day after school?]
Sato Masaichi : [Yeah, what about it?]
Yamada Hana : [I would love to do that again.]
She still had no idea what was going to happen, that was good but I felt a little bad keeping it from her, she had no idea we wouldn't be able to play all day today.
Sato Masaichi : [We will see, let's see how tired you are after work.]
Yamada Hana : [Ugh, why did you have to remind me of that]
Sato Masaichi : [Because, money.]
Yamada Hana : [I'm tempted to call in sick, honestly.]
Sato Masaichi : [Don't!]
That was bad, if she stayed at home after school we wouldn't be able to surprise her, or at least not as well, we would have no time to set everything up.
But in my panic, I slipped up.
Yamada Hana : [Why do you of all people want me to work, on my birthday nonetheless?]
Sato Masaichi : [Uh.]
Sato Masaichi : [It would be bad to miss out on a day of work though, wouldn't it?]
Yamada Hana : [I mean kinda? But it's not that big of a deal]
Sato Masaichi : [Don't waste a sick day on a day you aren't sick, you said you had 4 left didn't you?]
Yamada Hana : [Yeah, me catching strep really screwed me over.]
Yamada Hana : [Fine, ill go.]
Crisis averted, thank god.
Now all I have to worry about is getting to her house as soon as she leaves for work.