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“One hamburger, with a side serving of large fries for Morisawa-kun!” Niki announced, placing down the plate in front of Chiaki, “Sorry that took a while~ Rinne-kun wouldn’t leave me alone.” Niki proceeded to take a seat in the booth occupied by Chiaki and two other members of their old shuffle unit, being Natsume and Mitsuru. The four had gathered today after Chiaki had contacted each of them individually over WholeHands. Apparently, the heroic brunette had planned something that required the assistance of the shuffle unit.
“Don’t worry, Shiina. I’m just glad the four of us were able to come together today!” Chiaki beamed at the cook, as he dug into the platter of fries in front of him.
“Just four of us today? I thought you would also invite Hakaze-senpai, seeing as the two of you are close,” Natsume questioned, inquisitively staring at Chiaki. Mitsuru nodded his head in agreement, as he munched on a dinner roll.
“But speaking of Hakaze-senpai... wasn’t it his birthday yesterday?” Mitsuru noted, once he finished chewing his bite of bread, “I gifted him some sweet pastries, since Hajime-chan said he has a sweet tooth!”
“Huh!? Looks like Tenma-kun and I both gave him food; I ended up replicating the pancakes he made for me on my birthday…” Niki whined, sneakily stealing a fry from Chiaki’s plate, who was too busy eating his burger to notice.
“We’re getting off-topic here. Morisawa-senpai, why did you ask us if we were free today?” Natsume said, trying to bring the conversation back to its original subject. Realizing he was being called to attention, Chiaki set his meal down and wiped his face with a napkin.
“Sorry about that; I was a bit hungry. Anyway, I called us here today to spend time with each other and deepen our bonds wahaha ☆” Chiaki declared, raising his head and pumping out his chest proudly. Niki and Mitsuru shared a curious glance with each other, while Natsume placed his head in one of his hands, trying to figure out Chiaki’s motives.
“Geh! Don’t give me that look, Sakasaki! I have no ulterior motive here; I simply wanted to bring us all together again for the occasion,” Chiaki’s voice softened, “We may have sent gifts to Hakaze yesterday, but I wanted to give him one more present… something that only we, the Date Plan Idea Squad, can grant him.” The brunette then looked down to his plate of food in an attempt to hide the blush slowly rising up onto his face. Natsume’s eyes widened at seeing this side of Chiaki, but before he could make a remark, he was interrupted by Mitsuru.
“Woah! That sounds so cool, Chia-chan-senpai!” Mitsuru cheered, “But only a gift we can grant him… I’m not sure I get it entirely.” He looked to Natsume, in hopes of getting clarification on Chiaki’s intentions. The magician sighed, then articulated his interpretation of Chiaki’s words.
“Morisawa-senpai is saying that only we can grant Hakaze-senpai a unique experience by spending time with him. A pretty personalized present, if you ask me,” Natsume explained, a tiny smirk gracing his face.
“So Hakaze-kun is coming too?” Niki mentioned, seeing that the captain of the Date Plan Idea Squad wasn’t with them at the moment.
“That’s correct, Shiina. I double checked with Sakuma to see if his schedule was clear today, and luckily it was! On top of that, all of our schedules were open today too… looks like the stars aligned for us ☆” Chiaki responded, just as a chime echoed through Cafe Cinnamon, signifying someone entering the restaurant.
The four at the booth turned their attention to the newcomer, who was none other than Kaoru himself. Kaoru hadn’t noticed his former temporary unitmates, instead looking to his side and catching sight of the rest of Crazy: B sitting in another booth. From a distance, it looked as though Rinne was preparing to strike up a conversation with the blonde, but Chiaki had stood up to bring Kaoru’s attention to their table. Kaoru quickly took notice and sped walked to the booth being occupied by the rest of the Date Plan Idea Squad.
“I know you called me here Moricchi but what’s everyone else from the shuffle unit doing here?” Kaoru asked, taking the seat next to Niki. Chiaki slid down the booth to accommodate both Niki and Kaoru, with Niki following suit to give Kaoru some space.
“We’re all here to take you out on a date,” Natsume immediately replied.
“What!? You know I don’t-” Before Kaoru could finish his sentence, Mitsuru and Chiaki cut in with a gasp of surprise, while Niki let out a nervous laugh.
“Sakasaki-kun, you really need to stop doing that! It’s hard to discern if you’re joking or not,” Niki spoke, sending a disapproving stare to the redhead. Natsume returned it with a smug smile.
“Well, jokes aside, we’re gathered here today to invite you on an outing with us, Hakaze,” Chiaki stated, “Take it as a gift from your unit ♪” Kaoru was taken aback by this offer; he had assumed Chiaki had asked to see him today because he wanted to hang out alone together, but to get the old shuffle unit together…
“Is this why you left the note in my birthday gift yesterday? This is supposed to be an addition to my present?” Chiaki nodded at Kaoru, silently answering yes to his question, “I see; I appreciate it a lot, Moricchi. Well… since we’re all together right now, where should we go?
“I was thinking Thyme Street again; after all, that was where we all hung out the first time around,” Chiaki brought up. He looked to the others and was met with nods of approval for the idea.
“It would be kind of nostalgic no~ Even though it’s only been a few months since that night,” Kaoru reminisced, thinking back to the first day of their group’s gathering, where Chiaki had taken him on a self-proclaimed date to help him out with his date plan. The trip had ended with the five of them dining out at a restaurant recommended by Niki.
“Woah! I like the sound of that! We weren’t able to play and have the fun Chia-chan-senpai and Hakaze-senpai had then, so this would make up for it,” Mitsuru declared. Natsume and Niki followed suit, voicing their agreement to revisit Thyme Street.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s head off to Thyme Street!” Chiaki affirmed, getting up and frightening the cook seated next to him.
“Oi oi! Don’t startle me like that. I’m stuck between two people… Hakaze-kun, can ya move out the booth for a bit? I need to tell my boss I’ll be leaving with you guys.” Kaoru complied, scooting out of the chair, allowing Niki to leave and talk to his boss. Then he settled back into the booth, filling in the space next to Chiaki, who was busy trying to finish his food. Across from them, Natsume and Mitsuru were now whispering between each other, probably planning out for the trip.
Kaoru couldn’t help but smile at this sudden turn of events. He had previously assumed that Chiaki would be the only one to hang out with him, since the note left at the bottom of his birthday gift only mentioned to come by the cafe. However, seeing the rest of their temporary unit assembled made the blonde feel tender. Kaoru, who had been rejected before, who previously kept his distance with his juniors, who has slowly begun acting like a proper upperclassman, was glad to see his attempts to connect with others work out. Looking back, he had been really anxious about leading the shuffle unit, almost cowering away and trying to shift leadership to Chiaki. But with the help of the brunette and Anzu, Kaoru found his groove and managed to make the entire project a huge success. It was just cathartic to see-
“Hey, Hakaze, are you alright? You look like you’re spacing out,” Chiaki broke Kaoru’s silent self-reflection moment, inching closer to the blonde to get a better look at him. The sudden invasion of space made Kaoru jump.
“Moricchi… sorry I was lost in thought again,” Chiaki shot him a skeptical look, so Kaoru looked back to Natsume and Mitsuru, who were cleaning up their side of the table.
“Hmm. Well, if you need something, don’t be afraid to tell me, okay?” He heard Chiaki express, as he left the booth. Before Kaoru could formulate a proper reply, Niki came back, mentioning he got permission to leave work early.
“Well, our free time is finite, so we should take off now,” Natsume suggested, leaving his side of the booth, with Mitsuru doing the same afterwards. And so, the Date Plan Idea Squad began to make their way to Thyme Street; although, Chiaki kept a close eye on Kaoru while the group walked to their destination.
“What type of game is this, Nacchan-senpai? It’s so bright,” Mitsuru marveled at the yellow arcade cabinet, with a colorful set of buttons in front of its TV display. The five of them had made their way to the arcade Chiaki and Kaoru were playing at before the other three members had intercepted them that night. They weren’t able to fully explore the interior last time, so the gang were taking this time to do so.
“This is a Pop’n Music cabinet; it’s a rhythm game where you press the buttons in time with the notes on the screen,” the magician clarified, “Although, I personally don’t have much experience with playing this type of rhythm game.” Niki joined in on staring at the dazzling arcade cabinet, but realized the other two members of their group were missing.
“Eh? Where did Morisawa-kun and Hakaze-kun go? Did they get separated?” Niki looked around the arcade to see if he could spot the duo anywhere.
“Looks like they’re playing that one fighting game from last time,” Natsume spotted the two going head to head on the cabinets they were playing on last time. It looked like the game had been relocated to the inside of the arcade rather than outside. The magician was suddenly struck with an idea, gesturing to his companions to silently follow his lead.
The trio hid behind an aisle of arcade machines near where Chiaki and Kaoru were going up against each other; it was reminiscent of the day they hung out to make their date plans, tailing after their seniors. Once Natsume was assured that the two were too absorbed in the game to notice their presence, he flashed a thumbs up to Mitsuru and Niki, letting them peek over the machines too. Small snippets of the conversation could be heard, mostly due to Chiaki’s naturally loud voice.
“Wahaha~ Looks like I’ve won the round this time, Hakaze,” Chiaki exclaimed, raising his fist up in the air to do a victory pose. Kaoru hadn’t looked at Chiaki, but rather stared at his side of the arcade cabinet in awe; last time, Chiaki didn’t even know how to play this game, and now he managed to take some sets off of Kaoru (not to say Kaoru was amazing at this game either, but he had a general idea on how to play, which was better than Chiaki’s presumed nonexistent knowledge).
Recovering from his initial shock, Kaoru teased, “I didn’t know you had it in you, Moricchi~ Did you practice without me?” Chiaki blushed at Kaoru’s comment, looking off to the side while bringing his hand up to scratch the back of this neck.
“In fact, I did. I came here during the few breaks I had to practice more… I really wanted to beat you,” the brunette admitted. Kaoru returned to his previous state of surprise: did Chiaki really work hard just for him? The blonde felt heat cover his face. The two were now stuck in a state of embarrassment, being rendered speechless by the other. Natsume saw this as the perfect moment to intervene: “Did you two forget about us?” The flustered pair turned around and saw the other three coming out from their hiding place; being caught in such a private moment made Chiaki and Kaoru flush more.
“I wanna play with Chia-chan-senpai and Hakaze-senpai!” Mitsuru dashed to Chiaki’s side, peeking at the arcade cabinet, “Aw, but there’s only two sets of buttons here.”
“It’s ok Tenma. We can all take turns playing. That was the objective of today right? Having fun together!” Chiaki said, moving out of the way to give Mitsuru a turn at the game. Kaoru did the same, making room for Niki, who was interested in playing a round too. Natsume placed himself between the two, prepared to give tips on how to play, as he could tell they were novices.
With the trio taking over the arcade machine, Chiaki and Kaoru hung back to watch the three have their fun. The duo smiled at the sight of joy spread across everyone’s faces. “I really have to thank you for this, Moricchi… I actually thought of doing something similar to this back when we were still working together, but it never happened because everyone’s schedules didn’t line up. So for you to unite us again, just as my birthday gift…,” Kaoru murmured, hoping Chiaki wouldn’t hear his words. This entire excursion was making him emotional; as if the events of his birthday party wasn’t enough, there were more people who wanted to show their care for him.
“Hey, we were all brought together by a unique circumstance and formed a bond like no other in the ES. And as someone who spectacularly led our unit to success, what better way to reward you than a day where we all enjoy ourselves?” Chiaki replied, “How did our song’s lyrics go again? ‘There’s so much to be excited for, from A to Z.’ That’s how today feels.” Kaoru let out a soft giggle at Chiaki’s reference, who beamed at Kaoru after hearing his laugh.
“I just have one question for you, Hakaze,” Chiaki’s demeanor intensified. The blonde, taken aback once more, nodded his head.
“Are you happy?” Kaoru thought about it: Chiaki’s decision to gather the shuffle unit together for a late birthday gift, his birthday party with his unitmates in UNDEAD and the rest of the idols at Rhythm Link, the experience of working and leading the Date Plan Project. He looked further back to his last year of high school, where he originally distanced himself from his peers then slowly opened up to them. All of these experiences transformed him into the person who was currently standing at Chiaki's side and watching the other members of a unit he led enjoy themselves. At this moment, Kaoru knew his answer.
“Yes, Moricc- no, I’ll call you Chiaki-kun this time. I’m really happy Chiaki-kun.”