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Even after years, how she celebrated her birthday with everyone never changed. Even after she grew up into an adult and she got busy after starting to have part in taking care of WEEKEND GARAGE, she still had the time to throw a little party for the celebration. That was why, her birthday was still one of the days she always looked forward to in a year.
The presents she got from her friends and people of Vivid Street varied from year to year, and some of them never failed to surprise her. Yet, nothing of those surprises was anything close to the surprise she got from a certain someone's birthday present for her 29th birthday.
Not once in her life did she ever imagine getting this kind of present for her birthday, this present, that was—
"—A marriage registration form?"
Shiraishi An voiced out her confusion. Her eyes went alternately from the piece of paper, in which the sender's name was already written in the husband-to-be column, then to the face of the sender which was dyed in crimson red to his ears. She also blinked her eyes several times to see if there's gonna be any change in the content and pinched her cheek to see if this was a dream, but to no avail. Nothing changed, and she didn't wake up from anything.
This was reality, the day of her birthday, with Shinonome Akito gifting her a marriage registration form as a birthday present.
She thought it was strange that Akito came to WEEKEND GARAGE to celebrate her birthday in suit when he usually just wore a comfortable hoodie, especially since today was a weekend. Her astonishment grew as he handed her an envelope as birthday present, and it peaked when she opened what the present inside was.
It wasn't just her who was surprised, everyone presented there gawked as if they just witnessed an unbelievable scene. From as far as her vision reached, she could see Kohane was blushing while covering her mouth with her hands, Touya was widening his eyes at them in utter surprise, Koutarou looked as if his lower jaw was gonna fall to the floor, while Arata raised his brows with visible amusement on his face.
Maybe if they were lovers in the first place then people would be shocked less. The problem was, they were not.
The closest it could get was probably the fact that she might harbor a crush towards Akito, which she never told anyone and buried it deep inside her heart while hoping that the feeling would disappear over years since she never expected he'd see her as a love interest at all. Yet, when she stared at the gift in her hand, the heart that was supposed to not feel anything about him anymore started to thump loudly just like the first time she realized her feelings.
"Akito... this is—? Wha, wait... uhh, sorry, is this what I think it is...?"
Akito wasn't the type who would do something like this as a prank. Looking at his serious face at her question, she was firmly convinced—it was a marriage proposal.
That means I should also write my name in this column, right? Realizing what she just thought, her face turned even redder. She couldn't believe she was already thinking of accepting it right away. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to hesitate even just a bit when you suddenly got proposed out of the blue like this?
What was she thinking?
Ah, my face feels hot...
"...If you hate it, you can just throw it away," Akito finally spoke when she just stared at the paper in silence. She could notice that he was also nervous for her response.
"That's not it! It's just..." Does Akito love me? She might sound too self-conscious if she asked that kind of question even though she was really curious. "... Why? So suddenly..."
"If you're asking me why... you're the one who has been saying that you want to get married, aren't you?"
"Huh? I did...?"
It ended with a question mark. An tilted her head, and Akito let out a tired sigh.
"You did. Many times. You told me about how you went to a reunion and saw that almost all of your friends are already married. You also said you want to know what makes Touya and Kohane always seem to be very happy since they got married."
"It's just normal to be curious about that! I mean, there's an aura of happiness overflowing from them all the time!"
"You've been reading wedding magazines a lot lately, haven't you? I saw a lot of them on the counter before."
"Ah... you mean those magazines? There's a coupon there which you can trade for a present if you collect them. One of them is a variant of tea that I want to try, so I've been buying them a lot."
From this point it was already clear that there seemed to be a misunderstanding between them, but the man didn't give up there as he gave even more statement.
"Then what about what you said last week? About how you want to try going to a mixer once you turn 29 years old, so you can get married before you enter your thirties? You looked so determined while telling me that you're going to save Japan's declining marriage rate."
"That was obviously a joke!!!!! We're no longer in the time when you care about at what age you should get married, are we?"
Who would give saving the nation as a reason to get married in the first place!? An couldn't help wondering how in the world the usually very rational Akito would take her joke that way. No, why are you remembering my mindless rambles so precisely anyway?
"Haa...? So, you're really not planning to get married?"
"Not exactly... I just don't have any plan to rush it like Akito said."
After this Akito held his head in one hand before crouching down in front of her, letting out an exasperated sigh as if he had lost all of his energy. He must be very embarrassed by the misunderstanding now, An was approaching him to comfort him when she heard him mumbling in a lower voice.
"No way... I was very sure you're going to marry the person you've only met for three days after going to the mixer since you're so prone to making impulsive decision... I thought that's why I had to act quickly..."
Hey, aren't you thinking badly about me just now? Are you taking me for a fool, Akito??? She wanted to complain about the way he thought of her, but there was also some kind of flutter in her stomach when she saw him like this. A smile was threatening to appear on her face, so she bit the inside of her cheek.
This man chose a funny way to propose, such as giving her a marriage registration form as birthday present, because he wanted to prevent her from marrying someone else as soon as possible. Someone who would usually plan everything thoroughly like him did something like this because he was panicking about her wanting to get married. Somehow the image of this kind of Akito was so cute, that she almost felt all giddy inside. An stroked his hair comfortingly while giggling a bit.
"Hmm... what's that? So, Akito loves me that much after all... If that's so then you could've tried asking me out first before asking me to marry you, you know?"
"...I can't help it, there's no time left to spare. I had been hesitating for too long after all."
She smiled at his words before turning towards Ken-san who had been watching the whole scene while crossing his arms. "Dad, sorry but can you get me a pen? I need to write my name here," she asked, which Ken-san just nodded in response. Hearing it, Akito's face lighted up immediately.
"That means—"
"Ah, but maybe should I just fill this marriage registration form later and give it to Akito as a birthday present so we're even? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I want to try giving marriage registration form as birthday present too."
"Oi, An... Be more serious."
An laughed when Akito frowned at her tease. Before she could reassure him that she was seriously accepting her proposal, suddenly people of Vivid Street who also celebrated her birthday there were already surrounding Akito.
"Come on, Akito... This is Vivid Street, you know? You can't just ask Vivid Street's beloved daughter for marriage like that. Just asking for Ken's permission isn't enough to marry An-chan."
"That's right, I also think of An-chan like my own daughter. I'm already close to tears now. An-chan grew up in this place where she's surrounded by good music since birth. As a musician too, you have to prove your worth with music, don't you think?"
"We know you're a member of the awesome Vivid BAD SQUAD that successfully managed to overwrite the legends, but we're going to put that aside for now. This time you're simply a Shinonome Akito who's asking for Shiraishi An's hand in marriage, so we need to check again if you're worthy enough for her. We're not going to give her to you that easily."
"That's right! Let's hold 'that' now! The thing we used to do for An-chan's birthday!"
"Right, let's do a singing battle. You can only marry An-chan if you win, Akito."
"The hell...?"
One by one, the people of Vivid Street were urging him. Eventually everyone was already cheering for the singing battle to be held. Even Ken-san was saying that he'd provide the space for the performance and act as the moderator. Akito knew how much An was loved by the people in this neighborhood, but how he should also ask for their blessings to marry An probably slipped out of his mind.
"Fine," he said, taking the mic that was handed to him. "I definitely won't lose. No, losing isn't even a choice now. I will make sure you all will give me your blessings."
"Ahaha, that's Akito's usual confidence alright! Just like how it's supposed to be! Then, is there anyone else who wants to participate for the singing battle?"
"I want! I will join!" An herself raised her hand. "Geez... it's about me marrying Akito in the first place, it's not fair if you just decide things without involving me. I will take part in it! If I win, I will marry Akito!"
"Haa!? Why did you end up participating too, An?"
"Because~~I don't want Akito to look cool by himself. I won't let you take all the spotlights today."
"Uhm... I want to join too! Please let An-chan marry Shinonome-kun if I win!"
"If that's the case then I hope you don't mind if I'll be joining too. I want to help Akito getting blessings to marry Shiraishi by winning the battle."
"No way... even Touya-kun and Kohane-chan? Damn you, Akito. You have many great supports, but we won't take it easy either!"
"Excuse me, this seems interesting, so I think I want to join as well. If I get to win, I hope An-chan will only hand the marriage registration form on Akito-kun's birthday. He's rushing things out too much after all, this is a nice payback."
"Touno, are you my enemy after all...?"
"Then I will join too! If I win—"
"Oi, not you too Mita!!"
The birthday celebration ended up turning into something a lot bigger. No matter who came out as the winner, it seemed everyone from Vivid Street was already grateful for the exciting day to wholeheartedly give their blessings.