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“I hope he brought an umbrella to work.”
Sasara’s voice lacks all of its usual bounce; he’s slumped over, sitting cross-legged by the balcony door and tapping his fingers against the floor as he watches the rain. Rei sighs from where he’s sitting at the table in the center of the room.
“I may be getting old, but I heard you the first three times you said it,” he notes, locking his phone and sliding it into his pocket. Sasara’s head falls between his shoulders.
“I hope he brought an umbrella to work!” he repeats, folding his arms across his chest and puffing his cheeks.
“Geez…” Rei rises to his feet and walks over to him, softly bumping a fist to the top of his head. “What are you, a grade schooler?” Sasara sighs exaggeratedly and doesn’t respond. “He’s a big boy, he’ll be fine.”
“He didn’t text that he was on his way home like usual.”
“And…?”
“What if he was kidnapped?!”
“Off public transport, during the evening rush hour?”
“What if he’s sellin’ Dotsuitare Hompo’s secrets to someone shady as a side hustle?!”
“Since when did you suddenly mistake him for me?”
“Rei!” Sasara smacks the side of his leg with his folding fan. Rei sighs again.
“What kind of comedy routine is this?” he complains, before taking a seat at Sasara’s side. “I don’t get what you’re being so mopey for, he’s barely twenty minutes late. Maybe he dipped into a store to avoid the rain.”
“I’m not being mopey,” Sasara insists. “I just don’t want to be kept waitin’ to play our prank on him, is all.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say…” Rei rolls his eyes. “I thought Rosho was supposed to be the nervous wreck, not you.”
“I’m not nervous!” Sasara counters, bumping his forehead against the glass door. Outside, everything is blanketed in a dull gray. “It’s just… weird.”
“Everyone’s late once in a while.”
“Not just that.” Rain hits the balcony on the other side of the door in soft thuds. And yet there are still kids running through the streets, laughing despite the weather as they clutch pumpkin-shaped buckets. “It’s weird, like…”
“Having someone to wait for?” Rei finishes the thought for him, a strangely neutral expression on his face. Sasara taps his fingers against the floor.
“Hot damn. The mastermind really is omnipotent.”
“As if you’re the only person in the universe to have ever felt lonely.” His foxlike grin returns, though a bit softened at the edges compared to normal. “Now this is the part where you insist you’re not lonely.” Sasara brings a hand to his face and gives an exaggerated gasp.
“It’s like the world’s just marchin’ along to your script…!”
“Yeah, yeah…”
Ordinary deflections for an ordinary day. The two of them go quiet after a round of perfunctory chuckles, and continue to watch the rain.
“Have a fun time.”
“Welcome home.”
“Come back soon.”
“I missed you all day!”
Ordinary things to hear and say.
After the silence has stretched on for a few minutes, Rei turns and looks at Sasara, who’s resting his chin atop his knees and pouting.
Geez, even I’m getting all mopey. He leans back where he sits. These two idiots have rubbed off on me.
But before he can take another stab at lightening the mood with a quip, a buzz comes from the door and Sasara shoots up where he sits.
“The doorbell?” he wonders aloud, then springs to his feet. Rei watches him flounder over to the entrance and look through the peephole. “Aha! Rosho, Rosho!”
Of course—leave it to him to bring back that goof’s smile. Rei smirks, and rises from his seat as the door swings open enthusiastically.
“Rosho! You’re back! Did you lose your keys?! Do you need a spare?! I can lend you—” Sasara’s mouth runs like a machine gun before coming to an abrupt stop as he looks at the man in the doorway. Rosho’s carrying a comically large white box in both hands, having turned slightly to the side as if to shield it.
“Sasara, don’t you dare run into me!” he yells, on edge. “If you do, I’ll seriously be pissed!”
“Huh…?” Sasara blinks, and after a beat he points at the box. “The heck is this thing?”
Rosho stares at him with a twitching eye for a second, then breathes a sigh of relief when Sasara doesn’t come barrelling into him. Only then does Sasara notice that rainwater is dripping from his hair and clothes.
“Good gravy, get inside!” he yelps, hopping out of the doorway. “You didn’t have an umbrella after all, idiot!”
“Normally I wouldn’t let you of all people call me an idiot, but I’ll let it slide today,” Rosho huffs, slipping out of his shoes and taking the box into his living room to set it down on the low table in front of his television. His smile widens as he pats his clothes down and takes off his work bag. “I had my hands full, so I couldn’t carry an umbrella—but I wasn’t outside all that long, so it’s not that big a deal.”
“Not that big a deal, this guy says…” Sasara pouts, looking toward Rei as he approaches them. “And for what, a big box? Did you get scammed into buying something shady again?”
“Maybe let him open it first before you judge too hard, Sasara,” Rei says through his grin, flicking his shoulder. Rosho puffs out his chest.
“Heh!” he chuckles smugly, gesturing toward the box while he heads to the fridge. “Go ahead and look for yourself!”
“Geez, now the two of you are creepin’ me out…” Sasara’s shoulders hunch forward a bit, but after a moment he lowers himself to sit cross-legged at the table and reaches for the flaps of the box. Rei watches at his side as he lifts the top.
His eyebrows rise.
“A…” Sasara’s hands freeze in place. “A cake?”
“Not just any cake, a birthday cake!” Rosho corrects him, a six pack in one hand and a set of plates and utensils in the other. Plopping himself down at his other side, he smacks his back lightly and grins. “Happy birthday, Sasara!”
How the heck did I forget?
“You stunned him into silence,” Rei snickers as he sits down in turn. “A modern day miracle.”
“It’s…” Sasara’s jaw hangs open on its hinge.
Or, it’s not that I forgot, but that…
His hands delicately continue unfolding the box until the whole cake is visible. It’s frosted in a gradient of shades of green, with specks of white to resemble bubbles. At the top, there’s a mound of whipped cream with a bright red cherry sitting on top, and three little fondant figures: a blue haired one in glasses, one with a dark hat and sunglasses, and one with a messy head of hair in the same color as the frosting and a folding fan in hand.
All Sasara can do is stare.
“Ah!” Rosho perks up, reaching for something in his pocket. “And one last finishing touch!” He unwraps a striped straw and pokes it into the top of the cake, pointing it straight at Sasara. “How’s that! A big ass melon cream soda birthday cake!”
“You should’ve seen how excited Rosho was, showing me pictures of the final design.” Rei points over the table and chuckles fondly.
“Rei scoped out all the local bakeries to find one that does custom orders,” Rosho adds. “They really did such a great job making sense of my instructions!”
“They…” Sasara puts his hands at the edge of the table. “They did. It’s a real beaut, guys.”
Rosho and Rei blink at each other.
“Sasara?” Rosho asks hesitantly. “Are you okay?”
“More than okay,” he responds, his smile widening despite how subdued his voice sounds. “Seriously.”
“‘Scuse me, could I get a table for one? I’m just lookin’ for a quick cream soda before I hop on back to the studio.”
A seat tucked away in the corner. Counting bubbles as the minutes trudge forward. A fleeting sweetness in the dregs of his glass.
“I haven’t had such a nice birthday surprise in a real hot second!” he beams, slinging his arms around Rosho and Rei as cheer comes back to him. “Leave it to you two to help me remember how bubbly it makes a guy feel!”
“Aw, Sasara…” Rosho returns his smile, and leans in to bump their heads together. His hair is still a little damp, but Sasara doesn’t mind.
“Talk like that’ll give me a toothache before the cake does,” Rei adds with a grin. Somehow the edges of his usual sarcasm don’t seem so sharp, and he doesn’t slink away from the hug.
“At least rate the pun, guys!” Sasara holds them tightly, then flops his arms down, sinking into himself exaggeratedly with a sigh.
“We’re ignorin’ it out of courtesy,” Rosho says with a shake of his head, handing out plates and forks.
“I could go for a different kind of bubbly, after all,” Rei snorts, leaning over toward the beer cans on the other side of the table.
“No fair! You’re not allowed to upstage the birthday boy!”
“The birthday boy’ll just have to step up his game, then.”
“Enough about puns already, let’s take a picture before we cut into the cake!” Rosho pulls his phone out of his pocket, and sticks his arm out for a selfie. Sasara offers his widest smile, goofily pointing both fingers toward the cake, and he doesn’t notice the mischievous grins spreading across Rosho and Rei’s faces until the last second, when—
“Gwah!” A sudden icy patch touches the back of Sasara’s neck, and he jolts, his face contorting. Barely keeping himself from falling backward, he hears snorting at his sides and rapidfire shutter sounds as he flings himself back upright. “The hell was that?!”
Rei flaunts the can of beer in his hand, snickering.
“Old man!”
“Haha!” Rosho flashes his phone toward the two of them as he laughs; onscreen, everything in frame is perfectly clear save for Sasara, who’s reduced to a green and orange blur. “Perfect, Rei!”
“Not you too!” Sasara groans.
“Sorry, sorry,” Rosho chuckles. “Don’t worry, we’ll take one for real. We just couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a Halloween prank, too.” Sasara perks up, remembering something.
“My prank!” he says, smacking his knee. “I forgot!” He digs into his pocket, and pulls out a small plastic bottle. “Me and Rei were gonna jump you at the door and demand candy, and then throw glitter at you if you didn’t have any!”
“His idea, not mine,” Rei interjects, already slurping at his beer. Rosho squints.
“A little uninspired, don’t you think?” he asks.
“Oh, so you’re saying it’s cool if I—” Sasara pops the lid off.
“Don’t you dare!” Rosho snaps, leaning back in an instant. “I’ll be vacuuming that shit out for weeks!” He leans over past the side of the table, dragging his work bag toward him by the strap. “And besides, I do have candy! So put that away!” He tosses a couple of loose sweets at Sasara, who pouts as he caps the bottle again.
“Boo… I’ve been foiled…”
“Thank goodness my students gave me some—I’d end up a laughingstock if I showed up to homeroom sparkling…”
“Chin up, Sasara, you’ll get him next year.”
“We’ll have to brainstorm something bigger!”
“That’s what you were distracting him with while I was on the way?” Rosho snorts, reaching for a beer himself now that they’ve all settled back into their seats.
“Like I said, that was all him,” Rei replies, before holding out a hand expectantly. “But speaking of keeping him occupied, it’s time for you to pony up my service fee.”
“Fee?!” Rosho balks. “You sat your ass around my place just waiting for me to get home, and now you’re talkin’ about a fee?!”
“Nothing in life is free, dear sensei,” Rei tuts, wagging his finger. “But you know what, since we’re such good friends, how about this—I’ll let you pay me back in installments. Won’t even charge you interest for the first day.”
“Rei!” Rosho leans toward him threateningly, clenching a fist tightly.
Now there’s a nostalgic expression!
“Aha… ahahaha!”
Between them, Sasara laughs from the heart, and pulls them close in his arms again.
“You guys… You guys are the best!” He sways from side to side with them. “Here’s to Osaka’s unstoppable trio, Dotsuitare Hompo!” Rosho and Rei look at each other, and smirk as they sigh.
“Idiot!” Rosho chides him, lightly chopping the top of his head. “It’s your birthday, so it’s here to you!” With his other hand, he reaches for a third beer, putting it down in front of Sasara. “Now c’mon, let’s get this party started already!”
“Hell yeah!” Everything feels light and fuzzy in Sasara’s chest as they all clutch their drinks.
“Heh.” Rei’s smile softens, just a tad.
Three hands rise, and three cans clank together.
“Cheers!”
A cluttered table, a friend at each side. Laughter ringing as they lose track of time. Pure and saccharine joy, with no end in sight.