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“You’re kidding, right?”
Nana glares at the countertop in lieu of an actual, physical Nobu right there in the kitchen with her to glare at. “Why would I?”
“You don’t bake. Are you sure the kitchen is gonna survive that?”
“I’m sure, fuck you very much. It’s just a sponge cake. No big deal.”
“Sure, that’d be the only potential fire hazard. But, uh… why not just buy one?”
She clicks her tongue impatiently. “Some of us prefer not taking the lazy route. I’m sorry you’re not one of us.”
“… maybe I should come over early, after all.”
“I rescind my invitation. I won’t open the door if you show up.”
“Oh, come on—I was just joking!”
“Yeah, yeah. I have to return my attention to the sponge cake in the oven before it does catch on fire, in which case, it’s all your fault. Bye.”
“Wait, Nana—”
But she doesn’t wait, instead hanging up on Nobu before she puts her phone down on the counter. She bends down to look into the oven, relieved to see that her sponge cake is turning a surprisingly gorgeous golden colour rather than dark brown or black. So what if she’s had maybe more cooking-related mishaps than the average person, that doesn’t mean she’s always doomed to fail. Something about today is making Nana feel more confident than usual, and it’s not just the date. She tries to not let it get to her, though; she does still have to pay attention to what she’s doing to make sure the cake comes out both looking and tasting good.
The sponge cake serving as the base of what’s becoming a birthday cake comes out of the oven with relative ease, and it looks almost store bought. The huge difference is that it isn’t, and it’s fresh. Not stale like the ones you would buy, and cheaper than those, too. The more Nana forces herself to cook, the more she realises how much cheaper it is than to buy ready-made meals from a restaurant or a store. She just wishes she had the patience for it more often, is all.
Nobu can’t have been very far, because he arrives on Nana’s doorstep far sooner than any human being should be allowed to. Nevertheless, she can’t keep her promise to not open the door for him since her neighbours will yell at her because her uninvited guest won’t stop making noise in the hallways. It’s happened before, will definitely happen again.
“I can’t believe you were seriously considering leaving me out there.”
Nana shoots Nobu a look while he kicks his shoes off at the door. “I would have if you knew how to shut up.”
“Love you too. How’s the cake coming along?”
“It was coming along, but then I had to stop in the middle to open the door for your sorry ass—”
Nobu throws one of his gloves in Nana’s direction, and it just barely misses her head. “Hachi would want me here. And she has as much right to this apartment as you do.”
“I know. Consider yourself lucky.”
As she expects him to, Nobu sticks his tongue out like a child making a grimace, and Nana laughs before returning to the kitchen. Nobu follows after, almost like a scolded puppy, and he obediently stands by while Nana returns to filling her piping bag with whipped cream.
“If you can behave and not eat all of them, you may help decorate the cake with strawberries when I’m done piping the cream and making it look nice.”
Nobu shines like the sun itself. “Alright. What kind of design are you going for?”
Nana cocks her head to the right, in the direction of something that should be familiar to Nobu. He walks a few steps over to look at a photo that Nana keeps on the counter as she works, and Nobu gasps with surprise.
“You still have this photo? Amazing. I’m assuming you won’t write ‘Black Stones’ on the piece of chocolate.”
“No. I wrote ‘Happy birthday, Hachiko”.”
“You already did it? Let me see!”
“In the fridge. Don’t fucking touch it or I’ll kill you.”
“I’m not an idiot, Nana.”
“Sometimes I wonder.”
She smiles to herself while listening to Nobu’s muttering as he heads over to the fridge. More excited noises are heard for a moment, and then he returns to stand uselessly by the counter at a safe distance away from Nana. She glances at him.
“You can sit down and wait. She probably won’t be back for another hour or so.”
“Right, yeah.”
“Why are you nervous?”
Nobu scoffs. “I’m not nervous, I’m excited! I can’t wait for her to see the cake.”
“I’m not done yet, don’t jinx it.”
Doing as he was told, Nobu sits down at the table, but not without the grumpy look. “She is going to love it, you know. Even if you screw up.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna aim to screw up.”
“Fair.”
“Alright, come help decorate this thing.”
Despite their banter and Nana’s penchant for picking on Nobu, they manage to make the cake look really nice. It does look almost exactly like the one Hachi made a few years ago, with the obvious difference being the text on the chocolate sign in the middle of the cake. Yasu and Shin join not too long after Nana’s put the cake into the fridge to set, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for Hachi to come back home from work.
“I’m impressed,” Yasu says from where he’s standing by the fridge. “It looks great, Nana. Good job.”
“I helped!” Nobu quips.
“With decorating. I did literally everything else, sit your ass down.”
“I am sitting. Don’t forget to put candles on top, by the way.”
Nana blinks tiredly at Nobu. “Nobuo. It’s going in the fridge. What good would the candles do in there?”
“Well, remember to put them on when you take it out of the fridge, then!”
Shin cackles from his corner by the table, earning himself a death glare from Nobu. All heads turn in sync when they hear a key turn in the lock, and Shin jumps.
“Should we hide? Surprise her?”
“It’s fine, she’s not a child. Besides, you all being here will be enough of a surprise.”
The door opens, and Hachi barely even has time to take a step inside before Shin jumps up from where he was seated not one second ago, barrelling into Hachi with a hug she instantly reciprocates.
“Happy birthday, Hachi!”
Hachi lets out an elongated aww as she pats Shin on the head. “I can’t believe you all came here for little old me. That’s so nice of you.”
“You said that last year, too,” Nana points out with amusement. She walks over to peel Shin off her girlfriend and then replaces him with herself instead. “Happy birthday, Hachi.”
“Thank you!”
“How was your day?” Nana asks, pressing a kiss to Hachi’s forehead. Hachi practically melts into the gesture, which Nana always loves.
“It was awful. Much better now.”
“I hope I can make it better.”
“Ew, save it for when we’re not here.”
“I meant the surprise, dumbass,” Nana barks back at Shin, who laughs and walks back to sit down next to Yasu at the table.
“Right.”
“A surprise?” Nana swears she can see Hachi’s ears perk up at the mere mention of the word ‘surprise’. She has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. “What is it?”
Nana finally separates herself from Hachi, letting her girlfriend take her coat off and come into the apartment proper. The excitement still hangs in the air, which Nana finds funny since the others already know what the surprise is. Maybe they’re just excited for Hachi’s reaction. Not that Nana takes Hachi’s gratitude and general happiness for granted, but she already knows that Hachi will be happy about the surprise cake. Even if it tastes like crap, even it did end up looking ugly, she’d still be overjoyed.
“Go join your friends at the table,” Nana says. “I’ll go get your surprise.”
“We’re your friends too, whether you like it or not!”
“You wish.”
Nana smiles to herself while she goes back to the fridge to carefully pull the cake out. She can’t deny that she’s a little nervous about Hachi’s reaction, even if she knows Hachi will love the cake regardless. It’s the first time in many years that Nana dared herself to bake something, but she didn’t just bake, either. Hopefully, she didn’t use salt instead of sugar in the whipped cream…
She barely has time to turn around before she hears a delighted gasp, and then one set of footsteps pitter-pattering across the floor towards her. Of course, Hachi couldn’t stay put and just had to see the cake up close before it even hits the table.
“Oh my god you got me a cake?”
“Mmm… kind of,” Nana says coyly while setting it down in front of her friends who all stare at said cake as if they haven’t already taken a peek into the fridge. “I made it.”
“You made me a cake?”
“Well, yeah.” Her face is turned as Hachi puts her hands on Nana’s cheeks, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Do you recognise it?”
“Huh?”
“The cake, I mean.”
Hachi bends down to look at the detail of the cake, and then she lets out another aww. “Oh my god, you didn’t.”
“I did. Too cheesy?”
“No! Oh Nana, I love it. It looks identical. How did you do that?”
Nana laughs. “I had a photo for reference, my memory’s not that good. Glad you like it.”
“Now we just have to taste it to see if it taste as good as Hachi’s did.”
“Ah-ah,” Nana scolds Shin as his grabby hands shoot forth. “Birthday girl gets the first slice.”
Hachi sits back down with a groan. “So much pressure to cut the first slice.”
“I can take that pressure away from you if you want.”
Nana brandishes the cake cutter, making Nobu jump. “Hey!”
“It was just a joke, Nana!”
She can’t help but laugh. Hachi takes the cake cutter from her and then carefully cuts herself the first slice, for some reason earning her a round of applause from Shin, Yasu, and Nobu. Only then does Nana realise she forgot something.
“Shit, I forgot to put candles on the cake.”
“Nana…” comes Yasu’s voice.
“I told you to put the candles on the cake!”
“Nobu, I swear to god…”
Hachi laughs, and she stands up to kiss Nana on the cheek. “It’s fine, at least it says ‘happy birthday’ on the little sign. I think it looks great as is. Thank you, Nana. This is way more than I could ask for.”
Nana feels her cheeks burn, and she looks down at the floor. “Glad you liked it.”
“Aww, Hachi—you made her embarrassed,” Nobu teases. Nana immediately looks up, glaring at him.
“I will throw you out, and I won’t let you back in. Screw the neighbours.”
*