"Are you sure you are not joking?" Akari asked Hotaro who was looking at her and was thinking something.
"No, I normally forget when my birthday is and Hinami and her family comes here and remind me that. Looks like I even have to bake a cake now. Should I make it sweet or a little bitter?" Hotaro was thinking out loud the last part.
"How old will you be this year?"
"Sixteen if I remember correctly. I should also ask when Hana's birthday is so I can throw her a big party then. Hajime-san, how about you go and check the bedrooms?" he suggested.
Turning on his heels, he started leaving and walked upstairs. Hana was holding the bunny plush Hotaro bought her. She looked at Hotaro and ran towards him and started tugging his sleeve. He looked down and she pointed at Hinami who was sitting on the bed hugging a bear with a sad expression on her face.
It was quite an adorable sight but that was not the main topic. Hinami looked at Hotaro and averted her eyes from him. He walked towards her and tapped her shoulder but she did not turn, letting out a sigh, he opened his arms wide.
"Looks like you did not give me any other choice," he said pulling her arm. "Come here."
He pulled her in a tight hug and she was resisting him pushing him away but Hotaro didn't let go but hugged her even harder. As the seconds passed, the resistance from Hinami dialed down, and when she finally stopped, she hugged him back. She buried her face in his chest because she didn't want to show that she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Hotaro. I am so sorry," she said softly but Hotaro could hear it properly.
"Shush, its fine Hinami. I know you were angry at her and acted on your emotions and I don't blame you. I am happy that you care about this idiot so much," he said patting her back. "This feels so nostalgic," he muttered.
"It sure does," she said.
Then the both of them felt two more pairs of arms wrapping around them. One was from behind Hotaro's back and the other was hugging their legs and burying her face on their waist. The lower one made sense but Hotaro and Hinami looked behind them and saw Akari behind Hotaro.
"Don't look at me. Your sister will be a really good weapon in world war three," she said averting her eyes.
The both of them looked at Hana who was hugging them and she gave them a big smile.
What happened was that when Hotaro and Hinami finally calmed down, Akari was in front of the room and peeked inside. Hana noticed her and ran towards her and started dragging her by her arm. Akari resisted a little but Hana gave her puppy dog eyes and she finally stopped resisting. Hana hugged the two and then urged Akari to do so with a pleading face. She could not resist that face so here she was in the middle of a group hug all thanks to the little girl.
They finally let go of each other and Akari looked at the finished room of Hana and was amazed about how good it looked and how cute it was. Hinami puffed her chest feeling proud but then her phone rang. She looked at the number and her eyes widened.
"I need to take this call," she said to Hotaro and he understood what she meant.
"To-be girlfriend?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said and walked out of the room.
Akari was a bit confused by this trade of words between the two and she and Hana tilted their heads. Hana because she had no idea what girlfriend meant and was trying to decipher the meaning behind it.
"She is into girls," Hotaro said to Akari and she understood what he meant.
"What? Really?"
"I am not joking."
The doorbell rang and the sound chimed around the house. It was the only thing you can hear in the entire house from everywhere, even Hotaro wonders how that happens. He started walking down with Hana on his side and when he opened the door, he was met with a middle-aged man with a blue cap on his head and a writing board in his hand.
"Fuji Hotaro?" he asked him and he nodded. "We got your order so please sign here and tell me where to get this stuff."
Hotaro signed where he was asked to and he directed the people to Hana's room. As time passed, and Hotaro asked Hana where she wanted to keep all the furniture, it was finally done. Now, the empty room looked like a room that Hana was happy with. She ran around the room while laughing happily. She sat down at the study table, placed her face on the desk, sat on the pillows set next to the round table and placed her shoulder bag there, and took out her "diary".
Hotaro looked at her and smiled and walked to see the title of the diary and tried peeking in the diary but Hana covered it with her hands and pouted.
"It is my personal diary, even Onii-chan cannot read it," she said and Hotaro chuckled at this.
"Sure, I won't see. So, should I walk out of here?" he asked her and she nodded. "Very well then, come down when you are done and by that time, Hajime-san, have you decided which room want to stay in?"
"Yes, it is this one," she said pointing at the room which used to be Hotaro's parents but he didn't say anything.
Hinami went home for "important stuff" and Hotaro checked the time and decided to let the cake off and start making dinner. Akari had nothing to do so she sat down on the couch and started watching the television.
Hotaro was in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up and apron on as he brought out the ingredients for the dinner. Taking them all out, he started making dinner with a lot of concentration. Indian food was something he really liked and he knew he can really mess up if he doesn't do it right. The chopping of the knife, the boiling water, the soft voice of cheese being cut, and the sound of him pounding on the dough to make it perfect could be heard resonating in the kitchen.
He didn't realize that Hana sat down on a chair and looked at him cooking. Akari, who saw the silhouette of Hana in the hall going to the kitchen got curious and slightly peeked through the door. Hotaro was slapping the dough with his hand alternating with it quickly giving it a perfectly round shape. He was making something that tastes good and would not be too heavy so he wasn't making any meat tonight. The entire dinner would be vegetarian which no one knew except for the chef himself.
Once he was done doing the main preparations and left the curry on the stove to cook slowly, he wiped the sweat and turned around seeing Hana sitting on a chair. Akari went away before he turned so he has no idea that even she was there.
"Hana? Why are you here? You can go and watch the television with Hajime-san," he said to her but she shook her head.
"No, I am watching a show right now. It's called "Home cooking with Fuji Hotaro"," she said with a grin on her face.
"Well, now as you all can see the curry has been kept to be slowly cooked so all we can do is wait. There is one important detail that I have to tell my dear audience is that time is the most crucial part of all this, it can make or destroy your dish so be very specific about it. Now we will be taking any question from you, my audience so please ask," he said acting as an anchor and placed an invisible mic before Hana's face.
"Fuji-san, I want to ask what do you think will be the approximate time to cook all of this together?" she asked him in a dramatic voice.
"So our question is from Ms. Fuji Hana, very well. It takes about an hour or hour and a half depending on how you are making it and as you can see I started cooking the food at around 6:00 PM and my unidentified sources tell me that it is 7:00 PM now so the food will be ready in just a few more minutes," he said.
Both of them looked at each other and broke out laughing. Hotaro leaned back and he forgot that the other stove was on and he placed his hand and as expected, it got burnt. He quickly removed his arm and winced in pain and turned that stove off.
Hana looked at him rush towards the sink and put his hand under running cold water all the while gritting his teeth and closing his eyes trying not to scream. Hana went towards him worried and seeing his hands, her eyes widened. There was a burnt blue mark on his hand and it was really painful.
"Hana, don't worry. This is nothing, things like this happen while cooking," he said trying to calm his sister down.
"But…your hand is burnt…it was because of me that we started that game and…" she said looking at his arm.
"No, it's not Hana's fault but Onii-chan's. He got careless so you don't need to worry and this is nothing. There was this one time I cut my hand with a knife. That was really painful," he said chuckling at the end.
Hana looked at his hand which he got out of the water. She placed her hands on it and closed her eyes.
"Pain, pain, fly away. To the stars up high and let only my Onii-chan's hand stay. Kabam!" she said raising both her hands opening her eyes.
What she just did was a little moderation to the chant in the magical girl show she saw yesterday. Hotaro chuckled seeing her like this and pats her head with his other hand with a warm smile on his face.
"Thank you, Hana, the pain has gone away," he said warmly.
"Yaay! I could finally help Onii-chan," Hana cheered.
A voice was heard from behind them and Hotaro saw that the curry was ready. He opened the lid and took a little spoon and tasted it and nodded satisfied. Hana looked at him and he took another spoon and took out some curry gravy with it. He blew on it sometimes and then hands it to Hana.
She copied his moves and sipped the gravy but instead of Hotaro's satisfied nod, she stared at it with stars in her eyes.
"It's delicious! Just like the one I had back in India once," she said gleefully.
"I am happy about that," Hotaro said and took the spoon from her.
The doorbell was heard followed by the sound of the door opening. Hearing these two sounds one after the other, Hotaro had an idea who it was so he peeked from the kitchen and saw a bundle of blonde hair moving. The owner of this hair was walking towards Hotaro with a warm smile on her face and a big box in her hands. Behind that person was Hinami who had two wrapped boxes in her hands.
"Happy birthday Hotaro-kun," Julie said hugging the boy making sure that the box in her hand does not get damaged.
"Julie-san, I am still surprised that you remember my birthday even when I forget it most of the time," he said.
"Well, how can I forget the birthday of my child? You will be sixteen years old today, right? Also, make way for the cake."
Hearing the commotion, Akari walked out of the living room and saw Julie and Hinami standing before Hotaro and Hana. She raised her eyebrow wondering who the woman was but then Hotaro made way for her and she walked into the kitchen. Akari stood beside Hinami and looked at the woman and then at her.
"She is my mother," Hinami said explaining to her.
"Makes sense, so why is she here today?" she asked as Julie placed the cake down and turned around to see Akari.
"My, so you are the Hajime-chan I heard from Hinami?" she said walking towards her. "You are so pretty, tell how many boys have confessed to you till now?"
"Huh? Why is this the first question you ask me?" Akari asked surprised at the warm personality of the lady. "About thirty," she ended up whispering in her ear.
"Oh, that's lovely. Where are my manners? I am Sato Julie, Hinami-chan's mother. Hotaro-kun is like my own son so please take care of him," she said placing her hand on her cheek.
Akari was taken back how with just this little exchange between the two, she felt warm inside. Julie radiated the energy of a loving mother. She was also taken back by her beauty with the warm smile on her face.
"Now, let's celebrate Hotaro-kun's birthday. With me, yaay!" she said raising her hand.
"Yaay!" said the other girls.
Hana tucked Hotaro's sleeve and looked at him with a pout on her face.
"Onii-chan didn't tell me today was his birthday. I didn't get anything for him," she said in a sad tone.
Hotaro pats her head gently and she looked at him and he had a warm smile on his face. He kneeled down and hugged her gently. She didn't know why he did it but since she loved his hugs, she hugged him back.
"No Hana, you already gave me the best birthday gift ever yesterday," he whispered in his ear.
"But I didn't give you anything," she said confused by what he meant.
He stood up and picking her up, headed to the living room. The other three watched this little interaction between the two and then quickly went to the living room while Julie went to the kitchen to take the cake out. She got a plate and placed the cake on it and got a knife out and walk out into the living room.
Hotaro sat down with Hana who was insisting to sit on his lap. Hinami was sitting next to the siblings and Akari was sitting opposite to them. They all looked at Julie who brought out the cake.
"And here is the cake for Hotaro-kun. I made sure to make it really sweet," she said placing the cake on the table.
Everyone saw the cake placed there and their eyes widened seeing it. It was a five-layer chocolate cake drenched in chocolate and there were also chocolate chips on the side. Hotaro's eyes were sparkling seeing it and drool was dropping down Hana's face.
"This is too much chocolate," Akari said out of concern.
"No Hajime-san, this is perfect," Hotaro said denying her and wiping the drool off of Hana's mouth with his handkerchief. "Just how long did this take to make Julie-san?"
"Oh don't mind about that Hotaro-kun. I had already decided to go all out on this one. More importantly, you should cut the cake since Hana-chan does not look like she can wait any longer," she said handing him a knife.
"Woah, Hotaro. Why do you have such a big knife with you? That can be used as a murder weapon," Hinami said looking at the knife.
"Because it is," he said shocking her and Akari. "It will be used to murder this cake so I can devour it."
They looked at him and chuckled. Right now, Hotaro looked more like a kid than Hana. Julie lit a candle and placed it on the cake. Hotaro made a wish in his mind and both he and Hana blew the candle together while the other was singing the happy birthday song. Hotaro cut a slice out of the cake and was tempted to put it in his mouth as soon as possible but the first bite went to Hana.
She took a bite of the slice and closed her eyes chewing the desert and she looked like she had tasted the utopia of food.
"It's so good! Onii-chan, you also eat," she said taking the slice from his hand and placed it before his mouth.
He took a bite and leaned back eating the cake slowly. Savoring the taste and pleasing his taste buds to the maximum. His look was enough to tell that the cake was amazing. They then continued to feed a slice to Hotaro one by one. Akari was a bit hesitant and Hotaro said it was okay if she didn't want to.
"Hajime-chan, you should feed Hotaro-kun too. It will be helpful in the future," Julie said in a little scolding and teasing voice.
Akari stuffed the slice in Hotaro's mouth and he smiled at her while eating it. Hana scooped her finger in the cake occasionally eating it little by little.
It was the time of gifts and Hinami was the first one to give him gifts. She had a smug on her face while handing it to her.
"I saw your private stuff and I know your taste. Hope you like it," she said and Akari's face turned red.
"W-w-wait, private stuff? Taste? What did you give to him?" Akari said with a flushed face.
"Looks like you are misunderstanding it a little. This guy has a very bad case of a sweet tooth. His "private stuff" is just his stack of candies," Hinami said. She then looked closely at Akari's face with a smirk. "You have a cute embarrassed face. If it was not for the fact that you were Hotaro's fiancée, I would have already confessed to you," she whispered in her ear.
Akari was left dumbstruck at the remark and Julie then gave Hotaro her present. Hotaro opened the present and his eyes widened looking at it.
"Julie-san, this is." He was left amazed.
She gave him two photo frames with the picture of Hotaro and Hana when she first came here and Hotaro was feeding her the hamburger in the first one. In the other one was the picture of him and Hana hugging each other in the food court. His eyes moistened a bit and Hana looked at the image and then pointed at it.
"Look Onii-chan, it's us," she said happily.
"Yes Hana it is," he said but then Hana turned gloomy and held her head down.
"Everyone got Onii-chan something but I didn't," she said sadly.
Everyone looked at her and then Hotaro made her turn around and hugged her again. He started patting her head and gently stroking her hair.
"No Hana, meeting you was the birthday gift you gave me yesterday. It was the best gift I could ask for," he said.
"Really?" she asked him tightening her grip.
"Really, I got the best birthday gift I could ask for. Thank you so much, Hana," he said warmly.
The siblings hugged each other for some more time and the others looking at this adorable sight couldn't help but smile. Akari was no longer surprised but just amazed at seeing this side of Hotaro. In school, he was marked as a gloomy loner. He had no friends and no one he could talk to. The only people who did talk to him were not actually talking to him but talking at him.
Akari herself has done that multiple times. She called him many insults. She was the reason why all this started but Hotaro had no hate towards her in his heart. He did not mock her, he did not throw her out of his house but he let her stay or more like made her stay. Akari was thinking about her image of Hotaro again and it irritated her.
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