"Nozomu!"
"Woah!"
When I approached and called out to him, Nozomu was startled. His reaction reminded me of a small animal despite his large stature.
"Y-You surprised me!"
"My bad. It's unusual to see you here. No practice today?"
"The coach had something to take care of, so we finished early. Are you two on a date or something?"
"Yeah, we're just shopping though. What are you doing here?"
"Ah, well… I'm just, you know…"
He immediately hid something behind him. I caught a glimpse of it, an accessory for girls.
At that moment, Umi immediately moved behind him.
"A necklace, huh? Is it for your sister?"
"U-Uh, yeah… Her birthday's coming up soon and she kept nagging me to give her a present, so I kinda did… Um…"
"That so? She told me her birthday back at the Christmas party. Isn't it too early for this?"
"Ugh…"
So that was a lie. He was as bad as me when it came to lying.
"Seki, just be honest with us~"
"Fine… I was thinking of giving Amami-san this for her birthday…"
Thought that would be the case. He showed us the accessory in his hand. A necklace with a small silver dolphin on it.
"Is Amami-san's birthday coming up soon, Umi?"
"Hm? Ah, right, I never told you about it, huh? Her birthday is on Tanabata, the seventh of July. The 'Yuu' (夕) in her name came from Tanabata (七夕), that was what her mom told me."
"I see."
I guess I had to think of something to give her as a present too since her birthday was next month. I had been troubling her a lot, so this would be a good chance to repay her a little.
I just had to prepare for Rocky (A Golden retriever, male, seven years old) jumping on me again when I visited her house.
"But, Seki, aren't you getting ahead of yourself? Yes, we're going to celebrate her birthday, but who knows if she'll invite you or not."
"I-I know! I'll be busy with the tournament around that time too, but as her friend, I want to celebrate her birthday too! …Will it trouble her?"
"If it was me, yes, I would be troubled, but… What do you think, Maki?"
"Huh? I don't know…"
Honestly, receiving such a gift from someone who wasn't particularly close to you would be burdensome. I only gave Umi a pricey gift back on her birthday because she was my girlfriend. I had no intention of doing the same for Amami-san.
The necklace he had wasn't a particularly expensive gift, but it was something for her to wear. Receiving something like that would probably trouble her a little. (T/N: Basically it'll put her into a dilemma on whether she would wear it or not. If she were to wear it, that could imply she is really close to him but if she were not to, that could imply that she dislikes him or something along that line.)
I didn't know what kind of impression Amami-san had about him anymore thanks to their conversation at the last study session. She definitely had a more favorable impression of him, but I didn't think that it was a good time for him to do this.
He should get another gift. Something that would fit their current relationship–
"…Leave it to me, I have a good one in mind for you."
I immediately found the answer for him.
"Really, Maki?"
"It's not much, but it's something that only you, a baseball team member, can do. It's a bit lame, but…"
"What do you mean?"
"You're so slow! He meant that you should just win your match for her!"
As Umi previously stated, Amami-san's birthday was on Tanabata, the same day as the baseball team's summer tournament.
We promised that we would cheer for him, so if he said something like 'I'm going to win this match for you' during D-Day, that should count as a gift for her.
"It would be embarrassing, but she should be happy with that. Of course you have to be more subtle about it or else she'll just be creeped out."
"I-I see… As expected of someone with a girlfriend."
"I agree with Maki. It will lift her mood if you do it right."
"I-I see. Then, what I need to do is concentrate on my pitching instead of worrying about what kind of gift I should give to her, that's what you are saying right, Maki?"
"Mhm. And who knows? If you show her your cool side, she might fall for you on the spot."
She rejected him once and the chance of her falling for him at this point might be close to zero, but that might change. She was the one who started calling him 'Nozomu-kun', so there was still hope.
"Alright, I should go home and practice then! Thanks, you two! If not for you guys, I would've messed up big time…"
"Don't mention it. Good luck, Nozomu."
"Thank you!"
He left the shop hurriedly, his face looking refreshed.
The guy had a simple personality, but I kind of envied him since he didn't have a tendency to overthink like me.
"Birthday present, huh? …Speaking of which, yours is coming up after Yuu's, right?"
"Yeah, August sixth."
Amami-san would turn seventeen this year and so would I a month after she did.
The three-day long holiday, Amami-san's birthday, after that summer vacation would start and my birthday would come. Compared to the state I was in last year, I was considerably busy this year.
"What do you want to do on your birthday?"
"Um… I don't know…"
Should I celebrate it like Umi did? If I were to do it in her house, her family could come too and it seemed to be fun to do it that way.
I hadn't celebrated my birthday ever since my parents got divorced, so it would be nice to throw a party like that, but…
"…Honestly, I'd rather celebrate it with you alone, Umi."
I tightened my grip around her hand a little.
It wasn't like I hated partying with everyone, but I'd rather spend my time with her on that day.
The day would only come once a year. If I could spend the whole day flirting with my lovely girlfriend, it would be perfect for me.
If we threw a party, I could still be together with her, but there would be other people there too, and we couldn't do anything we wanted under their watchful eyes.
"I see. Hehe…"
"W-What?"
"You really are hopeless without me, huh? What a spoiled boy, you are~"
"Ugh, take a look in the mirror."
"Hehe. I guess that's true, but…"
Saying that, she clung to my arm again.
Honestly, it was too hot when she clung to me in this weather. I didn't mind though, since she was my lovely girlfriend.
I kept falling deeper for her.
"Maki."
"Yes?"
"Look forward to my birthday present, okay?'
"Mm."
My birthday was still more than two months away, but you'd bet I'll be looking forward to it.