Work Text:
Decorations purchased and hidden in the storage closet? Check.
Perfect present purchased and wrapped? Check.
Friends recruited and informed of their specific roles in making this the perfect birthday party? Check.
As Hamuko scanned the list she had written of all of the tasks she needed to do to prepare for Shinjiro’s birthday, it was check after check after check. After all, it was only a day away, and she refused to be anything less than proactive about such an important event. There was only one thing un-checked as she reached the bottom of the list: bake a homemade cake to be served at the party.
Baking a cake was the task Hamuko had been saving for last for a very specific reason: she wasn’t any good at it, and she didn’t have anyone to ask for help that was. Asking Fuuka was completely out of the question if she wanted the cake to be edible, Yukari was already busy helping with decorations and coordinating the event, Mitsuru wouldn’t be returning from college until the morning of the party, Aigis had no experience with food preparation in her entire life, and Ken wasn’t readily available since he had been moved back out of the high school dormitory at the end of the last school year.
Because of this, she ended up with Junpei and Akihiko as her only two assistants.
Hamuko was 100% sure that despite her lack of baking skill herself, anything she made on her own would be better than something made with Junpei and Akihiko’s “assistance” as a distraction. However, Junpei was desperate to help and insistent on the fact that he would be useful, and Akihiko came home from college early only because refused to allow any aspect of a party for Shinjiro to lack his input, so she couldn’t bring herself to say no to either of them even if she wanted to.
Therefore, after double and triple verifying that every other item on her list was checked, Hamuko recruited Junpei and Akihiko from their rooms and led them to the Iwatodai Dormitory kitchen to start their baking session.
“Okay, this shouldn’t be that hard since I brought a recipe, and we’re just going to follow it exactly… I’ve already read through it in advance and everything, so all you two have to do is follow my directions,” Hamuko said, placing a sheet of paper with instructions for baking a vanilla cake on the counter and turning to the kitchen cabinets to gather ingredients and dishes. She tried to reassure her own anxiety with her words, but she couldn’t help but feel stressed regardless.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t even worry, just leave it to us! We’ll make the best cake Shinjiro-senpai has ever had the pleasure of tasting,” said Junpei with a confident grin as he grabbed the recipe sheet and briefly scanned the text. “This doesn’t even look difficult at all.”
“Exactly. I’ve spent enough time with Shinji that I’m sure some of his kitchen skills have transferred over to me,” Akihiko agreed. The boys’ confidence was the opposite of reassuring; if anything, it convinced her even further that they were going to be completely incompetent at this, but she simply nodded along with them.
“If you guys say so…” Hamuko placed an armful of baking ingredients on the kitchen counter and took the recipe sheet back from Junpei to check the first step. “It says here that we first need to cream sugar and butter in a bowl. That should be easy enough!” Gaining some confidence, she plugged in the mixer and set up the mixing bowl, emptying the butter into it. “Hey, Aki-senpai, can you pour out a cup of sugar for me?”
“Yeah, sure.” After a minute, Akihiko handed her a measuring cup filled exactly to the one cup mark with sugar, and Hamuko completely emptied it into the bowl before she paused and noticed something looked off about it.
“Umm… senpai, are you sure this is sugar? It looks a bit weird.” She took a tiny pinch of the so-called sugar out from the bowl and tasted it. “That… was salt. The recipe says to use half a teaspoon of salt, and I just added… an entire cup.”
“Huh!? That can’t be possible, I-” Akihiko picked up the container he got the supposed sugar from, and turned it around to notice there was a label that says “table salt” on the side he did not look at. “Oh…”
“Jeez… well, it’s okay. Since we don’t have enough extra butter to restart, we’ll just have to try to get as much of the salt out as possible. At least I didn’t start mixing it…” Hamuko brought the bowl over to the sink and carefully tilted it in such a way that the salt would pour out but the butter would stay inside. While some of the salt stuck to the butter and the bowl, most of it went down the drain, and she sincerely hoped that it wouldn’t noticeably affect the taste of the cake.
Once she was certain that she removed as much of the salt as she could, she took the measuring cup and started measuring out the sugar herself, adding it to the bowl and turning the mixer on. After that, she grabbed the recipe sheet again, reading the steps to see what she needed to do next.
“It says here to add the eggs one at a time to the mixture, so Junpei, if you could-”
“Ooh, ooh, I can help with this! Why don’t you let me add the eggs?” Junpei was brimming with enthusiasm, a large grin on his face as he begged to help. Hamuko remained hesitant for a few seconds as she was originally only going to ask him to pass over the items she needed, but she couldn’t deny that his enthusiasm was contagious, so she caved and waved him over.
“Alright, just bring the eggs and vanilla extract over here, and I’ll crack them for you so you can add them in,” she agreed, and once he brought the tray of eggs to her, she took one out and carefully tapped it against the counter to create a small crack in its side. “Okay, so just open it very carefully and pour it in-”
Before Hamuko could even finish her sentence, Junpei grabbed the egg from her with enthusiasm and clumsily opened it, causing several pieces of shell to fall into the batter in the process. “Aww, damnit… that’s not supposed to be in there, is it?”
“No, no it’s not,” Hamuko answered with a small frown on her face, but she quickly wiped it away and replaced it with a smile, although she couldn’t even tell if she was doing it to reassure Junpei or to reassure herself. “The pieces are a bit too small for me to be able to pick them out, but hopefully, that means that they won’t create too much of an issue… I’ll add in the other egg myself, though.”
Junpei opened his mouth as if he were about to protest, but Akihiko shaking his head in disapproval was enough to change his mind, so Hamuko proceeded to crack the second egg and empty it into the bowl very carefully. After that, she measured and poured in the vanilla as the recipe stated.
After the wet ingredients were completely welly mixed, Hamuko grabbed the recipe and read through the next step, which turned out to be the last step before putting it in the oven to bake: adding in the dry ingredients. She was determined to do this part herself in an attempt to minimize the possibility of another mistake happening, so she took the flour and the measuring cup to measure out 1 ½ cups like the recipe asked for until she hesitated.
“Hmm, I wonder if you’re supposed to pack it down in the measuring cup while you do this… I suppose it can’t hurt to do so, right?” Hamuko reasoned out loud with herself as she pressed the flour down in the cup with a spoon and poured it up to the correct measurement. She then did the same with the baking soda and mixed them together separately before adding them in with the wet ingredients and mixing in milk as the final step.
She watched as the batter seemed to turn dry as it mixed together, but she just sighed and hoped that this was how it was supposed to look. From this point, all she could do was pour the batter into the pan and bake it, hoping that it would turn out to be perfect quality for Shinjiro.
Once the batter seemed to be fully mixed, she poured it into a baking pan and turned towards Junpei. “Hey, Junpei, can you set the oven timer to 30 minutes?”
“You got it!”
Hamuko then placed the cake pan into the oven, careful not to burn herself, and dusted her hands off with a smile. Even though they had made a few mistakes, she still felt as though the cake would turn out great, and she couldn’t wait to take it out of the oven and show it to Shinjiro.
After what felt like an eternity of hanging out in the lounge and waiting for the cake to bake, Hamuko started to get an anxious feeling in her stomach, so she looked up from the book she was reading at Junpei. “Hey, Junpei, are you sure you set the oven timer right? I feel like 30 minutes should have passed by now.”
“30 minutes? I thought we were supposed to put it for 40…” Upon hearing Junpei’s words, Hamuko’s eyes widened, and she jumped up from her seat to run to the kitchen and check the oven. She noticed there was less than a minute left on the clock, and when she stopped the oven to open it, a puff of black smoke came out along with it.
Akihiko and Junpei, who had followed right behind her in the kitchen, watched as Hamuko took the burnt cake out of the oven and placed it on the counter with a sigh of resignation.
“Oops,” was the only thing that Junpei said, and Hamuko didn’t even look at him, turning to look at Akihiko instead.
“Could you please drive me to the nearest bakery so we can buy a cake for Shinji? We can’t possibly force him to eat this… thing. Just… give me a minute, and we’ll go,” she said quietly. She then turned away to run up the stairs of the dormitory, trying to hold back tears as she arrived in her room and collapsed onto her bed with her face buried in her pillow.
Hamuko didn’t blame Junpei or Akihiko for the way the cake had turned out; ultimately, she knew that she may have been biting off more than she could chew by attempting this, but she only wanted everything to be perfect for Shinjiro. She supposed that she’d have to settle for an almost-perfect party after all, but at the very least, she decided would buy him the nicest cake that the bakery had to offer. She even considered decorating it herself to give it a thoughtful and personal touch.
With a newfound determination and her ever-present smile plastered back on her face, Hamuko marched down the stairs with her wallet to pick out the perfect cake for Shinjiro.
At last, it was finally the day of Shinjiro’s birthday, and the entire Iwatodai Dormitory lounge was decorated appropriately for the occasion. Akihiko had taken Shinjiro out for lunch so that they had time to prepare his party, and now everyone in SEES was waiting for them to return for the party.
When the door finally opened, Akihiko led Shinjiro right through, and everyone in SEES rushed over to enthusiastically give him their birthday wishes. Shinjiro seemed to take in everything around him all at once, from his friends’ grinning expressions to the cutesy decorations that were filling the entire room to the table lined with all of his favorite snacks as well as some other typical party foods.
“I guess I can leave it to you guys to always be overly sentimental about this kind of shit… well, it looks nice,” said Shinjiro, and despite the fact that he didn’t deviate from his usual sour tone, his softened facial expression made his genuine appreciation apparent nonetheless.
“Oh, and we do have one last thing for you, Shinji-senpai!” Hamuko took Shinjiro’s hand in hers and waved at Akihiko and Junpei to come along before excitedly dragged him to the kitchen where the beautifully decorated bakery cake was sitting on the counter. “We got you a cake… I’m sorry it’s not special or homemade or anything, but at least it will taste good, and I tried to decorate it nicely just for you.”
“No need to be sorry, I’m sure it’s fi- what is that ?” Shinjiro’s eyes were no longer on the cake from the bakery and were instead fixed on the cake that she had made with Akihiko and Junpei. She felt her heart sink immediately before she gave a resigned sigh and turned back to him to explain.
“Jeez, I thought I told you to get rid of that thing, Junpei… umm, that was supposed to be a cake for you, but it didn’t turn out super good, so we just bought you one instead.”
Shinjiro stepped towards the messed-up cake and gave it a closer look, rotating the plate it was sitting on with his hand as he observed it. “You’re right. It looks like absolute shit.” He kept looking at the cake with a thoughtful expression on his face, and Hamuko felt about ready to implode from embarrassment. “And you guys made this?”
“Yeah… Junpei and Akihiko helped… but I was in charge, and it was my idea, so it’s mostly on me that it turned out that way,” she answered, looking down at the floor and rubbing her arm with her hand awkwardly.
“I want to try a piece,” Shinjiro said completely nonchalantly, and Hamuko just stared at him with her eyes widened from bewilderment. She took another look at the cake, scanning all of its visible flaws: the unappetizingly dry texture, the burnt exterior, the lack of any frosting since they had given up on it before decorating it at all. Beyond that, there was still the extra salt and the pieces of eggshell that had ended up in the batter due to their mistakes. She didn’t think a single person in the world would take a bite of their cake even if they were paid to do so.
“Dude… no you don’t, trust me,” Junpei argued, but Shinjiro was already cutting himself a slice and placing it on a plate.
After taking a small piece of cake, he took a small bite, and for a few seconds, he did not react, but he eventually gagged in disgust before begrudgingly swallowing and placing the slice back on the counter. “That is… as awful as it looks. Almost completely inedible.” The trio of unsuccessful bakers looked away from him in shame until he spoke again. “But I appreciate you three putting in this kind of effort for me.”
The blatantly kind words were foreign and unexpected coming from Shinjiro, shocking everyone to silence for a few seconds before Hamuko finally rushed to hug him, flinging her arms around him.
“Shinji-senpaiiiiiii, you’re so nice!!!” The embarrassment and regret for his words at her reaction was immediately noticeable on Shinjiro’s face, but he accepted her hug nonetheless, returning it in a somewhat awkward but affectionate manner.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the nicest compliment Shinjiro-san ever gave me,” Junpei agreed with a goofy smile on his face. Even Akihiko was grinning at the praise despite his silence.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal… you guys are ridiculous,” grumbled Shinjiro as he let go of Hamuko, but despite his tone, the slightest bit of a smile was noticeable spreading across his lips. “Let’s get back to the party with the others.” And with that, the group returned to the lounge to rejoin the larger group, bringing the more appetizing of the two cakes with them.
“Oh, Shinji-senpai!” Shinjiro’s birthday party had ended a few hours ago, and now everyone was heading off to bed, but there was still one last thing Hamuko needed to do. Therefore, she called after him as he was opening the door to his room, and he stopped in his tracks to turn to her. “Sorry, you must be very tired, but now that you have a second, there was just one more thing… umm, can you please come to my room with me?”
Shinjiro only nodded in agreement, so she led him to her room before telling him to wait outside. She grabbed the dark red gift bag that was sitting on her bed and took a nervous deep breath before stepping back out into the hallway to face him.
“Umm… this is for you!” Hamuko handed him the gift and watched as he emptied a small rottweiler plushie out of the bag. He looked up at her with a look of confusion upon seeing it.
“...Isn’t this one of your favorite stuffed animals? Why are you giving it to me?”
“Well… I’ve never really told you this, but the reason it’s one of my favorites is because it reminds me of you, actually. Rottweilers are known for being strong, protective, and aloof, but they’re also gentle, cuddly, and sweet… so they’re kinda just like you,” Hamuko explained with a small giggle. “It’s just… we’re both going to graduate after this year, and… I worry about the fact that we might not see each other as much when we don’t go to school together every day sometimes. But, umm, even though this reminds me of you, I want you to keep it. It’s like… something to remember me by, whenever we’re not together.” Despite having rehearsed this conversation in her mind many times before this moment, she still felt herself starting to get emotional against her own will.
Shinjiro spent a brief moment being completely silent, seeming to contemplate her words, but he eventually shook his head with a sigh. “Tch… are you completely stupid? The fact that we go to school together isn’t the only reason I spend time with you. Of course we’re going to still see each other all the time, so don’t get all worked up about something ridiculous like that.”
Hamuko felt her insides turn warm and fuzzy upon hearing his words. His way of always being able to say exactly what she needed to hear was one of her favorite things about Shinjiro, after all. She grinned at him as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug that, this time, he did not even hesitate to return.
“Now, you can have this back… I can’t take it when I know it’s important to you, and I won’t need anything to remember you when you can just visit me whenever you want,” Shinjiro said, slowly letting go of her and trying to hand the fluffy toy rottweiler back to her. However, she pushed it back towards him and shook her head.
“Hehe, no, it’s okay… I still want you to have it. It’s just like you said: I don’t need something to remind me of you if the actual, real you isn’t going anywhere, and my bed is so covered in plushies that it’s getting hard to sleep there anymore,” explained Hamuko playfully before she checked the time on a clock in the hallway and sighed. “I suppose we should both really get to bed. Happy birthday again, Shinji-senpai, and goodnight!”
“Night, Arisato.” Shinjiro left to go back downstairs to his room, and Hamuko turned enthusiastically back to her own bedroom door to go to sleep, completely satisfied with how the day had gone. Maybe baking wasn't her thing, and maybe it never would be, but as long as she got to spend precious moments with Shinjiro and her other friends, she believed it possible to have a perfect birthday even with a not-so-perfect cake.