bunnyandcomet

Chapter 1

Yu: Tomose, let me take over the driving soon.

Tomose: It's fine.
You were the only one who had to move around for today's mission. You must've used up more stamina than usual.
Don't mind me and rest.

Yu: ......
If you get tired, I'll switch with you whenever.

Tomose: Got it. I'll count on you when that happens.

Yu: Yeah.

Onda-san and Nina-san's conversation resounded quietly throughout the company car from the front seat.
For today's ST Department mission, I had been added to the team as support personnel.

Ito: (The atmosphere between them never changes.)

Urara: Oi, stay on your side, idiot.

Kamiya: Sorry, sorry. It's just, there's a lot of curves in this area.
Isn't getting a little squished one of the best parts of riding in a car together?

Urara: "Best part", my ass. If you get near me again I'll send you flying.

Ito: (These two are the same as always in their own way too.)

In the back seat, Kamiya-kun was sitting in the middle with me and Manami-san on either side of him.

Ito: (I feel a bit guilty, though.)

To avoid leaning towards me when the car shook, I noticed that Kamiya-kun would only sway in Manami-san's direction.

Ito: (Thank you for your consideration.)

Unable to say it out loud, I conveyed my gratitude to him on the inside. At the same time, the radio that had been faintly playing in the background announced 8pm.

Kamiya: Ah, it's already this late?
Yu-san, happy birthday!
I wanted to say it after we'd safely completed the mission, but it looks like time slipped away from me.

Ito: (That's right, today is Nina-san's birthday......)
Happy birthday, Nina-san.

Tomose: Yu, happy birthday.

Yu: ......Ah, it is?

Urara: Even if we say happy birthday, you don't give two shits either way, do you?

Yu: That's not it. I was thinking, it's my birthday?

Urara: That's pretty close to not giving two shits.

Tomose: Speaking of which, what were you all planning on doing for dinner?
If you start preparing it when you get home, you'd still end up eating late.

Yu: Though we were going to make it once we got home, as always.
Cooking food for this amount of people along with Tomose's portion wouldn't be that different.

Ito: (Is he inviting us to eat dinner together......?)

Urara: What, you trying to be all nice and look out for us? I can at least sort out my own food.

Kamiya: Ah......haha, I'm with Urara on that one.
I was thinking of buying dinner for myself when we get back, so you don't need to worry about me.

Ito: (Looks like it's not going to end up being a birthday celebration with everyone.)
(From the way they were speaking, it didn't seem like Onda-san or Nina-san offered with that in mind either.)

But if it's just the three of us......I feel like I got the message.

Ito: I was also going to buy something and go home.

Yu: I see.

Tomose: In that case, should we stop by somewhere?

Yu: ......There's a large supermarket on the main street up ahead.
I want to stock up on ingredients.

Tomose: That works out then. You guys need to buy some things too, right?

Onda-san glanced at us in the rear-view mirror.

Kamiya: Well, if you're offering, I guess we'll take you up on that.

Chapter 2

Ito: (This supermarket has a good selection of items.)

While carrying some side dishes, I decided to buy a few ingredients for the next couple of days, and as I was browsing the meat section......

Yu: ......Next, spices.

Tomose: Spices......Around the section where it says "Soy Sauce / Miso"?

Yu: Before that, next to the curry roux.

Nina-san, basket in hand, and Tomose-san, looking up at the aisle signs, appeared from behind a nearby shelf.

Ito: (......Somehow, this feels like a rather precious scene.)

Yu: ......Found it. Cumin.

Tomose: There's this cumin too.

Yu: This one's easier to use.

Tomose: I see, so convenience of use is important.

Yu: After that......meat.

Nina-san put a rather large container into his basket and turned towards me as I stood in the meat section.
I suddenly realised that my eyes had been unintentionally following them.

Tomose: Yashiro, are you also going to make something when you get home?

Ito: These are for the next few days.

Tomose: I see.

Yu: Yashiro, have you decided what meat you're buying?

Ito: I was just thinking I'd buy some pork.

Yu: Got it. In that case, I'll take this.

Nina-san picked up the last remaining chicken pack.

Yu: Right. Lastly, could we go look for some daily necessities?

Tomose: Of course.

The two of them moved away from me.

Ito: (Even on birthdays, they don't do anything special, huh.)

Just as I was thinking that, I heard a quiet voice calling out to me from behind me.

Kamiya: ...Deputy, got a minute?

Urara: Tch......What a pain.

Kamiya-kun beckoned me towards them as if he were trying to hide from Nina-san and Onda-san.

Chapter 3

Tomose: You haven't forgotten anything?

Ito: No, this is everything I bought. Thank you for carrying it for me.
(I only planned on buying ingredients, but I was able to buy more than I thought I would.)

They'd offered since there was a car, so we did a proper round of the supermarket and bought all our daily necessities......
And ultimately, I ended up purchasing enough things to take up both my hands.
Onda-san had carried all of it to the entrance of the dorm for me.

Kamiya: You really helped us out. Thank you for sending us home.

Tomose: You don't need to thank me so formally for something like this.

Urara: Oi. How long is this thank-you contest gonna last? Hand over the thing and let me leave.

Kamiya: Right. Yu-san, could you spare a second?

Yu: What is it?

Kamiya: Here. This is our feelings, from us to you.

While saying that, Kamiya offered him the two slices of cake we had bought at the supermarket.

Yu: ......Cake.

This was what we had picked out after Kamiya-kun called me over—

—:ཐིཋྀ:—

Ito: A present for Nina-san?

Kamiya: Originally, I wanted to celebrate it in a more proper way. But Yu-san definitely wouldn't want that.
More than anything, I'd feel a little sorry disrupting Yu-san's ordinary life.

Ito: (Nina-san's ordinary life......)

I unconsciously looked at Onda-san and Nina-san's backs as they walked away together.

Kamiya: So I was thinking, I'd like to add just a bit of our feelings into that "ordinary".

Ito: Yeah......I think that'd be really nice.

Kamiya: Ahaha. Awesome, looks like it has the Deputy's stamp of approval now too.

Ito: ("Too", meaning......)

Urara: If it's decided, then choose something already. Stop mucking around.

—:ཐིཋྀ:—

Kamiya: Once again, happy birthday, Yu-san.

Yu: ......Yeah, thanks.

Nina-san's gaze slowly landed on each of us in turn.

Ito: (To Nina-san, his normal everyday life itself might be a gift that he wants to cherish.)
(I'm sure that Manami-san and Kamiya-kun understood that from the start.)

—:ཐིཋྀ:—

Urara: What, you trying to be all nice and look out for us? I can at least sort out my own food.

Kamiya: Ah......haha, I'm with Urara on that one.

—:ཐིཋྀ:—

Ito: (But at least with this cake, I hope it can feel a little like a special day.)

Kamiya: We weren't sure if you'd like sweet cake, but as you'd expect, spicy cake wasn't a thing there.

Yu: Your feelings alone are enough. I'll accept it gratefully.

As he gazed down at the cake, the look in Nina-san's eyes seemed just a bit softer than usual.
We watched their backs for a short while as they left, clad in an atmosphere a little more special than normal.

SP Skill: Happy Birthday to Yu

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