"So, I'll see you next Thursday then?"

    "Sure! Bye!"

Waving goodbye, Sengoku had a wide grin on his face. "Lucky~"

The boy then proceeded to throw his arms in the air as a sign of victory, while imagining himself dancing to the tune of 'Macarena'. He obviously wasn't going to be doing it in the middle of the hallway, even if there were only a few students wandering around in it.

He heard a digital beeping and glanced down on his silver digital watch. "Oh no! I better run!"

Running off to tennis practice, Sengoku was thinking of what he was to do on Thursday and with whom he was going to be seeing on that day.

Why was the boy so happy? What could this event be that would make him start randomly breaking out in cartwheels as he left the clubroom after practice? Who could the person be that would make him do such uncharacteristic activities as such?

A birthday.

's birthday.

It was somewhat obvious that he had taken a liking to this particular girl. Sure, he may go around flirting with other girls but strangely, he found as someone that was different. She wasn't the typical type to just get all 'fangirly' over him, nor was she the type to be really passive around him. So, because of this, she stood out from the others and eventually gained the attention of Sengoku, good or bad.
 

A Cake and Redemption

    "Ne, Sen-chan, what are you going to do on Thursday?" It was , Sengoku's classmate and one of 's close friend. Slinging an arm around his shoulders and flicking her long hair back, questioned.

    "I see -chan wants to go out with me, huh? Lucky~!" The third-year male chuckled as raised an eyebrow, but it was soon replaced with a devious smirk.

    "Just wait until hears about this..."

    "Hears about what?"

    ""You forgetting 's birthday.""

A yelp of surprise was heard and then the sound of impact against the floor. Sengoku had fallen off his chair.

    "Unlucky..." Rubbing his sore behind, he stared at the two females towering over him, arms around each other's shoulders.

    "Stupid twins."

    "Stop changing the subject." remarked cooly, running her hand through her short hair said, but still evilly smiled at him, white teeth exposed. The twins always looked similar; it was only the hair lengths which made any difference. And voices but that didn't matter when they were quiet. It did help on the phone.

    "'s birthday isn't for a while so—"

    "Sengoku!"

The three turned their attentions to the door from which they heard the distinctive voice calling out to that one particular boy. Walking over, waved at the twins then turned her attention to Sengoku, who was still on the floor.

    "Are our plans still going on for this Thursday?" she asked, a genuine smile on her face.

    "Thursday?" Sengoku raised his eyebrows slightly 'What is happening on Thursday?'

    "Don't tell me you forgot." had a crest-fallen expression on now. The twins smacked their foreheads from embarrassment.

    ''You idiot.''

    "Thursday... Thursday... Oh yeah! Thursday! Of course!" Seeing 's hurt expression, Sengoku had to quickly pretend that he knew what she was talking about. As her happy expression quickly reappeared back on her face, he knew he made the right choice, even though he had no clue what was happening on Thursday between them.

    "Good. Let's meet in front of Chiba Café, alright?"

    "Ok."

Waving goodbye and quickly exiting the room, was ecstatic. Sengoku, however, was beginning to sweat as he started to panic.

    "SINCE WHEN HAS 'S BIRTHDAY BEEN ON THE 27^th?!"

    ""... Since every year she's been alive?""

Sengoku then proceeded to panic completely while still on the floor. Rolling about and hitting the floor wasn't all that cool, but it did serve as a form of entertainment to the twins, clapping their hands ever so cheerfully.

Quickly getting up, Sengoku stood in front of the twins, heavily breathing and most likely exhausted judging from the appearance of his hair. "What am I going to do?"

    ""Meet her.""

    "But what am I going to get her? HELP ME!"

At this point, Sengoku Kiyosumi was slightly losing his marbles. Coughing, spoke out.

    "You must redeem yourself with effort, blood, sweat and tears!"

Raising an eyebrow, Sengoku was confused. "Okay... What do I do?"

    "Why, you bake her a cake. just loves cakes. I love cakes also, especially the ones with chocolate and fudge ontop! Oh, and I love mousse and-" stopped as she felt 2 sets of eyes look at her, probably wondering what was going on in her mind. "...You bake her a cake but do not put tears, blood, or sweat into it for it doesn't sound very appealing. But, please, do put in some effort into making it."

    "A cake, you say... Alright!" Turning to the door way, Sengoku punched the air above him. He was set. "I will bake a cake for her birthday!"

    ""You go and do that!""

Quickly running out of the classroom and out the school, most likely heading towards the direction of the grocery store, Sengoku had set his mind in making the best tasting cake for 's birthday.

Meanwhile, the twins stood in the same spot, staring out the window in which they saw Sengoku running and snickered.

    "How long do you think it will take him to notice that his pants are ripped, ?"

    "Who knows, ."

---

Sengoku knew that he was skipping school to make this cake happen. After all, he needed all the time he could get. Why?

He never made a cake before.

In fact...what exactly is in a cake, anyway?

Speeding towards the newsagency first (now that he realised he can't buy anything in a supermarket if he didn't know what goes into a cake), he decided to purchase a cake cookbook. If only most cookbooks weren't for intermediate chefs.

Unlucky...

Suddenly, a lone and bright cookbook illuminated its aura on the shelf, capturing Sengoku's attention. A lone, simple cook book, gilded letters for the title of 'How to make beautiful cakes: Beginner's version.'

"Lucky~!" Suddenly the world looked ever so bright to Sengoku as he reached for the cookbook, made way to the counter and purchased his newfound treasure.

Now, with a weapon in hand...to the supermarket!

---

Walking to the supermarket, Sengoku's up-most attention was focused on the cookbook in his hands. How do we know this? Besides almost walking to a lamp post, crossing the street during busy traffic heading towards him and walking through an alley in which a gang fight was happening, he also almost missed the building in which you get food and possibly other novelty items from (a.k.a. A supermarket).

Entering into the big store, he stared at the many shelves and people pushing and bumping each other to get items. It was as if there was a bomb threat on Japan and people were stalking up. Wondering what all the commotion was about, he decided to ask an employee, who was strangely directing the shoppers as if they were drivers on the busy street outside during rush hour. It really placed that image in Sengoku's mind especially since he also saw stoplights right in the store and people were actually paying attention to the lights.

    "Uhhh... Excuse me, but what is going on?" Sengoku asked, still confused as he stood by the employee.

    "Are you blind?"

    "Huh?"

    "There are signs all over the store, outside the store, in the streets, on television and on dogs!" the employee said while waving his arms about pointing to the direction of the places in which he was talking about.

    "Dogs?" Sengoku was puzzled. Dogs?

    "Wruff!"

Looking down, Sengoku saw that there was a indeed a dog and it had a sign on. An ad. Kneeling down, his arm reached out to pet the dog. But then, the dog growled and threatened to bite off the boy's hand. Standing up and getting away quickly, he ran behind the employee who was directing the masses. The dog barked cutely and decided this was an opportunity to do something.

    "Sir, what's with all these ads?"

Sighing, the man decided it was best to tell Sengoku before his foot went somewhere very uncomfortable, for the redhead anyway.

    "We're having a huge sale. So, if I were you, I suggest that you start buying stuff and leave me alone before an accident happens."

    "Oh, ok, thank you." Taking a step, a squish sound was heard and an uncomfortable feeling was felt on the bottom of Sengoku's shoes. And that strange scent. Unlucky... Sighing, the employee said some very important and inspiring words.

    "Paper towels, aisle 38."

---

After that mess was sorted out, Sengoku commenced his search for what the cookbook listed as 'ingredients'. Vaguely remembering the twins telling him long ago about how a woman loves a man who can shop for groceries, Sengoku had to say: he was completely at the other end of the spectrum. Time for training, better start late than never.

He had to admit, shopping wasn't as hard as it seemed. He just looked at the list, looked to the shelf, reach, grab, place into basket. Easy.

If only people weren't wrestling with him for the ingredients. Soon, Sengoku found himself fighting with elderly women to whoever reached the butter first. Or the sugar. In fact, he had to dive over and in front of a crowd to reach the flour.

Fruit was much harder; he was left with the scraps. Having hazily remembered his mother telling him about how to select fresh strawberries and kiwis, he followed his instructions.

If...that was...he could find the good ones. Damn sale. Of all days, it had to be that one.

The Man Up There was definitely trying punish him for forgetting a girl's birthday.

Because even lining up at the checkout was a chore: it was as long as an aisle itself.

Sengoku was shocked at the lengths of the line. Strolling down the columns of checkout aisles, they all seemed to be endless in length. Heck, even the '10 items or less' aisles were brutally long.

It was then that a glorious sign was shown, lighted up in yellow. It was calling out to him. Smiling widely, he looked down into his basket of ingredients and counted.

    '5, 6, 7, 8, 9... YES!'

    "Aisle 43 is now open for checkouts. 10 items or less."

Finally, something right was happening to him. However, there was a catch. He starred at the checkout closest to him only to see that it was aisle 14. Yes, Sengoku had to find a way to checkout aisle 43 before it became crowded again and he'd be standing in line all afternoon just waiting to buy his limited amount of items.

For no apparently reason, Sengoku then imagined himself at the starting line on a long track. Then suddenly, a gunshot was heard and he dashed. What a strange time to be using image training, but hey, it's working, to an extent.

Sengoku leaped over the people that were short and crawled under those that were obviously too tall for even him to jump over. But also because of this, he saw some very interesting things, got stepped on a few times, and smacked a lot by overly conservative females and a male for 'peeking'.

But eventually, he made it to the finish line, only having to wait for a few people in front of him.

Placing his measly items onto the counter, he got out his wallet as the cashier was scanning his items into the computer. After the last item was scanned, Sengoku starred at the price. There goes his swimsuit magazines for the month.

---

Walking home since his wallet was considerably lighter and he couldn't afford the bus fare, Sengoku finally stumbled across his front door step. Fumbling for his keys while juggling the groceries in his hands, he opened the door and entered, taking his shoes off with his feet and slipping on his slippers before marching to the kitchen with his goods.

Placing the ingredients onto the counter, he ran his hand through his hair and sighed heavily before flexing fingers.

    "Yosh! Time to start!" Opening his cookbook once again, he turned to his needed page, reading what utensils he required. Okay. Seems easy enough. Thank god for pictures.

He slipped into his mother's apron, which was an unfortunate case of pink and frills and embroidery with the words "Da Rule of Da Kitchen" across the front, Sengoku opened the cupboards to search for the utensils, which he was lucky enough to be equipped with.

    "Lucky~!" Sengoku exclaimed triumphantly as he looked to the gathered utensils on the counter. Now, the cookbook said he needed a large bowl, and a sifter, and he needed to sift the flour.

...how?

You would think that there would be pictures in the book to show what 'sifting' was or they would use words that were easier to understand for this noob. He decided that it was best to look for a dictionary.

Looking around the living room, he searched high and low for the precious book in which it was going to be saving his 'lucky' behind. After about half an hour, he found the book and headed back into the kitchen. Setting the book upon the counter, he looked for the definition of sifting but instead side-tracked and started looking up the definition of some words that he seemed interested in.

Sengoku was intrigued with the book that housed the many definition of words that he completely forgot about making the cake, that was, until the door of his house opened.

Steps could be heard but then they stopped only to continue again, stopping once more at the entrance of the kitchen. Shoe tapping could be heard.

    "Kiyosumi."

Taking his eyes off the pages of the book, he turned his attention to the owner of the voice calling out to him.

    "Good evening, 'kaa-chan. Is there something troubling you?" Sengoku had to ask this for there was a slight expression of aggravation on the woman's face.

    "What did you do to my living room?"

He eyed the living room to only find out that it was a complete mess. It looked as though a giant earthquake had occurred and this was the aftermath.

    "Uhhh..."

    "Well, would you like to explain?"

Unlucky...

After spending around an hour cleaning up the mess in the living room, Sengoku finally remembered that he had to bake the cake and actually find out what sifting was. Placing the last of the items on the table, he rushed back into the kitchen and looked up what sifting was.

'To scatter by or as if by sifting.'

That wasn't going to help much. He starred quizzically at the book in front of him until he gave up and ran to his mother for help. He headed towards his mother's bedroom and was about to knock on the door when the hard-faced woman opened it and looked at him. For a while. It seemed as if she was confused.

    "Kiyosumi...what are you doing in my apron?"

A moment of silence passed between them, the awkwardness of the question rendered Sengoku speechless.

    "I uh...anywaaaay, 'kaa-chan, what's sifting?"

A raised eyebrow. "Sifting."

    "Sifting."

    "You want to know what sifting is."

    "Yes I do."

    "Kiyosumi," His mother crossed her arms, and looked suspiciously at him. "Why do need to find out what sifting is?"

    "Because I'm making a cake."

Eyebrow lowered and the other was raised.  "A cake."

    "A cake."

    "Erm..." Sengoku's mother leant on the doorframe. "And may I ask why when you have never stepped foot in the kitchen before?"

    "Redemption." Came the sheepish answer. His mother sighed.

    "Kiyosumi...did you mess up big time with a girl again...?"

Silence. His mother knew it to be true. Must be something like forgetting a girl's birthday or something. She knew her son well, she knew he liked girls. But she also knew that he never had a girlfriend because his consequent dorkiness and frequent lack of charm around them. Sure, he had fans do to his sports talents. But he was ever so lacking when it came to picking up girls.

    "Come with me." His mother left the room, heading towards the kitchen. Boys. They'll never learn unless someone is drilling it into their heads.

Mrs. Sengoku went over to the counter in which the ingredients were and scanned the cookbook.

    "'Kaa-chan, what am I suppose to do?"

    "You are suppose to sift flour on the counter."

    "And what is sifting?"

    "In this case, it's spreading flour, on the counter."

    "...Couldn't I just add flour on the counter then?"

The mother turned to look at her son. "Kiyosumi, do what the book tells you to do. Put the flour in the sifter and sift it on the counter!"

Sengoku did what he was told and was quite happy with his achievement. "'Kaa-chan! Look! I sifted flour on the counter!"

    "That's good, Kiyosumi. However..."

    "However?" Sengoku raised an eyebrow and wondered what was wrong with what he did.

    "You got it all over the floor also."

Looking at his feet, indeed he had got some on the floor, but also all over his slippers.

    "...You are cleaning up the kitchen after and please, I have a headache. Why don't you call some friends over to help?" Leaving the kitchen, Mrs. Sengoku went upstairs, back to her bedroom and wondered what she had done to deserve such a son such as the one she has at the moment, downstairs, possibly ruining her kitchen.

Meanwhile, Sengoku let the thought of friends marinate into his head. Friends? Who on earth will help him out? Definitely not— ...or maybe. His mother does own a café after all...

Sengoku ran to the phone and dialed his number. "Hi, may I speak to Akutsu Jin? This is Sengoku Kiyosu—"

    "No." A familiar gruff voice on the other end of the receiver answered him as if he read his mind.

    "Oh come on, Akutsu, you didn't even here my question yet."

    "I'm guessing you're asking me to help you out with the cake because 'dear Yuki-chan owns a café and so Jin must definitely know how to bake a cake.'"

    "...how did you know?" Sengoku whispered in a hushed voice as if it were a secret. He heard Akutsu sigh on the other end before growling again.

    "Dan asked the twins where you were when he was looking for you, and then told me when he came by the café today. You're doomed. And this is coming from me, idiot."

Sengoku sighed as his last chance fluttered away with the wind. Unless...

    "Gotta go, I'm gonna find someone else."

    "Oi, don't tell me you're gonna call the—" Akutsu was never able to finish, and Sengoku knew he was going to pay for it very, very badly later, but there was a rumor flying about of a certain attachment to a famous cake consumer residing in Kanagawa and hence this person must know about cakes, right?

Too bad this person is one half of a pair.

---

    ""Ding Dong."" Two voices in unison indicated the presence of the last people Sengoku would contact for help but did so anyway. After all, with all their connections, they had to be helpful, right?

Sengoku ran to the door and opened it, ushering the twins into his house. "You have no idea how grateful I am now."

grinned. "Actually...we don't know how to make a cake."

    "Not unless it came from a cake mix. But even then, we're too lazy to do that either." continued. Sengoku suddenly felt as if the world around him has collapsed. His mind entered a state of stupor.

Waving a hand each in front of the dazed boy's face, the twins wondered if Sengoku was alright. Shrugging, they felt that they had to wait it out.

    "Want to raid the fridge?" suggested .

    "Sure."

After a few moments, Sengoku snapped back to something called reality and wondered why his limbs were tied to the kitchen table and the room was dark as some eerie music played softly in the background.

    "Please, take this helpless and pathetic soul as a sacrifice..."

    "SACRIFICE?!"

The twins snickered as they held candles and were wearing cloaks that shielded their faces from view.

    "Get me off this table!" Sengoku struggled roughly, trying to free himself from the table. It was at that point in which he realized that he should never zone out when alone with the twins around.

    "We need a special powder."

    "Will flour do?"

    "Yeah, why not?"

handed the flour over to her sister in which she held some over Sengoku's torso.

    "I sifted that flour!"

    "What's going on down here?" The lights turned on and the three turned their attention to the bottom of the stairs in which stood Sengoku's mother, still hard-faced and wondering what was going on in her kitchen.

    ""We're just taking a break, Sengoku-san."" The twins smiled with their response. You'd think they were angels or something.

    "Alright, but please, try and keep Kiyosumi quiet. We don't want complaints from the neighbors."

    ""Okay!""

The sound of the bedroom door closing was a good sign.

    "...Can I get off this table now?"

Sengoku's cellphone then rang with a very stupid and annoying ringtone. It was custom also, no one else has it.

    'Lucky~! Lucky~! Lucky~!'

One of the twins decided to pick it up. Sengoku couldn't tell which one of them it was at that point and just decided it was best to just squirm around and hope that he frees himself from the table, even if he was tied.

    "GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE!"

They should have gagged him also. In fact, that was exactly what they were going to do.

    "WAIT!" Sengoku cried out desperately. "I'll pay you!"

The twins froze, and their eyes became dreamy. The mention of money was quite tempting. ""We expect to be paid dearly. A month of your salary for each twin."" They negotiated.

    "Anything!!! Just free me, help me out, and give me the damn phone." Sengoku replied. Shrugging to each other, placed the receiver at Sengoku's ear while used a knife to unbind him.

    "Hello?"

    "Sengoku-san? It's Dan, desu!"

    "Dan...you saved my life."

    "...wha...? Anyway, I've just overheard a group of girls talking to -san about you and how not to celebrate her birthday with you. Do you have a plan to win her heart, desuka?! Like, a gift or something. Because they sounded strangely convincing, apparently you sounded like you've forgotten today..."

    "Okaaaay, Dan, I'm really, really busy, preparing for 's birthday and stuff, so, bai." And Sengoku disconnected the call. There was something unusual though. The twins were missing.

    "And anyway, I heard that there's this one girl who actually has the hots for Akutsu, really shy girl." It sounded like one of the twins with her mouth full.

    "Wait...is she that second year? I've heard of her." The other answered, mouth also full. Sengoku ran out of the kitchen and to the lounge room, in which he saw both twins pigging out on an extra large cheese cake.

    "Oh, hello, Hentai-chan." Other than having the deeper voice of the set, that name was coined by one person: that was definitely . Sengoku sighed.

    "What are you doing?"

    "Eating." answered. "Since you said the emergency involved you needing to back a cake on the way here, we decided to buy a cheesecake for you, and get you to pay us. But we got a little peckish, and started to eat it."

Sengoku swore he saw tumbleweed roll past.

    "We'll since you're paying us to behave, you can always pay us extra for us to buy you another one." grinned. Sengoku shook his head.

    "No! I'm going to make this cake myself." He punched the air. "It's the only way to redeem myself!"

    "Suit yourself." shrugged. She turned to her twin. "I can't eat another bite. Why did we choose cheesecake again?"

    "Dunno, I can't eat more either, too sick of it." packed the remains into a large container she pilfered from Sengoku's kitchen. "No worries, I'll give the rest to a disposable food source, a.k.a. Marui." She pushed the empty cake box to Sengoku. "Meanwhile...go recycle this!"

Sengoku grabbed the box and grumbled on his way out. Stupid twins. They just made things worse. Reaching the recycling bin and opening the box to flatten it out before throwing it away, a small slip of paper in the shape of a voucher was at the bottom, a piece of paper folded over it. Sengoku took it out, opened it up, and read the scrawl.

This is for . You spend it on her. Make yourself look like a gentleman with a gift voucher you "received" a long time ago. If you screw her over, you'll be very very very sorry. Very.

          twins.

PS. Hurry up and make the damn cake. You're running out of time. Use the Force, Luke Skywalker...

And it was a voucher. A gift certificate to Chiba Café.

Sengoku shook his head, not knowing whether to smile or leap around furiously for being messed with by the twins again. They'll never be happy unless they muck with someone's mind. But they did help out in the short term financially (although they'll be making him pay for their lunches, most likely).

    "Lucky~!" Suddenly, it just gave him that boost of enthusiasm he needed.

Running back into the kitchen, Sengoku for once was happy about the twins' antics. "THANK YOU!"

Hugging and from behind had surprised the two. Especially the short haired one.

'Oh crap.'

    "Touch me and I KEEL you!"

    "...With that?"

    "...Yes, with this!"

    "..."

It was best not to try and argue with . She'll find her way of proving her point right.

Quickly letting go of the two, Sengoku wondered why they were at the counter and touching the ingredients for the cake. "You're... You're not going to contaminate the cake, are you?!"

    "You, Sengoku Kiyosumi, truly are an idiot." said, looking at Sengoku with a look of stupidity. "We're helping you buy at least organizing your ingredients! If you even come as close as giving food poisoning..."

    "Alright! Alright!"

After a few moments, they kicked Sengoku to the counter and forced him against his will to make a cake. Not just any cake, a sponge cake.

---

A ding was heard, signaling the three that the cake had now been baked and is ready to eat. Sengoku placed on some oven mitts and opened the oven, pulling the cake out of the heated area and placed it on the countertop of the table.

The aroma of sponge cake filled the kitchen and tingled their senses.

    "It looks good!"

    "It smells good!"

    "...I'm hungry." Hungry, was. Even with that cheesecake, the girl had gained back her appetite for cake. Cheesecake just wasn't her thing.

    "Maybe we should try it out?" Grabbing a knife from the drawer, Sengoku cut the cake and handed a piece to each of the twins and a piece for himself.

    """Itadakimasu!"""

Chomp.

...

All three quickly ran to the sink while fighting against each other for some room. It really wasn't fair that the twins teamed up and tripped Sengoku for which he accidentally swallowed his own horrible cooking. Several cups of water later and a good mouth rinsing later, the three couldn't feel their mouths anymore.

    ""That was possibly the most disgusting thing we've ever tasted. You FAILED, Sengoku.""

Sengoku banged his head against the wooden countertop of the table. And to think, he was going to feed this to also. Luckily, or not, that didn't happen.

    "Ohhh...crap crap crap, what am I gonna do now...?" Sengoku groaned.

    ""Persistence wins the race.""

    "I thought it was the 'slow and steady?'"

    ""No...the slow and steady might suck. And so they need persistence.""

Sounds right.

    "Anyway..." looked at the ingredients. "Being you, you accidentally bought more than you needed for one cake."

    "Looks like there's enough for another." followed up. Sengoku stood up dramatically.

    "Lucky~! Yosh! I won't give up!!!" And he proceeded to make his cake once more.

raised her eyebrow. "Dude...I feel like I'm in one of those shoujo mangas with youths who refuse to give up for their heart."

    "Yeah tell me about."

Both twins shuddered at the thought.

Sengoku got to work again and refused to give up. Putting on that pink and frilly apron once more, Sengoku rolled up his sleeves and picked up the sifter.

    ""TIME OUT!""

    "What's wrong?"

Smack!

    "OW! What the hell was that for?"

    "You didn't wash your hands."

pointed to the sink and glared. "BAD hygiene, 100 yen."

took out a mini notebook and wrote it down.

    "WHAT?!"

    ""Everytime you screw something up, we take money from you.""

    "But... THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

    ""Do you want this cake made and edible? Huh? Do you?""

    "...Yes." Sengoku had to admit: it was a pretty good plan. This way, he's got more pressure to get this cake right: AND his wallet.

    "Good. Now, get to it!"

Mumbling some incoherent things, Sengoku washed his hands and got back to working on that cake with one thing in mind: 's happiness.

---

After another 2 hours or so, another cake was done. They didn't want to risk tasting the cake this time due to the horrific events previously. If Sengoku followed directions correctly, the cake should be fine, they hoped.

    "Thank you! This cake will be so good! 's going to love it! Lucky~!" Sengoku pranced around the kitchen even though he was still wearing that weird apron and had the matching oven mitts also.

    ""Yes, we know you are happy but...""

    "But...?"

Looking at each and then back at Sengoku, the boy had a feeling as soon as he saw their signature devilish smiles.

    ""That will be 7800 yen.""

    "WHAT?!"

---

Thursday, 26.July...

Sengoku mumbled on his way to school. Basically he has now been robbed by the twins of 7800 yen which he had to take out of his bank account, not to mention the coming fees that he must pay for them to not ruin anything (which in fact was gift money they want back), was incredibly dirt poor and can not use public transport in fear of using up yet MORE money which would lead to not being able to serve properly during 's date. Not cool.

As he walked towards his classroom, he was intercepted by a familiar face. Thankfully, he remembered.

    "'morning, ! Happy birthday!"

    "Thanks, Sengoku!" smiled brightly, as she waved.

    "So, how does it feel being one year older?"

    "Nothing much, more like just any other day. Although I have been getting special treatment."

    "Whoo, lucky~! Makes me want my birthday to come quicker."

    ""IT'S THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!"" Two bodies flew out of nowhere to remain attached to . ""Happy birthday, -chan~ Look what we got you~" They took out a DVD set for . ""Your favorite, it came out yesterday, what a fluke, no?""

Taking the gift from the twins, stared at the covered. Her eyes shined as a huge smile was formed on her face. Hugging the two for the gift, she thanked them.

    "Oh my gosh! Thank you! Thank you! This is such an awesome gift! NOTHING can beat this!"

It was as if an arrow had pierced Sengoku's heart. His face definitely showed that and the twins smirked evilly seeing his reaction.

'NOTHING can beat this!' repeated over and over like a broken radio in Sengoku's head. The cake he baked was now nothing compared to the twins' gift. Not only was he robbed of his money now but out of his pride and ego knowing that someone else besides his own mother had seen him in a frilly pink apron, and worse, with the phrase 'Da Rule of Da Kitchen' embroidered right on it. He was screwed over, and by none other than the twins also! At this point, he was beginning to believe what the history beliefs were saying about twins, they are evil forces sent by the devil himself.

    "I'll see you later today, okay?"

Sengoku snapped out of being vengeful at 's words. "Oh, yeah, ok!"

Waving goodbye, left the classroom to attend class.

Sengoku's left eye twitched as he looked at the twins who continued to smirk back at him. "You two screwed me over!"

    ""Hey, be a man.""

    "...What?"

    ""Yeah, be a man, do the right thing.""

    "...Stop quoting Russell Peters!"

It was then that the teacher walked in, signaling the start of class. The three took their rightful seats. Sengoku glared at the other two while taking their words, well, the comedian's words, into consideration. He was going to do the right thing alright, even if it means he had to hold back on some twin-ass-kicking.

---

As soon as lunch came, Sengoku magically disappeared once more. Well, he had cake. And a CD. He just needed something to seal the deal.

Bet the twins wouldn't see this one coming.

If this meant that every last dollar in his wallet was gone, so be it.

---

    "Oi...you disappeared, moron. Dan came whining to me again." Akutsu phoned Sengoku to tell him that. "You're worse than me, you don't even show up to school nowadays. AND I have to pay you back for dogging me on the phone last time, jackarse."

    "Akutsu, NOW is not a good time." Sengoku muttered between his teeth as he attempted to get dressed. Well, choosing what to wear. "I need to get there in an hour (cos I hafta be early) and I still don't know what to wear!"

    "...you're even worse than my mother. If it's a café you're going to...CASUAL, IDIOT."

    "Thanks...wait." Sengoku raised his eyebrow. "How do you know all of this?"

    "Try living with my mother."

    "Point taken."

---

Despite taking a while to dress, Sengoku was still very early. Hey, being sharp impresses a girl, according to Dan's data. And so there he was, standing outside the Chiba Café, waiting upon his date for tonight.

There were still a couple hours to go before the actual date. So, there the redhead stood, on a busy street, in front of a café, with a white box containing the cake in which robbed him of money, and CD, and another box, gift-wrapped nicely. That was most likely a gift, the gift that was going to blow all the other gifts that received that day out of the water.

One would be surprised as to how far Sengoku Kiyosumi would go just to impress a girl. With the amount of money he had spent so far for just this one event, people would suspect he was almost as rich as Atobe Keigo. Almost.

Sengoku was ready for this day. He was ready for this event. He went through so much and nothing was going to stop him now. Not the school, not his bank, not even the twins. Nothing.

Rumble.

Well, almost nothing.

He had to thank the overhanging of the café, as he was able to get some shelter from it if it rained. But...he didn't bring an umbrella. Well, that would suck.

Wait...did have an umbrella?

There was only half an hour left, and if the rain didn't cease soon, or was caught in the rain...Sengoku wouldn't know what to do with himself.

    "Argh, -chan...I hope you did bring an umbrella...bah, I hope this rain will stop soon!!!"

---

Lunchtime came and had planned to eat lunch with Sengoku that day. Rushing out of her classroom with two bentos in hand, she ran to the boy's class. Upon entering, she had to dodge the many people entering and leaving the room.

Finally managing to get through the crowd, she stopped to scan the classroom. Seeing some familiar faces but not the one was belonged to the person she was looking for.

    "Have you two seen Sengoku?" asked the twins, who were beginning to eat lunch.

    "Oh, hi, -chan." said.

    "Hmm... He was in class but he bolted out of here as soon as the lunch bell rung." answered.

    "Oh, thanks!" Running out of the classroom, looked around the halls, hoping to find the teenage boy but by now, the boy was almost halfway to the store to pick up 's gift. Sighing, the girl went back to Sengoku's classroom and sat with the twins.

    ""Couldn't find him?""

Shaking her head which indicated 'no', began to eat her lunch. The twins looked at each other.

    ''Oh, he's going to get it.''

---

Eventually, school was over for the day and the students ran out quickly, for it was a three-day weekend and they wanted it to start sooner.

    "He jigged again, didn't he?"

    "Seems so."

Sengoku had skipped school once again and Dan was worried.

    "What happened to Sengoku-san? I hope he's alright, desu."

Akutsu sure was getting an earful from the first-year and there was only one person that could pay for it, Sengoku Kiyosumi himself.

---

walked home and got ready with her date with the boy which was causing problems for almost everyone. While fixing her hair, stopped.

    'Just because he wasn't there at lunch today doesn't mean that he was going to bail on the date, was he?'

was having doubts and wondered if she should continue. What if he wasn't there to meet her? What if it were all a big joke just to screw around with her? However, what if it wasn't? What if she didn't go and he was just standing there waiting for her to come but she never went? didn't know what to do.

    'Well, there is only one way to find out.'

Leaving the house, locked the door. Hearing the rumbling of thunder, she looked towards the sky.

    'Seems like it's going to rain.'

---

    "Unlucky..." Sengoku murmured. He wasn't getting wet, but the cold air from the rain was giving him the chills. He would have waited inside, but if he did, what if thought he didn't show up? It was safer to stand outside and shivering, rather than inside and warm, but causing a misunderstanding.

It started to rain heavier, and the water began to run strongly past him, and he was on a raised step.

was traveling in such weather.

Sengoku couldn't stand it. He had to cancel. Reluctantly, he reached for his phone, and pulled it out of his pocket, auto-dialing 's number.

---

She was waiting by the bus stop, waiting for a bus to arrive. Only half an hour left. She would make it. The bus was going to arrive anytime soon as well, especially since the timetable said it was to come five minutes ago; the rain must have slowed it down.

The bus pulled in and was about to board when a slight disturbance stopped her. Feeling the vibration of her phone in her bag and hearing the emanating music of her phone tune, took out her phone to see Sengoku was calling her.

    "Hello?"

    "-chan...we have to cancel."

    "...what?"

    "Look, I know it's your birthday, but—"

    "Sengoku...where were you at lunch today?"

    "I..." heard him falter on the other end. "I had to do something. I can't tell you."

disconnected the call. Her friends were probably right. That he was never serious with girls. Maybe he was screwing with her after all. She turned around, the umbrella above her head, and walked home.

---

Sengoku knew that tone of voice. He did something wrong. Only, he didn't know what.

A phone call told him why.

    "" just phoned us, telling us you dogged her, bastard!""

Twins. They were probably on speaker phone.

    "I did not! It was raining hard, I didn't want her to catch a cold or something - "

    "Likely excuse." snapped. "She was looking for you at lunch today, and you happened to 'disappear' during that time."

    "Not to mention, she had a bento prepared for you and everything. How can you screw her over on her special day, huh?!" snarled.

Sengoku didn't hear their threats any further. So that's why asked him that unusual question.

In trying to make things perfect, he just screwed everything up.

He ran, the rain pelting onto him, drenching from head to toe.

He had to set things right.

---

walked into her empty home and closed the door behind her. Setting the wet umbrella aside, she left it to dry. Taking off her shoes, she then placed them on the shelf and slipped on her slippers and walked to the kitchen.

She reached for a cup on a cupboard and decided to pour herself some ice tea. Drinking the contents of the cup, she then placed the cup on the counter and stared at the calendar on the refrigerator. She stared at the 27^th in which it was circled in red.

    'So much for a happy birthday.'

---

Running around 's neighborhood, Sengoku looked for her house. Sadly, the houses around there looked similar and Sengoku was getting really confused.

    'I am sure it's this corner!'

He turned the corner only to quickly turn back, running for his life for he was being chased by 3 huge and barking dogs.

This certainly wasn't going according to plan.

Gosh those teeth didn't look too friendly.

---

slumped down on one of the sofas in her living room. She threw an arm over her eyes and thought back, remembering how she first met the boy.

The crowd cheered as Yamabuki had won their match and was going to be moving onto the next round of the tournament.

Girls cheered loudly as Sengoku Kiyosumi stepped off the courts and headed to the bench to get a drink of water and a towel to wipe the perspiration off. The game was a tough one but he won it, never or less.

    "KYA!!! Sengoku-san, take my towel!!!"

    "NO! Take MINE!"

    "Ladies, ladies, thank you, don't fight over this."

Sengoku felt as though he was on top of the world. All this attention was definitely something he loved having, especially from girls.

Grabbing a towel, he starred at the crowd behind the metal fence and a particular person stood out. A female. She wasn't screaming along side the other girls but instead was standing behind them, silently.

After the crowd had left, the girl still stood there, watching Sengoku with her eyes. He walked out of the courts and decided to go up to her.

Whistling, he looked at the girl.

    "Waaa~ You're pretty. I'm Sengoku Kiyosumi. Who may you be?"

    " . Nice to meet you, Sengoku-san."

    "No need for formalities. Just call me Sengoku, or Kiyosumi, whichever you prefer."

    "Then call me ."

Since that day, they have been calling each other by their first names and their relationship grew. Eventually, they realized their feelings for each other but refused to reveal it to each other just yet.

sighed.

    'Do you remember that day also, Kiyo-chan?'

Startling her out of her thoughts, the doorbell rung. 's head turned towards the sound. Someone was at the door. Standing up slowly, she wondered if it was her parents coming home from work early for once. Opening the door, she lifted her head to greet which ever parent it was.

    "Welcome home—" Her eyes widened.

Her parents were not at the doorway.

Sengoku was.

Drenched to the bone, his clothes stuck to him like plastic wrap, his red hair dripping, carrying a bag which seemed to be wrapped and crudely sealed tight as possible.

    "Sengoku...what the hell are you doing here?!" muttered in shock.

    "...didn't I tell you that you can call me Kiyosumi?"

The lightning behind Sengoku flashed and the sound of thunder followed after. And stood there, speechless. Could it be that he...

    "Erm...whatever I did, I'm sorry." Sengoku's voice broke 's thoughts. "It was raining so hard, there was lightning and thunder...in the middle of July I must add which is worse than any other season and I don't want you to get sick and—"

    "You disappeared at lunch."

    "I did. And I really can't tell you why. But I really did it for you."

Silence paused their words, neither not knowing what to say.

    "Can I...come in?" Sengoku asked slowly. "It's really cold out here."

shook her head to clear her mind once more. "Yeah sure, I'll get you a towel or something."

Sengoku stepped into 's house and closed the door quickly, afraid that the wind would blow a lot of water from the rain into the home. He took off his shoes but didn't take another step, in fear of getting her home all dirty and wet.

came back with a towel in hand and handed it to the soaking boy.

    "Thanks."

Sengoku took the towel and dried himself off with it.

    "You know, you don't have to stand there, sit down or something."

Nodding, Sengoku followed who was heading in the direction of her living room. She sat down and he sat opposite of her and placed the gifts down on the glass coffee table.

    "You still didn't answer my question."

    "Hmm? What question?"

    "What are you doing here?"

Sengoku had a goofy grin on as he had a hand behind his head. "Since we couldn't spend your birthday at that café, I thought we can spend it here."

raised an eyebrow and didn't know what to say. Sengoku Kiyosumi was sitting there, on her sofa, well, her family's sofa, but that didn't matter at the moment. Sengoku Kiyosumi was sitting on her sofa, in her living room and spending apparently spending time with her on her birthday.

Taking out the white box that he carried all the way here, Sengoku placed it on the table and pushed it over to .

starred at the box and wondered what was in there. Was it a human hand? A bomb? A Spam Man?

    "What is it?"

    "Look inside."

Cutting away the tape, lifted the cover of the box and went slightly wide-eyed. It was a cake. The cake Sengoku went overly broke on. She starred at it and was surprised that it wasn't overly damaged.

    "Did you make this?"

Sengoku nodded happily. could tell. It had Sengoku's crappy handwriting on it and didn't seem as though it was up to par with bakery standards.

    "Taste it." Sengoku handed a fork over to and she hesitated taking it but eventually did after Sengoku stuffed it into her hands. She poked and prodded the cake checked to see if it was alive or something.

    "Stop poking the cake! It's perfectly fine."

It sure didn't look it.

But his smiling face with his desperate eyes convinced her to do it despite the fact that the cake maybe the last thing she'll eat.

Slowly taking a piece with the fork, a rigidly cut strawberry on top, her hand quivered slightly as she lead it to her mouth, consuming the cake. A climatic moment of Sengoku, as he watched her still expression...

    "It's good!" was surprised. The rough appearing cake was actually quite good.

    "Lucky..." Sengoku sighed in relief. His second try was safe. Sengoku knew it was worth every yen spent.

    "What did you say?"

    "N-Nothing!" He couldn't reveal to her that it was the second cake he ever made, his first being a health hazard. "Just that it was a pity that I didn't bring candles or anything so it'd be a proper cake."

    "The thought of you making it is enough." grinned. And that fact that she was still alive was comforting as well.

    "Well, would you like to finish the cake, or open the next present?"

    "...there's more?"

    "Yup!"

    "...GIVE ME THE PRESENT!"

Sengoku nearly fell off his seat. Thank goodness she was there to loosen up the situation. It seemed so tense and definitely something similar to events happening in a shoujo manga. He laughed then handed a flat object.

Slightly red from the random outburst, took it from his hand and thanked him. Slowly ripping off the wrapping paper, her happiness just now doubled from what it was before. It was the CD was she dying to get, the one in which her parents weren't going to get for her because they weren't cool enough to understand how she felt about music and it's importance to her, or so she says.

At this point, couldn't contain her happiness and jumped Sengoku, giving him a hug. At this point, one would think Sengoku was going to go all pervy and whatnot on her.

    "Thank you SO much!"

    "It's no problem, really..." Sengoku smiled. It seems as though he was redeemed and forgiven from the incident that happened before judging from 's mood. Luckily, Sengoku saved the best for last.

Reaching over his seat, he pulled out the last box, the one that was gift-wrapped and possibly the most expensive gift out of the others. But it wasn't the price that Sengoku cared about, it was the sentimental value it carried. He handed the box to her and watched as she eyed the box and began tugging on the red-coloured ribbon.

    "I hope you like it."

eyed Sengoku suspiciously, smirking slightly, curious over what it was, and why the great number of gifts she was getting. As the ribbon came undone, and she lifted the lid, she gasped.

A small silver music box, a soothing melody in chimes resonating from the box whenever she lifted the lid.

But it wasn't the box which touched her.

It was the engraving.

If I could, then I would,
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low,
I'll go wherever you will go
          - Wherever You Go, The Calling

Happy Birthday, .
          xxx love, Kiyosumi

looked up from the engraving and into Sengoku's eyes.

    "Well, now you know what made me miss lunch."

    "You mean this—"

    "...will you go out with me?" They were sincere eyes. Sengoku had never been so sure in his life.

A firm embrace and a nod were all he needed for an answer.

---

    ", move your ass!"

    "Akutsu-senpai!"

    "I can't help it! She's taking up all the space!"

Akutsu tried shutting up Dan, who also tagged along with him when he decided to see if Sengoku went to 's house, despite what he kept saying about following the twins.

    "Well, sorry! And , are you sure you should be standing out here, wearing that?" eyed her twin suspiciously.

    "I can't help it! I have to get back to work after!"

    "...Who is watching the place if you are here then?"

    "Yuushi. He'll do it if he gets to perv on legs."

    "...What about the manager?"

    "Old man Chiba won't care."

So, NOW we know where the twins got that nifty gift voucher, which is possibly not going to be used today. One must also thank Oshitari for his leg fetish also. No wonder he decided to work part-time at the café. Girls in outfits with skirts. Nice.

    "What are they doing?" Dan asked, trying to get a look over the other three who were in front of him.

    """QUIET!"""

They proceeded to attempt to try to find an opening in the window or something to see the magic. Thank god it wasn't raining anymore, else they'll be...well...wet.

Suddenly, 's phone went off and started ringing.

    "Shut it up!!!" Akutsu snapped, fumbling with her phone and reading her dialed her.

    "Oh sheeeeet, it's Bunta." She took the call. "I'm spying, call me later! What do you mean it's urgent?! Is this another excuse to buy—"

    """Go somewhere ELSE (desu)!!!"""

    "Alright!! Keep your heads on. Geez..." went over around the corner down the pathway to continue her conversation.

Meanwhile, the other three continued their quest, only...

    "...did you hear something?"

    "I think I did, Kiyo-chan."

    "Kiyo-chan?! She's already calling him Kiyo-chan?!" panicked.

    "Girls. Why do they always overreact over everything..." Akutsu mumbled as he took out a cigarette.

    "I'm gonna go check." Sengoku's voice told , and the spies heard footsteps heading towards the door.

    "RUN!" took the other two, yes, even Akutsu, by the collar and ran round the corner, sending a twin vibe to to also make a run for it. caught her sister's eyes to understand that.

    "Er, Bunta, I've got to run cos I think we've been caught so er, baiwillcalllater." And she also made a run for it. When they reached safe ground, they sighed in relief. All but Akutsu.

    "Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Like. That. Again. Understand?"

glared at Akutsu as agitation grew.

Crack!

Akutsu held onto his right foot as he cursed like a drunken sailor that has been lost at sea and finally got some booze in him.

    "Akutsu-senpai!" Dan swore his jaw would drop. Such fearsome twins...

was finally glad that she was paid to wear such interesting outfits. The shoes topped it all, even if it meant that she'd be perved on all day by a certain navy-haired boy with spectacles. Oh well, at least it was just perving. Sometimes, she had to pity for her tolerance of Rikkai's red-haired tensai.

Sengoku poked his head outside and looked around then went back into the house.

    "What was it?" asked, wondering if there were stalkers in her neighborhood.

    "I didn't see anything." Sengoku said while shrugging. "But it stopped raining. Want to go to the café now?"

    "Sure!" grabbed her bag and they both headed out, locking her door. Sengoku snickered.

    "I heard works there in a really cute outfit—"

    "Kiyo-chan!"

    "Just informing you..."

fin.
Lui [and _ k a r i n u i]
27.July.2006

Lui: Yeah, karinui and I wrote it for Mitsuko's birthday. We procrastinated BIG time but hey, we did it. I didn't sleep all night and it's now almost 10 in the morning and I started writing this with karinui last night. This was LONG. 30 pages in Microsoft Word KILLS our brains, man.

Anyways, happy birthday, Mitsuko-chwan!!! Hope you enjoy this gift [and hope that you weren't on to us during this doo doo doo]