CH 15

“Hey, when is your birthday?”

I asked casually. Since she always did almost all the housework for me, I wanted to do something that would make Kaede happy.

“My Birthday….”

Then a dark expression appeared on her face for a moment. However, she quickly smiled, so that I would not notice it.

Noticing the expression on her face, I decided not to pry too much about her birthday.

However, from now on, I have a small goal to make her smile genuinely rather than a forced smile.

“It’s November 27.”

“I see…I’ll keep that in mind.”

“When is your birthday, Hayasaka-kun?

“My birthday is… January 3rd.”

“I’ll remember it too.”

I hesitated to tell Kaede my birthday. That’s because my past was coming back―― No, I should stop thinking about it now. With this in mind, I thought about Kaede’s birthday as I watched her diligently preparing breakfast.

After class, I told Takuto about Kaede’s birthday.

“Hey, Takuto, can you leave November 27th open?”

“Eh… why?”

“It’s Kaede’s birthday, um, I want to celebrate it.”

“I see, Shouldn’t you two celebrate together?”

“I think it would be nice if you and Chinatsu came, and I’ll celebrate again after you guys leave.”

Takuto’s white teeth were accentuated when he smiled.

Takuto’s handsome aura at that time was tremendous. I was so dazzled that I had to squint my eyes to see Takuto.

The next problem was that I wanted to do it as a surprise, so it would be perfect if I could successfully deceive Kaede so that she wouldn’t find out.

“Um, What are you two talking about?”

Kaede and Chinatsu came in to join us.

But the classmates around me noticed it, “Takuto is understandable. He is Chinatsu’s boyfriend, but why Ren?” They looked at me with questioning eyes.

“Nothing.”

“A Little Game Talk with Ren…”

“Are you hiding something?” Kaede asked,

“I doubt it~Tak-kun, don’t tell me you’re having an affair …?”

Seeing Takuto hurriedly clearing up the misunderstanding, I wanted to say to Chinatsu, “You’re supposed to be on our side, too, so be quiet!”

Then Kaede looked into my face with a dissatisfied look on her face.

“Something is fishy…”

It was only at times like these that both of them developed a keen sense of intuition. No, Kaede always had a keen intuition in strange situations.

Looking next to her, it seemed that Takuto, informed Chinatsu of our plans and added her to our group.

“W-W-What the heck, it was just my misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, that’s right! Chinatsu you-“

“Everyone, are you hiding something from me? Chinatsu-san?”

“Eh, so, that’s what you want to do.” Kaede added,

(She’s obviously upset…)

I was thinking how bad Chinatsu was at lying, but I was afraid that she would find out.

Kaede looked at me and shrugged, and her expression was like a dog that was angry with its owner, so I felt half guilty.

But I thought this was for Kaede’s birthday, so I had to bear it.

“You’ll have to keep the birthday a secret for a while.” Takuto said,

“Yeah, it was about to get out because of a certain someone.”

“So cruel! I really tried!”

“That’s right! Don’t pick on Chinatsu!”

So, Chinatsu’s mistake was swept under the rug. I was not trying to blame her, but I thought Chinatsu should learn to deceive a little better.

But that innocence was also a good thing about her.

Before I separated from Takuto and his girlfriend, Takuto was worried. That I would accidentally tell her as we lived together…

I couldn’t refute it strongly that I would not make that mistake.

“What were you talking about earlier?”

“No, nothing….”

“I feel like I’m the only one who’s left out…..”

“I don’t mean to ..”

“Yes, you do, just the three of you. I can’t mix….”

“I’m sorry.”

“There, there” I said, gently patting Kaede’s head. The touch of her hair felt so good at that moment that I would give it three stars.

(T/N: the 3 stars here probably has the same meaning as Michelin 3 stars, i.e, "exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey" or just it was really good to touch)

After stroking it quite a bit, I finally noticed that Kaede’s face was turning red, and I hastily removed my hand.

Then, perhaps embarrassed, she punched me in the chest area.

It didn’t hurt at all, and it was cute.

“Stroking is not enough, you know.”

“So you didn’t like it?”

“Let’s continue at home.”

“Aiyo, you’re acting quite spoiled today.”

“It’s your punishment for excluding me.”

Seeing Kaede, who was embarrassed and angry with me, my steps back home became a little quicker.