rebirth. [danganronpa oneshots] DISCONT.

saimatsu // heart-shaped pan.

{ og post date: march 26th, 2021. sfw. cw; suggestive implications. word count: 2,583. }

~

as the alarm to her phone began to go off, kaede's first thought when she woke from her sleep was that today is a very special day. it is an occasion that happens once a year, where she can get a ton of attention and can be the happiest, despite being happy every day. sitting up, she stretched out her arms and let out a yawn, not caring how early it was; she tends to get up around this hour on school days, anyway, so it was no different during spring break.

kaede dropped her arms to her side and looked around the room, taking notice that her lanky boyfriend was not next to her. that was odd, he usually is the one to sleep in even when there was nothing going on. rubbing her chin in thought, she tried to guess where he could've gone: the kitchen, the bathroom, the store... no, not the store, by now he would have picked up her gift and whatever is needed for breakfast.

like a lightbulb dinged above her head, kaede snapped her fingers and jumped out of bed. "i will be a detective in this case!" she exclaimed then quickly put on her slippers, followed by her running out of the bedroom to the living room. unfortunately for her, there was no detective work set up by shuichi this time around; all she found was him walking through the hall door that connected to the front door.

"happy birthday, kaede! i, uh, didn't think you would be awake yet," said shuichi, as he took off his mask and shoved it in his hoodie pocket. there it was, the first happy birthday she received.
"hey, baby, where did you go? i didn't expect to see... well, nothing changed in our apartment." she replied, folding her hands together as she looked around. their cat, acorn, was spotted sleeping on the armrest of their sofa.

whenever shuichi had a plan for giving kaede a gift, whether it be for her birthday or just for fun, he tends to set up an investigation for her to find it. sometimes she was really good at being quick to find her present, though that's only because her boyfriend sets it up to be easy - she remembers when she asked him to do a complicated one for her as a challenge, and it took her until late in the night to find the tickets of a play that was showcasing that evening.

shuichi held up the grocery bag to show he had gone out and bought supplies. "i wanted to try and cook you pancakes in the heart-shaped pan we bought ages ago. i even got strawberries and blueberries!" he grinned as he explained, making kaede's heart flutter at how cute he was. neither of them were the type to cook, even more so now that they were stuck inside for the past few months, however they vowed to take this chance to improve.

so far, it wasn't going too terribly. "oh, oh! can we wear those matching sweaters for this, then? since, you know..." kaede held her hands up to her chest; "i have strawberries on mine and you have blueberries on yours."
"of course, i planned on changing back to comfy clothes, so it works out," agreed shuichi, who set down the bag on the couch then went to the bedroom.

happily, kaede followed behind him so she could do the same. while the ultimate detective busied himself in the kitchen, the birthday girl sprawled out on the couch with an iced coffee he had brought home and her phone. she was answering texts from her friends and family, thanking them for all the messages about her birthday, and sending jokes back and forth between one friend (they called her old when she turned 22 this year.)

setting her phone aside, she began to think about how in a few months she'd graduate from her college class, which was online due to certain circumstances. it felt like just yesterday she was in high school, asking a certain boy if he'd like to come over to her house and hang out one day... of course, it was awkward since it came off as a suggestive offer, but that worked itself out when the boy realized her parents and twin sister would be home.