Short Stories

Present

Summary: Nobody expected a simple present to evolve into this.

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Kakeru was tired.

He had stayed up nearly all night reviewing a case, and by the time he was finished, he knew that his client would win this case. He had worked even more productively seeing that there was no one to drag him to bed, as well.

But as a result, he was extraordinarily sleepy. So after he filed away his case file, he basically collapsed into bed and fell asleep right then and there, not even changing out of his clothes.

He had hoped to stay sleeping for at least a few hours more, but that was apparently not so.

After he had slept for about three hours, four hours at maximum, a loud and intense knocking sounded at the door, startling Kakeru out of sleep.

He groaned and put his pillow over his head, hoping that whoever was there would just go away, but whoever was knocking at the door was both insistent and persistent, since the knocking continued.

Finally, Kakeru sat up and figured that he'd have to answer the door to get whoever was out there to leave, and he got out of bed and headed over, opening the door. "What is it...?"

"Mr. Yamaguchi! Finally!"

Kakeru let out a small squeak as he was pulled downwards into a hug. Kanata was stronger than she looked, definitely, if she was able to pull him down.

"Happy birthday!" She said happily when she finally let go of him and let him straighten up. "We love you so much!"

Kakeru blinked at Kanata's words. It was his birthday. He had completely forgotten about it, passed over in favor of work and sleep.

"Oh, er... thank you." Kakeru said awkwardly. "Thank you?"

A hand was placed on Kanata's shoulder. "Slow down dear, he must have just gotten up. He's caught off guard." Kinji said with a calm smile, then walked over and enveloped Kakeru in a much gentler hug, which Kakeru easily returned after the initial shock.

"Happy birthday, dearest." he purred. "Our apologies that we woke you up, that wasn't our intention."

"I-It's fine." Kakeru responded after a moment. "I just wasn't ready for all this."

"And that was our fault." Kinji said after separating himself from Kakeru. "In the meantime, we have something for you."

Kakeru blinked. "For me?"

"Yep! For you!" Kanata said excitedly, picking up a present that was laying on the ground and handing it to Kakeru. "Happy birthday again! Here you go!"

The lawyer blinked again, then took the present from Kanata. Kanata was clearly expecting him to open it, so Kakeru obeyed, hesitantly opening the wrapping paper and pausing when he saw what was inside. "A camera?"

"Yep! We know you like taking pictures of stuff, so we got you a whole new camera! And it could help with lawyer work too!" Kanata said, clapping her hands together.

"We hope you like it." Kinji added, giving Kakeru a small peck on the cheek.

Kakeru's face was bright red, and he began fumbling with his words, a key sign he was flustered. "I do- I really do like this! Th- thank you so- a lot guys, it's great!"

Both Kanata and Kinji chuckled, and Kanata reached out and took Kakeru's hand. "How about we go take some pictures right now? You can try it out!"

"Oh- um, okay!" Kakeru said hurriedly. "Let's go then!"