Mini-birthday fic for my awesome friend and fellow Persona lover Ra Haruku! Hope you enjoy your birthday!
"Happy birthday Minato-kun!"
Smiles and cheers filled the room as Minato Arisato made his way down to the first floor of the dorm.
Well, as much as the cheers of four people could fill a room.
Junpei snuck up behind Minato and gave him a pat on the back, keeping his arm around his shoulder. "Happy birthday, leader."
"I…didn't exactly except this," Minato smirked lightly, keeping his trend of showing minimal emotion, though his fellow residents knew how to read his subtle hints of emotion by now.
"Cheer up. We just did an awesome job with that train disaster a week ago!" Yukari exclaimed with a smile.
"Indeed. Arisato, not only is this a way to celebrate your birthday, but the rest of the team also needs a chance to celebrate on a job well done," Mitsuru commented, her arms and legs crossed as she sat on the couch. Junpei led Minato to the couch as the rest of the group took their seats. Junpei looked at the cake in the middle of the table ravenously.
"Don't go overboard on things like this often, guys," Akihiko stated semi-sarcastically, looking at the round cake surrounded by smooth white icing. The top read "Happy birthday Minato!" on it in blue frosting. On top were seventeen candles,
"I agree with Akihiko-sempai," Yukari nodded. "You guys eat too much ramen as it is…"
"Oh come on guys! Live a little!" Junpei shouted in disagreement. "Besides, we get more than enough exercise during the Dark Hour!"
"Junpei raises a good point," Minato states. Truthfully, he just wanted to defend his momentary ramen binge. If there's one thing he learned in the first few weeks in the city of Iwatodai, it was that the people here knew ramen damn well.
Mitsuru ignored the little conversation as she picked up the matchbox next to the cake. Within the next few seconds, all of the candles had been lighted and everyone was smiling as Minato slouched forward in his seat.
"Don't waste your wish, Minato," Akihiko smirked.
"Oh, he knows exactly what to wish for," Junpei smiled with a wink. Through pure coincidence, Minato was looking at Yukari just as she went to look at him the very second Junpei had said his statement. Yukari quickly looked away with a slight blush, completely unnoticeable to the unobservant eye.
Minato sighed as Junpei was the only one who didn't notice what just happened as he sighed and immediately blew out the candles, glancing back to Yukari, who had her usual fake smile on. Sure, sometimes it was genuine, Minato noticed, but it was the kind of fake smile that was hiding something.
He didn't give it a second thought. He wished he could joked around and said he wished for more ramen, or even something noble like a quick resolution for the Dark Hour and Tartarus.
No. He wished for something much more important to him. He turned his glance from Yukari to the rest of the people around him, smiling with their new friends.
Maybe he did waste his wish. After all, he didn't see himself breaking these Social Links.
Short, sweet, and to the point. I love our friendship, Ra. Stay awesome. :D