Author Notes: 20 is the age of majority in Japan, when society considers you an adult.
Happy birthday, Jin! *gives you an angsty backstory so I can cry over you*
(This fic will be deleted once Jin's real backstory is out and this is jossed)
Jin's earliest memories are of the taste of preservatives. Cheap snack foods that require no preparation and keep forever. It left behind a thick coating on his tongue that lingered throughout the day, tricking your stomach into thinking it was full.
The scraps stuck in the gaps between his teeth. Streaks of colour that smeared his fingers, the furniture, all of their things. No amount of cleaning ever completely got rid of the crumbs; it snuck into the cracks in the flooring, between the sheets in the bed, between the pages of his textbooks.
The smell of it pervaded the small apartment they shared; lurking in the cupboards that never had anything else, hanging off his mother's clothes. He had thought it was ground into her skin back then, an indelible mark of her job at the factory that made them.
It was as familiar as the crunch when he bit down, the crinkle of the wrapper in his pockets throughout the day because there was always at least one packet on him at all times. That same comforting crinkle when he opened his mother's bag, because his mother believed in nothing more than being prepared. If he ran out she always had more.
After she died, it was Mogami-san who provided him with the snacks. The oily smudges staining Mogami-san's hands and transferring to Jin when he ruffled Jin's hair. The smell of artificial additives that mixed with the smoke of his cigarettes. The sharp snap when he ripped opened the package all at once – something Jin learned from him later, something Jin's mother never quite managed.
After he died, there's only Jin left. No one to offer him snacks, so he took up the role himself. Because when Jin says, 'want a rice cracker?' he can hear the echo of his mother, of Mogami-san, in those words.
"Happy birthday, Jin," Rindou says from his seat at the dining table, sipping his habitual cup of coffee. Youtarou mumbles something sleepily from his seat next to Rindou, possibly congratulations of his own, face half in his bowl of porridge.
Reiji is bustling in the kitchen, turning around when he notices Jin's entrance to say, "I know you've seen it with your side effect already; don't be late to your own party."
"Yes sir!" Jin salutes smartly. He sees so much more than that.
He has been ordered to make an appearance at Headquarters today. An obvious ploy of Shinoda's to force Jin to socialise and accept everyone's well wishes. Who is he to refuse?
Midorikawa is the first, lying in ambush in the lobby of the Headquarters just as Jin knew he would. Secretly, Jin congratulates himself on making it early enough that Midorikawa will have plenty of time to go to school afterwards.
"Jin-san! Jin-san! Happy birthday! Do you want a rice cracker?!" Midorikawa bounces around cheefully, pushing a packet of crackers into Jin's hands.
In the corridors on the way to the meeting room is Arashiyama, beaming cheerfully as he hands over a similar package. "Good morning, Jin. It's your birthday today! Have some rice crackers!"
And then it's Kazama and Amou, the same familiar packaging on the packets they shove in Jin's arms. "Jin(-san), happy birthday. Rice cracker?"
There is, thankfully, no rice cracker presents from Border's top brass when he arrives for the meeting. But Jin opens one of the packages he had received already and shares it with the whole table. Even Kido deigns to take one – probably the best present Jin can expect from him.
It is edging into the afternoon by the time the meeting ends and his side effect still promises more.
First up is Tachikawa, who forces Jin into the rank battle booths and two ten-set matches before finally letting him off with his own packet that he adds to Jin's pile. "I know you want rice crackers."
There is a long line of Border agents after that, as Jin walks through the corridors to the exit; everyone is off school by now and loitering around Headquarters in-between training and duty. Jin receives so many packages, he is reduced to borrowing two large bags from the cafeteria workers to carry it all back.
Jin takes a deep breath as he finally escapes, stopping just past the doorway that leads to Border's underground passage. His side effect tells him there is one more person.
"Happy birthday," Miwa says, so quietly Jin almost doesn't hear.
But he does, and he turns. Miwa is standing in the shadows of the doorway, looking down with a fierce expression on his face.
"Thank you, Shuuji," Jin says in the same tone of voice.
Miwa tsks, a full body twitch that has Jin wondering if Miwa is going to activate his trigger. But Jin knows he won't. That is not in any of the futures Jin sees for him.
"Here," says Miwa harshly, the exact same package of rice crackers that Jin has been receiving all day in his hands. It looks surreal in Miwa's hands, like it doesn't belong there; that is why it is a victory.
Jin accepts solemnly.
That's the last, his side effect tells him, as Jin strolls through the paths of fallen cherry blossom petals on his way home. Something different awaits him there, he knows.
Everyone is crowded in the dining room when he arrives with the familiar greeting of 'I'm home' on his lips, just as he had seen. There are messy decorations pasted all over the walls – some of them so inexplicable, Jin can only accept them as yet another lie of Karasuma's that has successfully deceived Konami, Youtarou, and maybe even Hus judging by the artistry of some of the weirder ones. In the middle of the table laden with Reiji's homemade dishes, surrounded on all sides by the people of Tamakoma, is a cake with twenty candles burning merrily.
Mother, Mogami-san, today I become an adult.
Thank you for everything.
Jin smiles. "Want a rice cracker?"