Akane wasn't sure which was worse: having to finish up a boring case report on her birthday, her birthday being April Fools Day, or that nobody seemed to remember that it was, indeed, her birthday.
The office was quiet, but that's what happens when there's only three people in a room and all of them are working on reports. Of course, for this particular report, she was the only one who could do it, since she was the only inspector for Unit One. Ginoza had been demoted to Enforcer by this point, and had a different report to work on.
Akane wanted to bang her head on the table. I know this is important, but of all the days I had to be forced to work on it, it had to be today. Couldn't they have made me start on this tomorrow? She looked up at the document in front of her. At least I'm almost done.
She began to type away at her keyboard, trying not to fall asleep. She almost did, when Yayoi tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
"Huh?" Akane said, waking up a little and turning to look at Yayoi.
"I think it's way past our lunch break, Inspector Tsunemori," Yayoi said. Akane looked at the time on the computer.
The time read 4:00 pm.
"Ah! I think it's closer to dinner, unfortunately," she sighed.
"In any case, I think all of us need a break, including you, Inspector," Ginoza said.
"Right. What time do you two want us to meet back here?"
"Actually, we were thinking we could eat together," Ginoza said.
"Shion's probably fine with us eating in her lab," Yayoi said. "Let's go get something to eat."
Akane and Ginoza agreed, and they went to get food. About halfway to Shion's lab, Akane stopped.
"Is something wrong, Inspector?" Ginoza asked.
"Shouldn't we be heading to the dining room first?" Akane asked.
"It wouldn't be courteous to walk into Shion's lab to eat without warning her first," Yayoi responded.
"This better not be an April Fools prank..."
"Neither of us would plan a prank, Inspector," Ginoza said, an annoyed look on his face.
"Right..." Akane said.
They continued to walk until they reached Shion's lab.
"I think you should go in first, Inspector Tsunemori," Yayoi said, making a gesture towards the door.
If this is a prank... Akane thought, going inside.
"Hey, Shion-"
"Happy Birthday, Akane!" Shion, Yayoi, and Ginoza cheered.
The room had a few balloons for decoration, and a cake was sitting on the coffee table.
"Shion, why is the cake...melting?" Ginoza asked with a grimace.
"It's ice cream cake. I figured Akane might like it, and besides, the thing had to come out of my budget, so don't complain," Shion responded.
Akane couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the evening.