Surprise!
Summary: It's Akane's birthday and the team go to hilarious lengths to throw her the perfect party. Ginoza is not amused.
It hadn't seemed like that bad of an idea at the time… honestly. Throw a party for Akane in the headquarters; make Kagari in charge of the food, Yayoi in charge of the decorations, and Ginoza in charge of convincing the Inspector to come to the office after hours. What Ginoza hadn't expected (after being forced to allow the party anyway(I mean they're all latent criminals so maybe letting them handle this by themselves wasn't the best idea)) was the chaos he would be stepping into once he got back.
…
"Oi, Ko-chan, can you watch the oven? I'm gonna get the present from my room." Shusei asked, removing the apron and trotting to the door.
"Sure." The man stood in front of the stove, unsure as to what to actually watch for. A ding went off, prompting the Enforcer to inspect the device. Hmmm… maybe it meant to turn up the heat, because the cake wasn't baking fast enough? He pushed the knob to high, smiling. Ha, cooking was easy. Kagari was just—wait, was that smoke coming from the oven?
Immediately, the sprinklers turned on, drenching all the rooms and the main work office.
"Kougami, I told you to watch the cake!" A fuming Shusei pushed the stunned Enforcer to the side, turning off the stove. Ten minutes passed until the sprinklers finally shut off. He raked his wet hair back, clearly annoyed. "Great… now everyone's going to think it was my fault the cake was ruined!"
"Is that what you're seriously worried about? What about everyone else? I'm sure they're probably going to be breaking down the door any minu—"Kagari, what did you do!?" A chorus of voices could be heard outside his room.
Masaoka managed to kick the door down, rushing into the kitchen. "Kagari! I was painting something for missy! You can imagine what it looks like now!"
Both Kagari and Shinya stood surprised. It was the first time either had seen the Enforcer angry.
"I was almost done with the decorations, too…" Yayoi chimed in, arm draped around Shion.
"My, my, looks like Shusei has some fixing to do…" Shion giggled, taking another drag of her cigarette.
"I-it wasn't me, Kougami did it!"
The group snorted.
"Right… geeze, Kagari, at least own up to it. I hear Akane hates liars the most." Shion teased, dragging Yayoi with her.
"Ah, well, I guess I could just start a new painting…" Masaoka murmured, shuffling out the door.
"I'm going to go help Pops with his drawing. See ya." Kougami walked out of the room, whistling.
"Why am I always the scapegoat!?"
He sighed, returning to the oven. "Wait—what about my door?" He wailed, remembering the empty doorway where the door once (should have) stood.
…
Kougami glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes until Akane was supposed to arrive.
"Uh, guys…we have less than half an hour to turn this office," he motioned to the broken computers, soggy decorations, and overturned chairs, "into a party room."
"No worries, Ko-chan! I made another cake!"
"I gathered the presents and placed them on a separate table." Masaoka smiled, gesturing towards the stack of gifts.
"And we're almost done putting up new decorations." Yayoi said, helping the blonde computer genius put up the last of the new streamers.
"See, everything's fine—Shit." Shion cursed, dropping the cigarette into the waste basket.
The smoke from her cigarette had activated the sprinklers—again.
Kagari shielded the cake while Masaoka quickly stored the presents in the filing room.
"Fire!" Shusei yelled, pointing at the trashcan.
"I've got it!" Kougami threw his cup of—coffee (he swore he was drinking water before) towards the flames. "Oh shit."
"Let me handle this." Masaoka retrieved a fire extinguisher, putting out the flames.
The office was ruined. The fire had managed to swallow Ginoza's cubicle, a bookcase (which no doubt held important case files), and Akane's chair.
"How much time do we have left, Kougami?"
"About five minutes. Quickly everyone get changed into warm clothing."
Surprisingly, everyone seemed to have a spare set of clothes in their desk area.
"Alright, we don't have enough time to return to our rooms and change so everyone bear with me and change, for Akane's sake."
"Alright." They mumbled. Shion and Yayoi seemed the least bit fazed, Masaoka ran into the filing room, Shusei blushed furiously as he removed his shirt, and Kougami cursed inwardly as he did his best to strip off his clothes in time.
…
"Ginoza, why did you come to my house at eight o'clock at night? You pretty much kidnapped me, ya know." The girl huffed, crossing her arms.
"Just trust me, Tsunemori. It's something important."
"If you say so…"
…
"Uh, Ginoza, why is everyone half-naked?"
The man nearly fainted from shock. His cubicle was burned, parts of the office were underwater, and the idiots were stripping in the office.
"H-how did this happen? And for the love of God, everyone put your clothes on!"
"Please tell me the reason you sent me hear wasn't to scar me for life." She looked up towards the Inspector. He adjusted his glasses, face crestfallen. It was too much, the Chief would kill him for sure and—like a defense mechanism, he fainted, before he could make any other life-changing observations.
"Uh, my Dominator just turned to Non-Lethal Paralyzer." Kagari said, eyes a bright blue.
"Don't tell me—"
"This is going to be a long night." Akane sighed, cradling the man's head on her lap.
…
Ginoza shot up, hitting his head with a thud. How did he end up here? Where was here? And more importantly, what happened to his glasses?
"Owww…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
"Look guys, he's awake!' Kagari motioned to the figure desperately trying to claw his way out of the vehicle. They all waved at him through the restaurant window. He glared back barking out what could only be a string of profanities.
"Do you think we should let him out?"
"Nah, let's wait till he cools down a bit." Kougami reasoned, taking another bite of his sandwich.
"It's time to open presents!" The orange-haired man handed her his present. Akane shook it thoughtfully.
"Ah, be careful, it's fragile!"
"Sorry." She tore off the wrapping, opening the lid. Amber eyes grew wide in astonishment.
"Wow. It's beautiful, Shusei. Thank you." She unclasped the butterfly necklace, fastening it to her neck. She gave him a big hug, which he returned whole-heartedly. 'I thought he'd give me whoopee cushion, to be honest,' she thought, reaching for the next gift.
"To Akane, with love, Shion and Yayoi." They had drawn a little heart next to their signatures. The girl reached into the bag, pulling out an aquamarine shade of nail polish. She smiled, reaching into the bag again. Her hand touched soft fabric. "Awww, you guys didn't need to get me a shirt-" The girl pulled out a crimson lacy bra and underwear.
"You never know, kid." Shion teased, patting the girl on the back.
"T-thanks, I think." Akane's face was a beet red, quickly stuffing the 'gift' back into the bag.
"Here's Ginoza's present." She took it, unwrapping the box. It was a cute plushie octopus, with large glass eyes.
"It's so cute! I'm surprised Ginoza knew to get something like that for Akane. I expected him to get her a coffee cup or a gift card." Kagari laughed, handing her another present.
"This one's from me, missy." Masaoka smiled.
She tore off the wrapping paper, eyes wide in shock. It was a realistic picture of the team, all hanging out in the office.
"It's something to remember us all by. Kougami suggested drawing the whole team instead of just giving you a portrait."
"Thank you so much!" She hugged the old Enforcer. He laughed, patting her back.
"You still have one more present to unwrap, you know."
The girl nodded, looking at the other Enforcer expectantly.
"Here." Shinya handed her an envelope and a small box. Curiously, she tore open the letter, a couple of coupons falling from the card. "One free back massage?" She inquired, looking towards the blushing man. "You always look so tired and stressed so…"
"I understand, thank you, Kougami."
She opened the box, revealing two beaded bracelets. A white ribbon adorned each piece of jewelry.
"I got these with Shion and Yayoi. They said you might like something like that, they helped me pick out the gift since I'm generally a poor gift giver." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"No. I like the gift, a lot. Thanks, Shinya." She gave him a quick hug before handing him the other bracelet. He smiled, sliding the bracelet onto his arm.
Somehow, they felt like they were forgetting something…
…
The Inspector's stomach growled loudly, causing him to sigh. They could at least bring him some food or something… he was getting hungry. He knew this was a bad idea but, somehow, the smile on the girl's face made it seem worth it.
Even if they had forgot him in the car.