"Misaki! Where have you been? It's so late!" Nii-chan yelled as I opened the door. It was only eight, but for a kid like me, that's pretty late. At least, according to Nii-chan it is.

"I-I had somewhere to be," I said.

"Where? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"W-Well, you're busy with work," I said.

"I had the day off, remember?" he said.

The excuses for me being late were vanishing as quickly as he replied. I stayed quiet and avoided his worried gaze, hoping he'd leave the doorway.

"What's in the bag?" Nii-chan asked.

I clutched the plastic bag and held it behind me so he couldn't see. "I-it's nothing!" I said.

"It can't be nothing if you're hiding it."

"Um, it's from my club at school."

"You don't have one."

"Uh, leftovers from a fast food restaurant."

"Why were you at the restaurant for so long?"

"I-It was a birthday party!"

"At a fast food restaurant?"

"Y-Yeah."

"For who?"

There weren't many kids at school that I was friends with, so I hoped he'd ask about one of them. I could feel him looking at me, awaiting a proper response. "S-Someone," I mumbled. Scared, I looked up a little to see his worried face turned into something happy.

"Was it a girl?" he cooed.

My head shot up with a vivid blush. Nii-chan started laughing and ruffled my hair. "Misaki, why didn't you tell me you had a little girlfriend?" he asked. I tried to protest, but the shock of him saying something like that left me speechless. "It's okay, Misaki. I understand. Just call home next time, okay?" He walked away from the door and entered the living room.

"A g-girlfriend?" I mumbled. How did he come to that conclusion?!

I walked to my room and put the bag on the twin sized bed.

Time to get to work, I guess.

I stayed up for an extra hour, making something with the contents of the bag.

The morning came and I was exhausted. Nii-chan had the day off today too and he was making breakfast. The sweet scent of strawberry pancakes filled my nose as I walked to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Misaki! Breakfast will be ready soon," Nii-chan said.

"Why are you making pancakes?" I asked. We usually had grilled fish and miso soup.

"It's a mini celebration," he said, bringing the finished pancakes to the table.

"For what?"

"For your first girlfriend, of course!"

Yet again, I was speechless. He still believed it. "Um, Nii-chan, I don't have a-"

"Oh, Misaki. There's no need to be shy about it."

Would he listen to me for a minute? He's obviously fixated on this, so I stopped talking about it.

"Who is it?" he asked as I began eating the fluffy dough. I nearly choked on the small bite I had.

"Nii-chan, can we please stop talking about this?" I asked as calmly as possible. I could feel that my cheeks were red from embarrassment. Aren't girls supposed to be the ones to blush and not guys?

Nii-chan stared blankly at me and smiled. "I'm sorry, Misaki. It's just that this is so exciting," he said. He kind of sounded like a best friend in a shoujo manga.

The rest of breakfast was spent in silence, except for the noises of chewing our food. Once I was done, I cleaned the plate and rushed to get ready for school. I really didn't want another girlfriend related question.

I left home and went to school, hoping that it would be a long day for once. But as I expected, it went by rather quickly.

I got home somewhat exhausted from school and nervous about the questions that'd be asked.

"Misaki! Welcome home! I've just been doing some cleaning and I found this blue package. What's inside?" Nii-chan asked. He held up a small box that was wrapped in cerulean tissue paper. Right away I knew what it was.

"N-Nii-chan! Give it back!" I yelled, reaching for the box. Nii-chan lifted it out of my reach, a smirk forming on his lips.

"Is it for your girlfriend?" he asked.

The blush returned as I tried to grab it. "No it's not. It's, uh, clothes for school," I said.

"They wouldn't be wrapped," he said.

"Uh, a bento I bought."

"Already packaged."

I looked at him as I thought about another thing it could be. Nii-chan knelt down to my height and put the box in my hands. "Misaki, I heard you last night making whatever is in there. You don't have to hide it from me," he said, ruffling my hair.

I guess now was as good a time as any.

"Um, Nii-chan, the truth is I don't have a girlfriend. This is a present for you," I said, holding out the box to him.

"What is it for?" he asked.

"Your birthday is coming up soon. I wanted to make it now in case something happens later," I said.

"Misaki, you didn't have to make anything," he said.

"But you're always taking care of me! I have to do something for you," I said.

Nii-chan took the box and put it next to him. He pulled me into a warm hug. "Thank you, Misaki. Can I open it now?" he asked. I nodded against his chest. He released me and put the blue package on his lap. Carefully, he unwrapped the box. Once the blue tissue paper was removed, there was a small black shoebox. He lifted the lid and took out its contents.

"A scarf?" he asked, holding out the long white fabric.

"Yeah. It's been really cold lately. You'll get sick if you don't stay warm," I said.

He looked down at the scarf and lifted an end to reveal a small notecard. "What's this?" Nii-chan picked it up and read it out loud. "Happy birthday to my favorite brother."

I smiled as he looked at me with teary eyes. "Thank you, Misaki. I love it," he said. He pulled me in for another hug.

"Happy birthday, Nii-chan," I whispered.

Author's Note

Here's another JR songfic thingy. I think this was really cute ^w^ It wasn't that hard to write this one, but it was hard finding a song covered by JubyPhonic P that went well with JR. If you haven't heard of her, you should check out her awesome videos on YouTube right now (unless you're gonna check out more fanfiction...then you're okay :D)

Until next time, sayonara~!