It was another day of facing the cold four walls of her home for Tsubaki again. This time round, her father was at the other side of the globe, in the United States, to attend a conference while her mother was away in the Philippines to visit her grandmother who was residing there, leaving their only daughter in Japan.

Tsubaki switched on the television. The black rectangular box had been her only companion in the cold solitude of four walls she called "home". Perhaps this was why she loved watching foreign movies and shows. The black box had been showcasing the world outside of her horizons which had entertained her and allowed her to gain many new knowledge and insights. The television was showing a romance drama from South Korea. Usually, Tsubaki hated watching such cheesy romance dramas and it would make her cringe inwards. However, she decided that since she had nothing better to do, she would play a mini game of "Try Not To Cringe Challenge" by herself and give herself a test to see whether she could survive watching the entire drama.

She had failed. Within less than half an hour, she had found herself wanting to strangle the male and female lead across the screen numerous times, if not wanting to bang her head against the wall. Is a good thing she had enough self-control to resist herself from doing so.

The drama soon transited to a scene in a cafe in which the male and female lead were celebrating the male lead's birthday together. The female lead had given the male lead a pendant in which she was wearing a matching one around her neck. The male lead was very happy to receive the gift and they kissed.

Suddenly it struck Tsubaki. Aoi's birthday is coming in less than a week. Tsubaki was not one to give presents to someone, in fact, she hated receiving presents. For her birthdays throughout the years, her parents would never make time to celebrate with her. Instead, they would deliver expensive gifts, from high-quality dolls in her childhood to beautiful dresses in her teenage years. The gifts had transformed into branded handbags now as she is now an adult studying in college. Tsubaki would always think to herself, what is the point of those expensive gifts when she always had to celebrate her birthdays alone, which caused her to often forget when it was her birthday. The only person she gave birthday gifts to was Rika during their elementary and middle school days. Every year till they graduated from middle school, Rika would invite her to her birthday party and she would often purchase gifts from teddy bears to cosmetics for her, all because she learnt that it would be rude to show up empty-handed at a birthday party. It felt like an obligation for Tsubaki and to her, if she were to give a gift to someone out of obligation and manners, the meaning of gifts would be lost.

However, when it comes to Aoi, Tsubaki was determined to do something for her special day. For some reason, she was the only person Tsubaki bothered to even think of giving a present to. It might be because, to her, the moment she met Aoi, her life had changed for the better. If not for her, she might not have continued singing, which was the only thing she held on to. It was as if Tsubaki was being trapped in the tunnel darkness and Aoi was the one who brought her to the shining light at the end.

What will be the perfect gift for Aoi?, she thought to herself. Aoi is popular. There will definitely be a lot of girls who will give her presents. What if Tsubaki was to get her a gift only to be the exact same gift that someone else had gifted her? What if she purchased something for her, only to have her not liking it, hence a waste of money? Or even worse, what if she didn't need a gift from her?

It was then she received a message from Hiiro in Rondo's group chat. Hiiro was talking about Five Love Languages which were five ways that people expressed and experienced love. "It will be easier for you to express your love to someone you love if you understand their love language," she said. She even attached a link to a quiz for others to figure out their love language, with Hiiro's one being "Acts of Service". Act of service is the physical expression of a thoughtful gesture. It is about someone going out of their way to meaningfully help and support the other person. When people take the initiative to ease some of their responsibilities and burdens, it helps them feel taken care of, safe and loved in return. Soon Nagisa replied with her love language being "Words of Affirmation" after she had completed the quiz. Words of affirmation are any spoken or written words that confirm, support, uplift, and empathize with another person in a positive manner. If someone is drawn to words of affirmation as their love language, it's because they believe words really matter and help them give a literal voice to how they feel inside.

Tsubaki clicked on the link and proceeded to do the quiz. It revealed that her love language was "Quality Time ''. This means she yearned to deepen her connection with others through sharing time, and that she wanted their time together to feel special and sacred and to feel that both of them were truly present. This made a lot of sense for her as she had often felt alone growing up and she disliked the feeling. Now she was curious about what Aoi's love language was. Maybe this could be a good idea for her to decide how to make her birthday special.

Within a few minutes, Aoi replied that her love language was also "Quality Time ''. So our love languages are similar after all, Tsubaki thought to herself. With the fact of Aoi she had just gained knowledge of, she finally thought of what to do to make her birthday special.

Today was Aoi's birthday. Tsubaki had asked her out to spend time together at a secret location. She had also prepared a handwritten letter for Aoi. In the end, she decided to settle for something handmade as she felt handmade gifts are something that is one and only in the world and no amount of money could be exchanged to acquire it. Besides, since it was made by Tsubaki herself, it would be more unique than the other gifts she would receive.

However, the day began with a bad start. Tsubaki woke up to glaring bright lights that seeped through her window. To her chagrin, the moment she opened her eyes, the time stated on her smartphone was 1.45 pm, 15 minutes to the time she was supposed to meet Aoi at the nearest train station. She had missed her alarm which she had set to 10 am in the morning. Tsubaki texted Aoi that she would be late as she just woke up before brushing her teeth at a fast speed. Luckily for her, Aoi replied that she had yet to get dressed and even instructed her to take her time. Tsubaki took a quick shower and randomly took out a long flowy white dress from her closet. It was a present from her parents for her 18th birthday which was different from the usual style she would be seen wearing. However, Tsubaki did not want to waste too much time deciding what to wear so she just settled with it. She applied her makeup and combed her hair at a rapid speed before leaving home with the handwritten letter. Before she went to the train station, she especially went to Cafe Vinyl and took away a slice of dark chocolate cake. She even requested for a candle to be included in it.

By the time she arrived at the train station, Aoi had just got there too. She was wearing a white dress shirt with black pants.

"Am I late?", Tsubaki asked

"Nope, I just got here too," Aoi replied. It was then Aoi noticed what Tsubaki was wearing. It was different from what she usually would wear. She looked extremely elegant in the white flowing dress, like a goddess.

"You look extremely beautiful today, Tsubaki," Aoi praised her.

Tsubaki blushed at Aoi's compliment, "Thank you"

"By the way, where are we going?", Aoi asked.

"You will see, just follow me," Aoi trailed behind Tsubaki who was leading the way.

They stopped at a Catholic church and entered the chapel. However it was not any Catholic church, it was the exact church where the both of them first met. The very place Aoi first heard Tsubaki's singing and realised that was the voice she needed for Rondo's vocalist. The very place that granted Tsubaki the ticket to enter Rondo and found people which she could call her "family".

"Why this place?", Aoi asked.

"This place holds a lot of meaning for the both of us. I just want to spend quality time with you, just the both of us, in this place," replied Tsubaki.

The both of them started to reminisce about the first time they met in this chapel and talked about the shared memories they had with Rondo. Both of them remained in eye contact with one another. Even at times when their smartphones were vibrating, they did not bother to pick them up. Aoi even said that the reason why she took a long time to get ready on purpose today was that she knew Tsubaki was not a morning person and waking up early in the morning was a painful chore for her.

Suddenly, Tsubaki walked away and exited the chapel. Aoi started to wonder where Tsubaki possibly went without informing her. A few minutes later, Tsubaki returned holding the dark chocolate cake with a candle lit with fire being placed on it.

"Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you…", Tsubaki sang a birthday song to Aoi with her melodious voice.

"Thank you, Tsubaki," Aoi thanked her before making a wish and blowing the flame of the candle. Tsubaki then took out the hand-written letter she had prepared for her which was enclosed in an envelope and placed it into Aoi's hands.

"May I open it?", Aoi asked

Tsubaki nodded her head. Aoi opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper. She read its contents fully concentrated. After she was done, Aoi looked back at Tsubaki. She leaned her face towards Tsubaki and gave her forehead a kiss. "Thanks for the letter and the appreciation, I am glad to meet you and that I am glad you are living a better life now. I didn't know I am as important to you as to how important you are to me."

"You are welcomed," Tsubaki replied. It was then Aoi pulled her into her arms and gave her a warm and passionate hug. Tsubaki's face turned red. This was the first time someone had ever hugged her like this and it was too overwhelming for her. After processing her thoughts, a small smile appeared on her face as she hugged Aoi back, fully immersed in her embrace.

"This is the best birthday celebration I have ever had, thanks for spending great quality time with me," Aoi said, still holding Tsubaki in her embrace.

Indeed, the best birthday celebration and present for someone whose love language is Quality Time is spending time with their loved ones, uninterrupted.

A/N: Hi! I am sorry for abandoning this place for ages! Recently after years of procrastinating I decided to pick up the pen again and write. Here comes one of my newest fandom D4DJ! This fic is specially written for Aoi's birthday and her ship with Tsubaki had been sending me crying and overwhelmed with wholesome feels! Feel free to hit me up on twitter 0re0sandch0c0 for more OTP discussions and spazzing!

In case you didn't notice, Tsubaki's mother visiting her grandmother in the Philippines is a reference to Tsubaki's voice actress Kato Rihona being half-Filipino!