Day 3: Baby Shower

Mimi walked around the saloon one more time. She was beyond nervous everything could go wrong, making her fail her first real test.
"Are you okay?" Akiko asked her softly when she approached her and Hikari.
"Are you sure the food is good?" Mimi asked for the millionth time already.
"Yes, Mimi." Hikari replied in her usual calm way. "I'm sure Sora will love it."
"I'm sorry. I know I'm stressing out and also stressing everyone out, but it's the first time I'm making food for a special event like this and Sora is a great cook, so…"
"Don't worry." The teacher said smiling. "She will absolutely like it. You shouldn't compare yourself to her, though."
"Ugh, I know." The cook replied exasperated. "Wasn't she supposed to be here by now?"
"She is probably arriving any second now. It's been quite a while since Kimi went to pick her up."
"I feel like I'm going to have a breakdown if she doesn't come soon."
"Okay, let's sit down." Hikari gently grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her towards a chair with Akiko's help.
"Hikari is right. You don't want to make your baby angry or nervous too."

.

When Sora walked in, she could barely hold her smile. Everything was decorated in different shades of pink and white. She couldn't help but think everything looked amazing and be thankful for her friends and family that went through so much trouble just to get this done for her. She wiped the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes with her thumbs. She was more than halfway through her pregnancy, but her hormones were still making her more emotional than at the beginning of it.
"I can't believe it!" She covered her mouth with her hand. "This is so perfect! You actually planned a baby shower for me! And you…" She turned to Kimi. "I thought we were actually going shopping. You tricked me."
"I'm sorry, Sora." The brunette woman replied with a smile. She knew her sister-in-law wasn't angry at her at all. "It was the perfect reason to get you out of your house or atelier. Besides, you've planned baby showers for both me and Hikari."
"Exactly." Hikari stood up. "We wanted to show you how important and special you are for us. I hope you like the small party."
"Are you kidding me? I already love it! Everything looks so perfect and beautiful!"
"I'm glad you like it. Mimi was already freaking out because you were taking too long and she was nervous because she thinks her food isn't good enough."
"Really? Well, I think she has gotten a lot better at it. I'm sure it will be amazing."
"That's what I told her and she wouldn't listen to me."
"I don't want my niece to have a food poisoning at all." Mimi stood up. "Besides, Sora has always been the best cook out of us three. It's hard to beat that."
"This is not a competition, Mimi." Sora said gently. "I know for a fact you are great at dishes I don't even know how to do. You are truly gifted at this."
"Thank you, Sora." Her face beamed in happiness. "Okay, who's ready to start the party?"

.

Hikari grabbed one of the presents and handed it to Sora, who looked at it carefully. "The point of this game is to find out who gave you the gift. If you get it wrong, you have to take a paper from that box and do what it says. I have to warn you that it might be something embarrassing though."
"Alright. I'm sure I'll get them all right though." She said with a smile before started opening the first gift.
She came across a cute red baby jumpsuit. She looked at it carefully and then looked at all the women in the room. She was sure it had come from someone superstitions and she could only think of one person. "This is Mimi's."
"This is unbelievable." She protested. "I was sure it wouldn't be this easy to guess my present this time, but I was wrong."
"It's so like you to give something like this and say it's to avoid jealousy and things like these when you leave the hospital with the baby."
"But it's true! It's always better to avoid this kind of thing if you can. I already got one for me and that's really what he's going to be wearing after I give birth to him."
"And also, you did the same thing for Hikari when Yamazaki was born."
"That's right."
"She did it with me too." Kimi said. "Takeru thought it was stupid, but I didn't want to take my chances, you know? My mom used to tell me the same thing. You can tell how happy and relieved she was when I put red clothes on Kenichi in the day we were free to go."
"Now I'm going to be the uncool aunt." Mimi cried. "This is so unfair!"
"I'm sorry, Mimi." Sora stood up from where she was and went to sit beside her best friend. "I didn't mean to make you upset. You are the coolest aunt ever, and will be a great mother too."
"This is so not true! My son is gonna hate me."
"He's not gonna hate you, Mimi." She pulled the brunette woman into a hug. "I'm gonna make sure he knows what a wonderful mother he had and he'll always be proud of you."
"I'm sorry this game made you upset, Mimi." Hikari said apologetically as she knelt down in front of her. "I didn't expect it to go this way."
"It's okay, Hikari. It's not your fault." Mimi smiled. "My emotions and hormones are all over the place. My son is coming in less than a month and I'm freaking out already. And I'm also freaking about the food here and…"
"Mimi, breathe." Sora said calmly and squeezed her hands softly. "You can do this. I know you can."
"It's normal to freak out during this time of the pregnancy. Did you see what happened to me?"
"And to me too." Kimi joined them. "But I'm sure it will be worth it the moment you see Yasuhiko for the first time. He will be really loved by all his aunts and cousins."
"I can already say he and Takato will be great friends." Akiko gently rubbed her belly.
"And Aiko too." Sora looked at Taichi's wife and then to Mimi. "See, there's nothing to worry about. We can support all each other."
"It's amazing how you can turn something that's supposed to be about you about someone else."
"Yeah, I hear that from Yamato sometimes, trust me." She smiled. "I mean every word I said though."
"Thank you, Sora." Mimi hugged her again. "Thank you, everyone. Now let's go eat because I'm dying to see what you think of my food!"

.

Sora was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room eating some of Mimi's food and rubbing her big belly gently when she approached her.
"So what did you think of the food?"
"It's amazing, Mimi. I can't thank you enough for doing all of this for me when you should be slowing things down before Yasuhiko arrives."
"I should, but you know me, I can't not work, I need to do something. I feel like I'll go crazy when he's born."
"I'm sure you will have a lot of things to do then. Your life is going to turn completely upside down."
"Tell me about it. Hideaki is dying to meet him and is hoping Yasuhiko is just like him. He's counting the days already." Mimi stroked her belly softly. "But this isn't about me today. How are you and Yamato feeling about being so close to meeting Aiko?"
"We are excited and anxious. Yamato is probably more than me, so I can relate to you in a way. He comes home everyday and the first thing he does is talk to her. And she would always move around a lot, just like she's doing right now. She most likely heard me saying his name and is feeling happy."
"It's so cool that both of us are pregnant at the same time, isn't it?" The brunette said excitedly.
"It is." Sora smiled. "We can take care of them together and take them for a stroll sometimes. I think they will get along quite well."
"I think so too! They will be best friends."
"For sure." She stood and grabbed some presents from the box. "It's time to open more gifts."

.

Sora was once again being the center of attention as she opened another present. It was a pretty white fancy dress decorated with small pearls around the waist. It was a very delicate piece of clothing and Sora had no doubt it was from Hikari.
"It's a good thing we stopped the game. You would guess them all." The teacher said with a smile. "Yamazaki was the one who chose this dress actually. He said his heart cousin would look great on it. He's really looking forward to meeting her."
"How sweet." Sora replied a little emotional. "It's really nice to see my daughter receiving so much love already. It really means a lot to me."
"Can you imagine all the pretty clothes she's gonna get? Aiko is going to be the most fashion girl from all of our kids and not only because her mother is a stylist."
"I'm just glad there's a girl arriving soon for a change." Akiko spoke. "There are only boys right now. I really wanted it have a girl, but Taichi thought differently, so… I'm okay with having a boy too though."
"My brother still likes to have his way, I see. It doesn't surprise me." Hikari laughed. "I would love to have a niece though. A few years ago we probably would say talking about children and marriage would be crazy, and here we are."
"Life changes, huh? Now all of us are about to or already have kids. I find it funny that Mimi seemed to make everyone jealous for getting pregnant and soon there will be six more babies among us."
"I know, this is crazy and yet awesome."
"I personally love the idea of having tons of children growing up together." Sora started opening another present. "It's like a small group, you know?"
"Yeah, I completely agree with you. Even if most of us aren't blood related, I still feel like we're all a big family."
"I feel the same way."

.

Sora was looking through the window while her right hand rested on her belly. She thought Aiko was sleeping because she wasn't moving as much at the time. Kimi walked to her a couple of minutes ago with another present in her hands.
"It's a beautiful sunset, isn't it?"
"It is. I like watching it whenever I can."
"Takeru and I bought another present for Aiko." The brunette woman looked down at the package she was holding before handing it to her sister-in-law. "Takeru asked me to tell you it can only be opened at your house. He really wants to see Yamato's reaction when he opens it, so he also asked if you could call him when he does."
"These two never miss the chance to tease each other." Sora laughed warmly. "I can already tell it's going to be something hilarious. I can't wait to see it."
"It is." Kimi smiled sweetly. "I wasn't around when he bought it, but he told me about it, so I'm a little curious too. I love the strong connection they have."
"Me too. It has always been like this, but I think it got really strong when Kenichi was born. I love it that they are close like this even if they had to grow up away from each other most of the time. It was hard for both of them."
"So I was told. I wish I had a sister too, sometimes. Or a brother. It must be amazing to have a sibling."
"I can relate to that. But hey," Sora gently grabbed her hand and they looked at each other. "Now you have a sister. Me. I may not be a blood one, but in-law must count for something, right?"
"It really does." Kimi hugged her. "I'm so thankful for having you in my life. When Takeru and I started dating, sometimes he would talk about you to me and I remember thinking you must be such an amazing person. When we met for the first time, I just knew everything he had said was true, but you were a thousand times more than that."
"Nah, that's an overstatement." She shook her head a little. "I think Takeru sees me as an older sister. Watch him become this wonderful man, husband and father makes me so proud. He's one of a kind."
"He is. I'm a really lucky person for being his wife. And to think I almost let him go. I'll be forever grateful he insisted on taking me on a date because we wouldn't be here right now."
"He can be really persuasive when he wants to. I'm glad too though. You two make a cute couple."
"Thank you. So do you and Yamato."
"Thanks. It hasn't always been easy, but we've been each other's safe haven throughout our lives. I'm lucky enough to have fallen in love with one of my best friends. And our little one is here to make us even surer of that."
"The way you talk about him and look at him is so genuine and pure. I don't think anyone can see you two together and think there are no feelings between you, because it's very clear. It's amazing that it's still that way even after so many years. It's truly an inspiration to me."
"Each couple is different, but I'm glad you feel that way about us."

.

Yamato was looking at the night sky from the balcony when Sora arrived. He immediately went to help her when he saw the amount of things she was carrying with her.
"Why didn't you call me? I would have gone downstairs to help you."
"There weren't many things to carry. I did a pretty good job." She put the gifts over the table and kissed him hello. "How was it like to spend some time alone and have the apartment all to yourself?"
"It was good at first, but then it got plain boring. I was going crazy waiting for the two women of my life to come back."
"Well, here we are." Sora smiled warmly at him and looked over to the gifts on the table. "We've got some beautiful clothes here."
"Really?" Yamato wrapped his arm around her and looked towards the table too. "I can't wait to see everything."
"I brought some unopened presents so we could do it together, but there is a specific one we need to open first."
"Huh?" He asked puzzled. "Why?"
"Because I was told to. I have no idea either." Sora pretended to grab something in her purse, so he wouldn't see her blushing and caught her lie. She knew she was a terrible liar.
"Hmmm I have a feeling my brother is trying to prank me."
"Why would he do that? It's our baby's shower."
"You're right. Okay, so which one should we open first again?"
"That red one that's inside a white bag." He grabbed it and went to sit beside her on the couch. "But that's from Takeru and Kimi, right?"
"That's right."
"Okay, let's open it."
Sora called Takeru and held her cellphone while Yamato opened the gift. The younger blonde has having a hard time holding his laughter and Yamato just knew he was being pranked by his brother.
"Are you kidding me?!" He shouted as he held a baby jumpsuit in front of her phone. It was supposed to be written 'Daddy's little princess', but there was a cross on the word father and the word uncle was written above it. "This is way over the line."
"No, it isn't." Takeru couldn't stop laughing. "This is for pushing my head into the cake when I turned twenty and ruining it."
"Let me see, let me see." Kimi's voice echoed and soon she joined him on the call. It didn't take her long to burst into laughter too. "Oh my God, Takeru! I wasn't expecting for this at all."
"Wait, you knew about this?"
"I knew he had bought something to tease you, but he wouldn't let me see what it was. I can't believe he had the nerve for this."
"There's no way I'm going to let Aiko use this." Yamato frowned, but he was having fun with the situation too. "It amazes me you've been waiting for like ten years to get back at me for ruining your 20th birthday."
"I think the baby jumpsuit is cute." Sora said as she held it. "We are definitely going to put it on Aiko."
"No, we aren't, Sora. Aiko is so not going out wearing it."
"Because your father pride has been hurt?" She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "She's still gonna love you."
"That's completely out of the topic. She isn't even here yet and her uncle is already spoiling her."
"That's what uncles and aunts do. They spoil their nieces and nephews. We do the same with Kenichi, remember?"
"Yamato is always so dramatic." Takeru teased. "How can you handle him all the time, Sora?"
"I ask myself the same question everyday."
"Please, I'm such a fun person to have around." He bragged. "Aiko is still not wearing that."
"Fine." Sora crossed her fingers behind her back and winked at her in-laws.