*6:30 PM*
"You... made THAT?" Tomoya asked in shock.
"Yup! I don't like to brag, but that's about the sexiest looking cake I have ever laid eyes on." Akio said
It was huge a chocolate vanilla cake that could fit in entire oven! There were frostings ribboned all throughout the sides and edges. The top was decorated with dozens of small and large dango head of all sorts of colors. In the middle it read, "Happy Birthday Ushio."
"Are you trying to give us diabetes?" Tomoyo sarcastically asked.
"How dare you insult my cake!" Akio shouted. "If you don't eat a piece and like it, I'll make you eat Sanae's bread instead! That should be a good punishment for mocking my masterpiece!"
A nerve tingled down Akio's spine when he heard, "...my bread.."
He gasped as he turned around to see Sanae tearing up. "My bread is just something for others to suffer with?!" She screamed as she ran out the door.
"NOO!" Akio screamed has she shoved a handful of Sanae's bread into his mouth. "I WUVV DEM!" He ran out the door as fast as he could.
Tomoya peeked out the doorway to take a look when he saw Tomoyo coming down the sidewalk.
"Wow, they're running faster than usual." Tomoyo said as she laughed.
"Yeah, Akio sure did it this time." Tomoya responded. "You're thirty minutes early, no one's really here yet."
"It's fine, I don't mind." Tomoyo said. "Where's Nagisa and Ushio?"
"They're up on the second floor." Tomoya answered. "You can head upstairs if you want. I'm going to tend the shop until those two get back."
Tomoyo chuckled, "that might take a while." She said as she headed upstairs.
Meanwhile Sunohara was making his way towards the bakery. He looked at his watch to see if he was still on time. Just when he thought that everything was smooth sailing, he saw a crying Sanae in the distance rapidly running towards him.
She zoomed pasted him with a powerful gust of wind tailing her. "There's only one explanation for this.." Sunohara thought to himself.
He turned to see Akio running towards him. He stopped as soon as he reached Sunohara, hands on his knees while he catches his breath.
"Did you make fun of Sanae's bread agai-" Before Sunohara could finish his sentence, Akio shoved some pastries into his mouth.
"Come on there's no time to lose!" Akio shouted as he grabbed Sunohara and dragged him along the chase.
Back at the bakery, mostly everyone had arrived and were upstairs. At this point there's still no sign of Akio and Sanae.
Tomoya's father stepped through the shop. "Hello there Tomoya. Why are you still down here?" He asked his son. "Shouldn't you be upstairs with Ushio?"
"I'm just waiting for Akio and Sanae to come back." He answered. "Come to think of it, Sunohara hasn't arrived yet either... Still late as usual."
"Anyways Ushio's upstairs. She's pretty eager to see you." Tomoya said.
Naoyuki nodded and headed towards the stairs when Sanae casually walks in with a smile on her face.
"Why hello there Mr. Okazaki. It's good to see you again." Sanae greeted
"I'm happy to be here." Naoyuki replied.
"Where's the old man?" Tomoya asked. At the moment, both Akio and Sunohara walked through the front door. Hunched over in exhaustion.
"There you guys are. Everyone else is already here and..." Tomoya turned his attention to Sunohara. "Are you... Are you wearing glasses?"
Sunohara was slowly catching his breath," Yeah.. I've had them for.. a while *pant* bad eyesight."
"Did you run all the way over here" Tomoya asked.
"NO... Sanae ran past me.. with Akio following behind. He freaking grabbed me along the run and told me to help him apologize to Sanae..." He said as he panted.
Akio who managed to catch his breath. "Yup.. made him eat some of Sanae's bread with me to show her how much we *loved them" He said while smirking.
"Why do I have to get involved in your mess?!" Sunohara asked.
"Everybody makes sacrifice kid. Now come on." Akio said as he closed the door and locked it. "We got ourselves a party to attend!"
He grabbed Sunohara and dragged him upstairs with Tomoya, Naoyuki and, Sanae following behind.
With everyone present, the party began.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY USHIO!" Everyone screamed at the top of their lungs as Akio brought in the cake.
"WOW it's so big!" Ushio said as her eyes sparkled at the sight of her dango cake.
Everyone started to sing happy birthday to Ushio as she closed her eyes preparing to blow out the candles and make a wish. She suddenly opened them, not knowing what to wish for.
"Well, aren't you going to blow them out?" Kyou asked
Ushio looked at her teacher, "I don't know what to wish for sensei."
"There has to be something you want." Sunohara told Ushio.
The little girl stared at her uncle Youhei. Giving him a puzzled look. She then knew what she wanted to wish for. Ushio turned towards her cake and blew out the candle.
"YAY!" Everyone shouted as the sound of clapping filled the room.
"So what did you wish for?" Nagisa asked her daughter.
Ushio shook her head. "I'm not telling. It won't come true."
"Fair enough. Wouldn't want to spoil her wish." Akio said.
"If anything I hope she wished for Sanae to be able to make non-lethal bread..." He muttered under his breath. "The same tingle shot down his neck.
"... My bread.."
"DID SHE REALLY HEAR THAAT?!" Akio thought to himself.
"My bread is something for people to use lethal force with?!" Sanae said as she made a break for the stairs crying.
"NO! I LOVE YOUR BREAD!" Akio screamed as he quickly followed her.
Everyone in the room bursted out with laughter. "Ahh.. I miss these moments." Kyou said.
"Alright. Time to break open the presents." Tomoya said as he handed Ushio a gift box.
The party continued with Ushio opening all of her presents, thrilled with each one of her gifts. But her favorite was the dango backpack Sunohara had picked out for her. Everyone had their fair slice of Akio's enormous cake. Eventually Akio and Sanae had return to enjoy the party.
Everyone started mingling around, catching up on the good old days.
Kotomi and Ryou were talking about Kotomi's research on the second world and Ryou's nursing career. Mei was fangirling over Yoshino with Kouko by his side. Fuko was playing with Ushio along with Nagisa and, Yukine. Akio, Sanae, and Naoyuki were having a friendly conversation with each other. Sunohara and Tomoya were standing on the other side of the room enjoying their cake, and Kyou, Misae, and Tomoyo were huddled on the couch.
"So how have you been lately Tomoyo?" Misae asked. "You must've had some fun experience working as a doctor."
"It's nothing too exciting." Tomoyo responded. "Just a lot of organizing and prescribing."
Misae raised an eyebrow. "Any male doctors catch your eye?"
Tomoyo blushed at the question. "No, no one there really interests me." Tomoyo responded reluctantly "Besides most of them are too busy to take notice in me anyways and vice versa"
"Are you serious?" Kyou asked. "A good looking girl like you? Come on, someone must've caught your attention at one point."
"Nope." Tomoyo said only that. Hoping the subject would change since it was pretty embarrassing for her.
"Okay.. Well it doesn't have to be someone who you work with. It can be anyone from anywhere." Misae asked.
Tomoyo's embarrassment began to show as her face started to slightly turn pink. "Uhh.." Unable to come up with something to say, it was clear to Kyou and Misae that she indeed had feelings for somebody. "Maybe there is someone..."
"Ahah!" Kyou blurted. "See? The truth will always come out."
"So who is it?" Misae asked curiously. "Is it somebody we know?"
Tomoyo was too shy to answer. Their conversation was pretty loud and she was worried that someone in particular might overhear it. She slowly glanced over to Sunohara who was still talking to Tomoya, unaware of their little girl talk. She was able to breathe a little easier seeing that their conversation hasn't started any eavesdropping.
Unbeknown to her, Misae saw her look away when she asked the question, and tailed her line of sight to Sunohara. She turned her eyes back to Tomoyo, and with a smile asked, "It's Sunohara isn't it?"
At that instant Tomoyo's eyes widen. Her slightly pink face has turned into blazing red color.
She looked at Misae, unable to give a complete response. "Wha- no!.. I mean, it's not what you think." She turned to Kyou who had a devious smile on her face.
"So what is it that we should be thinking about?" Kyou teased.
Tomoyo whispered, hoping that no one overheard what's already been said. "Sunohara and I are.. Look I see him as a great guy and a valued friend... And I don't want anything silly to ruin it."
"What could be silly about it?" Misae asked. "You know sometimes it's the people who bug you that might grow on you the most.. I know."
"I've known Sunohara for a long time and believe me when I say, he's the kind of guy who makes you feel happy just by being around him." Misae said. "Makes life more fun."
Tomoyo looked back at Sunohara. Misae has always given her successful advise before. Could she be right about this one?
Kyou nudged Tomoyo, "So.. you going to talk to him?"
Tomoyo's heart began to beat. The butterflies in her has returned, and she was almost shaking at the thought of going to Sunohara. She was nervous, like a little child who was having a simple chat with her crush. She was always tough and determined when it came down to other things, but this one wasn't her forte.
She could feel both Misae and Kyou eyeing her which made her more nervous. She tried to think of an excuse.. "I think I'm going to get some more cake before anything else." She said as she got off the couch.
"Well in that case could you bring me another slice too?" Kyou asked as she gave Tomoyo her empty plate.
"Sure." Tomoyo took the plate.
As she made her way towards the cake, Tomoya and Sunohara were still chatting with each other.
"Valentine's day is around the corner." Sunohara said. "Planning anything special for Nagisa?"
Tomoya looked over to Sunohara.
"What?" Sunohara asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing.. Still getting used to seeing you with glasses." Tomoya responded.
"Anyways why are we always talking about my love life? ... What's going on between you and Tomoyo?" Tomoya asked.
".. What?"
Tomoya raised an eyebrow as he smirked. "Come on, I know you've had feelings for her since high school."
Sunohara stared at Tomoya unable to respond. Was it really that obvious that he liked her?
" Any luck since you've moved back here?" Tomoya asked.
Sunohara quickly removed his stare from Tomoya and gazed back at the party in front of them. "Nah, and besides I've moved on. Just see her as another respectable friend that's all." Sunohara said.
There was a few seconds of awkward silence. Sunohara could feel Tomoya staring at him, seeing through his lies.
"Uh huh.." Tomoya sarcastically responded.
Sunohara turned towards Tomoya, trying to convince him that nothing is going on between him and Tomoyo.
"Be realistic here ok? Tomoyo and I are complete opposites, there's no way we would ever make a good couple." Sunohara said.
"How so?" Tomoya asked.
"I was a high school delinquent, dead last in my classes, and was prone to getting in trouble." Sunohara said.
"Hmm.. You sound as if you were describing me as well." Tomoya said to Sunohara, but his eyes weren't directed towards him. "Continue." He said.
Sunohara went on. "As for Tomoyo... President of the student council, valedictorian for her senior class, strong, smart, beautiful, caring, valued friend for any lucky person, and..."
He stopped when he noticed Tomoya's smirk as his eyes slowly came back to his. He could sense another presence.
"... Standing right behind me isn't she?" Sunohara asked.
Tomoya didn't answer.
Sunohara stood there frozen, wondering how much of their conversation Tomoyo overheard. He began to blush as he slowly turned around to see Tomoyo.
Like Sunohara, Tomoyo had no idea how to respond. She was touched by his words and began to blush as she began to feel warm and fuzzy inside. She stared into Sunohara's eyes, frantically trying to come up with some kind of response.
"Come on Tomoyo.. Say something!" She thought to herself nervously.
She placed her hand on his shoulders.. "Aww, so you do think of me." Tomoyo said with a smile.
"I'm just here to grab some more cake for myself and Kyou." She said as she walked past Sunohara and Tomoya towards the cake. "Nice glasses by the way."
"Nice glasses by the way? That's the best you can come up with? You stupid girl." Tomoyo thought to herself as she walked back to the couch with her slice of cake.
Sunohara turned back to Tomoya. ".. Cheeky bastard."
Tomoya turned his attention to his cake. "Can you blame me?" He said as he took a bite.
The party started at 7:00. People were having a nice time mingling with each other, but before they realized it, it was already 10:00.
Ushio had fallen asleep on Fuko's lap. "Looks like all this fun really drained her out." Nagisa said.
She picked up her daughter, "I'm going to put her in my old room." Nagisa said as she walked into the hallway.
Seeing how late it was, Yukine decided to head back home along with Fuko, Yoshino, and Kouko. Misae and Naoyuki decided it was time for them to head back home as well. Everyone said their good-byes and thanks for being invited.
Before Misae left, she nudged Tomoyo and gave her a smile, as if wishing her luck in whatever it was she was thinking about.
Tomoyo knew exactly what her message was.
"Well... Now that the Ushio's asleep, we can have some grown up fun now." Akio said as he ran into the hallway and returned with several bottles of sake and glasses.
He placed all the glasses on the table and started filling them up with Sake. Everyone grabbed a glass and raised them up to a toast.
"KANPAI!" Everyone cheered.
Sunohara wasn't a big fan of drinking. He always found it distasteful. But he still held on to his glass in the spirit of the party.
A little bit of time went by and everyone was still enjoying what's left of the party. Sunohara was still hanging by Tomoya's side.
"You know.. I wish we had more times like this." Sunohara said.
"Yeah. It's been a while since we've been together like this." Tomoya responded. "Really brings back memories huh?"
With his back on the wall, Sunohara started to reminisced all the fun times he had with his friends, when he suddenly heard a commotion going on at the other side of the room.
"Tomoyo, are you sure you're ok?" Ryou asked.
"Yea.. hehe, I'm good." Tomoyo responded.
"You really should take it easy Tomoyo, drink some water while you're at it." Kotomi suggested.
"NO! Water is for the weak... You should really have some more sake. Enjoy yourself buddy." Tomoyo said.
It was clearly obvious to everyone in the room.. Tomoyo was drunk.