An Unheard Voice - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" My mother burst through the door, and I sat up immediately, breathing rapidly. I look at the clock.. it's the middle of the night?! "My baby's growing up so fast!!" She runs up to me and hugs me, but my heart is still racing. What the hell?! I mean--
"Oh! Sorry, I couldn't wait until you woke up.." She giggles, and I smile. I hug her back, but she lets go and tucks me back in bed. "Go back to sleep, I'll be sure to make you breakfast! Oh, and An said happy birthday, too!" She shows me her text with a dancing cat wearing a party hat. I look at my phone, scared. Should I be glad I put it on silent tonight..?
I haven't been this scared since.. Tsukasa surprised me on his own birthday. And Saki's.
He surprised us instead. I had various heart attacks.
When I wake up, I check it, seeing millions of notifications. They're mostly from Tsukasa, Saki, An and.. my mother. Oh my god.. I'll just.. leave it on my desk.
I walk out of the room, and see my mother sleeping on the kitchen counter. Running up to her, I shake her to see if she's awake. Is she okay?!
"Huh..? Oh, good morning, Toya! Happy birthday again!" She smiles, and I see An sleeping on the floor.
When she woke up, she threw me on the floor, hugging me tightly.
"Morning, sleepy head! Oh shoot, I forgot the decor- I mean toilet paper. I forgot the toilet paper at my house." She said with a blank face, running out of the house. Toilet.. paper..? Then there was a knock at the door, and I opened it, seeing Kamishiro, Tsukasa, Azusawa and Honami. Tsukasa!!
He hugged me tightly, and began singing before Kamishiro put his palm over his mouth. Kamishiro has glasses now? Oh, I see Honami and Azusawa are matching. Kind of.
"Happy birthday, Aoyagi! I brought my camera if that's okay!" Azusawa giggled nervously, and I looked at her, unsure. "I-I won't use it for taking pictures of you, I swear!"
"Happy birthday, Toya." Kamishiro pat my head, smiling. I nodded, returning the smile.
"Happy birthday! For your birthday, we're going to make you a home made--" Honami got interrupted by Tsukasa dropping everything on the counter.
"It's a surprise!" My mother whispered, and Honami's face flushed. She began panicking, saying she was just lying and I should go to my room for now.
I listened, confused, but went to my room and closed the door. Maybe I should use this time to brush the cats.
They couldn't put up a fight for some reason, but smudge is always cranky after it. I apologized, and let him sleep on my bed. I had to go get them one of their toys outside, which they didn't notice me. Before I could get it, I thought I could smell smoke, and so I got behind them to check on it. It's almost going to burn.. I can do them a favor and get it out.
I took a glove, opening the oven quietly and took it out. Immediately, smoke and fire was coming out of the oven, my eyes widened as I saw the apple pie begin moving, freezing. What the..
Azusawa and Honami shrieked, turning around, as Tsukasa tried to come and get me. Kamishiro continued recording for Tsukasa, softly chuckling. My mother screamed, grabbing the fire extinguisher, and Tsukasa made me drop the moving pie and pulled me away.
"Are you okay?!" Tsukasa panicked, checking if I was alright. I nodded, confused. Why was it moving?! Azusawa looked at it in horror, and turning to me.
"Uh.. Aoyagi.."
They kicked me out. I sigh, sitting on the steps while staring at the ground. Then I see someone approaching, my head immediately shoots up, and I see Akito. He gives me a friendly smile, tilting his head slightly as he looks down at me.
.. He got a haircut? It seems he got more streaks that are green along with his yellow one. he looks.. um. I.. he looks good. Good... Uh.
"Is this spot taken?" He jokes, and I blush, shaking my head. I scoot over, and he sits right next to me.
"Hey, Toya." He turns his head to face me, looking me straight in the eyes. When did he get so handsome?! His haircut and new earrings are too much!! I turn away, my face flushing, closing my eyes. He then lifts his hand, taking my chin gently and having me face him. "What's wrong?" He smiles, but he's obviously teasing me.
I pout, and he chuckles, then lets go of my chin, squishing my cheek slightly.
"You're so adorable, it's hard not to tease you." He ruffles my hair, and I can feel my face heat up. Well, no matter how hard I try to fix it now, it just ends up being messy. I gave up trying to fix it after Akito messes with it constantly.
"I-I.. like y.. your hair..." I finally whisper, blushing like crazy as I put my head down. He laughs, and smiles after.
"Thanks. It's been a while, hasn't it?" He asks, and I nod, staring at the gate. I'm really happy whenever we get to hang out like this, he's usually with Ena most of the time (even though she drags him everywhere) or my mother is taking me out to do activities. I'm never even going near a zip-lining location again.
"I was actually going to tell you that I was going to dye my hair again." He chuckles. Oh, so that's what he was going to say.
"Well, wanna go somewhere? My treat, it's your birthday, after all." He grins, and I nod. This is like his birthday, we may have gone overboard with the party (that An planned everything), but he ended up smiling for the picture I took before I left. An sent me the picture, I set it as my wallpaper.
He gets up, offering me his hand. I blush, take it, and he takes me outside of the gate, leading me somewhere.
We spent the next couple of hours together like at the mall, doing activities together, and during our trip to the music shop, we bumped into someone-- I.. bumped into someone..
I panic, nervous if they're mad or hurt, but I look down, recognizing the hair. After she rubs her head, she looks up, her jaw slightly dropping.
"Toya!" Yoisaki says, and I get happy to see her again, nodding. Akito watches from the distance, confused. "It's so nice to see you again..! How have you been? Wait- nevermind, there's someone I want to introduce you to..!" I've never seen her this excited, but I can't help but smile seeing her enthusiasm. She rushes off, and quickly comes back, holding.. Kamishiro's sister's hand. I tilt my head, confused.
We just stand in front of each other, but I get nervous from her blank face, that immediately turns into a smile.
"You must be Toya! Kanade's told me a lot about you, I'm Mafuyu Asahina! It's nice to meet you." She smiles, looking at Yoisaki, like she's worried about something. Yoisaki shakes her head, but when I turn to her, she immediately forces a smile.
Yoisaki isn't very good at acting.
"A-Anyway, happy birthday, Toya." She grins, and Asahina nods. I take out my notebook, writing a question and showing it to Asahina.
"Are you Kamishiro's sister?"
She gets taken aback, blinking, and then giggling.
"No, but Kamishiro likes to think of me as his sister along with Nene! He always tries convincing me to dye Nene's hair when we're all together." She continues giggling, and I see Yoisaki trying not to laugh as well. Tsukasa did say Kusanagi and Kamishiro were as close as siblings since they were childhood friends, after all.
Akito then came from behind me, putting his chin on my shoulder. I blushed, but nodded, smiling still. Yoisaki looked at him, and back at me, clearly puzzled. Oh, that's right.. I told her we weren't dating...
"We'll get going now, uh.. we'll see you two later-- I-I mean uh.. b-bye!" Yoisaki took Asahina's arm, pulling her out of the store. Are they in a rush?
"Let's get going, too. There's somewhere we need to be." Akito scoffed, taking my hand gently. I nodded, confused but following him.
After some time, he got behind me and I stopped walking, making sure he was okay.
"It's a surprise." He says, and puts his hands over my eyes. Unable to see anything, I turn my head to him with a blank face, and he laughs. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."
That managed to calm me down a bit, but I nodded, completely putting my trust in him. He wouldn't do anything to scare me..
I hope. Actually, I'm glad it wasn't An taking me.
It was quiet for a few more moments until I spoke up, growing even more nervous.
"A-Are we.. c.. close..?" I muttered, really anxious now. I could hear him choke on something, and got alarmed.
"Y-Yeah, we're here now." Akito cleared his throat, and I blushed, nodding. He took his hands off of my face, and my mother fell through the door, huffing.
"AH!!" She shouted, and I flinched, looking at her with wide eyes. "What are- ah, wait he's not supposed to be here yet-!!" She said although she was dragging me in, and I saw everyone just staring at me for a moment, as An.. popped a streamer in my face as Azusawa tripped and threw a party hat at my face.
"You said he wasn't coming yet!" Momoi hissed while hiding the cake that she was putting candles on, as Kamishiro spammed his drone button.
"I-I think I crashed it into a tree a few times.. a-and it's.. still there.." Panicking, he nervously giggles, as Tsukasa and Momoi look at him with pure shock. I spit out some confetti, coughing. It's extremely silent.
"S-Surprise!!" Tsukasa, Saki, Yoisaki and Akiyama said, as everyone was still frozen. wait, Tsukasa?! My eyes lit up, they just stared at me for a while. An began plucking the confetti off of me, pale and awkwardly laughing. Akito was threatening her, wasn't he..?
"U-Uh.." Kiritani smiled politely, not knowing what was going on. Mafuyu blew her party horn, but Ena immediately stopped her.
".. T-Toya?" Yoisaki said, getting nervous. Tears immediately started going down my cheeks, but still had a blank face. Everyone got alarmed, running up to me. Tsukasa was freaking out as Momoi and Kusanagi tried to get him to stop apologizing.
"Oh no! Did we mess this up that badly?!" Ena cried, hugging me tightly. My mother looked shocked, and sulked in the corner before Saki could drag her out. I shook my head, pushing them away, smiling.
"I-I'm actually.. r.. really happy...Th-Thank- y.. you, e-everyone.." I said, no louder than a whisper since my voice was quivering as I wiped my tears, everyone began getting relieved. Akiyama shouted uncontrollably, shaking Ena, who smacked their head.
"I was so scared for a second!" Momoi huffed, hugging me tightly. I smile, hugging her back for a moment, and then letting go. "I hope you like my gift! I made sure to wrap it very, very nice! And I did the decorating!" She smiled radiantly, and I glanced over at the stack of gifts. Not stack-- pile. .. how will I ever finish unwrapping those..?
"Happy birthday, Aoyagi!" Honami walked up to me, offering me a slice of apple pie. I shook my head, but I was thankful she showed up. Actually, I'm glad everyone did. I may not know a few people fully, but I consider them all as friends. "I'm sorry Shiho couldn't make it, she has a fever and Ichika is taking care of her. They both got you a card, though!" She handed it to me, and I opened it, seeing a birthday message along with their signatures.
"P.S. thank you for taking care of Saki. - Shiho" "P.P.S. I'll make it up to you, don't worry! She'll recover soon. - Ichika" although I have no idea who they are, I took a magnet and placed it on the fridge to remind myself to keep it in my room. Saki really does have caring girlfriends. I look over at everyone again, unable to stop smiling.
An is with Kiritani and Asahina, which surprisingly Hanasato wasn't near, instead she was with Yoisaki and Azusawa. Kamishiro, Tsukasa and Saki were talking, although I could feel Saki becoming competing with Kamishiro on who can hold Tsukasa's hand.
Akiyama and Ena were with Momoi and Honami, giving Honami a makeover against her own will before Azusawa could save her. Kusanagi was on her switch while Otori watched, all starry-eyed.
But where was Akito?
"Psst." My mother elbowed me, pointing to the door. I walked over to it, able to sneak past An. She literally rambled for 20 minutes after the surprise. 20 minutes straight!!
I opened the door, seeing him sitting on the steps with Smudge next to him and spot cuddling him. He noticed me and turned his head, smiling.
I sat next to him, and smudge climbed into my lap.
"Smudge is actually a really funny name." Akito chuckled, and my face turned red. I looked down, embarrassed. "I'm not saying it's bad." He grinned before hearing spot purr as he pet him.
"This one has been really clingy this whole time I was here. Smudge did not like that," he sighed, and I picked smudge up for him to sit in front of me, pointing my finger. We don't do that to guests!
Except for An.
"Haha, it's okay. He's not so bad since it's like a mini me." He ruffles smudge's fur, who walks to him, but just to steal spot away from him.
"I'm guessing your mother named Spot, huh?" He turns to me. I giggle, nodding. I thought I saw a faint blush on his cheeks before he turned away, but I chose to ignore it since.. nevermind. He looks at me, and my face becomes bright red as his hand approaches my cheek, but he takes something off.
"Eyelash." He grins, and I let out the breath I didn't even know I was holding. Nodding, I look away, blushing as he tucks my hair behind my ear while staring at me. He.. he's not removing his hand..
"What's up my homo--!!" she pauses, looking at us with a blank smile. "I'll come back later." She begins closing the door but I stand up, flustered while waving my hands around. I stop the door from closing and chasing her as she laughs. It's not what it looks like!!
We were now in my room since everyone was able to understand I'm not comfortable with being in a huge crowd still, and they pushed Akito in before I could invite them. It was silent until Akito broke it by clearing his throat.
"I'll try to go out with you more often. Ena's been really moody with her allergies, saying stuff like 'you're not the one dying, if you leave I could be on the floor like a dead cockroach!'. It must suck being allergic to pollen, huh?" He laughs while imitating her, and I nod. I don't think I have any, but my mother does, and she's in a terrible state so I help her in the mornings with stuff for the house and spring cleaning.
My father on the other hand also tries to help her, but she refuses and says she's fine. I guess she doesn't want him to worry for her. He's been.. more accepting of Akito being my friend, but I.. I think he wouldn't be so much when.. or, if he finds out I.. like Akito..
He also hates smudge, smudge hates him, so they stare at each other intensely as if arguing with their eyes. Spot always tries to cuddle him, but he gets extremely allergic and spot has to be pulled away.
He sulks for about 40 minutes at best.
Speaking of which, where are they sleeping? I look around, and see them on the bed, cuddling. Aww.. oh, they're making a heart with their tails... That's so adorable. I take out my phone, and snap a picture while smiling. Akito puts his head on my shoulder, shutting his eyes.
"I have a gift for you, but you should open them all after they all get out, so I'll give it to you before I leave." He says, and I nod, moving the hair out of his face.
"Toya!!" Tsukasa burst through the door, smiling next to Saki and Kamishiro. Akito got startled and my eyes lit up, but he woke the cats up.
Saki and Kamishiro shared a glance, trying not to laugh while Tsukasa's jaw dropped seeing us. What happened?
"It's time for the cake!!" Saki cheered, picking me up, and rushing outside. What the-?! What are they feeding her?! I wrap my arms around her, terrified. She places me down in front of the cake, putting a party hat on my head. Everyone goes around the counter, as my mother lifts her baton.
They began singing 'Happy Birthday', as Tsukasa played the piano which I'm convinced they made him so I could hear them too, Ena and Akiyama were sobbing in the corner, as if at a funeral. I don't.. have a good feeling about this, but they planned this all for me, so I'll trust them this time. I look at Akito next to me, who begins to smile. Is he singing..? He usually never sings.. I had to beg him to sing at Saki's and Tsukasa's birthday.. (He stopped me before I could even ask and gave in immediately.)
Blushing, I look back at the cake, as An tries to sing it again in spanish, but stops at the second word.
"I'm rusty."
Akito rolls his eyes while Azusawa comforts her, but they widen when he realizes. I finally blow the candles and see An snatch them off, getting behind me.
"Wait, An, don't-!" He tries to yank her shirt, but she grabs the back of my head, slamming my face into the cake. Oh my god- I felt my soul leave my body-!!
"I'm so sorry I forgot she does that.." Akito helped me wipe it off of my face in the bathroom as I sat on the edge of the tub while they pulled out another cake since my.. my mother plotted that with her. Momoi was scolding both of them outside, freaking out. Her decorations got ruined and in my hair..
"Calm down, you'll survive." Akito chuckles and ruffles her hair on his way to get more paper towels, and her face flushes. She immediately runs after him, shouting and punching his back. I just stare at them walking away, and look back at the floor. I wipe frosting from my face, sighing.
I shouldn't be thinking about.. that right now. But am I taking too long to tell him how I really feel? Oh no, is he dating Momoi now?! They were so close when I was talking to the others, that's not good!! What if they're going on dates now, and I see them holding hands when I'm out?! Am I going to "thirdwheel"!? What if--
"Toya!" Akito puts his hands on my shoulders and snapped out of it, turning to him. "Are you okay? You were hyperventilating..." He asks, extremely worried.
I nod, clearing my throat. What was that? Why did I feel so.. panicked but jealous at the same time?
"Thank god.. don't freak me out like that.. If something's wrong, again, please tell me. I'll help you with it.. I didn't know that An's stupid stunt would panic you this much. I'll make sure she apologizes later," He rolls his eyes, and puts his hand on my cheek. My face flushes as I nod rapidly. For a few more moments, he still has his hand on my cheek yet again. stroking it with his thumb. I blush intensely, feeling my face heat up.
His hand then slides down to my chin, and his thumb glides across my bottom lip. I look at him, confused and flustered. What.. is he..
Oh my god.
"I.. I.." He tries to say something, but takes a deep breath, dropping it. "Fuck it."
When I finally realize what he's doing, my face flushes even further, and I gasp slightly, making him chuckle. I can literally see his face getting closer to mine!
Is he okay right now?! What's gotten into him? I shut my eyes, my lips quivering as I can feel his getting closer and closer to mine. Before they can even touch, inches away, An kicks the door open and it flies open, making me flinch.
"AGAIN?!" She shrieks, our faces flushing as we turn to her.
As everyone was ready to leave, I stood there, waving like a robot.. I still can't believe that.. happened..! Akito approaches me, and I jolt, getting alarmed again.
"I-I'm sorry for what happened, I- Uh, I-I hope you can.. forgive me and forget that ever happened," he looks at the ground, his ears turning red. I nodded almost immediately, still blushing a lot. "I don't.. know what got into me. I haven't really been myself lately." He chuckles, sighing. I take his hand since he usually does this to comfort me, still blushing.
"I-I.. didn't.. m.. mind.. I.. it's okay," I mumbled as I stared at the ground, but still saw his face was bright red, gulping. He eventually smiled. He takes his hand when we hear footsteps and he turns around, as Ena hands him something through the door.
He turned to me, scratching the back of his neck as he handed me a small square vase with short roses.
"I- I thought you'd like this, since.. um, y-your mother mentioned you liked.. the flowers I gave you that time..?" He muttered, and I blushed, taking the small arrangement carefully. I could hear my mother squealing and seeing Ena roll her eyes in the back, smiling. "H-Happy birthday, Toya. I hope you had a good day today." He smiled before waving and walking away with Ena, and I waved back slowly, still a bit stunned. I.. believe me, it was one of the best days of my life besides when Akito and I.. met, obviously.
After I shut the door, my mother shrieked, bashing her head into the wall. I stared at her, and back at the flowers, blushing intensely.
But.. did Akito.. really try to kiss me..?