A song for a hawk part 3

   “Karin-chan is this you birthday present to Taka-san?” Mamori asked.
   “Y-yes.” Karin said. “I know it’s not very much, but I don’t have enough money for a real present. I used my last money on a cake book.”
   “I think it’s a wonderful present.” Mamori said.
   “Re-really?”
   “Yeah and it’s such a beautiful song.” Suzuna said and hugged Karin from behind.
   “Thank you very much.” Karin smiled.
   “Yaa. Play it again Karin-nee-chan.” Suzuna cheered and the now a little more confident Karin played again.
   “Again!” Suzuna said after Karin had played for the second time.
   “Uh Suzuna-chan. If we are going to have time to bake tomorrow, I think we should go to bed soon.” Mamori said.
   “Oh right.” Suzuna said. “Well then. Good night Karin-nee-chan.”
   “Good night.”

   The following day they started with the baking. Mamori had brought a lot of cooking books and Karin’s book was left in the self. Since either Suzuna or Karin ever baked, Mamori was in control and told them what to do and how to do it.
   “Hey Karin-chan, you are good at drawing right?” Mamori asked.
   “Uuh… well I’ve drawn since I was a little kid.” Karin said.
   “Then can you write something on the cake?”
   “Eh… like what?”
   “Just something like: Happy birthday Taka.” Suzuna said.
   “A-alright.” Karin said. “With what should I write?”
   “With frosting of course. Here, I’ll teach you how to do it.” Mamori said and taught Karin how to do it.
   “And when you’re done you put it in a plastic bag and cut a little hole in it so it can get out.” Suzuna said when Karin was done.
   “Like this?” Karin clipped a little hole in the bottom of the bag.
   “Yup. Now you just squeeze it out while you write on the cake.” Mamori said and gave thumbs up.
   “Mamori-san is so good at this.” Suzuna commented while she again tried to steal some of the whipped cream. “You’ll make a great wife someday.”
   “Yeah. I bet Hiruma-san is very happy about it.” Karin said.
   “What do you mean by that?” Mamori asked, but was quite sure she knew the answer. Gah! Why does everyone think that we’re together?
   “Eh? We-well I thought that the two of you…” Karin stammered. “Oh I’m sorry; I just assumed that you were his girl…”
   “Manager! I’m just the manager!” Mamori said.
   “Y-yes of course.”
   When they were done with the cakes, Mamori went to shower and Suzuna followed Karin to her bedroom.
   “We have to find something pretty for you to wear tonight. Do you mind if I take a look in you closet?” Suzuna asked while she was already going through some of Karin’s clothes.
   “Eh… go ahead.” Karin mumbled.
   “Wow! This one is so pretty!” Suzna exclaimed and held out a long black dress. “But maybe a bit too…uh…gloomy.”
    You don’t say, Karin thought. I wore it at my grand aunt’s funeral. Suzuna kept on pulling out different clothes and put them in two little piles: One with clothes that weren’t good enough and the other one with the candidates. Then she made Karin try them on.
   “How come you have so many clothes Karin-nee-chan?” Suzuna asked.
   “My mother likes to buy new clothes for me when I am playing piano in competitions and such.” Karin said.
   “Yaa how lucky!” Suzuna exclaimed.
   “Suzuna-chan, you can go shower now.” Mamori appeared in the door.  
   “Ah, but I have to pick out an outfit for Karin-nee-chan.”
   “Alright then, but hurry up a little, we don’t want to be late.” Mamori said and went in the kitchen.  
   After a while Suzuna finally found something for Karin to wear and went to take a shower. Karin looked at herself in the mirror and then went to the piano room and sat down at the piano and played the first notes of a song for the hawk and sighed.
   “Karin-chan?” Mamori sat down next to her and just looked at the piano for a moment. “You like him, don’t you?”
   “Eeh? No I… I mean…” Karin faltered, but then she sighed again. “Yes. I think so. I’m not sure, but I think I like him.”
   “Do you know if he likes you?” Mamori asked.
   “Eh…No, he can’t… I…”
   “Karin-chan, you don’t have to be so modest and shy.” Mamori said and smiled. “I think that if you like him you should tell him so.”
   “Eeeeh? But I don’t have the confidence to do it.”
   “Don’t worry Karin-chan. If you like him you have to tell him. And I’m sure he likes you too.”
   “Wh-what makes you say that?”
   “Oh come on Karin-nee-chan.” Suzuna appeared in the door. “You are a really talented quarterback, you are really good at playing piano, you are a beautiful girl and you have a sweet personality. What is there not to like?”
   Karin blushed and didn’t answer. There was an awkward silence, but it was luckily broken by Mamori.
   “Well, we better get going. I assume that we have to set things up as well.” She said and stood up. Being happy about the change of subject Karin went to pack the cakes carefully in boxes so they wouldn’t be ruined. Then they took the subway to Teikoku Gakuen and went to the gym hall to prepare things. Some of the team members had brought a huge banner where it stood with giant letters: Happy Birthday Taka-chan.
   “Hey Karin. Do we hide when Taka comes or?” Achilles asked.
   “Uh no. There is no real place to hide here, so I thought we just turn of the light and then when they come in we turn it on.” Karin said.
   “They?”
   “Yeah. Yamato went to get Taka-kun.” Karin said and just at that moment she got a message.
   
Hey Karin. We will be there in about five minutes.

   “Uh… Everyone listen up please.” Karin said, but it was far from loud enough. However Hiruma came to her aid, or so to say.
   “Listen up fuckers!” He shouted and everyone looked at him. “The fucking wild hair is bringing the fucking long hair within five minutes.”
   “Um… Thank you Hiruma-san.” Karin stammered. Everyone took their party poppers and other types of confetti and stood around the cake table and Musashi turned of the light. There was a lot of whispering and giggling in the dark.
   “Sush! I think I can hear them.” Someone said and everyone went quiet, except for Suzuna who let out a little muffled laughter.
   “Yamato, I really don’t see the point in training so late.” The distant voice of Taka said.
   “You’ll see. It is a surprise training program.” Yamato said and his voice was somewhat several times clearer. Then again, his voice was somewhat unusually intense. You could always hear him.
   “A surprise training program?”
   “Yes. Now let’s hurry.” Yamato said and opened the double doors to the gym hall. “Get the light will you?”
   At the second Taka turned on the light, everyone else yelled:
   “Surprise!”
   At first Taka was of course surprised, then he looked like he wanted to run away and then he chuckled and smiled.
   “Happy birthday Taka!” Yamato said and patted him on the back. Well, it was more like a punch and pushed him towards the cake table. “Look, the girls made cakes.”
   There were a lot of happy birthday wishes and pats on the shoulder for Taka for a while and Yamato managed just in time to save a piece of the chocolate cake, before Kurita ate it all.
   “Ah well… here Taka.” Yamato said and gave him the plate with the cake. “It’s not much, but it was all I could manage to save.”
   “Thanks.” Taka said and took it. “Uh… where is Karin?”
   “She went to get some air.” Yamato said. After some more happy birthday wishing and small talk, Taka snuck outside and found Karin sitting on a bench close to the hall. He took a deep breath and walked over to her.
   “Do you mind if I sit down?” He asked. Karin hadn’t heard him at all and was startled.
   “Ah. Taka-kun. Uh… yes… I mean no, I don’t mind.” She said and made room for him. There was an awkward silence for a while.
   “Did… you make the cake?” Taka asked.
   “I helped…”
   “It’s a good cake.”
   “Thank you.” Another awkward silence.
   “Have you tried it?” Taka asked.
   “Uh… no… Kurita-san ate quite a lot, so I didn’t have time to.” Karin said and laughed a little.
   “Would you like some?” Taka asked and held up a piece on his fork. Karin blushed, but nodded and Taka lead the fork to her mouth.
   “It’s good.” Karin mumbled. Taka nodded and then stared at the sky. Karin thought about Mamori’s and Suzuna’s encouragement and tried to tell herself that it would be OK, but without much success. But nothing will happen if I just sit around and hope that he will confess to me, Karin scolded herself. She took a deep breath and made up her mind.
   “Taka-kun.” She said and he turned his head and looked at her. “I…uh… I have never done anything like this before, so I’m just going to say it.” Another deep, deep breath. “I… I…I like you Taka-kun.”
   Taka looked more surprised than he did when everyone had yelled surprise.
   “But aren’t you together with Yamato?”
   “What? Uh… No I’m not.” Karin looked confused. “What makes you think that?”
   “Lately the two of you have been hanging around quite much…” Taka said somewhat embarrassed.
   “That was because we were planning you birthday party.”
   “Oh…” Taka looked relived. There was yet another, very, awkward silence. “Karin…” He said and moved over towards her and took her hand. “I like you too.” He leaned towards her and she closed her eyes.
   “Karin-nee-chan, where are you?” Suzuna called. “You have to give your present to Taka.”
   Both Taka and Karin moved away from each other in a split second. Karin stood, bright red in the face, and walked towards the door. Half way there she turned around again, walked back to Taka and took his hand and led him with her. Though, just before they reached the door both of them let go.
   “There you are!” Suzuna took Karin’s hand and dragged her to the piano. “Everyone! Karin-nee-chan is going to play piano for us.”
   “Uh…we-well… it’s uh… a song I wrote myself.” She said and bowed. “Please enjoy.” She sat down at the piano and began to play. She never looked up from the piano even though she knew it by heart, but she could feel Taka’s warm gaze dwell on her while she played a song for a hawk.