A round cake with candles.

         Thinking back, I remembered seeing something like this before.

         A birthday from long ago. My father wasn’t there because he was still at work, but my mother took pictures of me smiling, with candles for each year I’d lived.

         And now, the photos that held those memories were tucked away in an album.

         Now we were in Sendai-san’s room, with my mother nowhere in sight.

         I wondered what kind of face I was making.

         I looked over at Sendai-san as she set five candles into a white strawberry-topped cake.

         She hadn’t reminded me to look cheerful—neither in the kitchen nor when she brought the cake in—so I figured I didn’t look too unhappy.

         「Maybe I should’ve bought those numbered candles after all.」

         Sendai-san said from the other side of the cake, sounding serious but clearly in a good mood.

         「This is fine.」

         「Really? Wouldn’t it look nicer with a “19” candle in the middle?」

         「I don’t need something like that.」

         I was fine with the five candles that came with the cake. There was no need to go out of our way to buy numbered ones.

         「I see. Well, I’ll light these, then.」

         Sendai-san said as she began lighting the candles one by one.

         A moment later, all five were flickering gently.

         I hadn’t made any plans for my birthday because I’d promised that we would spend it together, but even so, I hadn’t believed her when she said we’d eat a round cake together. Even when she left the apartment earlier saying she was going to pick up the cake she’d ordered, I still doubted her, worried she might not come back.

         Thinking that way had made me uneasy.

         But now, the cake was right in front of me, the candles lit.

         「I’m going to turn off the lights.」

         Sendai-san said cheerfully, but I stopped her before she reached for the remote.

         「You don’t have to turn them off.」

         「Why not? I was going to sing “Happy Birthday” to you.」

         「You don’t have to do that either. So leave the lights on.」

         「Really? You don’t want to hear my beautiful singing voice at all?」

         「No. And I’m going to blow the candles out now.」

         It felt a little over the top, and I wasn’t a child who enjoyed being sung to anymore.

         Besides, the more Sendai-san tried to make the celebration feel like a real birthday, the more it made me want to open the photo album I hadn’t touched in ages and add a new page to it, this time with Sendai-san in it.

         「Okay, go ahead.」

         Sendai-san said softly.

         I inhaled and blew out the candles, as if blowing those old memories away with them.

         The flames vanished, and the faint smell of wax stung the back of my nose.

         I didn’t want to cry, but my vision blurred for a moment, so I squeezed my eyes shut before opening them again.

         「Happy birthday.」

         「Thanks.」

         I replied quietly to her upbeat voice, and she removed the candles from the cake.

         「Miyagi, how do you want me to slice it?」

         「I’ll leave that up to you.」

         「We’re eating the whole thing anyway, so I could just cut it in half… but that feels a little overwhelming. Hmm…」

         She debated between cutting it into four slices or six, mumbling under her breath, before leaving the room to get a knife.

         I rubbed my eyes and then looked toward the cat-shaped chopstick rests sitting in the corner of her table. The three cats were always in different spots whenever I came in here, but lately it seemed like this table had become their home.

         Just as the calico and black cats in our shared living space had gotten used to holding our chopsticks at mealtimes, these three looked like they had settled naturally into decorating Sendai-san’s room. It showed she liked my gift, and the thought made me feel relieved.

         I stroked the bicolored cat’s head with my fingertips.

         Unlike my black cat plush, this one was hard and smooth.

         I lined up the three cats neatly and then flipped them over.

         But when I heard Sendai-san coming back, I quickly put them back the way they were before.

         「Apparently if you warm the knife, it cuts more cleanly, so I went to do that. I also read that the cake should stay chilled, but since it’s been sitting out for a while now… I’m not sure how well I can slice it.」

         Sendai-san sat down across from me and stared intently at the cake. Then she picked up the chocolate “Happy Birthday” decoration from the top and set it on my plate.

         「That’s for you, since it’s your birthday.」

         She said before plunging the knife straight down the middle without hesitation.

         「Huh? You’re going to start by cutting it straight in half?」

         「That’s what it said to do.」

         Even as she answered, Sendai-san didn’t take her eyes off the cake. Starting from the center, she pulled the knife outward a few times until the cake was divided into four slices—two on each plate.

         「Well, this seems good enough.」

         Sendai-san said, looking satisfied.

         They weren’t cut as perfectly as the ones you’d see in stores, but they were far better than the slices I used to cut when I was a kid.

         「Let’s eat.」

         We said in unison as we picked up our forks and took our first bites.

         The whipped cream and soft sponge cake melted together in my mouth. The tartness of the strawberries made it even better, and I immediately wanted another bite.

         「Is it good?」

         「Yeah, it is.」

         I answered, taking a second bite before sipping my iced tea.

         「That’s good. I’m glad.」

         She said gently. Her voice made me lift my eyes from the cake, and even though I hadn’t meant to, our gazes met.

         「What?」

         I asked, since Sendai-san seemed to be staring at me. She smiled.

         「You look like you’re enjoying this.」

         「You seem like you’re having even more fun than I am, though.」

         「Well, you know, birthday celebrations are supposed to be fun.」

         Sendai-san said with a grin as she ate a strawberry off her plate. Her fork moved through the cake a few times, each bite disappearing into her mouth and then into her stomach. After swallowing a bite myself, I snapped the chocolate topper in half and took a bite of it.

         「… Did you actually have fun on your birthday, Sendai-san?」

         「I told you earlier, didn’t I? I did. Thanks to you.」

         「Really?」

         「Really.」

         「Did any of your friends wish you a happy birthday?」

         「Well, sort of. But your friends did too, didn’t they?」

         Maika had given me a gift yesterday, saying, “It’s a day early, but here you go,” and Ami had called to wish me a happy birthday. Some of my university friends had wished me one too. But it still felt like Sendai-san had gotten twice as many birthday wishes as I did.

         「Yeah, they did… So, was it your friends from university who wished you a happy birthday?」

         I asked.

         「Yep, and even people from high school, too.」

         「Like Ibaraki-san?」

         「Yeah.」

         「You still talk to each other?」

         「Who, me and Umina?」

         「Mhm.」

         「Yeah, we do. She even said she wants me to come home for winter break.」

         That was the first time I’d ever heard that.

         Sendai-san had never said a word about it before.

         Of course, she had no obligation to tell me she was still in contact with Ibaraki-san, and I had no right to interfere with her social life. I’d always known they were friends, so it wasn’t strange for Ibaraki-san to want to see her again.

         And yet, for some reason, it felt like I’d just been shoved off a cliff and dropped straight into the ocean.

         「… You’re not going to go back, are you?」

         I asked as I cut into my second slice of cake.

         「Nope. And if our friendship ends because of that, then so be it.」

         Sendai-san said plainly, without a hint of hesitation.

         I didn’t want her going home just to see Ibaraki-san, but hearing her say it so bluntly made me feel a bit of sympathy for her.

         During high school, Sendai-san and Ibaraki-san had always looked like they got along well. But once Sendai-san started coming to my place, I realized she’d just been putting up appearances.

         There was no doubt they were friends, but I doubted they saw their friendship in the same way.

         Sendai-san often brought magazines that Ibaraki-san liked to my room, but she never read them with any real interest—and now she stopped buying them at all.

         「Sendai-san.」

         「What’s up?」

         「Back in high school, you used to buy the magazines that Ibaraki-san liked. Do you not buy them anymore?」

         「No, because I don’t need them anymore.」

         Sendai-san said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

         It felt like she could cut her world up as easily as she sliced through a cake.

         If something no longer mattered to her, she could toss it aside without hesitation.

         Just like slicing a round cake into triangles, she never seemed afraid of changing its shape.

         At the aquarium café, she’d cut straight through the otter face drawn on our pancake without a second thought. When we made cookies, she’d taken the cat-shaped dough I’d formed and rolled it back into a ball just as easily.

         If she decided something needed to change, she could break its shape without the slightest hesitation.

         Watching her do things like that made me anxious, and I couldn’t help wondering how long we could stay the way we were now—and if a day would come when she’d do the same to me.

         I let out a quiet sigh and brought a bite of cake to my mouth.

         The yellow sponge cake, the whipped cream, and the red strawberries—all of it tasted delicious.

         There was no point spending all my time dwelling on something so pointless on my birthday, which only came once a year.

         I pushed back the shadow creeping into my heart with the sweetness of the soft cake.

         「Well, if you want to read them, I don’t mind buying them again.」

         Sendai-san said softly.

         「No. I don’t read those kinds of things anyway.」

         I replied, bringing another bite of cake to my mouth.

         I ate the rest slowly, savoring each bite, and eventually finished my half of the round cake along with the chocolate topper. When I looked over at Sendai-san, her plate was empty too.

         We managed to keep the promise we’d made, and there was no cake left to put in the refrigerator.

         Not a single crumb remained.

         Warm dishes and a round cake had filled the table, and now all of it was gone.

         Having a birthday where nothing was left behind felt happier than any I’d had before.

         Everything’s fine.

         It was the cake that Sendai-san cut out into pieces, not me.

         And it was the food on the table that we got rid of, not me.

         So… everything’s fine.

         「Miyagi, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday next year?」

         「I’m okay with anything.」

         「Then let’s get another round cake, about the same size as today’s.」

         Sendai-san said with a bright smile.

         Next year was too far away for me to trust her promises.

         But even so, I wanted to believe we would spend it the same way we had today.

         「Anyway, here’s your birthday present.」

         Sendai-san said casually, pulling a small bag from under the bed and handing it to me.

         「Thanks.」

         It was a bit unusual. She normally liked fancier bags with ribbons, so seeing something this plain felt a little strange.

         「Go ahead and open it.」

         She said, and I did as I was told. Inside the bag was a small box, but it didn’t look much like a present at all.

         I stared at Sendai-san, completely stunned.

         「… What is this supposed to be?」

         「You can’t tell just by looking at it?」

         「No, I know what it is. I just don’t understand why…」

         It was something I’d seen before.

         Something I’d bought and given to Sendai-san—something I could never forget.

         Something I never imagined she would need.

         Not after how reluctant she’d always been about it before.

         I pulled the box out of the bag and placed it on the table.

         「I’m giving you my ears, Miyagi.」

         She said gently.

         Sitting there was the same kind of piercing gun she’d used to pierce my ears with.

         That was the present Sendai-san was giving me.

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