Friday, October 9th : Fourteen days until Nishizumi Miho's birthday

It had been a rather uneventful evening up until now. Just like most of those were by now. Oarai's victory against Kuromorimine had been a month ago. Since then, the girls of the Anglerfish Team had made it a tradition to eat together every weekend. This time, they had had dinner at Hana's place.

"That was delicious!", Akiyama Yukari exclaimed while dropping on her back. The tank-addict was apparently pleased with the meal as were the other girls. Hana embarrassedly waved off the praise. "I did not do that much. It was mostly Shinzaburou."

Said man bowed his head silently before walking off to do the dishes.

"I really envy you to have someone to do all this stuff for you", Takebe Saori remarked while their tankery-teams commander was giggling at the conversation. Nishizumi Miho was enjoying herself.

"Oh! I just remembered something!"

While Yukari straightened herself again, the others were looking at her as she pointed at their commander. "Isn't your birthday in two weeks, Nishizumi-dono?"

While Miho looked mostly surprised, Hana added: "Yes, that should add up. It was the twenty-third, was it not?"

"Um... yes, it was", the shy girl started while holding out her hands defensively. "But you don't need to do anything special for me. It's fine as it is, really."

Then she noticed the unsettled expression of their most silent member. "Is something wrong, Mako-san?"

Said girl did not stop looking at their radio operator. "I don't like that look on your face, Saori."

The brunette was showing a bright smile while looking at Miho, much to the latter's confusion. "Um... Saori-san?"

"That's perfect!"

Her scream startled all of them except Mako, who was still eyeing her suspiciously. When she rose to her feet, she nearly lost her glasses due to almost jumping up and down in joy. "Miporin's birthday is soon! We will have a party and many presents!"

"B-But... I just..."

She stopped protesting before she was done with the first sentence. By now, Miho knew when a battle against the cheerful brunette was lost. And the others looked approvingly as well. So she just bowed her head in embarassment before Saori's next statement had her look up again: "But of course, the best present will be the one I'll give you!"

When only silence filled the room, Saori looked around in confusion. "What? Don't you believe me?"

After a while, Yukari answered her: "Um... I don't know. There will be a lot of people wanting to give Nishizumi-dono presents. I don't think you can just say yours will be the best."

"I agree with Yukari-san", Hana chimed in while looking at Saori with curiosity. "No one has even thought of anything as of yet."

With those two's statements, Saori's look was one of shock. When she turned to Miho, she adressed the slightly younger girl almost desparately: "But at least you believe me, right, Miporin?"

"Well... um..."

When the other brunette just scratched the back of her head while giggling embarassed, she grabbed her bag with a disbelieving scream before storming off. When she reached the door, she turned around and looked at them. Her eyes were glistening, but she was wearing a determined expression. "Just wait for it. I'll show you! I'll find the very best present in the whole world!"

With that, she ran off. The others had just looked after her with their mouths agape. Except for Mako, who just shook her head and continued eating the dessert.

.

.

.

She had left the Isuzu-mansion some time ago. Now, Saori's steps were calm again while she took a few deep breaths of the chilling night's air.

'Focus, Saori. This is for Miporin, so you have to give it your all!'

But even when she said she would find the best present there was, she had no idea yet.

'Wait...'
She stopped dead in her tracks. And fortunately for her, no one could see her almost lunatic expression lest someone might have called the police.

'That's it!'

With her usual cheerful steps, she was moving home. Saori knew exactly what to do. She was just lacking the "how" at some points, but that would come given enough time.

'Let's see... I have... nah, ten days at most. Not much, but I will make do with it.'

She would show them. Her present would be second to none.

Monday, October 12th : Eleven days until Nishizumi Miho's birthday

The first step was to actually get the present. For that to happen, she needed help. And Saori did not like that.

This once, she was really, really selfish. She did not want anyone to claim their partaking in organising it. So she had to go with someone who would just let her have her way without asking too many questions. And that left only one person that fit the criteria.

So at lunch break, instead of going to the cafeteria with her friends, Saori went to an entirely different set of corridors.

. . .

She did not see Miho looking after her sadly alongside Hana who wore a more concerned look.

When the two girls met with the remainder of the Anglerfish Team, they still looked down. That was when one of their juniors approached them. The twin-tailed Aya Ono who was one of the Rabbit Team's two gunners and had become one of Saori's "wardens".

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but have you seen Saori-senpai somewhere? I called her yesterday but she just said she had no time and hung up!"

Miho, Yukari and Hana looked at each other while Mako was watching the food counter.

"She just ran off to the student council's office. Maybe you can catch her later on, Aya-chan."

The younger girl bowed gratefully before running back to the other members of the Rabbit Team that were waiting for her.

.

.

.

"So, what exactly do you want, Takebe-san?", the little redhead asked her while eating a dried sweet potato in between her words. As usual, Kawashima Momo and Koyama Yuzu stood at either of her sides waiting for orders of their student council president. The latter put the potato aside once she noticed Saori's serious expression.

"I need a master key for the locker rooms in the showers."

Momo spat out half of what she was drinking, fortunately not on the president who smirked interested. "And what would you need that for?"

The brunette smiled mischievously and pointed at a nearby calendar. "Miporin's birthday is soon. I need the key to prepare her present."

"What kind of nonsense... what do you think you're doing?!", Momo screamed at her accusingly while pointing a finger at her. "Just what exactly are you planning on doing with a master key?!"

Before Saori could answer, something flew through the air and hit her on the forehead and fell into her lap.

"Ouw..."

While she rubbed the reddening spot, she looked at what the president had thrown at her. Then back up at the shorter girl's grinning face. At the same time, Momo and Yuzu were watching in shock. The latter spoke first: "B-But... just to hand out such an important key..."

"What are you talking about?", the redhead replied while waving Saori off. "I haven't given any key to anyone."

"But you..."

The sentence was never completed since the redhead jammed the remaining half of her potato into Yuzu's mouth to shut her up while Saori bowed to her and headed for the door. "I knew I could count on your carelessness regarding the rules, president!"

With that, she was gone. Kadotani Anzu just smiled while taking out another sweet potato. "Whatever it is, Takebe, make it big."

. . .

When they had gotten their respective meals, they sat down at their usual table. Except that one spot was empty. Miho looked at it for a while before starting to eat.

The atmosphere was rather dull without their radio operator around. But after a while of silence, a cheerful call made them look up: "What's up? You look so down!"

With that, Saori took the empty chair and opened her own lunch. She made those herself most of the time and today was no exception.

If she noticed the stunned silence, she did not react to it. Instead, she just started to eat with gusto.

"Um... Saori-san?", Miho adressed her. "Hm?"

"You know... I'm sorry about what happened last friday. I really didn't want to insult you..."

The other brunette just waved it off. "Forget about it. I told you, didn't I? You will get the best present you've ever gotten or I'll die trying."

That made the commander shut up quickly. For her friend to go at it with such determination.

"You... you are still angry at us, aren't you?"

Saori just shook her head and pointed at Yukari and Hana. "I could be angry at those two, but definitely not at you, Miporin. But really, I'm not."

To prove her point, she smiled with her usual cheerfulness, while the others exchanged another glance. Except Mako. She was eyeing Saori's half-eaten lunch.

"Since you won't eat that anyway..."

The taller girl looked at the box, then handed it over without another word of the smaller one. "You know me well, Mako."

Said girl just shrugged and started to eat.

Tuesday, October 13th : Ten days until Nishizumi Miho's birthday

She had failed the day before. But this time, Saori was prepared.

When the others were already soaking in the bath after they had ended their tankery-session, the brunette had stayed behind. No one questioned it, maybe because the others were still thinking she was mad at them.

In any other case, she would have told them to stop worrying. This time, however, it was far too convenient for her plan.

So when she was sure there was no one left in the locker room, she went over to her commander's locker and opened it with the master key. A short inspection of Miho's clothing brought her what she wanted: The other brunette's phone.

'Come on, it should be here somewhere...'

Saori had to look through the stored numbers twice on the day prior, this time she found it on the first try. 'There!'

Once she found the number she needed, she pulled a sheet of paper and a pen out of her towel and wrote it down as quick as she could without confusing any of the digits.

On monday, she had failed because she forgot to bring writing material. This time, Saori succeeded.

After she was done, she returned the phone to where it had been before and tried to make it look as much as it had been before she dug through it.

Once she had locked up again, she mostly jumped back to her own locker and crammed the paper and the pen inside.

The first phase was complete.

. . .

While waiting for their last member, the Anglerfish-team sat in the bath in silence, more or less discreetly viewed by the other teams.

"Did something happen with your team, Guderian?", the Hippo Team's radio operator and commander Matsumoto Riko or "Erwin" asked Miho. The latter looked at the blond history-addict with a mixture of confusion and sadness. "I don't really know. Saori-san said it was nothing, yet she keeps acting strange."

"She's not even talking about boys anymore!", Yukari chimed in which earned her a few surprised stares. Especially the juniors were terrified by those news. "Oh no, what could have happened to Saori-senpai?!" "Maybe she has hit her head?"

On the other side of the bath, the student council-members were just exchanging looks but did not say anything.

This was when the door opened and the well-known brunette strode in, humming cheerily while climbing into the bath. The others observant stares did not seem to bother her at all.

Once she had settled in, the Rabbit-team waded over to her and surrounded her concerned. "Senpai, are you alright?" "Is someone threatening you?" "Did something happen?"

Saori just shook her head and beamed at them. "Calm down, everyone. Big sister Saori is fine, really."

They calmed down slightly. That was, until Aya asked her a question: "Senpai, have you gotten a boyfriend?"

"Huh?"

While the older girl blinked at her juniors in confusion, an expectant silence had formed around the small group.

Saori shook her head and raised a hand at her chest. "Not yet, but don't worry! I will eventually!"

The younger girls started cheering and hugging her, crying about "their senpai being back" while said senpai just chuckled over their antics.

.

.

.

Later that evening, when Saori tried to call the number she had acquired, no one answered the phone.

"Shoot!"

After screaming into her pillow for a few seconds, she calmed down again, then decided to try once more the next day.

Here it is, the first chapter of this rather short project. I doubt that it will be more than three chapters at all, though I might surprise myself, seeing that I am not completely done.

However, please let me know what you think of the idea.

And should you notice typos, errors within my grammar or anything else noteworthy, tell me. After all, I wish to improve my English as far as possible.