KOF School

Cake and Gifts

Yoshiro made his way into his son's room while Yashiro was writing out new music.
"Oh, hi Dad," Yashiro greeted, pushing his manuscript away. "What's up?"
Yoshiro closed the door behind him after making sure that Yashira wasn't anywhere about. He then turned back to Yashiro and grinned. "Have you gotten anything for your mother yet?"
"I have," Yashiro nodded.
"What is it?" Yoshiro sat down on the bed, eagerly waiting for his answer.
"A painting."
"A painting that you made yourself?"
"Yeah. What about you? What did you get for her?"
Yoshiro smiled sheepishly. "I haven't shopped for her yet."
"Dad, it's Christmas Eve," Yashiro pointed out.
"I know, but at least it isn't Christmas yet?" Yoshiro countered with a shrug.
Yashiro chuckled. "Fine. What are you planning?"
"Perfume?" Yoshiro suggested. "Or should I get her a nice bag?"
"She has both of those things," Yashiro said.
"A new wallet?"
"She just got a new one on wallet day."
"Shoes?"
"Have you seen that rack near the front door?"
"Good point... how about... a new dress?"
"That sounds okay, since she can't get enough of dresses. She even went to the clothing section when we went to the department store yesterday."
Yoshiro looked at him in surprise. "So you're saying that she already got herself a new dress?"
Yashiro nodded. "Yep."
"Then I have to think of something else. Yashiro, let's just go to the mall later. We'll see what we can find and get for her."
"Sure. I'd like to come."

The Christmas Shortcake came out beautifully, with slices of fresh strawberries between moist layers of soft sponge cake. Iori carefully smoothened the whipped cream around the sides of the cake while Aiko arranged more strawberries at the top.
"Nice," Masaomi nodded as he watched his children in action.
"Yeah, and how's the daifuku going?" Iori asked, looking up with the spatula still in hand. "Going good?"
Kazuhiro flourished a freshly made daifuku dusted in potato starch that resembled snow. "How's this?"
"Looks great!" Aiko abandoned the strawberries and went over. "Can I try one?"
Kazuhiro chuckled and handed her two of the daifuku, which Aiko brought back to her brother to hand him one. Both of them took a break from decorating the cake and sat down to sample the first batch of the daifuku.
"This is actually really good," Iori nodded. "Gosh, it's been so long since we last had homemade daifuku."
The statement brought smiles to their faces as they reminisced. For years, they didn't properly celebrate Christmas, didn't properly celebrate anything else too. It was this year, after everything had blown up, did everything blow over to become better.
The brief reminiscence, however, was quickly interrupted when Masaomi nearly dropped the spoonful of anko he was holding since it weighed heavily on one side of the spoon.
"Careful!" Iori scrambled, but was relieved when his father managed to put it back into the bowl. "Darn... that would've been such a waste." He stopped short when he noticed how the spoon then made its way to his father's mouth. "Dad, seriously..."
"What, it's good," Masaomi reasoned. He scooped some of the adzuki paste and shoved it straight into Iori's mouth before he could even say anything else. "There. How is it?"
Iori nodded, unable to argue. "Fine, it's really tasty. But don't use the same spoon for the daifuku without washing it."
"Yeah, good point," Masaomi agreed and got up to rinse the spoon at the sink.
Kazuhiro snorted. "Great, if you're done with the cake, you can come help us."
Aiko frowned at the second batch of sponge cakes being cooled on the counter. "Not yet, we still have another Shortcake to layer up."
"And to smother in cream," Iori added.

Yashiro walked around the mall with his father, more interested in the live band than shopping. Yoshiro suddenly pulled him over to a shop called Beauty and Bath Works, a place that Yashiro usually avoided since he didn't find anything of interest between expensive perfumed soaps and lotions. But Yoshiro's opinion of it seemed to greatly contrast his, seeing how he excitedly roamed about. He even tried the testers to see how each product smelled.
"Dad, don't you think that's a little expensive?" Yashiro piped up when his father picked up a set of rose-scented lotion, shower gel, and perfume. "If we go to the drugstore, we can get the same things for like a quarter of the price."
"Yeah, but your mother deserves more than just run-of-the-mill beauty products she always buys from the drugstore," Yoshiro pointed out with a snort. "She does, especially since it's Christmas."
Yashiro didn't respond to that and just made his way around the shop to look at something else. Yoshiro watched him go over to the next aisle and sighed, taking the gift set with him as he went after his son.
"Yashiro?" Yoshiro called, gaining his attention. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Yashiro nodded and handed him a black tester tube. "I found these."
Yoshiro looked at it with a slight frown. "Sea Breeze?" Then he read the writings under it. "Oh! Lotion?"
"Yeah, and they're specifically for men, apparently," Yashiro pointed at the label above the layered shelf as he picked up another tube, casually opening it to use it on his hands. "Neat, right? They finally released some for us too, and it smells really good."
Yoshiro nodded. "Yeah, and you know what, you're getting some for yourself."
Yashiro looked at him in surprise and shook his head. "No way. These are way to expensive, Dad. That's two and a half thousand yen when we can get good lotion for like a few hundred yen or less."
Yoshiro smirked and shook his head. "Just take 'em. Here, they're even offering a promotion, two for the price of one! One each, how's that?"
Yashiro scratched his head and shrugged before choosing a good flavour. The two of them took their time with the testers, choosing the flavours that appealed to them, and only then made their way to the counter to pay.
"Wanna go for some ice cream?" Yoshiro asked when they exited the shop.
"It's freezing outside, Dad," Yashiro pointed out. "You saw how thick the snow was?"
"Oh yeah..." Yoshiro nodded, realising he was right. Then his face lit up with another idea. "Then what about a hot drink instead? I heard there's this new coffee shop called Posiden Coffee, and they opened a new one right in this mall."
"I've heard of that shop, my friend says their drinks are really good for cheap," Yashiro shrugged. "I guess that sounds nice."