“Oh, really?” she muttered as she noisily tore open the wrapping paper. Inside was a necklace with a very tiny diamond. Until then, Kiyoshi had never given Kimiko a birthday present. Partly this was because he was always too busy to find the time, but it was also because Kimiko had been mildly traumatized by birthdays in the past.

Her birthday was on the first of April: April Fool’s Day. When she was a child, friends would often give her a present, say, Happy birthday, then immediately say, April fool, and take the present away. They probably didn’t mean to be nasty, but Kimiko found being called an April fool right after the elation of thinking she was about to receive a present very upsetting. Kiyoshi had witnessed her in such a state back in high school.

It was the first of April, the cherry blossoms were in bloom and school was on spring break. Her class friends had met to wish Kimiko happy birthday. Upon giving her a present, they shouted, April fool! Of course, her friends didn’t do it to be mean, and they immediately handed the present back to her after the joke.

Kimiko said, Thank you, with a smile, but for a moment Kiyoshi had glimpsed the sadness that she was attempting to hide. If he hadn’t been so fond of her, he probably would not have noticed. Even after they were going steady, Kimiko made other arrangements and avoided being in a position where she might receive a birthday present. Despite that, Kiyoshi wanted to wish her happy birthday properly, on her last one at least, and decided to travel back in time to do it.

Kimiko looked at the necklace.

“Happy birthday,” said Kiyoshi softly.

At this remark Kimiko looked at him in surprise.

“Did my husband say that?”

“Huh? Yes...”

As soon as she heard his reply, large tears began to flow from her eyes. Kiyoshi began to feel agitated seeing her cry like that. It was the first time since they had met that he had seen her tearful face. He had always seen her as the strong woman who would remain unshakable in the face of anything. Even after being told on multiple occasions that she had not been accepted into the police force because of the limited number of openings for women officers, she had never cried. She simply said with grit and determination, I’ll get in next time. That was the Kimiko that Kiyoshi had known. So, seeing her cry like this was beyond his comprehension.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” he asked nervously.

He didn’t know whether she would open up to a complete stranger. But he desperately wanted to know the reason for her tears.