It was a day when we were going to meet as a group again. I didn’t think there would be any awkwardness as we had already done it a few times since they made the final decision.

So when I heard four people standing in front of me, facing me, in the karaoke room where we had our usual meetings, shouting the same thing, at first… I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on.

“What are you staring at?”

Then I realized, and that’s when it hit me. I raised my arm and looked at my watch.

<<——————————

15:56

Thursday, April 13, 2045

1 new message from Clara:

Happy birthday! – 15:53

——————————>>

April 13th… was both Aiden’s and mine, Ethan Subter’s, birthday.

I had turned twenty in Aiden’s body and twenty-three in my own mind.

“Oh…”

In my previous world, I didn’t care much about celebrating my birthday because no one did, so I was often reminded of this specific day by apps that I didn’t even think about, but that would take my birth date to verify how old I was and then send me a one-sentence notification on the same day.

In Lunerra, though, it was… different.

I was surrounded by people who wanted to sincerely celebrate my birthday.

Five people who had turned the karaoke room behind them into a party room.

For me.

“What ’oh’? Stop waiting at the door and come in! We have so much more to do!”

And Julian dragged me in.

The door closed behind me.

Suddenly, I found myself seated in front of a table with a cake that seemed impossible to finish even with six people.

“First… a console tournament!”

Soccer… was a popular sport, widely loved by people in this world as well.

And of course there were several console games related to soccer.

And that was the first thing they planned… a tournament between the six of us.

When I saw the opening screen of the game on the big screen on the wall before I was even asked anything… I let out a deep sigh and decided to let it go.

All right… let’s do whatever they have prepared.

*******

The console tournament ended with an unsurprising victory for Julian.

After the tournament, there was a little lunch break. They had bought boxes and boxes of pizza… and they finished them all.

The next activity was… something that I wasn’t quite sure we should do.

We were going to play a succession of card games, mainly based on luck…

The one with a penalty where the loser drinks alcohol.

And my anxieties proved themselves too quickly.

“I’ve never drunk alcohol…”

Adrian was the first to lose. Still, he didn’t hold back.

“Oh, I lost…”

Then Lucia lost.

“The next round… the next round won’t be like this!”

And then Julian.

Oh, also… he lost the next round.

So, they stopped playing cards after the seventh round. Still, they didn’t stop drinking alcohol.

Poker, a board game whose aim is to bankrupt the other players, classic karaoke, a guessing game with villagers and werewolves…

It was all fun, actually. Each little activity, one on top of the other, made me feel more… good than I had ever felt before.

Only… Julian and Lucia had drunk too much. And even though Julian was unexpectedly the type to get drunk enough to cause trouble, the unexpected thing was… Lucia was the same type.

I was the one whose birthday was being celebrated, but even on this day, I was the one who had to make sure there was no trouble.

The irony…

So, after almost two and a half hours, it was finally time for the cake-cutting.

And naturally, we didn’t finish the huge cake. Half of it was practically wasted.

After that, what was left was… the part where I got the gifts.

Julian gave me a suit that I didn’t even know how much it cost. Enjoy new tales from NovelBin.Côm

Adrian got me some clothes for practice.

Lucia gave me a set of books.

Celine gave me a bracelet with a rune on it that helps with vitality.

And Alysia… she didn’t give me anything, saying that she only learned about it a few hours before my birthday. Which I don’t think she would have done even if she knew. And to be honest I don’t really care. After all, even her attending the party is something.

“Aahh… I feel sick…”

Julian’s words signaled that the party was slowly coming to an end.

“Exactly how many bottles of alcohol did you drink and how many plates of cake did you eat…?”

Adrian was relatively sober. He was the biggest drinker after Julian and Lucia, but he seemed to have a high tolerance. He was also the one who asked Julian the question.

“Heheh… more than you for sure. Loser, I win!”

“Tch… again?”

…

Well…

Let’s forget what I said.

*******

We took Julian and Lucia to their rooms, even if we had to force them, and Alysia took care of Adrian… although she was clearly pissed.

And… that was the end of the party.

After putting each of my gifts in my ring and making sure that everyone was on their way to their rooms, I headed for mine.

At the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking.

For the first time in my entire life, I had a birthday party in my name. And… aside from everything else, it was actually nice. I didn’t spend the whole day on it, maybe it didn’t last that long… But it was the most full birthday I’ve ever had in my life.

It was more than enough. Especially considering that the previous one was in the middle of the Holar War, during the phoenix test.

I didn’t want anything more.

So, when it was all over after about three hours and I arrived at the door of my room… I was more than satisfied.

I was also… tired.

Just letting myself go to bed without even changing my clothes was the first thing I wanted to do all night.

But… as soon as I opened the door to my room, something that shouldn’t have been there caught my eye and all that tiredness vanished as quickly as it had come.

“…?”

The lights in the living room were on when they should not have been.

I squinted, entered without making a sound, and closed the door gently behind me. I walked with gentle steps, careful with my cane.

’Sith, who’s in there?’

The answer came quickly.

’You have nothing to worry about.’

Then he paused, sighing slightly.

’Whatever. I’m going to sleep.’

Haven’t you slept all day?

…

’All right…’

As Sith’s presence faded from my mind, I came to the front of the living room.

And… I found the person who turned on the lights in my room.

My eyebrows went up slightly. Though it wasn’t someone I didn’t expect. In fact… she was the first person who appeared in my mind the moment Sith told me not to worry.

“Didn’t you go back to your room, Celine?”

I was sure she was heading toward her own room.

And there’s no reason for her to be here. The party is over, after all.

Celine smiled and stood up from her seat as if she had been waiting for me.

“Since when do I need a reason to be with you?”

The room was quiet, and at the same time… kind of dull. The only thing I could hear was the muffled sound of her footsteps.

“I’ve been coming in and out of here like it’s my own house for months, Aiden… and it’s only now that you find it strange?”

She… wasn’t wrong.

“No. But I expected you to be tired, I guess. Like me.”

And that’s when she stopped in front of me.

With so little distance between us, I realized something else the moment she did so.

Certainly not as much as Julian or Lucia… but I could faintly smell alcohol from Celine.

I let out a deep sigh as I rolled my eyes.

“You were drinking too, right…”

She replied without changing her expression.

“Not even half a bottle, Aiden. I’m not high.”

I looked her up and down, then at her expression.

She… actually was telling the truth. She was the second person among us who had touched alcohol the least during the party. She wasn’t… drunk, most likely. Not to mention the smell of alcohol from her was so faint that she needed to get this close for me to actually recognize it.

And yet…

“Well, I don’t think so.”

She came closer to me as if she didn’t care what I said.

“Really?”

Her eyes never once left me.

“Really.”

She raised her arms and hugged me, her head resting on my chest.

She stayed like that for a few seconds, not saying anything.

But then she stepped back, wrapping the arms she used for hugging around my neck.

With a small smile on her face and violet eyes that never left mine, she asked.

“What are you going to do, then?”

…

Eventually… I could only take a deep breath.

My cane slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor, it wasn’t that I needed it to stand still. It was just helping me walk.

I raised my arms from the floor and wrapped them around her waist.

Then I pulled her toward myself slowly.

“I’ll play along, I guess.”

The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was her smile to widen slightly.

Then… I felt her lips on mine.

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