Ch.139Chapter 139

“Hehehe…”

I laughed seeing the few pieces of chicken I offered going to the Professor instead of Ouro.

If demons can survive whether they eat a lot or nothing at all, I figured that the less I took for myself, the more someone else could enjoy.

And that thought proved correct as the chicken went straight into the Professor’s mouth.

The Professor ate the chicken with an awkward smile. While enjoying it, she kept glancing at me as if feeling guilty about taking my food. I wished she didn’t need to feel that way and could just enjoy it purely.

“……”

Ouro had initially looked upset about not getting what she wanted, but seeing it go into the Professor’s mouth, she seemed unable to voice any objections and kept her lips tightly sealed.

After eating exactly her portion, Ouro absentmindedly wiggled her fingers.

She was playing with the chicken bones she had cleaned completely of meat. Remembering how she had tried to eat those too before the Professor stopped her made me want to laugh.

“Ourr, have you thought about Sera’s birthday present yet?”

The Professor’s words made my mind go blank.

Sera’s birthday present? I had intended to think about it. It was something I needed to do. But during the short time we were eating chicken, it seemed difficult to come up with something.

It would be difficult, right?

If I hadn’t gotten into an argument with Ouro, I might have had some time to think about it.

If it weren’t for Ouro, I would have definitely thought about it properly. Even if not completely, I might have had some time to consider it, so I glanced at her with unnecessary feelings.

I glared at her, but Ouro slightly averted her gaze as if saying “what if I did this” or “what if I did that.”

As I always felt, there was nothing good about having long arguments with Ouro. Apart from wasting emotions, I couldn’t get any feeling or result of having won against her.

Since I hadn’t expected anything like that anyway, I just let it go and turned my head away. Then I looked toward where the Professor was.

“Professor, what kind of gift do you think would be good? I’ve never done this before, so I’m not sure…”

“Hmm, wouldn’t it be good to think about what Sera likes? Or something she needs.”

The Professor gave me various suggestions, but I still couldn’t get a grasp on it.

What Sera likes? What she needs? This was more difficult than just thinking about or being considerate of someone else. I needed to have observed what she liked on a regular basis.

It was so difficult that I grabbed my chin and struggled to think about what would be appropriate. And at the end of that thought process, I came up with what seemed like a pretty good gift.

On the second Friday of September. Everyone seemed to be in a slightly elevated mood.

Actually, not everyone. I was the only one here who was excited. Huff, huff. I tried to calm my rough breathing, but nothing was working properly.

That was because I, who hadn’t properly decided on a gift for Sera, ended up preparing the most ordinary and common “cake.”

So I was a bit anxious. I was nervous about what would happen if all the other friends brought cakes too.

If I had known this would happen, I should have announced in advance that I would bring the cake, but I didn’t say anything because it didn’t feel like a real gift, and that seemed to have caused this result.

With my heart pounding, I looked around restlessly and couldn’t stay still. Perhaps because I looked so anxious, the Professor spoke to me first.

“Isn’t it good to have lots of cake? The cake Ourr bought is a pure white cake, so it’ll be delicious even eaten normally. Plus, you put it in the refrigerator properly, so when we go back through the warp, it won’t melt and can be eaten well.”

Words to calm my anxiety.

Hearing the Professor’s words, it certainly seemed like we didn’t need to eat the cake right there.

If I considered the cake as a kind of gift, that made sense. Besides, it wasn’t just bought from a bakery but was a special custom order, so it might be more thoughtful.

After saying that, I felt somewhat relieved, and my anxiety unknowingly turned into anticipation.

I wondered how happy Sera would be when she received this gift. There was also fear about what if she didn’t like it, but I decided to just think positive thoughts for now.

“Hello~”

When the time came, Sera opened the door and entered. It seemed they had all met up together, as Aria and Karen could be seen coming in behind her.

“Hello, have you been well?”

“We talked yesterday.”

“Right, we did.”

Karen came in waving her hand. When I slightly raised my hand to speak, Karen chuckled and gently grabbed my hand. I wasn’t asking her to hold it, so I was surprised when she suddenly did.

When I let out a small “eh” sound, behind us, Aria was holding and shaking Ouro’s hand.

Though Ouro was usually spaced out, she didn’t seem to like Aria suddenly touching her hand and slightly pulled it away. She looked like a cat that doesn’t like having its front paws touched.

As everyone was showing different behaviors as if they each had their own role, I found myself blankly looking at each person one by one.

Sera seemed to have the same thought as me, as she laughed after looking at the friends who had entered with her.

“Everyone’s holding hands to greet each other, so I don’t have anyone’s hand to hold. Should I hold the Professor’s hand?”

Perhaps she was joking about being disappointed that Ouro and I already had our hands taken by Karen and Aria, leaving no place for her.

However, the other person was the Professor. Moreover, a young professor who didn’t seem to have such a big age difference with Sera.

If she had been a rigid professor who didn’t understand jokes, it would have been different, but our Professor wasn’t like that, so she readily took Sera’s joke.

“My hand? It is free.”

“Ah! No, that’s…!”

“I’m joking.”

Sera completely crumbled at the Professor’s words.

She seemed at a loss for what to say, wandering and speaking in a bewildered voice, which made the Professor chuckle.

She wasn’t actually telling her to hold her hand. I thought it was just the kind of atmosphere possible between people who had become comfortable enough to joke around, as they saw each other often.

“Ah, aah…”

“Sera, Sera.”

Sera, who had experienced a brain freeze from the Professor’s joke, was stuttering, not knowing what to say.

I approached her and gently grabbed her sleeve. Karen looked at me quietly as if she knew what I was about to do.

“Yes?”

“Sera, happy birthday.”

I spoke softly.

The research lab went quiet for a moment. After I spoke, the space became silent, and even though it wasn’t actually happening, I somehow felt like my words were echoing.

A feeling of echoing.

“Oh, uh, ah! Thank you! It’s natural to hear this on my birthday, but somehow hearing it from Ourr gives me a strange feeling… I’m not discriminating, but how should I put it…”

“Huh? I already said it in the chat too.”

“Right, so I didn’t expect to hear it again like this…”

Sera showed a slightly flustered appearance.

I had no intention of just saying congratulations once in the chat and being done with it.

“Saying it in chat and saying it in person are different.”

“That’s true, yes. Ourr, thank you.”

Sera smiled happily at my words.

What was most fortunate, even before Sera’s happiness, was that neither she nor the others had brought anything.

While there were many cafes in the Academy, they sold cake slices but not birthday cakes suitable for birthdays.

To buy a cake suitable for a birthday, one would have to leave the Academy and come back, but it seemed no one had time for that, as I could see everyone had come empty-handed.

This was my chance.

I glanced toward the Professor sitting at the work desk. The Professor then turned her head toward the refrigerator next to her, as if tossing my gaze in that direction.

“Sera! I bought you a gift!”

“A gift?! From Ourr?”

Sera covered her mouth and made an extremely touched expression.

It felt like she was playing along, showing such a reaction even though she already knew I was preparing a gift.

Still, it was much better than her disliking it. Even though she knew there was a gift, she didn’t know what it was, so there was nothing wrong with that.

Who would have imagined a cake would appear in this situation? I had been itching to tell, but I was so glad I had held back and not said anything until now.

I felt proud of myself for having been so patient.

With a sense of satisfaction in my heart, I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the box inside with a “ta-da!”

“Sera’s birthday cake!!”

The appearance of the cake deserved a “ta-da” sound effect.

Sera, along with Aria and Karen, opened their eyes wide and looked at me.

In the atmosphere that seemed to be filled with silence, Ouro quietly opened her mouth.

“Is it for eating?”