Ch.17Chapter 17: The Second Eighteenth Birthday

For a long time, I was so intoxicated by the warmth Shizu shared with me that I lost track of time, unable to even think about releasing her from my embrace.

Even when I finally realized I had been holding her in my arms for too long, I still wanted to spend the entire day embracing her.

‘I shouldn’t.’

It felt like I was being too selfish.

‘Shizu must be tired too.’

While I felt surprisingly energetic despite it being nearly midnight, thanks to having fallen into a deep sleep right after the intense battle, Shizu’s situation would be different.

She had been publicly credited with defeating the Mine through Director Belpheus’s announcement, and along with her victory in the martial arts tournament, she had received admiring gazes from everyone around her. She likely hadn’t been able to properly rest from the fatigue of battle.

Not only that, but she had also dragged my sleeping body to my room and then stayed up watching over me out of concern for my condition.

Despite having just sworn not to do anything that would make her feel bad, I realized I had once again been selfish, thinking only of myself while indulging in the warmth she gave me. A sense of guilt toward Shizu welled up in a corner of my heart.

‘You’ve already done something to feel sorry about to someone precious to you again, Cal.’

I was disappointed in myself for still not being mindful enough to properly consider the condition of someone dear to me, but what’s done is done.

‘Right. This is enough. Let’s let Shizu rest.’

We could continue our unfinished conversation after the reconciliation while I walked her back to her room.

Just as I finished organizing my thoughts and was about to gently release my arms from around her to prepare to send her back…

“Ah…!”

Shizu, who had been resting her head against my chest with no intention of moving away, suddenly let out a startled exclamation as if she had just remembered something. She released her arms from around me and increased the distance between us.

“…Shizu?”

Surprised by her reaction, I softly called her name.

“S-sorry. Did I startle you?”

Her voice sounded embarrassed, much quieter than her clear exclamation from a moment ago, as she looked at me with slightly widened eyes.

Though I was startled, there was no reason for her to apologize to me for that.

“It’s okay.”

After hearing my brief but warm response, the apologetic expression on her face for having startled me began to fade slightly.

“What made you look so surprised?”

Relieved, I asked why she had suddenly pulled away from me with such a startled expression.

Her expression, which had been starting to relax, changed to one showing slight embarrassment and regret as soon as she heard my question.

“I just realized it’s your birthday today, and I haven’t prepared anything for you…”

As I waited silently for her to continue, what reached my ears was a voice filled with gentleness reminiscent of a spring breeze.

Her voice was so warm that it made the corners of my mouth, which had almost stiffened in confusion, curve into a beautiful crescent-like smile.

“I wanted to congratulate you.”

Her purpose was clearly evident in her words.

Though the subject wasn’t explicitly stated, I immediately understood what she wanted to congratulate me on.

“You were going to be sent home from the Cradle after failing to awaken, but for some reason you received a special privilege, and you used it to protect me. I’m really grateful for that, and I wanted to throw you a small birthday party after everything was over… But as we kept talking and spending time together, I suddenly realized your birthday was almost here, and I couldn’t help but…”

Her voice still carried a hint of apology, though much weaker than before, as she fidgeted and avoided my gaze.

“Huu.”

As soon as I heard those words, I let out a light, faint sigh.

It was a natural sigh that escaped because I couldn’t contain the overwhelming warmth filling my chest as I heard her voice, which conveyed how sincerely she cared about me.

Shizu’s expression still showed traces of apology as she looked at me exhaling with a calm expression.

It seemed she was greatly misunderstanding something.

I had already received an incomparably greater birthday gift from her.

What should I do if the giver doesn’t realize it?

It was clear that Shizu wouldn’t notice unless I told her.

“Shizu. What are you talking about? I’ve already received a gift from you.”

I told her with a slightly playful voice that I had already received a present.

Her expression grew increasingly puzzled at my words.

“I… But I haven’t given you anything today.”

“Don’t you know?”

“U…um, no.”

Seeing your expression still showing confusion and apology, it seemed you truly had no idea what an enormous gift you had given me.

I felt a mischievous urge rising within me, similar to the playful pranks I often felt like pulling when we were children, but this wasn’t the time for such playfulness.

My legs quickly closed the distance that had formed between us when Shizu had moved away, and I carefully embraced her again with both arms.

I wanted to convey my sincere feelings to her with a voice filled with the utmost tenderness.

“…Cal?”

Confused by my sudden action, Shizu called my name softly with a voice full of embarrassment, but despite her embarrassment, her body showed no sign of wanting to leave my embrace.

This was a good opportunity.

To express my sincere feelings to her in a situation I had never experienced in my previous life, not even in my dreams.

“We’ve reconciled, haven’t we?”

“…Huh?”

“Right now, Shizu, being able to talk with you like this after reconciling, losing track of time—this itself is a birthday gift that makes my heart fuller than any material thing could. It’s a gift only you could give me.”

It was an unrestrained expression of my true feelings.

Although this was a situation I had never faced even in the fleeting dreams reflecting my desperate but unfulfilled wishes from the previous timeline…

The words flowed from my mouth with surprising smoothness, even though I had never been taught what to say in such situations.

As I finished expressing my heartfelt sentiments…

“…”

Shizu, who had been listening to my words silently for a while, showed no particular reaction.

‘Did I say too much of what I wanted to say?’

After speaking, I began to feel self-conscious about the lack of response from Shizu, wondering if I had made a mistake. Just as I was about to shrink back…

Shizu’s arms, which had been around me, spread wide and then…

*Squeeze*

She embraced me tightly, putting strength into her arms as if her previous embrace had been nothing in comparison.

“…!!”

Even though I had felt the warmth from Shizu’s body when we embraced earlier…

This embrace made me feel dizzy with not just warmth, but also the softness of her body and the sweet scent reaching my nostrils.

“Shizu…?”

As I carefully called her name, trying to calm her sudden action, she raised her head and…

“Idiot…”

A slightly sulky voice calling me an idiot reached my ears.

My body almost shrank back again at that sulky voice, but…

“Only my fiancé standing before me would be foolish enough to say he received a birthday gift just because he got to talk and reconcile with his fiancée on his birthday.”

Realizing that her sulky voice was directed at herself rather than me, I quickly spoke to comfort her.

“This is more than enough for me.”

First, gratitude for the immeasurable love you’ve shown me, and…

“I never thought I deserved a gift like this.”

With deep reflection on myself—someone who had repeatedly gone astray until nearly reaching the point of no return, only to be saved by traveling back in time to avoid the wrong path.

Shizu’s body trembled slightly again after hearing my words, but I carefully embraced her a little more firmly.

“You don’t need to say things like that…”

A slightly dejected voice tickled through my chest after hearing my words filled with deep reflection, but these were words I had to say to express my gratitude to Shizu for giving me such an incomparable birthday gift.

“Blinded by my inferiority complex, I chose only harsh words for you who cares for me so deeply, and I didn’t even try to see you properly. But your tears shed for me helped open my eyes that had been clouded by my inferiority complex.”

“Cal…”

“Thank you so much for the birthday gift. You might think it’s nothing special, but every single thing you do for me is an incomparable gift.”

And to add to the gratitude that words alone couldn’t convey…

*Thump thump*

I released one of my hands embracing her and carefully brought it to Shizu’s face nestled against my chest, pressing her ear against my heart so she could hear its strong beats, driven by the warmth she had given me.

“And thank you so much for making my heart race like this again.”

Although this was a situation I had never faced even in my dreams in the previous timeline…

It was a natural expression of gratitude. I had always thought that if I couldn’t express at least this much gratitude to you—who had given me memories of warmth that I couldn’t forget even when resting my tired body after suffering from malice in a hellish life—then my heart might as well not beat at all.

“…”

Perhaps because she heard my heart beating so powerfully…

Shizu, who seemed to have no intention of moving her face away from my chest where my heartbeat was clearly audible, didn’t say anything.

There was no noticeable movement from her body, which had moved slightly whenever she heard my words before, but that didn’t last long.

“Th…that…”

Soon, a thin, trembling voice filled with embarrassment began to form incomplete sentences from Shizu’s lips.

As I waited patiently for the sentence to form from her lips…

“How can you say such things…”

After slowly forming a complete sentence, Shizu finally lifted her face from my chest, met my gaze, and slowly opened her lips.

“I’m the one who should be grateful, but when you say such wonderful things, I’m left with nothing to say…”

Though her voice clearly showed signs of being slightly upset, contrary to her words, Shizu’s expression revealed a treasure.

It was a pure, clear smile accompanied by tears slightly welling up in her eyes from joy that exceeded all limits.

Ah…

That’s it.

That was exactly the smile I couldn’t recall no matter how hard I tried to remember it in my dreams, because it had been too long ago and my memory had become hazy.

Seeing that precious smile I had been searching for, I barely managed to maintain my composure despite feeling like I might crumble.

Shizu wiped away the slight tears in her eyes with one hand and then opened her lips again.

“Next time… I’ll be the first to say thank you.”

She expressed her intention to compete in an area where competition was unnecessary.

Of course, I had no reason to dislike that at all.

“I’ll be waiting.”

I accepted her challenge(?) with a gentle voice.

“It’s a promise.”

“I’ll definitely keep it.”

“Let’s pinky swear.”

“…Do we really need to do that? We’re not children anymore.”

“It’s important! Do you know how long it’s been since we made a promise to each other?”

A pinky promise.

Shizu remembered that when we were young, if there was one thing I always kept with her, it was the promises we made by linking our pinkies and thumbs.

I had thought she would have forgotten by now, but seeing that Shizu still remembered it filled me with tenderness in a corner of my heart.

“…I suppose I can do that much. Here.”

To fulfill Shizu’s peculiar request, I extended my right pinky finger, and Shizu gently hooked her right pinky finger with mine.

“Now we just need to press our thumbs together, so hurry and extend yours.”

Pressing our thumbs together after hooking our pinkies was much easier.

And so, the sacred ritual exchanged between Shizu and me was completed.

I turned my head to check the current time on the wall clock again.

11:30 PM.

The end of the day was already approaching, and I realized that at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to send Shizu back to her room.

“It’s getting late. Let me walk you back to your room. Let’s go.”

I tried to get Shizu to leave my room and return to her own, but…

“…I want to stay here longer. Can’t I?”

For the first time in a very long time, I heard Shizu’s voice whining to me.

“Even though we’re engaged, if the dorm supervisor catches you here when it’s almost midnight, we might both end up being sent back to our family homes, don’t you think?”

Though I couldn’t help but feel excited hearing her whine after so long, I quickly composed myself and gently tried to persuade her, but…

“If I use Lumen to create a barrier, the dorm supervisor won’t notice, so can’t we stay like this?”

…Shizu’s proud expression and the unexpectedly creative use of the holy sword that I couldn’t have imagined left me speechless.

With no other choice, I immediately resorted to my final measure.

And that was…

*Flick*

“Ow!”

A striking technique where you overlap your thumb and middle finger, press down on the middle finger with your thumb as much as possible, and then release it to strike the forehead of the other person with the stored elastic force.

In other words, a forehead flick.

“Heeeng.”

Though it seemed to hurt quite a bit as she rubbed her forehead and made a sulky sound, that appearance was truly adorable. However, I barely maintained my composure and calmly persuaded Shizu.

“You’re too old to be whining like that.”

“…Fine.”

Finally, with a dissatisfied expression, Shizu reluctantly agreed, and I was able to leave my room with her.

#

“Thanks for walking me back. Good night, Cal.”

As I watched Shizu’s back as she entered her room after briefly expressing her gratitude to me upon arriving at her door…

“I’ll come wake you up in the morning, so don’t worry and sleep comfortably.”

“Thank you.”

Knowing her usual sleep pattern of being a heavy sleeper in the morning, I offered to wake her up, and with that, I successfully completed the last schedule of the day by watching her back as she closed the door and entered her room.

And as I was walking back to my room to get some sleep after finishing everything…

“Huu…”

Feeling a slight sense of fatigue, I let out a faint sigh and carefully reviewed the day I had experienced after traveling back in time.

The review didn’t take long.

“So much has changed.”

Rather, I should be trying to recall what had remained the same as the previous timeline.

Hehehe

With a light laugh, I went through the changes from the previous timeline one by one.

“The awakening of a special privilege I never thought I’d obtain in my previous life, the demon god Renium who interfered with this timeline in a different way than me to target Shizu’s life, his subordinate Laplace. And…”

And…

“I reconciled with Shizu through sincere conversation and received a birthday gift…”

That was the most important part.

The awakening of superhuman abilities that allowed me to remain at the Cradle and the victorious battle against the demon god’s minions who were targeting Shizu’s life were important, but…

Seeing you smile brightly when you rarely smiled because of me at this time…

Unlike when I first realized I had traveled back in time and felt despair, I finally found a reason to live.

“Thank you…”

My footsteps slowly moved toward my room to end the day, expressing gratitude that would never be enough no matter how many times I said it.

In the previous timeline, I had merely lived because I couldn’t die, and tomorrow came simply because I closed my eyes and opened them again.

But now it would be different.

To protect what I couldn’t protect in the previous timeline.

Because I would fall asleep dreaming of a tomorrow better than today.

Though the corridor was dimly lit due to the approaching midnight, strangely, my footsteps through the corridor were nothing but cheerful.