episode_0025

“Is birthday important?”

Amy couldn’t answer Shine’s question.

A question from a girl who has never had a birthday celebration since she was born.

I wonder what Amy is thinking.

Like Shine, I don’t know when my birthday is.

“Umm… I have to renew my citizenship soon.”

“Renew?”

“Citizenship must be renewed periodically.”

“It’s annoying.”

“But it’s important. If someone uses someone else’s citizenship, it’s a big deal.”

“What does citizenship renewal have to do with my birthday?”

I asked Amy a question.

She seemed to think for a moment, then slowly began to open her mouth.

“Umm… How should I explain this… .”

Amy took a small card out of her pocket.

Card with black background.

Amy’s brief information written above catches the eye.

The emergence of citizenship that I have never seen before.

There was no rating written.

“Want to take out your Shine citizenship?”

“Yeah.”

Shine nods at Amy’s words and rummages through her pockets.

There were two cards in her small hand.

It was a small citizenship card with a picture of me and Shine on it.

“If you look closely here, can you see anything different?”

Amy shows off two cards to compare.

They all have the same layout and composition, except for the card colors.

“If you look here, the date of birth isn’t written.”

“That’s true.”

Amy’s card had her date of birth written on it.

In contrast, our cards were blank.

“Why aren’t we here?”

“That’s because it’s a card I issued temporarily.”

“Temporary?”

Amy smiled slightly, stroking Shine’s head.

“I had to make it in a hurry, so I didn’t write the birthday because I didn’t know it.”

“Is it necessary?”

“Yeah. Without that, you can’t officially use your citizenship.”

“But Amy. I don’t know the date of birth.”

“I don’t know either.”

In response to our answer, Amy raised her hand and rubbed her forehead.

She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, so I waited in silence for her to speak.

“Then shall we do it like this?”

“How?”

“Today’s date is designated as Shine and Jeff’s birthday.”

“I don’t care.”

I don’t mind either.

I nod at Amy, who is looking at me.

After hearing our answer, she smiles slightly and takes out her notebook and starts writing something.

“Then, even though it’s late, how about having a birthday party today?”

“What is a birthday party?”

“Celebrating the day you were born.”

“Who’s?”

“You two.”

I bowed my head at Amy’s words.

My heart is pounding.

I feel a burning sensation on my cheeks.

Raise both hands and touch your cheeks.

I feel a warm heat.

“Really?”

“Okay.”

“Jeff. Why do you like it so much?”

“Me? Do I like you?”

“Yeah. Just laughing.”

I hastily touch my mouth.

A smile that couldn’t be hidden appeared on his lips.

“But. I’ve never had a birthday party.”

“I don’t know.”

I flap my legs with laughter leaking out.

Shine didn’t seem to understand the meaning of a birthday party.

“Okay. What do you both like?”

“What do you like?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Jeff.”

“Huh… ?”

Amy’s expression becomes subtle at Shine’s answer.

I raise my head and look at Shine’s face.

She blinks her big eyes as if to ask what the problem is.

“Ask what you want as a gift.”

Amy said, stroking Shine’s head.

“A gift?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the gift?”

Amy’s expression falls at Shine’s question.

She looked at me and Shine alternately and then smiled bitterly.

“When someone gives you something out of kindness, it’s called a gift. The opposite is also true. When you give someone something out of kindness, it’s called a gift.”

“That’s difficult.”

“Anyway, is there anything you want, Shine?”

“I already have it.”

Shine said that and smiled at me.

I smile back at that bright smile.

“Then what about Jeff?”

I raise my head and look at Amy.

A gaze full of kindness directed at me.

My heart aches because I have never felt such gaze before.

The smile shows no sign of stopping due to the unbearable happiness.

I opened my mouth cautiously, holding back my pounding heart.

“Hat… .”

“Hat?”

A birthday present, something I’ve never received before.

Amy wants to give me a gift.

That’s what I want.

I desperately recall.

What I want right now.

Heat spreading across the face.

My whole body feels hot.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth again.

“I want to get Lucy’s hat from [The Little Witch’s Great Adventure]!”

I said what I wanted now.

The body, swept up in desire, wanted it so badly that it was shameful.

It was so cute and pretty that I wanted to use magic on it too.

So I want that hat.

Immediately after answering, I covered my face with both hands.

My vision is dizzy.

What on earth was making me say something like that?

A fully grown man, and a man at that.

“Ugh… .”

He mumbles random words while biting the corners of his mouth.

My whole body feels tired and limp, like melted ice cream.

“Me too, same as Jeff.”

Shine, who was sitting next to me, said.

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

I nod desperately.

I couldn’t look at Amy’s face.

I couldn’t raise my head because of her smiling voice.

“Okay.”

Amy said and stood up.

“Wait a minute!”

A voice mixed with laughter resonates throughout the room.

I didn’t raise my face until Amy left the room.

Should I run out there right now and tell them to cancel?

If that’s a misspoken question, should I ask for something else?

But I want to have it.

“Jeff.”

“Huh?”

“Does Jeff like witches?”

“Huh… ?”

“Would it be better if I were a witch?”

I couldn’t answer Shine’s serious question.

Her eyes were so serious that even I took her question seriously.

In my head, I start to imagine Shine becoming a witch.

Hmm… .

It’s subtle.

[The Little Witch’s Great Adventure]

This is definitely an anime that I’ve recently become fond of.

The protagonist, Lucy, comes out of there and uses cute and beautiful magic to defeat enemies.

“I don’t think so.”

I shake my head.

Animation is just animation.

“Then Jeff, do you like me?”

“Of course… .”

I kept my mouth shut at her question.

The face of a white girl seen through wavering gazes.

Did I like shine?

We’re family.

If you’re family, you should like them right?

Questions floating in my head.

A series of disparate sensations that appear one after another.

“I like it.”

I am left speechless by the sudden confession.

The emotional line that flies straight through pierces the heart.

Her emotions felt through her eyes were very sticky.

It was hot and pure.

“Jeff never hurt me. He just talked to me all the time.”

“Ugh… .”

“Okay then.”

“I… .”

“I like you Jeff.”

“I… .”

I hesitate to answer at all.

Because I never thought deeply about her.

Shine reaches out and grabs my hand.

Start speaking with your eyes.

I lower my head at her eyes, which look like they are waiting for an answer.

Do I like shine?

I don’t know.

Then vice versa.

Do I hate shine?

That’s not it.

Then I like it.

“Uh… .”

“Jeff.”

Come on, tell me.

A hot heat rises from deep within my chest.

I put the heat in my mouth and start forming words.

therefore.

“I like it.”

The words, painstakingly completed, provide the answer Shine wants.

A happy smile appears on her face.

“I like it too!”

Shine reaches out her arms and hugs me tightly.

It was so suffocating.

Her power is clearly that of a fragile child, but the emotions contained within are sticky and tangled.

It’s hot and burdensome.

But it doesn’t show.

“Yeah… .”

Shine, who had been holding me for a long time, breaks away from me.

The place where she fell was empty.

The hot skin touches the ground and then feels cold.

I stroked both arms.

“When will Amy come… .”

I change the subject to hide my embarrassment.

I feel burdened by Shine’s gaze looking at me.

A deeply bowed head.

A gaze looking down at one’s feet.

Short legs flapping as she sits on the chair.

“Jeff.”

“Ugh… .”

“Am I better than Amy?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then.”

I wonder what happened.

Anyway, I’m glad she was satisfied.

I sighed in relief and shook my feet.

It was a long time before Amy returned.

The delicious smell coming from her body makes my mouth water.

“Ready to go.”

She opened the door and came in wearing a small cone-shaped hat.

Amy grabbed Shine and me by the hand and left the room.

After passing through a long hallway, I take a path I don’t usually take.

As I look around, Shine pokes my cheek.

“Shine?”

When I looked at her curiously, she shook her head.

Why are you doing that?

I scratched my cheek and started looking around again.

A hallway I’m seeing for the first time.

The long, stretched-out road felt unfamiliar.

Amy walks without hesitation and reaches the large door.

“Strategy conference room?”

A nameplate written next to a large door.

The words [Strategy Conference Room] were written on it.

As I read it out loud, Amy reaches out and rips the name tag off.

“Amy?”

“I guess I saw something wrong?”

“Umm… .”

The torn off name tag goes into Amy’s pocket.

Anyway, I couldn’t come to my senses because of the delicious smell coming from beyond the door.

My gaze turns towards the door.

Amy looked down at me like that, then reached out and opened the door.

A warm breeze blows in.

A variety of foods placed on a large table.

Among them, the large cake placed in the middle catches the eye.

“Are you here?”

Inside the room, Victor was sitting wearing his glasses.

He was setting up the food with a look of annoyance on his face.

“Happy birthday guys.”

I was speechless at my first ever birthday party.

I couldn’t say anything.

Because the moment I opened my mouth, I felt like I was going to burst into tears.