Chapter 68: A Beautiful Girl, Fidgeting as Her Birthday Approaches
August is almost over. It’s still unbelievably hot, but on the calendar, it already counts as autumn.
Summer vacation is about to end too, which means school is coming up again. Back in middle school, I didn’t enjoy school much, so I always felt genuinely miserable whenever summer break was almost over. But now… I’m actually kind of looking forward to it.
Although once school starts, I’ll probably only be able to message Aoi-kun. He’ll be working part-time on our days off… so I won’t get to see him much. That’s… a little disappointing, I think.
Anyway, this time of year always comes with a small yearly event. My birthday.
…Well, in the end, the only ones who celebrate it are my family.
I–I’m not lonely or anything.
While I was starting up a game on my smartphone, a message appeared in my messenger app.
"Ayumi-chan, your birthday’s coming up, right? Let’s have a birthday party tomorrow!"
"How did you know my birthday?"
I honestly froze when I saw Moeka-chan’s message. When did she find out?
But—it made me really happy too. I don’t think I’ve had a birthday party since kindergarten.
Even though my reply was late, her next message came instantly.
"Hehehe, that’s because~ Ayumi-chan, you registered your birthday in your profile on this app!"
…Profile?
Even after she said it, it didn’t click.
"You filled it out when you first signed up, remember? With the public/private settings and all."
Maybe she could tell I still wasn’t following, because she clarified even further.
Now that she mentions it, I do vaguely remember setting something like that. I probably made my birthday public since I didn’t think it mattered.
"So, what do you think? I want to throw a birthday party—would that be okay?"
She was planning to invite Sakurako-chan, Yoshino-san, and Aika-chan, and have a girls-only outing somewhere. It sounded like one of those “let’s use the excuse to hang out together!” kind of events.
But since I’ve always only celebrated with my family, just being able to spend time with everyone felt fresh and exciting. Of course, I love when my family celebrates me too.
Ryoji knows my birthday, but we’ve never done anything special. Well, until last year I was still a boy, and celebrating a birthday with two guys felt… weird, I guess.
So… what about this year now that I’m a girl? I can’t help wondering if things will be different.
Even though I’m living as a girl now, I’m not sure how Ryoji actually sees me. I can decide to live this way, but that doesn’t automatically change how others feel.
Aoi-kun… probably doesn’t know my birthday. He doesn’t use the same messenger app, so he couldn’t find it the way Moeka-chan did. If he knew… would he celebrate it?
…Oops. I’d gotten lost in thought and still hadn’t replied to Moeka-chan.
"Yes, I’d love to go!"
I sent my honest feelings.
"Okay then, see you tomorrow!"
After confirming the time and meeting spot, I locked my phone.
I never imagined everyone would celebrate my birthday. The unexpected surprise made me so happy that I grabbed a stuffed animal from my bed and rolled around hugging it.
Tomorrow is my birthday celebration—but I’d love to celebrate everyone else’s birthdays too.
Speaking of which… when are everyone’s birthdays? It’s already August, a third of the year gone. It wouldn’t be surprising if some already passed.
I know Ryoji’s; his is next month. But I don’t know the others’.
Using the same method Moeka-chan used, I checked if their birthdays were visible.
Oh—they all have theirs set to public.
Looks like both Sakurako-chan and Moeka-chan’s birthdays are still a while away. Good. That means I can celebrate theirs too. …Ah, Tōgo’s already passed. I’ll have to celebrate with him during someone else’s party. Maybe with Ryoji…
"Ayu-nee-chan, you’re in an unusually good mood today."
Kanon, who had come to hang out in my room, looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Guess what? Everyone’s going to celebrate my birthday tomorrow♪"
"What!? Up until now it was just family celebrating! Aww man, I thought I’d finally get to have Ayu-nee-chan’s birthday all to myself…"
Well, Dad and Mom are around, so it wouldn’t really be “all to himself.”
He’s an elementary schooler, so… maybe I shouldn’t take it too seriously.
"W–wait, you’re not gonna go on another date alone with some guy again, right!? I don’t approve of sketchy men whose background I don’t know!"
"Kanon, what are you to me…"
If Dad said that, maybe I’d get it. But my little brother? Really?
"Besides, Aoi-kun and I aren’t like that! We’re just friends!"
"You say it so firmly it makes me want to feel bad for the guy."
No no no! Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t approve of any “random guy” a second ago!? Why are you suddenly on the guy’s side!?
Kanon shook his head at me.
What is that “good grief, honestly” face supposed to be!? I’m being completely looked down on by my elementary-school brother. Any dignity I might’ve had is doing absolutely no work.
"Well, if Ayu-nee-chan says so, I guess it’s fine. As long as you play with me a lot, that’s all that matters!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"So don’t go on too many dates, okay?"
"…I told you, it wasn’t a date!"
Though… objectively speaking, would that outing with Aoi-kun count as a date?
Probably. We went out to eat together, just the two of us, and even watched a movie. It was fun, but thinking back on it… I did a lot of embarrassing things, and showed him plenty of sloppy sides of me. I even grabbed his hand without realizing…
Next time, I hope I can act a little more composed.
"Ayu-nee-chan! Stop going into maiden-mode and play already!"
"Eh!? Ah, yeah."
I wonder what kind of face I’d been making.
Kanon urged me, so I powered on the game console and sat down beside him.
"Let’s celebrate your birthday with the family too, okay?"
He muttered that with a slightly lonely expression.
Since I’ve been spending more time with friends, maybe I haven’t been with him as much. Maybe that’s why he feels left out.
So I answered with a smile.
"Yeah. Of course."
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.