Takataka's Birthday Party

“Happy birthday!”

The sounds of party blowers and clapping resonated throughout the room, with one party blower lasting a little longer than the others before the user of the blower was told to stop.
“For God’s sake, Yuu. Stop that.” Iori stated, facepalming at what he just witnessed.
“No!! Iori, don’t use the Lord’s name in vain!” Nerisu retorted, puffing her cheeks.
“Okay, fine. For heaven’s sake, Yuu. Stop that.” He corrected his sentence, to make Nerisu happy.
“Yay! Thank you, Iori!” Nerisu replied, bouncing for a short period of time.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” He responded, smiling gently at her. Takataka was in awe of what just happened, he was really, really happy.
“Thank you, all! I can’t believe I turn seventeen today! Dimension Ripper the Seventh has aged another year, another year of fighting evil to save everyone!” He looked very… tearful. As if he had witnessed a reunion for a bunch of friends that hadn’t hung out in a long time. That was the sort of feeling you got from him once you took a look at his current state.
“Oh! Don’t forget your gifts, Takataka!” Nerisu said as she started handing her blue and green, handwrapped present to him. The others followed suit, with a variety of gifts being lined up to be given to Takataka.
“Ehehe~ I think you’ll really enjoy this!” She watched him open the gift, and what was revealed was a Savephone Delta. It was like a hybrid of the iOS and Android systems, with the complexity of the Android along with features that allowed it to turn simplistic, like an iOS system. This meant that you were able to even download all sorts of files and open them using various applications. The Savephone had been out for about 20 years now, starting with the Savephone Alpha, which has been rendered defunct for quite a long time now. The Savephone Delta has been around for a couple of years now, and was due for an upgrade in the next couple, too. If Takataka ever needed to replace his, Nerisu would gladly buy him a new Savephone Epsilon (leaked name) if he wanted one.
“Uwooooh! Thank you very much, Nerisu!” Takataka was beaming, he had always wanted a new phone and this was more popular than the iOS and Android brands, which were still going strong. Savephones were originally “brick” phones as well, but changed once Caladria heard about the iOS and Android brands. Anyways, Takataka began customising his phone, he ended up downloading a few applications he had heard of.
“Don’t forget RINE and Friendbook!” Nerisu said, grinning. Takataka downloaded those, too. He also added the gang’s usernames onto his contacts list, and was eventually invited into the chat room where everyone had fun and whatnot. It was dead right now since they were all hanging out in person, though. While he was downloading the other applications, he worked on opening the next gift. It was from Yukino; what was revealed was a small keychain of a busty, mature-looking girl. She had long, black hair in a ponytail with standard bangs. Her breasts were big, just as big as Nerisu’s. She was wearing a white top that revealed her shoulders along with dark blue shorts that looked as if they were cut up in a zig zag pattern. She was wielding a bokken, and posing as if she was ready for battle.
“Raika, my love!!” Takataka loved this gift as well, as Raika was his favourite character from Destroyers of Darkness. “Thank you. Yukino!” He said, smiling widely at her.
“You’re welcome, Takataka~ I knew it was perfect for you~” Yukino replied, smiling gently at him.
“You know, if I didn’t think about getting him a phone, I would’ve drawn some fanart of Raika for him!” Nerisu chirped, joining in when she realises that would’ve been way cheaper.
“You can always do that for the next celebration of my birth, Tornado Terror!” Takataka activated chuuni mode as he said this, clearly.
“Okay! Understood, Takataka!” Nerisu replied, looking as if she was saluting him for him some reason.
Next up was Yuu’s gift. This looked like a tall object, and given Takataka’s interests, it was easy to see what it could be. Takataka opened it up, and what was revealed was a shiny new sword, it looked like one you would see in an action or JRPG game, or in a movie.
“Yes! Finally, the replacement of Balmung II KAI NI; now named Rift Shaker the Third, has been bestowed upon myself by Sunlight Shaker the Fifth! I thank you humbly for this gift you have presented to me!” Takataka burst out, in his chuuni mode as he looked at Yuu with stars in his eyes.
“Fufufu, it is no problem, Sword Shifter! For it is only natural for myself to gift my fellow comrade in ridding the world of evil!” The two started laughing heartily, as if they were bar drunks who were rather tipsy.
“Okay, time for Mizu’s gift!” Takataka looked at the medium sized gift that was gift wrapped in an aqua print gift wrapping paper, as expected of someone of the Mizuno family, and opened it instantly. What was revealed was the seventh volume of Destroyers of Darkness, only released a month ago or so.
“Oh! You remembered when I said that I couldn’t afford the latest volume! Wow, I was looking forward to this so much, that I reread and rewatched the entire series in light novel, manga and anime form because I was really missing out on it! Thank you so much, Aqueous Annihilator!”
“It is not a problem, Takataka. You are a good friend of mine, after all.” A small, rare smile was seen appearing on Mizuki’s face, as she looked over at Takataka being extremely happy. Who quickly rushed into his small room, with a rather large bookshelf considering the room’s size, and put it next to the other volumes of Destroyers of Darkness in chronological order. Shortly afterwards, he returned to the lounge room where everyone else was still there. While Takataka was putting his volume away, Nerisu gifted him stickers on RINE of chuunibyou stickers, Destroyers of Darkness stickers and other anime stickers he would enjoy.
“Thanks, Nerisu! Now I can express my true feelings with these lovely stickers!” He announced as he received notifications for them, and downloaded them immediately. To demonstrate this, he used a sticker of Destroyers of Darkness protagonist Haleister giving a thumbs up emoticon. He was an elf, so he had elf ears along with short, black hair that made him resemble Takataka himself. He was wearing a red star shirt, which made him look rather modern. Takataka was a big fan of the character, he was one of his favourite protagonists, and if he was into the whole identifying as non humans culture, he would certainly identify as him.
However, shortly after this happened, Yukino would send a drawing of Mariel, another Destroyers of Darkness character having sex in the missionary position with Haleister. Mariel was a red haired girl with it flowing down to her arms, with a medium sized bust and hips. There was a convenient censor meaning that the actual act of penetration wasn’t showing, but Mariel sure looked happy about the experience.
“Y-Yukino! W-Why did you send that!?” Nerisu typed into the chat, looking shocked as she blushed wildly at seeing this pornographic piece of work.
“Man, I haven’t been going on porn searches lately. Adding this to my collection.” Yuu typed, with a perverted grin.
“Oh my god.” Takataka added with no capitalisation or punctuation, he was just blushing like Nerisu was.
“Why.” Mizuki responded, not really showing a reaction like always to antics like this.
“Ah~ It’s my second present for Takataka~” Yukino said, gently smiling at her phone as she typed this. “Besides, it helped increase Yuu-kun’s collection, so I’m happy~”
“Well… You could’ve sent it to him privately…” Nerisu added, puffing her cheeks a little. “But whatever, it’s fine now.”
“I’ll bring the cake out now!” Takataka said as he went to go and get the dark chocolate cake with vanilla icing that he baked earlier for the party. He picked it up and brought it over to the table in the lounge room, and placed it near the end of the right side. Slowly adding candles, he put seventeen of them on as he got out a lighter and lit them all up, they illuminated a small part of the area in the daytime.
“Hey, Takataka! What’s your birthday wish going to be?” Nerisu asked, tilting her head.
“Haha! I will tell you after I extinguish these candles with my breath!” He announced as everyone began singing happy birthday to him, blowing them all out in one go afterwards. After a short period of time where he closed his eyes and thought, he suddenly announced his one wish.
“I wish to obtain a sexy, big breasted oneesan waifu in this real world that we currently live in!”
As his voice echoed throughout the room, there was no response given. Everyone just sort of stared at him, the silence was enough to make it seem like a tumbleweed was rolling across the room. After a while, Mizuki spoke up.
“I am not surprised by this.” Was all she said.
Despite the silence, Takataka began slicing up several pieces of cake for everyone after removing the candles, and placing them onto different plates, with forks and spoons. They were all white, like porcelain. He made sure to give Nerisu a large piece, while the rest were average sized since they didn’t have a ravenous appetite like she did. Everyone received their pieces, and they started getting into the food after sitting down at the rather large table. For all of them, it tasted really good, like the usual cake you get at the markets. It had a rich taste of dark chocolate, combined with vanilla flavoured icing on the top. Takataka chose dark chocolate since it was healthier than milk chocolate, Nerisu was also a fan of it, too.
While they were eating, as Iori was about to shove a piece of cake into his mouth until Yukino went over to him and gently took his arm, redirecting his spoon to Nerisu’s mouth.
“Say ahh, Nerisu-chan~” Yukino said as Nerisu opened her mouth, before Iori suddenly jerked his hand back away from Nerisu’s mouth with a blank expression on his face. As Iori slowly turned to look at Yukino, before putting his spoon in his mouth with a satisfied expression, Yukino slowly returned to her seat while sighing.
“Aww… You ruined my fun, Iori-kun…” Yukino stated, looking rather sad.
“Yukino... We’re not really a romantic sort of group. If you want to play matchmaker, leave it to other groups instead.” Iori simply replied, continuing to eat his cake.
“That’s considered romantic? How so?” Said the dense Nerisu, who was an idiot when it came to romance in general, or sexual things.
“Well, it’s an indirect kiss.” Iori explained. “It means that our lips would have touched indirectly due to my saliva being on the spoon.”
“H-Huh!? I-I could never do that with anyone here! I’m not really looking for a boyfriend…” Nerisu burst out loud, feeling embarrassed that Yukino tried to do that to her. “Gosh, Yukino! I like you a lot, but doing things like this is awful!” She puffed her cheeks, looking like a child.
“Sorry, sorry, Nerisu-chan~ I can’t help it, you and Iori-kun look so good together!” She said as she smiled at the two of them.
“I don’t have romantic or sexual feelings for Nerisu.” Iori flatly stated as he looked at Yukino, narrowing his eyes as he did so.
“Oh well, it was worth a try at least~” Yukino replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“Considering that you were probably thinking about Takataka and Mizuki too, what do they have to say about this?” Iori questioned, looking over at the two of them.
“A hero may attract women, but I have no interest in Mizu at all!” Takataka replied, still eating his cake.
“I have no interest in Takataka either.” Mizuki replied, still eating her cake slowly.
“A group with no romantic tension… How disappointing…” Was all Yukino could say as she finished off her cake, sighing once again.
Everyone just shrugged their shoulders and finished off eating, which made Takataka stand up and ask everyone a question.
“Did everyone bring their swimsuits like I told you all to? We’re going swimming!” He said as he looked out at his black 4WD.
“Oh! I did, I did!” Nerisu announced while everyone else nodded. “But, it’s such a shame Nanaka didn’t get to come! She would’ve loved this, I bet!”
“I know! I mean, she’s busy with her royal duties, isn’t she? As the princess of Werethia.”
“That’s right! And she’s come to every birthday party of yours so far! Well, I guess her streak was broken this year!”
All of this talk about Nanaka, full name Nanaka Matsurida, reminded Takataka of a memory from one of his birthday parties in the past. It was one that he remembered oh so clearly.

Last winter was a snowy one, so Takataka was expecting people to be delayed, even with Caladria’s advanced technology. Nanaka had yet to arrive, so while the rest of the group was making small talk, Takataka paced around the entrance.
“Sound Seven still hasn’t made her appearance… The snow is a truly formidable enemy, indeed.”
Nerisu looked at her phone, scrolling through her conversation history with Nanaka. “She said she’d be here soon, though. I wonder what’s the delay.”
“Maybe she’s wrapped up in some family plot right now~” Yukino said, giggling to herself.
“I would think she is too young to be of any use in a government conspiracy,” Mizuki replied. “Besides, she is likely late due to traffic. Werethia is pretty far from here.”
Just when she said that, the group heard a knock at the door. It was hard to make out who it was due to the snow, but there were only so many people who’d try to make it in this weather. Takataka opened the door to find two women covered head to toe in snowflakes. The taller one had a lean figure, her ruby-red eyes and black hair peeking out in between her knit cap and muffler. She was wearing a stylish black coat and leather gloves, and she held a large white box. The shorter one had similar red eyes, but she had waist-length pink hair, all let down. She was wearing a poofy beige coat with fuzzy trimming, as well as cute cat earmuffs, and in her hands was a pink gift bag. It was easily the size of her torso, and about half as wide.
“Nanaka!” Takataka yelled, looking down with his arms outstretched for a hug.
“Takataka!” Nanaka, the shorter girl, dropped her gift and leapt into Takataka’s arms, forgetting she just came from outside. So just as she hugged him, the snow melted right off, leaving both of them wet.
“What’s the box for, Seiko?” Nerisu asked the taller woman, who was drying herself off.
“This? Oh, consider it a gift from both of us. Would you mind taking it to the kitchen?”
“You won’t be staying?”
“I got band practice later today, and all this snow is already a pain to drive through.” Seiko handed over the box to Nerisu. Nerisu almost dropped it, expecting the box to be about half as light, but she managed to lay it on the kitchen counter without much difficulty afterwards.
“You be good now, you hear?” Seiko asked Nanaka, petting her head. “If I can’t pick you up, call Patricia. It’ll be kinda flashy, but I don’t wanna bother these guys too much.” With that, she pulled out what appeared to be car keys, pressing a button on them. In an instant, she had on a bright right motorcycle helmet, and an engine roared behind her. “Alright, I’ll see you kids later!” She gave the group a two-finger salute before walking away, her black coat flapping in the wind.
“Just what I would expect from Sound Seven! Even in dire times, you’ve provided us with heavenly provisions,” Takataka said. He was, of course, referring to the white box in the kitchen.
Nanaka nodded as she took off all her winter gear. “Yep! It’s a super-special order this time, so I hope you like it!” Underneath her coat, she had on a sleeveless white dress with a blue flower print on the bottom, as well as black leggings. Like a young rabbit, she skipped over to the kitchen, circling around her present.
“Come on, open it, open it!” Nanaka yelled, waving over to Nerisu and friends.
“Haaah… It’s a good thing we already opened the rest of your gifts, huh, Takataka?” Iori asked.
Takataka jutted out his chest, placing his right hand over it as he faced both Iori and Nanaka. “Indeed! Although we have yet to indulge in our holy offering (he means his birthday cake), and breaking the ritual would mean-”
Staaaaaaare.
Nanaka was boring a hole into him with those ruby eyes of hers.
“... Breaking the ritual it is, then!” Takataka carefully opened the box to find a massive cake-sized pudding on a plate, decorated with copious amounts of whipped cream and chocolate. There were little candy devil wings and a tail attached to it, and looking on one side, he could see a cheeky grin on it. Taking a good look at it, it almost reminded him of Nanaka.
“This is… It can’t be!” Takataka and Yuu yelled in unison.
Nanaka crossed her arms, smirking. “Wahahaha, it is! The Demon King Pudding, sold only during the Amagawa Bakery’s collaboration cafe with Monster Girl Mansion!”
Monster Girl Mansion is a fairly popular mobile game in Caladria, where the player raises a house full of stray monster girls and has them participate in contests to keep the mansion running. It recently got an anime, so even those who’ve never played the game have fallen in love with some of the cute and curvaceous character designs, Takataka included. The Demon King Pudding is an item associated with the series’s main antagonist, Aiseria. She’s selfish, ambitious, and of course, she has big breasts.
“The Aiseria plate’s down there too, of course,” Nanaka added.
“Gulp,” Takataka said out loud. “We… We have to eat it right away! Before it goes bad!” He snatched a paper plate and cutlery and grabbed the biggest piece he could manage. Most of the others did the same, although Nerisu and Nanaka made sure to take smaller portions than normal in case the others wanted seconds.
“Oh yeah, didn’t the cafe event end a while ago?” Nerisu asked in between bits of pudding.
“Yeah, but we got to pull a few strings. I asked Oneechan for help with Takataka’s present, and she said, ‘I bet he’s into that pervy shit, so let’s get him something like that.’”
“Eh…? I-I guess Seiko’s right, but she shouldn’t be saying stuff like that around you!”
“Why not? If you’re talking about the swears, I already know about all that stuff!” Nanaka wiped her mouth with a napkin before jerking her hand down. “Ah-! That reminds me, he’s gotta open my other present, too!” She gobbled down the rest of her pudding before making her way back to Takataka, massive pink bag in hand. “Open this one now!”
“Hoooh?” Takataka brought his hand over his face, grinning maniacally. “Ufufufu… Spirits of Ragnarok, grant me your power! I shall unseal the ancient demon that lurks within this box!” He dramatically tossed away the wrapping paper, eventually seeing the black box inside. He lifted it up, and…
“OH MY GOD!” Yuu yelled.
“Language!” Nerisu yelled back.
Takataka looked up to see what it was, and it took him all his willpower not to yell out too. It was a limited-edition figure of Aiseria, wearing nothing but loose-fitting pyjamas as she reclined in a beanbag covered with all manner of sweets. Pictures of it circulated around the internet since its reveal during the recent MagiFes, but having it in his hands just felt so surreal. Her lovingly sculpted body… Her innovative SoftTouch breasts… They were all his to own.
“Takataka.” Yuu stepped up to the dumbfounded chuuni. “Let me have your plate.”
“Huh? But I just threw it away-”
“The Aiseria plate! This isn’t fair… I know it's your birthday, but this is just too good for you! I like Aiseria more than you do, anyways!”
“I refuse!” Takataka stood with his legs at shoulder width and his arms crossed. “These were bestowed by the Gods themselves! To give them away would be to reject the divine!”
“Hmph! You know I can reject Fate itself, do you not?”
Neither of them wanted to give up, but neither of them progressed beyond flashy proclamations.
Grumbling, Nanaka stomped in between the two, spreading her arms and pushing Takataka and Yuu apart. “You guys! If you wanna get that plate that badly, you’re gonna have to get it like men! And there’s nothin’ manlier than a duel to the death!”
Nerisu stood up, nearly dropping her plate. “T-To the death!? Nanaka, isn’t that too much-”
“Fuhahaha! Excellent idea, Sound Seven! There’s no better way to prove my worth than with a battle!” Takataka gently moved Nanaka’s hand out of the way before pointing dramatically at Yuu. “Let us battle on the bank of Cocytus!” As he proclaimed that, he pointed dramatically to his backyard.
“Bring it on!” Yuu replied, sidestepping away from Nanaka’s arm before pointing back. “We won’t need our weapons, the terrain is more than enough!”
“Wow~ So exciting, we should all watch them!” Yukino said, a hand on her cheek.
“And meanwhile, I’ll be joining in,” Nanaka said. She finally lowered her arms down before making her way to the backyard. “If neither of you can defeat me, I’ll have to take that plate back! Now onward!”
After everyone put on their coats and boots again, they headed to Takataka’s backyard, where him, Yuu, and Nanaka began their snowball fight. Since Nanaka was a lot younger than them, they threw a lot less snowballs at her at first. Nanaka was a pretty quick dodger, though, so the two guys ended up having to team up on her. In the meanwhile, Nerisu and Mizuki decided to build a snowman in the corner of Takataka’s yard while Yukino and Iori sat back and watched everyone. About an hour passed, and everyone decided they’d had their fill of the cold, so they went back inside.
“And the winner is… me!” Nanaka yelled, shaking herself off like a dog.
“No fair, you used your powers!” Takataka said, so exhausted he slipped out of chuuni mode.
“So? You coulda used your Blade of Ragnarok if you really wanted to. You two decided on those handicaps yourselves.”
“True…” Takataka took a deep sigh. “You truly are a formidable opponent.”
“Right~? Anyways, it was your gift in the first place, so I’m giving it back to you.”
“Really!? Then I shall gladly accept it!”
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as the group switched between watching anime and playing board games. They tried to keep things age-appropriate for Nanaka, though she assured everyone she could watch stuff like Monster Girl Mansion. Nerisu and Takataka took turns shielding Nanaka’s eyes during the more risque parts as a compromise.

So, everyone brought their swimsuits in small carry bags they had with them in the house, which weren’t mentioned possibly to make sure that the swimming is a surprise, and they all got into Takataka’s four-wheel drive which housed quite a few people. Yuu was in the front seat, while the other four were sitting in the back seats, though there were about seven seats in total. In the middle seats, from left to right was Yukino, Iori and Nerisu. Mizuki took a seat in the back, by herself. Yuu was singing theme songs to action oriented anime with Takataka, and Nerisu sometimes joined in when they were singing to ones that she liked a lot.
“Does anyone here listen to the radio?” Nerisu asked, looking around at the others as she waited for their responses. The only one who said that they do was Mizuki, and she said she mainly uses it for music. “Oh! My mother loves old fashioned technology, so she listens to the radio a lot! We have a room full of old devices from Earth, I should show it to all of you sometime!”
“Sure, Nerisu. Watch out, Yukino might say that the radio waves are getting to her brain! Maybe you should get her a tin foil hat!” Iori joked, talking about how tin foil hats were basically a thing. This was because Yukino had talked about it before in the past, how she knew some people who believed it was a thing.
“Wow, Iori-kun~ Well, I don’t believe it, but you never know~” Yukino replied, she didn’t expect Iori to make that joke at all. But it was understandable, she thought.
Eventually, the ride ended and they arrived, prompting them all to get out of the car with their bags in tow. The swimming pool was a large place, there were multiple pools; one for children, and two others for all kinds of swimmers. It was the last day before they would close until Spring, so Takataka was happy to hear about it. It was fairly unusual since most would close right before the start of Winter, but regardless, it just happened.
“Alright! We’ll be going to the changing rooms now!” Yuu called out to the girls, heading to the male’s changing rooms with Iori and Takataka. The girls went to the female’s changing rooms too, and it was a pretty big place. The same went for the male’s changing rooms. They both shared stalls, mirrors and benches that were scattered all over. There were a couple of showers as well, about five of them.
“Usually, in a romance anime, this would be a great way to make romantic developments happen~” Yukino said, changing into her swimsuit.
“Oh, you’re right! I’m looking forward to going on the big water slide they have here, though! I love those!” Nerisu chirped, smiling widely as she changed.
Mizuki didn’t talk, she was busy getting changed.
All of the group eventually finished getting changed, and they exited the changing rooms with their swimsuits on. They met at one of the big pools, where there was a lot of space for swimming with no lanes, unlike the other one that was just as big.
Nerisu wore a red and white two piece with two layers, the one on top being red and the other being white. The lower half was red and white was well, with the white being on the sides and the red in the middle. Mizuki was wearing a frilly white two piece, and Yukino wore a dark blue school swimsuit. Takataka wore some rather short shorts that were black, Iori wore longer ones that were dark blue and Yuu wore a black speedo. No one reacted to it since they were used to him wearing it, but Iori did question why he wore that. When asked, he was told it was to attract women, and Iori just said he was repulsing them instead.
Normally Nerisu would jump right in first, but she had a plan up her sleeve. She waited for everyone else to get in; Iori and Yuu jumped in normally, Takataka sat on the edge with Mizuki and slowly got in while Yukino just sat on the edge for now. When Iori was in, Nerisu jumped up in the air, and using her windy powers, she accelerated straight towards his face and landed on him, crotch first. She did that because she thought it was funny. Iori was pushed back into the water, and quickly swam back up to the surface as he found himself underwater.
“Nerisu! Why did you do that!?” Iori exclaimed, not pleased with how she full on attacked him, and we’re not going to think about how she did it with her crotch…
“Ehehe~ Because I wanted to! I thought it would be funny, seeing you like that!” Was all she said, with a grin on her face.
Iori sighed. Sometimes Nerisu did some stupid things, but in the end, he couldn’t help but forgive her. “Alright, fine. Try not to inconvenience others with idiocy, alright?
“Gosh~ You make it sound like I always do dumb things to other people!” Nerisu puffed her cheeks, and then quickly swam away from him to the deep end of the pool. Iori sighed, and knew she would go back to being bubbly sooner or later, so he floated in the water.
Everyone swam around, using freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and even Mizuki did the butterfly at one point, to show everyone how it’s done. They all clapped, as Mizuki was an olympic level swimmer, but she only wanted to swim for fun despite being told she should pursue swimming even further. Even if she could participate in the Olympics, she wasn’t the best.
Over near the entrance of the pool, where the kiosk was, there was a large water slide that even did a loop. It wasn’t like a slide which only went one way down, it felt more like a mini rollercoaster ride as there were quite a few loops.
“Check out the slide!” Yuu exclaimed as he redirected everyone’s attention down to the water slide, and they all stared at it.
“Oh! We should all go on it together!!” Nerisu shouted, bouncing in the water as she floated out and landed on the ground, starting to run over there.
“I do not see why not.” Mizuki followed Nerisu, and the rest followed suit. There was a big line, but they all managed to get to the top as they loomed over the ground thanks to the large foundation. Six people was the maximum amount of people for one go, so they all went in the order from front to back: Takataka, Yuu, Iori, Yukino, Nerisu and Mizuki. They held onto each other’s backs and were sent off down the slide. The loops were exciting, the ride as a whole was a lot of fun. A lot of screaming came from everyone except Mizuki, who kept quiet and only had a small smile on her face as they went down. When they reached the bottom, a big splash was heard as they all fell into the pool, with laughter roaring as they swam to get out of the pool.
“Yay, yay! That was so much fun!!” Nerisu was bouncing like always, a sign of excitement for her, with everyone else nodding.
“It’s more advanced than your usual water slide!” Takataka added, a smile on his face.
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we should do something else! Like watermelon smashing!” Yuu joined in, which made the others look around.
“We don’t… have a watermelon, though.” Iori replied, sighing. What caught his eyes was a small stand that sold watermelons, along with bats to hit them with. “...On second thought, nevermind. There’s a stand that sells them over there.” Iori looked over at the stand, and Nerisu quickly rushed over to her wallet in her bag and bought a watermelon with a bat. “They give you a free blindfold, too!” She exclaimed as she carried the watermelon and went over to the grass, an area where no one was surrounding them. She placed it down, and held onto the bat.
“My turn, my turn! I want to go first!” Nerisu childishly exclaimed, jumping up and down.
“Alright. We’ll go in the order of you, Mizuki, Takataka, Yukino, Yuu and I.” Iori replied, smiling at Nerisu.
Knowing that her photographic memory that would allow her to remember where the watermelon was is a way to cheat, she quickly forgot by focusing on it for a moment (even though that’s not how brains work) and forgot about where it was as she closed her eyes.
“Don’t worry Nerisu-chan, I’ll help you out!” Yuu said with a smirk across his face, Iori had a feeling that it wasn’t a good sign at all.
“Oh, yay! Thank you, Yuu!” Nerisu replied, her eyes closed as they didn’t have a blindfold nearby. It was highly unlikely for her to open them up unless something were to happen. Nerisu walked over in front of the group, only stopping when they told her to. She was now ready to take directions from Yuu, who had an idea in mind. Only he knew what it was.
“Okay, take one step to the left…” He would say, and he was actually leading Nerisu over to the watermelon for a bit.
“One step back, one step back again, now to your left…” Something was wrong. He was now leading her back to the group, and towards one of the people in particular.
Eventually, she found herself behind Takataka, and that’s when Yuu told her to use the bat.
“Now, hit it!”
Takataka, noticing that Nerisu was behind him, quickly caught the bat as it was about to hit him over the head.
“Huh!? W-Who is that?” Nerisu asked, closing her eyes and looking at Takataka facing Yuu as she retracted the bat.
“Yuu! What was that for!?” Takataka yelled out, mad that Yuu was about to get Nerisu to hit him on the head with a bat meant for a watermelon.
“The Aiseria plate! You never gave it to me!” He replied, looking rather peeved off. He really did love Aiseria, just like Takataka did. He was envious that he had a friend like Nanaka who would give him such a gift. Especially since it was limited edition, he would never be able to get that, even Nerisu wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
“Someone will probably sell it on BuyNow…” Was all Takataka could say as he frowned. He didn’t like this side of Yuu a lot, and it was certainly a bit of a party ruiner. Just because of his envy due to not owning another piece of Aiseria merchandise.
“W-Well!” Yuu sighed, he realised that what he did was wrong and that he shouldn’t have lashed out on Takataka over envy. “I’m sorry, Takataka. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ll try to control my anger next time.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it! You’ll be able to get more Aiseria merchandise soon!” Takataka tried to be optimistic about the whole situation, and gave a thumbs up.
“Thanks.” Yuu said with a smile.
“Phew!” Nerisu was thankful that the two worked out their differences.
“It is my turn.” Mizuki popped up as she closed her eyes and grabbed the bat from Nerisu’s hands, making her realise that it was indeed her turn.
“Oh, that’s right! I’ll be helping Mizuki out!” Nerisu replied, glaring at Yuu as he looked guilty.
Nerisu then spent some time helping Mizuki get to the watermelon. However, just as she was about to smash it, a little kid was walking past. After Mizuki hit the watermelon with all of her strength, which was quite a lot I might add, the pieces went flying everywhere and most of them landed on the kid. He was soaked in watermelon, and didn’t look that surprised.
“Ah… You will be alright…” Mizuki attempted to assure him it would be okay, but failed at doing so, until he suddenly jumped into the pool without a second to spare. He was completely clean now, and it just surprised everybody.
“That was indeed a good way to end our time of bathing in water!” Takataka announced, satisfied with today despite the fact he nearly got hit on the head with a bat out of jealousy. “We can all leave now, and do what we need to do!”
With that now said, everyone showered and got changed into their regular clothes and called their parents up, unless they were Takataka. He simply drove back to his place and packed up the lounge room that was also a dining room, and thought about what a great birthday it was. Still just as good as the others, despite Nanaka not making her appearance. Everyone talked on RINE and spent the rest of the night having lots of fun, filled with laughs.