SCIAW: Chapter 377/378

Chapter 377: Handling a Birthday Party Together

"Hayasaka, it seemed like you didn't want me to eat cake just now."

After getting over her anxiety about her figure and weight, Hayasaka realized that Ren seemed to subtly suggest she skip the cake.

"It's not that I didn't want you to eat it. The main issue is, if you eat cake today, you'll probably end up eating it tomorrow, and the day after that too."

"Huh?"

Hayasaka was stunned for a moment before understanding.

"So, other people have birthdays too?"

"Yeah. Yesterday was Miwako's birthday. Today's yours. Tomorrow is Aizawa's, and the day after that is Sonoko's."

He listed off four names in one breath. All of them had birthdays in early April—it felt like some kind of cosmic prank.

Almost like early April was one big April Fool's joke.

But these birthdays weren't jokes.

"You're all bunched together."

Hayasaka hadn't expected to share her birthday with so many people. Then, she caught on to the idea.

"So, Ren, you're planning to gather everyone and celebrate all the birthdays at once?"

"Exactly. Regardless of whose birthday it is, we'd all end up attending anyway. But attending a birthday party three days in a row isn't really practical. So I figured, why not just combine them into one big party?"

A group birthday party? Hayasaka couldn't help but picture everyone gathered together. It would definitely be livelier than expected.

Thinking about it, Hayasaka started to look forward to it.

There had been plenty of times in the past when she couldn't properly celebrate her birthday. But this time, she'd be sharing it with several people. That kind of experience was rare.

"What do you think, Hayasaka?"

Coming back to her senses, Hayasaka nodded slightly.

"A party like that should be really lively. But holding a group birthday party like this takes planning, and we need the right venue. So, Ren, do you already have a place in mind?"

"Actually, Kaguya's place, Nagi's place, and Aizawa's place are all suitable. But if I had to pick one, I'd go with Nagi's."

There were three possible locations, but Ren still believed that Nagi's home was the most appropriate.

"Aizawa has lots of friends in Hakuo, and Nagi does too. Once we invite those friends, it'll be easier to reinforce Nagi's social position."

"As for Kaguya and you—do you two have anyone at Shuchiin you'd actually want to invite, besides Fujiwara?"

Hayasaka thought about it, then sighed.

"Unfortunately, my relationships at Shuchiin are mostly surface-level. I maintain my social network while hiding my identity as Kaguya's maid. Because of that, my public image there is just some flashy girl who likes gossip."

"When it comes to friends, I only have classmates I interact with to maintain my cover. They're not real friends."

"Kaguya's situation is about the same. Shuchiin is like a cage for her. She's too exceptional. Aside from Fujiwara Chika, she doesn't really have close friends."

In short, Hayasaka wasn't going to invite anyone from Shuchiin.

Her so-called classmates were just that—classmates. No one she could genuinely call a friend.

And Hayasaka was also certain that Kaguya would never invite Shirogane from Shuchiin to this birthday party.

If he came, it wouldn't be to celebrate. It'd just stir up unnecessary trouble.

So no one else from Shuchiin would be attending.

Given that, Kaguya's place wasn't a suitable venue.

Aizawa and Nagi had overlapping friend circles, and both had connections in Hakuo. So, the best location would be Nagi's home.

"Yeah, Nagi's house is definitely the best option."

Having reached that conclusion, Hayasaka knew what needed to be done next.

"So, next step is to talk with Nagi?"

"Yeah. Let's contact her and make sure she's awake first."

Hayasaka instinctively glanced at her phone.

7:23 AM. For her, it was already quite late.

Back when she was busier with maid duties, waking up at 5 AM was standard.

But considering today was the weekend and Nagi was only 13, it wasn't strange that she was still asleep at this time.

Ren pulled out his phone and called Nagi.

The line rang for more than 20 seconds before someone finally picked up.

"...Hello… who is it…?"

A groggy Nagi answered, her voice still drowsy.

"It's me, Nagi."

"Mmm… Ren… Hmmm~"

After a long yawn, Nagi's voice became more alert.

"Ah~ You called me so early. What's up?"

"Birthdays. Today is Hayasaka's. Tomorrow is Aizawa's. The day after is Sonoko's."

"...Right, tomorrow's Sakuya's birthday too."

Hearing Sakuya's name seemed to finally wake Nagi up.

She suddenly remembered it was Sakuya's birthday tomorrow. Now that she thought about it, she'd completely forgotten. She hadn't even prepared a gift.

"That's weird… Why didn't Sakuya remind me about her birthday this year?"

Normally, Sakuya would let her know in advance every year. Why didn't she say anything this time?

"Maybe she's been busy lately?"

"And we've been hanging out on weekends a lot lately. Maybe she forgot her own birthday?"

"Hmm… that's possible."

Nagi thought about it carefully. That really seemed like the only explanation. If Sakuya remembered, she would've already sent out invitations.

"So Hayasaka and Suzuki also have birthdays around now? Are you calling to throw a party for them too?"

"Yeah. Hayasaka and I are going to come over first. We'll talk more then."

"Sounds good."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 378: The Person Involved Also Forgot

8:02 AM, at Sanzenin Nagi's home.

"So that's how it is. The three of them have birthdays back to back, just one day apart, so you're planning to celebrate them all together?"

After understanding the situation, Maria also grasped the reason for Ren's visit.

"If that's the case, then it really is a good idea. It's been a while since little Nagi and Miss Isumi left Hakuo, and they haven't had a chance to meet up with their friends from Hakuo. This birthday party is a great opportunity to reconnect~"

Maria believed this birthday party was a timely opportunity.

Even though Nagi had transferred from Hakuo to Teitan High School, that didn't mean she had cut off contact with her old friends. On the contrary, those relationships still needed to be maintained as much as possible.

Nagi still had very few friends she genuinely interacted with. The girl was a homebody. If even her few old friends started drifting away, Maria would truly have something to worry about.

"So, does Miss Hayasaka or Miss Suzuki want to invite any friends to the birthday party?"

"No need for me."

Hayasaka answered directly that she wouldn't be inviting anyone else.

"Shuchiin is a complicated world of fame and status. Aside from Miss Fujiwara Chika, neither Miss Kaguya nor I have anyone we can truly call a close friend."

Maria also had some understanding of Shuchiin's social structure. The distinction between the pureblood and mixed classes at Shuchiin was extremely clear, practically forming the basis for identifying who belonged and who didn't.

While Hakuo had a similar structure, the divide between pure and mixed classes wasn't as severe. There were plenty of students in Hakuo's pure class who weren't particularly sharp but held special statuses. For example, the current student council president at Hakuo wasn't especially talented but held her position through merit and effort.

Hakuo valued status but also placed great importance on ability.

There wasn't as strong a sense of division between the pure and mixed courses. As long as you had some talent and shared topics of interest, friendships between students from both courses weren't uncommon. In fact, there were many such examples.

"As for Sonoko, it's a similar case. The people she's closest to at school are Ran and Kudo Shinichi. Now that Kudo Shinichi has had his… incident, only Ran will be attending the party with her."

Since Sonoko wasn't present at the moment, Ren took the liberty of explaining her situation.

Sonoko and Ran were more like true friends than just classmates.

It was natural to invite friends, but there was no need to go out of the way to invite classmates.

If the goal was to have fun, then there was no reason to bring along classmates to what was meant to be a private gathering. Classmates attending this kind of birthday party would only make the atmosphere awkward and kill the mood.

Ren wasn't new to Teitan High School. Though he didn't pay much attention to Sonoko and Ran's social circles a year ago, they were already popular at school. So even without directly asking around, he had a general idea of how things stood.

And after spending time with them over the past two months, Ren had a clear grasp of it. In school, Ran and Sonoko basically only had each other as true friends. Everyone else was just someone they could chat with casually.

Huh… I didn't expect the one with the most friends to be Nagi. Even Maria hadn't seen that coming.

But upon closer thought, Maria realized it made sense.

A status-driven high school like Shuchiin simply wasn't a place where you could make genuine friends.

As the second daughter of the Suzuki conglomerate, people who approached Sonoko of their own accord were rarely sincere. On top of that, daughters from noble or wealthy families had their own standards for choosing friends. In that context, it was only natural that Sonoko's only real friend was Ran.

In contrast, Hakuo wasn't nearly as overrun by fame and power struggles. Maria was thankful that Nagi had been placed in an environment that matched her status. Her friends weren't entangled with her over interests or conflicts.

If that weren't the case, Maria might have seen Nagi in the same light as Sonoko or Kaguya.

"Then let's schedule the birthday party for tomorrow. I'll leave the guest invitations and preparations to you, Miss Maria."

Please give me flowers

"Of course, no problem."

Maria nodded and agreed to take charge of the party prep.

There was still one day left. Technically, that wasn't too tight of a schedule.

"Nagi-chan, make sure you help with inviting your friends."

"...Fine, fine."

Faced with Maria's gaze, Nagi knew there was no way she could say no. So she pulled out her phone and made a call.

The call connected quickly, but the voice on the other end immediately made Nagi want to hang up.

"Ara ara~ Do you want to hear your big sister's voice?"

Absolutely not!

What Nagi couldn't stand the most was Sakuya's constant chatter. People into manzai routines were overly talkative.

But this also confirmed one thing: Sakuya really had forgotten her own birthday.

"You do realize what day tomorrow is, right? You forgot?"

"Huh? What day is tomorrow?"

Suddenly hearing Nagi's words, Aizawa Sakuya's thoughts paused for a moment.

"You actually forgot your own birthday?"

"Huh?" Aizawa Sakuya was even more confused now. Then she looked at the calendar and finally realized—tomorrow was April 3rd, her birthday.

Her brain had been all over the place lately… Aizawa Sakuya gently slapped her own forehead. She had genuinely forgotten.

Ever since she became a hidden member of the mysterious organization, Sakuya had been focused on understanding the Sequence path and how Nagi obtained her powers.

Although the full picture hadn't unfolded yet, certain facts had already become clear. The key to that path was Ren. Everything revolved around him.

Recently, she had been preoccupied with determining which Sequence she wanted to take. That alone had taken over most of her thoughts, leaving little room for anything else.

Add to that her constant weekend plans for going out… it wasn't surprising she had temporarily forgotten her birthday.

God knows how she managed to forget it was tomorrow.

(To be continued.)