Tako Time

Chapter 6: Surprise

It was officially the best time of the year. Not only was it your favourite season, your birthday was approaching. This year, however, did not feel as exciting as usually. Mainly because your HoloMyth friends were avoiding you. They wouldn't answer calls, respond to direct messages, nothing.

The withdrawal of your new, close friends did not make you very happy. What did make you happy, was them inviting you over to Ina's house on your birthday, which was now a few days away. You didn't ask why it was Ina's house that you were invited to, you were just happy to be remembered.

On the morning of your birthday, you decided to sleep in. At first, this seemed like a relaxing way to start the day. Until you remembered that you were supposed to be at Ina's house by 10. This was a problem because that was an hour before you usually wake up after sleeping in.

After an unfortunately stressful start, you were on your way to Ina's house. It would take you a while to get there so you decided to think about the things you would ask them. This only reminded you of how sad you were that your friends had ignored you for the past couple weeks so you started thinking about other things.

These things included what you were going to do when you got home, if you would do a birthday stream and other similar stuff. You were so deep in thought that you walked right passed Ina's house. And kept walking. Until you reached the end of the street. Realising where you were, you rushed back to where you were supposed to be.

You were about to ring the doorbell when a sudden wave of nervousness washed over you. For no apparent reason. Trying to calm yourself down, you leaned against the wall. Unfortunately for your nerves, the part of wall you decided to lean on was not, in fact, wall. It was the doorbell.

'Come in,' a voice called out from the other side of the door. Despite the nerves, you opened the door and was greeted with a, 'Happy birthday!' This was followed by something colliding with you. And this was followed by another impact.

When you were finally able to process the events unfolding before your eyes, you found yourself filled with joy. Ina and Amelia were holding a messily written 'happy birthday' sign, Gura and Kiara had caught you in a tight embrace and Calli was trying to free you.

Fortunately for your lungs, Gura and Kiara let you go. This did two things for you; you could breathe again and enter Ina's house. The girls led you to the lounge room, which was decorated with streamers and balloons, six party hats lined up on a table.

At the risk of losing your masculinity, you let the tears roll down your face. 'Is something wrong,' Ina asked as the girls panicked.

'No,' you replied. 'I'm just really happy.'

The panic ceased and the girls smiled at you, all five of them giving you a hug at once. You didn't bother wiping the tears away. You wanted them to remind you of the joy you had felt, as this was the most someone other than your own family had cared about you in a long time.

You were having a great time. The girls had put a lot of effort into setting this up. They (Ina) had prepared your favourite foods and they (Amelia) had even found your favourite games. It was now several hours after you had arrived and the six of you were lazing around the lounge room.

This peace was interrupted when Gura randomly announced, 'presents!' The small shark then ran out of the room as the others sighed. Moments later, she returned with several gifts in her arms, threatening to fall onto the floor. After she set them all on the floor, the girls gathered around you, Gura patting the empty spot between her and Ina.

As you joined your friends, Ina handed you one of the presents before Gura could shove hers in your face. You didn't have to read the label to know that the present was from Calli as the wrapping paper was black covered in gold scythes. Carefully, you began unwrapping the small object, which was a small scythe keychain. You said your thanks just as Kiara gave you her present, with a smug expression on her face.

Kiara's gift was a gold rectangle with a magnet in the middle. You then realised that it was upside down and flipped it over. It was actually a KFP name badge with your name on it. You chuckled as you showed it to the girls and they laughed as well.

Next was Amelia's gift. The wrapping paper was covered in yellow moustaches, unsurprisingly. The gift itself was an old fashioned pocket watch, similar to Amelia's. There was one thing you had to know about it. After busting the myth that your new watch could make you travel through time, you moved on to the next present.

Gura's present was the largest, by far. As you opened it, she couldn't resist helping you. When all the wrapping paper had been removed, a large shark plush was lying on the floor in front of you. Now you wouldn't be lonely as you cried yourself to sleep every night had something to help keep your bed warm during winter.

Ina's present was the only one left. The tako herself gave it to you with a warm smile. Her gift was second only to Gura's in size and was suspiciously book-shaped. Thinking that it would be amusing if she had wrapped up AO-chan, you began to unwrap the present. It was, in fact, a book, but not AO-chan.

The book was a sketchbook and flicking through it revealed that it was filled with sketches of the best moments you had or had mentioned on-stream. This must be why she wasn't available for the last few months, even on her birthday. Speaking of her birthday, she hadn't allowed you to visit so you had to mail her your present.

There was everything in the sketchbook, from you leaning close into the microphone when you told chat about the email from YAGOO to the time you found Calli in your freezer. The second last sketch featured Kat sleeping on your lap. This was your favourite until you turned the page to see the final sketch and noticed Ina blushing out the corner of your eye. Ina had drawn the two of you huddling under a blanket, dozing off.

Kiara, having seen the drawing and noticed Ina blushing, removed herself, Calli, Amelia and Gura from the room. As soon as Ina realised they had left, she asked, 'Do you like it, Y/N?' sheepishly.

'Like it? I absolutely love it,' you exclaimed, probably a bit too loudly, as you hugged her. 'Thank you so much, Ina.'