Birthday
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I gotta hand it to that girl. Salt really found a way to keep this surprise party a secret from all of us. Despite the fact that she went and invited the whole village. Pretty impressive that everyone was able to keep us out of the loop.

“Wow, you guys did all this for me?” Saffron says as we walk inside. It’s quite a merry sight, with all the decorations lining the walls. Along with that large table topped with all kinds of food. So this is what a real celebration around here looks like. It’s not as different as you would think compared to back home. I guess birthdays go beyond even universal boundaries.

I chat around with the crowd. It’s sometimes astonishes me how many people here are good friends with Saffron. We always seem to be running into someone that has a story to tell about her whenever we go shopping. They’ve still got plenty as I’m talking with them now. Which makes sense, seeing as for a fair bit of them, they’ve known her for the better part of 20 years, if not more.

“It’s nice to see you again.” I greet the elderly neighbors. They’re definitely the ones I’m most acquainted with in this town. “So how long have you guys been planning this?”

“Ohohoh,” Charles laughs. “Honestly we weren’t planning one until young Salt showed up. Normally, Saffron doesn’t celebrate her birthday, so we didn’t think this year would be any different.” I see, so despite all the kind people here, she never wanted one? No, that can’t be right. She doesn’t look at all unhappy with this, at least, that’s what she looks like right now.

“It always brings a smile to see her so happy, doesn’t it?” Agatha notices me staring. “Hard to believe that she’s turned… Oh, you still haven’t learned of her age yet, have you?” She realizes I’m still ignorant of that fact. Technically speaking, apparently a fair bit of people here have forgotten her age. Which seems to point that it’s a lot higher than what I first imagined.

“No, and I guess I won’t be figuring that out anytime soon.”

“Oh, I’m sure if you paid attention to some of the details. You’d see the answer is closer to you than you think.” She secretly points over to the table with food. Wait a second, it’s not just the table she’s pointing to. The cake... Of course, that’s gotta have her age on it, but there don’t seem to be any candles on it right now.

If there aren’t any candles on it, then they must be somewhere else. The kitchen seems to be the most likely location. I excuse myself from the elderly couple to make my way there. Just a little peek, that’s all I need.

I get inside our elegant, but currently empty kitchen to look around. Let’s see, if I were candles, where would I… Oh, there they are.

It shouldn’t be a big surprise that they’re just laying on top of the counters. They’re supposed to be ready to get so that Salt or whoever can grab them for her to blow them out. Let’s see, there’s a one. Well, I know she’s a lot older than that. So her age ends with a one, this year?

But, next to it is a zero. Again, she’s obviously not ten. And then there’s… Another zero? Well, with these digits, there’s only one possible combination that can actually work.

You can’t honestly expect me to believe she’s 100 years old.

“Alan, what are you doing in here?”

“Ahh!” I get filled with terror hearing Saffrons’ voice behind me. Well, there goes my shot at trying to play it cool and acting like I wasn’t snooping around.

“I heard you came in here.” She eyes me with suspicion considering my reaction. There’s no hope for me now. “What are you hiding there?”

“Well, I was curious about your real age.” I step aside to reveal what I was seeing to her. “So I was looking for the candles for the cake.” Admittedly, I could’ve waited until they brought them out, but I was impatient.

“W-wha?” She gets flustered at seeing them spread out on the counter. Immediately, she pushes past me to pick all of them up. Saffron bashfully looks at me, cradling them in her arms. “So, you know now, don’t you?”

“You’re really in the triple digits now?”

“Aww…” She pouts and looks towards the ground in embarrassment. “I was hoping you’d never find out.” That seems pretty impossible, seeing as we’re celebrating a birthday. Her 100th, to be exact.

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask. “We’re already dating, and that’s, well, it’s not really the weirdest thing about you.” I don’t even know where to begin about all the oddities surrounding her. Her age was one of the last things I was worried about considering the circumstances.

“Well, master told me how it was strange to him how old I was.” While I am saying that I’m cool with her being 100. It is pretty odd when you’re someone like me who’s used to women that are 100 usually being dead. So for it to be a girl that looks younger than me, I can see where he was coming from. “So, I was scared you’d stop wanting to date me because of it.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I give her a pat on the head. “I have no plans of stopping that anytime soon.” Glad that we took care of that little problem. Because it’s now time for everyone to gather at the table to watch Saffron blow out the candles.

We sing a variant of what I assume to be the song they sing for birthdays. It’s nothing like what we got back home, and I’m just mumbling along because I don’t know the words. Hopefully, no one noticed me doing that.

When we’re done singing, she blows out the flames on the candles. Of course, she didn’t do it with her mouth. That girl’s a real showoff as she pulls air out of thin, well, you know. I might add this is after she lights them with her fire magic. Either way, everyone applauds when they’re put out.

I wonder what she wished for? Was it something simple and generic, like good health? Or, did she wish for something that I have no idea about? Is there something that she really, desperately wants?

Announcement
Honestly, I thought that the break would help me out in regards to this story. But I just don't feel the desire to write out compared to my other stories. I'm really sorry, but after the next chapter (Which will be pretty saucy.) updates will most likely become pretty infrequent. There are just too many things for me that I can't keep stretching myself this thin. So please be a little understanding, and I'm sorry for any disappointment.
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