Chapter 16: Is this a birthday!?

I slowly open my eyes…

It’s my birthday today isn’t it?

Well, as long as I have Claire with me, it should be a good day. I roll over to look at where Claire should be sleeping, but there is a note on her pillow.

‘I woke up early to start preparations for today. Please come to father’s mansion at noon, remember to not eat lunch. Maybe skip breakfast too, there will be a lot of food.

P.S. I love you.

P.P.S. sorry I couldn’t be here when you woke up, Hillary actually had to drag me off.

P.P.P.S. see you soon!

P.P.P.P.S. there is no need to dress up, just wear something casual, it is your birthday.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Happy birthday!

Love,

Claire’

Well, a note was left rather than a text message. It always nice to have a hand written note at least.

Well, may as well figure out what my ‘Disciples’ are up to today. They should be practicing the techniques I left them with.

…

“One!”

“Two!”

“Three!”

“Four!”

“Repeat!”

The one was moving their dominant foot forwards the second was jumping and landing on their shoulders, three was continuing the roll to stand back up, and four was turning around to go back the other direction.

There was a group of ten or so people practicing rolls right now. I don’t remember coaching ten people on it… the number I taught was five… why are they multiplying… wait… the only person I recognize in this group of people is the only guy that followed me off the terrace when I started talking to them.

I walk up to him.

“Hey, who are these people, and where are the others?”

“Your student greets his teacher. Firstly, these people are the others that wanted to join, but did not think you would agree to teach, so they didn’t bother camping out like the first of us. To answer your second question, the others are skipping practice to go out and have fun preparing for your party. Speaking of which. Happy birthday teacher.”

“Thanks,” I put my hand on my head and smile wryly, “It’s been a while since I wasn’t busy on my birthday, I’m honestly unsure of what to do until the party starts at noon.”

“May I suggest you just relax teacher? You probably haven’t had much down time as the festival is coming up and you are part of the student council.”

“Thanks…” I frown, “Sorry, I never got your name. You are my most devoted disciple, yet I never bothered learning your name.”

“Do not worry. This lowly student’s name is George Merdos. Please treat me well.”

“You probably already know, but my name is Logan Redwood, I hope you will learn diligently.”

“Yes teacher! I have got these new recruits for now… but we will need your guidance at some point. Also, please forgive the others, it was my idea for them to go and help prepare for your party. Practically half the school is involved. Claire may not actively be the school idol, but she is still looked up to by many of the younger students.”

“Okay.” I start to walk away, “Make sure to work the newbies until they collapse.”

I hear groans from the students that had stopped to listen to our conversation. I laugh to myself as I continue to walk away.

“You heard him! Now we start stamina training! We will run laps around the school!”

““FUUUUUUUCK!!!”” Some of the students fall to their knees as they are told the next item on their list.

…

I wonder how Claire is doing. I really hope this party isn’t too big, I wouldn’t know what to do.

Also, if it’s too big, I will have issues planning hers when it comes along. I might have to get the old man to help me. I know my parents won’t help.

Speaking of my parents… I wonder what they are up to. Are they going to be at my birthday? It doesn’t really matter if they aren’t there. As long as I can spend time with Claire it will be a great birthday to me.

I pull out my phone and look at it.

No new messages.

Boring. Let’s bother Dominic.

The line connects.

“Hey Dominic, watcha up to?”

“Playing games, oh, and happy birthday, I was almost dragged into the set up for the party, I respectfully declined. I was told that it wasn’t starting until noon, so you must be pacing back and forth in your dorm room, am I right?”

“Wrong. I was sitting on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It’s also tiled you know. I almost started to count them, when I thought, ‘Why the fuck is the ceiling tiled too!?’, but I stopped caring about things like that long ago.”

“Wanna play some games?”

“Any new ones?”

“I have a new puzzle, platformer that came out a month ago, its right up your alley.”

“What room are you in?”

“Go down to the end of the hall going away from the terrace, turn left and five doors down on the right, room ‘265’.”

“I’ll be there in a minute or so. Don’t start without me.”

“Too late, I’ve already beat the game. There is a co-op set of levels that I haven’t played though.”

“But you will know how the game plays! Ugh, I’ll be there soon.” I hang up my phone and put on my shoes. Yay! Something to do!

…

“Why are you so damn good at these games Logan!?”

“Games are my childhood! You underestimate me!”

“What!? How did you do that!?” Dominic throws his controller at the ground, frustrated with how I was solving the puzzles in this game.

“This is a sequel to a game I’ve played. Just because it’s a new game with better graphics, it doesn’t mean that the bugs that were in the first game will be any different. The games all use the same base engine. Breaking it is easy once you learn it in another game.”

“Cheater.” Dominic picks his controller back up and continues to try to skip part of the puzzle like I did.

“Using my resources.” I tell him how the glitch works.

“How is this possible with a controller!?”

“It’s just several frame perfect inputs, stop complaining.”

“Normal humans can’t do that you know!? This game runs at 120 frames per second! You have to hit the buttons within a less than 0.0083 second time frame!”

Like that, we waste an hour or so.

“Ugggghhhhh, I’m am so selling this game to you Logan!” Dominic turns off the console.

“Eh? I don’t have the console.” I put the controller on the charging pad.

“Then I’ll sell you mine too. I’m done!”

“Don’t quit! There are still games that you are better than me at. Like fighting games! I suck at those!”

“If you think you suck because you only lost to me at that competition, you should learn common sense! Being second place in a notional level competition is enough of an achievement to get you recruited to professional gaming teams!”

“I see… then how come I was never recruited, nor was I asked to join any teams?”

“Geh…” He looks away, “Umm… I wonder too. Ha… Ha… Ha…”

“That was a very forced laugh.”

“Oh look at the time! You should be going now!” Dominic stands up and literally kicks me out the door to his dorm.

Well… I have thirty minutes… oh… isn’t that how long it takes to get to the mansion on foot!?

Ah! I really do have to go!

Are my clothes fine?

Probably! No time to waste!

…

“Young Master Logan, there is no need to panic. I have transportation for you right here.” Hillary was standing in front of a large black limousine with black tinted windows that were so dark, it was impossible to see through them.

“Thank you so much! I will have to thank you later Hillary.”

“I’d rather you scold me instead Young Master Logan.”

Well… there goes the atmosphere…

Oh well. This is incredible! I can’t believe I get to ride in a limo!

I step into the door of the limo that Hillary had opened for me while saying, “Young Master Logan, please enter.”

I gladly got into the limo… it’s dark… I can’t really see where to sit…

“Please move along the right and sit in the corner.” Hillary tells me where to go. It feels weird for her to tell me what to do, but I don’t complain… I’m oddly excited for this.

I slowly walk to me seat without being able to see anything. I am really glad I don’t start to panic when I’m in the dark without being able to see anything.

I sit in the seat and don’t even bother with the seatbelt because I have a feeling we aren’t going to be moving right away.

“Are you ready Logan?” Hillary asks me after she hears me stop moving.

“Umm… ready for what?”

“This!” I hear Claire’s voice to my right. She jumps on top of me and starts to kiss me. “Happy birthday Logan!”

After Claire finishes kissing me I help her sit beside me. The lights on the interior of the vehicle have now been turned on.

“Thank you Claire. How was your morning? You normally don’t wake up early, so I was slightly surprised to not see you there when I woke up.”

“I’m sorry Logan…” Her head drops slightly.

“No, no. It wasn’t an issue, even just seeing you right now is enough to make this the best birthday I’ve had.”

“Logan…” Claire leans on my shoulder.

“I love you Claire.”

“I love you too Logan.”

Claire and I sit together there and just relax. It was a nice feeling. Just sitting with the person you love without caring for anything else.

“Well… I think I’ve been ignored for long enough.” The old man speaks up.

“Hey, why did you interrupt?” I angrily look at the old man.

“Calm down Logan. You two can do what you want later tonight, but for now, we have to go to the party. Everything is prepared and they are awaiting our arrival.” The old man points to me, “You should probably wear the seat belts now, we now have to drive a bit faster than we would have ten minutes ago compared to when you got in the car.”

I see. I spent ten minutes being close to Claire… time really flies when you are relaxed. I am really looking forward to the party. I have no idea why.

Claire and I buckle up and sit as close as possible to each other while holding hands.

The limo starts to drive at what would maybe be described as high speed.

…

“““HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!”””

A large crowd of people shout as soon as I enter into the old man’s mansion.

A maid walks up to me and hands me a microphone… umm… why?

“It is customary for the main person of the event to give a speech. You don’t really need to say anything in particular. Just introduce yourself, then thank everyone for showing up.” The old man gives me useful advice for once!

I turn on the microphone in my hand and start to talk.

“Hello everyone… my name, as you all probably know, is Logan Redwood. Thank you for coming to this party.” Just before the first person starts to clap I continue to talk, “A year ago, if you told me I would be married and be having a party as large as this, even I may have questioned your sanity. It has been a rough month and a bit since the start of school. There are several people I would like to send thanks to. First would be Ryan, I have no idea what his last name is, but most of you should already know who this man is. I want to thank him because without his influence, the odds of me getting with Claire might not have been zero, but the odds would have been, without a doubt, much lower.”

A few people start to clap, but most are silent. Some of the people quietly sneak off. Ignoring them, I continue.

“Secondly I want to thank the old man, Greg Northson, the current owner of Northson Company. If he did not approve of me, I am pretty sure I might be at the bottom of a random lake, not of my choosing.”

A couple of people in the crowd laugh, but even those people that were not laughing were clearly smiling.

“Lastly, I would like to thank a classmate by the name of Saunderson Scott. He has helped me more times than I probably even know. Special mentions go out to the student council members and the head of the disciplinary committee. Let the party begin!”

I turned off the microphone before shouting as not to break their ears.

“““Woo!!!!!””” The crowd cheers and starts clapping/

The old man walks up beside me while clapping.

“A fantastic speech if I do say so myself.”

“Ah, you flatter me too much. I was nervous at first, but I just went with the flow after a while.”

“That’s how it normally happens.” The old man pats my shoulder, “So I think we should eat some food!”

“I have never agreed more with something you’ve said. I’m starving!” I grab Claire’s hand as we move out of the main room and head towards the dining hall.

…

The party was going great. People talking to me and congratulating me on both my recent marriage and my birthday.

“Ah, this is so much more fun than any birthday I’ve had before. I don’t even care how the resto of the night goes! Nothing could ruin my good mood now!”

Claire laughs at me for saying that. We ate a lot of food and the cake was delicious. I got a chocolate cake with a vanilla icing. I didn’t ask for any gifts, and I didn’t get many.

On another note, my parents came to visit for a few minutes. They wished me a happy birthday, left me with a gift and went out. They said not to open the gift until I was alone with Claire. Oh well, I guess I can honour that much of a promise.

“The great me, Ryan has now arrived!”

Here it is! The main attraction!

No… why is he here!?

He looked really, really tired. He was missing his shirt and his body was covered in very light bruises. They were marks left by experience people. Enough to make it hurt, but not enough to do any permanent damage.

“GET HIM!” A few of the people that left earlier have appeared out of nowhere and capture Ryan who was running straight towards me.

I wasn’t worried that he would get to me. I am confident that as long as he doesn’t have a weapon, I will be safe.

Unlike anything I was expecting, Ryan became a human piñata and was poked at for a lot of the night.

Claire and I leave the room after a while to just be alone together in a room.

“Hey Logan.” Claire lays beside me in the bed.

“Yes Claire?” I roll to face her.

“I love you.” She leans in to kiss me.

“I love you too.” I gladly accept the kiss.

Claire and I kiss for who knows how long, but after a while, we separate.

“Want to go a bit further tonight?” Claire suddenly asks a huge question.

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Hello everyone! It is actually me, the author, posting this time!

I sincerely apologize for not posting these chapters myself, but I got sick and then I was forced to go out looking for work, who would have thought being a NEET was a bad idea?

Anyways, as you have seen at the end of this chapter is a rather interesting cliffhanger. If I see five comments in the next 2 hours describing your feelings about it, I will post the 18+ chapter as soon as I see the fifth comment, if the goal is not met within the 2 hours I have given, I will post the chapter before I go to bed. So, if you work hard, you can have it early. If you don't work hard... you will still get it, just not as fast.

As always, have a great day/night!