Asher watched with a hurting heart as Pier disappeared from his line of sight.

"Pier..." he called out again but the young master did not respond.

"Your Highness, please do announce your thanks for everyone who had given your gifts this evening," Caspian whispered beside him and Asher straightened his posture again.

"A-Alright," He said as he cleared his throat and looked at everyone who was also gazing up at him with happy expressions.

"I am truly grateful for the presents everyone had given me. It is my greatest pleasure to see that many are supporting me as I pave my way in following my father's footsteps," He said and the nobles cheered.

Claps echoed around the grand hall and people were speaking of their admiration to the Crown Prince.

Asher smiled as he stood up from his seat.

The orchestra started to play and it was the next part of the event.

---

"Haah, that Prince sure is asking for a lot," Pier commented as he got back on his assigned seat.

It wasn't assigned in particular but Pier simply chose to sit at the back of the nobles who were attending the celebration. The lingering feeling of his unwillingness to join was still there and he wanted to go home and be alone.

"Do you feel unwell, Pier?" Raphael who chose to sit with the young master asked.

Pier nodded his head as he stared at the delicious food that was in front of him.

Raphael only watched the young master with pitiful eyes.

'Is Pier sick?' He thought as Pier's complexion did not look good.

"Then, may I request the young master to dance with me?" Raphael asked and Pier looked at him. The young master smiled as he stared at the handsome young duke.

"I would like to decline for now, Sir Raphael" Pier said and Raphael had a disappointed look in his face.

"W-Well, it could not be helped," Raphael said as he scratched his cheek.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

They both turned their heads when people started clapping inside the grand hall.

'Hmmm?'

Pier's gaze landed in the middle of the center of the grand hall.

There, stood Elena and Asher. The Prince was holding the Lady's hand and Elena was sporting a beautiful smile as she looked through everyone inside the hall.

"They're about to dance, I guess," Pier whispered with boredom present in his voice. He crossed his arms and his legs as he stared at the Crown Prince and the only daughter of Marquis Scotch.

However, when Elena's gaze landed on the bored young master, she smiled.

'Huh?'

He had a bad feeling about how Elena smiled at him.

"Before His Highness and I dance, may I request someone to play a piece on the piano for us?"

Whispers started to resonate around the grand hall when Elena announced she wanted someone to play a song while they dance.

'Ah, It's me.' Pier chuckled at how Elena was trying so hard to play with him.

'I'm not in the mood to play with any of you right now,' He thought. The thing that has been lingering in his mind since he remembered it intensified.

"May I request the young master from the Belmiunde Household?" Elena spoke and everyone's eyes shifted in his direction.

'The Lady is requesting the young master to play while they dance?'

'Surely the young master is not going to decline with the lady's request now, right?'

'It would be a shame for the young master if he declines'

'But didn't the young master declare he no longer wish to be with the Crown Prince?'

'Right, the young master had grown into a beautiful and inspiring person.'

'Correct, he would not let his feelings get in the way!'

It was an improvement to see that some nobles were starting to side with Pier.

The young master laughed at this. Is this the fruit he would gather after planting the seeds of hard work?

Was it hard work in the first place? Eliam only did what he wanted to do. Avoid the Crown Prince, get revenge for those who made Pier's life miserable, and live on his own.

'Then I don't have a choice,' He said as he stood up from his seat once more.

He walked towards the platform where the piano had been placed by the servants once Elena had requested it.

When Pier passed by the two in the middle, Asher spoke to Pier.

"Pier, you don't have to-" But he flinched when the young master looked at him.

"I hope you're happy, your highness," The young master said in a whisper-like manner before he proceeded to walk on the steps leading to the platform.

Asher watched Pier walk on the steps.

"Lady Elena, we don't have to request for the young master to play," He told the lady but Elena had a smile on her face.

"B-But I only wanted the young master to play for us," She said as she bowed her head in sadness.

Asher sighed. He did not know what to do.

'Will the young master do well? He did not practice at all.' He was worried Pier would make mistakes while he performed.

It was an unprecedented and sudden request that even he was surprised with the lady's sudden request.

Elena had always been the first and only person he would dance with during his birthday celebrations, but this time, he wanted it to change.

He wanted to dance with the young master who glowed like a star in the distant sky.

He wanted to feel what the second prince from the Belmaid Empire and Raphael felt when they danced with Pier back at the Royal Banquet.

Was he too selfish?

'I get that the young master wanted to be far away from me but I could not afford to let him go.' He thought as he watched Pier sit on the stool and inspect the keys of the piano.

'I'm sorry if you had to go through all those troubles, Pier. I'll make it up to you.'

When Pier did not give him any gift earlier, he felt an unexplainable emotion circling within him.

Was he so used with Pier giving him gifts during his birthdays that he felt bad now that the young master did not prepare anything?

Maybe he was

'I have been spoiled by the young master himself for so long and I did not even notice it until he stopped doing so' Asher chuckled at how stupid he was.

He realized many things thanks to Pier and he wanted to make up for the loss he did for all the years he treated Pier as if he was a non-existent being.

He could do many things that Pier wanted to

'Except for letting you be far away from me'

Asher saw Pier's worth now. No person in the kingdom was as good as the young master.

Pier sat down comfortably on the stool. His chest felt cold but there was still a little bit of warmth. The warmness left was so little that it would disappear any second now.

"How long has it been again since I started living here?" He asked himself quietly.

It would be a good two months and a week now since he died and lived as Pier Belmiunde.

Pier chuckled at the span of time he spent living as another person.

"Ah, let's commemorate this together, Pier."

He said as he started to sing while playing the piano.

"How does a moment last forever?

How can a story never die?

It is love we must hold onto

Never easy, but we try

Sometimes our happiness is captured

Somehow, our time and place stand still

Love lives on inside our hearts and always will"

---

"What's this?" Eliam asked as his younger brother gave him a toy airplane.

His younger brother looked up at him with a small smile before it fully bloomed into a grin.

"A pwesent!" The small boy said and Eliam's eyes widened.

"A present? You don't have to. You like this toy very much, right?" Eliam said as he tried to give the toy airplane back to his younger brother.

"Yesh! Toy aiwpwane fow bwother 'cos I like bwother!" The small child said and Eliam felt his heartstrings tug at his brother's words.

"Thank you, Chase," He said as he hugged his younger brother.

----

"Minutes turn to hours, days to years then gone

But when all else has been forgotten

Still our song lives on"

----

"Bwother, awe you cwying?" Eliam shook his head as he buried his face at his younger brother's back.

"N-No, why would brother cry, Chase?" He sniffed as he held Chase tighter in his arms.

"Awe you sad?" Chase asked as he removed himself from Eliam's hug and held his older brother's cheeks.

"Wook! watew is coming out of bwother's eyes!" Chase said as he pointed at the tears on Eliam's eyes.

----

"Maybe some moments weren't so perfect

Maybe some memories not so sweet

But we have to know some bad times

Or our lives are incomplete"

----

Eliam laughed at his younger brother's words.

"I'm happy, Chase, that's why brother is crying," He said as he wiped the tears away with his shaking hands.

He had been forced to practice the piano for two days without rest now because they have a gathering to attend to and Eliam needs to perform.

"Awe we going to go out like on my bwithday?" Chase asked and Eliam shook his head again.

"I don't think mom and dad would allow me to go out, Chase," Eliam said as he started to play with the airplane Chase gave him.

"Why nawt? it is bwothers biwthday! We should cewebweyt!" Chase puffed his cheeks at the mention of Eliam not being able to go out.

"Brother has more important things to do than celebrate his birthday, Chase" Eliam said as he looked at the piano in the middle of the room.

---

"Then when the shadows overtake us

Just when we feel all hope is gone

We'll hear our song and know once more

Our love lives on"

----

"Then is bwother happy I am hewe?" Chase asked and Eliam nodded his head.

"Of course, you're the best gift I can ever ask for" Chase grinned and it showed his mouth that had a few teeth missing.

"Yey! I will play with bwother until bwother stops cwying!" Chase said and they both played with the little child's favorite toy airplane.

----

"How does a moment last forever?

How does our happiness endure?

Through the darkest of our troubles

Love is beauty, love is pure"

As Pier sang the lines, the light orbs started to gather above him. The light orbs were encircling above the young master's head.

----

"Oho, so it's your birthday too?" Pier asked as he watched Eliam.

Eliam nodded his head.

"I guess it is"

"Happy Birthday!" Pier greeted the young prodigy and Eliam smiled at the young master.

"Thank you," Eliam said as he turned to look at the horizon. The sun was brightly shining and the waves of the ocean made him happy.

"You seem to be forgetting something too, Pier," Eliam said as he picked a small rock and threw it in Pier's direction.

"Hey!" The young master made an angry expression and Eliam raised his eyebrows

---

"Love pays no mind to desolation

It flows like a river through the soul

Protects, proceeds, and perseveres

And makes us whole"

"Minutes turn to hours, days to years then gone

But when all else has been forgotten

Still our song lives on"

---

"Ah, It's my birthday tomorrow," Pier said as he watched the sun set through his window.

But there was no one to answer him.

"Isn't it exciting? Asher and I share the same birthday!" Pier giggled excitedly at the thought of him and Asher sharing birthdays.

"We're just meant to be, you know," He said as he closed his eyes and he let the warmth of the remaining sunlight be absorbed by his body.

"Too bad mother isn't with me to celebrate." He hummed as he tapped his fingers on the table. There, Asher's gift was sitting quietly. It was the sword of the fourth emperor from the Empire of the South.

"I'll just celebrate it with Asher instead!" He said as he smiled. He imagined how happy Asher would be when he receives Pier's gifts.

"I don't mind if there is no celebration for my birthday. I just want someone to remember it aside from me," He said as he opened his eyes again.

---

Aside from the light orbs, the wind started to gather and make the orbs sway from their place atop Pier's head while he sang and played.

People stopped dancing, eating, and doing everything that they are currently doing. Even Asher and Elena who were swaying along Pier's performance stopped dancing.

Everyone watched as the wind carried the light orbs further above the grand hall.

---

"It's your birthday too, Idiot," Eliam said as Pier rubbed his head that had been hit by the small stone.

The young master immediately stopped and stared at Eliam.

"Y-You remember?" He asked in a shaky voice. Eliam smiled and nodded his head.

"Yes, I gained your memories and now I also remembered your birthday," He said and Pier stared at him wide-eyed.

"I guess it is a wish come true for you now that another person remembers your birthday" Tears started to stream down Pier's eyes as he looked at Eliam.

"Y-You! T-Thank you!" He wailed as he immediately ran and hugged Eliam. The young prodigy returning the embrace as he patted Pier's shoulders.

"T-Thank you so much, Eliam! Thank you for remembering!" Pier said as he cried loudly in their Embrace.

"E-Even though it's through my memories, I'm very happy you knew, you knew!" Pier cried. He sobbed, he sniffed, and he broke down.

"You're welcome, Pier," Eliam said as they both tightened their embrace with each other.

"Happy birthday to the both of us"

---

"How does a moment last forever

When our song lives on"

It was then, fire started to manifest in the young master's surroundings.

People stared in awe as the fire started to consume the small light orbs one by one. Each time a light orb was consumed, it was disintegrated into small shining dust particles.

The wind picked up the dust particles and swayed around Pier.

As moonlight hugged Pier and the surroundings, the shining dust particles made Pier's performance perfect. Sparkles roamed around Pier's head and the blazing fire added to the majestic view.

'I won't forget, Pier. That's my gift for you, happy birthday'