Kirika Kurenai is a mostly happy girl. She has great friends and an amazing big brother. But when she has to do a project about her parents, she realized that she doesn't know anything about them.
Shu always says that their parents are busy all the...
Kirika kept looking at the clock every five minutes, disappointed to see that the time hasn't changed much. It almost drove her Math teacher, Miss Swift, insane.
"Miss Kurenai, why are you paying so little attention in my class?" she asked.
Kirika turned red. "It's my birthday," she said.
"Yes, I know that," said Miss Swift. "But there will be plenty of time to think about your birthday outside of class. Right now you will pay attention."
"Yes Miss Swift," said Kirika. She tried her best to pay attention in class.
After school, she went outside, where Shu was waiting for her. Well, that was technically what he was trying to do, but a ton of fangirls had surrounded him.
"Oh my gosh, it's Shu Kurenai!"
"How is he hotter now than as a child?"
"Will you marry me, Shu?"
"No, I won't marry you," said Shu, looking embarrassed. Although a lot of Kirika's classmates were also constantly swooning over him, they had the sense not to imagine marrying him.
After all, marrying Shu would make them her sister-in-law. That would be weird.
"Big brother," called out Kirika. She ran to hug him. Shu patted her head.
"Hi there birthday girl," he said. "I have your birthday present waiting at the mall. Ready to go?"
Shu seemed more than ready to go to avoid his annoying fangirls. Kirika was ready to go too.
Kirika's birthday present was waiting for her on a restaurant table. It was wrapped in pink wrapping paper decorated with cherries. She unwrapped it to find a sweet-looking dress.
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"It's so pretty," said Kirika, hugging the scarlet dress.
"You can wear it for the party," said Shu. "Not when you're playing, of course. I have packed your comfortable clothes for that. But you can wear the dress when you eat with your friends."
"Thank you so much," said Kirika. "This is the best birthday ever!"
It wasn't long before all of Kirika's friends had arrived. Then came a fun two hours of playing in the play area.
If any of Kirika's friends were surprised that she had invited a random little boy to the party, they didn't say anything. Some of them allowed Billy to join them in some games.
Kirika was having so much fun that she didn't see someone trying to get her attention.
"Kirika!" she suddenly heard a loud voice call. "Over here!"
She turned around to see someone peeking at her from outside the play area. A very familiar person with blue hair and brown eyes.
"Valt!" she called and ran to him, forgetting to put her shoes back on. "I didn't know that you were coming."
"You didn't seriously think that I was going to miss my little sister's birthday, do you?" asked Valt. Although Kirika and Valt were not related, the Aoi siblings always called her their little sister.
It made sense, since Shu and Valt had been best friends since kindergarten. Sometimes Shu referred to Valt as his little brother, although Valt was actually older than Shu.
"I have brought presents for you," said Valt. "This one's from me, this one's from Honcho, this one's from my Mom, and this one is from Toko and Nika."
Kirika gasped at all of the presents. Her friends had already given her a lot of presents. "Oh Valt," she said. "You don't have to..."
"But I want to," said Valt. "You should open mine first. I promise that you will like it."
Surprised, Kirika opened her present from Valt. To her surprise, she found what looked like a small pink spinning top. Then it dawned on her what it is.
"It's a Beyblade!" she squealed in a high-pitched voice.
"Yeah," said Valt. "Shu and I were ten years old when we first started. I remember our first match together."
"Valt, will you be staying for the rest of the party?" asked Kirika.
"Er... I don't know," said Valt.
"Please?" asked Kirika, giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.
Valt giggled nervously. Having done the puppy dog eyes trick a lot of times as a child, he wasn't very swayed. But this was his best friend's sister, and he was dying to catch up with Shu.
"All right, I'll stay."
"Yay!"
Later, the kids were gathered around Kirika's strawberry shortcake, filled with fresh berries. Some of the kids tried to sneak licks, but Shu always caught them.
Still, the kids had a good meal, and afterwards, they were ready to get back to playing.
"Wait!" said Shu. "Wait for thirty minutes."
"Why?" came half a dozen voices.
"I don't want you to get sick," said Shu. "Wait for the food to settle."
Kirika tried not to giggle. She remembered a story Shu had told her once where Valt and Xander had had a who-can-eat-the-most contest (obviously won by Xander). Then they rode a roundabout with Shu. Unfortunately, all the food in their stomachs came back up and Shu had ended up covered with vomit. Their classmates had joked that Valt and Xander were having a who-can-throw-up-the-most contest.
Anyway, the kids were allowed to go back to their play after half an hour. Some of them jumped into the ball pit, causing the balls to spill out.
Kirika went to jump in the bouncy castle. She joyfully jumped and jumped and jumped.
"Kirika, all your jumping is making me dizzy," said Isabella. "Take it easy."
But Kirika didn't listen, and kept jumping for another five minutes. However, she quickly regretted her decision after stopping, for she now felt really dizzy.
Everything kept spinning, and she couldn't walk straight. Kirika had an urge to lie down.
"Kirika, are you okay?" asked Regina, but she barely registered her friend's voice.
She kept aimlessly wandering, and dove into the ball pit.
"Kirika!" came voices, but she felt weird. Soon, she felt someone carrying her.
"Kirika, Kirika?" came Shu's voice. She opened her eyes to find him looking at her. "Are you okay? You just passed out."
"I'm fine," said Kirika. "Got too excited."
"I think that you should rest," said Shu. "You look really pale."
"Look who's talking," said Kirika cheekily.
"I'm an albino. Of course I'm pale," said Shu.
"How do you look like when you're sick, then?" asked Kirika.
Before Shu could answer, the Kurenai siblings heard screams.
"What's going on?" asked Kirika.
"I'll go check," said Shu.
Kirika followed him back to the play area. To her horror, she saw Daphne lying unconscious near the trampoline. "What happened?"
"She slipped on the trampoline and fell down!" said a plump boy.
"Call 911," said Shu. "We have to get her to the hospital."
