Birthday

'You know, I think I'm forgetting something,' Ryan thought to himself. It was five in the morning and Ryan and Edhas had spent the night making backups of his guns. After all, who knows when some psycho would steal them?

"Yeah, you forgot to put the magical filter here," Edhas scoffed before taking control of Ryan's hand to grab a small gadget and put it inside the barrel, "We should be done now."

'Thanks, Edhas,' Ryan said in his head as he started to put the different parts of the pistol together.

'That looks good,' Ryan examined the gun.

"You're getting better but you're still shit," Edhas replied.

Wow thanks, Ryan grumbled. Before Edhas could come up with another snide remark, the phone started to ring.

Ryan grabbed his phone. When he looked at the number, his brow furrowed in confusion, "Tenchou never calls me to work anymore."

"Just answer the phone, dipstick," Edhas jeered.

"Fine, fine," Ryan sighed before answering the call, "What's u-,"

"KIKERIKIII~!!!" Kiara shouted through the phone.

"What's up Tenchou?" Ryan asked.

"I know you're not coming into work today, but can you stop by? I have something to show you," Kiara said.

"Why wouldn't I show up to work?" Ryan asked with a confused tone.

"You don't know?" Kiara asked. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kiara spoke again, "Never mind. Just get over here. You don't have to work."

"Alright," Ryan said apprehensively before hanging up.

'Tenchou's acting weird,' Ryan thought to himself before standing up, 'She never gives me a day off.'

-

The first thing that set Ryan off was the construction paper covering the windows. He knew whenever Kiara decided to put paper over the windows, it couldn't be anything good. It had only happened a couple of times in the past but during both times, Ryan ended up getting shot in the head.

"Oh stop being a pussy about it. It's not like a bullet could kill you this time," Edhas chastised.

'Oh shut the fuck up,' Ryan retorted. Although a bullet wouldn't do significant damage to him, it still left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Whatever, just open the door already," Edhas said.

Ryan dismissed his alter ego with a wave of his hand. With a deep breath, Ryan opened the door.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" A chorus of voices bombarded Ryan's ears. He looked around, dazed. A lot of people were crammed into the KFP with almost every seat being filled with people he's met throughout his time at KFP.

"What?" Ryan asked blankly.

"It's your birthday," The small crowd of people made way as Kiara walked up to Ryan, "You didn't know?"

"No, actually," Ryan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Since the circumstances of his conception were... interesting to say the least, Ryan had no idea when he was actually born.

"Today two years ago, I had my memory wiped," Edhas explained in an attempt to make Ryan understand, "When my mind was wiped, that gave birth to your new identity so technically, today is your birthday."

"So what you're saying is I'm two years old," Ryan said out loud.

"Exactly," Edhas said with smugness oozing from his tone.

"Thank you so much for all of this," Ryan looked around. All of his friends were here. Amelia, Suisei, Lily, Sabrina, Brianna, and everyone else.

"You've done so much for all of us. It's the least we can do," Kiara pulled Ryan into a hug. Ryan's first instinct was to pull away, but the warm feeling that bubbled up inside of him prevented him from doing so.

"Thank you so much, mama," Ryan buried himself into Kiara's embrace.

"Anything for you, my little egg."

-

"So how does it feel to be one year closer to death?" Calli asked as Ryan sat down. Ryan had to force himself not to cry in Kiara's arms but failed miserably. Ryan sighed as he wiped his eyes for the billionth time.

"I don't feel anything to be honest," Ryan looked at his free hand. He really didn't feel different. If Kiara hadn't organized this event, Ryan would have just treated today like any other day.

"Ah, don't be like that," Amelia slapped Ryan's back, "We can change that by getting fucking hammered."

"Morning Ame," Ryan drawled. Alcohol wasn't really his thing.

"How have you been?"

"I've been doing alright," Amelia replied as she sipped on a cup of tea, "After the whole time travel incident, I started going to therapy. Roboco's been a great help."

"That's good to hear," Ryan rubbed his chin. He started to wonder if he needed to go to therapy.

"Therapy is for pussies," Edhas jeered.

"Don't be like that," Ryan turned to see Sabrina walking up to him, "Edhas used to go to the school nurse for therapy back in high school."

"He was very fun to tease," Choco, who was sitting a few seats over, added.

"Those two are never going to let me live that down, are they?" Edhas grumbled.

"Nope!" Sabrina smiled.

"Anyways, where did Suisei go?" Ryan asked while looking around for his roommate, "I could swear I saw her earlier."

"Oh, she went to prepare your birthday present. Although we came up with a birthday present for you, Suisei said she had something special prepared," Sabrina replied.

"Just in case I don't make it back tomorrow, I want to make sure that KFP has life insurance," Ryan said darkly.

"With the amount of KFP workers that die every day, we can't afford life insurance!" Kiara said a bit too enthusiastically.

"We really need to work on your ethics department," Ryan muttered under his breath.

"Oh there you are!" Coco said as she wrapped her arm around Ryan's neck, "I was looking for you!"

"What's up, Coco?" Ryan asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to be the best man at my-,"

"Congratulations on your marriage with Kanata, but I'll have to decline," Ryan, shuddering at a particularly awkward memory, abruptly cut Coco off, "Last time I was a best man at someone's wedding, things didn't end too well."

"You're no fun," Coco pouted.

"Sorry bout that," Ryan laughed nervously.

"Well, I have to finish my retirement papers," Coco said as she unlatched her arm from Ryan's neck, "I want to settle down with Kanatan after we get married so I'm going to be retiring from streaming and the yakuza. It was nice seeing you."

"That's nice. I wish you two well," Ryan said with a soft smile as Coco walked off.

"Actually, I think it's the perfect time to give you your birthday present!" Kiara said before rummaging through the cupboards. She then took out a book and handed it to Ryan.

"What's this?" Ryan asked as he took the book. The cover was a picture of him and Kiara back to back.

"We didn't really know what to get you so we decided to make a book," Kiara explained.

"I got together with everyone and we wrote the past year into a novel. I hope you like it," Kiara looked at Ryan expectantly.

"Kiara Fried Phoenix: A Hololive Story," Ryan read the cover before a smile creeped up on his face, "I like it. Thank you."

-

Ryan stumbled through the door to his apartment as the moon started to rise. Jack insisted that Ryan had to drink with him and it resulted with Ryan passing out. Although his hangover was mostly gone, Ryan still cursed Jack for making him do that.

"Oh, you're finally home," Ryan looked up to see Suisei standing but a few feet away from him, "Welcome back."

"Hey Suisei. I missed you at the party," Ryan tilted his head.

"Sorry about that. I was preparing for something," Suisei said nervously. Ryan could see the uncertainty of her eyes as she shuffled nervously.

"What is it?" Ryan asked as he took a step forward, "You don't have to show me now. I don't want you to feel pressured."

"It's okay, but can you please close your eyes?" Suisei asked. Ryan was hesitant as Suisei tried to chop him in half last time she asked that, but for some reason, he decided to humor her.

"Alright," Ryan said before closing his eyes. It didn't last long, though, as his eyes shot open as he felt a pair of lips brush up against his.

"Surprise," Suisei muttered weakly as she pulled away.

"W... huh...?" Ryan wasn't able to form a coherent sentence.

"I've liked you for a while," Suisei admitted while her eyes darted around nervously, "I've been trying to get your attention but you never seemed to notice. I thought this would be the most direct way."

'Excuse me, but what the hell?' Ryan thought.

"You dense motherfucker," was all Edhas could muster.

"So... will you go out with me?" Suisei asked.

Ryan didn't even have to think, "Of course."