[22.5] Happy Birthday, Reika Marlow

I grinned in excitement, "Who's next?"

Chief Gonza handed me a small envelope with a bright grin, "My gift is the best!!"

I took it and cautiously opened the contents. I frowned as I stared at it, "...You got me documents? I can't even read this. The handwriting is so sloppy."

He looked as if he would cry, "My handwriting can't be that bad!!!"

I can't believe such a handsome, clean, and tidy-looking man is actually such a slob.

He deflated as if he heard my thoughts, "It's the report of imprisonment for the woman who attacked you. She's no longer free."

My ears perked up, "She's not!?!"

He nodded, "Yes! It took me many sleepless nights, but I finally tracked her down! She's under heavy surveillance in the most secure jail now."

I jumped up with a large grin, "You caught her!?! So I can go torture her now?!"

Chief Gonza looked as if he had bricks dropped on his head, "T-Torture!? You can't do that!!!"

"Why not!?!"

The Headmaster clicked his tongue in distaste, "He wouldn't let me torture her either."

Chief Gonza nearly cried, "What kind of things are you teaching her!?!"

Captain Lou pointed at me, "See! Once a sinner, always a sinner!! Now she's even corrupting Aldrich-"

He was immediately silenced by the infamous glare from the two Marlow brothers.

Chief Gonza cleared his throat and smiled threateningly at him, "Don't you also have something for her, Captain Lou?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure." He handed me a gift with a devilish grin, "It's something you desperately need."

"..."

I'm a bit scared.

I opened it slowly and then pulled out a large heavy book that had nearly a thousand pages.

My expression darkened.

He laughed mockingly, "I got you a book about morals. I figured you are desperately in need of a lesson."

I calmly put down the book and spoke in an emotionless tone, "I really don't like you."

He scoffed and crossed his arms, "The feeling is mutual."

Chief Gonza sighed, "Why did you even come if you were going to bring such a terrible gift?"

Captain Lou shouted, "Because you forced me to!!!"

Chief Gonza gave him a harsh look, "I think I also mentioned that you should get her something good to make up for your poor attitude."

He averted his eyes and mumbled under his breath, "It's not that bad of a gift…"

I deadpanned, "You're right. It's terrible."

"Bah." He shook his head showing how little he cared.

Felix rubbed his neck anxiously, "I guess I can give you my gift next."

I took it from him and knew immediately that it was a canvas painting. After all, you can't wrap a canvas like you do other gifts.

I carefully undid the lace and pulled back the brown cloth covering it. My eyes widened as I took in the craftsmanship.

Just like all the paintings I've seen him do before, it was a simple landscape.

…But it wasn't at the same time.

The colors, the movement…

Everything seemed to instill a sense of sadness and depth that a child of his age shouldn't have experience with.

I mumbled under my breath, "Are you the reincarnation of Monet?"

His eyes widened slightly, but it was so minuscule that I didn't even notice. He tilted his head, "I don't think so."

I shook my head and smiled at him, "I love it. The snowy mountains in the background give a sense of loneliness, but the colors in the foreground give off a feeling of hope. It's really impressive."

"I-I'm glad you like it…" Felix batted his eyes, "I usually don't paint gifts for people because it's embarrassing, but… Well… I like you so-"

Chief Gonza snickered, "Oho~"

The Headmaster had a dark expression on his face as if he was staring down a new enemy.

I forced a smile, "Hmmm… Is that so?"

Caldwell bent down to whisper to Cyrus, "Looks like your competition is fierce."

Cyrus snapped at him feeling embarrassed, "C-Competition for what!? There's no competition!!!"

Aw look at those pink cheeks! So cute~

I turned my attention to Cyrus and grinned. I leaned closer to him in anticipation, "What did you get me? I'm excited to see it."

He immediately hid the small gift behind his back. His cheeks burned, "N-Nothing! I changed my mind! I'm keeping this for myself now!"

Caldwell casually grabbed the gift from behind his back and handed it to me with a mischievous look in his eyes, "My young Master worked very hard on this."

Cyrus jumped over the table trying to grab it back, "NO! GIVE IT BACK!"

I quickly unwrapped it before Cyrus had a chance to snatch it back. In my hands was a hand-sewn cat plush.

I chuckled, "Cute."

…Okay, the plush wasn't cute.

In fact, it looked more like a voodoo doll than an actual cat.

It's probably all thanks to Caldwell's skill that it even turned out this well. But… Well, I guess I'm partial to things like this.

I hugged it close, "I will sleep with it every night~"

Cyrus clenched his fists as his face burned bright red. I could see the smoke rising off his cheeks. He stumbled over his words, "I-I-It's nothing special! It's stupid!!"

I laughed, "How is it stupid? I'm sure you worked really hard on this. I bet you didn't get very good sleep because you wanted to finish it. That's why I'm going to keep this forever~"

"I-I-I-"

Cyrus stumbled on his words until he could no longer handle the embarrassment. He buried his face into Caldwell who rubbed the top of his head with laughter.

The show is almost as good as the gifts.

The trashy tutor handed me a broom barely covered with paper, "Here's mine."

I took it with a twitching face, "I wonder what this is…"

He yawned, "It's that flying broom you wanted. Aldrich forced me to make it."

The Headmaster shot him a look, "I didn't force you."

Marx rolled his eyes, "Right. It's not like you locked me in a room until I completed it."

Chief Gonza gasped, "Aldrich… You didn't…"

The Headmaster shrugged, "You have no proof."

I laughed, "This is awesome."

As soon as I unwrapped it, I jumped on. I pointed forward, "Onward!"

However, it didn't move.

"Ehh… Go? Start? Third gear? Vamos? Hya? Yip yip?" I tilted my head, "Why won't it move?"

Marx laid down on the table about to fall asleep, "You need to inject your mana to make it work."

"OH YEAH! Forgot about that."

I closed my eyes and felt my mana seep into the broom, activating it.

I opened my eyes and pointed ahead, "Let's play some Quidditc-AAAH"

The broom suddenly sprung forward, flying so fast I went blind from the wind.

I smacked forcefully into a tree and fell to the ground.

I lifted my head with two swollen eyes and a bloody nose.

I cried out as I was about to faint, "Feeeelix!"

He ran to me, "Don't worry Reika!!! I will save you!"

After being healed by Felix, I coughed and placed the broom far away from me, "Uh-Ehem. I think I will just use my ice chunk..."

The Headmaster looked at Marx with a terrifying glare, "I think I also said to make it not too fast so she wouldn't hurt herself."

He scratched his head and forced a smile, "I will fix it."

"You better." The Headmaster then turned to me and his chilling aura disappeared immediately, "Are you ready for mine?"

My eyes lit up, "You got me something?"

He nodded, "I did. It was based on your recommendations."

I froze.

Didn't I say to get me dresses or a doll?

He handed me a gift that clearly contained clothes.

Ugh…

It's definitely a dress.

I'm a bit disappointed.

I opened the gift to see a cloak with a large crest as a broach. My fingers traced its bronze and silver surface, "T-This…"

The Headmaster spoke, "It's our family's crest."

I looked at the Headmaster and Chief Gonza and realized they too had similar broaches on their jackets. My eyes widened, "Then-"

Chief Gonza clapped his hands together, "With this, you're officially a Marlow. You're no longer an adopted Marlow, but the sole inheritor of our family."

My heart skipped a beat, "W-What?"

"Reika…" The Headmaster grabbed the cloak and placed it on me with gentle fingers. He spoke in a soothing voice, "Having you in the family is an honor... I'm very lucky to have you as a daughter."

My wide eyes began to sting as tears threatened to flow.

My voice trembled, "T-Thank you…"

Thank you.

Thank you.

I really can't thank you enough.

Thank you for keeping me.

Thank you for not ignoring me.

Thank you for spending time with me.

Thank you for everything.

Even though we aren't actually related...

Thank you for still considering me to be family.

I buried my face in his stomach as I fought back tears, "This is the best birthday I've ever had."

But I wonder…

Will this last?