We bought up daily supplies and clothing, and got home past noon.
The moment we arrived, Arisa headed for the river with the palm-top rabbits, fresh back from their hunt.
Butchering produces a lot of blood, so the first stage is best done riverside — so she says.
I stepped into the house — and it was empty.
Normally Ouroboros is home doing housework, and Sonya is decomposing on her designated sofa.
Today: no one.
Maria’s usually assisting either me or Ouroboros… with Ouroboros somewhere, maybe?
And the elves and Katia, who are always working somewhere around the property — also nowhere in sight.
“Why is nobody home?”
As I stood there puzzled, Katia walked in.
“Where did everyone go?”
“Eh? Not telling?”
Seriously, what IS this.
A flicker of genuine irritation ran through me.
“Just tell me. What’s with all of you? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday?”
“Where everyone is has nothing to do with you, Onii-chan. Boku’s under no obligation to say.”
What kind of answer is THAT…
Suppressing my irritation, I flopped onto the living room sofa for a spite-nap.
And then it was dusk… no, full night.
“Slept way too long…”
As I sat up, a single palm-top rabbit entered the room.
“Um, um! Um, um!”
“What is it?”
“Come this way~!”
Skipping — boing, boing — the palm-top rabbit led me outside.
We arrived in front of the half-built structure Katia and the elves had been working on — the future brewery storehouse.
Last I checked, only interior and finishing work remained; inside, it should be a bare skeleton with nothing in it.
I stepped in, and—
POP-POP-POP!
""HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!""
The building was packed wall to wall with lavish dishes, the interior fully decked out for a party.
The little explosions just now: the palm-top rabbits’ micro-scale blast magic, deployed as party crackers.
“You guys…?”
“Today is Tatsuya’s birthday~!”
Being in another world, I’d completely forgotten the date myself.
But — I HAD once talked calendars with Maria, cross-checking how this world’s reckoning maps to Earth’s… that’s true.
Oi oi, what is WITH these people… THIS is what all the sneaking around since yesterday was?
At my age, birthdays aren’t supposed to mean anything anymore… and yet something warm is spreading through my chest, entirely without permission.
This is bad. I’m actually about to tear up.
“Today we celebrate~! There’s carrot cake~!”
“We’ve prepared the teriyaki turkey you love, Lord Tatsuya.”
Ouroboros bowed crisply.
“We are hardly professional cooks, so please forgive our efforts…”
With that, Maria pressed a glass of wine into my hand.
“Boku and the elves had a BRUTAL two days doing the interior, just so you know.”
“Yeah… thank you. All of you.”
“Fufufu~. And there’s a PRESENT~”
“Hm? A present?”
“Tonight we banquet until everyone’s flat on the floor~!”
“That does sound like us, yes.”
“So the various activities happen BEFORE we collapse~!”
“Uh… meaning what?”
Maria chuckled.
“The present is… all of us. Every one.”
“No sleeping tonight~!”
And finally, Ouroboros began removing the jacket of her maid uniform.
“To summarize: commencement is now… conclusion is sunrise. Food and drink resupply is left to… each individual’s discretion.”
One by one, the whole roster stripped to their underwear, and I shrugged.
“Good grief. Some present this is. Would it kill you all to let me REST occasionally?”
I heaved a deep sigh — and every one of them looked up at me with those eyes.
So, before anyone could ask the question aloud, I pre-empted:
“No. I don’t hate this at all.”
And thus my birthday became a very serious incident indeed.