Chapter 24 – The Second Birtday Party

My fifth birthday has arrived.
But for me, it’s essentially the second time it happened.

And this time, it’s not a cherry blossom viewing imitation like last time.

“Reiko-chan, happy birthday!”

Four children from the family, close to my age, are celebrating my birthday.
In the room are several maids, including Mari, and also Tokita, who has become my butler.

Since it’s during the day, my grandfather Kiichirou, who is my nominal father, can’t attend due to military duty, but my great-grandfather Souichirou is expected to stop by later.
That everyone is celebrating my birthday like the ones I remember from my past life is thanks to a year of my effort and everyone’s support.

Uncle Genji couldn’t make it, but Uncle Ryuya—who is now my older brother—invited me and even held a joint birthday party at his house for the two of us.
He also invited Uncle Genji’s two children.

As for our joint birthday party, we’ve been holding it in this mansion during snack time after study sessions.
And starting this year, the two who are a year younger and couldn’t attend the study sessions last year have now joined.

With this, at least for now, everyone has gathered.
The remaining two romance targets won’t be joining until at least elementary school, so they’ll be something to look forward to.

Surrounded by the four of them, the mental image in my head is unmistakably that of a harem centered around me.

As for my greatest source of healing, Youko-chan—she’s four this year, but no matter her age, she’s always an angel.

Her older brother Ryuichi-kun hasn’t changed much over this past year.
Rather than a musclehead, I feel like he’s heading down the bossy-kid route. 

Once he enters elementary school, that will probably become even more apparent.

Gentarou-kun still burns with some strange sense of rivalry toward me, but his tsundere & intellectual traits haven’t changed one bit all year.
They probably never will.

Still, if the game’s protagonist, Yamanashi Himeno, were to appear, I’d love for him to act all tsundere for her.
After all, I may be the villainess, but I truly loved the game.

And last comes Koushiro-kun.
Maybe because he’s so young, and with his fluffy hair and androgynous look, he really is like an angel.

“Hey, Reiko-chan, why is the birthday song in English?”

That angelic Koushiro-kun asks me with a bright, innocent smile.

So I naturally gave him the obvious answer.

“Because it’s an American song.”

“Huh. Reiko-chan, you’re amazing for knowing songs in English too.”

“Maybe. But now you know it too, right, Koushiro-kun?”

“Yeah! Hey, do you know any other songs in English? I want to learn more!”

“Hmm, let’s see… how about this one?”

Saying that, I sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star—a song every kindergartener in the 21st century knows.

But it got booed.

“I know that one too—something else!”

Surprisingly tough crowd.
As expected from a future musical genius.

Still, with my limited repertoire, the number of English songs I can recall the lyrics to is slim.
I didn’t exactly hate Western music—I just should’ve gone to karaoke more often.

That said, most of the Western music I listened to was rock.
If I suddenly sang and danced to a King of Pop song I learned back in school, it’d either revolutionize the music scene or get me labeled a weirdo for being way too out of place.

Naturally, I couldn’t play that card.

After scanning my past-life memories with my villainess-brain, one song finally clicked, so I decided to sing that one.

But it didn’t work either.

“I know that one too! I heard it at church!”

Then he started singing it himself—Amazing Grace.
And to my dismay, Koushiro-kun sang it way better than I did, which gave me a bit of a shock.

(Alright then… time for a forbidden future song.)

With that silly competitive spirit burning inside me, I went with Country Roads.
It should’ve been written before I was even born in my past life, so hopefully it would go over better than rock.

Even so, in this era, the song still felt too modern—avant-garde, unconventional, just… out of place.

As I sang, I couldn’t help but think, (This probably wasn’t around before the war,) but I managed to get through the whole song—and it was met with thunderous applause.

“Wow, wow! That was amazing, Reiko-chan!”

Then right away, he started singing it himself.

(Seriously, he’s way too much of a genius.)

As I was entranced by Koushirou-kun’s singing, the other three, who had been playing nearby, came over.
Well, they’d probably been half-listening the whole time, but Koushirou-kun was just that good—they were naturally drawn in.

“Reiko-chan, your singing is so good!”

“Whoa! Watch out—!”

Youko-chan dove straight into me.
We both tumbled from the impact, but it wasn’t a problem, so I just hugged her back.

“Sorry, Reiko-chan. Did that hurt?”

“Not at all. You’re such a good girl, Youko-chan. As a reward, I’ll let you call me ‘Big sis’!”

“Okay! Big sis! I love you!”

Then—chu!—a kiss on the cheek, complete with sound effects in my head.
Though, this wasn’t the first time.

I’ve long stopped keeping count—at this point, it’s practically a greeting.

Getting tackled, falling over—it’s all something we’ve practiced in other situations, so there’s no danger.

Still, I won’t admit that the first time it happened, I nearly literally ascended from the shock.

“How long are you two gonna stay like that?!”

“Seriously.”

As Youko-chan and I hugged each other, we heard the other two boys’ voices from above, one on each side.
But mere words weren’t enough to tear us apart.

“Foreverrrr! Right?”

“Right!”

(Ahh, pure bliss. This is the best birthday present I could ask for.)

I couldn’t stop my face from breaking into a big smile.

Then, Ryuichi-kun came over to peel Yoko-chan off me—but I grabbed his arm, toppled him over, and pulled him into the hug with us.

“Ugh—whoa, stop! Help me, Gentarou!”

“Uh, ah, okay…”

Gentarou-kun was a bit weak in the face of sudden chaos like this.
Probably because he’s the intellectual, logical type.

And then, from a different direction, another source of chaos came flying in.

“Us toooo! Come on, you too, onii-chan!”

No sooner had he finished singing than Koushirou-kun grabbed Gentarou-kun’s hand and charged toward us.
The two of them dove straight into our little cuddle pile.

“!!!”

“Wait—!”

“Kyaaah!”

For a second, I sensed utter disaster—but the boys, even as toddlers, showed off their overpowered cheat-character instincts.

They properly caught themselves and fell in a way that didn’t hurt any of us.
If that was all calculated, then Koushirou-kun’s not an angel—he’s a little devil.

Well, I mean, a little devil boy?
That’s basically the ultimate treat.

And to top it off, the resulting scene was pure paradise.

Carried by the rush of birthday joy and that sense of entitlement it brings, I stretched my arms out as far as I could and tried to gather all four of them into a big hug.
Of course, that was physically pushing it, but the four of them seemed to take it as just another game, and they responded with smiles and laughter.

“Everyone—thank you so much for celebrating my birthday! Let’s always stay friends, okay?!”

“Yeah!”

“Of course!”

“Obviously.”

“…Let me think about it a little.”

(C’mon, Gentarou, read the room. It’s my birthday, you know. Well, I’ll let it slide since it’s my birthday today.)

Birthday Song (Happy Birthday to You)
Lyrics were written around this time (1920s) in America.
It’s a parody of the song Good Morning to All. 

There’s also a Japanese version.

 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Introduced to Japan in 1914.

 

Country Roads (Take Me Home, Country Roads)
Released in 1971 as “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” a country-pop song.

Unfortunately, not a prewar song.