"Happy birthday, Liohime Kitagami. Please come in…welcome home."

"A-Ah, thank you…I'm home."

Liohime entered and closed the door behind him as he had returned home, and he stood side by side with Shihon, who had dressed up rather stunningly.

Placing the cake on the dinner table in the dining room, Shihon nervously grinned.

I hope that he likes the outfit, although I have to say that this may be a bit too much…or is it? I hope that I did not put your tips to shame, Margaret!

"So….haha, um…how was work, Master?"

She directed this question to Liohime, who seemed to not move from his position by the front door.

He shifted his attention to her dress, and surprisingly continued to stare at her with an expressionless face.

"U-Um, Master, if you keep staring like that…"

She began to blush while fidgeting, and averted her eyes, and Liohime finally spoke up.

"Wait. Did you make that cake all by yourself?"

"Hm? Oh, of course. It was my first attempt too, but it turns out that I'm pretty good at that shit even though I had no prior experience. Crazy right?"

Her body relaxed as she now began to speak more freely, continuing with the words, "I also had to make a looooot of preparation in such a short time for the outfit that I planned to wear. I was like, 'Which one could seduce him bette-uh, I mean, please him better', you know? It kinda scared me when the one hour mark passed and I panicked because you said that you would be home by then, but then even more time passed and I realized that you were running late and-"

By now, she had just been rambling and yapping on and on, giving her train of thoughts about how she meticulously planned to surprise him before he returned home.

However, she soon stopped talking once she felt a sudden warmth, and by the time her thoughts had been cast aside while returning to reality, Liohime had already held her in place with an embrace.

"Master?"

"Thank you so much, Shihon. I don't know what to say."

For almost his entire life, Liohime usually declined to spend much time with others during his birthday and would rather celebrate by himself in an isolated space. But now, he had been given a proper celebration by the young woman who had declared to love him the most.

"This was…the best birthday gift surprise ever," he mentioned as his eyes wavered before closing them, trying not to let water build up from them and leak from the corner of his eyelids. "I'm really grateful."

Shihon inhaled deeply, with her eyes open wide.

At that moment, all of her planning, hard work, and extra efforts in order to please him…

…Everything was worth it.

"I'm glad that I can make you happy, Master."

Enjoying the close proximity of the man who she adored deeply, she took in a whiff, and-

"Hey."

"-urk."

S-Shit, I already forgot about that! he lamented.

Knowing exactly why her tone had changed so suddenly, millions of excuses bloomed from his brain, and he hastily scanned them all within milliseconds just to find something that could appease Shihon.

"A-Actually, what happened is-"

"That's the same fucking perfume from yesterday."

"Wha-!?"

Aaaand his excuse had been shut down without fail. With nothing else to pull out from his mental handbook, he raised his arms in resignation.

"L-Listen, Shihon. I can promise that no matter how bad this seems, this is just a really bad coincidence. I can assure you that it won't happen again."

"Won't happen again, huh?"

"Eeek!"

The deathly glare from her raging eyes had stabbed into his soul, but he just couldn't look away.

Shihon sighed, as her interrogation had rendered an honest response, and an innocent smile quickly returned to her face.

"Fine. Let's blow some candles on the cake and eat, Master."

Thank goodness. I live to see another day.

***

Liohime, who had been sitting at the dinner table in the dining room, stared meekly at the three lit candles that stuck onto the top of the grand vanilla cake.

He then exchanged glances with the Magical Beast Girl, who was still in her bunny girl outfit, and the latter blushed intensely.

"G-Geez! You're constantly looking at me as if I can find fifteen other candles to light up and place on that goddamn cake! There's only three available, Master!"

"Oh, no, I actually can't keep my eyes off of you because you look really good in those clothes."

"S-Save your smooth talk and your cosplay fetish for when we get in bed together, Master. Why don't you make a wish for each candle that you blow out?"

"Hm, that's actually a nice idea. Alright, I'll do it."

Nodding affirmatively, Liohime leaned forward and closed his eyes.

Interestingly, his first wish was something that easily appeared within his mind in the first three seconds of pondering.

I wish that I can continue living a life where I am safe from Shihon's raging jealousy.

And just like that, he opened his eyes and blew out the flaming light from the first candle before closing his eyes once more.

Let's see…hm.

Obviously, he also awaited a dangerous mission that neared with each coming day, and he desired to come back out of the mission with all of his bones intact.

I wish for a successful mission in the Paradisus Legion, where I can retrieve the special Magical Beast egg and receive life-changing monetary rewards.

Without hesitation, he blew out the second candlelight.

Now, onto the grand finale.

And for once, he began to pause, reflecting on what he truly wished for in his last slot of his three wishes.

Then, he came to a conclusion.

The life that he had right now was unbelievable. Being able to enjoy each day with someone that kept his life brighter than usual was amazing. Sure, there were some days where they both were not at their best, but even so, he was at a point where he could not even imagine what life was like without her.

Thus-

"I wish for the continuation of a happy life with my Magical Beast Girl, Shihon."

"M-Master…you said that one-"

"Out loud, I know."

He grinned mischievously with a teasing smile, and Shihon could only look on in adoration.

And with that, Liohime blew out the last candle.

"Once again, happy birthday, Master."

"Thank you, Shihon."

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