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“Bronya can’t believe she agreed to this,” The world-class hacker mumbled to herself while she had been searching for any traces of where the World Serpent headquarter could be for the past few days. “Hehehe, I owe you, Bronya!” Kiana chuckled while she had been looking at the several computer screens Bronya was using. She could never understand all the high technology her friend seemed to be so familiar with. Bronya simply glanced at the Kaslana with an unreadable expression before returning to her work. It all started back when Kiana was joking about finding the contact number for World Serpent after Mei and her talked briefly to each other. Now that it was getting closer to Mei’s birthday, Kiana had been talking nonstop about how she could surprise her with a visit in person for her birthday.
Bronya sighed again and handed Kiana a small slip of paper, “Here, don’t lose the paper. The location here is the most likely chance of finding her here.” She looked down at the paper and read the coordinates written down. “Thank you, Bronya! But I honestly don’t know what these mean-” She admitted and she would hate to get lost on a special day like this. “I can help Kiana,” Another voice spoke up which belonged to the familiar class monitor. “Wait? You know what we had been doing this whole time?!” Was she that obvious?! “You had been talking about it the whole week,” Fu Hua pointed out.
“Oh,” Kiana was glad to have the class monitor coming along with her because she is directionally challenged. “Glad to have you on board with me! Well, I am ready to go whenever you are!” She gave up a thumbs-up to her and she was feeling more excited by the minute to meet Mei in person this time. “I am also prepared to go anytime,” Fu Hua answered. “Bronya can’t come along with you two but she wishes happy birthday to Mei,” She waved them bye after Kiana promised to say her wishes for Bronya to Mei. Bronya then left for a mission that requested her to take part in.
“Ok, let’s go! Wait-” Kiana suddenly stopped in her tracks when she was leaving the base and turned back to Hua. “I forgot something!” She rushed back to her room to change her jacket into the orange one that Mei is fond of. Of course, she had to wear something her girlfriend likes for her birthday! Kiana quickly met back up with Fu Hua and she used her herrscher power to enter a portal closest to the coordinate with the help of the class monitor telling her where.
The two of them had arrived outside of the World Serpent base. “Wow, Bronya is spot-on! This place looks shady enough to look like their base!” Kiana noticed the surveillance was abnormally high in this place despite it looking like a normal building. “Shh, be quiet, Kiana. We don’t want to be found out already,” Fu Hua still found it hard to believe she would agree to go to World Serpent with her but it was better to come with Kiana. “Sorry I am getting a bit too excited to see Mei again.” Kiana chuckled and she opened another portal to enter the building directly. Fu Hua followed after her and found themselves before a long flight of stairs. They wondered where this led to.
Raiden Mei was currently in the Elysian Realm’s lounge where Elysia decided to throw a birthday party for her. She would not have remembered if Elysia didn’t bring it up and invited her. Once she had arrived, she was told by Elysia she had a surprise for her. Mei did wonder what it is but her thoughts were interrupted when Eden offered her a drink. She shook her head to the offer, “Thank you but I don’t drink.” She rather stayed sober. Eden nodded understandably, “Tell me if you ever change your mind then.” Mei nodded but she did find it nice for a party to be thrown for her so she didn’t have to spend the birthday by herself. Being alone was what she expected when she first joined World Serpent. “Do you know what surprise Elysia planned?” Mei asked Eden. She hoped it was nothing too extreme. Eden just smiled which answered her question she knows but she chose to not say. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I reveal it. Ellie had planned it for a few days now.”
Speaking of Elysia, the pink elf did come back to the lounge and waved Mei to come over to her. She sighed and got off the sofa to go to her. “Mei, you do trust me, right?” Elysia asked and she was holding a piece of cloth. “From what I have seen so far, I have no reason to suspect you of bad intentions,” She replied. “Aww, Mei~ Then you will trust me if I blindfolded you?” Elysia asked, holding up the cloth.
Mei was taken back by her question, “I did say I trust you but this is a bit much…” She sighed but she decided to go with it. Elysia did take the time to throw her a birthday celebration even though she was surprised how she knew when it was her birthday. The pink elf made sure to not wrap the cloth too tight or loose on her. “Is it good?” She asked for confirmation and Mei answered with a nod. Mei could feel a pair of warm hands gently guiding her to another room. Come to think of it, Elysia had always been the one to guide her in this realm. Despite her not knowing much about her past, Mei found it in herself to trust her.
“Oh, be careful on your left! We don’t want you to fall over that,” Elysia warned her and Mei tried to move closer to her right. She didn’t feel herself tripping over anything so she assumed they passed it now. “We have arrived where we prepared the surprise for you but it wouldn’t be fun if I simply take away the blindfold now! So, Mei, you will have to guess~” She should have expected Elysia wouldn’t have even made her birthday surprise that simple. “Well, how am I supposed to guess?” Mei asked because she would need to have some basis to begin guessing instead of simply throwing darts in the dark.
“Hmmm…” Even though Mei couldn’t see, she knew Elysia had one of her mischievous smiles again. She was beginning to question why she agreed to this. “I got an idea! You can touch to guess your surprise~” Mei hoped Elysia didn’t trick her into doing something embarrassing. She could never forget how the flamechaser got what she wanted and then proceed to tell everyone what had happened. She sighed and decided to might as well get over with it. Mei slowly moved her hand around.
Her hands landed on something soft and warm which seemed like clothes. It was quiet but she did hear a soft gasp. Wait, my surprise is a person?! Mei was trying to resist the urge to take off the blindfold and see who it is already. Could it be Elysia? She wouldn’t put it past her that she would lead her to a room all alone. Before she concluded who this is, Mei decided to find more hints. She started tracing her hand around from what seemed like the stomach and she started moving upward to the neck. The person shivered slightly from her touch when she reached her neck but they were careful to not let any noise out.
Mei already concluded who it may be. “Hua?” Perhaps Elysia roped the sim into this… “Mhm, not quite but I’ll give it to you! There is one more surprise for you!” Not quite? Could this be the real Fu Hua but that’s impossible… “Another surprise?” This time Mei tried to reach higher than last time, hoping to touch their face. She might as well get this over with as quickly as possible. Her hand came in contact with what it seems like the cheek. The person leaned into her touch and purred slightly. “Kiana?!” Mei could tell from their reaction to her touch but she had to admit Kiana did make it too obvious or she simply knew her too well. How are they here?!
“Did I really make it that obvious?!” Kiana seemed surprised at how quickly she was able to recognize her. “Well as your girlfriend, it isn’t that unusual for me to recognize you from touch alone,” Mei quickly took off the blindfold. It had been so long since she last saw them. “Hua and Kiana, how did you find out about this place?” She asked. The Elysian Realm is located under the World Serpent base and even finding their base is extremely difficult. Then Mei connected the dots with Elysia being the one who led her here and she turned to the pink elf. “Well, I figured you will either pass the birthday off as another day but I can’t have that so I tried to throw a celebration for you. Coincidentally, Klein caught on someone that had been trying to locate the location of World Serpent coming from an Anti-Honkai organization so I took a gamble!” Elysia explained her thoughts.
Mei found that to be a risky gamble but at the same time, she was grateful for what she did. “Thank you, Elysia,” She smiled lightly at her. “It’s no problem, Mei! Seeing you enjoying yourself is all I need!” Elysia grinned back at her and left the three to enjoy themselves. Mei turned back to look at the class monitor and Kiana. She noticed Kiana wore the orange jacket that she asked about before. She didn’t expect Fu Hua to be here either when the Elysian Realm must have been a place heavy with memories for her. Nonetheless, she is happy to see them. The two people that are most important to her were here to celebrate her birthday with her. As usual, the Kaslana quickly pulled everyone into a hug and the three of them embraced each other in silence. Words didn’t need to be exchanged when they understand each other well enough to know what is the other one thinking. Just being with them even for a moment was enough for Mei even if later they need to part ways to fulfill what must be done.