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“Thanks for coming on such short notice, everyone!” Celica chirps as she claps her hands together, “And thank you for helping out!”
Kagura hops down from a latter, having finished with the last of the streamers, and grins. “Anything for little Jinny! … And for such an attractive woma- ACK!”
The corporal doubles over in pain, clutching his gut as Makoto huffs and cracks her knuckles. Flicking her tail up, she turns to face the redhead and give her a thumbs up. “Not a problem, Celica!”
“I don’t know how surprised he’ll be if he finds all of us in his office…” Tsubaki worries, but her expression softens out into a small smile, “But… I’m happy we are all here to share his company.”
“All” being literally everyone Jin has ever come into contact with; significant people, that is. Kokonoe and Tagar are even here and Celica is wondering why he seems so uncomfortable when the cat demands that he should start playing music.
“Well,” the android starts, rocking on her heels as she observes the room, “When Noel told me what today was, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to it!”
“P-please don’t tell Major I told you!” squeaks said girl, who was holding a box that was filled with bottles of alcoholic beverages- a gift from Kagura, no doubt. Said man slides beside the young blonde, ready to make his move, when Hibiki slides in just as smoothly and places a well aimed elbow to his side.
“What a lucky birthday to have!” Celica continues on, smiling at the red and pink heart decorations, “The day of your birth on the day of love! How lucky is that?!”
“I don’t know how lucky we will be once Kisaragi gets a look at this room!” Hazama comments, quite happily, really.
“I think it is a lovely color scheme!” Amane chides from his side of the room, fixing one of his group member’s hair, “It ought to work well with my performance.”
“Who invited him?” Tagar asked, remaining unamused.
Celica tilted her head. “I did? He said he always puts on performances, so I asked him to come!”
The feminine man fans himself and winks. “And it will be the best show you’ll ever see!”
“Tao, don’t eat all the food before Jin even gets here!” scolded Tsubaki, frowning as she makes her way to her.
The Kaka child looks up from the plate she was currently trying to devour, her cheeks stuffed with food as she lets out a confused “Nyah?” Tsubaki stands there, scolding her, and then scolding her even more for trying to eat while she is being scolded at.
“Where even is Jinny, anyway?”
Noel blinks and perks up as if that were her cue. “Oh! I told Major Kisaragi that Ragna the Bloodedge was spotted. I-It’s not a lie, but I think he’ll come back disappointed when he can’t get him…”
“Nonsense! This party will perk him right back up!” A booming voice hollered, laughing. Bang. Was he invited? Probably.
Makoto folded her arms and tilted her head. “How do we know when he is coming?”
Kokonoe stepped in, looking more satisfied now that a disgruntled Tagar was playing music… From where, they didn’t know. “I’ve set an alarm at certain point that will go off when Kisaragi passes by it.”
“I hope Jin manages to bring Ragna along…” the redhead sighs hopefully, “It would really tie this whole thing together.”
“Ehh, you may want to reconsider that...” Kagura chuckles, almost awkwardly, which confuses the android.
“Yeah, this whole party would be for nothing!” Makoto agrees, and then goes on to make a weird face while impersonating the birthday boy, “He’d be all like ‘Let's eat cake off each other's bod-’”
Noel shrieks and slaps her hands over the squirrel girl’s mouth. “M-Makoto!”
Oblivious, or just ignoring it, Celica doesn’t seem all too worried where that little act was going. When she was going to go on about how Jin would love the party and not blow the rest of them off if Ragna were present, a series of beeping noises come from Kokonoe’s jacket. The scientist motions for Tagar to cut the music before announcing Jin’s pending arrival. Everyone moves into position, giggling and muffling their laughter as they try to remain silent. It takes a few moments, but the door’s knob finally does twist while everyone readies themselves.
When the door swings closed, rather loudly at that, everyone jumps out, just as planned.
“HAPPY BIRth…”
It stops short.
Well, this wasn’t going just as planned- nor had anyone prepared themselves for the sight they witnessed.
There, at the door, had been Jin and Ragna nearly sucking each other’s faces off. “Had been” because right when everyone jumped out and caught an eyeful of the spectacle, the two had jumped away from each other with labored breaths and flushed faces. The room was silent now, save for the music Tagar had been instructed to play once Jin arrived.
Ragna looked like he was ready to explode with how red his face got. He seemed so shocked at the sudden crowd that he couldn’t even make a face to accurately express his emotions; whatever they may be. And Jin…
“I’m leaving,” the man in red rushes out, but still firm on his decision as he whips around and leaves.
“Wait, Nii-san! NII-SAN!” Jin yells after him, clutching a small box to his chest.
Still, all is quiet. It is for what seems like an eternity. Jin is standing with his back faced towards them, staring where Ragna used to be. Slowly, ever so slowly, Jin extends his arm to place the box, a present, onto the side table near him.
Was the air getting thicker? The tension sure was, because everyone watching Jin suddenly seemed to be on edge, the air almost suffocating. Celica didn’t really get it…
With Yukianesa in hand, Jin turns.
”Everyone in this room is dead.”