Actually, Keita's birthday surprise had gone pretty well — everything up to that point had gone smoothly without any mishaps.
It was only in the final stage that Tetsuo smacked Keita right in the face with a giant cream pie, leaving him completely dazed.
Thanks to the safe-zone protection system, Keita wasn't hurt, but his face inevitably ended up smeared with cream.
Looking awkward, Tetsuo scratched the back of his head with a dry laugh before handing Keita a handkerchief.
Keita shot him a glare but didn't say anything more.
"Ahem, Leader, we were actually trying to give you a surprise…"
Ducker rubbed his nose, pointed at Kirito and Akimi, and grinned.
"We even asked Miss Asuna and the others to help out… Sure, there was a bit of an accident at the end, but overall, it went well."
Kirito, Akimi, and the rest had originally wanted to design a sort of dungeon challenge birthday surprise inside SAO, but due to safety concerns and the many in-game restrictions, they had to settle for a treasure-hunt style event using a map.
The six weapon models hidden inside the boxes represented the six members of the Moonlit Black Cats.
Each was crafted using rare materials from Kirito, and the value of the materials alone exceeded 30,000 Col.
On top of that, the models had been specially modified by a unique NPC to be able to remove one negative status — such as paralysis or poison — per day, potentially life-saving in a pinch.
This significantly increased their worth, with the total cost exceeding 70,000 Col.
If Argo were to sell them, they could probably fetch 300,000 Col.
Although Keita often found his guildmates a handful, he couldn't help but feel touched.
He had forgotten his own birthday, yet they remembered so clearly and had gone to such effort to prepare a surprise for him.
They really… I'm gonna cry to death.
"Oh my, oh my~ Leader, don't tell me you're about to shed little pearls of emotion," Ducker teased, poking Keita in the side with a wicked grin.
Keita pressed down on his head and, putting on a stern face, said, "As if!"
His serious tone was betrayed, however, by his other hand discreetly wiping at the corner of his eye.
Still pinned under Keita's hand, Ducker beamed and said, "Happy eighteenth birthday, Leader!"
"Happy birthday, Keita."
"Happy birthday."
"Hap… Happy birthday, Leader!"
-----------------
A group of people gathered around the table, staring at the cake with candles on it, all looking speechlessly at Ducker— they'd asked him to buy candles, but who could have guessed he'd buy ones with green flames?
(In a quick trivia aside: What element makes a flame turn green?)
Originally, the cake Asuna had made looked absolutely wonderful — a white cream cake decorated with fruits unique to Aincrad.
From appearance alone, it was perfect.
But once the lights were turned off, the colorful candles burned with an eerie green glow, tinting the white cream into a sickly green mass.
It no longer looked like something a normal person would eat.
Ducker gave an awkward chuckle and said to Keita, "Why are you looking at me like that, Keita? Th-the cake's already here, so… aren't you going to make a wish? Go on, make a wish."
Seeing Ducker's and Keita's expressions, the others stifled their laughter and turned their faces away.
Keita gave a helpless smile, then pressed his hands together in front of the cake, closed his eyes, and began making a wish.
After about five or six seconds, he slowly opened his eyes and smiled at his friends.
"So, so, Leader, what did you wish for?" Ducker hooked an arm around Keita in a "man-lock" move, grinning as he spoke.
Keita grabbed Ducker's arm, tugging at it as he said, "If you say your wish out loud, it won't come true. Don't you understand something that simple?"
"Of course we understand, but c'mon, Leader, just tell us."
Before Keita could pry Ducker's arm off, Sasamaru suddenly pounced, using a "man-on-top-of-man" hold, while Tetsuo grabbed Keita's other arm in a "man-on-both-sides" technique.
Once Keita was completely surrounded, Ducker, Sasamaru, and Tetsuo all looked expectantly at Kirito, the message clear — get over here.
Kirito's face twitched, his expression full of resistance, and he even took two steps back.
When Kirito didn't move, Ducker and the others turned their eyes to Akimi instead.
Akimi, however, pretended not to notice and started chatting with Asuna — like hell I'm going over there to die of social embarrassment.
Even without Kirito or Akimi joining in, Keita still couldn't break free from Ducker's trio.
Eventually, he gave up struggling.
"Alright, alright," Keita said helplessly. "I'll tell you. My wish is really simple…"
Just as Ducker and the others leaned in, ears pricked in full concentration, Keita took advantage of their momentary loosened grip, suddenly breaking free from Tetsuo and slipping out from Ducker's and Sasamaru's hold with a "shedding-the-golden-shell" escape move.
Freed, Keita turned around, pulled a face, and shouted, "I'm not telling you! Hah!"
Realizing what happened, Ducker and the other two immediately gave chase — and soon the four of them were running around the room like children in a game of tag.
The whole room was filled with a lively, happy atmosphere.
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