[Saiki probably didn't tell others about his birthday, right? How exactly did Ichinose know?]
Karuizawa was extremely curious in her heart, and even felt a tiny bit displeased inside.
"Hmm, weren't we going to reveal the messages on the phone earlier? That's when I accidentally saw Saiki-kun's birthday."
"He seems like the type who doesn't want to talk about other things, maybe because he's shy. So, I secretly planned to buy a gift for Saiki-kun and also told Saiki's friends."
"You also told other people?"
"Mm, I told Kushida-san and them. They're all Saiki's friends, right!"
'???'
At that moment, behind the two of them, Saiki, who was in an invisible state, froze for a moment.
Karuizawa and Honami Ichinose had both found out his birthday. In order to avoid too much trouble later, he had followed behind them using his invisibility ability, never expecting to hear such heavy news.
Originally, he just wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible, but in the end, he might have to face even more trouble.
Saiki quickly left the gift shop, found a deserted place to cancel his invisibility ability, and then used his clairvoyance to observe the situation of the others.
———
At the same time, on the other side of the school.
Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, Sakura Airi, and a few other fools had all gathered together.
"Tomorrow is Saiki-kun's birthday. Have you all prepared your gifts?"
With a smile on her face, Kushida said this to the others.
To her, organizing a birthday party for a classmate was one of the ways to make her image even more perfect.
"I've already prepared it!"
Sudo Ken responded with a smile, "I prepared a set of fitness equipment for Saiki! He'll definitely love it. After all, Saiki looks skinny and bony, he must really lack exercise."
'Even without using my psychic powers, I could easily spin the grip strength meter's dial ten times.'
Saiki, secretly observing from a distance, responded in his heart.
"I bought a set of fishing rods for Saiki! I feel like he really likes fishing!"
Ike Kanji immediately said. Ever since the deserted island exam last time, he believed Saiki liked fishing, so he prepared a set of fishing gear for him.
'...'
Saiki felt incredibly helpless inside.
'Putting aside how deeply Ike has misunderstood me, even if you gift me fishing gear, there's nowhere at school to fish, right? If I go fishing at the man-made lake, wouldn't I get punished?'
"I… I…"
Beside them, Yamauchi Haruki didn't say a single word for a long time.
Because he had completely forgotten about this matter.
Yesterday, Ichinose Honami had told Kushida about Saiki's birthday. The latter then immediately informed the others, including Yamauchi Haruki.
But at the time, Yamauchi Haruki had been totally absorbed in the joy of talking to Kushida, so he had completely tossed this matter to the back of his mind.
Although Yamauchi Haruki had set his sights on Sakura, he still harbored some delusions about Kushida inside.
"I've prepared it!"
Yamauchi Haruki quickly nodded. If he said he hadn't prepared anything now, he would probably be disliked by the others.
"I… I've also prepared something…"
Sakura lowered her head slightly. Her voice was a bit quiet, almost only she could hear it.
"Kushida-san and I already went to the cake shop in advance and ordered a birthday cake for Saiki-kun. We can pick it up tomorrow morning."
Hirata Yosuke still had a smile on his face as he said to everyone, "Saiki-kun made a lot of contributions to our class before. If it weren't for Saiki-kun, we definitely couldn't have achieved such good results in the previous exam."
'Yare yare… they even ordered a cake? Now there's really no way to avoid this…' Saiki sighed.
———
The next morning, Saiki had just teleported back from home to the dorm when he heard a familiar knocking at the door.
Although he really wanted to teleport his father, Saiki Kuniharu, to the school and then use hypnosis to make everyone think Saiki Kuniharu was him, so he could avoid a series of awkward events, Saiki Kuniharu, being a corporate slave, was still at work, so Saiki had no choice but to personally deal with this.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw those familiar faces. Ichinose Honami was among them, but Karuizawa was not present. In Yamauchi Haruki's hands was a whole watermelon, that was the gift he had prepared for Saiki.
"Saiki, happy birthday!"
Everyone shouted together in celebration. Even Sakura softly followed along.
[Saiki-kun must be really touched! He probably never imagined this kind of surprise!]
Every one of them was more or less thinking the same thing.
'…..'
Only, to Saiki, something like a "surprise" didn't exist at all. His expression didn't change in the slightest.
"..."
Everyone fell into a moment of silence.
[Saiki-kun… doesn't usually smile either. Did something happen to him in the past?]
Hirata Yosuke thought in his heart, his eyes showing a hint of concern.
To prevent the situation from getting worse, Saiki immediately said, "Uhm… come in first."
Although the atmosphere was a bit strange, the birthday party proceeded more or less normally. Everyone shared cake while chatting idly, and the mood gradually lightened. Later, Shiina Hiyori also arrived and brought several hardcover mystery novels.
Saiki didn't know how Shiina Hiyori found out about his birthday. She claimed she saw some Class B students buying gifts and deduced everything through logic.
'Yare yare… the cake actually tastes pretty good.'
Saiki ate cake while thinking to himself.
Although many of the guests had their own motives, overall it wasn't so bad. Saiki didn't particularly dislike this kind of atmosphere.
The gifts from everyone also helped fill the previously empty room.
The birthday party overall ended quite smoothly.
Except for Kushida and Yamauchi Haruki, the others could more or less be considered to have genuinely wanted to surprise Saiki.
"Uhm, Saiki-kun, we'll head out first."
Hirata Yosuke stood at the doorway and said to Saiki.
Sudo Ken and Ike Kanji had already slipped away long ago. Hirata Yosuke and Sakura had stayed behind to help Saiki clean the room.
"Mm."
"Saiki-kun, if there's anything troubling you, please be sure to tell me."
Hirata Yosuke patted Saiki on the shoulder, looking at him with deep concern.
[Maybe Saiki-kun went through something like bullying in the past, that's why he's become so silent… But even so, Saiki-kun still contributes to the class in his own way. I can't help but admire him for that…]
'Stop making up stories in your head.'
Saiki felt a little exasperated inside.
"Sakura-san, aren't you leaving?"
"Uhm… I-I… I'm helping clean up a bit…"
Sakura stammered a bit, but barely managed to express her intention to stay behind.
"Then I'll get going."
Hirata Yosuke revealed a meaningful smile and then left the room.
"Uhm…"
After Hirata left, Sakura immediately walked up to Saiki, then reached into her bag, fumbling nervously before pulling out a small Polaroid camera.
Although it looked small, its design was very delicate, and Sakura had spent quite a few points on it.
"Uhm… I didn't know what kind of things Kusuo-kun… you liked… so… I-I just bought this…"
For Sakura, this was her first time giving someone a gift, and to the opposite sex no less, so she was extremely nervous.
[I just felt… felt… that I should give my gift separately… I don't know why… but I felt it would be better this way… I wonder if Kusuo-kun will like it… what if he doesn't…?]
At this moment, Sakura's brain was spinning rapidly, wanting to say something else, but in the end, the only words that came out of her mouth were "Happy Birthday."
"Thank you."
Saiki took the gift from Sakura and nodded to her.
"Uhm… Kusuo-kun… in a few days…"
[Kusuo-kun… do you have time in the next few days? Can we go on a date…?]
Inside Sakura's mind, she had nearly shouted this sentence, but at this moment, she couldn't muster the courage to speak it aloud.
Even though she had practiced it many times beforehand.
"...Would you…?"
Just as Sakura was about to make a little progress, suddenly, a loud knock came from the door, completely shattering the words she had been preparing for days. She quickly went over to open the door.
And what entered her sight, was Karuizawa.
"Karuizawa-san?"
"Sakura?"
Surprised expressions surfaced on both of their faces. Clearly, neither of them expected to see the other here at this moment.
[Karuizawa-san… why did she come to find Saiki now… Could it be…?]
[Sakura is here? Though everyone already basically knows she has feelings for Saiki, to think she stayed here alone?]
"Uhm… Saiki-kun… I-I'll just leave now…"
While saying that, Sakura quickly fled Saiki's room as if escaping.
"Sakura was here. Did she just say something to you?"
Karuizawa leaned forward slightly, her gaze becoming somewhat serious, like a girlfriend interrogating her boyfriend.
'Oi oi oi, this has nothing to do with you. Why are you so concerned about this anyway?'
Although Saiki thought this in his heart, he still replied, "She just gave me a gift. Purely said happy birthday."
"Is that so? Sakura-san seems to be quite focused on you, huh?"
"Didn't feel that way."
"Can't tell if you're just dense or pretending not to know."
Karuizawa pouted slightly, then pulled out a delicate little box from her bag.
"Here, this is your gift!"
Saiki accepted Karuizawa's gift. It seemed to be a custom-made bracelet.
'Doesn't look like it's made of germanium, just a normal accessory. But the price probably wasn't cheap.' Saiki thought to himself.
"If you're truly grateful, then remember to repay me a hundredfold, okay!"
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