Gifts kept flooding in from everyone else at the party after I blew out the candles. We then each ate one tiny slice of cake since it was incredibly late, and kept the rest of the cake in the fridge of our building.

Some people chose to sleep for the one hour that remained before we had to wake up, while some of us preferred to stay up, like Aki and I. We used the extra time to make sure we had packed all the essential stuff we needed for the three months the tour covered.

Less than one hour remained before the bus we had rented, from the same company as Aeryx, arrived. The sunlight hitting my face while sleep-deprived was far from nice. Although we all were going to pay for it, the short party was worth it.

"Whose idea was the party?" I asked Aki as we both lay down on our bed.

She smirked, "I'm not telling you. No one will."

"Why? Is there a need to keep it secret?"

"Is there a need for you to know?"

"For my sanity."

"You're going to go crazy, then."

I rolled onto my side to look her directly in the eye. She rolled to do the same and smirked at me, but I scrutinized her.

"As far as I know, only you and Aya were aware that my birthday was coming soon," I analyzed, "meaning it should've been you or her."

After a long, silent staredown, she replied, "You look so hot when you're serious."

I rolled onto my back and let out a breath of defeat.

Aki laughed. "Don't be so close-minded, my Galactical Prince. Besides, a little intrigue in our lives makes them more fun, don't you think?"

Processing her words took some time.

"Maybe," I answered. "Can you at least tell me who came up with the idea of writing riddles in letters?"

"Who do you think it was?"

"Umi."

Her expression didn't change. "Why do you think it was her?"

"Neither Jun nor Tomokazu are the kind of people to do something like that."

"You don't have faith in them, I see. And do you think Umi is the kind of person to do something like that?"

"Yes, but she would be too embarrassed to admit it."

"Good thinking. Perhaps I shouldn't answer."

"Are you kidding me?"

She chuckled. "I am. It's not that complicated to figure out, anyway. Yes, it was Umi. Although she, Jun, and Tomokazu worked together on it."

"I assumed as much," I said.

The chat had come to a halt, yet the tornado of thoughts in my mind wouldn't stop whirling until I let them out.

"You know, I didn't like that everyone gave me all the credit for making their lives better."

Aki's smile disappeared. "Why not?"

"Because it's everyone's efforts that have made their lives better. Mine too. I didn't even create Blostars on my own; Sanae and Risa should get just as much credit as me. Umi came up with the name, and you created the first iteration of the costume. Astra's ideas rarely worked on their own, but they still influenced the final decision a lot. Then there's Aya, Butcher, Tomokazu…"

Aki slapped my chest gently and smiled at me, "You're overthinking."

Her smile soothed me.

"I know I'm overthinking, but everyone should be thanking each other, not only me."

Instead of questioning me more, she agreed with me. "You're right, we should all be more grateful to each other."

One sentence was enough to shut me up.

She wrapped her arm around me and before we realized it, we had fallen asleep.

"Kaito," a voice called, followed by several knocks. "Kaito, Aki, wake up."

I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, making Aki wake up. We both stretched as the knocks continued, then my brain finally woke up.

The bus!

I jumped out of bed, ran to the door, and opened it. Aya stood on the other side.

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"What time is it?!" I asked.

"Half past seven."

Before she could say anything else, I ran downstairs and out of the building. The bus was parked in front of HQ, and Butcher, Jun, and a woman stood next to it. I approached them and asked the woman,

"Are you the chauffeur?"

"That's me," she beamed. "It's a pleasure to work with you—"

I bowed frantically in front of her. "I'm so sorry we're late! We'll be ready in no time. Butcher, Jun, help me carry the suitcases from HQ—"

Out of nowhere, Jun slapped me. "Kaito! Snap out of it, damn it."

"…Huh?"

"We already carried everything onto the bus. They're only waiting for you and Aki."

"'We'?" scowled Umi as she climbed out of the bus. "You only came out of your cave when you saw the chauffeur."

"I was busy wrapping up a last-minute job."

Umi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going for my last suitcase."

She walked past Aki and Aya as they arrived, both of them pulling two suitcases.

"As I was trying to say before you ran away like a headless chicken," said Aya, "we're almost ready to leave. Only Aki's and your stuff is left, and one suitcase of Umi's."

"Yeah, Jun just told me that…," I replied as I caressed my cheek. "There was no need to slap me."

"I called your name three times and you didn't hear it."

"Really?"

Aya continued, "We might've got the job done, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you're late."

"We are very sorry," apologized Aki. "We're going to apologize to everyone."

I nodded in agreement.

"Good," replied Aya. "Kaito, go for your stuff. You should be leaving soon."

"Right away."

Aki and Aya carried the suitcases onto the bus, while I headed back into the building and upstairs to get the last two suitcases from our room. Umi and I ran into each other in the hallway, but before I could say anything, she brushed me off with a resounding, "No."

A couple of minutes later, we were finally ready to go. We all stepped out of the bus to say goodbye to Aya, Jun, and the accountant, who didn't need to go on tour with us. In fact, it was better that Aya stayed in charge of HQ.

Ceruty was also going to spend several days at HQ to work closely with Aya on the project they had planned.

Even though Satō was the choreographer, she was also in charge of the girls' physical health, so it was a good idea to bring her with us.

We climbed back onto the bus as Aya, Jun, and the accountant waved goodbye to us.

"Call me," Jun whispered to the chauffeur as the doors closed, but it still could be heard throughout the cabin.

"He gave you his contact?" I wondered.

The chauffeur nodded. "He's kind of my type, actually." She slapped both her cheeks. "What am I saying? I'm working now; I have to be professional."

I better not meddle.

She accelerated gently. Since we were in the city, the bus had to stay on the road while driving, but we would be able to fly up to the lowest traffic airline once we reached the highway.

"By the way, you're the boss here," the chauffeur added. "Tell me when and where you want to go and I'll drive you there in no time. There's no such thing as being late."

"That's good to know, thank you," I replied.

I walked farther into the bus where everyone was sitting down. As always, there left a spot for me to sit next to Aki, but before doing that, we both bowed in the middle of the corridor and apologized for being late.

As soon as we sat down, Aki received a call. She answered it and Haru's hologram projected out of her glasses onto the floor.

"Good morning, everyone!" she smiled widely, but our reply was far from her level of excitement. "What's with the long faces? Are you that nervous about going on tour?"

"We are a bit," answered Astra.

Aki shook her hand beneath her neck as discreetly as possible, signaling her to stop, but Astra didn't see it.

"But we also slept late because of the surprise party we threw for Kaito."

Aki covered her face with her hand.

"What?!" fumed Haru. She turned around to scold Aki, "Why didn't you invite me?!"

"Because I knew you were going to be busy today. I didn't want to make you ruin your sleep schedule."

"Make me ruin my sleep schedule? I'll let you know I'm an adult woman, young lady. I'm used to awful sleep schedules. Besides, you still should've invited me even though I would've said no. Now I feel left out."

"You wouldn't have said no," replied Aki.

It had been a while since I had seen Haru that upset. For some reason, it put a smile on my face.

Haru sighed. "We'll talk about it later. I'm here to wish you good luck. I would've loved to do it in person, but I'm busy with university work, as Aki just mentioned."

"Don't worry, we still appreciate it all the same," I replied.

She smiled. "You can call me if you need help. That goes for everyone. Although I can't help you much with things related to a tour yet, I'll do my best," she laughed nervously. "I need to go. Please keep me updated, alright? Have a safe trip!"

Everyone waved goodbye, then the hologram disappeared.

"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" frowned Astra.

"No, it wasn't your fault," answered Aki.

"Okay…."

Astra's frown wouldn't disappear. Out of nowhere, Aki jumped off the sofa, pulled Astra to her feet, and squeezed her.

"Don't be sad, my adorable genius."

"Why do you keep calling me a genius?" asked Astra, but she received no answer.

They kept hugging for a while, then returned to their seats.

"What do we do now?" wondered Risa.

I answered, "There's some work still to be done, but we could look at the landscape out the window and play some games."

"Yay, games!" beamed Astra.

In the blink of an eye, we were all dead in bed after doing nothing.