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That left myself, the twins, Emir, and Selina with an unexpected day off.

I obviously had to be present because I was the main orchestrator of the event, and the twins would be playing an important role, so I brought them in as well.

Selina was required to take the day off anyway since I wouldn\'t be there to fulfil the contract conditions, and since Emir seemed to have a thing for her, I decided to involve her as well.

In the morning, after first convincing Emir to celebrate his birthday, everyone sat down to have breakfast. Emir\'s plate carried a more extravagant version of the meal, but it was more or less the same full breakfast that everyone else ate.

During said mealtime, something unexpected occurred just after I finished explaining how we would be doing something special for Emir\'s birthday.

"Ciphy," Sona called.

"Yes?"

"Do we have a birthday?" Her sister continued.

The question had an obvious answer, I thought, and I wondered just why on Earth they would even need to think about such a thing, but then I realised: they grew up inside a human experimentation facility practically ever since they were conscious.

Growing up lifelessly within a place even more isolated than the inner quarters of the Playground I experienced, these two girls had never even seen the light of day until I rescued them, let alone know about their own birthday.

Thinking about it that way, it\'s ridiculous to expect them to know. How could they, when all they had was a life of ceaseless torture?

My eyes drifted downwards, towards the twins\' plates.

Blinking, I noticed that the amount of food they were eating was considerably more than what they had been able to just a couple of months ago, and that led me to realise something more―that until I had saved them, they had been receiving almost no nutrients.

One meagre meal per day, and even that was just barely enough to stave off the starvation that would come ruthlessly for their lives otherwise.

Now, however, the fact they were eating much more, and much more healthily, was clearly portrayed through the sight of their bodies―layers of smooth and vigorous skin had replaced its sickly pale predecessor, their cheeks were more plump and more full than before, and their limbs were not so frail so as to resemble birch twigs.

The ribs that once protruded from the stomach and chest were no longer visible, and their dilapidated nails had restored to become those just as any other girl their age.

Not to mention their revitalised, bright eyes that resembled rubies now more than ever before and their rejuvenated, silky white hair that had been neatly cut and grown respectably to barely even resemble the thin and straggly strands they previously wore.

Overall, the girls looked incomparable to what they did even just months ago, and it was clear that even just having a decent diet and sleep schedule was working wonders for their bodies.

Upon this realisation, which I never took real notice of before, I wondered why I felt something strange, akin to a sense of pride, begin to sprout within me.

"You do. In fact, because you are twins, you actually share the same birthday."

The girls looked at each other for a brief moment, inexplicable emotions in their eyes, then flicked their gazes back to me, another question ready to be asked.

"...Ciphy..."

"What happens on our birthday?"

As I thought.

"We celebrate it."

""Why?""

"Because it\'s your birthday; the purpose is to celebrate one\'s existence in the world."

They sunk into what appeared to be a moment of deep thought before returning to the conversation.

""Does Ciphy have a birthday?""

I expected such a question from the rather curious two, and so responded with haste.

"Of course. Everyone has one."

Naturally, just because I was not raised in an orthodox manner, and just because I never met my parents, doesn\'t mean I don\'t have a birthday, nor that I don\'t know it.

However, just because I have a birthday doesn\'t mean I am willing to share it; I see no need to as of the moment, but if there comes a time where sharing the date of my birth becomes beneficial to me, then I don\'t see why I wouldn\'t do it.

Perhaps understanding my thoughts without needing to prod, the twins didn\'t ask any further questions about my birthday.

"Ciphy..."

"Are we celebrating Emi\'s birthday?"

...What they did begin to ask, however, were questions perhaps more in line with an ordinary child\'s train of thought.

"As I said earlier, yes. Today is Emir\'s birthday, so we are celebrating it."

"Will we celebrate our birthday too?"

I nodded.

"Of course."

If I didn\'t do that much, I\'m sure people would get pissed. It helps to maintain the relationship anyway, so it\'s not like I\'m opposed to it.

""When is our birthday?""

The twins\' eyes sparkled with some of the most intense curiosity I think I\'ve ever seen as they asked.

I don\'t think this is the type of thing they would let go, so it might be a worthless effort, but...

"Are you sure you want to know? Won\'t it be more exciting for you to randomly find out one day?"

"No."

"Tell us."

""Please.""

Locked into their gaze, I couldn\'t escape such a piercing stare even if I tried.

Well... I suppose waking up every single day with the hope and expectation that it might be their birthday would get exhausting real fast, and not just for them.

"Fine. It\'s at the end of March. I won\'t tell you what day it is so that it\'s still somewhat of a surprise, alright?"

""...Okay.""

They submitted with sulk and a bit of a pout, but doing it this way was to achieve the best of both worlds.

Well, whatever. They\'ll probably forget soon enough anyway.

In reality, the girls\' birthday was only about two and a half months away, but it made me wonder how the state of things would be by then.

It wasn\'t a long time in any aspect, but things would be moving quickly from now on, even more so than before, and I didn\'t know when or how my adversaries would make their moves.

Either way, it\'s only two months, so I doubt things would change much in that short span of time.

❖─────❖─────❖

What Emir yearned for was to be able to play games with the new friends he made at school. Thus, he wanted a gaming computer.

I didn\'t know why he didn\'t ask me to get him one before since it\'s not like we wouldn\'t be able to afford it, but apparently he simply isn\'t one to impose, feeling bad for spending others\' money and whatnot.

In any case, that is what I bought for him, and he seemed pretty pleased with the result.

He also voiced his desire to sign an Absolute Contract with me sometime soon to ensure I didn\'t hurt more people unnecessarily. A contract is something I wanted as well, but the details are for another time.

"We\'re going out for a meal?"

"Yes. Apparently, it is what other families do when there is a birthday, so we shall be going to a restaurant for dinner instead of eating at home."

I explained to Sophie as she just arrived home from school what we would be doing this evening.

"I already placed a reservation the other day, so we have about two hours to get ready."

"Alright. Give me like ninety, then."

Nodding her head as she slipped her shoes off, Sophie headed for the stairs.

There wasn\'t much I needed to do to get ready, so I just waited.

In terms of things Emir actually seemed to want to do for his birthday, there really wasn\'t a whole lot, so we ended up with the simplest option of just going out to eat.

The purpose of such events are supposed to be as a celebration, and after some research I discovered that it was something many other families do for people\'s birthdays, so it should be sufficient.

Thinking about it, the only people with regularly celebrated birthdays that I\'m close to are Sophie, Minami and Selina; those who lived in somewhat ordinary households.

My birthdays were only "celebrated" until I left the Playground, and the twins didn\'t even know what a birthday was until recently. Emir had his birthdays from before he was taken as a subject of human experimentation, but they ceased at that point until today.

I know that Minami always made a point to celebrate Selina\'s birthday, despite her being adopted. Well, I suppose one could say the same about me and the other kids; on paper, Leander Herington is their guardian, adoptive or otherwise, and now I\'m fussing about something I never thought I would.

With some retrospection, maybe it makes sense.

In the early days of the Playground, there were certainly years where I could say I enjoyed my birthday, but that was before I knew too much about how the world worked.

Was it when I realised none of the Professors celebrated their birthdays?

There were certain days they appeared depressed, or even afraid.

At the time, I never realised that was because they had become one year closer to expiration.

Of course, not everyone was like that, but as Professors who were very much living inside their own heads a lot of the time, perhaps just the majority were such objective thinkers.

Naturally, humans were afraid of death. Yet, such was the fate of all life.

It was no wonder there were so many men gone mad from seeking immortality, eternal life or any other kind of silly perpetuity.

Of course, not a single time has an attempt at living forever actually worked.

For it is a fundamental truth of the world.

Something that cannot be denied by something as mere as human will.

There\'s a chance that Measurements could influence that, especially considering they seem to originate from a higher realm than our own with the relation to Forbidden Knowledge, but it\'s only theoretical.

The end is an inevitability for everything.

Just as everything has to have a beginning, there also has to be an end, and that is what these people do not seem to quite realise.

For me, who understands this truth more than anyone else.

Rather than an obsessed and nonsensical concern over what will come after everything else...

Put simply, isn\'t there more immediate things for you people to be worrying about?