Birthday Gal

Gal woke up and rolled out of bed. She nearly landed on her face if she didn’t catch herself. Getting up to her shared bathroom with Saeko, she got herself ready for the day. A quick shower later, she was digging through her drawers for the day’s clothes, looking up at the calendar and doing a double take on the date.

It was her birthday! Today, she was 17 years old. Opening her jewelry box, she gazed at the pendent Guy got her nearly ten years ago and the promise they made go through her head. “Hmm, one more year, huh?” She grabbed it and looked at it. Despite it being gold plated steel, she still treated it like it was actual gold. “I hope he remembered today’s date. He probably did. How could he?” Quickly getting dressed and tucking the pendent into her shirt, she walked out into the hall.

Thankfully, summer vacation started yesterday, so no school. Unfortunately, the trip back home was pushed back as Aunt Josei was busy with work and Uncle Hermes was recovering from winning his last boxing title defense match. Guy managed to hack into the signal, so she got to see it. Who knew that a 7 foot unawakened man could move so fast?

Regardless, she at least had Guy and your sorta friend Chris to spend the day with, along with her other classmates. Only, when she entered the Rec room of Dorm OC, she saw no one. Dazzhite and PJ aren’t on the couch, “seshed” out of their minds, Saeko isn’t in the small kitchen eating past that she thought was mayonnaise. Mayon wasn’t staring at a potted plant like she was uncovering the secrets of the universe, and Anna wasn’t reading her Wyvern Orb S Manga.

Making some toast, Gal quickly left in hopes of catching Guy changing, but he wasn’t in his room. That could only leave his work shed. Hoping out the window, she reached the shed and inputted the code and creaked it open, only to see….

Nothing.

Just an empty shed with his tools, wires, metal and electronics everywhere. Gal went inside to take a closer look and couldn’t find any sign of Guy. Exiting, she went to the school Cafeteria, because they had to be eating there…right?

She had to pass through the courtyard, hoping that Io might be there which means Anakin and Clarence would be there yelling, but no, no stand, no scuffle, if this was one of these old westerns, a tumbleweed might have passed by, but instead, a sheet of paper flew by. She was starting to get more and more depressed, if someone could see her, they might observe that her ponytail was starting to droop.

Not even the cafeteria had people. To the Gym! Which was also empty. The Library! Silent. The Danger Room. Nada. The Nurse’s Office? Dead. T-the Track...?

No matter where she went, there was no sign of anyone. It was starting to creep her out. D-did everyone leave? Did Guy go home without telling her? She knew that he was playing hard to get, b-but did he actually hate her?

Eventually, she made her way back to her room and didn’t see Saeko curled up in her bunk. Deciding that might be a good idea, she got under her covers and curled up, not even bothering to get out of her clothes. She pulled out the pendent and stared at the ruby. “Where is everyone? Where’s Guy? T-this isn’t funny anymore…” She clutched it to her chest and tears started to flow from her eyes. Soon, sleep took her.


When Gal woke up, she still didn’t see Saeko, but she did hear her phone vibrate. Wiping her tears away, she looked and saw 3 text messages from Guy.

>Yo, happy birthday, you awake yet? (10:25)

>It’s after Noon already, you should be up already. (12:30)

>Alright, I’m coming after you. (Now, 12:37)

The moment Gal finished reading the last text, knocking was at the door. Quickly, she got up and flung open the door, grabbing Guy.

“Woah! What’s going on?”

“I-I though everyone was gone, y-you weren’t here, Saeko wasn’t here, no one was here and and and-“

Guy hugs her, patting her head. “It’s okay, calm down.” He held her for some time and eventually she went into sniffling. “Now, everyone was sent off to the beach. Not sure why or why we weren’t invited, but I-“

“Wait, if you weren’t invited, where were you?”

“Come on.” He pulled her hand until they were in the Rec room, a smallish cake on the counter with a candle that said “17” on it. “Had to go into town for some flour and candles, but hey, at least I- URGH, GAL YOU’RE SQUEEZING TOO HARD.” Guy could feel the air rush out of his lungs as Gal hugged him tightly, not holding back her strength.

“THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!”

“OKAY, JUST LET GO!” He applied pressure to her stomach, causing her to let go and jump back. He breathed heavily, catching his breath. “G-*cough* Glad you like it. Now come on, blow out candle and let’s cut it. Norami is waiting for a slice.”

“Speaking of, where is she?”

“Here, momma!” The little white girl jumped out and landed on Gal’s back, nearly knocking her over. “Happy birthday!”

“Aww, thank you, cutie.”

Gal blew out the candle and the cake was cut. A while later, both Norami and Guy gave their presents to her.

“Here momma, poppa helped me make this!” A small wrapped box was handed to her. Opening it up, Gal saw a metal picture frame displaying a pretty realistic drawing of all three of them. “I made the picture and poppa help make the frame. Do you like it?”

“Oh, I love it! Thank you!” Gal hugs the small Half-Demon, both of them squealing. Guy then cleared his throat, causing her to turn and see him holding a box.

“Here, it’s not much, but it’s something.” Gal grabbed the box and opened it up and saw a gold hairclip with a red gem. She looked at the jewelry and back up at Guy. He scratched the back of his head, looking bashful. “T-the pendent I got you a decade ago actually had a companion hairclip. I could only afford the pendent at the time, but I managed to track down one and- MMMMF! MMMMFFF!”

“Oh, momma is really kissing poppa. Am I going to be a big sister?” Norami felt herself be lifted by the back of her clothes. She looked up and saw Armos holding her. “Oh Armos, hi- where are we going?”

[Outside. Master and Ma’am seem to be busy.]

The next day, Guy could feel his hips literally screaming at him as he awoke in Gal’s bunk, with her cuddling up next him. He looked over and saw her holding both the pendent and the hairclip as if they were her lifeline. But for the first time since coming to this school, she looked peaceful. Guy could think to himself that he was one of the luckiest men in the world to have a woman next to him like that, but he knew there was things to do.

Giving her a kiss to wake her up, her eyes opened up a bit. “Hey, I kinda have to go. Sorry I can’t stay long.” A grunt was all he got before she turned over and started snoring again. “Oh, Gal.” Chuckling to himself, he got dressed and entered his work shed, grabbing a book from the shelf and sitting down at his desk.

“Alright, Thanatos. Tell me about this…Demi-Demon that gave Gal her powers."