"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RIKA!" Marika squealed, flinging herself at the fiery redhead.
"Woah!" Rika stumbled in surprise, but she was easily able to catch the slender model. Suddenly, she felt Marika's lips all over her face, peppering her in birthday kisses. Marika counted out one for every birthday Rika had celebrated so far.
"Happy birthday, birthday girl!" Dalia waved at Rika from the bar. Saori was with her, also waving.
"AWWW, YOU GUUUYYYSSS!" Rika's smile stretched from ear to ear, but her voice broke. "You guys are the BEST!" She grabbed Marika's hand and all but dragged her over to the bar. Marika hid a laugh behind the hand Rika wasn't trying to rip off her arm. Oh, Rika, never change!
Saori and Dalia both set their drinks aside (far aside) as soon as they saw Rika come barreling over.
"Brace for impact!" Saori whispered, tensing up. Dalia only chuckled and shook her head. Unlike Saori, she was completely relaxed. Yes, they were about to receive a wicked bearhug from Rika, but why bother resisting it, especially since it was Rika's birthday?
"Saori! Dalia!" Rika flung herself at both of them, nearly colliding with the bar itself. And to think, this was Rika while she was still sober!
"Ah! Hey! Careful!" Saori winced as Rika's left arm wrapped around her neck and started pulling tight. At the same time, Dalia grinned as Rika's right arm managed to wrap around her shoulders and hang awkwardly off her.
"Happy birthday, birthday girl," Dalia repeated, softer this time, then she pressed a kiss to Rika's cheek as well.
"Awww, Dalia!" Rika turned bright red.
"Awww, lucky!" Marika pouted, bringing a finger to her lower lip.
"Wait your turn," Rika teased before turning back to Dalia. "Got any special drinks for a special girl on her special day?" she joked.
"Absolutely," Dalia winked and disappeared behind the shelves of alcohol.
"I think that's a record," Saori murmured 15 minutes later, shaking her head, impressed and disgusted with how fast Rika got hammered.
"WoooOOO!" Rika took another massive swallow of the cocktail Dalia made her. It was named "Sunset Reflected in Merm4id's Gaze" and it hit Rika perfectly in all the right places. "Dalia, you truly are a miracle-worker when it comes to drinks!" she cried, trying to toast her lovely bartender.
"You're a few inches off, Rika," Dalia teased. Rika was looking just a little too far left, so it looked as if she was toasting the shelves of alcohol.
"Ooops." Rika turned even further left.
"Other way," Saori deadpanned, rolling her eyes. Marika and Dalia were laughing too hard to comment.
"Oh, ho ho ho, but we aren't done yet! Not by a long shot!" Rika, somehow, managed to stand up, slapping her hand down on the bar as she rose from her stool. She winced and clutched at her hand a second later. "Ouch!" That hurt more than I thought it would!
Saori rolled her eyes again, sighing in exasperation. She didn't know what Rika was about to suggest, but she had a feeling… And looking at Rika's current state, it was a terrible idea, but with Rika, that only meant she was all the more likely to try it out.
"We gotta RIP UP THE FLOOR TONIGHT AND GET HYPE AND PARTYYYYY!"
"Can you even find the stage, Rika?" Saori interrupted, snorting.
"Yeah, it's where all the microphones are at!" Rika managed to point in the right direction.
"Impressive." Dalia raised her eyebrows.
"Leave it to Rika," Marika shook her head, chuckling.
"Come on, you guys, it ain't a full party without you!" Rika pleaded, turning hopefully to her bandmates.
"Wh-what? N-no way! We're all too drunk!" Saori protested. Dalia's new "Sunset Reflected in Merm4id's Gaze" was a smash hit!
"Besides, I'm in the middle of a shift," Dalia nodded ruefully, but Rika only flashed them a devilish smile, and before either of them knew it, Merm4id was on stage and seconds away from performing.
"How…?" Saori shook her head, staring at the turntables in front of her.
"We really need to stop underestimating our Rika's endless determination," Dalia chuckled. Tasking Marika with helping Saori to the DJ booth, Rika managed to flag down one of Dalia's coworkers and put on her best puppy face to beg said worker to cover some of Dalia's duties just long enough for her to perform a few songs for Rika's birthday.
Now here they were, and as drunk as Rika was, she managed not to slur or stumble as she shouted excitedly to the crowd below. Truly, she was made for the stage. "Get HYPED, everybody, because Merm4id is here to ROCK YOUR WORLD and BURN DOWN THE HOUSE!"
"Isn't it "bring down the house" though?" Saori asked.
"Same difference," Rika shrugged cheerfully, throwing a casual smile over her shoulder at her DJ. Then she turned back to the crowd, shouting again. "Either way, it's gonna be LIT cuz all our songs are FIRE!"
The alcohol burned through Rika's veins, making her lightheaded, warm, and fuzzy. The bright white spotlights above turned her orange pigtails into twin flames. Her energy filled the air with heat and color, and she moved as fast and furious as any wildfire. She was a trailblazing inferno, burning a path of glory to light up the night sky on this most momentous of days. The tension and temperature rose in tandem.
"I am the FLOORBURNER!" she laughed madly, suddenly reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small, golden lighter with Merm4id's logo carved into the front. Saori and Marika's eyes and mouth went wide and silent horror. Where did she get THAT?!
But faster than the blink of an eye, Dalia spun easily across the stage. Rika flicked the lighter open and raised it high, swaying back and forth, the little flame mirroring her movement. In only a turn and a half, Dalia twisted the lighter right out of Rika's hand and flicked it shut once again.
Rika looked devastated and betrayed as Dalia danced away, pocketing the lighter. "Aww, even on my birthday?" Dalia only smiled serenely and kept on dancing. Saori and Marika heaved matching sighs of relief. Dalia to the rescue again!
"If it makes you feel any better, though, the staff prepared something special for you," Dalia winked and gestured to the crowd. Every head turned to the bar. Right on cue, Dalia's manager rolled a small cart out from the kitchen. Sitting on it was a cake designed to look like a tropical beach kissed by a warm summer sun. The icing was varying shades of yellow, sugar crystals making it sparkle like sand.
"That's not even the best part, though," Dalia grinned, then she pulled Rika's lighter back out of her pocket and hopped off the stage.
"Dalia…?"
A second later, the cake went up in flames. Everyone jumped back in awe as orange tongues licked at the sides of the cake, but it remained unharmed by the fire. Dalia smiled smugly. She'd heard stories of bartenders who specialized in "fire magic", performing spectacular tricks with alcohol and flame. Dalia wasn't quite so bold as to test out any "special effects" with her drinks, she still wanted a place of employment in the morning, but for Rika's cake, she was willing to be a little more extravagant.
A firebrand cake for a firebrand girl, they're both equally flamboyant!
"WOOOAHHH!" Rika looked beside herself, clutching her head in amazement as her mind was blown.
The fire almost looked like it was dancing on top of the cake, as if it was trying to serenade Rika, too. She was so transfixed by the flames that she forgot to complain about Dalia using her lighter on her cake on her birthday instead of just letting her do it.
"I want to eat it!" she declared, hopping off the stage and marching right over to the burning delicacy.
"Not until it the fire stops," Dalia said, quickly grabbing Rika's shoulders and pushing her away. Rika was absolutely the type of girl to try to eat a cake while it was still on fire, so Dalia physically holding her back was indeed a necessity. Saori and Marika were already making their way off stage as well to help in the effort of keeping Rika from actually burning down the house and becoming a literal floor-killer.
"It'll be more than just the floor," Saori smiled grimly as the fire finally started to flicker and dwindle. Neither she, nor anyone else, wanted Rika's birthday to become a mass-death day. It would totally ruin M4's image!
"Awww," Rika sighed as the last of the flames extinguished.
"Sorry it didn't last longer," Dalia shrugged. "Didn't want to use too much alc—"
"No, it's not that," Rika said quickly. Her voice still sounded thick, as if something was caught in her throat… "It's just… you guys…"
"Oh no…" Saori saw it coming before anyone else.
"YOU GUYS ARE THE BEEESSSTTT!" Rika burst into tears, again tackling the other three into a wild embrace. She bawled into their shoulders, giving each of them clumsy kisses as she tried to speak through her tears. "I'm just so grateful to have found all of you, and the fact that you guys are still here with me, and Merm4id's still going strong just… MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!"
That was the real reason Rika was keen on celebrating her birthday. As far as she was concerned, it wasn't just her birthday, because the version of herself that she was celebrating was born with Merm4id. Without them, she would be a different Rika celebrating a different birthday. She was the fire, but they gave her something worth warming and illuminating. She made them shine, because she saw beauty in them, because she loved them. In the past, they joked that Merm4id was little more than Rika's excuse to collect girlfriends, but it was so much more than that now. They saw sides of her that no one else did, and vice versa. Truly, this version of Rika was alive only thanks to Merm4id!
"Awww, Rika…" Marika snuggled under Rika's chin while Dalia held both of them, resting her chin on Rika's head. Saori was opposite Dalia, awkwardly hugging Rika and Marika as well. She couldn't bring herself to look at a crying Rika. Already, just hearing her sweet words about how much she loved everyone in Merm4id… and how lucky she felt to have them… and how grateful she was that they were still friends, and that they were all so close… It was something Rika had never had before, extroverted though she was…
"Aww, Saori!" Saori didn't remember when she started crying, but she felt Marika clutch her arm.
"Wh-what? No! Sh-shut up!" Saori yelped, but one of the noises she made sounded suspiciously like a sob.
"Awww, Saori!" Rika echoed Marika's croon, turning her teary eyes on her DJ.
"No, Rika, no!" Saori warned with a despairing moan, but it was too late. Rika leaned in for a kiss. Although Saori looked away at first, annoyed and embarrassed, she looked back a few seconds later and obliged to give Rika a quick peck on the lips.
"Happy birthday," she muttered.
"I love you, Saori!" Rika cried, then she turned to the other two. "I love you, Marika! I love you, Dalia! I love you, Merm4id!"
"And we love you, Rika, happy birthday," Dalia spoke for the others, knowing neither of them were able to speak anymore. Marika was snuggling Rika again, hiding a teary face in her shoulder. Saori was still struggling with being flustered by the kiss and touched by Rika's heartfelt speech.
Rika was in the midst of them, still crying and babbling happily. "Best. Birthday. Ever!"
"Umm, ahem, cake's getting cold," Dalia's manager joked, clearing his throat politely.
"Oh, right!" Rika perked up immediately, finally breaking the M4 hug. Dalia and Marika laughed while Saori gave her another despairing sigh. "I just got done being Floor Burner, now I'm gonna be Cake Killer!" she cried, looking totally hype.
"Really, Rika?" Saori slapped her forehead and rolled her eyes, but even she couldn't stop a small smile at Rika's lame pun.
"Well, you heard the Floor Burner and Cake Killer, it's party time!" Marika squealed, and the whole bar cheered with her.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RIKA!" The fun was only just getting started!
AN: If they somehow reference Rika returning to Singapore because she's finally old enough to gamble, that would be hilarious
Also, happy birthday to our lovely Floorburner and M4 leader, Rika Seto!