Chapter 40 - Birthday Under the Stars

3.15.1206 - Thursday

"We have arrived outside of Ymir." Valimar announced as he released Rean and Towa from the cockpit, along with their luggage.

"Thank you for the ride, Valimar." Towa replied.

"You sure you don't want to rest up somewhere warmer? I'm sure the station is big enough to house you." Rean asked.

"That will not be necessary. I rather enjoy being outdoors." Valimar answered.

"If you say so. Remember to teleport to safety in case you sense danger." Rean advised.

"Acknowledged." Valimar responded.

Rean quickly grabbed their luggage and led Towa to Ymir, where they would be staying for the duration of her birthday.


After a short trek, they arrived in Ymir. After a quick meeting with Rean's parents, the pair made their way to the Phoenix Wings.

"Hello, we're here to check in. Our reservation should be under the name Schwarzer." Rean greeted the manager once they reached the front desk.

"Schwarzer, Schwarzer, Schwarzer… The two bed suite, correct?" The manager asked.

"Yup, that's the room we reserved some time ago." Towa answered.

"I regret to inform you, but that room is already taken. Unfortunately, there was an error in our system and we accidentally rented out that room to someone else." the manager revealed.

"That's okay. I'll come back to ask for a refund later. Come one Towa, I'm sure my parents won't mind if we stay at their place for the night." Rean responded.

"Wait, don't go! Ahem, we here at the Phoenix Wings value our customer's experience above all else. There is one room left that's normally much more expensive than what you two reserved, but we'll gladly upgrade you two for no additional cost." the manager informed them.

"Wait, that won't be necessary. We'll gladly pay for the upgrade." Towa responded.

"No, I insist." the manager continued as he handed Rean and Towa their room keys.

Not wanting to be rude, the pair accepted the new accommodations and thanked the manager.

"We still have a few hours before nightfall, shall we go check out our room?" Rean asked.

"We shall." Towa replied as her and Rean made their way to the stairs.

"Sir, if I may ask. Why did you upgrade their room? They're our only guests at the moment. Their original room has been ready for them since this morning." one of the staff members asked the manager once Rean and Towa were out of sight.

"You see… Lady Schwarzer called earlier. She requested us to upgrade her son's room." the manager revealed.


Rean and Towa stood silently in their room as they realized what exactly they had been upgraded to.

It was a rather small room, fit exactly for only two people. Although there seemed to be a balcony outside if they wanted some more space. There was also a hot tub in the corner of the room, alongside two complimentary bathrobes laid beside it. The decorations sprinkled around the room also make it clear what mood they wanted the room to have, with lights that had a red tint to them, and scented candles that would give the room a sweet smell once they were lit. Then there was the main attraction. A single large heart shaped bed for two people covered in rose petals arranged in the shape of a heart.

"They gave us the honeymoon suite didn't they?" Rean asked as he felt his face turn red.

"Yup." Towa answered as she felt her own face turn a matching shade of red.

"So uh… S-Should I unpack?" Rean responded.
"Y-Yes. I-I'll help." Towa replied.

After a few minutes, Rean and Towa set up everything they needed for the night.

"Snacks?" Towa asked.

"Check." Rean replied as he took a look at all the chocolates Towa brought with her.

"Telescope?" Towa asked.

"Check." Rean replied as took a look at Towa's telescope by the balcony.

"Looks like that balcony really came in handy." Towa noted.

"I suppose this room does have its perks. Safer to do it here than in the woods like we originally planned." Rean admitted.


Once their room was organized, Rean and Towa decided that it would be best to take advantage of everything the Phoenix Wings had to offer as they waited for nightfall to arrive.

Rean quickly led Towa to the billiards table and taught her how to play. She tried her best to keep up with him, but in the end, he won every round.

"You're really good at this. I didn't realize that I was playing against someone so skilled at the game." Towa complimented once they decided that they've had enough.

"Thanks for the praise, but I'm still a beginner compared to some of the other members of Class VII." Rean replied.

"Well it's just you and me here, so by default that makes you the most skilled player here." Towa continued.

"By extension that means you're the player here with the most potential. A few more games and you might be able to beat me." Rean complimented.

"Oh Rean, you're making me blush." Towa teased.

"Is there anything else we should do?" Rean asked.

"I'm not sure about you, but I could go for some food right about now." Towa answered.

"I mean it is dinner time. Let's check out what food they have available." Rean responded as led Towa to the dining area.


The pair soon ate dinner in the dining area together. It wasn't anything too fancy, just a simple soup with a small steak. At the very least it got the job done, as they were full once their plates and bowls were empty.

However, there was one thing that bothered the couple. They both noticed it earlier while playing billiards, but chose not to say anything.

"There are other guests here right?" Towa asked as she looked around the dining area. The only people there besides them were the staff.

"There has to be someone else here. After all, someone else did take our room." Rean assured Towa.

"I feel like we would've seen them by now. Not to be rude, but there doesn't seem to be much to do here in Ymir besides relax inside the Phoenix Wings." Towa replied.

"There's plenty of things to do in Ymir. They could've gone snowboarding, fishing, shopping-" Rean started listing off before getting interrupted by Towa.

"Rean… All those things sound like things that you'd want to do. Just because it's my birthday doesn't mean you have to pretend that hanging out with me isn't rather… dull." Towa informed him.

Just as Towa finished however, Rean got up from his seat and made his way towards her. Before she knew it, he bent over and started hugging her.

"Towa, there's nothing I'd rather be doing in Ymir than be by your side. Even if we came some other day, I'd still want nothing more than to spend the whole day with you." Rean assured Towa.

"R-Rean… Thank you. U-Um… I'm pretty sure the staff is staring at us." Towa replied.

"Well, judging by how dark it looks outside. I think now would be a good time to go stargazing together. Just like when we came here with the others a few years ago." Rean responded after looking at one of the windows.

Nightfall had seemingly fallen while they were having dinner.


After thanking the chef for their dinner, Rean and Towa made their way to the hot spring. The two quickly changed out of their clothes in the changing rooms, before making their way inside the hot spring. Once inside, the couple sat beside each other to enjoy both the hot spring itself, and the beautiful view of the night sky the hot spring gave them.

"It certainly has been a while since we were last here." Rean noted as he took in all the steam.

"Yeah." Towa replied as she rested her head on Rean's shoulder.

"The night sky still looks great." Rean commented.

"Heehee, it sure does. I can't wait to go back to our room and use our telescope!" Towa replied.

"If you'd like, we can go back right now." Rean offered.

"Later. Right now I want to relax here with you." Towa responded as she gave Rean a hug.

"Alright, if you say so." Rean replied as he started rubbing Towa's head.

The pair soon rested inside the hot spring for another hour. They would have liked to stay in there longer, but Rean soon realized that they were both starting to fall asleep.

"Alright, I think we should head back to our room now." Rean suggested as he put his arm around Towa.

"Not yet." Towa replied as she snuggled up to Rean.

"Alright, five more minutes. But if we're not both changed by then, I'm just going to carry you back to our room as is." Rean teased.

"F-Fine, five more minutes." Towa responded as she rested her head on Rean's chest.

After five minutes, Towa gave in to Rean's demands. She couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than having him carry her to their room while they were both wearing nothing but towels. Even if they most likely were the only guests at the Phoenix Wings at the moment.

After getting dressed in the changing rooms, Rean and Towa soon returned to their room.

"Okay, I'll go set up the telescope while you prepare the snacks." Towa announced once they locked the door.

"Sure thing." Rean said as he saw Towa make her way to the balcony.


Towa soon finished preparing the telescope. It was fairly old and had some pretty bad issues. Mainly things like the lens being all scratched up and the focusing knob being rusted.

"I really should have tried fixing this before we came here." Towa said aloud.

"Is something wrong?" Rean asked as he joined Towa outside with a bowl full of chocolates.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just wish that I had done repairs on my telescope before we left Heimdallr." Towa answered.

"As long as it still works, it should be fine for tonight. We should try repairing it together sometime." Rean suggested.

"I'll make sure to include it in my luggage once we move to Leeves then." Towa replied.

"Do you want to try out the telescope first? I'm sure you've got a better eye for this sort of thing than me." Rean asked.

"Heehee. You flatter me." Towa teased as she used the telescope to look for a good spot.

Rean waited politely while Towa continued her search. Although it proved to be harder than expected when he started savoring the chocolates. Seeing as it was her birthday, he wanted her to have the chocolates first.

"Ugh, this is taking longer than expected. Rean, can you do me a favor?" Towa asked while still using the telescope.

"What do you need?" Rean replied.
"Can you feed me some chocolates while I find a good spot with the telescope?" Towa requested.
"S-Sure thing." Rean responded. He was caught off guard by her request. But seeing as it was her birthday, it would be best to do as she says. Granted, he would probably still do whatever she told him to do even if it wasn't her birthday.

Rean made his way closer to Towa, before getting down on one knee to make it easier to feed her.

"Alright, open wide." Rean informed her.

Towa immediately opened her mouth as Rean gave her a chocolate. Once she was done, she opened her mouth again and waited for him to give her another chocolate. Things stayed like that for a few minutes.

"Alright, I finally found a good spot!" Towa announced as she stepped away from the telescope.

Towa suddenly noticed that the bowl of chocolates Rean bought was completely empty.

"Where are all the chocolates!?" Towa asked.

"Most of them are in your stomach." Rean replied.

"M-My stomach!? Why didn't you take more for yourself!?" Towa asked.

"Well, you told me to feed you the chocolates while you looked for a good spot." Rean answered.

"Still, you should've taken more for yourself." Towa responded.

"Don't worry about it. Think of the chocolates as multiple bite sized birthday cakes." Rean assured Towa.

"Wait a minute, this better not be because I told you not to get me a birthday cake or a present." Towa asked.

Due to the price of their original room already being rather high, Towa had requested Rean not to get her a birthday cake or a present. Their trip was more than enough for her.

"M-Maybe…" Rean admitted.

"Rean, do you remember what I told you before we left Heimdallr?" Towa asked.

"That you were perfectly happy with this trip being your gift this year." Rean answered.

"Exactly. Come on, check out the telescope yourself!" Towa responded.

The two soon swapped around the telescope for an hour. While Towa was miles ahead of him when it came to identifying each star and determining how far away it was from them, Rean still found amusement from seeing all the variety of stars while she told him trivia about all the stars. Soon however, they both began to feel tired.

"Should we call it a night?" Towa asked.

"Yeah, I think it's about time we hit the hay." Rean answered.

"You don't mind if I take a quick shower before I join you in bed?" Towa asked.

"Go right ahead. I think I'll try out the hot tub while you shower-" Rean replied before getting interrupted by Towa.

"R-Rean look! A two shooting stars! Once for each of us, make a wish!" Towa yelled as she pointed towards the trails in the sky being made by the two shooting stars.

Rean and Towa silently made their wishes as the shooting stars flew farther away.

"What did you wish for?" Rean asked.

"Well, I'm supposed to keep it a secret, but I suppose there's no harm if I share it with you. I wished for things to go smoothly for us from here on out." Towa revealed.

Rean suddenly started laughing upon hearing Towa's wish.

"H-Hey, what's so funny!?" Towa asked as she started to blush.

"W-Well… I-I might've wished for the exact same thing." Rean explained as he started to blush.

"Aww, come here." Towa teased before using Rean's shirt to pull him down so she could give him a kiss.

The kiss lasted for a solid minute before they both separated to catch their breaths.

"Happy birthday Towa." Rean responded.

"Heehee. Thank you Rean." Towa replied.


Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as Rean and Towa enjoyed the hot spring!

Preview - "I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that you two arrived first." Aurelia teased.