In their hearts, there was a tacit understanding.

If there is Onii-chan, Onee-chan, Mom, or Dad here, then we should go be with any of them!

If not, they will play with Rurune if she's there... Or Vince, Chloe, or Niina when they're not busy with work. Or other house helpers after they finished their work and decided to stay longer to play with them.

Time to go to Onee-chan.

She should be in her room.

"Onee-cha..."

"Ah, Freyr! Freyja! And Rurune, too! Can you play with yourselves for a while? Sorry, I have something to do!"

Onee-chan looked so surprised when they opened the door to her room. She then escorted the twins back to their own room.

"..."

The twins looked at each other in silent.

"Ru... ru?" Rurune floated in the middle of the twins, breaking their staring game.

"Let's just go down and play?" Freyja asked.

"Go down and play," Freyr nodded.

Freyja reached out her right hand to grasp Freyr's left hand. They kept holding hands while walking out of their room, towards the stairs. Just when they were about to step their feet at the first floor...

"Aaah! Freyr-sama, Freyja-sama, don't!" Niina came rushing at them, blocking their way.

They were just two steps away from coming down to the first floor.

The twins tilted their heads, unsure what was going on.

"You see, it's veryyyyy disastrous downstairs! I have to clean up real hard along with the other attendants!! It will be very bad if you step on the first floor now! The dust is piling up like crazy, you might fall down due to the mess it's in now... So...," Niina said all that with just one breath, so she was gasping for air by now.

"Can you go back to the second floor first? I'll let you know when we're done!" Niina smiled, but she was actually not leaving any room for arguments. She was a mother of one hardy son, so she was experienced in this kind of thing.

From the beginning, the twins were way too obedient. Although they were frowning hard, they only nodded, turned around, and climbed the stairs with gloomy atmosphere.

"Uu...," Niina bit her lips, looking at the twins' limp figures. Her heart tightened a bit, but she quickly moved to do the important task at hand.

The twins returned to the second floor. They looked at their older sister's room for a while before it was suddenly opened in a hurry.

"...huh?" A trace of surprise was detected in Lyra's face before it was quickly gone.

"Done?" Freyja asked as she tilted her head at Lyra.

"N-not yet! I have some errands to do, sorry!" Lyra said as she quickly moved towards the stairs.

"Onee-chan, Niina said first floor is in a mess," Freyr warned her.

"Yes, I'm going to help them!" Lyra quickly answered back.

"We will help, too!" Freyja pleaded.

Lyra paused as she turned around to look at Freyja's determined expression.

"Uhm... You can't. You two are too small, it will be difficult. Just wait here until I come back, okay?" Lyra asked patiently.

Freyja paused for a bit before casting her eyes downward and nodded. But a second later, she shook her head.

"Wanna help...," she muttered.

"We can help cleaning up," Freyr grabbed Lyra's clothes.

"Uhm... The adults are cleaning up the mess... While Alt-nii and I help with our magic... You two are still small, so...," Lyra tried to give them a logical reason.

"...want to learn!" Freyr suddenly said.

"Magic, to help!" Freyja added.

"Yes, sure! But it's a bit urgent now, so you can't, okay? Make sure to tell that to Mom, she will surely be happy!" Lyra quickly added.

"Happy?" Freyr asked.

"Mom will?" Freyja asked.

"Yes, yes! So... Please wait a bit for now, okay? Freyr and Freyja are good kids, right?" Lyra felt relieved that the twins were finally appeased.

The twins nodded, and Lyra left at a high speed.

This time, unexpectedly, Rurune followed Lyra and Lyra didn't even ask Rurune to stay.

The twins looked at Rurune's figure with envy.

The twins looked at the direction of Mom and Dad's respective work room. Earlier, they were told that Mom and Dad would be busy so both couldn't play with them. They were often busy, so the twins didn't want to bother them. The twins kept holding each other's hand as they went inside their room again.

"Freyja...," Freyr began to speak, "are they avoiding us?"

"I don't know."

"Why are they so busy and won't even let us help?"

"Maybe it's because we're small and a bother now?" Freyja asked back.

"I wanna grow up soon," Freyr said.

"Me too, so we can do many things together with Onee-chan, Onii-chan, Mom, Dad, and the others."

"They won't disappear because they get too busy for us, right?" Freyr asked.

"Let's hope so," Freyja shook her head, unsure.

The two of them then moved to their "treasure box" that contained their beloved toys--old and new. Then, Freyja took a small round white stone. However, perhaps due to not being cleaned well, its color wasn't that clean white anymore.

The two nestled together on the lower bed, blankets on both of them as they held the small ball with one of their hands each.

"We promise to always be together...," Freyja chanted.

"And help each other out," Freyr added.

It was as if they were doing a ritual they were so used to do.

"And we will be good children and help the others out!" Freyr added.

"So please let us stay with these people in this home forever," Freyja ended their "chant" and the two of them gently stroke the small ball with their small palms.

They were told that this small white ball was a precious item that could bring fortune if they cherished it. Therefore, they would often make promises to each other with this ball as a witness and would often offer prayers with the presence of the ball.

Unfortunately, they already forgot the name of their most treasured ball/stone. Yes, they were certain it had a name... Oh well, not that it's important, right?

Not long after they were done with the 'ritual', the door was suddenly opened.

"Freyr, Freyja, let's play a game!"

Their beloved big sister announced proudly right after she stepped inside their room.

Freyr and Freyja were both surprised, but then excitement filled their whole hearts.

"Play what?" Freyr asked.

"What game?" Freyja also asked.

Then, Lyra "magically" took out a pair of small cloth from behind her back and handed them over to the twins--one each.

"It's a [Pretend to be Blind] game! I'll tie the cloth to cover your eyes and then I will guide you to a certain place!" Lyra quickly explained.

"A certain place?"

"Where?"

The twins asked as they let Lyra cover their eyes with the cloth.

"It's a secret! That's why, let's find it out together!" Lyra answered, her tone was so full of secrecy.

The twins held each other's hand as they were a little afraid that they couldn't see anything. Freyja's left hand grasped the pocket that was located in the middle of her clothes. She quickly put their treasured ball inside that pocket as they couldn't be bothered to tidy up and put the things they took out in their treasure box again.

"Are you ready?"

The twins nodded when they heard their big sister's voice.

"Okay, follow my instructions well!"

Lyra said as she started to guide the twins to their destination.

When the twins seemed to stray from her direction, Lyra would patiently grab their free hand and direct them back to the right path.

Eventually, the twins felt the breeze of the wind.

Are we outside?

The smell of the plants, the warm heat of the sun, and...?

What's this good smell...?

"Onee-chan...?"

After a while, they realized that Lyra hadn't given them any more instructions.

Are we there already?

"Yes, we've already arrived~!"

Lyra's voice didn't come from beside them—but judging from her voice, she seemed to be in front of them.

"You can open the blindfold now!"

She added, without hiding the excitement in her tone.

Where are we...? What's happening?

The twins couldn't contain their excitement and hastily opened their blindfolds. Due to the rush, their blindfolds were stuck here and there. They finally managed to release the blindfolds with great efforts and...

The scene that they saw right in front of their eyes... It would be a scene deeply engraved in their memories for a very long time. Even if their memories forget this scene, they wouldn't be able to forget their feelings at this moment.

All members of the family were there...

Mom, Dad, Lyra-neechan, Alt-niichan, Rurune, Vince, Chloe, Niina, Clavis, and several house helpers that were in good terms with them. Dad even let his Familiar, Phyllo who was normally busy or on duty, participate. Mom also summoned a part of Fenix in the form of a little fiery bird.

The garden was merrily arranged—with outdoor table and chairs. Balloons and magical illusions were everywhere, and the blooming flowers surrounding them only made it more beautiful. Several other items and what looked like presents were arranged neatly on another smaller table. On top of the main wooden table, there were some food and a big cake.

So, that's what smells good!

The twins couldn't see the food yet, but they were all the foods that the twins liked.

Taking the advantage of the twins' dazed mind (due to the surprise), Lyra and Alt-nii popped the confetti at the twins. As if it was the signal, everyone suddenly said in (almost a good) unison.

"Happy fifth birthday, Freyr and Freyja!"

It was only then that the twins realized the writing on the hanging banner.

"Day 5 Month 5 Year 979: Happy 5th Birthday, Freyr & Freyja~!"