* * *

Seth was busy for the last two weeks. He was too focused on practicing magic. Moreover, he and Lynstella didn't meet for a week, that's why she was temporarily erased from his mind. Although, it was really a shame for him to forget about his childhood friend's birthday so he decided to act like he did not forget.

"Yeah. Happy birthday, Lyn!"

"Thanks!" Lynstella flashed a bright smile.

"Then I assume that there will be a celebration tonight?"

"Mm-hmm! But I insisted that it should be simple." She began fidgeting her hands. "It's embarrassing if it's too grandiose."

"I can see that," he chuckled.

"And besides! It won't fit well in a town!"

Seth almost laughed by how worked up she was. He knew that she was actually excited, so he just played along.

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

Luckily, his artifice worked pretty well. But he still had one problem though...

The gift.

He did prepare something in advance, however, he forgot where he put it; behind his casual and relaxed demeanor, he was actually very troubled.

"You'll come, right?" Lynstella asked, her face slightly flushed.

"Of course. How could I not?"

Seth told her as he stopped the word 'nope' from slipping out of his mouth, innately cursing himself afterward. He just promised a moment ago that he would stop joking around, but he almost broke it out of habit.

"Hee hee, I'll look forward to it!"

"S-Sure."

Seth got more troubled by what she said. He couldn't identify if the 'look forward' that she mentioned was referring to him, attending her birthday celebration, or the gift that he was about to give her. It made him think a lot of possible bad endings for the birthday scene. But even so, he temporarily put aside those negative thoughts and stared at the distance, trying to keep it cool.

"Seth?"

"Hm?" Seth responded without batting an eye.

"Can I borrow your hand for a minute?"

At first, Seth thought that she said it out of revenge for asking her earlier to let him see her hand. But the thought immediately vanished when he saw the serious expression she wore on her face.

"Sure." He extended his right hand to her.

Seth had a brief look of surprise on his face when Lynstella grabbed his hand instead of his wrist.

"Create a fire," she requested.

Although it was just a request, it sounded like an order to Seth so he quickly cracked open the shell of surprise he was in and kindled his fingertip. Soon afterward, Lynstella aimed her hand at the same finger that he had ignited. And without giving Seth enough time to react, a breathtaking sight unfolded before them.

"Whoa!" Seth screamed in amazement.