It was a normal evening in Cafe Prism. The cafe had been closed for the day. Ever since their opening, the cafe had been receiving a handful of customers. Everyone was gathered after an eventful day.

Robin and Angelique were on one side, Ange was humming to himself while arranging the tables, Guiltia was wiping the coffee cups and glasses while Eve was with Pannya.

The pair of Robin and Angelique were studying. The former was helping her with her English. There was one month left till the entrance exam for Saotome Academy. The test was supposed to be hard and if she wanted to apply for the scholarship, she would have to earn a better result. She didn't want to be lacking in any aspect and that's why she requested her friend to help her.

Everything was going in their typical routine when a sudden chime garnered everyone's attention.

"Ahoy!"

"Dimitri! Hyde!" Ange exclaimed upon seeing their visitors.

"Good evening." Hyde greeted in an elegant manner.

"We have come to pay a visit to your new cafe!" Dimitri claimed.

Angelique got up and smiled at them. "Welcome, Dimitri-sama, Hyde-sama." It has been a while since I saw them.

"Little lamb, have you been well?" Dimitri approached her. He was glad to see she wasn't sad anymore, now that Guiltia was back.

"Yes. Thanks for what you did back then." She had meant to thank them for helping her get back to her senses but never got the chance.

"Yes, that's it." Before she could process what was happening, Dimitri tenderly held one of her hands, with a brilliant grin on his face. "That's the lovely smile I know."

Saying that, he kissed the back of her hand like a prince out of a fairytale.

"!!!!!" The result of his gentlemanly action was Angelique's brain to short circuit. Her cheeks erupted into a crimson blush. Her flabbergasted reaction intrigued Hyde and he also took her hand.

"I must agree with Dimitri on this matter." With that, Hyde also pressed his lips on the back of her hand.

At this point poor Angelique couldn't comprehend anything. Her brain had stopped working after her beloved Eclipse, her beloved Dimitri and Hyde, casually kissed her. Her eyes were spinning and all she could make out were soft, incomprehensible squeaks.

"Oh no. Angelique is dysfunctioning," Robin cried.

"Dimitri, Hyde, don't surprise her like that." Ange was quick to pull his sister away from the reason for her malfunctioning.

The brunette laughed loudly, not the least bit remorseful for her state. "Our apologies, little lamb."

Meanwhile, Hyde glanced at the man standing behind the counter. From the look in his eyes, it was clear that he didn't like what they had just done.

"What can we help you with?" Guiltia asked his long-time friends, a bitter edge in his tone. It bothered him to have Angelique react like that to them. Even if a kiss was a way of greeting in his native land, he didn't think his two friends would greet her by kissing her hand. When had they gotten so close? Plus, he wasn't aware of what Dimitri and Hyde were actually referring to because he wasn't conscious at that time. This served to fuel the discomfort inside him.

"Why, of course." Hyde took a seat in front of the counter. "We have been eagerly waiting to try your coffee, Guil."

"That's right." Dimitri remembered the purpose of their visit, taking a seat next to Hyde. "Our schedule kept us from visiting you since your inauguration."

"It's past closing time but you two are welcome," Eve welcomed them with a warm smile.

"Here's the menu!" Robin passed the menu to them.

Hyde chuckled to himself. The people working here were certainly enthusiastic and cordial.

While the two members of Eclipse were waiting for their orders to be served, Dimitri kept staring at Guiltia's face. With a sigh, the latter brought it to his notice.

"Is there anything you have to say, Dimitri?"

"Yes," the blunette nodded. "I was admiring your face."

"Those are injuries from the punishment, aren't they?"inquired the other blonde. "I believe they will fade away with time."

"But worry not,Guil! Even with the scars, you look exceptionally handsome like always!"

"Fu fu...I must agree. It's a wonder how you have such perfect beauty."

Eve, Robin, Ange and Angelique, who had finally recovered, silently agreed with Eclipse's words.

Guiltia shook his head. Ignoring their compliments, he prepared their coffee while Ange made their sandwiches.

"There's something I would like to say to you two." Guiltia stated while serving their coffees. He wore his poker face and yet Dimitri and Hyde could see the underlying gratitude in his lavender eyes.

"Thank you. It's because of you and Lost Eden that I'm here now." The sincerity of his words reached his long-time friends, who in return accepted his gratitude with smiles. "I intend to thank Saga as well when I see him."

As the three members of the former Eclipse spent time together, 

"It will be Christmas soon," Hyde muttered out of the blue. "Come to think of it, it will be your first Christmas as OZ."

"And Christmas means..." Dimitri couldn't contain his grin. "Guil's birthday is upon us!"

The said man seemed to have remembered it just then. "....I suppose you're correct."

Everyone except the four elder vampires froze. Guil-san's......birthday...... We never heard about it!!

"Guil's birthday!?" Ange was the first to exclaim.

"Oh? You didn't know about it, little pup? It's on the day right before Christmas."

"In fact, none of us know about it!" Robin whined, pointing to himself and the siblings.

"Guil-san, why didn't you ever tell us?" Angelique cried.

"I never deemed it as something worthy to be mentioned." The three youngsters were baffled by his nonchalance. 

Hyde commented, "That's certainly Guil to you." His friend never changed after all these decades.

"Well, you can't blame Guil." Eve enlightened, "When you live for eternity, birthdays lose their meaning." Even if Eve and Guiltia had lived together for so many years, birthdays didn't mean anything special to them.

To not care about such an important day . . . that sounds too sad.

.  . .  . . .  .

"Let's celebrate Guil-san's birthday!" Robin announced during dinner. He couldn't get rid of this idea after Eclipse had notified them. Not to mention there was only a week or so left before his birthday so they needed to plan.

"Yup!"Angelique joined forces with Robin.

"I agree too." Ange voiced.

"There's no need." Guiltia was quick enough to reject their proposal.

"Eh? Why?" Robin let out.

"There's no reason to celebrate it." His face was blank as ever when he said it.

"We don't need a reason to celebrate it, do we?"

"Right." Ange agreed with his friend. "It's your birthday, after all."

"I don't find my birthday to be of that importance." He reasoned further. "When you're a vampire, your birthday keeps happening over and over again."

Eve softly added, "At a stage, you don't even remember it."

This fact didn't sit well with Angelique. "That's not right at all." Frowning, her eyes met with Guiltia's. "A birthday is always special, no matter how many times it happens. It's the day you were born. Nothing can change it."

"And we got to meet you BECAUSE you were born," Ange muttered. Yeah. It makes us feel grateful that you were born.

Angelique looked down. "It's true that as long as you live for eternity, your birthday will keep happening. But what's wrong with that? You can just enjoy the day in your own way."

"Now that we're here, we'll always celebrate your birthday with you," grinned Robin.

"We won't let you forget your own birthday." Her stern gaze shifted to Eve. "And that goes for you too, Eve-san."

"O-Okay." The purple head sweatdropped.

Somehow, their words made Guiltia touched; even if his face didn't betray any of his emotions. He never had any attachments to birthdays but they seemed oddly fixated to make him enjoy his day. Seeing that they wouldn't back down, he finally resigned.

". . .Do whatever you want."

"Yay!" The three cheered.

.  . .  . . .  .

Thus the preparation to celebrate Guiltia's birthday began.

They decided to close Cafe Prism earlier than the usual scheduled time in order to prepare for the home party. Guiltia was forbidden from seeing the surprise party that was being prepared and so, he remained in his room, patiently reading while waiting for them to finish.

The duties had been distributed among the four. Ange was in charge of dinner, Angelique was in charge of the cake and Eve helped the twins. Since Robin was completely banned from entering the kitchen, he solely focused on decorating the living room. Despite wanting to hold the party on the rooftop, because it was the birthday vampire's favourite place, it wouldn't have been a good idea to be out in the cold for that long.

"It's mostly done," Ange smiled in satisfaction. He was nearly finished with preparing a feast; thanks to Eve's help, he was able to wrap everything much faster.

Angelique's eyes twinkled with joy while taking the cake out of the oven. As far as they knew, Guiltia never voiced any preferences of taste. That made it hard to decide on the cake's flavour.

Since the only thing they were aware of was his unending love for coffee, they settled on baking a coffee flavoured cake. "The cake came out perfect!"

"All we have to do now is decorate it," Eve declared.

"Wait!" A voice of protest came from the living room. "There are three of you in the kitchen while I'm handling the decorations all alone. It's not fair!"

Robin had just started attaching the colourful decorations on the wall. He whined, "Can I get some help too?"

"Ah, I'll come." Ange was the first one to react. Before he departed, he looked at Eve. "Eve, can you finish?"

"Sure." The elder swiftly took over Ange's work.

"Then I'll decorate the cake," Angelique proclaimed. It would be faster to do it alone instead of waiting for Eve.

"Alright," He trusted her skills enough to let her do it alone.

Finally, after completing their own chores, Eve and Angelique also joined Robin in order to help with the decorations.

These blue roses are really pretty. She thought while arranging the freshly bought flowers in a vase. I don't know how to put a finger to it but.... blue roses match Guil-san's image so perfectly.

Smiling, she looked around the room. While they had used different colours, the main colour was blue. She was sure Guiltia would like it.

"And now, we have one task left." Robin declared when the rest thought everything was complete. "That is.... balloons!"

Grinning, the pinkette boy brought out some balloons.

"Balloons?" Eve cocked his head to the side. "I think we didn't plan on using them."

"Mm." Ange nodded. "It might seem childish to Guil."

Robin said back, "Well, he does say all the time that we're 'kids'. What's wrong with acting like a 'kid' now? Who knows, Guil-san might even be moved by our suggestion."

...Balloons..! Angelique clasped her hands together. "It sounds lovely. I don't think Guil-san will dislike it."

After contemplating for a second, Eve and Ange gave their consent. "Alright."

It's going to be so fun to blow up the balloons.

. . . . Or so she thought.

"Um Angelique, your face has turned blue." Robin pointed out.

By the time the three males had blown up three balloons each, she was left on the floor, catching her breath with all her might after successfully blowing one balloon.

"....I....am.....fine."

"...I think it's better if you leave this to the three of us." Ange helped her get to her feet.

But...

Eve knew how to persuade her. He smiled kindly. "Why don't you use this opportunity to keep Guil company? You can bring him down in ten minutes. We'll be done arranging everything by then."

"Okay..."

.  . .  . . .  .

If he's not in his room then... Angelique had knocked on Guiltia's door but finding no response, she had entered the room, only for it to be empty. She had an idea where he could've been and so, she quickly headed to the roof.

Eek... The wind is so chilly...! The air that hit her face after opening the door was cool. Oh, there he is!

"I knew you would be here, Guil-san!" With a bright smile, she approached the man standing beside the piano.

"Angelique?" He noticed her presence. "Does this mean I can go down now?"

"Oh no, not yet." She hastily shook her hands to get her point across. She then found something odd. "Gosh, Guil-san! Won't you catch a cold if you don't bundle up properly?"

Despite the cold, Guiltia was wearing only a white shirt and black pants; no sign of any sweater or jacket.

"It's just for a while," he reasoned. "Besides, vampires don't catch a cold so easily."

Oh right, I forgot.

"Eve-san has asked us to go down after ten minutes." She smiled lightly.

The ghost of a smile turned into a small smile on his face. "Even though I enjoy my tranquil time, to spend the whole day so quietly all of a sudden feels strange."

"It looks like you have grown accustomed to our presence." Her bright smile sent a wave of warmth throughout his body.

"Yes.... Hm?" There was a hint of amusement in his lavender eyes. Before he knew it, he had reached out his gloved right hand towards her hair. He slightly leaned forward and his fingers gently brushed against her raven strands.

"...!"

"There was a piece of paper stuck in your hair." He showed her the small piece of blue paper.

"Oh..." S-So that's why... Her cheeks faintly reddened. "Thank you."

The display of her demeanour shyly looking away unexpectedly made his heart skip a beat.

Now that he was still close to her, he found her breathing uneven. He immediately frowned, concern growing inside him. "Why are you having trouble breathing?"

"Ah that..." She scratched her cheek with her index finger. "Let's just say I ran out of breath...haha...." It's embarrassing to say I felt like passing out so easily... 

"Don't push yourself." He finally returned back to his original position. "Why do you insist on doing so much?"

She immediately lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "That's because we hope you enjoy today. And when you look back at it next year, it will have become a great memory!"

Why did his crystallised heart feel so warm just by seeing her earnest smile? He could clearly feel the feverish sensation swirling in his body.

"Is that so?" He couldn't help but break into a soft smile. "I thank you."

Whenever he was with her, time seemed to fly so fast. How unsatisfying. He wanted to stay there with her longer. He wanted to bathe in her warmth longer.

"I suppose it's time we head back." She twirled on her feet and took a step away from him before facing him again.

"I know I already wished you before...." Her smile was dazzling to look at. "Happy birthday, Guil-san!"

"Also. . . it's not midnight but still..." Why did her heart suddenly start accelerating? She could feel her cheeks getting warmer along with her shyness growing. It's not weird to wish him since it's the eve, right?

"Merry Christmas."

The moon and stars gently radiated upon the female. The way she beamed with her pink cheeks was breathtaking. Guiltia felt his breath getting caught in his throat. The feeling inside him was....overbearing. So overbearing that he might burst. Yet it continued to grow the more he kept looking at her.

"Y-Yeah. Merry Christmas." By the time he nervously reached out his hand to hold her, she had already turned away, feeling shy for unknown reasons.

Yet, his hand didn't hold her. Rather they returned back to his chest and softly clutched his shirt. His heart felt like bursting. Something inside him felt like bursting out. If he didn't let out this feeling, he might burst out. He needed to let it out.

And his feelings came out in the form of a song.

"I want to love you until I am fully broken.
My soul cries out because it wants to love only you."

His deep yet whispered voice only reached his ears. It took a while for him to realise what he had just said and what it actually meant. 

Vampires couldn't lie in their songs. For him to get this unstoppable urge to sing... the words that he sang...the words that arrived from his heart.... His rational brain was capable enough to come to a conclusion.

The hand clutching his shirt loosened and returned to his side. It was an easy yet complex answer.

"Guil-san?" Angelique looked behind with curious eyes. She had walked ahead thinking that he was following her. But he remained where he initially was.

Guiltia met her eyes, reaffirming the truth once again. He, Guiltia Brion, had fallen in love with Angelique Yuki, the person standing right in front of him.

To be continued...