Kapitel 4: Sakurajima

"Happy birthday!" There were a lot of people wishing Akira and the gifts that they had all brought had been piled up to make a small mountain in one corner of the main hall.

More than twenty minutes passed and Akira felt his whole face hurt after keeping that business smile on his face.

When Asahi noticed Akira's tired expression, he laughed a little as he pulled Akira away and took him toward the bar.

"That's enough for the day," Asahi chuckled as he spoke, "Don't force yourself with this. You should be enjoying yourself on such an occasion."

Akira finally stopped smiling and sighed in disbelief as he muttered, "Damn, parties are tiring as hell."

Asahi laughed as he heard this, "You should've just been honest with her. I'm sure Ayami-san would have listened to you."

"Honest with her?" Akira chuckled dryly as he shook his head and leaned his head down on the table, "She would have been disappointed. She loves such grand parties. It's all that she has ever known."

Asahi shook his head in disbelief as he heard this and ordered two drinks for the both of them before he asked in response, "Are you that afraid of seeing her disappointed?"

Akira didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this question.

"Afraid? I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of it but... When she gets disappointed, I start feeling guilty..." Akira replied truthfully as he put some thought into it and continued, "We are supposed to be spending the rest of our lives together. If I can't cater to her likes then I'm afraid we would be holding a divorce party before we even hold our anniversary party."

Asahi couldn't help but chuckle as he heard this and commented, "You say you want to adjust to her likes and dislikes, but that's not love. It feels as if you don't really want to marry her, you just want to adjust with her because there's no other choice."

"Is there a difference?"

"..." Asahi looked to be a little speechless as he heard this question, "You better not let Ayami-san hear that you're adjusting with her."

Akira tilted his head innocently as he understood nothing.

"Marriage should not be about adjustment, it's supposed to be about love," Asahi sighed as he decided to explain such a common concept to his dumb friend, "When you love someone, you would want to like what they like and that is not called an adjustment, but adjusting with someone is a completely different thing. When you get married to a person you don't love, you try to adjust to their demands and likes. That's exactly what you are trying to do."

Akira frowned as he heard this and questioned, "Why are you trying to make it so complicated?"

Asahi pursed his lips into a thin line as he heard this.

It seemed that it was a bit too hard to get anything through the head of this man who only ever thought about work and loved only his job.

"Forget it," Asahi sighed as he decided to drop the topic. By then, the drink that he had ordered had also come so there was really no need to continue this discussion.

Akira couldn't help but sigh as he lifted his head from the table and looked at the drink.

"You remembered my favorite," Akira happily commented and Asahi nodded his head with a small chuckle.

"I dare not forget."

Akira was not a drinker, however, he was a fan of this particular brand of red wine. It was his favorite and also the only drink he would be ready to ingest.

"Cheers!" Asahi clinked their glasses together before gulping the alcohol down.

Akira also looked to be quite happy as he drank the red wine.

The two talked some more over topics that held no importance. These were the normal conversations that they would forget soon enough and at the same time, these were also the conversations that they treasured.

While they talked to each other, the bartender kept serving them drinks and without realizing it, the two had drunk a bit too much for the night.

By the end of it, Asahi couldn't stop laughing and Akira felt as if he was about to pass out at any given minute.

If it weren't for Ayami-san who had interrupted the two, they really would have passed out after consuming a bit too much.

"Akira, you still have to cut the cake!" Ayami pointed out as she strictly glared at the man.

Akira chuckled as he heard this, "Oh, that's right...!~ *hiccup* The cakeee~ The beautiful cake!~"

Ayami felt her eyes twitch as she heard the man slurring his words.

The woman sighed as she rubbed her forehead, "You can't even talk straight."

Ayami turned to look at Asahi and clicked her tongue as she spoke, "Can you take him out to the balcony? Get some fresh air and sober him up."

Asahi smiled brightly as he heard this and immediately stood up with his back straight as he saluted and responded, "Yes, ma'am!"

"..."

It seemed that drinking made Asahi think he was in military boot camp...

Akira chuckled as he lightly tried to smack Asahi's shoulder but missed his aim and ended up hitting himself by mistake.

Asahi grabbed Akira and tried to pick the man up in a bridal-style hold but immediately failed as he fell down.

Ayami, "..."

These two really deserved to be in a circus.

"Akira~ Why are you suddenly so heavy?" Asahi whined as he stood up and tried to balance himself but continued to move around, ready to fall down again at any given moment now.

"Yah! I'm not fat!~" Akira tried to defend himself and almost fell over as he tried to stand up by himself.

In the end, the two somehow hooked their arms around each other's shoulders and found their way to the balcony.

Ayami sighed as she saw their moving backs and the bartender sounded a bit anxious as he looked at the woman and asked, "Is it okay for them to go to the balcony?"

Ayami had a small frown on her face as she heard this question, "Why wouldn't it be okay?"

The bartender, "They are both drunk. It might be dangerous."

Ayami sighed as she shook her head, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure they would be fine. It's not like the balcony is empty. There would be people around so it's safe."

"..."

It would be safe... That was what she said.

There would be people around... That was what she said.

However, when Akira and Asahi got to the balcony, there was not a single soul present there.

The balcony was quite big and had a lot of space, even the view from there was amazing and so it was a bit surprising to find it so empty.

They were currently in Sakurajima which was considered to be an active stratovolcanic peninsula with people still living here.

This building was actually built especially for this party by Ayami-san who seemed to have been planning it for a long time now.

In the future, this was going to become a resort or something alike, and building something like that in such a place was certainly not normal nor were there any expectations of it attracting guests.

It was a project that was going to fail, however, now that Akira stood here, looking down from the balcony at the lovely sea, he had a feeling that this place might just be a success.

Even though there were dangers of it being in such a risky location, there was beauty in it as well.

"Asahi, when I retire, I want to come back and live here together with you and Ayami-san," Akira beamed as he closed his eyes and took a deep fresh breath in.

The reason why this resort castle was built here was because Akira and Asahi were originally from Sakurajima.

Sakurajima was not an ideal place for habitation, however, the two had been born and raised here till they completed their middle schooling years and later moved to Tokyo for high school and for better job opportunities.

Their class hardly had five students and there were only one or two teachers teaching them all the subjects. Wearing a yellow helmet on their head was mandatory to keep them protected at all times. Playing outside was considered to be dangerous and they had to be extra cautious.

In normal places, there would be a rain of water, but in this place, there would be grey volcanic dust raining down on them. It was only natural that they weren't allowed to dance in such rain, and from an early age on, they were taught to strictly follow emergency protocols.

Every morning, Akira could remember waking up and seeing his father sweeping the road in front of their house just to collect all the volcanic dust that needed to be taken nearby to the specialized ash pick-up area where the workers would come to pick it all up.

Ayami-san was a person who paid a lot of attention to details and this was one of the facts about the woman that Akira had come to like a lot.

She knew that the man missed this place and that was probably the reason why she built this resort castle here... To celebrate his birthday in the place where he was born, nothing could be better in comparison.

"Together?" Asahi chuckled as he repeated, "How can that be?"

The smile on Akira's face faltered as he heard this and he turned to look at Asahi in confusion.