The Day I Received 'Congratulations'

For the first time in a while, I opened an old album.

When I was a small child.
When I was in elementary school.
When I was in junior high school.

And the time with the most photos was,

when I was in high school.

It's so full of youth
that I'd want to use it as photo material for a 'Love Song'.

A photo with my nostalgic club friends.

Various memories come flooding back.

Among those fragments,
though it doesn't remain as a photograph,
my birthday also remains as a memory.

The day I turned 16.
It was a very beautiful day.

Even though it was the height of summer,
it wasn't as intensely hot as it is now.

Invited by my best friend in the club,
I
rode my bicycle
aiming for that friend's house.

When I arrived,
my club friends were waiting there for me.

'Wait, why?'

Seeing my reaction,
for some reason, everyone was acting distant.

'Anyway, it's hot, so let's go inside!'

Just as I was told,
I moved to my friend's room.

It's rare for this group to be together outside of school.

Even though it's a familiar room,
I was a little bewildered by the unfamiliar sight.

'Wait a second'😊

My friend, the host, disappeared from the room.

Meanwhile, the other members
explored the room I was visiting for the first time,
looking around at various things,
and chatting about silly things.

Click

The room door opened.

In my friend's hands was a slightly large white box.

"Happy Birthday!"
"Congrats!"
"Happy Birthday"
"Happy birthday to you!"

Everyone, one after another,
told me "congratulations."

"Oh... thank you... wait, why...?"💦

"Because you said it before, remember?
That you'd never had your birthday celebrated.
So, we all bought a cake together♪"😁

I am not used to things like this.

Since I was little, my parents
could barely manage to raise the three of us siblings.

So, there were no birthday celebrations.
I have almost no memories of eating cake.

It seems I must have mentioned at some point that I'd never had my birthday celebrated, though I didn't even remember talking about it.

So, even when I was celebrated like this,
I didn't know what kind of expression to make,

"Oh... thank you..."
I muttered my thanks.

For the time being, we left the cake in its box on the table, and as the conversation flowed, everyone went outside to walk around.
I don't remember what we talked about anymore, but I do remember laughing a lot.

It was a hot summer day.

"It's hot, let's go inside!"
At someone's suggestion, we all shuffled back into the room.

"Oh yeah! Let's eat the cake!"

Upon hearing that, my best friend

"Aaaaaah!"😱💦💦💦

"What? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry!💦
It was hot, so I bought an ice cream cake."

Needless to say, everyone shouted "Whaaaat!" in unison after that.

The cake we took out of the box
was already a melted mess😅

This is something
I will never forget, no matter how many years pass.

Today is my birthday🎂😊

Yesterday, I received heartfelt "congratulations" in comments and articles written for me.

Thank you so, so much💖
I have one more
unforgettable day to cherish✨😆💕

An incredibly cute✨ jellyfish cake🪼🎂

I received it from
Director Yamaoku🎶o(^▽^)o🎶

Thank you, Sorapy-san✨💖💖
I'm so happy☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

And then, there's Hank-san, whose birthday was yesterday.

💕💕It's so cute and moving💕💕
☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

And also, Shireneko-san🐾🐱

They wrote such an amazing article.

In the story, I'm making a song, but
in reality, I haven't made one at allーーーっ💦

Today, I came home from work
and hurriedly tried to make one (￣▽￣;)💦

Thank you all so much😊
I look forward to your continued support💖