Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXIX Episode VIII: Vampire Savior

Flash Sentry and a few of his bandmates began playing some contemporary hardcore rock music that everyone at the party started dancing to.

Keiji in particular was looking to show off, spinning and breakdancing his way through most of the music as Tiara and Spoon watched with impressed expressions before joining in as well. It seemed as if everything was all well and good for everyone and her party was able to go off without a hitch…

Once it was over, Silver Spoon presented everyone with gift bags to thank them for attending. Due to essentially having everything she could ever want as it is, she felt the need to share her wealth with her friends by giving them gifts to show her appreciation for their attendance.

However, she specifically saved Keiji’s bag for last.

“Hey…” Spoon commented while idly rocking back and forth on her heels. “...did you…have anything to do with why my dad showed up tonight?”

“Eh?” Keiji opted to play dumb, wishing for her to accept the situation at face value. “What’re ya talkin’ about? I was hangin’ out the whole time.”

But Silver Spoon saw right through his approach. She spoke more candidly as she adjusted her glasses. “Don’t play silly with me. I saw you talking to Sandbar’s sister and she told me that you asked her to make sure my father showed up.” Then she lowered her voice and spoke with a bashful tone, “...is that true?”

“Aaaagh…you’re pulling my leg here,” Keiji hissed as he shifted his eyes to look away from her. “Yes…I did. I wanted to make sure your dad showed up so I had Coral do whatever technical shit she does in order to find him on the map and redirect him here.”

“...”

“Look if you’re mad at me--”

Silver Spoon cut him off by leaping forward and smooching him on the lips for a moment. When she finally broke the kiss, she replied, “Thank you so much…that’s easily the best gift I could’ve ever gotten. No matter what happens next, I’ll always remember that my dad was there for me when I turned 17 and became a young lady…and I have you to thank for that, Keiji.”

“...” Keiji stared at her for a moment with a pink color tinging his cheeks. Then he finally gave in and smiled back. A genuine smile that lacked any pretense of sarcasm or sass. “...You’re welcome, Silv. I’m just happy that you were able to celebrate your birthday with your family. It’s something I never got so…”

“I know…” She put her arms around him, holding onto him more tightly. “Which is why I’ll do whatever I can to make sure yours is special when it comes around.”

“Count me in for that too,” Diamond Tiara rounded the corner of the stairwell near the front of the mansion and jumped into the conversation. “We both love you, Keiji and you’ve proven yet again why we like you so much.”

Keiji sighed, then looked at her with a smile. “Is it my dashing charms or my hatred of snobby assholes?”

Tiara giggled as she walked up to them, “A mix of those things, among other things. The sentiment you have towards us, beyond our wealth is something we value, right Silver Spoon?”

“...Mm-hmm…” Silver Spoon nodded while burying her face under Keiji’s neck.

“...God…dammit…” the vampboy hissed once more, as he scratched the side of his face with his index finger. “When you guys get like this, I don’t ever really know how to respond, ya know?”

“It’s okay, we understand,” Tiara replied as she put an arm around his neck, holding him close to her. “Looks like someone needs help getting in touch with his softer side, huh, Spoon?”

Silver Spoon looked up at Keiji and asked, “...Wanna stay the night? I kinda wanna spend the rest of my birthday with you guys. If that’s okay…”

“Sure, no prob,” Keiji replied with a smile, “I’d be happy to stay. This place looks hella interesting and a bit different from Deets’ place so I was hoping I could get to see more. What’re your favorite places to hang out in this giant-ass castle of yours?”

“Oh that’s easy,” Silver Spoon backed away from him, and grabbed his hand--pulling him along with her. “We have our own built-in sauna system. It’s perfect for when we wanna relax. Come on. We can all have a steam together!”

“Wait, together--?” Keiji sputtered as he nearly tripped, following after her. “Sounds…fun?”

“Oh it will be,” Tiara caught up with them and shot Keiji a wink as she followed her best friend upstairs.

“...man these two are crazy…but that’s what I like about ‘em,” Keiji muttered as he continued onwards.

---

Meanwhile…

“We found the information we needed, sir. Mr. Spoon has been funding C Corporation’s operations so that they can start coming up with artificial tech to sell to people on the street.”

“...seriously? Why?”

“We don’t know, sir. It’s possible that he just wants to profit off of chaos.”

“Does Parabola know?”

“We’re looking into that now sir. But at the moment, we have nothing solid to go off of. My superior has given me clearance to tell you pretty much everything that we know at the moment, so I’ve got nothing to hold back from you.”

From his end of the call, Aidon sighed. “...thank you, Ms. Currents. You’ve done more than enough to help me keep my students safe. If anything else comes up, please let me know.”

“Of course,” Coral replied from over the visual call, “See ya.”

Once they both hung up, Aidon took a look at that building via a webpage he had pulled up on his computer. “Hrm…what are you hiding, Parabola?”