Chapter 763: A Surprise Call from Afar? A Surprise Birthday Call!

At first, Higo was confused about what was going on here. After all, while he had seen Kumiko calling some of her friends, she was never that enthusiastic about it. Curious, he peeked at the phone, only to find a person whom he had not seen in such a long time.

"Hiroshi? What the fuck?!" He blinked in surprise.

"Hey, Senpai! Is that how you greet your kouhai who you have never contacted since your graduation?" The boy on the other side of the call grumbled playfully, as if confirming that he was the same person that Higo was thinking of.

However, it wasn’t just Hiroshi here. Soon enough, another person joined the call, and Higo couldn’t help but smile when he saw those familiar thick glasses hanging on that face. "Takaaki, you are still using those ridiculous glasses?"

"It does good helping me read everything, no need to change it." That person said in a monotonous, robotic tone, not even bothered by Higo’s tease.

Then, after that, more people joined the call. Not just Hiroshi and Takaaki, but Usami, Hori, Jun, Fujinaga, and the rest of the Hakodate Nishi members from two years ago appeared here. Hell, even Kuroki and Makino, who had already had their own life also chimed in, engaging in a banter fight with Higo already.

"Hey, Kuroki! You are an engineering student, right? Can you fix my phone here?!"

"...That is a joke, right? I swear to God, if you said that seriously, I will bash your head when you are back here!"

"Heh! I don’t know how living abroad for two years can make you this stupid, Chibi!"

"Bah! I am joking here! Also, a bench player for a second-division team doesn’t have the right to answer, so be quiet, please!"

"You little bastard!"

Kumiko let out a long sigh with a wry smile curling in her eyes, shaking her head in exasperation. ’I should’ve expected something like this to happen, right? There is no way Ryukkun and Makino-kun can stay in the same room together without a little banter here and there...’

"Anyway, what is going on here?" Higo finally remembered that this was an unexpected call to Kumiko’s phone. "Not that I’m not happy with this little call, but no one ever told me about this, you know?! That is fucking unfair!" He huffed annoyedly, feeling a little bit left out.

"Well, of course, you would never know!" Kumiko suddenly smiled mischievously, running a little to the kitchen while her giggle could still be heard echoing there. Soon enough, the girl was back, carrying a cake with the number 19 on it. "Happy birthday!" She cheered at Higo, who was completely dumbfounded right now.

"Wait, what?!" At least, that was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

On the call, Makino just snorted in exasperation. "I told you that he would react like this, Kumiko-chan. His stupid ass will never remember his own birthday, you know? I don’t get why you are willing to be with this lazy bum."

Higo snapped his head immediately, glaring at Makino with fierce eyes. Still, the boy couldn’t deny the truth here, as he had never expected that this was his birthday. After all, last year, he was too busy with the national team to remember that, let alone celebrating the birthday properly, so the boy thought this year would be the same.

"Hey, Senpai, are you crying there?" Jun suddenly chimed in, asking in a playful manner. "It’s okay, just cry. This call is being recorded by everyone, so twenty people will have a dark history of you to be used when you are famous enough, okay?"

"Hey, don’t worry! I have already gotten good footage here; this will be a viral video on Twitter!" Denki, one of the twins, chimed in mischievously.

This...

The moment Higo heard this, all the warmth he felt earlier was gone instantly, replaced with speechlessness. The tears that he was about to shed also dried quicker than ever, and the boy just sent a middle finger to anyone else there.

"Yeah, I forgot that you guys are just a bunch of bastards. Can you let me feel touched for a moment?"

"Tch! Who wants to touch you?!" Kuroki’s voice popped up with a tone full of disgust. "Anyway, this is pure Kumiko-chan’s idea, and since everyone here doesn’t have anything to do other than their online routine, which isn’t that much, as you can guess, we decided to be here. So, don’t forget to thank her properly, okay?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Eugh! What the fuck, Kuro! That’s disgusting!" Makino glared at his friend heatedly. "Anyway, don’t you dare touch her inappropriately, Chibi! You know what I can do!" He threw a threat, albeit in a playful manner.

Higo just snorted a little there, and in a move that no one expected, the boy leaned toward Kumiko for a moment to peck her cheek. The girl blushed instantly, clearly not expecting that Higo would be this bold in front of their friends.

The boy himself felt so smug here, especially when he saw everyone was green with envy. Kumiko was the school beauty in Hakodate Nishi, so getting her as his girlfriend was definitely something to brag about for the rest of his life.

After chatting with the others for a while and promising to keep in touch with everyone, the phone call was finally over, leaving Higo and Kumiko in another quiet moment in the living room. Higo could see that the girl was beaming brightly, probably feeling pleased that her surprise worked here.

Looking at the cake in front of him, a gentle smile also formed on Higo’s face. He got up from his seat, kissing the girl on her lips before hugging her tighter than ever. "Thank you for the surprise. I really love it."

Kumiko blinked for a moment, and even with her face turning so red right now, the smile on her face couldn’t be wider anymore as she rested her head on the boy’s shoulder.

"Anytime, Ryukkun... Anytime..."