Hatchday! Hatchday! Hatchday!

It was their Hatchday!

Yippee!

Now they were officially one year old.

Alwin, as the original of the three of them, had control of the main body. Whether Niwla and Winal shared the same Hatchday or the day they split into three was their actual Hatchdays was a point that Niwla could debate by himself.

Anyway, it was Hatchday time. Boy, does time sure fly when you're being trained as a soldier all before the age of one.

Alwin eyed the cake that Milvus brought in. Gus, too. It took all of his restraint—something that Alwin was surprised Gus even had—to not immediately dive into the cake. Actually, no. On a closer look, Uchronia held Gus by his paws, stopping him from running off and into the cake.

Good thing Uchornia only had two leaves.

Alwin hopped off his chair onto the desk. He rolled and leaped off the slab of wood, flipping through the air as he dove towards the cake that Milvus held.

It was a tall, towering piece of perfect patisserie. Multiple layers of white delicious frosting were moments away from being his. And at the top of that tower of sugary yumminess were little figurines of the whole class.

Milvus, the yellow triangle tentacle monster, was in the middle, surrounded by the rest of the class. He could even see a mini-Alwin, along with a mini-Uchronia and mini-Gus, all standing next to each other, smiling.

It was perfect!

Alwin opened his slimy maw wide, ready to chomp down on the cake.

A paper-thin tentacle swopped in from nowhere, wrapping around his mouth and sealing it shut. It also carried him, holding him up in the air like a slimy little piñata.

Oh, please don't whack him.

He wriggled in the air, hoping that the tentacles around him would unravel and come loose. For some reason, it had the opposite effect, squeezing him even tighter. His little jelly flesh bulged outwards.

"No, Alwin. You can have the cake after the candles."

He didn't want to wait. He wanted cake now.

Milvus placed the cake on his desk at the front of the class, before extending his tentacles all the way to the back and placing Alwin down right in his seat. After retracting his tentacles, he sent one of them under his desk, pulling out twelve candles. One for each member of the class.

He placed them at the top of the cake, right in front of each mini figurine of the students, such that it looked like they were blowing them out.

"Now, I know things haven't been easy for you, kids. So, I hope that this little treat will help remind you of the things we're fighting for. Gather around, class. It's time to blow out the candles."

Everyone got out of their seats, surrounding the teacher's desk. Even Brie was allowed into the room, the terms of her restraining order temporarily disabled. Though for obvious reasons, she and Bion were both placed on opposite sides of the circle. As for Alwin and Gus? Well, the two of them had to be restrained by Milvus—a tentacle for each of them as Milvus laid the final preparations for the Hatchday cake. They squirmed in place, yearning for the cake.

"This cake was specially made by the Minister of Magic, Lapis. Did you know that she runs a cafe?"

"Wow," said Tess the Lotus Turtle. "A Minister who has enough time to run her own cafe. She must be super great at finishing her work."

Alwin snorted. She did not know the slightest bit about Lapis. Consider it a blessing and continue to live in blissful ignorance.

Milvus moved his tentacles up to the wick of each candle, lighting them up one by one with a silent cast Fire Elemental Spell.

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"Class, are you ready?"

They all cheered. Though it was their first time, they already knew what to do. Thank you information download. The tentacles around his and Gus' mouths were retracted. Though they both wanted cake, the desire to sing was much stronger.

"Happy Hatchday to us! Happy Hatchday to us! Happy Hatchday to all of ussss! Happy Hatchday to us!"

They all cheered even louder. Even Bion, the little grumpy grump, knew how to put aside his anger and pride to have a little fun. That was the power of Hatchday.

"Everyone, together. Three. Two. One."

They all puffed out their cheeks, blowing on the hatchday cake together. In an instant, the flames on the candles went out, and everyone cheered again.

"One last thing, class."

Dipping his tentacles under the desk once more, Milvus pulled out twelve plastic knives, handing them to each of them. Those with hands—or their equivalent—gripped the plastic knife directly. The rest relied on Spirit Hands.

While technically he did have access to hands—or their equivalent—it just didn't feel right to celebrate his Hatchday in any other form. Spirit Hands appeared, gripping the plastic knife.

Everyone inched themselves closer to the cake, hovering the tip of the knife just above the bottom-most layer.

"Ready? Three. Two. One."

In perfect synchrony, everyone drove their knives into the cake before pulling it right back out. Another round of cheers erupted. Alwin and Gus both brought the knives to their mouths. Just before the frosting-coated utensil could grace their tongue, Mivlus swooped in with his tentacles once again, snatching them away.

"Soon." He smiled.

Grabbing all of the dirty knives, he brought them underneath the desk once again. No idea why. In their place were twelve paper plates and forks. With a brand new, clean knife, he began to cut the cake and place them onto the plates. Only when all of the plates were full did he give them out to everyone at the same time.

"I hope you kids enjoy the cake. Since it's your first day back to class and your Hatchday, we'll be having the rest of the day off. But I'm sorry to say that you still have to spend some time thinking about what specialization you're interested in."

The class had stopped listening, most of them anyway. Apart from Uchronia and a part of Alwin, everyone else was digging into the delicious cake—Alwin too, of course, it's just that he had this rare ability called multitasking. Gus had already devoured his and was moving onto seconds.

Uchronia already knew what would happen if Gus was left unattended to grab a slice of cake by himself. Using her leaves, she held back Gus as Milvus continued to speak to her.

"Uchronia, can I count on you to look after your squad mates?"

"I don't know. Can I?"

Though one would associate her response with the simple grammar correction—changing 'can' to 'may'—in reality, it was because of Milvus' Core Skill, even if it was slightly broken.

"I know you can. And I know you can help to look after the class while I take my leave."

"Do you now?"

"I do." He smiled back.

"Enjoy your hatchday, Uchronia. You too, Alwin."

"Eyy wrill," he said in between bites of the yummy, sweet, moist, delicious slice of chocolate cake.

Uchronia grumbled under her breath. She stabbed her cake with her fork, angrily munching on it. Deep inside, Alwin knew she appreciated the yumminess of the cake, but she was too upset to really enjoy it.

"Cakey?" Gus asked, whimpering at Uchronia, who still held onto him.

"Fine," she growled.

Gus pouted, too scared to move after that display. His stomach said yes. His heart said yes. His entire being said yes. But the way Uchronia spoke said no.

Don't worry, Gus. Alwin was here to save you. And possibly Uchronia.

"I'll get the cake for him, Uchronia," Alwin said.

She looked at him, a smile forming across her bulb, only to immediately drop into a scowl.

"Are you sure? I thought you had changed, but after watching you dive towards the cake, I have my reservations."

"Of course, I've changed, Uchronia. Stuff just happens."

Yes, he did change. He changed from Niwla back into Alwin.

She sighed, "I preferred the other you. Just grab the cake."

Alwin rolled up to the towering piece of cake. Using his Spirit Hands, he carved out a huge portion for Gus, a large one for himself, and a regular one for Uchronia. And the cherry on top—there actually weren't any cherries, so he had to substitute them with something even better—the figurines. He grabbed the mini-Uchronia, mini-Gus, and mini-him, placing them onto Uchronia's cake.

"Here you go, Gus," Alwin said, handing over the cake to him.

"Yay! Cake!"

"And here you go, Uchronia."

"No, thank you. I'm not in the mood for seconds."

"Are you sure? I think you'll really enjoy this one."

"Yes," she snapped, turning to face him. "I—"

Her eyes locked onto the figurines on top of the cake. All three of them were smiling and laughing—the latter something he hadn't seen Uchronia do in a while.

She sighed, looking at his jiggly, jelly form, a slight curve on her planty lips.

"Thanks, Alwin. Maybe you're not so bad like this, either."

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