Sirius Zero: Building A Corporate Kingdom After Being Expelled

"Wow, this is one big cake," chuckled Ivan, as he and Edward carefully pulled out the huge rectangular dark chocolate cake out of its box.

"Coming through, hope this thing fits on the coffee table," said Edward, as he and Ivan carefully carried it to the living room.

"Just about fits," remarked Ivan as they set it down.

"Coming with the candles," said Ruth, and she stuck eleven birthday candles into the top of the cake, and lit them.

"OK, everyone, let’s sing," said Adelaide, and she led the party in the traditional Happy Birthday song.

"Make a wish," said Ivan, as Mikaela blew out the candles, and cut the cake.

"Ms. Hirschfield, can you distribute it?" asked Mikaela, after she had cut out the first slice.

"Sure," said Ruth, and quickly cut slices out of the cake, and put them on small plates.

"Mmm, Mikaela. This cake is divine!" said Adelaide, tasting the rich and decadent chocolate mousse and moist sponge.

"Indeed it is. Totally worth tasting each pastry the guy had over the course of two days," said Mikaela.

"Damn, you’re thorough when you plan something," said Adelaide.

"If you’re going to plan ahead, you might as well do it properly," said Mikaela with a shrug.

"OK, Mikaela. How about you open the presents now, and then we can get to dinner?" asked Ruth.

"OK," said Mikaela, and started to carefully unwrap the package from Adelaide, William and Alexandria.

"Wow! Thank you!" she exclaimed as the package revealed a fountain pen, along with both black and blue ink cartridges.

"Given how well you took to cursive, I thought this would be appropriate," chuckled Adelaide.

"Yeah, this will totally come in handy at St. Ignatius," said Mikaela, setting it aside and opening Natsumi’s package.

"Foundation, by Isaac Asimov. I’ve never heard of it, but thank you, Doctor," said Mikaela looking at the leather-bound book.

"That’s a limited first edition. Took me a while to find it," chuckled Natsumi.

"Must have cost you a pretty penny too. That book’s been sanitized and modified to hell and back these days," said Ivan.

"How so?" asked Mikaela.

"Well, you’ll need to read it to understand why. But the spoiler-free version, is that it contains a few old anachronisms which some people took issue with, so they ripped those out. Then, some hacks in Hollywood made a TV show using the same name and premise, but with a completely different story. So the publishers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to mash both versions together. It is that hacked together version that you get in both physical and electronic book stores these days" said Ivan.

"Well, thank you once again," said Mikaela, setting it aside, and opening Yasmin’s package.

"Is this a perfume?" she asked, admiring the ornate box and the large crystal bottle of amber liquid.

"Indeed. It is a new line called Desert Rose, created by my mother back home," said Yasmin.

"I see. It smells wonderful! Thank you so much!" said Mikaela, spraying some on her hand and inhaling the scent of rose, cedar and myrrh.

"The gift I brought is rather tame compared to those heavy hitters. But it is from Stefan, Anna and me," said Maria, as Mikaela reached for the next package.

"It’s the thought that counts. I’ll treasure it all the same," said Mikaela, carefully unwrapping a makeup kit.

"Oh! This is nice! Thank you, Ms. Washington," she said.

"Nice is an understatement. That is a Glow-up Pro kit. It’s pretty expensive, and lasts all day without irritating your skin," said Adelaide, eyeing it with a touch of envy.

"I see, well. Please pass my gratitude to both Mr. Stanislaus and Anna, Ms. Washington," said Mikaela.

"Mine’s a combo, and it is from both Captain Hawkins and me," chuckled Ruth, as Mikaela unwrapped a pair of gleaming silver and sparkling crystal stud earrings, along with a voucher from a beauty salon to get her ears pierced.

"I was just thinking that I should have gotten my ears pierced when I was getting ready," chuckled Mikaela, setting them aside.

Mikaela’s stared in shock as she opened the velvet lined box Yue and Hajime had given her to reveal a meter-long katana in its scabbard.

She carefully pulled at the hilt, and the sword started to slide out, revealing a dark metal blade that glinted with a menacing yet beautiful aura under the living room lights.

"No way!" she gasped.

"I got it commissioned the second Ivan told me you had chosen to join the kendo club. That blade is a titanium and tungsten alloy, and is full-sized. So be careful with how you handle it," said Hajime, enjoying Mikaela’s reaction.

"I... I’m not sure if I can accept this. I’ve known Yue for only a month, and I’ve only just met you, Mr. Yamamoto. This feels way too special," said Mikaela, her hands trembling a little, as she carefully slid the blade back into its scabbard and set it down.

"I suppose it does, but I’ve known your father for about a year now. Think of it as an investment in your future," said Hajime, a gentle smile on his face.

"B-but what about Yue? It feels unfair to give me something like this and not her," asked Mikaela.

"Relax Mikaela. I specifically told my father that kendo isn’t my thing. He got me my horse and my bow and arrows for the equestrian and archery clubs that I go to instead," said Yue, trying to reassure Mikaela.

"And Mr. Yamamoto ran it by me as well, so don’t worry," said Ivan.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" said Mikaela, holding back tears.

"Here you go, Mikaela. Mine might be a bit anticlimactic after a sword, but it will come in handy for your course work nonetheless," said Ivan, handing her the final gift-wrapped package.

"I’m sure yours won’t be, Daddy," said Mikaela as she carefully unwrapped it.

"A laptop? This is big!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide at the size of the massive black 21-inch StarFighter laptop.

"That one is fresh off the assembly line from Sirius Software’s new gen3 series of StarFighter laptops. Don’t let the size fool you, it packs a serious punch when it comes to performance, and has enough juice to last a whole day without recharging," said Ivan.

Mikaela got to her feet, and hugged him tight.

"Thank you, Daddy," she said, burying her face in his chest.

"You’re welcome, Princess. I know it is a poor substitute for the time we’ve lost, but I hope it helps you," he said, gently stroking her back.

---

The stench of urine and alcohol hit Alexandria and Natsumi as they opened the front door to check in on Annette.

"Oh shit!" cried Natsumi, as Alexandria turned on the lights to find Annette lying in a puddle of urine and vomit, surrounded by empty wine bottles.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Natsumi, stopping in her tracks from rushing to check on Annette, because Alexandria was quickly stripping out of her ivory evening gown.

"That area is a mess. I’d rather not get this dress dirty. Besides, Annette is breathing," said Alexandria, gesturing to Annette, who was indeed exhibiting shallow breaths.

"Point taken," said Natsumi, and began to take off her red dress as well.

"OK. Her vitals are normal. Looks like she threw up and passed out drunk. I’ll take her head, you take her feet, OK?" asked Alexandria, grabbing onto Annette’s shoulders.

"OK. On three. One, two, and three," said Natsumi, and they both lifted Annette’s unconscious form off the floor.

"At least she’s not too heavy," remarked Alexandria, as they slowly made their way up to the master bedroom.

"Set her down on the floor. I’ll change and clean her," said Natsumi, as they entered the bedroom.

"Any chance of her waking up while we’re doing that?" asked Alexandria.

"Don’t think so. Besides, better be with a pair of naked girls than with a pair of naked guys right?" chuckled Natsumi.

"I suppose," chuckled Alexandria, as she carefully pulled the hoodie off Annette’s body.

"OK. I cannot believe she’s really 47. She looks like she’s in her mid-twenties, but with the grooming sense of a damn slob," grumbled Natsumi, staring Annette’s slender yet hairy body with a mixture of envy and disgust as she pulled off Annette’s wet and baggy jeans.

"I find it hard to believe myself, despite seeing the genetic analysis with my own damn eyes," sighed Alexandria, dabbing at Annette’s overgrown pubic hair with a damp paper towel.

"OK. Let’s get her up. One, two, three," said Natsumi, and they lifted Annette up and onto her bed.

"Whew! Come on, let’s get back," said Alexandria turning to leave. She stopped and stared at the shimmering black cocktail dress, still hanging in the opened climate-controlled closet.

"What the hell? If she had something like this..." exclaimed Alexandria.

"She doesn’t. This was Ivan’s handiwork. I take back every nice thing I said about him. He’s one evil man!" growled Natsumi.

"How is getting a sexy dress evil?" asked Alexandria.

"That’s the same dress he forced Annette to wear on Aaron’s 13th birthday. The fact that he kept it in a damn climate controlled and hidden closet is what I find evil. Actually, scratch that. He’s not evil, just sentimental. I should have known better. The guy keeps and hoards everything. Case in point, his BMW M5 which he told Annette he had sold, while keeping it in a garage," said Natsumi, carefully closing the panel, and hiding the dress from view.

"Yes, well. Come on, we need to get back," said Alexandria.

"By the way, Alexandria. You’re pretty good-looking yourself," chuckled Natsumi, who was now calm enough to realize that Alexandria was wearing a white lace bra and panty set, complete with white stockings and a garter belt, which made her look statuesque and very sexy.

"Same goes for you," chuckled Alexandria, her eyes roving appreciatively over Natsumi’s petite yet curvy body in her black lingerie and thigh-high stay-up stockings.

"OK, come on," said Natsumi, fighting down her blush, and hurrying back to the living room to put on her dress.

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