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“Happy Birthday, Toyama-chan!”
Those words made the frontwoman of Poppin’Party, Kasumi Toyama, widened her eyes when she saw her girlfriend Yu Takasaki holding a kitty plush; more specifically, it’s a plush of Chihyaa (a chibified caricature of her blue-haired diva friend from a certain four-frame manga called Puchimas) in winter form, with very long hair and cat-like ears. While it was rather cute, it was odd as Kasumi haven’t have an affinity for cats. Not that Kasumi mind, however, especially since today’s her 24th birthday, and that Yukina and Nana came over with Ritsuko.
“Awwww~ Thank you Takasaki-senpai!” Kasumi said as she accepted the Chihyaa plush and took it in an instant. It still felt kind of weird to refer to her girlfriend by her last name, that’s something Yukina and Sayo would do; but since Chihaya’s dead little brother has the same first name as her girlfriend, she decided to do call Yu the same way, and Kyle and Heidi also does the same thing as well. Not that it all matters anyways, cause she hugged the plush straight away and felt the its fluffiness immediately; “Gosh, this is so cute~!”
“Not as cute as our birthday girl~” Yukina quipped.
“Yeah, Yukina, you’re right, but she’s also cool in a way~” Nana added.
Of course, even Kasumi herself admitted that she’s isn’t as cool as Nana or professional like Yukina, not least when they also sports two column wheel-equipped chronographs, with the titanium anthracite Sinn 103 DIAPAL (fitted with a modified automatic Valjoux 7750-based La Joux-Perret 8000 column wheel caliber featuring Sinn’s oil-less DIAPAL escapement and dual-time tracking) on the 20mm gray Maratac nylon Zulu strap with titanium hardware being Yukina’s and the navy blue Fortis Stratoliner S-41-J (also fitted with a Valjoux 7750-based column wheel caliber made by La Joux-Perret specifically for Fortis) with the '100% Made in the USA' 22mm ADPT single-layer pass-through nylon RAF strap in scarlet-ish "Mai Tai" faded red being Nana’s; but even then, there’s a bit of coolness running through her vein cause she’s the frontwoman of Poppin’Party; she couldn’t help but blushed hard like the red on her ESP Random Star, and her heart was also running a bit faster than any and all hi-beat Grand Seiko movements.
“Heh~” Kasumi shrugged; “Thanks for that, Nana-chan~”
“Toyama-chan?” asked Ritsuko. She’s wearing her manual-wound silver and blue Habring2 Doppel 38 monopusher split-second chronograph (with a 41mm bezel protruding from the 38.5mm midcase) with the 20mm green Veblenist unlined shell cordovan leather strap tailored to her wrist with custom length.
“Yes, Ritsuko-senpai?” Kasumi replied.
“Do you feel like you have changed a little today?” Ritsuko said; “Like, I didn’t felt like I have changed when I turned 18. One day, I couldn’t really do much by the law, and then the next, I could gamble and drink, among many other things that’s age-restricted. Toyama-chan, what I meant is, and to paraphrase some lyrics from a Bastile song about the Pompeii eruption: does it almost feel like you haven’t changed at all?”
“I don’t know, Ritsuko…” Kasumi said in a somewhat depressed state; “I think I feel like it is, but also not at the same time.”
She wasn’t wrong though; even with many passing birthday, it can feel like little has changed for someone in their lifetime, but those changes may let to something else in their lives.
“Yeah, me too…I think there’s not much difference until you stretch the timeline out by a few years.” Ritsuko replied; “Oh, and Takasaki-chan has a special gift for you.”
Kasumi nodded with joy, as Yu looked into her purple eyes; “Just close your eyes! It may feel like nothing changed at all, but it’s not, really~”
Kasumi perked up, giving her girlfriend a bright smile; “Alright Takasaki-chan~”
Kasumi always loved a good surprise gift for her birthday, so she followed Yu’s instruction, catching a glimpse of her girlfriend’s asymmetrical no-date black CWC 6BB-WR pilot chronograph (with the automatic Sellita SW510 BH b) on her wrist with the 20mm Haveston General Service single-layer pass-through ballistic nylon strap in black (from Set A) as she closed her eyes. She waited and waited…and waited. Kasumi wondered what was going on and wanted to know why Yu was being slow in giving the gift to her, so she slowly opened her eyes.
“Uh, Takasaki-chan? Why…oh, what!?”
She glanced down her wrist to see something she haven’t seen before, a manual-wound black chronograph bearing the Hanhart name on the dial, and it caught her by surprise; that’s the recently-released 39mm Hanhart 417 ES 1954 Heritage Flyback, a modern remake of the “Bundeswehr” pilot chronograph worn by Steve McQueen, the King of Cool himself (and being one of two chronographs he’s known to wear, the other being the TV-shaped Heuer Monaco seen on the wrist of his character in the 1971 classic Le Mans; but that's product placement in a film, whereas the Hanhart is his daily driver that he bought while on a trip in Germany), featuring Hanhart’s signature red pusher (that is as red as Kasumi’s Random Star) and the no-date Sellita AMT5100 M movement with both a column wheel and the flyback function, and it's paired with the 20mm black and red Hirsch Ayrton perforated hybrid Performance strap with the polished silver tang buckle.
It was a very fitting gift for Kasumi, cause her birthday is also Bastille Day in France (which is also how the British indie band Bastille got their name from, as frontman Dan Smith's birthday is also same day as Bastille Day, a day commemorating the Storming of The Bastille that started the French Revolution), and this Hanhart bore some resemblance to the Type 20 chronograph used by various arms of the French military (which ironically, was influenced in design by Hanhart’s pilot chronographs from WW2), especially with the early Breguet Type 20s and the Vixa-branded chronos produced by Hanhart for the French Air Force as part of German reparation payments to France post-WW2, much like the Stowa watches produced for the French Army (and both companies are based in the Black Forest, which was under French occupation after the war). Even if the fact that it's the late Steve McQueen's favourite watch and his daily piece isn't accounted for, Kasumi’s Hanhart can still certainly hold its own candle in terms of actual provenance to Yu's asymmetrical CWC chrono, which is a modern remake of CWC’s asymmetrical chronographs supplied to both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from 1973 to 1982 (CWC was part of the “Fab Four” watchmakers supplying such chronos to the British military), before being replaced by Seiko's 7A28 Gen 1 quartz chronographs in 1984.
She was taken by awe, and it then gave way to a smile on her face.
Yu Takasaki gifted her a special chronograph.
She gifted her a modern remake of the chronograph worn by the King of Cool himself.
This was her special surprise gift.
“You gave me this?” Kasumi asked her girlfriend.
“Yes, and it has a red reset pusher~” Yu smiled.
“And it has a striking legend behind it.” Ritsuko interjected; “Apparently, it was painted on by a pilot’s lover as a way for him to reminiscence of her while being far away, but truthfully, and even Stan thought this is the actual reason why it existed, it’s more likely to be born out of practicality, since early Hanhart chronos has flyback function, so the red pusher was there to avoid confusion.”
“Heh~” Kasumi chuckled; “That's sound interesting and all, but I think I can make this my own~”
“Yeah, if it is good enough for Steve McQueen, then it’s good enough for you, Toyama-chan~” Yu replied; “You know how much I love you, right?”
“Yes, it’s a lot, Takasaki-chan, and I love you all the same too~” Kasumi playfully replied; “And I know that Butters and Ike have one too~”
And then, from out of nowhere, Kasumi felt her lips touching another, but it wasn’t shocking to her, and then she felt her arm wrap around Yu’s waist as her black-haired lover gripped onto her shoulders, her eyes slowly close once more as her tongue touch Yu’s when they deepen the kiss. It was warm and passionate, and they wanted to keep on doing it, even if this came out of the blue for their friends.
However, their lungs can only do much with limited capacity, and so, after a minute, they pulled away, breathing in to refill the volume of air missing in their lungs. But that kiss was certainly more true than the romantic anecdote about how Hanhart’s signature red pusher was born (something that even Hanhart themselves stated in the page about it on their website, and even though they themselves like to believe the romantic anecdote is the origin of their signature red pusher, they admitted that its actual origin most likely comes from practicality).
“Woah, I didn’t expect that…” Yukina muttered in shock and awe.
“Me too…” Nana followed her; “And I have seen Stan and Wendy being just as madly in love with each other as you two.”
“I know Chihaya told me that you two love each other a lot, and I kind of expect the unexpected here, but god, even that felt like it came from the middle of nowhere.” Ritsuko explained.
“Yeah…” Kasumi and Yu said simultaneously.
“Oh, and I have a book for you as well, Toyama-chan, it’s about Hanhart and the German watch industry.” Ritsuko said, accidentally (or maybe not) reveal the book’s title; “Whoops, I just literally said out loud the subtitle of its title name. Anyways, it’s part of The Watch Book series by Gisbert L. Brunner.”
Ritsuko handed Kasumi a massive hard-cover book, titled ‘The Watch Book: Hanhart and the German Watch Industry’, written by Mr. Brunner, which focused on German watchmaking and also the history of Hanhart specifically.
“Damn, it’s bloody thick, and kind of heavy…” Kasumi muttered as she held the book in her hands.
“Yeah, consider this my birthday present to you. I was going to give you a Hanhart stopwatch as my gift, but I decided to get this as that for you instead, cause I don’t think that you would be using a stopwatch all that often, and also, it seems like Hanhart doesn’t much stock of those.” Ritsuko explained; “And I bought that Hanhart for you, though I decided to switch out the Bund strap for a Hirsch performance strap, cause I think it might be too overpowering for you, and also to let you go anywhere and do anything with it. Some people want to wear it with the Bund cause it is tradition, but I rather let you make that combo your own.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now, Ritsuko?” asked Nana; “Also, Yukina and I are supposed be with the rest of Roselia, and Stan and Wendy are also there to see us.”
“Oh shit! We’re late! See you all later! And happy birthday to you, Toyama-chan!” Yukina said as she and Nana rushed out of the Namco Production building to get to the CiRCLE live house.
“Uh, Toyama-chan and Takasaki-chan? Aren’t you two supposed to be with your mates?” asked Ritsuko.
“Well, yeah…that happens somewhat later~” Kasumi scratched her back.
“Kinda the same for me, at least with the PDP, but we wait till Toyama-chan and Nana-chan are done with their practice first, cause she wanted to see me with my mates and also Yukina is a member of PDP at the same time. It’s kind of like the case with members of T-SQUARE; Andoh-san is part of the Akasaka Trio after he left the band a few years ago and passed the role of band leader to Ito-san, and that’s just one example.” Yu explained.
“Yeah, I know about that, cause Stan told me about it.” Ritsuko replied; “It’s almost been a year since he and his friends move to Canada, isn’t it?”
“It is indeed…” Kasumi awkwardly answered; “They heard that Trump is running once more, so they decided to act quickly before the US turned to shit under his term.”
“And Kyle told me that Trump made Grover Cleveland looks like a genius, and he’s the first US president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Stan and Kyle thought he was somewhat average in comparison to other US presidents preceding and succeeding him.” Yu added; “Oh, and Kasumi’s birthday is also Bastille Day too, but not in France yet."
“Cause timezones, that’s why~” Kasumi chuckled.
“And it’s the birthday of Bastille frontman Dan Smith too. That’s actually where they got their name, from that day when the French Revolution started with the Storming of the Bastille, which is ironic given the centuries-old rivalry between France and England.” Yu added.
“Okay, I didn’t really thought that much about that, but thanks for that. See you two again?” Ritsuko said, to which Kasumi and Yu nodded, before they both left the Namco Production premise and head to the Ichigaya residence for Kasumi’s band practice with Poppin'Party, with the former having own hand-wound Hanhart chrono that's perfect to wear while playing her red ESP Random Star, cause her 417 ES (and all 39mm 417 ES models in both flyback and non-flyback versions, along with the entire 415 ES line) is anti-magnetic up to 16000 Ampere per meters or 200 Gauss, about enough to withstand the Random Star's magnetic fields when it is plugged in; either she strapped that on her wrist for band practicing sessions, or her Damasko DK37, her three-hand daily driver that's hardened, fully-lumed, and most importantly, anti-magnetic (five times more than her Hanhart at 80000 Ampere per meters or 1000 Gauss, and to the same level as the now-discontinued Rolex Milgauss).
While on the way to Arisa’s house, Kasumi was smiling from what just happened today, including her and Yu kissing. It might almost feel like she hadn’t changed at all, but now she has a chronograph with ties to the late Steve McQueen, the King of Cool himself, and perhaps she could be the Queen of Cool in that vein when wearing it, after all, she’s the frontwoman of Poppin’Party. While her girlfriend was the one giving her this bargain Hanhart chrono with the Sellita AMT flyback movement that punch way above its price point, she might as well give Ritsuko the proper thanks for actually buying this for her birthday.