Nate facepalmed lightly upon hearing from Aliana that the whole thing was going on in Kelter Park was actually incomplete preparations for Kylee Herb's birthday party.
From what he remembered, Kylee was a classmate in his homeroom with Mr. Mouch, and she mostly hung out with Paula Griffin, another classmate. It's not like Nate and she were close friends or anything, as he only knew her name and that she likes to eat birthday-flavor ice cream while appreciating old-timey media, and also that she wanted to avoid conflict between her friends, as he heard from eavesdropping on chatter in school.
"Kylee? Oh, yeah, I remember now," Nate mentioned to Brandin. "You were talking about it in the hallways at school, right. Dang, I really should have remembered this stuff for today."
Brandin frowned as he glanced at Aliana at his side.
"Yeah, but now this idiot here wants to change the theme that I had worked so hard to get right, and frankly, Aliana's decorating skills are total trash, and I don't think Kylee is into that stuff."
"But yours is not something that Kylee would like either, Brandin! Of course, having a rock band is not something she would like, and I definitely know that it is a bit much for her to hang around all day," Aliana argued.
There they go again.
Nate switched looks at the two of them as he sighed internally in his mind. Both of them always argue with one another every single day, so much that the rest of the school considers their arguments one of the many wonders of Standart High daily life. Undoubtedly, it was almost impossible for anyone to peel them away from each other before things could get hectic, requiring the teachers to intervene.
Brandin then pointed at his side of the party area, now adorning himself with a rock glam outfit.
"We go with this for the party!" he yelled as he put down his fist forcefully on the table, breaking the plastic in half.
"No, we go with this since it's better!" Aliana yelled in his face in return, pointing at her side of the party!
Nate could swear that their sheer aura bouncing off against each other felt razor-like, slightly concerned for what was going to happen if nobody was here to mediate the two of them, and it was probably not a job for Nate.
He tried to slowly back off to continue the path towards the entrances of Vivid Forest.
"Um, hey guys, I gotta go somewhere real quick, so you two do your own thing," Nate slowly said as he slid his feet away. "Good luck, guys, and try not to kill each other in the meantime. If you want, I could be back after—"
"Nate! Come here!" Both of them said as each of them pulled on the arm of his torso.
He grunted in pain from the sudden movement. Nate could feel that his arms were literally going to be torn apart if he didn't do something.
"Nate, help me with my party planning! I need some help with someone outside if they could see how cool my party would be," Brandin stated erratically. "I need a voice to say how great the party is gonna be; it's just a quick check.
On the other hand, quite literally so, with her strength pulling more, Aliana remained glaring at her rival. "No, I need help from you, Nate. You're a guy who understands most people emotionally, so you would definitely know what Kylee would like if we just change what is wrong with having a birthday with sports things.
The two of them yelled in unison, "Stay here and help us!"
Not wanting any more physical altercations from escalating catastrophically, Nate finally had to say one thing in his mind.
"Stop, you guys, I have an idea in mind!"
Aliana and Brandin both stopped their tugging and let their curiosity examine what Nate had said right now.
It worked perfectly in his mind, as these two were so wrapped up in their need to have their own versions of a party validated that a third party offering their opinion on which was the best automatically froze them up.
"Yo, what?" Brandin perplexingly said, while Aliana tilted her head in confusion.
"Whatchu mean by that, Nate?"
He inhaled heavily. "I have an idea that would settle this birthday party debate once and for all. Let's make this a competition with me acting as a judge; the theme that is the best would be considered the true birthday for Kylee to experience."
A plan for them to begrudgingly accept the terms so that they would end it once and for all, as they all cared about having the best birthday party that Kylee would ever experience in her life.
Nate continued. "Both of you. Aliana and Brandin, would take on one side of each party area and try to develop your own style, and if one of you has your side the more suitable than the loser's side, then I would declare that appropriate side the winner, if that makes sense."
He did not know why he was helping the two of them since he was here only to focus on watching the soothing moments within the outskirts of Vivid Forest to move away from the memories of the Fadens invading the high school, but it was like he was drawn to the conflict towards the people that he knew.
Nate wanted to tell them that he literally does not care, and that he should move on to other things that he should focus on. He desperately wanted to tell them that his opinion is invalid and that they should ignore him because he doesn't offer anything exciting or insightful to their worthy lives.
But even so, Nate stayed with them with simmering interest.
The two momentarily fell silent at what they just heard, but after a second they were fired up, their eyes flaring up with excitement.
"Hmm? A battle to see which one of us is better at making a party good enough for Kylee, I see? Heh, that's good enough for me; I'll show Aliana who is the one out of the whole class who can make everyone rave. Prepare to lose and for me to win!" Brandin smugly replied.
"Ha! You think you're hot stuff, Brandin? Well, don't come crying when I win this challenge. You'll definitely see how much better I am when I make a party that Kylee will like; you'll see," Aliana retorted.
Then Nate went between the two as they prepared their materials and decorated their respective party themes with the best of their abilities.
"Alright, ready, you two, Aliana, Brandin?" he asked them. "Okay, on three, one, two, and three! GO, GO, GO!"
And then they went off, grabbing an armful of decorations and equipment in order to prepare for the judge to witness what a true party should look like in their eyes.