A/N: A little something I'd written for Komaeda's birthday! Please enjoy! Reader can be either Kageko, my SHSL Witch character, or an unspecified SHSL with a magic related talent! Special thanks to bullet-refutation on tumblr for beta'ing for me!

The agonizing journey from your cabin to the library in the sweltering heat made it too difficult to really concentrate on whatever books Hinata and Komaeda were looking at by the nearest shelf.

Instead, you decided to lay your head on the cool hardwood table and close your eyes for just a second.

"Hey, guys, if the air conditioning ever stopped working...do you think Usami could fix it?"

It was a legitimate concern, and on your few vacation days, these were the types of questions that plagued you.

It was better than worrying about the specifics of your situation, at least, or dreading the next day of cleaning building after building.

The past day or so had been way too hot for comfort; it was unfathomable how Hinata could just go outside every day and look for supplies to build whatever trinket Usami demanded.

This entire situation pisses me off, but it could be worse, I guess.

Komaeda laughed a little. "That's a good question!"

"Well…" Hinata frowned, not at all entertained at the idea of being without one of the few modern privileges the class had been allowed. "She'd better. She's our teacher, it's her responsibility-or whoever is controlling her."

Komaeda put the book in his hand back onto the shelf. "Even if she couldn't, we do have Souda-kun here! Air systems aren't the same as vehicles, but I have complete faith that he could easily figure it out!"

You shifted in your seat a little, the table having gotten too cold for your cheek. "Yeah, maybe...if Sonia-chan asked him to do it…"

Hinata sighed a little and took a seat on the opposite end of the table from you, elbow on the table and face in his hand. "Anyway, what did you want to show us?"

"Oh, yeah! I found it while cleaning earlier!"

Pushing yourself up from the table, you walked over to a shelf a few rows down until you recognized the dusty, old black spine hidden between some agricultural magazines that no one would be looking for.

You grabbed the book, already opening it and flipping to the table of contents. "I hid it earlier just in case!"

"Uh...just in case what?" Hinata raised an eyebrow. Komaeda pulled up a chair next to him with an expectant smile.

Wasn't that obvious? "Just in case anyone else wanted to check it out!"

"But there's not even an on staff librarian, yet alone a hand scanner-actually, none of these books even have barcodes taped on them…"

"That's all the more reason to hide it, if we can just take whatever books we want to our cabins with no return date…"

"Why didn't you do that, then?"

"...I don't know. Anyway!" You plopped back into your chair across from them. "Hinata-kun, when is your birthday?"

"January 1st…why?"

"You're definitely a strong Capricorn! I probably could've guessed!" You turned the book to face him, open on the page detailing his astrological sign.

"What…?"

Komaeda peered over his shoulder. "Ohhh, you're talking about western astrology! Hinata-kun is a strong Capricorn! His realistic nature definitely makes him an Earth sign!"

Hinata scanned over a few of the pages, obviously not impressed but doing his best to smile wryly. "I'm...I'm not sure I believe in all of this predestined stuff like astrology. No offense. This isn't even related to magic, right?"

"Well…" In a way, it was? But you didn't want to bore Hinata with any more of your lessons on divination; he'd already listened to you countless times, and it was easy to tell he was tired from yesterday. He probably would've preferred to stay in his cabin and sleep, as he had on the last vacation day.

You hummed a little and retrieved the book, staring at the table and suddenly feeling shy. "I-I guess not really, but it's fun! Really, I just wanted to get both of your birthdays so I could write it down and we could celebrate when the time came! Also there's a bunch of empty pages in the back for a journal, so I thought I'd write down all the positive things about our signs and how they compliment each other...Komaeda-kun, what about you?"

Komaeda bit his lip and glanced between the two of you. "I...would definitely appreciate the thought, especially from the the likes of...two of the most talented people in the world who dared to grace someone like me with your affections and who have promised to do so not only while we're on this island together, but beyond our little captivity. It's one thing for people like you to shower me with such undeserved treatment here, but to not be ashamed even in the eye of the rest of the school…."

He hugged himself and shivered a little. "It really, really means a lot to me...but...this is already pushing it...I'm surprised that up until this point, neither of you have died-"

"April 28th," Hinata said flatly, eyeing his student ID. "It's right here. All of our birthdays are."

Komaeda's eyes widened in horror.

"B-But hey," You reached over and, with both hands, held his. "Listen, why don't we just...work around your luck system, then?"

Hinata nodded, put his ID back into his back pocket and offered Komaeda a soft smile. "Yeah, we'll both just surprise you one random day out of the year. That way it's not really on your birthday, but for it."

Komaeda curled his hand into a fist and seemed beside himself for a moment; you and Hinata waited patiently, because Komaeda was someone that required patience and yet never seemed to drain it from either of you entirely.

"...that could work."

You squeezed his wrist confidently and smiled at him.

"See?" Hinata put an arm around him and pulled him into a half hug.

"Anyway…" Komaeda didn't want to dwell on it and looked back to the book. "Tell me, since you're the expert, do I come across as a Taurus?"

"What's the sign of Taurus, again?" Hinata asked before you could answer.

"It's the bull. Oh, yeah...I'd definitely say so, Komaeda-kun! You've got that stubbornness! But it's a good thing. Bulls are a force to reckoned with when they have their sights on something! In some countries, it's a sport to see how long you can stay on one while it's bucking..."

Hinata sneered a little. "Komaeda, you're definitely stubborn…"

Since he'd avoided looking at the pages you'd showed him, Hinata had missed that Capricorn was a sign with horns, too.

"That's a strong sign to live up to…" Komaeda said gravely.

"Well...western astrology is just for fun!" You rocked in your seat a little, wishing you'd brought a pen to start jotting down some notes in the back. You'd already decided to just take the book to your cabin and keep it, anyway.

"Well...it's got more variety than blood types, at least," Hinata pointed out in an attempt to say something nice, his sentiment not escaping you. "So, what about your sign…?"

"Oh, yeah…"

Because Komaeda was a light sleeper and sometimes slept with his window open, Hinata insisted that you both nearly tiptoe away from the hotel that night to sneak off to the beach.

You'd rather have just walked normally, because the sound of the boards creaking without audible footsteps somehow seemed more suspicious.

Hinata opened his pouch of monocoins once you were both in front of the Monomono Machine and frowned. "I don't understand why the currency here has the face of that ugly thing that tried to beat up Usami."

"I don't, either?" You inserted a few coins into the slots and twisted the knob. "Did he set up the vending and prize machines here?"

"Maybe...who knows…Actually, I don't want to think about that thing."

A prize landed in the dispenser, and you promptly opened it to reveal...a .

Hinata tried next, and was awarded with an Apron Dress. He handed it to you, cheeks slightly red. "W-we can't give that to him…"

Why is he handing it to me?

You stuffed it and the stapler into the satchel you'd brought along for this process."Hey, Hinata-kun, are we looking for anything in particular? Or are we just gonna keep playing until we get something Komaeda-kun might like?"

"Well…" He scratched his neck a little and gazed at the machine. "The other day, Owari traded me a ring with the Hope's Peak emblem on it for some barbequed pork at the cookout that I didn't want. I think Komaeda would really like something like that. She said she'd won it from this machine."

"Eh? Why didn't you give it to him already, then?"

"Well...I, uh, lost it…"

"Could it be-"

"Don't-don't say it...his luck has nothing to do with it, I just wasn't watching what I was doing is all."

He inserted some more coins into the machine. "Anyway, let's not open them one by one here, we have enough coins to just take a bunch of capsules back to one of our cabins and open them there."

It wasn't until your third trip to the Monomono machine, down to your last collective fifty monocoins, that your efforts were finally rewarded. By the time you'd finished, it was nearly four in the morning.

Unfortunately, it was probably obvious how tired you were, and Hinata likely wasn't faring any better scavenging for supplies wherever he'd been assigned today.

Dusting, vacuuming, and disinfecting dragged on and on, with near constant glances to the clocks and a generous amount of self assigned breaks when no one was looking.

I have to rest tomorrow...can't do it...

But it had been worth it.

No doubt.

Hours of sitting in Hinata's cabin on the floor popping open capsule after capsule had been worth it (not to mention, there were more extra items than either of you knew what to do with).

When the promised hour of dismissal had finally arrived, you went into the hotel lobby, where Komaeda had been tidying up, and found him sitting on the couch folding a basket of towels.

He'd mentioned before that he did enjoy cleaning, so seeing that the manual labor here wasn't making him suffer was a small blessing.

"Komaeda-kun!" You slid next to him and hugged his arm.

He said your name and smiled down at you, petting your head with his free hand. "I'm almost done."

"Want some help?" You straightened yourself up, already grabbing few washcloths and placing them on your lap.

"That isn't necessary, but thank you."

A few weeks ago, Komaeda would have insisted that you not help him, so his passive acceptance made you happy enough to not actually care to help him with his chore.

"So," he said, somehow able to fold them with perfect symmetry. "What would you and Hinata-kun like to do today?"

"Actually...when I was cleaning upstairs earlier, someone left a box of marshmallow cereal open and leaning against the cabinet so when I opened it, it went everywhere...I did my best to clean it, but could you double check for me? You're the best at this stuff, so...I trust your eyes more than mine."

"Of course! What about after that?"

The washcloths you were folding looked sloppy when you set them on the cart next to the stacks Komaeda had folded. "Uh...I dunno, let's ask Hinata-kun later."

You stood up as Komaeda finished with the last towel and tried not to smile, proud of how convincing you'd been, and lead him up the stairs.

Turning the corner ahead of him, you felt a tug of relief that everything had gone according to plan: Hinata stood by a table with a gugelhupf cake in the center a few present boxes next to it.

Komaeda was only a second behind you.

"Surpri-!"

"Surprise!"

Komaeda went as stiff as a statue, anxiety glazing over his eyes.

Hinata smiled at him, walked over, and grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the table. "What better time to pull a fast one on your luck than right after we were talking about it, right?"

Komaeda followed him over as you pulled up a few chairs, which Hinata had somehow forgotten to do. "You really...did this….?"

It wasn't anything fancy. It had been impossible to find boxes to actually fit the gifts, it took far too long to find wrapping paper in the extra building, and the cake was pre-made and only had to be heated up in the microwave.

"Yes," you and Hinata both replied, this time in perfect synchronization.

Komaeda was no doubt tearing up, and had to turn his back to both of you and wipe his eyes. "N-No one has ever…"

Hinata softly put a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright…"

"Is it? Any moment now, the two of you could…"

He didn't finish. He gave himself a few more seconds, probably waiting on an earthquake to plunge the entire island underwater, or for a giant squid monster to rise from the darkest depths of the ocean and start plucking the class from the beach one by one…

And then he turned again, eyes noticeably swollen, and said "thank you."

"Y-Yeah," Hinata replied, blushing a little and looking away from him. "We did it because...y'know...you deserve something nice for once...and we...y'know…"

"Komaeda-kun, we sincerely love you."

You smiled, grabbed the box to the left, and handed it to him. "No need to thank us too hard! Open my present first!"

Komaeda took the box, shook it next to his ear, and a loud buzzing sound emitted from it.

Hinata narrowed his eyes at you. "You didn't…"

"I did!"

Komaeda opened the box, smiled at the toy inside and picked out the Kokeshi Dynamo. "What a strange gift! Is this something for...nefarious purposes?" There was a lilt in his voice that told you he definitely knew that it was.

You nodded. "We wanna give you something else tonight, too-"

Hinata was already shoving the second box at him. "Here, open mine next…"

"Of course! Thank you!"

Hinata's idea was far more modest, but he beamed proudly as Komaeda eagerly set aside your gift and took his, grateful no one happened to open the door with a vibrator in Komaeda's hand.

"Hope Biscuits…?" Komaeda read off the cans. "There are five of these! They look great!"

"Annnd this last one!" You handed the final box to him, which was significantly smaller. "Is from both of us!"

Komaeda gasped lightly and took it. "A gift from both of you? This must be the best one, then!"

Oh, it would be.

His smile widened the second he opened the box. "Hope's Peak rings...these are the official ones?!"

Hinata and yourself both nodded as he emptied the box into his palm.

"And...there are three of them!"

You reached over, took one from his hand, and slid it onto your ring finger seamlessly. "Yup! One for each of us!"

Hinata hesitated a moment, shyly not making eye contact with either of you, and took his as well. "Y-Yeah...think of them as, um, promise rings."

"Because we promised we'd stay together even after we leave the island!"

"And," Hinata continued. "It's not unusual to wear these, it shows pride in our school, so…"

Komaeda was clearly delighted, maybe about to cry with how his eyes welled up again, but there was still some apprehension.

Still some dread.

There would be, probably for a long time, and that was okay.

"I-I see…" He said, staring down at the well crafted piece of jewelry. These were probably made with actual silver, and the design carved in by hand-at the actual school shop, off the island, they were probably expensive, too.

He slid the ring onto his finger, observed how it looked on him, almost in a trance.

He couldn't stop staring.

Hinata and yourself exchanged a few glances, smiling at first, and then you couldn't help but be concerned.

"Hey, Komaeda…" Hinata mumbled. "Are you alright…"

Komaeda snapped out of his enchantment instantly a bright look on his face.

"Of course I am!" He reached over, took each of you by the hand. "I'm...I'm very alright, maybe the happiest I've ever been, and a part of my still thinks that this entire island vacation must be a dream-a cruel joke my subconscious is playing on me! But right now, I have two people that have done so many wonderful things for me...I really am lucky!"