It was a peaceful March day for the students of Hope's Peak Academy…at least, it usually was. Today, however, was not one of those days. The weather outside was like a scene out of a movie; the winds were intense, the sky was dark and cloudy, and at any second, the sky was going to let out enough water to flood the streets for a day or so.
This wasn't really a problem for most of the students, as they didn't have anything planned anyways. It was just another tuesday, so there wasn't much else to do besides study and spend time indoors. They could play games in the rec room, play some sports in the gym, or just relax in the library, which housed a range of different books for them to choose from.
Yet, for some reason a few of the students were just not willing to settle for this. The first was Makoto Naegi, the Super High School Level Luckster. While there was nothing outstanding about him, he was very good at making friends with all of the elite students there. It could have been his normalcy balancing out the intense pressure of being a 'Super High School Level' student, or perhaps it could've just been that he was a really nice guy. Either way, he looked outside at the crazy weather, his expression rather sad and downtrodden.
"What am I going to do now? I had a party all planned out, but with this weather, I won't be able to get the most important thing." He stated out loud, moving a hand to his chin as he thought to himself. As luck would have it, the Super High School Level Prefect, Kiyotaka Ishimaru had been patrolling the halls - as was his usual habit - and just so happened to overhear Makoto talking to himself.
"Naegi-kun!" He shouted at the very top of his lungs, making absolutely certain to alert everyone of both their presences. "Whatever is the matter? Is there something you had planned to do outside of the school today? Perhaps I can be of assitance!" He offered, a big, wide grin on his face. While the Prefect may have been misunderstood a lot of the time, he loved nothing more than ensuring his fellow clasmates were doing well at school, even if it wasn't just academically.
"I-ishimaru-san." Makoto stuttered out, his expression changing from one of sadness to one of worry. While he knew Ishimaru was the type to help, he could sometimes be a bit too hot-blooded while trying to do so. "W-well, if you want me to be honest, it's Fukawa-san's birthday today. She insisted that her birthday shouldn't be treated as anything special, but I organized a surprise party for her in the cafeteria during dinner. I even ordered a cake to be made at the best bakery in town thanks to Togami-san's help, but… due to the weather change, the bakery refuses to deliver it. They said we're welcome to come get it ourselves… I tried asking Togami-san for help, but…"
As he remisced about the day's earlier events, he recalled that Byakuya Togami, the Super High School Level Heir was busy in the cafeteria right after lunch, needing to work quickly at setting everything up. With an intense pressure around him and his arms crossed, he looked perplexed at Makoto's request. "You want me to go pick up a cake and bring it back here? Do I look like a delivery boy to you? I've already agreed to set things up in here, and let me assure you, that this party will be the best you've ever been to, even if it is for that lowly trash. Yes, even for someone like that, I can make a celebration worthy of royalty… but it will take time. So if you're done wasting both of our time, I'll focus on things here and you'll figure out a way to get that cake, understood?"
Makoto sighed as that moment replayed over and over in his head. Slumping over, he looked ready to just give up all hope on getting that cake there. Kiyotaka nodded his head in understanding, humming lowly as he put a fist to his chin and tried to think. He didn't have a means of transportation, but he did know someone who did. "Naegi-kun, do not worry, I believe I know someone who would be willing to help us out!" He offered, and without asking, he turned around and pointed in front of himself. "Let us move forward to the person who will aid us in our time of need!" With that, he began to march ahead, Makoto following closely behind, although nearly tripping over himself from the suddeness of it all.
Unable to make heads or tails of who Kiyotaka was hinting at, Makoto crashed into Kiyotaka's back when at last he suddenly stopped walking, and as he looked around, Makoto realized he was through the gym, in the locker room. In front of them stood a third boy, otherwise known as the Super High School Level Biker, Mondo Oowada. Mondo was in the middle of lifting some weights - making it look way too easy - though he eventually put them down and sat up, resting his arms on his knees as he looked the other two with a look of annoyance, "Yea? Th' hell do you two want?"
The Luckster's first response was, of course, one of panic and confusion. Why were they going to Mondo of all people!? This was especially strange, since Kiyotaka had been leading! Makoto naturally expected the two to get along about as well as cats and dogs! The panic and confusion was quickly replaced with confusion as Kiyotaka laughed heartily, patting Mondo's shoulder, a very happy look on his face. "HA HA HA…! You never cease to amaze me, Kyoudai! Now if only you could put that same amount of effort into your studies!"
"Izzat what ya wanted to tell me, I'll get ta studyin' once I'm done here, awright? Now lemme jus' finish already!" The Biker was quick to respond, obviously not a fan of being lectured. However, Kiyotaka was quick to explain that he was not there to lecture, but instead needed the Biker for something else.
After being filled in on the situation, Mondo crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the two. "Fukawa, huh?" He asked, honestly never really having gotten to know her. Then again, his attempts were never met with anything… positive, persay. There had been a couple of instances where he tried to get to know her. The first had been the first day of school, where all he tried to do was introduce himself, to which she responded with 'AHHHHHHHHHH, HELP ME!' and then ran away.
Another instance was when he was shouting angrily at Byakuya over something that he didn't feel was right, at which point she told him to leave her 'Byakuya-sama' alone, to which Byakuya responded by telling her to shut her trashy mouth. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, Mondo wasn't a big fan of seeing girls being treated that way, so he gave Byakuya a good, old-fashioned knuckle sandwhich, which mostly just made her even more scared of him.
Sighing at his recollection of negative experiences, he rubbed the back of his head. "I 'unno… ain't that jus' me bein' a delivery boy? Ya want me ta pick up a god damn pizza too while I'm at it, izzat it?" He asked roughly, obviously irritated Having had enough of being scared, Makoto finally stepped forward and spoke up.
"Oowada-san, that isn't the case at all! M-maybe I should've checked the weather forecast ahead of time… but we shouldn't let one small mistake ruin Fukawa-san's birthday, right? Everyone's birthday only comes once a year, so everyone should have at least one day where everything's perfect… You don't wanna see Fukawa-san be sad right? So for her sake, please at least think about it." He pleaded a bit, having taken Mondo to be the type to be a bit of a bully.
Mondo was genuinely nothing like that. Although he did have a title that was associated with gangs, fighting, and all manner of negativity, Mondo was the leader of a bike gang. Not just any bike gang though, the biggest bike gang in Japan - the Crazy Diamonds. And what the Crazy Diamonds held in the most regard was being honorable and having their own sense of justice. They weren't the type to just cause trouble and start fights because they wanted to. They would only do that if they, or their friends, had been wronged. Mondo was a protector of the weak, not someone who pushed the weak around.
Thinking on it for a moment, he realized that Makoto was right, and standing up, he walked over to the much smaller male, looking him over with a rather intimidating glare. This went on for what seemed like an eternity for poor Makoto before Mondo broke into a grin and laughed. "Gyahaha! Ya got guts talkin' ta me like that, but s'good ya spoke up! Fine, I'll get that cake fer Fukawa, so jus' leave it to me!" With that, he gave the Luckster a thumbs up before taking his jacket and putting it on.
As Mondo had been in the gym all day long though, he had no idea exactly how bad the weather was, despite being told it was 'bad'. Walking all the way to the school's garage to grab his bike, he had no idea just what he was in for. Pushing a button on the wall inside the garage, the garage door slowly started opening up, and Mondo got a good look at the world outside, which seemed like something akin to a hurricane hitting. "Well, shit…" was all he had to say before gathering his courage and revving the motorcycle on, driving into what would end up turning into one hell of a storm.
Due to the weather's intensity, there were police and government workers all over the place redirecting traffic and making sure everyone was getting to shelter before the storm really hit. Mondo, however, was number one on the Japan most wanted listed. He had been to juvenile hall before, and he wasn't planning on going again.
Twisting the bike's handle bars, he went at max speed, showing off his Super High School Level talent by easily weaving in and out of the cars and traffic cones. Even though there were a few blockades in the way, Mondo managed to masterfully use the road's street bumps to get enough leverage to clear them, planning on making it to the bakery in record time.
As expected of his reckless driving, there were already a few police cars behind him, sirens flashing and wailing. Gritting his teeth, he had to find a way to lose them - and quick. So, doing the only thing he could think of, he took a detour of sorts. Around the corner was a small, tight alleyway with several crates full of holes in them. Turning into it, he braced himself to crash into them - and crash into them he did! With a loud boom, he blasted through the crates, feeling like he was covered in something wet and slimy.
Mondo's first thought was that he had crashed into crates full of Jell-O, or something, but as he felt something slithering around his arms and tightening, he had to take his eyes off the road for a moment to look at what was constricting him. With eyes wide, Mondo's jaw dropped as he saw he was covered in snakes, of all things!
Unsure what kind of alley that was, it was safe to assume that there must have been a pet store or something nearby that had ordered them in. Unfortunately, due to his quick thinking, they were hitching a ride to the bakery. Having lost the cops at least, Mondo noticed that even though the snakes were all over him, they didn't seem hostile yet. So, he just kept trucking onward and, as intended, he made it to the bakery in record time.
Getting off of his bike, he walked into the store, snakes and all. The baker was obviously scared out of his wits, and it certainly didn't help that Mondo, himself, looked rather terrifying. After taking a few minute to settle the baker down, Mondo finally had the cake in a ribbon sealed box. Taking a deep breath, he got back on his bike and made sure to keep the box secure in front of him before starting off again.
What should have been easy sailing from there on out certainly wasn't. As he turned a corner, he immediately ran into a rival bike gang. There must've been at least five of them, all revving their engines, honking their obnoxiously loud horns, and cursing up a storm – all directed at the Super High School Level Bike Leader. Clicking his tongue in response to his bad luck, Mondo turned his bike off and then got off of it.
These gang members weren't strangers to him, as he'd had to beat them up before for kidnapping girls and holding them hostage. "Hey, it's that Oowada fucker! Where's your big bro this time, huh?! Oh right, he hit the pavement last I heard! Guess not even a Diamond can survive hitting a truck head on, fuhahaha!" various members egged on at random, making Mondo furious.
Out of instinct, the Biker raised his arms up and shouted at the top of his lungs. "SHUT TH' FUCK UP OR I'LL SEND YA TA HELL MYSELF, YOU FUCKERS!" He thundered loudly and threateningly, having forgotten about the snakes on his limbs as he did this.
His screams were so off-putting that the snakes got the message, and slithering off his arms, they jumped out into the air and onto the bodies of the rival gang members, who responded with confusion and panic. "Wh-what the hell, did he summon snakes!?"
"AHHHH, GET IT OFFA ME, GET IT OFF!"
"This motherfucker can speak in tongue or somethin', he summoned these fuckers from his body!"
"Aw fuck this, I ain't fightin' with a real fuckin' demon summoner, I'm gettin' outta here!"
In a matter of minutes, the bikers all got onto their bikes and tried to drive away, although it was some pretty shaky driving as they were still struggling with the snakes on their bodies. Mondo could only watch on in confusion, having not intended to do that, of course, but there was really no reason to complain about the series of events that had just occurred.
Going back over to his bike, he made sure the cake was still in one piece, and upon seeing that it was he gave a sigh of relief and got back on, revving the engine to life once more. "Should be smooth sailin' from here on out." He casually offered aloud, and as if on cue, it finally began to rain. "Fer fuck's sake…!"
Trying to put his focus on being fast, he was hindered by the storm picking up out of nowhere, and the roads being slippery meant he couldn't be as reckless as he wanted or else he'd be losing more than just a cake. Getting drenched, he made sure to keep the cake firmly on his lap the whole way there in order to keep it dry, making the drive back take a lot longer than he wanted it to.
Meanwhile at the school, it was about six o'clock in the evening, and as scheduled, it was time for dinner. All of the students of Hope's Peak Academy went to the cafeteria, including the shy, negative, yet fragile Super High School Level Bookworm, Touko Fukawa.
As per usual, she was purposely the last one to arrive, as she was the type who didn't want to wait in line with everyone else for dinner, as that meant having to socialize with all of them. She got goose bumps from the very thought of it. Someone like her associating with people like them? Impossible, simply impossible.
They would all just make fun of her, she thought. They would point out how useless she would be and accuse her of things she hadn't done! She got a bit angry as she thought about what Makoto had said to her earlier in the week, something about her birthday. He was like the rest! He had forgotten it, just like she knew he would!
Feeling like there was a rain cloud directly over her head, she walked into the cafeteria, seeing it was full of students all gathered around a big table with a banner over it that said 'Happy Birthday, Touko!'. She didn't recognize a good portion of the students there, but the fourteen in the front were all the first years she had gotten to know that year… well, roughly gotten to know.
For a moment, her head was filled to the brim with thoughts, but before she could process anything, all the students simultaneously shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" before popping some confetti and streamers at her, and clapping thunderously.
Touko was absolutely flabbergasted, her cheeks having turned a shade of pink and her heart thumping loudly in her tightened chest. This was all for her…? They had all gathered like this, just for someone like her? Maybe it was a prank, but… they all seemed genuinely happy for her.
Unable to even make a word come out of her mouth, Makoto walked over to her with a happy expression. "Fukawa-san, I told you I'd remember, and so did everyone else! There's a table with presents over there, and we even got a cake! It's on its way here now, thanks to Oowada-san."
Taking in all the information, Touko gulped down all her doubts for the moment and was dangerously close to starting to cry. However, before she could, all her classmates grabbed their presents from the table and started to hand them to her one at a time. Even Byakuya, who usually despised her, showed some rare kindness by getting her something.
This was all amazing to her, having never been shown this much kindness by everyone. Honestly at a loss for words at the moment, she just knew that later that evening her notebook would be filled to the brim with emotions, thoughts and feelings. However, despite all this, she knew something was missing.
"O…Oowada is getting my birthday cake?" She asked Makoto for clarification, to which he nodded. Moving a thumb to her mouth and biting down, she never did like him! He was nothing but a good for nothing delinquent, doing whatever he wanted – he'd even had the audacity to put his dirty hands on her precious Byakuya-sama! Why would they let a Neanderthal like him handle such a thing!? "I-I bet he just took that cake to his gang and now they're all just e-eating it like the pigs they are! P-probably just saying things l-like 'At least that bitch is good for something, w-we all got some cake thanks to her!' Th-that's all he's going to do, you know that!" She claimed, pointing an angry finger at Makoto.
Yes, this was the nature of Touko Fukawa. Even if everything else was perfect, even the smallest imperfection could be mistaken for something that was being done to make her life more miserable. "Th-that was your plan all along, wasn't it!? Th-throwing this party, getting everyone to give me gifts, a-and then once I start to get the urge to make a wish and blow my candles out, y-you were going to tell me a… a bunch of thugs ate my cake!" She accused with a shaky voice.
It was at that moment that Mondo finally arrived, and after parking his bike in the garage - despite being drenched with water - he ran all the way to the cafeteria with the cake box firmly in his hands. Just as Touko was about to make a scene, he burst through the cafeteria doors. He'd been loud enough that everyone had heard it loud and clear, causing them to turn their attention to him.
Mondo ran in, covered from head to toe with various things, from leaves stuck in his wet, ruined pompadour, to plastic bags on his legs. Since the cafeteria had been cleaned all over from earlier for the occasion, the polished floor and the wet soles of his shoes caused him to start slipping immediately.
As he tried to maintain balance as to not fall, the cake box flew out of his hands, and everyone's eyes watched it. Having no other choice at that point, Mondo used what little friction he did have to hop forward a bit, catching the cake box mid-air, lifting it above his head as he face-planted onto the ground and slid along it before stopping in front of the first years.
Looking like something the cat dragged in, his face a bit messed up from the fall, Mondo slowly got up and looked around, finally spotting Touko and handing her the cake box."S'fer you, happy birthday." Is all he had to say, an embarrassed look on his face. Lifting a hand, he then lowered it, glowing red as he rubbed the back of his head nervously with it. "H-hope I wasn't later er anythin'…"
Completely dumbstruck, Touko held onto the box and had to let all that occurred sink into her brain yet again to make sure she understood exactly what had happened. From what she could tell, Mondo Oowada, the Super High School Level Biker, the guy who had punched her precious Byakuya-sama, the very same person that she had just been accusing of being a no-good, low-down cake-eater, had instead done exactly what Makoto had said. He had gone to get her cake for her… and from the looks of it, it wasn't something that was easy for him.
The Writer curiously undid the ribbon on the box and peeled the cover off. Looking inside of it, she found that the cake had been untouched, and felt her heart beat a billion miles per hour. He really had done it! This wasn't a dream either! This delinquent went to get her a cake simply out of the kindness of his heart…!? It was so cliché, was her first thought… but cliché wasn't a bad thing per say.
"Th… thank you, Mondo." She said at long last, surprising everyone, as she wasn't the type to refer to people by their first name. To break the silence further, Kiyotaka laughed heartily and shouted. "As expected of Kyoudai, not only did he get the cake, he put on a good show while delivering it!"
Everyone else had been a bit surprised as well, but nodding their heads, they all praised him too. "Nice going, dude! Now we can have some this cake!"
"Hmph, I could've gotten it here sooner, but I guess your performance was acceptable."
"Rubadubdub, thanks for the grub!"
Flushing red, Mondo was mostly quiet as he joined the others at the table. Touko took her cake while Sakura took a lit candle and put it on the top. "Fukawa-san, I believe we are to sing now, if we are to follow tradition."
With that said, everyone sang her a happy birthday tune, and once it was all done, they all told her to make a wish, which she had to put some serious thought into before she blew out her candles, at which point everyone clapped… except for Mondo, who ended up sneezing.