Peko, as usual, was running errands for her young master. Not the errands that one would think the heir to Japan's biggest organized crime syndicate would give to his men. No, it wasn't anything of the sort. The young yakuza was just simply too busy to do mundane tasks such as grocery shopping, so he had asked Peko to regularly do it for him. The swordswoman didn't mind, of course. She never minded. After all, it was her job to assist her young master in any way possible. As Peko was walking towards the exit of the shop, lost in her own thoughts, a foreign voice not too far away, had spoken up.

"Miss, would you like to have a sample of our new sugar cookies?"

The voice had stopped the swordswoman's thoughts, making her instinctively turn around towards the source of the voice, only to see a short young man, well at least she thought it was a young man. The boxes that were being offered was blocking half of his face. Peko could only see an unruly clump of brown hair that stuck upwards, defying gravity itself. It didn't help that the person in front of her was around a head shorter than herself. She tried her best to take a good look at the young man who was holding the boxes, encouraging her to take one.

Peko's gaze alternated between the man and the boxes he was holding. She was analyzing whether he was a potential threat or not. It had become the swordswoman's instinct to do so because anyone could be planning something or targeting him. She had to always be on the lookout. His safety was her priority, as well as his happiness and general well being. Speaking of which, her young master might want to try some of the cookies that the young man was offering her. Her young master was always fond of sweets, even though he tried to hide that fact from the public as he believed that it would ruin his image. He was the heir to the Kuzuryuu clan after all. Nonetheless, sweets and pastries always seemed to make him happy, so maybe he would like some.

"Miss, are you okay? Would you like some of our sugar cookies?" The man inquired, his head tilted a bit to the side to see the woman in front of him. When his eyes had met hers, he made sure to smile at her, hoping that she would take a box.

"I'm quite alright and I would like that. Thank you for the offer." She replied straight to the point after mulling over her thoughts for a short while. She reached out and took a box from the young man. He looked slightly relieved when he felt the weight on his arms become lighter.

"Thank you! If you like them, you can come back to our stall over there to buy some more!" He replied enthusiastically and beamed at her. Peko nodded politely in acknowledgement as the young man got back to work. After placing the box of sugar cookies into one of the shopping bags she held, Peko then made her way out of the store with a little more spring to her step as she walked. The young man's smile had made Peko feel lighter; his whole presence reminded her of a happy puppy, but at the same time the swordswoman envied his ability to radiate so much positivity just from one smile. She wished that she could somehow do that as well.

Perhaps she could learn how to? Peko thought. She could always look for that young man again and ask. He did seem to be genuinely kind enough. The swordswoman wondered if smiling like that could help ease the burdens her young master carried with him, or if a smile that bright could put him in a good mood after a rough day. Either way, if she mastered this— if she knew how to smile, she would definitely be able to better cater to her young master's needs.

Consumed by her thoughts once more, Peko almost robotically headed towards the dorms of Hope's Peak Academy so that she could give the groceries she had bought to her young master as soon as possible. She would have almost ignored her young master entirely if she hadn't heard his familiar voice echo from a distance, shouting a multitude of curses as if it were an incantation of some sort.

Peko's eyes darted towards the source of her young master's voice. He was definitely in danger by the sound of it. She would, without hesitation, destroy the threat that was endangering the life of her young master as soon as she found it. The swordswoman made sure to move quickly to search for him while trying to not damage any of the groceries she had recently purchased as she transferred them to her left hand, allowing her dominant hand to have quick access to her weapon that was slung behind her back. After a short while of searching, Peko had finally found her young master on the ground being licked and barked at by a rather large dog. It looked almost twice his size. The tension on her shoulders had slightly relaxed as she saw that her young master wasn't in life threatening danger.

"Peko! Get this fucking thing off me!" Fuyuhiko yelled as soon as he saw the familiar uniform Peko wore from the corner of his eye. The swordswoman only had to stare at the dog with her piercing gaze for it to quickly whimper and retreat out of fear when its eyes met Peko's. She was saddened by the fact that animals were afraid of her, but didn't show it as her priority was to follow her young master's orders. She slightly bent over to offer a hand to help her young master stand up, but he declined the offer, immediately getting up on his own and brushing off dust from his clothes.

"T-thanks.." The yakuza mumbled out, as his blush had become more prominent on his face. Peko assumed was due to exhaustion. The swordswoman had suddenly remembered the cookies she had taken from the young man earlier that day.

"Would you like some sugar cookies, young master?" She asked and opened the box as she offered them to him.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?" The yakuza huffed in annoyance. The swordswoman bowed her head in apology.

"I'm sorr—"

"Don't apologize. Just- just call me by my name." Fuyuhiko stuttered as he interrupted her apology. The yakuza tried to meet Peko's gaze, slightly irritated by the fact that he had to tilt his head up just to meet her eye to eye.

"Understood, Kuzuryuu-san." Was the simple reply. Before Peko could even register what was happening, Fuyuhiko, with a sudden burst of swiftness she had never seen from him, but knew he possessed, snatched a cookie from the box that she held out.

He ate the cookie quickly while looking around, making sure that no one would see him. He wouldn't be caught dead eating things like this, it would ruin him. Peko was amused by his actions but refrained from showing it. He was acting like a child and the swordswoman found him adorable. Not that she would ever tell him that. He loathed being called cute or anything of the sort.

As soon as Fuyuhiko had finished his first sugar cookie, he readied himself to snatch another one from the box, focusing his eyes on his current target. But before the yakuza could snatch another, he was tackled by the same dog that had assaulted him earlier. Peko's extended arm that held the box immediately pulled back out of shock.

"Goddammit!" Fuyuhiko yelled as he squirmed, trying to push the dog away from licking his face. Peko tried her best to keep her expression neutral to avoid embarrassing her young master any further. However, her crimson eyes shone in amusement as she swiftly kept the box away and then pulled the dog away from the yakuza due to her eyes failing to scare it.

Peko had managed to get the animal away from Fuyuhiko, but the dog decided to just sit on the ground in front of them, eagerly wagging its tail. Perhaps it wanted something? The swordswoman wondered as she reached into her shopping bag to get the box that she had shoved inside of it after seeing her young master get tackled down by the dog. Peko took one sugar cookie from the box and bent down to offer it to the dog. Its azure eyes lit up in excitement and then proceeded to grab the cookie from Peko's grasp with its mouth. In less than a minute the dog had consumed the whole cookie, wagging its tail and happily barking. All other thoughts had left Peko as soon as she saw how adorable the dog was and her priorities had quickly shifted from 'keep the dog away from Kuzuryuu' to 'find a way to pet the dog without it running away.'

The swordswoman couldn't help but smile at the dog; she felt ecstatic. This time, it wasn't running away from her at all. Experimentally, she slowly positioned her hand above its head and patted it as gently as possible. It didn't flinch away from Peko, instead it leaned into her touch while she decided to crouch down to get closer to the dog. Fuyuhiko was taken aback by what was happening, but at the same time slightly envious that the dog had Peko's full attention. She was even smiling at it for fuck's sake.

The yakuza had been with her for his whole life but never had he seen her in such a carefree state. It made his heart race and at the same time smile as well. When Fuyuhiko had realized that he was staring at her and smiling like an idiot for too long, he decided that he should break the silence to stop this madness, his heart was doing backflips inside of him. She had no idea what she was doing to him.

Before Fuyuhiko could even speak up, Peko had involuntarily let out a giggle as she continued to pet the dog while it in turn licked her hand. She giggled. The yakuza's eyes widened in shock as a ruby hue spread across his cheeks. His face was probably as red as her eyes, the yakuza concluded. Forget the backflips, his heart probably wanted to jump out of his body and never return. His heart seemed to already have found its way out of his body, if the loud thumps he could hear were proof of that.

"Hah, hah… um.. excuse me!" A breathy yet barely audible voice squeaked out. Fuyuhiko realized that the thumping sound must've been the sound of someone running as he turned his head around to look at whoever this guy was.

"What?" The yakuza snarled. The exhausted young man stepped back, slightly intimidated but too tired to care. He had finally found her!

"You see, that— that's- she—" The young man was too exhausted to speak properly and attempted to gesture at the dog while trying to politely smile at the yakuza. Fuyuhiko, however, completely mistook it for something else. A sudden spark of rage flooded over him.

"What?! What the fuck do you want? What the fuck do you want with Peko, you punk!" Fuyuhiko was furious. Who the hell was this creep anyway? He thought. Peko had heard their commotion and immediately stood up, with the dog trailing behind her. Right as he was about to throw a punch at the other man, a hand, (which his gut knew was none other than Peko's) firmly held onto his shoulder, successfully stopping him from breaking the other man's face. The young man had significantly paled when he realized what the yakuza could have done if he wasn't stopped, but immediately brightened when he saw what stopped him.

"Oh, it's you! Thank you miss!" He smiled happily at her as Peko slightly nodded her head in acknowledgement as she had also realized that this was the same young man who had offered her sugar cookies earlier that day. Just who the fuck does this guy think he is? Fuyuhiko mused. The young man saw the rage in the yakuza's eyes and decided to hurry up with what he needed to say.

"Well um, that's my dog over there and um I was wonderingifIcouldhavehimbackplease?" The young man managed to quickly squeak out, his words increasing in speed as he hunched his shoulders, trying to ignore the sound of knuckles cracking and the glare that was on him. He seemed more of a scared little boy than a young man in Fuyuhiko's eyes. Even though the young man's voice was completely slurred by the end of his question, Peko managed to understand what he was asking for.

"So, this dog was yours… My apologies, um… here you go.." Peko's slightly brighter expression had slightly dropped as she stepped aside to give way to the young man. Fuyuhiko's right eye was twitching, his body unable to control his anger. The young man immediately ran towards his dog and hugged it.

"Mochi-chan! Don't run away like that ever again! Kirigiri-san would kill me if she knew you got lost!" He beamed at his dog happily and hugged it. He then attached a leash to Mochi-chan's collar. Peko had noted that the expressions of both the young man and the dog were somehow strikingly similar. Fascinated by this, she had not noticed that her young master was still quite angry and thus she was not able to anticipate what was going to happen next.

"So that's your dog!? Your fucking dog!?" Fuyuhiko yelled. He was practically fuming at this rate. First, his stupid dog tackles him twice for no reason at all, then he decides to go all buddy-buddy with Peko!? What the fuck! His thoughts had become a train wreck and all he knew was that he was beyond pissed off at this point.

"No, that would be my dog. I apologize if she caused you trouble. She tends to run off and get excited when she smells something sweet." A calm voice had said. The three turned their heads to see a young woman with long lavender hair approaching them. Fuyuhiko opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, face red and only barely managing to glare at her in reply. The dog must've smelled the strawberry pocky he was eating earlier before Peko had arrived.

"Kirigiri-san!" The young man had said happily and looked up from his crouching position on the ground. However, the brightness of his features quickly faded as he realized that she had probably heard what he just said.

"So—"

"Naegi-kun." Kirigiri had sad in a soft yet firm tone, interrupting Naegi. Silence filled the air as she let her piercing gaze focus on the young man. If Naegi looked scared a while ago, now he looked absolutely terrified. Peko and Fuyuhiko could only watch their exchange with looks of confusion. All of a sudden, the lavender-haired girl had taken the leash away from Naegi's grasp. Mochi-chan had automatically moved over and sat beside Kirigiri as soon as the dog felt the slight tug on its collar.

"We will discuss this later. Meet me by my room." Kirigiri then turned on her heel, walking away from the group with her dog closely following her. Her heels clacked loudly as she briskly walked away. Naegi visibly trembled in fear, hoping that she wasn't too mad for almost losing her dog. At least he found Mochi-chan again! He mused.

"So Naegi-kun, was it?" Peko spoke up as soon as the young woman's presence was no longer felt.

"Yes?" He asked, refocusing his attention. He had almost forgotten that the two were still there.

"I wanted to thank you for giving me those sugar cookies earlier. I enjoyed them." She said simply and with a small smile.

"You're very welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the sample! You can buy a bigger box back at our bakery if you'd like some more!" Naegi beamed at the swordswoman. Fuyuhiko's brain had finally placed the pieces together and had realized that there was no real reason for him to be mad. He probably just looked like an idiot the whole time. Great. All of a sudden, he had come to realize yet another thing as he turned his attention back to the ongoing conversation.

"Wait, you didn't even eat a single cookie!" The yakuza exclaimed. The swordswoman's face had turned into a lovely shade of red, and not long after, Fuyuhiko's face did too. He had realized that she was simply covering up for him. Naegi seemed completely oblivious to what he had said, however, and had spoken up once more.

"A-Anyway," The young man stuttered as he continued, "I have to go, um Kirigiri-san's still mad at me so, see you around.. um.. erm," Naegi realized that he didn't know her name yet. Or maybe someone mentioned it but he can't exactly remember.

"Peko Pekoyama." She filled in.

"Ah! See you around Pekoyama-san! A-and you too Pekoyama-san's boyfriend!" Naegi bowed quickly and ran off, his ahoge refusing to surrender to gravity as it stayed, pointing skyward.

"So that's where you got those from..." Fuyuhiko said out loud while he crossed his arms, he looked as if he was in deep contemplation. Peko simply nodded in response. The yakuza had begun walking again, with the swordswoman following closely behind him.

"Shall I purchase more of those regularly?" She asks him as they walk.

"Yeah sure, whatever. I don't really like them anyway, but you haven't tried them so get some for yourself next time."

He answered while his pace had suddenly increased. Peko, however, could tell that he did like the sugar cookies. A serene smile eventually blossomed on her face as they headed for the dormitories. Meanwhile, Fuyuhiko wonders if getting a puppy for Peko would be a good idea. Not a dog as big as that chick's mutt though. Something smaller… than himself.