How was this a good idea, again? Akane sighed for the fifteenth time as she restlessly paced the parking lot.
"See, this would've been avoided if you all just let me cook breakfast for you!"
"Teru, no. We need to get on the road." Hajime rubbed his temple in irritation.
The group of teens had been on an exhausting road trip for a few days. Some of them were so tired, they forgot where they were heading (Namingly Akane…). Mahiru had already gone through who knows how many rolls of film, and Chiaki had pretty much beat every game in the book. Sonia had been playing with Gundham's hamsters most of the time, which meant Kazuichi spent most of the time crying silently.
Now, I could go into deep detail about what each and every one of the Ultimates had been doing to waste their time…but this author only wanted to go with what was obvious…blame my laziness if anything…
Back to the story…I digress. It was around ten in the morning, and everyone had been getting hungry. Now, one would think that they would be polite about it. Silently try to hide their growling stomachs and wait for someone else to say something. Keep in mind. These are the Ultimates. Some of them had such huge appetites that they were often thinking, "Manners? What manners?"
So, at some unknown hour…probably around five AM, Teruteru asked if they could stop so that he could cook them a full five-course meal. Of course, they were on a schedule, and Hajime, though thoroughly tempted, had to refuse. After several pleas by Teruteru, Fuyuhiko finally snapped. He grabbed the chef and slammed him against the car window. I could go into detail of the terrifying events that went down in those cruel five minutes, but then again, this author is either too lazy, or wants to keep this below an M rating. All I can tell you is that Teruteru stopped talking.
Eventually, Hajime became so hungry, he couldn't focus on the road. He asked if anyone else was hungry, or if he was just going crazy. He knew he wasn't crazy…heck, he was forced to sit next to Nagito, whose luck scored him shotgun. Well, he could tell the others were hungry, too. Especially since the second he asked, the rest of the group shouted, "YES!" So fast and loud that he wondered how that was possible. Unfortunately, they were caught in the middle of nowhere, so he was forced to follow the road while withstanding the nonstop whining of the more mild-mannered teenagers.
Now, we finally catch up to the present, where the van was halted in the parking lot of a small-scale grocery store. The horrible idea mentioned in the beginning was to go in and get a few dozen donuts. No, that wasn't the dumb part. The dumb part was deciding to let the Ultimate Rockstar, Ibuki Mioda, grab the goods. The others walked out to stretch their legs, get a breath of fresh air, and other things of the sort. Yet somehow, it never occurred to them to go with her. Well, it also never occurred to them that Ibuki would need help with such a simple task.
After fifteen minutes, Sonia was the first to comment. "Um, should we check on Ibuki? Is she alright?"
"Come to think of it, she hasn't been back in a while." Chiaki added.
"You're absolutely right, Miss Sonia! We should check on her!" Kazuichi agreed blindly.
Mahiru rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone. She texted Ibuki to ask if she was alright.
Meanwhile, inside the store, Ibuki shifted her weight to her other foot for the umpteenth time. She furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly concentrating way too hard for someone standing in front of the bakery section. Passerby's stared curiously at and guided their kids away from the overly focused musician. I mean, who couldn't? Her hair resembled something out of a delirious four-year-old's nightmare. Her outfit resembled a botched piece of cotton candy. To top it all off, she seemed to be thinking way too hard about donuts.
Finally, Ibuki snapped out of her trance when she felt her phone buzz. She stared intently at the screen, slowly reading the text she just received.
"R U OK?"
Mahiru looked down at her phone and called out, "Hey, guys, she texted back!"
"Well, what did it say?" Nekomaru asked as the others crowded around the phone.
Mahiru said nothing. Finally, Nagito read the text for the others who couldn't see the phone (poor, short Fuyuhiko).
"What's a cronut?"
They stared at the screen in utter silence. Mahiru texted back, "A donut and croissant in one food." They soon dispersed from the phone, waving dismissively. That's what was holding her up. Wow.
A few seconds later, another text came back saying, "OHHHHH Ibuki understands now!"
Even in texts, she still talks in the third person? Double wow. Well, Mahiru thought that was the end of it, but Ibuki sent ANOTHER text.
"There's no cronuts."
Mahiru sighed. "Just grab a few glazed then."
The texts stopped. Thank goodness. Mahiru walked over to talk to Hiyoko while they waited.
In the store, Ibuki had obtained the breakfast, and was headed to the checkout. Well, that was until she saw how long the line was. She fell into deep thought again…well, not really. She just looked like she was thinking hard while the inside of her brain was pretty much television static…maybe a tumbleweed or two. Finally, a rusty gear clicked and a dim lightbulb flickered on in her head. She sauntered over to the express checkout, and placed everything on the scale. The second she finished doing just that, she froze.
…Now what?
Eventually, she settled on pressing random buttons until she did something significant.
"You have selected—Por favor, coloque el—Select cash or…" This went on for some time, until a timid cashier came up to her and offered some helpful advice. Actually scan the items. Ibuki did as she was told, and to her surprise, it indeed did work. Once she ended up scanning all the items, she stood, dumbfounded. Now what? Wait…if memory serves, there was a button in the middle of the screen that said in bold, red letters, "PAY". She anxiously pressed the button, expecting the machine to blow up or something.
"Please insert cash or credit."
Now THAT, Ibuki knew how to do. But…where does she put it in? She searched the surrounding area for a few minutes, until she finally found a slot to put her money in. All she needed was the money. She opened her duct-tape wallet, only to find a dead moth. A dead moth, but no cash. She froze.
This time, it was Kazuichi's phone that rang. He picked up the phone reluctantly. How was it possible, even for Ibuki, to make getting donuts so difficult?
"What now, Ibuki?"
"Umm…Ibuki has no money."
"You're kidding."
"Mm-mm! Not kidding!"
"Just…hold on, I'll be in in a second."
Hajime was only minding his own business. What did he do to deserve this? Kazuichi silently placed a hand on the exasperated peer's shoulder form behind. Hajime jumped a little, but then turned around to find the mechanic.
"Ugh, don't scare me like that! What do you want, Kazuichi?"
"Ibuki has no money…and neither do I…" He whimpered.
"Why are you always asking ME to bail you out?" Hajime whimpered back.
"I can pay for it!" Nagito volunteered.
Oh, great. Mr. Crazy McHope-Boner wants to play the nice guy again. Well, might as well let him. At least it'll get him out of the tight situation he was in.
"AWW, thanks, Nagito! You're a real life saver!" Of course, Kazuichi was Nagito's buddy NOW.
"Yes…t-thank you..!" Mikan wailed.
"You guys don't have to thank a piece of trash like me!" Whoop, there it is. Hajime knew that was coming. Well, now was not the time to reminisce on Nagito's predictable nature. Hajime was hungry!
Nagito left with Kazuichi and came out with Ibuki, and several boxes of baked goods.
"How…" Fuyuhiko placed a hand on Ibuki's shoulder.
"HOW CAN ONE PERSON SCREW UP GETTING DONUTS SO BADLY?!"
"OWW! You're hurting meeee!" Ibuki whined.
"That doesn't matter! What matters is that the FOOD is here!" Akane put extra emphasis on the word 'food' as she two apart and grabbed the donuts.
"Heel, baby gangsta!" She shouted, opening the box of donuts.
"HEY!" Fuyuhiko growled. To no avail, Akane ignored said baby gangsta and shoved about five donuts in her mouth at once.
"Hey! Save some for us!" Hiyoko shouted, snatching the box from the gymnast.
Hajime felt like a shepherd watching over a field of sheep high on LSD…or something like that. "Hey, guys. Let's get back in the van!"
After Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko had finished battling over the sweetest looking donut, the road was back into full swing.
"Well, that was quite the adventure…" Nagito muffled through a bagel.
"You bet!" Kazuichi agreed. He could only agree with Nagito because he paid for the bagels!
"Hmph. My Four Dark Devas of Destruction were able to get some fresh air. Nothing else was of significance." Gundham always had to disagree with Kazuichi, didn't he? Besides, all he cared about were his little hamsters.
"You have to admit, Gundham, it was fun!" Sonia smiled. "I've never had the chance to be on a road trip with such great friends!"
Gundham lifted his scarf to cover his blush. "Well…I suppose it wasn't all that bad…"
"Eh, I guess it wasn't that bad…" Fuyuhiko shrugged, muffled with the sweetest donut.
Hiyoko pouted. She had nothing to say if things didn't go her way. Peko was silent as well, but definitely not for the same reasons.
"Hey, I got some funny pictures of Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko duking it out!" Mahiru offered.
"Man, I wonder if we can do that again!" Nekomaru laughed boisterously.
"NO! Next time, I cook!" Teruteru dared to open his mouth again.
"Don't make me get the duct tape out of the trunk!" Fuyuhiko muffled.
Hajime couldn't hope but smile. Maybe this road trip wasn't to excruciating…
