"Alright class," stated the eccentric octopus-like teacher of Class E, "It appears we have a birthday coming up soon!" Unlike other teachers, Koro-sensei had a habit of announcing class birthdays. It was to show that anyone could be remembered. The class mumbled in curiosity. It was the Thursday before winter break. Whose birthday was coming up?

"Well, yellow octopus?" asked Terasaka impatiently, "Don't just leave us hanging!" Koro-sensei cleared his throat and his smile widened.

"Terasaka," stated Koro-sensei, "I didn't know you were that excited about Karma's birthday. It's on December 25th!" Everyone gasped. Karma's birthday was on the happy and innocent day of Christmas. How ironic.

"That was unnecessary Koro-sensei," yelled Karma from the back of the room, "Why don't you tell us your age and birthday?" A sadistic smile spread onto his face. After all, their homeroom teacher never told them anything about his own personal life. As the class started rioting, a certain glasses girl sat silently, thinking hard.

"I wonder what I should get for Karma-kun?" the girl thought nervously, "After all, he is a good friend." After what felt like hours of contemplating, Manami decided to bake him a mini cake and give it to the red-head tomorrow. Even though she was rather proficient in cooking, she figured that chemistry and cooking were rather alike. You just add ingredients together to get (or at least hope) for something better. She quickly began planning, writing in her notebook as Koro-sensei went on about the life cycle of frogs.

X

When Manami arrived back to her house in the afternoon, she was welcomed by an empty house. As she washed her hands and tied her hair up into a pony tail (which she rarely did), she debated on whether Karma would appreciate chocolate cake or strawberry shortcake. After a while, the girl settled on chocolate cake. However, she feared that her kitchen would burn down into shreds while operating the oven.

The girl pulled out flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda from her cabinets and milk, eggs, butter, and chocolate from her fridge. According to the cookbook, she was supposed to add the dry ingredients first. Following the recipe to the exact point of perfection, Manami added in everything and made sure there were no shells in the eggs. Maybe this wouldn't go as bad as she thought it would.

"Next," read Manami out loud, "Blend the ingredients…" She gently put the whisk inside the mushy batter. It reminded her of a cloudy sky, dark intermixed with the sun trying to peak through. She tugged at the whisk. It was stuck. Just perfect. Manami struggled to pull the whisk out, pulling with all her strength. Suddenly, due to the force, her elbow hit the flour. She could only watch as the flour dropped to the ground. White flurries spread everywhere, covering the girl's glasses in the process. As she set the bowl down and reached for a towel, her hand accidently knocked over the milk which knocked over all the eggs.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

Manami felt like crying when she was finally able to see the mess she had caused. Lumps of sticky flour stuck to ground and egg shells were everywhere. In total, it took the bespectacled girl another hour to clean up the mess. The sticky flour was very stubborn, refusing to be removed from the ground. However, with just enough scrubbing, the flour finally gave in. When all was done, Manami placed the batter in the cake mold and put it in the preheated oven. She sighed and wiped her forehead. She was not going to bake again without some help.

X

"Morning Okuda-san," said Karma rather questionably when he arrived to Manami waiting at his desk, "What's in the box?" Manami fidgeted nervously. She didn't know how the cake tasted and she didn't know if he'd like it. "You look like you're trying to deliver me a bomb," he joked.

"I-it's just an e-early birthday gift," squeaked Manami nervously. She handed the box to Karma and watched him as he opened it. When he saw the cake, he grinned.

"How'd you know I liked chocolate?" asked Karma, "Thanks Okuda-san." He carefully put it in his desk, making sure not to squish it. "How long did it take you?"

"Not that long," fibbed the girl, smiling, "I just…errr…ran into some issues…" Karma chuckled.

"The expression you're wearing right now is telling me that this took you longer than it should've," laughed Karma, "I didn't really expect anything though…so thanks Okuda-san." Manami smiled in return, pleased that the red head liked her little gift.

"No problem really," she replied.

If only he knew how much of a problem it actually was.