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“It’s time…”
“It’s time…”
“It’s time!”
“What time is it exactly?” Makoto was more than confused. Why did his friends burst into his dorm and drag them out to the front gate? Today was supposed to be a good Valentine’s Day, make chocolates with Teruteru and Kirumi, make sure Teruteru didn’t drug any of the chocolates, and then finally give them to his girlfriends. Girlfriends. Nothing could’ve gone wrong. It was supposed to be a good day (and night) since school was canceled due to another lucky student…
“Gift shopping! One of our seniors blew up the gym yesterday so classes are canceled!” Mondo replied almost immediately, already unmatchable enthusiasm was even greater than usual. But Makoto still had a few questions left to be answered.
“But that doesn’t explain why Byakuya is here…” The Lucky Student looked at the sneering prodigy. Makoto never thought Byakuya would actually hang out with them, much less have a significant other.
“He’s getting a gift for Toko even though he doesn’t want to admit it,” Chihiro spoke with a sly smile as he stood next to Mondo. Of course, they all knew what the heir was going to say next.
“Tsk, as if I would do such a thing. I am merely going to pick up a few items of my own, and I am tagging along with you idiots to entertain me.” Byakuya lied naturally as he breathed, everyone knew he somehow cared about her by now. But the question is how much?
“Sure, whatever you say dude.” The Biker Gang Leader looked like he’d heard that line a million times by now.
“But what about Leon? I thought he was single.” The Luckster pointed out much to the Baseball player’s disapproval. Mondo chuckled while Byakuya snickered.
“Fuck you, bro, you didn’t have to remind me. Y’know, loving yourself is way more important so I’m just tagging along to buy stuff for myself.” Leon spat, obviously jealous of everyone else he was standing with.
“But why gifts? I thought Valentine’s Day was supposed to be about giving chocolates. I was actually planning to make-” Makoto was about to rant before being cut off.
“Do you want to buy gifts for your girlfriends or not? You can make the chocolates later! This is an opportunity we can’t give up, bro!” Mondo elbowed his side, it didn’t hurt, mostly thanks to the training that Mukuro and Hina had given him.
“Come on, Makoto! It’ll be fun! We can hang out and help each other pick gifts!” The Programmer pleaded with puppy eyes, his eyes seemingly sparked. How could you say no to that?
“Okay, okay… So where are we going?” Makoto relented, sighing with a deep breath.
They all answered him at once.
“The Mall.”
The center of all stores.
The radio held up to Kyoko’s ear activated, a muffled and static voice could be heard through the radio. They were all gathered in Kyoko’s room, sitting or standing in a circle, waiting anxiously. The group wasn’t just gathered in Kyoko’s room because it was right next to Makoto’s, but also because it was where most of the necessary supplies were being hidden.
“Roger that. Meet your partner at the agreed-upon location. The eagle has left his nest, operation Eggy Night is a go!” Kyoko said after confirmation over the radio, looking up to see the people who loved the same man as her.
“Do we all know what we’re doing?”
“I shall be in charge of the decoration of his room, as will Aoi,” Celeste spoke, sipping milk tea from her fancy tea cup. She had been sitting on Kyoko's bed, much to her annoyance, drinking tea for the past 20 minutes. Taeko had better not spill any tea onto her bed sheets…
“Yup, yup! It’s going to be as easy as eating donuts! Oh, Makoto is going to love our surprise!” Hina shouted energetically, unable to contain her excitement.
“I’m surprised you managed to gather the decorations we need in such a short amount of time,” Junko commented, gently kicking the sliding closet door open, and revealing the contents inside.
Everything you would need for a surprise party. A surprise birthday party even though it wasn’t actually anyone’s birthday. A variety of colorful balloons, banners with average messages, sprinkle confetti and confetti poppers of all kinds, candles, colorful tablecloths, and countless other trinkets.
“I am a miracle worker. When it comes to Makoto, anyway.” Kyoko proclaimed rather arrogantly, earning the glares of many. They decided not to compete with each other for Makoto’s sake but…
“Aren’t we all?” Sayaka said with her trademark idol face, smiling a hyperbolic smile despite a different emotion underneath… “It’s almost like someone high and mighty from above decided to give us the day off just for this.”
“Sayaka, you and I will sneak into the teacher’s break room for the ‘goods’,” Kyoko said in a cryptic manner despite not needing to since everyone in the room already knew what she was referring to.
“I never took you for the rebellious one, the detective turning into the criminal, stealing from her ‘uncle’…” The Gambler replied sarcastically.
“Call it borrowing, my ‘uncle’ Koichi is better off without the alcohol. I am merely being a good nephew and helping him quit.” The Detective replied even more sarcastically, everyone knew how her relationship was with her father and his close friend, Jin and Koichi. It's always on a thread.
Celeste scoffed at her response, the stoic Detective rarely told jokes. Perhaps Makoto had a much more profound change in her than when she first thought.
“I know we talked about this already… But is alcohol already a good idea?” The Swimmer began to have second thoughts, she would sound reasonable to a normal person. Too bad they’re all Ultimates.
“This is going to be our first official Valentine's Day with Makoto so we have to make it start with a bang! A day that he’ll never forget until we grow old by his side!” Sayaka did her charm, her argument was enough to get two small nods of acceptance from Hina.
“It will be so amazing, he will want to marry us afterward, absolutely nothing can go wrong,” Kyoko added, confidence plaguing her words. It’s not like they hoped for the alcohol to do something else…
“That’s right! I’ll distract the teachers while you break in to steal the alcohol.” The Idol said cheerfully, her tone not matching her words as they were going to commit a crime.
“And I, the great Junko Enoshima, will go out to buy and bring the most luxurious food imaginable into the school!” Junko shouted in an obviously fake royal accent, something most of them were already used to. It sounded more fake than Celestia’s…
“Wait, I thought we were going to have Teruteru make the food for us?” Hina questioned, buying the food wasn’t a part of the plan.
“He’s out of action for drugging his classmates with aphrodisiacs again.” The Fashionista answered in a depressed monotone voice, a complete 180 compared to her previous tone.
“Again!? What do you mean again!?” Hina shouted angrily, and multiple concerns began to run in her mind.
“Yeah, he apparently pulled the same shit last year.” The Model said nonchalantly, checking her newly done red nails.
“At least I got my refund…” Celeste muttered quietly with venom, clearly pissed at the chef.
“Do you know if he might have extra aphrodisiacs…?” Sayaka spoke curiously, tilting her head slightly. Her smile somehow seemed more devious.
“Sayaka, no.”
“I mean we’re already breaking the rules, what’s one more?” The Pop Sensation explained her flimsy reasoning, causing Junko to cringe and Hina to facepalm.
“Enough of this, we all have our task, we begin now.” The Detective announced, tired of the back and forth going on in front of her.
Wordlessly, she turned her back to the others, exiting her room with Sayaka closely following behind her. The two walked in the direction of the main course building. Junko left soon afterward, leaving Celeste and Hina alone in the Detective’s room. The Ultimate Swimmer walked over to the still-open closest, carrying one of the many plastic containers of supplies out.
“Let’s start now!” Hina said enthusiastically.
Celeste replied with a simple nod, taking the copy of Makoto’s dorm key out of her pocket. A key that Kyoko had given her.
“Indeed.”
“Do you think Sayaka would like this…?”
Makoto asked his best friend, looking at the blue penguin plush through the window. The store was an average toy store, selling mostly kids' toys; Legos, dolls, toy vehicles, action figures, puzzles, and most importantly, the section that caught his eye, plushies. His sister, Komaru, loved plushies, her joy whenever he got her one always brought a smile to his face. Sayaka would be no different, right?
“Dude, that’s like the most basic choice ever.” Leon waved him off “You could give any girl a plush, and they would love you for it.” He continued, speaking as if he had experience. He didn’t.
“And you know how exactly?” Makoto looked at him with a smug and all-knowing face. He resisted the urge to chuckle at Leon’s attempt to keep a straight face.
“Not another word…” Leon muttered with a sigh.
He wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t in denial, not at all, not at the boy who somehow got almost half of the girls in his class to date him. That just means he’s going to have more of a headache in the future, yeah.
“Do you think spitting up was a good idea? I didn’t think gifts would be this hard…”
“I mean it’s not like we all have the same girlfriend, they all have different likes and dislikes.”
“But I guess it would be too basic…” The Lucky Student admitted, walking away from the toy store window, Leon moving right next to him. The gift couldn’t be too predictable, and it had to be unique, something unexpected from him…
“Why not some music? She’s an idol, she’s gotta like music. You could get her a music disk or something.” The Baseball Star made a half-assed suggestion, his attention directed to the stores they were passing by.
“I’m not going to buy her competitor’s music, and I can’t buy her own music for her… Also, I don’t think she would be the type to collect vinyl records or own a vinyl record player…” Makoto, knowing better, quickly shot down that idea.
“What about a video game? You can never go wrong with video games…” Leon made yet another obviously bad suggestion on purpose.
As they continued to walk together side by side, Makoto stopped. A store caught his eye, a very special store, the big red discounted price signs, the products seemed to glow in the raging sunlight, and finally…
“Woah…”
The Jewelry.
Makoto said out loud, staring at the very expensive jewelry at the displayed window. He stared at one, in particular, a small yet beautiful bracelet. It was discounted by more than 50%, halving the item’s price. Must’ve been his luck…
Was this a sign of good things to come? Or the bad? Only time can tell…
“Seriously…? That thing’s over 80,000 yen and for such a small bracelet?” Leon almost laughed at it.
The bracelet was indeed pretty small. The bracelet was made of what seemed to be a silver rope chain and a small green stone in the middle. Was it emerald? Makoto didn’t know, the sunlight glared on the small details tag. He was going to have to go in and ask himself.
“It’s an everlasting bracelet! They say once you put it on, you can’t ever take it off. It’s a representation for eternity and unyielding love!” Makoto said passionately, reciting something that he definitely heard off the internet.
“Never took you for the sentimental type,” Leon said in genuine surprise, he’d never seen Makoto act like that before. But that’s what love does to people… Probably.
“It’s a perfect gift for Sayaka…” Makoto ignored Leon’s comment, continuing to stare at the precious jewelry. He hoped the security guards and workers inside didn’t think he was planning to steal anything…
“I think a diamond ring could do the same thing, which you might as well get one for all of them at this point.” The Ultimate commented again, ruffling his hair.
“...”
Makoto stayed silent, he wasn’t seriously considering it was he? Makoto wasn’t the type to get crazy ideas, that was Junko, but who truly knows…?
“How are you even going to afford it? 80,000 isn’t just some chump change you find lying around…” Leon reasoned, noticing his silence.
“I do have some money saved from my summer job… It’ll be enough, but…” Makoto didn’t want to think about the dent it would make in his savings account. But the temptation was there.
“I could have ya pay. I’m not overflowing with money, but I have baseball star levels of money.” Leon offered in a quiet but caring tone, causing the Lucky Student to snap his head to face him immediately.
“I can’t do that! It’s your money that you earned!” Makoto shouted, gathering some attention from the shoppers passing by. His face expressed his disbelief, almost as if he was told pigs could fly.
“You have an allowance from your mom and dad, don’t you?”
“That’s different…”
“Whatever, dude. I’m going to buy a few games, you can find me at the Gamestop on the 2nd floor, just in case you change your mind. Good luck!” Leon gave up, deciding to go for the reason he followed them here in the first place.
“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this… But it’s for Sayaka!”
Those were Makoto’s last words before entering the jewelry store for the everlasting bracelet.
“Achoo!” Sayaka sneezed loudly, loud enough to catch the concern of a Kirigiri. The two were silently walking next to each other, at least until Sayaka sneezed. They were heading towards the teacher’s lounge, the place where teachers would slack off during their lunchtime. Or in Koichi’s case, drank until he was too drunk to teach his next class.
“Bless you, are you okay?” Kyoko asked with concern as they continued walking towards their destination.
“Yeah…”
“Are you sure you didn’t catch a cold?” Kyoko asked again, this time with a more stern face. Sayaka laughed it off.
“Nope, I’m completely fine, don’t worry so much, Kyoko. Besides, I wouldn’t let some silly cold stop me from doing this.” Sayaka affirmed, taking out a blue handkerchief to wipe her nose, and blowing into it.
“I see, in that case, let’s proceed.” The Stoic Detective decided not to press further. Their remaining walk was filled with silence as it was before.
The two leaned their backs on the wall, Sayaka directly to Kyoko’s left, and the hallway to Kyoko’s right. The teacher’s break room was directly behind them from Kyoko’s left side, and despite being closed for today, a few teachers were certainly still inside. Either hanging out for pay or creating actual work for their students.
“So what’s the game plan?” The Idol asked excitedly, as expected for her first time doing something like this with Kyoko.
“You cause a distraction while I break in. A commotion, fight, accident, anything that would require the attention of all the teachers.” Kyoko ordered without hesitation, causing Sayaka to pout.
“I can do something alright… How do you plan to get in? It’s always locked, and I doubt they would leave it unlocked, even in emergencies.” Sayaka said with an annoyed, pouting face. She poked Kyoko’s cheek with an index finger, getting no reaction from the detective.
“I swiped my father’s key,” Kyoko said much to Sayaka’s surprise, it seemed she was taking this more seriously than anyone else.
“Wouldn’t he notice?”
“I used his key to make a spare copy at lunch and returned it afterward. The exact same spot.” Kyoko seemed to have everything planned out, as expected of the detective.
“I guess that’s expected from you,” Sayaka said with a sigh.
Sayaka took her phone out, dialing a number before putting the phone next up to her right ear. The beeping caught Kyoko’s attention, her head turning to look her in the eyes as she continued to call someone.
“Mhm, yeah, can you do what I talked to you yesterday about? Yes, right now. Thank you. Yup, you can consider your debt cleared now.”
She said cryptically before ending the call and putting the phone back into her pocket. Kyoko had a curious and concerned sensation now. A sensation that she had to scratch.
“What was that?”
“Our distraction.”
“But I thought you were going to- '' She was cut off by a loud explosion. Kyoko would see a cloud of smoke rising out of the window. Meanwhile, Sayaka maintained her perfect smile as an idol, her picture-perfect smile despite what she most likely caused…
Immediately, all the teachers ran out of the room, at the sight of the cloud of smoke rising outside, they ran towards the nearby staircase.
“...”
“Do I want to know how…?” Kyoko picked her words rather carefully.
“A lot of our upper classmates owe me favors. Strong and pretty dangerous ones.” Sayaka replied, gigging like a child keeping secrets from a parent.
“Nagito Komeada should already be off campus, serving his suspension for the rest of the year.” The Detective named the only person she knew would be crazy enough to do something like set off an explosion.
“I know a few other crazies, but they wouldn’t hurt anyone. Now break in and steal the goods! I’ll play lookout for teachers and scream when they come back!” The idol cheered with a wink.
“I guess we don’t have all day…” Kyoko said with a sigh, leaving the corner nonchalantly, and walking in the middle of the hallway.
She did a sharp 90-degree turn, walking up to the door of the teacher’s room. She tried opening it, twisting the knob, just to make sure.
A rattle. Locked.
She dug into one of her many pockets, taking a small silver key out, the copy she made with a ‘borrowed’ key from her father. She turned the knob again. It opened. Inside was rather big and cozy for a teacher’s lounge. Her eyes immediately darted to the mini fridge, where the alcohol, Koichi’s alcohol, was most likely kept.
Kyoko opened the mini fridge with ease. The cold hit her rather pale skin, but not as pale as Celeste’s. Inside she saw three medium-sized bottles.
Whiskey.
Vodka.
Tequila.
Nice.
“Now, which one would Makoto like…” Kyoko wasn’t sure if Makoto would like the alcohol at all, but, hey, first time for everything.
“Oh, no! Help! I saw a huge explosion outside, Mister Kizakura!”
“Huh, I thought it was Nekomaru again…”
“Come on, this is serious! You need to go quickly!”
“Nah, the other teachers will handle it. Just stay put and you’ll be fine.”
“But teacher!”
Sayaka continued to buy time. Damit. She had to hide quickly, but where? She saw a dark brown closest from the corner of her eye.
Perfect for hiding a girl and three alcohol bottles, obviously.
“Fuck…” Kyoko whispered to herself, taking all three of the bottles. She speed-walked silently to the closest, opening it as gently as possible, and placing the bottles on the floor inside before walking in herself.
Koichi walked in, no doubt looking for his drink. Kyoko really needed hope and luck now.
Makoto walked out of the jewelry store, a small white bag in hand, and more than half his savings missing from his bank account. Explaining the purchase to his parents was going to be tough, especially since they didn’t know he had six girlfriends yet, all of whom were the most awesome Ultimates in the world.
“Komaru is definitely never going to let this go…” He imagined his sister making fun of him for spending that much money. He didn’t want to imagine her face in the future when he had to tell her about the multiple girlfriends he was actively dating all at once. Not one. Not two. Not three, four, or even five. But six. Six. Disgust? Horror? Jealous…? He didn’t know how his sister would react.
“What store should I check out next…?” He asked himself while standing in front of the jewelry store he recently left, his back turned against the store “I still need five more gifts, at the least…”
“Huh…? I’ve never seen that store before…” Makoto spotted a rather interesting store. It had quite a few people, the checkout line was medium-sized, and the store itself was pink and white themed.
“Hmm… Why not?”
He decided to check it out, only check it out. He walked across the busy intersection, almost accidentally bumping into someone. Now that he was more up close, he got a view of the entire store inside.
“DreamyUnders… That’s a weird name.”
The doors were wide open. The store was selling women’s accessories, which was backed up by all the shoppers, mostly young women. Products include hair clips, earrings, fashionable hats, sunglasses, expensive-looking belts, necklaces, and bags. That seemed to be all they were selling, at least from the outside view.
“Why not… I might find something right for Junko…” Makoto said to nobody but himself as people walked past him, entering and leaving the store alike.
He stepped into the store, feeling a sense of displacement and a hint of fear. But that was expected as he was the only guy inside while only women surrounded him. He got a few stares, but most quickly turned to brief glances, paying him little to no mind. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone short with light brown hair… Could it be?
Makoto decided to test his luck, walking up to the person whom’s back was turned to him, and checking out the products in front of them.
“Chihiro…?”
“Huh?” The person reacted to that name, turning around.
It was Chihiro. He was wearing green pants, unlike his first year at Hope’s Peak, when he wore skirts and pretended to be a girl with the Headmaster’s permission. No mistaking him for a girl this time.
“Hello.” Makoto greeted simply, smiling at his friend. All of a sudden, he didn’t feel that alone anymore. It was good to know another guy was there with him.
“Hey, Makoto… What brings you here?” Chihiro asked with a surprised expression on his face.
“I could ask the same thing… I’m here looking for something Junko might like as a gift… Maybe even Mukuro.” The Lucky Student answered. It's not like he was trying to hide it or anything, Chihiro was his trusted friend.
“O-Oh… I’m also shopping for Miu. She gave me a list of what she would like for Valentine’s Day. She said I didn’t have to give her all of them, but… I think I’ll buy them all and a little more.” The Programmer said shyly, his eyes moving side to side as if he were on the lookout for someone.
“Did you find them?” Makoto asked simply.
Chihiro picked up a basket that was next to him on the ground. The basket was full of… Explicate underwear!? Some could barely be called underwear, being made of only a few strings.
“Right here!” Chihiro said proudly, putting the basket between them like he was presenting them.
“...”
“What?”
“Did Miu really ask- Holy crap, are those prices real!?” Makoto got the attention of everyone inside the store. He noticed the price tag of one of the items. 100,000 Yen. One of those items already cost more than his gift for Sayaka, and Chihiro had how many of them!?
“I mean… This is what the store is known for the most, didn’t you see the back?” Chihiro asked in confusion, gesturing at the back of the store with his finger.
Makoto’s face immediately turned pale, it all made sense now, the store’s name, the weird looks he got, and why he was the only male inside besides Chihiro. He felt his face turn redder than the sun in embarrassment.
“So… This place sells luxury underwear…?” Makoto asked warily, his face still as red as ever. He wished he was invisible.
“Yes.”
“Won’t the cashiers question you?”
“They mistake me for a girl most of the time.”
“How are you so calm about this!?”
“Well, Miu takes me shopping here all the time, so I guess I’m used to it,” Chihiro said, dropping a bombshell onto Makoto. He felt many emotions. The innocent Chihiro he knew was most likely lost.
“...”
“What?” Chihiro sounded very confused. What has Miu done to his Chihiro?
Something seemed to shine in his eye, he blinked, moving his head to see where the glare was coming from. A hair clip wrapped in a plastic wrapper. The hair clip seemed enchanting, and it was in the shape of a little kitty cat. If properly placed, it could make any girl positively sparkle.
“I think I’m just going to get this and go- Why is this 10,000 Yen!? If I get two of these, it’ll be 20,000 Yen…” Makoto dreaded the thought, just as his wallet and bank account did. He was going to have to find a part-time job soon.
But even so, he picked up two of the same cat hair clips, one for Junko and one for Mukuro. He would’ve liked to imagine both of them wearing it, especially Mukuro. But right now, he was trying to figure out why the hell it was so overpriced.
“Oh, check the back, it should list the country it was manufactured in and the materials used,” Chihiro suggested. He took one of the hair clips out of his hand and turned it around before putting it back in his hand.
“This thing clearly isn’t made out of gold…” Makoto read the back. Made in France. That sounded good. France seemed like a good country for quality, right? And it was made out of a bunch of stuff that Makoto didn’t know.
“Yeah, but it's really good quality-wise.”
“How are you going to afford all of those…?” Makoto pointed at Chihiro’s basket of mostly explicit underwear.
“I make a lot of money from programming, my software is always in high demand. The corporations I work with are willing to pay a lot for them.” Chihiro answered with a bright smile.
“I didn’t think your talent could be that profitable.” Makoto was more than slightly jealous.
“If that’s all you’re getting, let’s go to the checkout line. I think I’ll walk around the mall to find a few other gifts for Miu.”
“Sure…”
They walked over to the desk with one of many cash registers. Lucky for them, there was no line yet. It seemed everyone was still busy shopping. Doesn’t matter, they were going to take advantage of the opportunity.
“Wow, how lucky! The lines are usually so long!” Chihiro seemed overjoyed at the fact.
“Lucky indeed…” Makoto, however, was not.
“Do you want to go first?” The Programmer asked, always the considerate one.
“Sure… I don’t think I want to stay in this store for an extra second…” Makoto said with a sigh, walking up to the cashier.
“Good afternoon! I hope you enjoyed your first time shopping here!” The Cashier said immediately, wearing a really exaggerated fake smile, so fake that even he, Makoto, could tell.
“Huh? How did you know it was my first time…?” The Lucky Student asked skeptically, his poker face on. It wasn’t the best, but it was one nonetheless. Some of Kyoko rubbed off on him.
“I mean you look like a fish out of water. I would be surprised if you weren’t.” The Cashier replied, her words seemed to be riddled with aggression and venom.
“I guess that’s true… Just these two items, please.” Makoto placed the two hair clips on the table, maintaining his straight face.
“Just these two…? Would you like anything else?” The Cashier asked as if she was working at a fast food restaurant, confusing Makoto a bit.
“No…?” Makoto wasn’t sure what the cashier was getting at.
“Look, I need you to help me out here.”
“Huh?”
All of a sudden, she pulled out two MREs from under the counter. Why, what, and how ran through Makoto’s mind.
“Please buy these MREs!” The Cashier said in a desperate tone, lowering her head.
“What!?” Makoto shouted in confusion. He wasn’t even mad, just confused.
“Please!”
“Why!?”
“Please! You need to buy it to save my job!”
“What do you mean!?”
Makoto was even more confused now, baffled even.
“Look, I’ll do 5 for 10,000 Yen!” The Cashier pulled three more MREs from under the counter.
“WHY IS THIS PLACE SELLING MREs!?” Makoto screamed, causing the Cashier to cry. That attracted the attention of people outside and inside the store. And Chihiro had a look of extreme concern on his face.
“I-It was an a-accident! Wahhhhhh! I-I accidentally ordered a whole batch of MREs and the manager will fire me if I don’t sell it all today!”
“But is that even possible!?”
“I-I-I don’t know! It’s my horrible luck! I was even supposed to attend Hope’s Peak because I won the lottery, but then the letter burned while it was being delivered!” The Cashier started crying tears, whaling loudly, which attracted even more attention.
“That’s odd…”
Makoto swore he heard something similar before…
“Y-You probably don’t believe me do you!?” The Cashier pointed an accusing finger.
“H-Hold on!”
“I’ll even throw in this new pair of thongs if you buy the MREs!”
She reached for under the counter again, holding the plastic sealed thongs up in the air before slamming it onto the counter.
“Huh!? Isn’t that worth way more than the MREs!?”
“I don’t care! My boss said just sell them by the end of today! Or else I’m fired! And I really need to keep this job! It’s completely new and the Emperor’s model! Please!” The Cashier looked like she was on the verge of begging.
“O-Okay, okay, just calm down! I’ll buy them!” Makoto finally said the magic words she wanted to hear.
“Yay! That’ll be 33,000, please!” Her mood immediately switched, her tears gone and the fake smile back on her face.
Did Makoto just get scammed? No matter, Mukuro would like the MREs and Junko would like the thong, right? This wasn’t a waste of money at all…
“My poor bank account…”
“Achoo!”
Junko sneezed, weird, she didn’t predict that with her analytical talent. Was she becoming rusty?
“Where’s that big sister of mine… I swear, if I wait out here any longer like this, I might catch a cold.” Junko said out loud, no one else was in the area.
And almost as if on cue, a grappling gun fired, and a zipline shot through the air. As Junko turned to see where it hit. A nearby building. Mukuro landed right behind her, grappling gun in hand, dropping straight out of the air.
“You’re finally here,” Junko said, not even bothering to turn around to face her sister.
“Sorry, I’m late. I accidentally hit a bird’s nest and I tried to fix it…” Mukuro said calmly, raising an eyebrow at her sister. What did she just say?
That caused Junko to turn around, finally facing Mukuro. She had scratches all over her body, and her clothes ripped.
“W-What!? Y-Y-You’re injured!?” Junko couldn’t believe her eyes, stuttering for once in her entire life, at least that she knew of.
“Yeah,” Mukuro said casually.
“B-B-But h-how!? You’re the Ultimate Soldier! The child soldier who survived on the battlefield hundreds of times against impossible odds and killed even more thousands!” Junko shouted, she even sounded angry. How in the world could her super soldier sister be injured?
“Sounds about right.”
“Without a single injury!”
“What are you getting at?”
“And you just got injured by a bird!?”
“Well, I accidentally hit its nest while shooting my grappling gun, so I had to fix it while the mother bird pecked me,” Mukuro said embarrassingly, her cheeks blushing bright red.
“You let it!?” The Fashionista was somehow in even more disbelief than before. Since when has her sister changed this much?
“It was my fault that its nest got destroyed… So I thought it would be okay, it's what Makoto would’ve done.” The Soldier said in a loving tone, clearly admiring their boyfriend. Junko swore she saw hearts in her eyes.
“I knew Makoto made you soft, but not this soft…”
“My well-being doesn’t matter, right now… Do you know what restaurants we’re going to?” Mukuro said, dysregulating the current state she was in, it didn’t hurt but she looked like she did. Junko laughed.
“Hahahaha, do you really think I'm going to let you leave campus like that?” Junko
“Do you have a list of where we are going?” Mukuro ignored her question, another surprise for Junko. Mukuro usually did everything she asked no matter what… Like that one time at a certain middle school…
Junko sighed, holding up a little pocketbook with a list of restaurant names and the food to order “Yeah, over here. But I’m going to fix you up first.” She demanded, not willing to negotiate whether or not to let her sister walk in public like an idiot. It would also make her look bad.
“But we don’t have that much-” Mukuro said before being cut off by a loud explosion. A cloud of smoke came out of the building where she previously shot her grappling gun.
Both talented sisters turned to see the smoking campus building, Mukuro standing in front of Junko in order to shield her, just in case anything else happened. The cloud of smoke forced the glass doors of the building open, letting the dust rush outside. Junko and Mukuro immediately closed their eyes and covered their faces to avoid breathing the particles in.
Mukuro grabbed Junko, putting her on her back piggyback style, she dashed as fast as she could to escape the dust. Once some of the dust cleared and they were far outside the radius, Mukuro stopped and let Junko down. They were both covered in white dust now.
“We’re going back to our room first…”
Junko could not go out like this, her entire career would be ruined, and her face on national headlines in a bad way! She had to, at least, take a shower, wash her hair, redo her makeup, and wear a different outfit.”
"Okay…”
Mukuro didn’t resist this time.
He walked with a small bag in his left hand and a large pink bag in the other.
Makoto didn’t know gifts could be so expensive, he could already feel his parents lecturing him, but that was probably the downside of having six whole girlfriends. But now, he had three out of the six gifts that he needed, and what better than a store that sells sports equipment? Hina obviously came to him when he first crossed the store.
“Something swimming related… I just need something swimming-related…” Makoto muttered to himself as he walked by the aisles. He continued walking, looking at all the items, out of the entire swimming aisle. He found one item he knew Hina would definitely like.
“These look like something for children…”
Makoto picked up the two products sealed in plastic. Flotation Donuts, one strawberry pink, the other chocolate with sprinkles. They looked gigantic on the advertised cover. And only 1,000 Yen for each of them, sounded like a sweet deal to him.
He continued his journey through the swimming aisle, making his way to the near end, he saw an entire section dedicated to one-piece women's swimwear. He blushed a little, the red creeping onto his cheeks. It’s not like he hadn’t seen Hina or another one of his girlfriends wear one before, but he blushed nonetheless.
And yet another item caught his eye, a swimsuit.
“This looks cute…” Makoto whispered, looking at the chest manikin' with it on.
Waterlover. That was the suit’s name. The one-piece swimsuit was dark purple with black stripes around certain areas. He read its description.
“A competition swimsuit for women designed with the concept to ‘become one with the water’ and can increase swimming speed by 10%...”
10,000 Yen. 10,000 Yen for the perfect gift for Hina, Makoto knew in his heart that she would no doubt like this gift. And she would probably look really hot in it, more than she already is. But he already had those two flotation donuts for her…
“Why not… Only giving her those two swimming rings would be too cheap anyways…” He justified the purchase to himself.
Makoto grabbed a copy of the swimsuit from the shelf below the displayed manikin. He proceeded towards the checkout line, it was long, stupidly long, way too long for some sports store. He lined up at the back, not the back of the line, the back of the entire store.
“Why’s the line so big…? I thought this was just some average sports store…” The Lucky Student muttered in an annoyed tone, it was going to take at least an hour for him to reach the checkout counter.
“It’s because of their new brand of tracksuits.” The Biker Gang Leader announced himself, causing Makoto to turn around. Mondo was behind him, two pink tracksuits in hand. He had a rather serious and scary face.
“Huh?”
“They’ve been a real hit on social media, that bluebird app or whatever it's called,” Mondo said, scratching the back of his head.
“Oh… What’s so good about them?” Makoto asked, tilting his head ever so slightly.
“Quality I think? I’m honestly not sure myself, but I know Taka would like them.” Mondo answered, taking both the pink tracksuits out for Makoto to see. They seemed pretty average… The ones provided by Hope’s Peak might even be better.
“You’re getting matching tracksuits? That’s pretty cool!”
“Yeah, I overheard Taka talking to Chihiro about them. And it sounded to me, he wanted one.”
“That’s a nice gift. I guess we can wait in line together...”
Hina and Celeste were setting up the decorations for the surprise. Makoto’s room was surprisingly… Average…
An unfolded table in the center of the room, a colorful tablecloth on top of it, and random decorations everywhere. Celeste was busy inflating balloons while Hina was trying to spread the decorations out in the room to make it look nicer.
As Hina finished the final touches of the room, she ran into a problem. The banners, she wouldn’t be high enough to hang the banners on the ceiling even if she stood on a chair.
“Celeste, can you put these up for me?” Hina asked, holding the celebration banners in front of her.
“My dear, we are going to need a ladder for that,” Celeste said, not even bothering to look up, continuing to pump air inside the balloons with a handheld air pump.
“But where would we get one?”
“The reserve course storage room should have one.” The Gambler answered, looking up to see her in the eyes.
“Okay… I’ll be back in a bit then…” The Swimmer accepted, leaving the room with a new mission.
Celeste watched as she left, putting the air pump and unused balloons down. She drank a sip of her tea.
Nothing bad happened.
Makoto walked through the mall, with a small white bag, a medium pink bag, and another medium yellow bag in hand. He still needed a gift for Celeste and Kyoko, but what? Celeste would most possibly like something fancy while Kyoko… She would like something elegant, right?
He continued to walk, passing more and more stores that didn’t fit the criteria. He was starting to get tired, he hadn’t had lunch yet or even sat down since entering the mall’s premises. But still, he continued, he just had to find the perfect gifts before anything else.
“Huh… This could work…” Makoto stopped at a small and dark shop. It didn’t even have a sign, barely working lights, and it was a bit dirty. But the items inside seem, how could he say… Ancient. Ancient like an antique store.
Why not? He decided to walk inside, traveling through to the near back of the shop. He saw something yellow—or rather, someone.
“B-Byakuya…?” Makoto announced his presence with a shocked expression, Byakuya didn’t even bother to look at him. Out of all the places, Makoto didn’t expect to run into him at such a seemingly run-down shop.
“Yes?” Byakuya replied, his usual annoyed face appeared.
“Why are you here…?”
“Searching for an item to purchase, can’t you see that?” The Prodigy answered what he already knew. He always seemed to have his way with words, Makoto admired that about him.
“For who exactly…?”
Makoto already knew the answer, even if Byakuya would never admit it.
“No one special. Nothing more than an appreciation gift.”
“Mhm… Does this ‘no one special’ also happen to be an author?” Makoto asked with a smug smile, the smugness riddled in his voice.
“I don’t have to answer your questions,” Byakuya said, slightly more annoyed this time.
“Alright… Good luck, I guess.” Makoto said before walking deeper into the antique shop, the lights getting dimmer and dimmer as he continued.
Makoto promised he would get the words out of his mouth one day. Just not this day. He had more important things to do.
He saw something on the right shelf, almost missing it as he passed by as it was on the lowest shelf. Makoto got on one of his knees, lowering his head to get a clear view of the item.
“A tea kettle…” Makoto touched the surface of the kettle, wiping some of the dust off. It looked ancient, alright. The tea kettle was elegant, pearl white with gold lines and patterns, he could even call it majestic.
“This will do…” He picked it up carefully with both his hands, not minding the dust, his other bags filled with gifts flowed down to his elbows. He continued to make his way to the back, where he assumed the cashier was.
Finally, at the back, he saw a small counter and an old lady behind it. The old lady looked older than his grandmother and grandfather combined, which was surprising since she was the only worker, by the looks of it.
“Hello… How much is this?” Makoto greeted, his optimistic smile equipped, he gently put the dusty tea kettle down on the counter to pay.
“Good afternoon, young man…” She replied, inspecting the tea kettle with her hands. She didn’t seem to mind the dust at all.
Afternoon already huh? Time goes by quickly when shopping…
“20,000 Yen, please.”
“Is it authentic?” The Lucky Student had to make sure he wasn’t getting scammed.
“Yes, my husband brought it back from Europe in… 1964, I believe, while he was away on a business trip.” The Old Lady answered, shocking Makoto. 1964 was ages ago! Before he or his parents were even born.
“That old!?”
“Indeed, young man.”
Makoto saw something else, something that reminded him of Kyoko for some unknown reason.
A Rose in Vitro.
It was a small red rose contained inside a test tube with strange pink liquid, presumably to preserve the rose. It would make for a great gift. Good for both hellos and goodbyes. And somehow, it reminded him of Kyoko.
“Are you interested in this item?” The Old Woman noticed him staring at the item on her counter.
“Y-Yes…”
“What do you plan to use it for?” She asked rather suspiciously.
“M-My girlfriend…” He answered nervously, hoping she wouldn’t push further.
“Oh, then I assume the tea kettle is for your mother?” A smile grew on the woman’s face.
“N-No… I-It's for my other g-girlfriend…” He just couldn’t lie.
A moment of silence passed. Makoto didn’t realize how ridiculous he sounded, saying that out loud. He couldn’t tell what the older lady thought due to her closed eye, but it probably wasn’t good.
“And all your other bags…?”
“For my other-other girlfriends…”
“I-I see… The audacity of cheating men these days…” The Old Woman commented, her words laced with poison.
“N-No! You got it wrong! They k-know about me d-dating them all at once. W-We’re all in the same class t-together!” The Luckster immediately defended himself, throwing his arms up in a surrendering gesture.
“Youngsters these days…” The Old Woman said in response, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“So… How much for the Rose in Vitro…? Ha… Ha…” Makoto laughed awkwardly, changing the subject.
“Well, it was a wedding gift from my late husband…” She sounded sad as she said her words.
“Oh…” Makoto didn’t know what to say in response, but he hoped he didn’t hit a touchy subject for her. He was always feeling bad at the thought of it.
“But, I suppose you need it more than I do. I’ll give it for free if you purchase the tea kettle.”
“R-Really? It sounds really important to you…” Makoto honestly couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yes, but it may become more important to you. And my remaining time in this world is waning.”
“I see… Thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Put it to good use, young man.”
“I will… Goodbye, miss!” Makoto said as he made his way to the exit, another bag in hand. He handled that one with extra care as it was a lot more fragile than the other items.
The Old Woman had a smile as he did so.
Kyoko was still in the closet of the teacher’s break room, three bottles of alcohol next to her feet. Koichi made his way over to the minifigure, no doubt looking for his bottles of alcohol. How was he allowed to drink while teaching? No one truly knows.
Something had to happen, anything. She had to get out somehow, she couldn’t be dispersed no matter what, especially since her father was the headmaster.
“Huh?” Koichi stopped in the middle of the room. Kyoko held her breath.
“Mhm…”
“Yeah, I heard it…”
“Is it really that serious?”
“Okay…”
“So it’s fine, no one was injured.”
“They’re doing what now?”
“Come on, Jin! Is that really necessary?”
“Fine, fine… I’ll head over immediately.”
“Guess school out for another week…”
And with that, Koichi left the room, allowing Kyoko to breathe a huge breath of relief. Kyoko opened the closet door slowly, just in case he was still nearby. She bent down with her knees to pick up the three bottles before leaving the closet.
“Never doing that again…” She muttered as she closed the closet door, proceeding to exit the teacher’s lounge while hiding the bottles the best she could.
“Kyoko!” Sayaka shouted upon sighting, running up to her.
“What did you do?” Kyoko asked sternly, concerned by Koichi’s vague conversation with her father.
“We… Actually, the administration can worry about that. Here, use this to hide them.” Sayaka didn’t answer, pulling out paper bags instead, intending to use them to hide the bottles.
Kyoko obliged, quickly yet carefully putting all three bottles of alcohol into the paper bag for Sayaka to hold.
“Right… Let’s get back immediately.” The Detective didn’t waste a moment. She still had a mission to complete.
“I’m surprised this mostly went off without a hitch…” The Idol commented as they began their journey back to Makoto’s dorm.
They left the main course building, it was surprisingly calm outside, with no sirens, evacuation, or anyone at all. It seemed Sayaka’s distraction was just that good, which made Kyoko even more worried…
The two Ultimates continued to make their way back to Makoto’s room until they saw a very strange sight…
“Mukuro…? Junko…?” Kyoko said, approaching the two girls in front of her.
Mukuro and Junko, Soldier and Fashionista, the Ultimate pair of sisters. The two were covered in what seemed to be white dust, walking around like clowns, and leaving white dust footprints behind them.
“Yo! What’s up!” Junko’s expression on her face didn’t match her words.
“Hello…” Mukuro said timidly, very unlike the usual serious girl.
“What happened…?” Kyoko had a hint of the answer already, but just to be sure, she asked. Sayaka seemed to take a step behind her.
“We were about to leave to complete our mission until…” Mukuro trailed off, allowing Junko to continue.
“The fucking building next to us exploded! And no! I was going to clean you up first, but now, we both need to shower, redo makeup, and pick a new outfit!” Junko yelled angrily, clinging to her head.
“Sounds rough…” Kyoko commented as Sayaka began sweating in the background.
“It turned out to be only cooking flour so it should be fine…”
“Ahhhhhh, it's so fucking frustrating! How the hell does that even happen!? And how didn’t I predict it!?” The Fashionista continued to rage, ruffling her already messy hair.
“It’s strange that it somehow happened again… And this time with extra security… Perhaps another Ultimate did it.” The Soldier pondered. Her hand was on her chin in a thinking gesture.
As they were doing that, the four were spotted by someone else. Hina, the Ultimate Swimmer, jogging towards the reserve course building.
“What happened here…?” The Swimmer stopped to ask, still jogging up and down in place.
“Long story… Shouldn’t you be decorating Makoto’s room with Celeste?” Kyoko said, remembering the plan and each role they had to play.
“Yeah, but I need a ladder to hang up the banners, so I was heading to the reserve course storage room…” Hina answered, still jogging in place.
“Ah, you should get to it then.” Sayaka quickly encouraged, a sweat running down her neck.
“Okay… But what’s up with the smoking building…?” Hina asked rather innocently.
“Yes, Sayaka… Why don’t you tell us?” Kyoko narrowed her eyes on her.
“Ha… Ha… Ha…” Sayaka laughed awkwardly. Mukuro met her with a blank stare, Kyoko a stern one, Junko a mix of annoyance and anger, and Hina a confused one.
Makoto walked through the Hope’s Peak campus. What the hell happened while he was gone!? The first thing that happened to him and his bags being searched for suspicious contents before being let back in.
Something about a small explosive used on the roof of a reserve course building and large amounts of the school’s cooking supplies dumped everywhere…
Now, he was walking in the dormitories, heading to his room, his sweet-sweet room. He planned to rest for a little bit before wrapping the gifts and handing them out. It was only a little late, he should still have enough time to wrap them and make it in time for dinner… If the cafeteria was even open.
Makoto gently turned the knob of his door, leaving it unlocked as usual. According to Kyoko, it was going to bite him back one day. But that didn’t matter, he stepped inside his pitch-black room, the lights off as expected until…
“Surprise!!!” Six voices shouted, making Makoto jump back. Was he getting jumped? Mugged? Robbed? Taken for all he's got and stripped down to his underwear? No, it was their gift!
“H-Huh?” Makoto made a confused sound as the lights turned out and confetti poppers started popping.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Hina shouted, using a lighter to light the spread-out candles around the room.
“I-I get it’s i-important but… I-Is all of this really necessary…?” The Lucky Student asked with a sheepish and embarrassed smile, scratching his red cheek with a finger.
“Oh, sweetheart, did you forget?” Junko said in a fake tone of disbelief, letting Makoto panic.
“I-It’s almost been exactly half a year since we started dating… So that would make it our first half anniversary…” Mukuro answered her sister’s question for Makoto.
“O-Oh… I actually didn’t realize, haha… I never heard of half anniversaries before… But why is there alcohol here…?” Makoto scratched the back of his head, his eyes wondering at the three bottles of alcohol in the corner of the room.
Whiskey. Vodka. Tequila.
“Something special for this special occasion!” Sayaka replied cheerily, holding a popped confetti popper.
“Kindly provided by our homeroom teacher,” Kyoko added, looking oddly proud for some reason, her arms crossed.
For some reason, he doubted that. And minors with alcohol… It was definitely a bad idea.
“So what do you think, my knight?” Celeste asked.
“I thought I was going to be the one doing the surprising, haha…”
“Hold on just a minute! I have one more surprise for you!” Junko held up her hand in a stopping gesture.
“What? I thought we agreed-” The Detective wasn’t able to finish, going quiet and a little more pale.
Junko reached into her pocket and took a small box out of it. She forcefully put it in Makoto’s hand. Makoto hesitated for a little bit, the box seemed to weigh too much for its size, what could it be?
He slowly opened it…
“...”
It was a ring, a diamond ring with a gold band.
“Come on, put it on me!” Junko hid her mouth with a hand and turned her head to the side. She presented her free hand’s ring finger in front of him, silently asking for him to put the ring on her.
They said in unison.
“Junko, what the f-”