Chapter Text
April 28th… that was Nagito’s least favorite day of the year. The day that also happened to be his birthday. And the day that his luck cycle seemed more extreme than any other day.
Nagito had long since stopped celebrating his birthday. Back in elementary school, when his parents had died coming back from a trip that was supposed to be his birthday present, he sort of gave up on it. Now though, Nagito was an adult and living on the newly rebuilt Jabberwock Island alongside 15 people he knew would be jumping at the bit for an excuse to celebrate.
With a sigh, Nagito rolled out of bed. Hajime hadn’t been there when he’d woke up. Normally, that wasn’t a particularly uncommon occurrence— his vast array of talents were often in demand, after all— but Nagito wouldn’t have expected him to just up and leave on his birthday of all days. He supposed that was just the first of plenty of bad luck waiting for him today.
Nagito left his cottage and headed towards the restaurant. He didn’t see anyone on the way there which was slightly concerning. Usually, the area around the hotel was bustling with activity in the morning, so seeing it so barren was a little unnerving.
As Nagito entered the restaurant, he had to strain his eyes to see since the lights were off and the windows were covered. That was especially odd. Nobody ever covered the windows here.
Suddenly, Nagito heard a loud crash. He whipped his head around but couldn’t see what had caused it because of the darkness.
“Tsumiki! Are you okay?!” He heard Koizumi yell.
“I-I don’t know! I c-can’t see anything!” She shouted back.
Someone turned the lights back on at that point. Nagito saw it was Hajime, who looked a mix of frustrated and disappointed. “Is Tsumiki okay?”
“Y-yes. I’m fine now.”
Hajime came over to Nagito, “Sorry. We were trying to throw you a surprise party but… Well, it didn’t really work out.”
“Ah, no, I should be sorry. My luck ruined everything again.”
“No, it didn’t. Tsumiki was just being clumsy again. You don’t need to worry about your luck anymore.”
Nagito’s face made it clear he didn’t believe that, “If you say so.”
Hajime took Nagito’s hand to comfort him, “C’mon, just enjoy the party. Hanamura made the food. You know how he’ll get if you don’t eat any.”
“I… suppose so. Just to not upset Hanamura.”
Despite Nagito’s initial hesitation, he did end up enjoying the party. Nothing else went wrong either, so it seemed Hajime was right all along. And if the two of them ended up in the same cottage afterwards, well, that wasn’t anyone else’s business.