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Hinata grumbled at the plastic bag in his hands. It was a normal little ziplock bag, and inside of it were sixteen Hope's Peak Academy rings that were gifted to him. How did you obtain these rings? Well, you get good grades. That was exactly what Hajime did, and in the island he was just graded on how many island chores he did and how much he aligned with the rules of the island. That was all simple and easy to do, but he was the one doing the most of the work so he was getting all of these, unlike the other classmates. And that was how he got sixteen of them. But really, these were useless. He didn't need so many of them, hell he didn't even need any of them at all. There wasn't a point of having sixteen Hope's Peak rings, not even in the very slightest. He played around with the bag, trying to decide what to do with them. He could just throw them all away except for one of them, keeping that last one for himself. He could sell them on a website online... Except on Jabberwock Island, they didn't have any internet so he really couldn't do that. So maybe throwing them away would be a good idea, until the brunette stumbled across one mental thought. What if he just gave the rest of the rings to his classmates? They'd definitely appreciate it. "But the girls would probably take it the wrong way," he mumbled to himself, groaning. That wouldn't be how he meant it at all; plus, more than half of them were lesbians, it'd be kind of fucked up if he gave a bunch of rings to lesbians who may not know his exact intentions. Hiyoko was the kind of person to make fun of him anyway, even if he tried explaining himself, along with spreading the disgusting rumor that he preyed on lesbians or something. Ibuki wouldn't care and would definitely just beg for marriage anyway, planning it on the same exact day. Nevermind would be a bit offended, asking the other why he would even propose to her while knowing her identity, as she made it very public and well known. And so on, and so forth, the girls would all just assume he was proposing in the end, so it would probably be better if he tried giving them to the others first. "But then Souda will take it the wrong way," he said to himself, shaking his head. He'd have to be one of the last if anything, or just not given a ring at all. "Who would be good to start with, then?" He tapped a finger along the bag curiously, mentally going over every islander and thinking over what their reaction would be. In the end, he decided that Komaeda would be a good place to start. Which was a bit of an absent-minded decision, as the white haired boy was quite quick to react to quite literally everything that he was given, but ultimately he would be far better than starting off with Kazuichi.
The brown haired boy opened up his ziplock bag, dumping out the contents into his pockets. Eight went into one pocket, and the other eight went into the other pocket. He left his own cottage, being instantly hit by the warm summer air of the island. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold; it was perfect, really. You never felt as though you needed a fan by you, and you never felt like you needed more heat to be blown on you. It was beyond nice, and Hajime just had to accept that being on the island wasn't that bad or dangerous at all. It truly was just a sweet planned vacation made for the class, so that they could all get to know each other more and grow closer. The brown haired boy had a faint smile as he walked down past the cottages, meanwhile pulling out his E-Handbook to check where the cloudette could be. He found that the boy was at the beach, where the two had first met. In that same exact spot, which was near a Monomono machine. The brunette headed down to that area, which wasn't all that far away; and during that walk, he did indeed come across his classmates, all spending time with each other. Sonia, Ibuki, and Peko were in a group of their own, seeming to have the best time of their lives. Even Peko had the widest of smiles, which was very unusual for her. The unlikely pair of Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko was definitely a sight to see, especially noting that they were very much getting along. Mahiru, Owari, and Saionji were all together too, seeming to be training with the gymnast and doing the best they could to build up some strength. Byakuya was spending his own time alone, likely believing that spending time with other people would be puny of him. And that was all he saw, before he ended up at the beach and found the white haired male alone, playing around with the Monomono machine. He seemed to have multiple prizes with him, smiling quite faintly as he would get one after another. Where was he even getting all the coins for these? Hajime had no clue at all. The brunette trailed his way to Komaeda, greeting him with "Hello, Komaeda." This gained the other boy's attention, his head turning to focus on the tan boy. Suddenly, his expression got extremely excited, picking up every single prize he had and stuffing them in his arms. "Hinata-kun! It's so nice to see you," he hummed, his tone just as excited as his expression. "It's very nice to see you as well," Hajime chuckled, waving his hand a little bit. "I, um- I got all of these for you, I hope you like them," Komaeda mentioned, motioning over to all of the prizes he held. These included numerous plushies, snacks, and other small item collectibles. There were almost ten of them, and Hinata couldn't help but widen his eyes. "Really? All of them?" He asked, his cheeks turning a certain shade of red or pink. Nagito was absolutely generous, he knew that for a fact, but he never thought he'd be *this* generous. "Mhm! You're the only one who talks to me anyways, so since I won so many I thought that you should have them all," he smiled. Now this had gone beyond beating Hajime's little ring gift. "Wow- thank you," the brunette smiled, as the albino handed him all of the prizes he'd won. Trying to keep them all held in one arm, the brown haired boy dug through his pocket with his free hand. "It's kinda a coincidence that you did this, because I actually have a gift for you too," he hummed.
To this, Komaeda made the smallest sound of a gasp, holding his hands out. He knew it was going to be a small object, since it was in his pocket. The olive eyed male pulled out a single ring, dropping it right into the white headed boy's hands. "Now, don't get the wrong-" he began, before Komaeda interrupted him; not even hearing whatever sentence he had begun. "Oh wow, Hinata-kun! This is so generous of you," he gasped, his eyes practically shining with admiration, appreciation, and wonder, "I'll keep it forever!" He propped it right onto his right ring finger, taking even more admiration for it. "Is this a Hope's Peak ring? Ah, of course you would have one of these," he commented, smiling in such a pleasant way. "Oh, um- yeah," the brunette stuttered, unsure of what to say now. "It's so amazing that you would give me, out of all people, such a prized object.. Truly, I feel honored," the pale one added, a finger tracing along the bumps and design of the ring. He barely even recognized it as plastic. "It's far better than anything I have given you. I feel quite pathetic now," the boy chuckled, almost shielding the ring now with his other hand. His tone and expression were so lively and astounded; if Hajime had to tell him that he had fifteen other rings that he was going to give to everyone else, he'd just feel guilty then. His hand went along the other rings in his pocket, a small frown coming to his face. No, he definitely wasn't going to tell Nagito that he had so many. This meant way too much to him. Just thinking about how the cloudette would look when he found out that it wasn't anything big or special to him at all made his chest hurt in such a painful way. "I think your gifts to me were very special too. I can barely even wrap my head around how you got so many coins for these," the boy chuckled, taking his hand out of his pocket to completely embrace the gifts. Komaeda's smile went a bit wobbly, in an overwhelmingly happy manner. "Well, either way, you have no idea just how special this is to me," he smiled, "I can barely even believe how you remembered, no one else did." Remembered? Remembered what? That statement made no sense to the spiky haired one, but he decided to leave it be as a passing comment. "Um.. yeah. I'm really glad you like the gift," he chuckled. "Of course I do. Anything you give to me is amazing, because it's from you, but this especially is just... So nice," the other responded, letting out a small happy sigh. "I'll wear it for as long as I live."
"Now, um.. Would you like to spend a little bit of time doing something? We could go for a swim or something like that, if you want," Hajime mentioned, still keeping a sweet smile. "Of course! As long as this doesn't get damaged," the white haired boy shrugged, pointing over to his ring. He really did love that ring. "It won't, I promise," Hinata rolled his eyes with a smile, setting his gifts down right next to a big palm tree nearby. He then would head off to the changing areas. "Let's go and get changed then," he added, Komaeda nodding and following along. Hinata spent the rest of his first half of free time with the white headed boy, enjoying his time thoroughly. The pale boy wouldn't stop talking about the ring though, mentioning it at random or sometimes just staring at it with the most emotion driven smile anyone could ever have. He did wear it into the water, but he kept this hand right above the water; sometimes even holding onto Hajime's hand to keep it above, by instinct. The boy was very worried that if the ring even slightly touched the water, it would rust out. It was almost funny, really. And after this free time event, Hinata had to make the more ultimate decision with himself. Before he could leave and go and make this decision, he of course said his good byes to the other, keeping on the smile that he most usually gave to the cloudette. He began walking off, but before he could really get that far, the white haired male stopped him right in his tracks. The tan one's right forearm was grabbed, pulling him back just a tad and grabbing his attention. He looked back behind him, seeing the freckled boy there, of course. Though, he had likely the most genuine and heartfelt smiles he'd had the whole day. It was almost enough to make the other melt, weirdly. His eyes shared this same sort of heartfelt and meaningful expression, tying together perfectly. The hand he was holding the other's arm with, by the way, was the one that had the ring on it; so the brunette could feel the cold metal right against his skin. Before he could speak any words, the white headed boy was already beginning to drown in his own tears; clear speckles of the saly sort of liquid gathering in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks, slowly. "Thank you so much for the gift, Hinata-kun. I mean it, it means a lot to me," he sniffled, using his free hand to wipe his face once. Despite that, it didn't really make his tears go away. The brunette just felt a bit awkward, truly oblivious to why Nagito was crying over it, but he thought it would be better if he didn't ponder on that one. "Uh, well.. You're welcome, I'm glad you like it so much," he chuckled, and the other's grip loosened; eventually slipping away, just to be brought back to his own person. And with that, the brown headed male headed back to his cottage. Once he got there, he sat down at his desk, one of his elbows resting against the hard wood. He took out all of his rings, setting them on his desk in his cottage. All of the fifteen. He strictly made himself remember the comments and the expressions that Komaeda made when he was given his gift. It was all so genuine, and he truly believed that it was just one thing all for him; that the brunette didn't have more than enough of these. And he just knew what the cloudette would say if he ended up giving out the rest of the rings. 'Ah, that's a little bit disappointing.. I suppose I shouldn't have gotten so excited over it.' Or at least, something like that. All he certainly knew was that he'd be disappointed to such a depressing degree. The brunette sighed, taking them all into his hand and dumping them into the nearby trashcan in his cottage, all excluding one of them. Though it was a bit awkward, since that way it made it seem like he had some mutual engagement ring with Komaeda; but he didn't really hate the idea of that, weirdly. He definitely liked that idea way more than being engaged to any of the girls, or even anyone else really. That was a weird bit of information with himself that he came across, but he tried to ignore it the best he could. The brunette stuffed up his small garbage with other random pieces of garbage that sat around, just to let it fill up so he had an excuse to take it to Usami. With that, Usami would have to dispose of it; no one knew what exactly she did, all they knew was that she got rid of their garbage. He wrapped up the bag, carrying it out and calling for the strange bunny. With that, he went right back inside of his cottage, silently making up his mind and going towards the decision to spend this half of his time alone. He set the prizes Komaeda had gotten him where he believed was fit; any of the figurines and collectibles ent along his desk and shelves, and the plushies went on his bed. They were all quite soft too, and privately he quite liked the idea of cuddling with them. It was a comforting sort of thought, but absolutely one he would be keeping to himself.
Then, there was of course, Komaeda's side. After the time with Hinata, he went right back to what he was doing, that being taking his own toll at the Monomono machine. He had plenty of Monomono coins, more than he could ever imagine having. They stuffed up his pockets to the brim, and the prizes he got for Hinata using them was barely scratching the surface. He would probably be giving a lot more of what he won to the brown haired boy as well, only keeping very few things. There was a particular kitten plush he was noticing, and if he didn't he knew that he was going to be depressed over it for weeks. But then again, that sort of bad luck happening would only make sense, considering this large blast of good luck he was receiving. He'd gotten a ring from Hajime, and it was a hard-earned Hope's Peak Academy ring too. Hinata was so smart and hard working that he as rewarded one of them, and the boy had decided to give it to Nagito as a present. That as just far more thoughtful than going in to win a prize out of the Monomono machine, to a point that Komaeda just felt like he hadn't done enough. Maybe he should have gotten a ring for the brunette. Ah, that truly would have been better, and more deserved for such an amazing person like him. The cloudette looked back to his finger, turning it to the side every now and again; allowing the light to shimmer at its every corner at least once. It was quite obviously cheaply made, but the pale boy hardly even thought about that. The ring was such a pleasant shade of silver, not a single scratch on it quite yet. The element of it was the Hope's Peak logo, having a small fake diamond on every square. It wasn't the best ring to ever exist, but it certainly made Nagito beyond happy. Especially since it was Hajime Hinata who had given it to him. God, he just couldn't get over that at all.
He reached his hand up, out in a way that would likely look like he was blocking the sun; but instead he was still just admiring the oh-so beautiful ring, smiling faintly but noticeably. He couldn't help but let the tears come back, filling his eyes once again and falling right to the sand once again. Without much thinking, he had started speaking to himself without a single soul being near him. And if anyone just so happened to be, well, they'd certainly be weirded out. His voice came out a bit more raspy and emotional than it usually was, sounding so heartfelt despite it not needing to be.
"Thank you, Hinata-kun... This is, truly, the greatest birthday gift I have ever gotten, and more likely.. The last."