Genre: Comedy | Found family | Emotional sabotage (with cake)
Cast: Fuma (the birthday boy), Taki (the forgetful instigator), Jo, K, Yuma, Maki, Harua, Nicholas, EJ (the chaos crew)

☀️ Morning

Fuma wakes up to... nothing.

No balloons. No shouting. No suspicious rustling behind doors.

Maybe they're waiting until lunch, he thinks.

Jo walks by with a basket of laundry and an empty stare.

"Hey," Fuma says.

"Sock," Jo replies.

Yuma tosses him half a granola bar with a grin and disappears.

K answers his phone with a fake, too-loud "YES I'M IN A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING" as he walks past.

Fuma stands in the hallway. Alone. Holding granola. Soul slightly crushed.

They forgot.

I'm fine.

I'm not crying.

Shut up.

📱 Meanwhile: 3 Rooms Away

Taki: "I. FORGOT. TO SEND. THE TEXT."

Maki (wielding a butter knife): "I'm baking under duress."

Harua: "I'm stalling him with philosophy. I need backup."

Nicholas (wearing a crown he found in the supply closet): "Stretchhhhhhh—DELAY HIM."

EJ (lighting a single candle with dead eyes): "He's approaching. Scatter."

🧁 The Setup

Maki is using a hairdryer to speed-frost cupcakes. It's working. Kinda.

Harua is in the hallway explaining the emotional symbolism of mismatched socks to a mildly confused Fuma.

Jo silently duct-tapes streamers to the ceiling like it's a hostage rescue mission.

K is on lookout duty. His walkie-talkie is a banana.

Nicholas creates a distraction by loudly performing "Happy Birthday" in the wrong key down the wrong hallway.

🚪 The Moment

Fuma, sighing, opens the kitchen door.

BOOM.

Confetti explodes. Streamers drop. One balloon hits him in the face.

Maki yells, "SURPRISE!" with frosting on his cheek.

EJ lights the slightly burnt cake like it's a countdown.

Someone is wearing a piñata as a hat. It might be K. No one questions it.

Everyone (shouting): "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FUMA!!!"

Fuma blinks.

He blinks again.

"You... forgot."

Taki raises his hand slowly. "Technically. But also—SURPRISE."

There's a pause.

Then Fuma laughs.

It cracks halfway through, a little too real. A little too touched.

"You're all idiots," he says, wiping his eyes.
"I love you.

The cake is slightly burnt.
The piñata hat never comes off.

But Fuma thinks it's the best birthday he's ever had.

And next year, he'll pretend to be surprised again.

The Gift-Giving Gauntlet

Setting: The post-cake aftermath. The kitchen looks like a glitter explosion. Fuma is still emotionally recovering from the surprise when Nicholas claps his hands dramatically.

Nicholas: "Alright, it's time for... THE PRESENTS."

Fuma: "Oh no."

🎨 Gift 1: Jo's "Abstract" Portrait

Jo presents Fuma with a painting. It's a canvas full of streaks, splatters, and one vaguely human-looking blob in the corner wearing a paper crown.

Fuma (squinting): "...Is that me?"
Jo: "It's who you are emotionally."
Nicholas: "That blob radiates royalty."

Fuma hangs it in his room.

🧵 Gift 2: K's Hand-Knitted... Something

K holds up what might be a scarf. Or a belt. Or... a sleeve?

K: "I made this with love. And mild rage."
Yuma: "You dropped three stitches and made it a trend."
Fuma (wearing it anyway): "Perfect. I'm warm. And confused."

📀 Gift 3: Yuma's Bootleg Mixtape

Yuma hands him a CD labeled: "VIBES ONLY 🔥💖💪" in glitter pen.

Fuma: "Did you actually burn a CD?"
Yuma: "Yes. But also, I may have rapped over half the tracks."
Jo (already playing it): "This is amazing. Is that you beatboxing over Lo-fi whale sounds?"

Fuma listens to it every morning for a week.

✏️ Gift 4: Harua's Spiral-Bound Essay

Harua gives Fuma a thick, printed manuscript titled:
"42 Quiet Reasons Why You Matter More Than You Think"

Harua: "I didn't want to make anything flashy."
Fuma (softly flipping through it): "This is... too much."
Harua: "Then don't read the appendix. It's just poems."

Fuma reads it all. Twice.

🧁 Gift 5: Maki's Emergency Cake Kit

It's a shoebox. Inside:

Frosting

Birthday candles

A plastic tiara

A handwritten note: "For when we forget again."

Maki: "I'm not saying we will. I'm just saying: never trust Taki's calendar."
Taki (offended): "It had sparkles!"

Fuma keeps it on his shelf, unopened. Just in case.

💡 Gift 6: EJ's Calm-in-a-Jar

A sealed glass jar labeled "For When the Rest of Us Get Too Loud."

Inside?

Noise-cancelling earbuds

A single piece of chocolate

A slip of paper that reads: "Take five. You deserve peace, too."

Fuma almost tears up again.

👑 Gift 7: Nicholas's Crown (and Speech)

Nicholas puts a rhinestone crown on Fuma's head and delivers a 3-minute monologue titled:
"Why Fuma Deserves to Be Treated Like Royalty Even When He's Not in Charge of Chore Charts."

It is... theatrical.

Nicholas (posing): "This crown was $6. But your vibe? Priceless."

Taki's Gift: The Last Surprise

It's after the confetti's settled. Fuma's wearing a frosting-smudged tiara. Everyone's full of cake and slowly slipping into food coma mode on the couch.

That's when Taki suddenly jolts upright like he's been struck by lightning.

Taki: "WAIT. My gift!"

Fuma: "...You didn't already give it?"

Taki: "No, that was a decoy granola bar."

He dashes out of the room like a mission has been activated.

Jo blinks.

"You think he actually made something?"

EJ: "Define 'made.'"

🚪 Two minutes later...

Taki returns.

Holding... a shoe box. Wrapped in duct tape and glitter stickers.
Fuma stares at it like it might explode.

Taki (proudly): "Open it."

Inside:

A pair of socks with Fuma's face ironed onto the heels

A handwritten zine titled: "Taki's Survival Tips for When Fuma Is Stressed"

A polaroid photo of Taki holding a sign that says "I Appreciate You, Even When I'm Loud and Weird"

A friendship bracelet... made entirely of twist ties and mini beads that spell out "CAPTAIN COOL"

🧠 The Breakdown:

Fuma (slowly): "This is—actually kind of adorable?"

Taki: "You always remember stuff for everyone else. I wanted you to have something so bad, you'd never forget you're allowed to be loved for no reason too."

Everyone goes quiet.

Harua mutters, "He really did that."

Maki wipes away a tear with a cupcake.

Nicholas (sniffling): "I hate how good that was. Ugh."

💬 Fuma's Response:

Fuma sets the box down carefully. Pulls the twist tie bracelet onto his wrist.

"You're an absolute menace."

"Yeah," Taki grins. "But I'm your menace."

Fuma hugs him.

It's awkward. Tight. Real.

Fuma: "Thank you. Really."

Taki (soft): "Anytime. But like... don't expect this level of sincerity again until next year."

💬 Final Line:

Fuma looks around at the mess.
At the gifts.
At the people who tried, in their own weird ways, to say "you matter."

"Best birthday ever," he says.

Then, quietly:
"Next year, I'm faking amnesia to see if you top this."