Nowhere was safe. The hordes invaded every inch of the school. They were hungry for blood and they got it.
Well, okay, it wasn’t really blood so much as a chance to give chocolates. When it comes to hormone-pumped teenage girls, it’s kind of hard to tell the difference.
Poor, poor Toyomi. His arms quickly started aching under the weight of all the chocolates he received. Why, he could barely see anyone underneath the sugary tower in front of his face! From far away, he looked like he was carrying a whole library’s worth of books.
Out the corner of his eye, he could see Fumie a little. ‘Hi!’ His voice shook the tower of chocolates in front of him until it collapsed into the girl’s arms. ‘I’m sorry! I didn’t mean.’
‘It’s alright.’
‘Oh, while I’ve got you here, I’d like to thank you. You know, for defending me earlier. I thought I was alone and no one would come to help me, but you came at just the right moment. Uh, Fumie? Are you okay?’
Poor, poor Fumie. She could barely concentrate now that Toyomi was standing so close to her, looking straight into her eyes with his own beautiful set. Her chest rose in temperature and she could barely breathe.
The sight was too blinding, so she had to look down. When she did that, she finally noticed the chocolates in her arms.
‘It was nothing!’ she yelped as she put them back into Toyomi’s arms. ‘White Day’s going to be a pain for you, isn’t it? Haha. Gotta go!’ True to her word, she zipped out of there.
The next person Toyomi could just barely see was Atsuji.
‘Hey, I need your help with something,’ he said to the purple-haired boy, who was looking away but couldn’t avoid getting found. ‘It’s about Sahana.’
Atsuji’s words had to be squeezed out from his pursed lips. ‘I see. What about her?’
‘I know guys are supposed to wait for White Day to give presents, but since she and I are dating, I want to get her something. I don’t want to give her what I already gave her when I asked her out. What do you think I should get her?’
Atsuji blinked in surprise, then smirked. The heavens had blessed him with an opportunity. He looked up at the ceiling in thought.
‘Have you thought about getting her food? Try a can of sardines. She loves those so it’ll be romantic.’
Sweat ran down Atsuji’s face as he wondered if he was too blatant. Luckily for him, Toyomi smiled and put his fist in his hand as if he had come up with the idea himself. This led to him dropping all of the chocolates in his arms.
‘I see. Thanks!’
He ran out of the school, abandoning the chocolates. Atsuji considered calling out to him that leaving the school premises was forbidden at this hour, but his drooling mouth as he stared at the chocolates was much too distracting.
The student council president looked side to side before picking up a box and opening it. With all these chocolates, Toyomi surely wouldn’t notice, right?
It cost Toyomi ten minutes and 400 yen to get the Sardines and bring them to Sahana. Unbeknownst to him, Atsuji was watching over them from behind a corner. Don’t worry, dear reader, he is most definitely not a stalker. See? He’s not wearing a long jacket nor densely tinted black sunglasses that look like the windows in a mafia boss’ car. He is certainly, totally, without a doubt an upstanding member of society who would never participate in stalkerish behaviour.
What we can accuse him of, however, is being just a little bit sadistic. He grinned with anticipation. Would Sahana slap Toyomi in the face? Would she run away in tears, leaving a heartbroken Toyomi? Would she simply yell in his face?
Make your guess in three… two… one…
Bzzzz! She grinned and gave him a hug. Atsuji was grateful that he was not drinking any water or else he would have spit it out and possibly given away his location.
Sahana took the can from Toyomi’s hands. ‘I ran out of sardines and Mum keeps forgetting to buy more. Thank you!’
Toyomi sighed in relief. The couple walked hand in hand to the shoe lockers so that Sahana could store her new sardines. There they saw Masami and Kunie.
Sahana and Toyomi said hello and delivered small talk before leaving. Kunie scoffed a laugh upon hearing Sahana giggle at a joke Toyomi made.
‘Those lovebirds… Well, I mean, today’s the obligatory Valentine’s Day Special. May as well let them act like lovebirds. I can’t imagine acting like that, though. You know I love Sahana to bits and Toyomi’s great with her, but… I don’t get it. What’s so special about dating anyway?’
Masami tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. ‘I’m not sure either. To be honest, I’ve… never really fallen in love before.’
Kunie grinned at her. ‘Same here! It’s like, what’s wrong with me? Why don’t guys do anything for me? Am I just a late bloomer?’
‘I know, right? And Valentine’s Day’s just this giant neon sign saying ‘You’re alone!’ And don’t get me started on PDA.’
Kunie scrunched her nose. ‘The worst, right? I don’t want to see you flaunting your boyfriend with your tongue. We get it, you got a guy to have an interest in you for five minutes. You don’t need to let us know every other second.’
Masami giggled, then blushed at how similar she sounded to Sahana. ‘Yeah, it’s ridiculous. And I still don’t know the real difference between a friend and a lover. Other than tongue.’
‘And spending your hard-earned money on heart-shaped pieces of diabetes and flowers that are going to die in a week.’
Masami’s giggling turned into a guffaw. We’ve reached guffaw levels, people. Before Masami could blush and shut her mouth, Kunie joined in.
It took them a good minute to settle down. By me, these ladies laughed a long time for that little joke.
Warmth spread through Masami’s heart. She guessed it was because of the mutual understanding. Meanwhile, I gathered up some red string. Just in case.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
