Wakaba-chan wearing rain boots that day turned into a bit of a fiasco. Some people were claiming that it was affecting Suiran’s image and dignity.

I thought it was kicking up a huge fuss about nothing but a lot of people were quite proud to go to Suiran and it looked like they were finding her actions hard to accept. While I had been joining the Handicrafts Club, apparently the President of the Pivoine herself was busy giving Wakaba-chan a severe verbal las.h.i.+ng. Because the President had her eye on Wakaba-chan, yet more students were avoiding her.

Wakaba-chan simply gave an earnest apology and swore not to wear them to school again.

I wondered where Kaburagi had been during a time like this, but it turns out he was sitting around depressed and reading Heine. Did that make Yurie his Amalie? So troublesome…

On the other hand, if Kaburagi was this subdued until graduation, wouldn’t that mean a relaxing high school life for me? Was it actually better for me if he didn’t get back on his feet?!

Since Kaburagi was done with his journeys, even Enjou was leaving him be.

Somehow this was shaping up to be a fantastic year.

It was close to Valentine’s, so when I arrived at cram school Moriyama-san and Sakaki-san were discussing chocolates. The self-proclaimed boy-ish Moriyama-san would apparently be hand-making chocolates.

“Kisshouin-san, are you planning on giving him chocolates?”

Oh yeah. I forgot I had that kind of background story. It’s not like I saw Imari-sama all that often, and it would have been weird to go out of my way just for that, so I hadn’t actually ever done it.

“Not as such. I only ever give chocolates to family members.”

“Ehhhhhh? You have to be more pro-active about these things.”

“I simply appreciate him in secret so I would not want him to realise.”

“Hmmmmm.”

That was when the three guys of the group came barging in.

“What’s this about Valentine’s!?”

“Since you won’t get any chocolates anyhow, I’ll give you some,” Moriyama-san said with her best impression of casual. Shocker.

Apparently the gazes that the boys got from their family physically pained them so they begged us for quant.i.ty. That’s how it was decided that they would get one from each of us. For some reason me included. I hadn’t ever given anybody courtesy Valentine’s chocolates though.

“I bet Kisshouin-san’s courtesy chocolates are going to be super high cla.s.s!”

Moriyama-san’s eyes turned sharp at his comment. Scary. Since the other two girls were just giving normal chocolates, I decided that Umewaka-kun would get special dog chocolate for Beatrice. At least I wouldn’t be giving him chocolates now.

Aahh~ A Valentines without a crush to give a proper Valentine’s chocolate to was boringg.

At school my friends discussed giving chocolates to Kaburagi and Enjou so it was lively every day. Since it didn’t cost me anything, I gave them some advice.

“Kaburagi-sama is fussy about calling it chocolat instead.”

Anyhow, since this Valentine’s talk didn’t have much to do with me, I was left feeling a little bored. That’s why I ended up wandering the school for a while when I suddenly b.u.mped into Tomoe-senpai coming out of the staff room.

“Tomoe-senpai!”

“Oh! Kisshouin-san.”

I trotted over to him. Chances like these were precious now that we were so close to his graduation.

“Tomoe-senpai, I heard that you made it into the university you wanted. Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” he said, and flashed an honest smile. Uhuhu, wasn’t this a feast for the eyes.

“I had wanted to give you something to congratulate you, but…”

“Congratulate me? That’s fine. Just hearing that is enough. Thank you.”

Mmmn. I guess. I suppose it would be a bit heavy to receive a graduation gift from somebody who was just an undercla.s.sman… But there wasn’t much time left until graduation, so I wanted to do something.

I told him as much, and he suggested,

“How about Valentine’s chocolate for my present then?”

“Eh!?”

Valentine’s chocolate for Tomoe-senpai!?

Was I dreaming!? I knew I was lucky this year!

I swore that no matter what else happened, I would give him one! Thus, I rushed towards the 3rd year cla.s.srooms.

I was of course overjoyed at the chance to do this, but first I needed permission from Kasumi-sama, his girlfriend.

I told her what happened and asked her what she thought, but she gladly gave me permission.

“Senju loves sweets, so choose something delicious, okay?”

Leave it to me!

I began b.u.t.ting into my friends’ conversations, asked Sakura-chan for help, and researched various sources as to exactly what chocolate to pick. I even personally taste-tested them all.

Even romantic delusions like this were fun. I don’t think I had ever chosen a chocolate so seriously. Was this how fans felt when they picked out chocolates to give to idols?

On the day of Valentine’s, I handed over matching chocolates to Kasumi-sama and Tomoe-senpai. In the message card I wrote ‘S & K’. In my capacity as the Village Chief of Forever Alone Village, I bless you, O happy couple! Out of all the chocolates I gobbled down, this was the yummiest one, you know!

“Thank you!” he smiled. Kyuun!

I know it isn’t official yet, but congratulations on getting the offer you wanted, Tomoe-senpai. A consumable as a gift really was the best choice.

“I never expected that I would get some too. Thank you, Reika-sama.”

Kasumi-sama happily accepted her bundle as well. They’re delicious, so make sure to eat them, okay?

“By the way, Kasumi-sama, what kind of chocolate did you give him?”

“Oh, I made a cake and…”

Ohh! For a boyfriend it really did have to be hand-made!

How niice. I’m so envious. I wonder if I’ll ever get to give somebody a hand-made chocolate.

Kasumi-sama and I spoke about Valentine’s for a while.

“Aren’t you going to give chocolates to the person you like?” she asked, so I replied,

“n.o.body like that exists at the moment. If there was somebody else like Tomoe-senpai it would be a different story, however,” so she happily replied,

“My! There’s n.o.body else like Senju, you know? Uhuhu.”

Urggh! Next year! Next year for sure I’ll find somebody!

All that was left today was to go home and make chocolates for Oniisama and Otousama. That’s why I quickly said goodbye to my friends and left the school building. As I was heading towards the gates, though, I saw a huge crowd gathered there.

Curious, I went to have a look only to find Maihama-san who had come all the way to Suiran just to give Kaburagi her chocolates. Her curls casual as usual, Maihama-san’s mouth was curved upwards proudly.

“Masaya-sama, the Valentine’s chocolates I promised.”

Ah! Weren’t those the same chocolates that I brought to the Kaburagi tea party! If you’re giving chocolates to somebody you love then put in the effort to make them yourself, d.a.m.nit! And ‘chocolates’! She just said ‘chocolates’! Are you an idiot!

While the girls of Suiran were seething with hatred, Kaburagi just accepted them without much care.

The amount of chocolate that Kaburagi received was incredible, so he always had some of his family’s employees accept them. The chocolate from Maihama-san was dangling from his hand however, and the expressions of the girls were getting more and more dangerous.

While I was watching everything unfold next to my enraged friends, Maihama-san suddenly noticed me.

“My, Reika-san.”

Uwah, annoying.

“Gokigen’yoh, Maihama-san.”

“Masaya-sama and I are going home to eat my Valentine’s chocolates together.”

“I see.”

“His Okaasama invited me, after all. Are you going to his house too, Reika-san?”

“No.”

“Oh myy! Were you not invited, Reika-sama? Oh my, I’m so sorry. Were you expecting something?”

With those insults, my friends’ eyes now promised murder.

Although Maihama-san was acting like she was better than me, while she was busy looking down on me Kaburagi had gotten into his car by himself and was about to drive off. Oh. There he goes. Maihama-san had been left behind.

“Masaya-sama!?”

In a panic, she got into her own car to chase him down. Ridiculous.

“How dare that woman speak to you like that!?” growled Serika-chan holding one arm.

“Unforgiveable…! Reika-sama! Punish that upstart!” snarled Kikuno-chan with my other.

Now, now, don’t be so angry. Didn’t she just give us a hilarious show?

“She will never amount to much,” I said simply.

That seemed to calm my group down. Really though, you could tell as much by her curls. She was from another school too, so honestly I couldn’t care less.

More important than her sad little sideshow was getting home in time to get the chocolates prepared. I probably wouldn’t miss anything except my friends badmouthing her some more.

As I was finally leaving the school ground, I caught sight of Wakaba-chan. Wakaba-chan’s pastime was baking sweets. I wonder if she had made anything for Valentine’s.

This year I was making a simple chocolate cake.

First I mixed the ingredients I had prepared. This was a Reika-original recipe.

I wanted it to have a mature taste so I used less sugar to being with. Instead, I put in some liqueur. The subtle flavours of an adult.

To make the liqueur flavour a little more original, I secretly used multiple kinds. Hmm hmm hmm~

Maybe it would be a good idea to submit the recipe to a cooking website. Oh! Then it would have been even better to have pictures of the process! What a shame! Oh well. Next time…

The finished cake smelt of alcohol. Hm, this was okay, right?

I tried a bit. It was a little bitter…

Commoners wouldn’t know, but high quality chocolate was actually kind of bitter. Sweet chocolate tasted a bit cheaper.

Oniisama would be late coming home today, so in the end I gave Otousama his share first. The tanuki took a bit and then said stuff like,

“Ah, Otousama has a few health checks coming up and…”

Stop chewing already and swallow, you tanuki. This cake is filled with love from your daughter, you know.

As for Oniisama… I decided to cut him a smaller piece.