Chapter 50 – Ruckus on Valentine’s

As expected, the school was in a ruckus on Valentine’s Day, and everyone was in a restless mood.

Many boys were eagerly looking forward to something while pretending not to have any interest.

Many boys felt that being able to receive chocolates on this day would determine their manliness level, and thus their attitudes.

“Everyone’s getting restless.”

Amane, never one to pay heed to this, felt it was really troublesome, and turned towards Itsuki who had no interest due a different reason.

Itsuki himself was leisurely watching the commotion in class “Yep” and answered back at Amane.

“So Itsuki-san, who’s being carefree because he has a girlfriend, please state your understanding of this year’s Valentine.”

“I guess all the boys are feeling really desperate; whether they can get chocolate today, that will determine their futures. Also, there’s about 60% of them being restless, hoping to receive chocolates from Shiina-san.”

“Looks like she’s not giving any obligatory chocolates to the guys, or else it’ll be a mess.”

“I guess…anyway Amane-kun, are you expecting to receive any from her?”

“Who knows? I can’t tell at all.”

Mahiru would give to the girls, but not to the boys, so he was not expecting to receive chocolates. Even if he did not, he was fine with that.

Of course, if he received it, he would be grateful, but it really did not matter.

To be honest, Amane felt Valentine’s Day was merely a promotion from a sweets company, and not some very important event.

“How boring.” Itsuki gave a wry smile once he noticed that Amane clearly had no interest, and turned away to look at where the biggest commotion in class was.

“…But well, that’s really amazing.”

The ‘that’ Itsuki was referring t was the person popular with almost all the girls in class.

The prince was gathered in the middle, showing an innocent, adorable smile, girls flocking to him and giving him wrapped chocolates.

Class had not started, but the bag he had prepared was already full of gifts, his popularity clear to see.

“Well, that’s really amazing.”

“Same goes for the guys gritting their teeth around him.”

Some boys probably never received chocolates, and they merely stared into the distance, or looking at Kadowaki with envy.

The difference in popularity was right before them, before they could even be rated, and they could only watch and lament.

But Amane was concerned that it might be tough for Kadowaki to bring that many chocolates back, and he wondered how the latter would handle them.

“The popular guy sure has it tough. It’ll take lots of effort to bring them back and eat them.”

“I guess, but it’s amazing how he’s still not fat. Feels like he’s been like that since middle school. The body shape hasn’t changed at all.”

“Guess that’s to be expected of the track team. But I can’t say I won’t get fat eating chocolate.”

“Chii made your chocolate. Be prepared.”

“What do you mean, prepared?”

“Russian roulette.”

“No wait, what did she add inside?”

He sensed from the conversation days ago that she was not going to make ordinary sweets, so it seemed she added something unnecessary.

“Let’s see, a chocolate with habanero, wasabi, Japanese pepper, one with umeboshi extract energy jelly, and the rest are all normal.”

“What the hell did she make!?”

“Looks like she wants to surprise you, Amane.”

He might be shocked in a certain way, near outright agony it seemed.

“…I’m scared to eat.”

“Just give up. I experienced this when I taste tested.”

“Did you eat it for fun or something?”

“Well sorta. I’ll eat anything Chii makes.”

“Damn you bakauple.”

Itsuki would eat anything Chitose would make for him.

In fact, Chitose’s cooking was not bad in any sense; the problem was that she was overly adventurous. She could make it as normal as possible if she put her mind to it, but she had the tendency of adding some bothersome steps.

The usual sacrifice was Itsuki, but he never expected himself to be the sacrifice this time around.

Looking at Itsuki’s reaction, the chocolate should be somewhat edible, not something to be overly terrified of, but he would still worry about worrying things after all.

While Amane looked a little downhearted, Itsuki gave him a warm look of one who had survived the experiences, the just give up look.

“Come on Amane, here!”

“Thanks.”

After school, Chitose came to pick up Itsuki, and delivered chocolates to Amane, the latter answered her with little enthusiasm.

He was grateful to receive them, yes.

Grateful, but there was dangerous stuff inside; he could not be as happy as he would like.

He intended to finish all of them, so he would surely encounter the super-hot and super tangy flavors, so he would be worriedly eating the chocolates over the following days.

“You heard from Ikkun, so look forward to seeing what’s inside!”

“I really don’t like spicy stuff…”

“It’s still edible at least, you know? I tried it before, it’s rather nice!”

“That’s because you like spicy stuff…goodness.”

Amane could not pique his interest as he did not like spicy stuff that much. He also did not like sour stuff, so the chocolates contained flavors he disliked.

The good news however that was others were probably delicious.

“Ahh, there’s some super sweet and super bitter.”

“Thanks for telling me beforehand.”

Chitose heartily added another bomb to him, and he was so frustrated, he wanted to cup his own head.

The super sweet chocolate probably contained condensed milk, and the super bitter contained 99% cacao.

He could however handle that much. He did not dislike bitter stuff.

It seemed this was the first time Itsuki heard of it, “Chii…you…” his cheeks twitched slightly, but Chitose maintained her smiling face.

“It’s fine. There are some that fit his taste buds.”

“Fit?”

“We’ll be going off then~ bye bye~”

She grabbed Itsuki’s hands and ran off without answering Amane’s question. They appeared to be on their Valentine date.

“I pray for your safety”, he received these consoling words of encouragement from Itsuki, and waved with a sigh as he watched them leave.

Once he saw them disappear, he felt it was time to head back, so he put on his coat, and took the bag from the hook on the side of the table.

He was not displeased about being alone, but he intended to leave early, for if he stayed around for too long, the riajuu boys and girls would be too overwhelming for him.

He was about to leave with the bag on his back, only to look at the most popular boy in the year.

It seemed the bombardment of presents had stopped as Kadowaki stared at the items all the boys thirsted for, looking into the distance. The bag next to his table was also filled with treasures.

Amane immediately realized what he was thinking, and with some pity, he went over.

“Kadowaki.”

“Nn, ahh, Fujimiya? What is it?”

They had been classmates for almost a year, so even though Amane did not have much presence, his name was remembered.

Kadowaki was surprised to be approached by an unexpected person, because apart from duty matters, Amane would never approach him to talk.

Amane could only give a wry smile at that attitude, and unzipped a little pocket at the front of his bag.

“Nothing much, here.”

He took out a few supermarket bags that were compacted into triangles, and tossed them at Kadowaki.

“Do prepare a few inside just in case. It will be useful later on.” Mahiru said when she put them in. When he received them, he thought he would be using them as barf bags or trash bags, but he never expected to use this to help others in a page of youth.

What is this, so Kadowaki wondered as he opened the triangular blocks, and they were plastic bags much larger than he expected.

They were not particularly thick, so they might tear, but Amane was not going to help him out that much, so he would leave it to the actual party involved.

“Am I wrong?”

“N-no…you’re right.”

“I see. Looks tough, hang in there.”

Someone might see Kadowaki carrying large bags in school.

Being a popular guy sure is tough, so Amane thought as he waved his hand and left the classroom.