<h4>Chapter 84: Prologue: Asamura Yuuta</h4>


    The solid snow filling the world slowly vanished on the 12th day in February, bringing us to Friday morning. I opened my shoe box with my hands numb from the cold and a voice called out to me right as I changed into my indoor slippers.


    "Morning, Asamura."


    When I turned around, I saw my good friend Maru greeting me with a mysterious smile.


    "Morning, Maru. No morning practice today?"


    "The snow''s forced us indoors, so we stopped early. But you''ve got zero hesitation, eh?"


    "Huh?" I didn''t understand what Maru was talking about, so I let out a dumbfounded voice. "What do you mean?"


    "I was just admiring how you opened your shoe box without even a moment''s pause."


    "Is that… bad?"


    "Normally it wouldn''t be. However… look." Maru''s gaze wandered towards a boy from the ss next to ours.


    He seemed hesitant to open his shoe box for a moment. But once he did, he faintly sighed, but still loudly enough for me to hear.


    "February 14th falls on a Sunday this year, right?"


    "Ah, I see."


    I was well aware that February 14th was known as Valentine''s Day. In the Christian religion, it''s seen as a day when you present the people you care about with something thates from the heart, and this has been passed down even to Japan. Except it somehow changed into a day where women would give men chocte. Lately, it''s been getting a bit loose in that regard (or rather has returned to its roots), where boys and girls both give chocte to the people they care about. And since this day fell on a weekend this year, it means that chocte is being handed out either today, Friday, or on the day itself.


    "There might be chocte waiting in your shoe box, so you''d normally hesitate for a moment before opening it. But I just swung it open without a care in the world, huh?"


    "Exactly."


    "But does that really happen? Finding chocte in your shoe box, I mean."


    I don''t recall having ever received chocte that way, nor have I heard of it happening to anyone around me. And in this day and age where we care so much about hygiene, putting food into a shoe locker of all ces seems very unsanitary and meaningless. Not to mention that a high school boy''s shoe box isn''t exactly a prime example of a clean environment. A letter is probably the only thing you''d want to risk putting in there.


    "That''s a valid argument to be sure, but… Asamura, thinking about hygiene on Valentine''s and trying to make it realistic… is not how most boys think."


    "You… think not?"


    "Your brain might understand the logic behind it, but you can''t shake that small glimmer of hope. It''s perfectly normal to assume that there might be… No, that there must be at least one girl who likes you."


    "That''s not normal at all."


    "But all of us boys are somewhat crazy. Thus, it is normal."


    "What wed logic."


    We reached our ssroom during our discussion, and I subconsciously nced around to see if the atmosphere felt different or not. In short, the air in the ssroom was somewhat calm, and not too many people were talking about Valentine''s. That''s probably because Suisei High is more of an advanced school than average. However, throughout the day, I''d see girls giving each other chocte, or boys receiving chocte if they had a lot of female friends. However, the couples we knew of didn''t actually give each other chocte in the ssroom. I wonder why not? Eventually, the final bell of the day rang, and Maru turned around.


    "What''s gotten into you, Asamura? You''ve been looking around with a weird look on your face all day."


    "Weird look…? It must have been pretty obvious if even the person sitting in front of me noticed."


    "You had the face of a philosopher."


    Now hold on. I''m not Socrates, ton, Nietzsche, or Satre, you know? Also, I wasn''t wracking my brain that much.


    "I wasn''t trying to solve world hunger or anything. I was just thinking that even the couples who are openly dating don''t give each other chocte in front of everyone."


    After hearing that, Maru gave me a dubious look.


    "Asamura… That statement basically reveals your underlying assumption that all couples are perfectly fine with openly flirting with each other in front of others, you know?"


    "That''s…"


    Not true—I wanted to say, but then the faces of my old man and Akiko-san came to mind. That is true, I guess. Any kind of romance I''ve seentely has just been those two.


    "…a possibility, I guess?"


    "Hey now… Do the couples you know just brazenly hug and kiss each other even in public?"


    "I haven''t seen anything like that… But if they did, it wouldn''t surprise me."


    I don''t know if my old man and Akiko-san kissed each other while going on a date through town, but I wouldn''t be surprised if they at least locked arms while walking… Though, as the son, I''d rather not be having fantasies about my parents'' love life.


    "You''ve probably watched too many American movies. In fact, couples like that will get teased if they simply walk next to each other. Showing any kind of skinship is way too embarrassing."


    "Embarrassing… Yeah, that makes sense."


    The reason Ayase-san and I don''t do these things must be that we''re embarrassed… right? It feels like that''s the case, but also not really. I faintly remembered what happened when we visited my father''s family over New Year''s. After I made my point clear to my grandfather, I went back to my room and went to bed, only for Ayase-san to touch my back and say "Thank you, Yuuta-kun."


    I''ve never had anyints about Ayase-san bing my little sister. Realizing that she heard my discussion with my grandfather made me feel flustered, but I was happy that my genuine feelings reached her. There was still a risk of our rtives finding out about us, and our parents could havee back any time, and despite this danger, Ayase-san moved closer to me and sought out physical contact. Along with what she said, how could I not feel anything at that?


    Ayase-san didn''t say anything else afterwards, and she quickly returned to her own futon, but my heart was racing so fast that I had trouble sleeping. Despite the danger of possibly being seen we indulged in physical contact. It made me wonder why Ayase-san had done something so risky. It''s not very like her to do such a thing, but I felt happy that we could bond in that way.


    The argument Maru made about my subconscious assumption yed back in my head. Deep inside my heart… Could I possibly want to be that open with our skinship in front of others? And am I just feeling embarrassed, which is why I won''t?


    "Asamura, someone''s calling for you," Maru''s words caused me to raise my head.


    I spotted a girl peeking inside our ssroom at the door. It turned out to be Ayase-san''s good friend from her ss, Narasaka Maaya-san. She waved her hand at me, beckoning me toe over, so I said goodbye to Maru, and he went on his way to his club.


    "Narasaka-san? How can I help you?"


    "Come with me."


    She took me to the lower stairs near a storage shed in the corner of the floor. To my surprise, Ayase-san was already waiting there.


    "Maaya wouldn''t shut up about giving this to you…"


    "Giving… what to me?"


    Narasaka-san turned toward me with a smile.


    "I''d rather not have your adorable little sister get all jealous at me because I gave you chocte in secret. So here you go!" She handed me a wrapped package she hid behind her back and held it out towards me while exining herself.


    "This is your Valentine''s present!"


    "And this is from me. Though it''s nothing special." Ayase-san also handed me a wrapped package.


    She''s not giving it to me at home… but at school? I mean, it''s not that big of a shock, since she probably couldn''t argue against Narasaka-san.


    "Um… Thanks."


    I always wonder if I should open presents like this right on the spot, but there are times when seeing my reaction will make them happy, so I at least checked first.


    "Can I open them?"


    "Of course! There''s no love letter in there or anything." Narasaka-san said with a smile, so she''s probably telling the truth.


    "Then I''ll start with yours," I ripped the wrapping off of Narasaka-san''s Valentine''s present, revealing store-bought chocte.


    And topletely kill off any potential sweetness, she even wrote "Obligatory" on the cover.


    "It''s the perfect example of obligatory chocte that won''t cause any possible misunderstandings!"


    "Thanks. That makes epting this obligatory chocte much easier."


    "Right? I''m amazing!"


    With that done, I moved on to Ayase-san''s gift. I could immediately tell that it wasn''t store-bought and that she put a lot of effort into her chocte. In fact, it looks more like chocte truffles, so I''m unsure if I could call this simple chocte by any stretch of the imagination. She even scattered what looked like kes on the outside of them.


    "You made these just for me?"


    "Wooow! Saki, that must have taken forever! Did you make the feuintine yourself, too?"


    "Of course not. I bought it and sprinkled it on the truffle."


    "Feu… What now?"


    "Feuintine. It''s what''s on the round chocte. There''s a lot of names in the business, but it''s what you get by lightly toasting a raw crepe and then delicately grinding it."


    "I see. So like baked rice crackers but ground into powder?"


    "Y-Yeah… Something like that. Though exining it that way will only ruin the magic of Valentine''s and turn it into the nice neighbordy''s candy, so stop it. But it looks great, right?" Narasaka-san asked.


    "Wait… Is that why the kitchen lights were ontest night?"


    "W-Well, yeah. This much is normal for siblings, right?"


    So Ayase-san said, but I couldn''t tell if that was true in the slightest. To be honest, this is the first time I''ve ever even gotten homemade chocte, so I don''t know what kind of emotion to have right now. And judging from Narasaka-san''s reaction, it must have taken ages to make this.


    "It''s nothing much, really," Ayase-san said and averted her face, clearly flustered.


    Narasaka-san watched this from the sidelines and then whispered to me.


    "Not bad, Asamura-kun. Maybe you''re a lot more of a yer than I took you for?"


    "I haven''t the foggiest idea what you''re talking about."


    Why would receiving chocte as a present make me some kind of yboy? I can''t follow her thought process at all.


    "What are you talking about?"


    "I was just saying how much of a hardworking person you are, Saki. Well, with an older brother like him, I guess you''d wanna try hard!"


    "I didn''t do it because it''s Asamura-kun…"


    "Reaaally now? Well, that''s fine. Anyway, that''s the mission aplished. You''re free to go home now, Big Brother~"


    "Yeah, yeah."


    "See youter, Asamura-kun," Ayase-san said and turned her back toward me, walking away.


    Left behind, Narasaka-san jogged back to me.


    "The field trip is soon, right?"


    I nodded slightly, although I didn''t know what exactly she was going to say.


    "I''ll do my best so you two can walk around together."


    "Huh? Together?"


    "You''ll be lonely if you can''t be with Saki, right?"


    "N-Not at all, don''t mind me."


    "There''s no need to be modest! It''s your first trip with your adorable little sister, right?"


    Actually, we had already gone through that when we visited my old man''s hometown, but if I said that, I might hint at anything that happened between Ayase-san and I. Though when I see Narasaka-san grinning at me like that, it makes me worried that she might have possibly realized that there''s been some form of change in our rtionship already. I somehow managed to y along and satisfy Narasaka-san, but after she finally left, I could feel myself dripping with sweat, realizing how much I was panicking deep inside. At the same time, though, I didn''t feel too bothered by Narasaka-san''s teasing. Instead, it made me happy… and fuzzy inside. So… if this really is happiness, why am I feeling the need to keep the amount of skinship with Ayase-san to a minimum?


    I grabbed a piece of the chocte truffle and stuffed it into my mouth. The feuintine gave it a crusty sensation when chewing on it, and the chocte melted and filled my mouth with sweetness.