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February 14th was upon Japan like a cherry-blossom hurricane. Young women everywhere were scrambling about. Love was at the forefront of everyone's minds. Sara was no exception.
She gives Keiji chocolates for Valentines.
The chocolates weren't homemade. Her grades in her Home Economics' classes were average at best, and she wasn't willing to fuck up perfectly good sweets for private self-satisfaction.
So Sara had grabbed the chocolates from a specialty store. She'd done it early on in the week, before the rush of crowds would make it truly impossible, with thousands of women clamoring for last-minute gifts. Her face had burned as she selected a small foil box and she avoided the cashier's eyes as they distractedly rung up her purchase. The brown paper bag was innocuous enough, supposedly. Still, she couldn’t help feel it was almost too obvious, her heart in a bag instead of her sleeve.
They met in a public park on the day. She asked for a short meeting in their texts. After dinner, she’d hurried over to the park address, only to find Keiji already there. Waiting on a bench, Keiji stared off into the distance, a cigarette burning on his lip. Sara stood still for a moment, just watching the small rise and fall of his chest across the park.
It was so quiet she could hear the blood rush to her head. Shaking off the spell she was caught in, Sara forced herself to step closer.
The movement caught his attention. Upon seeing her, Keiji put his cigarette out immediately. Crushing it into the ground with a foot, the smoke guttered out. The red embers choked on dust. He turned toward her.
Her heart stuttered. She straightened her posture, stiffening up and striding over.
“Sara-chan?” He rubbed at the back of his neck, gaze carefully avoiding the brown paper bag she had a white-knuckled grip on. “Something up?”
She took in a breath. “Actually, Keiji-san, I wanted to give you these.” Passing the paper bag to him, she tried to make the gesture casual and perfunctory. Unfortunately that was belied by her clear nerves. She didn’t actually shove it into his chest, but her movements were uncomfortably aggressive and she winced.
"Obligatory chocolates, Sara-chan?" Keiji drawled, peering down into the bag. He gingerly took the box out, carefully cradling it in his hand. "You shouldn't have."
"Think what you will." She refused to confirm his false assumption. Correcting him would be even worse. Sara had humiliated herself enough today as it was.
"Well then." He tore the foil off and she blinked in surprise. Her mouth dropped open.
"You're eating them here?!" Immediately, Sara started to reach out for the box, hastily planning to pull it back to herself before she caught herself mid-act. Her hand froze in the air, torn between conflicting thoughts.
Grinning at her, Keiji slid a chocolate into his mouth. "Why not?" He chewed for a while, consideringly, and then responded. “Embarrassed?”
Sara didn't want to dignify that with a response. Rocking back on her heels, she looked away into the park, trying to ignore Keiji cheerfully eating his way through the small box of chocolates.
This time in the evening, there was barely anybody around. No strangers wondering what a girl in a high-school uniform was doing with an adult man she was clearly not related to. Nobody to side-eye the two of them together. She still couldn't help feeling eyes on her and shifted uneasily.
She tried to focus on the rustling tree branches, the faint street noises past that, drowning out the small noises of pleasure beside her. She refused to admit that she was paying any attention to him, even as goosebumps rose along her spine, a sweet numbness.
Shivering, Sara shoved her hands deeper into her coat pockets. What did she think she was doing? Who was she trying to kid?
Her rapid descent into regret was interrupted. “Hey Sara-chan…” Keiji’s voice was low and thoughtful. “Did you know these were alcoholic…?”
Surprised, Sara whipped her head around. “They are?!”
Keiji glanced down at her, composed and steady. “Ah. So you didn’t know.”
“Of course, I-!” Sara lunged to take the box back, but he held it up over his head, out of her reach. “Huh? …Keiji-san!”
Smirking, he placed another chocolate in his mouth. “They’re good, so don’t feel bad about it.” Then with an exaggerated look of shock, “Unless you were trying to get me drunk? How despicable….”
Frustration filled her. “Please don't joke about this!”
“Nah, seriously. These are great.” He flashed her the bottom of the box, practically decimated. “Sweet but with a mellow kind of taste. There’s a sour fruity filling that goes well with the sugary liquor and it all matches well with the milk chocolate.”
Seeing only a single unit remaining, Sara swallowed, eyes sliding away. She bit back her desire, her cursed sweet-tooth.
“One left huh.” Keiji chuckled, eying Sara’s act of indifference. Teasingly, he spoke. “Wonder if someone would want the last piece?”
Utterly unbearable. Mulishly, Sara mumbled. “If you’re going to praise them so much, you might as well let me have it.”
“Well, that makes sense. Sara-chan, here.”
He popped the last truffle in his mouth, and ducked down to kiss her. Sara’s mind went blank, feeling the soft wet touch of his tongue against her lips. Reflexively, she opened her mouth, and Keiji made a pleased sound in the back of his throat as he slanted his head for a better angle.
It was a deep kiss, dizzying and intimate. Slipping the chocolate from his mouth to hers, Keiji licked into her mouth and Sara shuddered, her arms and legs losing strength. She desperately held onto him, her hands tightly clenched into Keiji’s shirt.
He gripped her chin pulling her to him, and the truffle slowly melted in the heat of their mouths. His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her body flush against him. Their tongues smeared sweet traces against each other, a suffocating heat growing throughout her body.
The light of the streetlamp cast a soft golden glow down on them.
As the burn of the liquor spread throughout her senses, Sara lost herself to the slow soft sensation of their mouths moving against each other. Keiji nibbled on her lower lip and she sighed into his mouth, opening herself up further. He devoured her so readily, greedily, practically purring, and she was lost in the sensation. He held her under and she willingly drowned.
It felt like an eternity before she could disentangle herself from him. The small gasps for air she managed to suck in weren’t enough to stop her from being lightheaded, deeply red in the face.
The chocolate was long gone.
Keiji backed off a half-step, still close enough she could feel the heat radiating off his body. His hand still cupping the curve of her waist. She fixed her clothes, straightening her skirt, feeling flushed and unbearably needy. She looked up at Keiji, at a bit of a loss for words, opening her mouth and closing it.
Leaning in again, Keiji playfully pecked Sara on the forehead, and withdrew to her sputtering protests. Tension released, she relaxed. She guiltily smacked his arm away.
He licked his lips and gave her an annoyingly smug look. "Thanks for the chocolates, Sara-chan.” His heavy-lidded eyes were filthy, his smirk, totally obscene. “…They were delicious.”
She pushed back the rush of happiness that swept her body. There was no need to give him a satisfying reaction after he teased her so much today. Still though, the tips of her ears flushed red.
Crossing her arms, Sara pouted. “You better not be drunk off of chocolates. ...But if you liked them, you better make sure to pay me back double for White Day.” She tried to regain her composure, words slipping into more familiar grounds.
He laughed uproariously. “Tipsy at most, Sara-chan~” Slipping into a more relaxed tone of voice, Keiji continued, flirtatiously. “But I’m sure Mr. Policeman will find something appropriate for your White Day present.”
“Sweets are fine.” She responded, coldly.
“I’m sure Mr. Policeman can be more creative than that.”
“Keiji-san!”
But as they left the park, bickering, Sara smiled quietly.
The usual back-and-forth between them was comfortable, typical. But it was made precious by the warmth of her hand in his, the soft intimacy of his thumb brushing over the back of her hand.
Her lips were still swollen.
She wondered if she was breathing.